US09131632B2

A multipole relief plug-in Connector includes contact elements, the contacting sections of which are arranged in height-offset contact area surfaces, and a multilayer circuit board includes several height-offset contact area surfaces accordingly. In combination, the multipole relief plug-in connector contacts the multilayer circuit board and the multilayer circuit board populates the multipole relief plug-in connector. The contact elements of the relief plug-in connector are designed in the contacting section as press-in contacts for pressing into press-in contact receiving portions of the multilayer circuit board. Contact element receiving portions of the multilayer circuit board are arranged in the contact area surfaces of the multilayer circuit board, the contact element receiving portions being designed as press-in contact receiving portions. A production method produces the multilayer circuit board.
US09131621B2

A wiring substrate includes a layered structure including one or more insulating layers and one or more conductor layers; a plurality of connection terminals formed on the layered structure; a first resin layer formed on the layered structure and having (defining) a plurality of first openings through which the connection terminals are respectively exposed; and a second resin layer formed on the first resin layer and having (defining) a plurality of second openings through which the connection terminals are respectively exposed and which are smaller in opening diameter than the first openings, wherein the second resin layer has, around each of the second openings, an inclined surface which is formed such that the distance between the inclined surface and the layered structure decreases toward the second opening.
US09131607B2

A halogen-free resin composition includes (A) 100 parts by weight of naphthalene epoxy resin; (B) 10 to 100 parts by weight of styrene maleic anhydride copolymer; and (C) 30 to 70 parts by weight of DOPO-containing bisphenol F novolac resin. The halogen-free resin composition includes specific ingredients, and is characterized by specific proportions thereof, to thereby attain a low dielectric constant, a low dielectric dissipation factor, high heat resistance, and high flame retardation, and thus is suitable for producing a prepreg or a resin film to thereby be applicable to copper clad laminates and printed circuit boards.
US09131603B2

A signal line design is described herein. A circuit board may include a first signal line and a second signal line. The first signal line includes a pair of signal lines at a first depth of a section of a circuit board, wherein a centerline extends lengthwise between the pair of signal lines. The second signal line is disposed at a second depth of the circuit board. The second signal line includes a first segment that runs parallel to the first signal line at a first displacement from the center line. The second signal line includes a second segment that runs parallel to the first signal line on the other side of the center line at a second displacement distance from the center line.
US09131595B2

The invention relates to a surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma unit. The unit comprises a solid dielectric structure provided with an interior space wherein an interior electrode is arranged. Further, the unit comprises a further electrode for generating in concert with the interior electrode a surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma. The unit is also provided with a gas flow path along a surface of the structure.
US09131592B2

A mobile X-ray apparatus that performs a stable operation even if a sudden voltage drop or momentary power interruption occurs during operation of a commercial AC power source. The mobile X-ray apparatus includes a plug for connection to a commercial AC power source, a battery charged from the commercial AC power source through the plug, a unit that operates by being supplied with electricity from the commercial AC power source connected through the plug, and a second circuit including a rectifier that supplies electricity to the unit from the battery if a voltage from the commercial AC power source falls to or below a regulated value while the unit is being operated by the electricity supply from the commercial AC power source.
US09131589B2

An extreme ultraviolet light generation apparatus may include a chamber containing a plasma generation region irradiated by a pulse laser beam from a laser apparatus, a target supply device configured to supply a plurality of targets consecutively to the plasma generation region in the chamber, a target detection unit configured to detect a target outputted from the target supply device, and a laser controller configured to control the laser apparatus; the laser controller generating a light emission trigger instructing a laser device included in the laser apparatus to emit a pulse laser beam, and outputting the generated light emission trigger to the laser apparatus, in accordance with a detection signal from the target detection unit; and the laser controller adjusting generation of the light emission trigger outputted consecutively to the laser apparatus so that a time interval of the light emission trigger is within a predetermined range.
US09131580B2

The present invention discloses a backlight driving circuit applied to an electronic device. The backlight driving circuit includes a light-emitting diode unit, a photosensitive element, and a control circuit. The light-emitting diode unit has an anode terminal and a cathode terminal. The photosensitive element is coupled between the cathode terminal of the light-emitting diode unit and a ground, wherein the resistance of the photosensitive element changes with the ambient light level around the electronic device. The control circuit includes a sensing terminal and an output terminal. The sensing terminal receives a feedback voltage. The output terminal provides a power source to the anode terminal of the light-emitting diode unit according to the feedback voltage to control the luminance of the light-emitting diode unit, wherein the feedback voltage is decided by the resistance of the photosensitive element.
US09131578B2

Provided is an LED driver including an amplifier configured to receive a negative voltage input signal and produce a positive voltage output signal in response thereto. Also included is a microcontroller configured for sensing a value of the positive voltage output signal. The microcontroller (i) enters a programming mode when the value exceeds a threshold and (ii) produces an output current responsive to the value.
US09131565B2

Various embodiments of the invention allow LED lamp fixtures to pass EMI testing irrespective of whether the lamp fixture is operated by a magnetic transformer or an electric transformer without causing input current waveform distortion and without defeating transformer compatibility. In certain embodiments, the type of transformer is determined based on detecting characteristic voltage waveforms and based that determination an EMI filter is automatically switched in and out of the lamp circuit.
US09131560B2

The present disclosure provides a user-configurable battery-powered LED lamp. The lamp has several embodiments to handle recharging, including hot-swap battery cartridges, a wireless alert system, and redundant battery supplies. The system also has a light-shaping feature to shine light in user-defined areas with shaped light-emitting surfaces.
US09131557B2

An LED lamp for outdoor and large space lighting, particularly for streets, warehouses car parks and the like, is adapted for fitting into legacy light fittings designed for sodium bulbs and the like. The LED lamp includes light emitting diodes arranged over a surface of the lamp, is rotatably connected through a rotatable electrical connection to a screw-in adaptor for insertion into a legacy screw-in socket, such that the screw in adaptor is rotatable independently of the lamp, so that the legacy screw in socket can be used even though the light fitting is too small to allow rotation of the LED lamp. Additional variants provide for cooling airflow through the light fitting, for temperature control of the LEDs, and for failure protection, to ensure a longest possible lamp lifetime.
US09131553B2

An LED driver described herein can determine whether it is operating in z soft-start process by comparing a first threshold value and a soft-start reference value. In the soft-start process, the inductor current and the LED driving current can be soft-started periodically to effectively avoid current overshoot. In addition, the end of the soft-tart operation can be controlled based on a comparison result of the first threshold value and the reference value of the soft-start, and without any external settings. Thus, the end of soft-start operation can automatically be determined with strong controllability.
US09131546B2

In the case of an electronic ballast (1) for operating a lamp (10) or an operating device for illumination means, having mains terminals (5) for connecting the ballast (1) or operating device to a current supply, output terminals (6) for connecting a lamp or light source to the ballast (1) or operating device and a control unit (4) for controlling and/or regulating an operating voltage delivered to the lamp (LA) or light source via the output terminals (6), external control information (Vprog) for programming or configuring the operating behavior of the operating device is delivered to the control unit (4) via a programming input, and stored in a memory (4a) associated with the control unit (4). In accordance with the invention, the programming input is formed by means of the mains terminals (5) and/or the output terminals (6) of the ballast (1) or of the operating device (2), which are connected internally with the control unit (4).
US09131542B1

An inductively heated beverage carafe system (10) with a non-metallic carafe (13) has a funnel assembly (26) with a down-tube (34, 54) made from material impervious to water to pass hot beverage received within the funnel assembly (26) to adjacent the bottom (14) of the carafe (13) without mixing with beverage already present in the carafe until (13) the newly added hot beverage passes out of the open outlet end (59) and which is, at least partly a material responsive to alternating electromagnetic fields to induce surface eddy currents that heat at least part of the down-tube (34, 54) and an inductive heating coil module (36) for supporting the carafe (14) and generating an electromagnetic field to energize at least part of the down-tube (34, 54) to function as an inductive heating element within the carafe (13).
US09131541B2

A microwave heating apparatus and methods of controlling cooling of a microwave heating apparatus are provided. The microwave heating apparatus typically includes a microwave source for generating microwaves, a cooling unit for cooling the microwave source and a control unit. According to one embodiment, the control unit is configured to determine the efficiency of the microwave source and then to control the cooling based on the determined efficiency. The methods and the microwave heating apparatuses of the present invention are advantageous with respect to energy consumption.
US09131534B2

The teachings presented herein propose a separation between the configuration of a sounding signal, and the initialization of the sounding signal. In other words, in at least one example embodiment proposed herein, a base station or other controlling entity separates the selection of sounding signal parameters (sounding signal configuration) and the signaling of that configuration information to a mobile terminal from the Ordering” or other initiation of sounding signal transmission. Thus, a mobile station may be sent sounding signal configuration information and subsequently be commanded (implicitly or explicitly) to begin sounding signal transmissions according to the previously provided configuration information.
US09131529B1

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed to facilitate operation of a network. First network state data descriptive of a first network state is received. The first network data includes network demand associated with nodes of a dynamic network, where the nodes of the dynamic network include at least one movable node. The first network data also includes a node state of each node of the dynamic network. At least one first link is automatically established between two or more nodes of the dynamic network to satisfy at least a portion of the network demand. Link data is generated where the link data is descriptive of node utilization, the at least one first link, and assignment of the portion of the network demand to the at least one first link. One or more changes to the dynamic network are modeled based on the link data to identify a second network state, wherein the second network state satisfies a greater quantity of the network demand than the first network state.
US09131528B2

In a method for generating a data unit conforming to a first communication protocol, a first field and a second field to be included in a preamble of the data unit are generated. The first field includes a first set of one or more information bits that indicate a duration of the data unit and is formatted such that the first field allows a receiver device that conforms to a second communication protocol to determine the duration of the data unit. The second field includes a second set of one or more information bits that indicate to a receiver device that conforms to the first communication protocol that the data unit conforms to the first communication protocol. The first field and the second field are modulated using a modulation scheme specified for a field corresponding to the first field and the second field, respectively, by the second communication protocol.
US09131525B2

The present invention relates to methods and arrangements for handling unreliable scheduling grants in a WCDMA-communication system. A user equipment detects that a received scheduling grant is unreliable and adjust its serving grant based on that information. The user equipment is also able to report continuously received unreliable grants as an event to the network, allowing the network to adapt its operation to reduce the unreliable grants.
US09131523B2

A user equipment (UE) uses information regarding the timing of scheduling mobile wireless services (MWS) RAT communications to improve MWS and wireless network connectivity (WCN) radio access technology coexistence. To allow sufficient time for an uplink grant to be received by the UE in advance of the scheduled uplink time, an uplink grant may be sent in advance of the scheduled uplink time. In some instances, the UE may receive an indication of scheduled uplink time of the MWS RAT via a physical layer communication. The UE may schedule communications of the WCN RAT based at least in part on the indication of future activity.
US09131518B2

Embodiments provide systems and methods to optimize the time when to transmit a silencing frame, and hence, improve the overall network throughput and avoid access point transmission rate fall-back mechanism having an avalanche effect during coexistence of dissimilar wireless network technologies. A device comprises at least two dissimilar network technology subsystems, at least one subsystem of which is lower priority than at least another of the dissimilar subsystems. In some embodiments, a device is able to transmit a silencing frame during a transmission window within a lower priority technology network interval. In other embodiments, a device calculates a transmission window, the transmission window to occur within a lower priority technology network interval, and transmits a silencing frame during the transmission window. In further embodiments, a device is able to calculate a transmission window to occur during a lower priority technology network interval, and transmit a silencing frame during the calculated transmission window.
US09131508B2

Methods, systems and devices are provided for dynamically adjusting mobile communication device resources for maintaining calls on a mobile communication device subject to a lawful intercept. Embodiment methods may include receiving at the mobile communication device an activation input from a remote server for activating a call extender daemon on the mobile communication device. An operating state of an onboard resource of the mobile communication device may be adjusted in response to receiving the activation input. The adjustment of the operating state of the onboard resource increases the likelihood of maintaining an active call on the mobile communication device.
US09131506B2

A system and methodology are presented for exploiting channel correlation in time and/or frequency to reduce CQI feedback in wireless communications systems. By compressing CQI feedback at the receiver to reduce redundancy in CQI feedback information that results from the channel correlation, the average feedback rate is reduced. Redundancy in time may be removed from the CQI feedback by monitoring variations of the CQI information in time at the receiver so that CQI information for a given CQI reporting instance is communicated to the transmitter only if it differs from the CQI information for the previous CQI reporting instance. CQI feedback is compressed by performing a discrete cosine transform (DCT) on the CQI data and then communicated to the transmitter through the feedback control channel where it is decoded into the original CQI information and used to generate signal processing information for various sub-carriers.
US09131502B2

A method and related apparatuses for Contention Based (CB) uplink transmission are provided by the present invention. And the method includes: configuring CB user group numbers and configuring a same CB Radio Network Temporary Identifier (CB-RNTI) for multiple CB user groups; for the multiple CB user groups having the same CB-RNTI, configuring a same CB Grant. With the present invention, it is not necessary to send a CB Grant for every CB user group, so that the resource overhead for CB Grant transmission is reduced, and thus the occurring probability of scheduling blocking is reduced.
US09131500B2

A method for maintaining connectivity between a mobile node and a corresponding node when the mobile node connects to a foreign network, where the foreign network and the home network are Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) networks but the corresponding node is an Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) node. The method includes receiving at the home agent node an IPv6 care-of address, determining that the IPv6 care-of address belongs to the foreign network and that the foreign NAT64 node has a prefix to generate virtual IPv6 addresses and sending a prefix binding request message to a home NAT64 node to bind the prefix to the home address of the mobile node for translation between IPv6 and IPv4.
US09131496B2

The present invention relates to methods and arrangements for reducing the time delay associated with the initialization of a data transfer in a Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN). A Radio Network Controller (RNC) initiates a data transfer by transmitting a downlink paging message to a User Equipment (UE), wherein the UE is capable of being in the states URA PCH, CELL PCH or CELL DCH. The paging message comprises information for transferring the UE from the URA PCH or the CELL PCH state directly to the CELL DCH state by means of delay reducing information indicated in the paging message.
US09131489B2

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the communication field, and disclose a resource allocation method, apparatus, and system, which solve a problem that the size of resource allocation indication information increases with the increase of the transmission bandwidth, and redundancy of physical layer signaling increases with the increase of the transmission bandwidth. The method includes: allocating time-frequency resources in specific bandwidth to a terminal, where the specific bandwidth is a band less than or equal to system bandwidth; determining the size of resource allocation information according to the specific bandwidth; and sending the resource allocation information to the terminal to indicate the allocated time-frequency resources. The embodiments of the present invention are mainly applied to the process in which the base station allocates time-frequency resources to the terminal.
US09131474B2

Methods for allocating and choosing dedicated signatures for random access are provided. Options for allocating dedicated signatures include allocating the dedicated signature from the unused space of the random signature root index when there is unused space and allocating more dedicated signatures from the same root index using the same time/frequency resources if additional signatures are needed, and reserving some preambles from the contention-based random access preambles from both sets of preambles. The present invention also proposes that the dedicated signatures be reserved in each of two sets of preambles.
US09131471B2

A fixed or Mode II device enables a Mode I device for license exempt operation by providing to it a list of available license exempt radio channels and a parameter indicating an interval at which contact verification signals CVSs are to be sent. The CVSs verify whether the list remains valid. The fixed/Mode II device then repeatedly sends contact verification signals spaced in time from one another according to the interval. In various embodiments the parameter may be an explicit indication, or it may be implicit. A plurality of enabled Mode I devices each gets a device-specific list, and in one embodiment the interval is the same for each of them and the explicit indication is broadcast while in another the parameter is provided to each of them via unicast messages and the interval may differ.
US09131467B2

The present invention discloses a method for triggering communication between a group of MTC devices and an MTC server, and an MTC device. The method includes: receiving an MTC request message sent by a machine type communications MTC server, where the MTC request message carries a group ID of the group of MTC devices and a communication notification message for the group of MTC devices; obtaining area information of the group of MTC devices; and sending the area information, the group ID of the group of MTC devices, and the communication notification message for the group of MTC devices to a cell broadcast center CBC, so that the CBC sends a broadcast message to a device in an area, where the broadcast message includes the group ID of the group of MTC devices and the communication notification message for the group of MTC devices.
US09131466B1

A radio access network (RAN) may receive indications from a wireless communication device (WCD). The RAN may support wireless communication via a plurality of non-overlapping frequency bands, and the plurality of non-overlapping frequency bands may include a low-frequency band and a high-frequency band. The low-frequency band and the high-frequency band may be separated by at least 5 megahertz. The indications may indicate signal strengths at which the WCD received signals from one or more frequencies in the low-frequency band and one or more frequencies the high-frequency band. The RAN may also receive a communication request from the WCD. Based at least in part on receiving the communication request, the RAN may select a frequency from the one or more frequencies in the low-frequency band and the one or more frequencies in the high-frequency band, and may instruct the WCD to communicate using the selected frequency.
US09131463B2

A method of providing location information of a target Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Enabled Terminal (target SET) while protecting privacy of a user of the target SET in a Home-SUPL Location Center (H-SLC) providing the location information of the target SET, and the H-SLC, are provided. The method includes receiving a location request message from a requester, transmitting an SUPL INITiation (SUPL INIT) message by using a first session IDentifier (ID) to the target SET, the first session ID including a real ID of the target SET, transmitting a Positioning DATA (PDATA) message by using a second session ID to the Home-SUPL Positioning Center (H-SPC), the second session ID including a pseudo-ID for secure connection between the H-SLC and the H-SPC, receiving a positioning result of the target SET from the H-SPC, and transmitting the positioning result to the requester.
US09131449B2

A device may receive, from a browser, a message requesting that a first signal from a first base station of a first wireless network be attenuated in accordance with a first attenuation value. The device may set an attenuation level of the first wireless signal in accordance with the first attenuation value in response to the message. The first signal attenuated by the first attenuation value is wirelessly transmitted to a first user device at a first area shielded from signals wirelessly transmitted to a second user device at a second location.
US09131445B2

In an aspect there is provided a method of moving a processor of a mobile device from a low-power state for conserving power to an active mode for processing signals. The mobile device is configured to receive regularly scheduled signals. The method comprises, for each of multiple operating states of the mobile device determining a restore time associated with the operating state of the mobile device and storing each determined restore time in association with its operating state. The method further comprises detecting a current operating state of the mobile device and using the determined restore time for that state to set a trigger time to control movement of the processor of the mobile device to enter the active mode from the low-power mode in time to process the scheduled signals.
US09131433B2

Packets in a multi-hop wireless network are routed based on the available link throughputs, network node congestion and the connectivity of the network in a manner that minimizes the use of radio resources and minimizes delay for packets in multi-hop system. The routing method also avoids congestion in the access network, especially near the network access points as provided by network access nodes. Each wireless network node maintains a link table for storing link conditions and associated route costs. Packets are routed according to the low cost route. Subsequent wireless network nodes evaluate whether a lower cost route is available and, if so, route the data packet according to the lower cost route. Every wireless network node transmits the data packet, a specified route and a time stamp indicated a time of the last data entry in the link table that was used to calculate the low cost route.
US09131418B2

Techniques for reading and caching system information of non-serving systems in order to shorten call setup delay are described. A user equipment (UE) may communicate with a serving system, e.g., in an idle mode or a connected mode. The UE may periodically read system information of at least one non-serving system, e.g., as a background task. The UE may cache (i.e., store) the system information of the at least one non-serving system at the UE. The UE may thereafter access a particular non-serving system among the at least one non-serving system based on access parameters in the cached system information. By caching the system information, the UE can avoid reading the system information of the particular non-serving system at the time of system access, which may then reduce call setup delay.
US09131408B1

A system and method capable of scaling or gradually scaling bandwidth of a network flow over a period of time based on network usage are disclosed. In one embodiment, a process or network system obtains a network usage subscription after detecting a network flow. After retrieving a usage subscription and record in accordance with the network flow, the amount of data transferred since the beginning of a predefined time period is identified. Upon identifying the available data transfer quota, the process is able to gradually scale the bandwidth of the flow based on the available data transfer quota.
US09131401B2

In one embodiment, a load balancer receives a message from a tunnel termination gateway (TTG) associated with a mobile device. The load balancer may receive messages from a plurality of TTGs. A gateway node in a plurality of gateway nodes in which to send the message is determined. The load balancer then assigns a NSAPI for use by the gateway node. For example, the NSAPI may be associated with a tunnel that is generated between the TTG and GGSN. The load balancer ensures that the assigned NSAPI is not currently in use at the gateway node. Thus, no overlapping of NSAPIs may occur even though the load balancer is processing messages from multiple TTGs for multiple gateway nodes.
US09131400B2

A method comprises off-loading data traffic from user equipment in a coverage area of a cell from a first band to second band. The off-loading comprises building a probability distribution function of a transmit configuration for power levels of sub-bands for first bands and second bands in the cell and updating the probability distribution function being configured at an end of a selected time interval.
US09131399B2

In a method for generating a control data unit a physical layer (PHY) preamble of the control data unit is generated. In generating the PHY preamble, an address field is generated to indicate a communication device for which the data unit is intended, and a frame type field is generated to indicate a type of the control data unit. The address field and the frame type field are included in the PHY preamble. The control data unit is generated to include the PHY preamble. The control data unit is transmitted. The control data unit omits (i) a MAC header, and (iii) a payload.
US09131396B2

A system that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include an access segment of a mobility network in which routers receive network traffic data from base transceiver stations, forward the network traffic data by way of aggregation routers, originate probe packets directed to a targeted one of the base transceiver station and the aggregation router to determine, by way of an expected reply to each probe packet, reachability of the targeted one of the base transceiver station or the aggregation router. A change from reachability to unreachability of the targeted one of the base transceiver station or the aggregation router is determined to be an indication of service impacted outage. Determined service impacted outages are logged. Reliability metrics, such as average uptime, are computed from reachability status to quantify the impact of service level outages perceptible by the mobile communication devices. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09131388B2

A method of relaying a signal in a wireless communications network including a plurality of wireless devices is performed by at least one of said wireless devices to relay a signal in a communication path between one of said plurality of wireless devices and another one of said wireless devices, wherein said at least one of said wireless devices includes a power amplifier for amplifying said signal, the method including receiving a signal from said one of said plurality of wireless devices, determining a peak-to-average power ratio of said received signal under a plurality of predetermined relay modes, determining a back-off value associated with said power amplifier, selecting a mode of relaying said signal from said plurality of predetermined relay modes based on said determined peak-to-average power ratio and said determined back-off value, and transmitting said signal to said another one of said plurality of wireless devices using said selected mode.
US09131382B1

Implementations of the present disclosure include methods, systems, and computer-readable storage mediums for user confirmation of actions to be performed by a web application hosted on one or more servers. Actions can include receiving user input indicating a request directed to the web application, the user input being received through a mobile web browser, determining that the user input is requesting execution of an authorized action, and in response, providing data associated with the request for processing by a mobile authenticator application, providing a user interface generated by the mobile authenticator application based on the data, and receiving user confirmation of the authorized action through the user interface, and in response: providing a signed response by the mobile authenticator application, and transmitting the signed response to the one or more servers to initiate execution of the authorized action.
US09131374B1

An improved technique employs knowledge-based authentication (KBA) based on data stored in a mobile apparatus. The mobile apparatus collects data from sources including email data, web browsing data, accessed YouTube video data, and GPS location data recently stored in the mobile apparatus. From such data, the mobile apparatus builds questions and stores the questions on a database on the phone. Upon receiving a request to access a resource stored in the mobile apparatus from a user, the mobile apparatus selects questions at random and ranks them according to a policy accessible to the mobile apparatus. The mobile apparatus presents the highest-ranked questions to the user. The mobile apparatus grants or rejects access to the resource based on an authentication result that the mobile apparatus generates from answers to the questions submitted by the user.
US09131370B2

A first communication device is detected as being substantially collocated with a second communication device using a short-range wireless network. A connection is established between the first and second communication devices over the short-range wireless network. In some instances, authentication data can be sent from the second communication device to the first communication device to authenticate a user to the first communication device. Further, input is received from the first communication device over the short-range wireless network specifying a telephone number for a telephone call using the second communication device. A connection is established between the second communication device and a cellular base station to initiate the telephone call with a third communication device associated with the telephone number. In some instances, the second communication device is a wireless headset device.
US09131367B2

Methods and apparatus for enhancing Mobile IP signaling and to support use of disparate addressing plans and dynamic Home Agent allocation in Mobile IP Regional Tunneling are described. The enhanced methods of signaling use an intermediate node, e.g., a Gateway Foreign Agent, straddling different addressing domains, when the signaling controls a process between the intermediate node and an upstream node. The specific intermediate node, its interfaces and upstream addresses can be dynamically selected. The Enhanced MIP signaling includes dynamic allocation of: a regional node at a Foreign Agent, the upstream address of a regional node by the regional node, a Home Agent for a regional node prior to dynamic allocation of the regional node. A method is supported to indicate to a Mobile Node that a dynamically allocated regional node has become invalid triggering enhanced MIP signaling dynamically allocating a new regional node and upstream interface address.
US09131364B2

Various user interfaces and other technologies for interacting with devices that support multiple SIM cards can be implemented. For example, intelligent handling of SIM card selection can help users deal with multiple SIM card scenarios. A user interface for overriding SIM card selection can be supported. Users can interact with their devices more efficiently and with less frustration. A wide variety of use default SIM card scenarios are supported. SIM cards can be selected based on any of a rich set of input factors.
US09131363B2

Method for managing activation or deactivation of a secondary serving cell, SCell, for a base station (310) of a radiocommunication network and a User Equipment (320), UE, initially using a primary serving cell, PCell, and supporting Carrier Aggregation so as to aggregate SCell to PCell, the method comprising: —the UE obtaining information suggesting that an activation/deactivation command to activate/deactivate an SCell is likely to be received by the UE from the base station, said information obtaining taking place before said activation/deactivation command is actually received; —activating/deactivating an SCell as early as possible after said activation/deactivation command is received by the UE from the base station.
US09131352B2

A mobile station apparatus has established a first bearer that communicates with a home network and a second bearer that communicates with a core network. In the transmission of a multicast join request, the mobile station apparatus transmits the multicast join request by selecting the first bearer if the multicast join request is addressed to the home network, or by selecting the second bearer if the multicast join request is addressed to the core network. In this way, a mobile communication system is provided where the mobile station apparatus connected to a home base station apparatus determines whether a multicast group is based on a Local IP Access and then transmits the multicast join request, and the home base station apparatus appropriately establishes a multicast session to the home network or the core network in response to a determination of the mobile station apparatus.
US09131348B2

A mobile terminal and controlling method thereof are disclosed, which facilitates a terminal to be used in further consideration of user's convenience. The present invention includes sensing a humidity through a humidity sensor, receiving an AP (access point) location information through a wireless communication unit if a variation amount of the sensed humidity per unit time is equal to or greater than a prescribed value, determining whether a current location is an indoor space or an outdoor space based on the received AP location information, and activating a function of indoor location measurement if the determined location is the indoor space. The present invention determines a timing point of an outdoor-to-indoor or indoor-to-outdoor location shift of a mobile terminal and then activates an indoor location measuring function based on the result of the determination.
US09131318B2

A method for providing hearing assistance to a user by capturing input audio signals; estimating a speech level of the input audio signals and an ambient noise level of the input audio signals; applying a gain model to the input audio signals to transform the input audio signals into filtered audio signals, wherein, for a each ambient noise level, the gain varies as a function of the speech level and wherein the function varies according to the ambient noise level changing the ratio of the gain at low speech levels and at high speech levels as a function of the ambient noise level; wirelessly transmitting the filtered audio signals to a receiver unit forming or being connected to a user hearing stimulator, the stimulator being worn at or in the user's ear; and stimulating the user's hearing by the stimulator according to audio signals supplied by the receiver unit.
US09131316B2

A method, system, and computer program product for using a personal communication device as a microphone in a seminar or conference setting. A client is electrically connected to a PA system and one of many hosts can access the PA system by associating with the client. The association can be transferred by the client or the host. Tokens can be generated for each transfer and a map can be created and stored.
US09131315B2

A MEMS microphone with a built-in textile material protecting screen comprises a microphone body having an opening thereat is arranged a textile material protecting screen which is built-in in the microphone body, during the production phase of the MEMS device called “packaging”.
US09131314B2

Positive and negative two terminals of each of a plurality of main speakers constituting an array speaker are connected to each of amplifiers. Then, the main speakers are bridge-driven. Sub-speakers interpolating the main speakers are arranged respectively between the main speakers. Then, the positive and negative terminals of each of the sub-speakers are connected respectively to the terminals of the same polarities of the adjacent two of the main speakers. One sub-speaker receives an average value of the signals provided to the adjacent two main speakers, so that the one sub-speaker interpolates the wavefronts emitted from the adjacent two main speakers.
US09131306B2

An audio appliance includes two external connections for connection to external loudspeakers, and includes means for establishing an electrical signal between the external terminals that is representative of an audio source in order to inject an excitation electric current into each external loudspeaker. Means are provided for incorporating a component at a “detection” frequency that is situated outside the audible spectrum in the electrical signal that is established between the external terminals, together with means for detecting an electric current flowing between the external terminals and having a frequency corresponding to the detection frequency. This is applicable in particular to systems comprising a mobile appliance and a fixed docking station incorporating a woofer and designed to receive the mobile appliance.
US09131301B2

The invention relates to a speaker enclosure and a method for fabricating the same. The speaker enclosure comprises a main housing, a top cover, and a bottom plate. The main housing fabricated by a molding process and having a continuous side wall, end faces, and an inner space, wherein, a plurality of ribs are formed on the inner surface of the continuous side wall, so that the inner surface is an irregular surface. Therefore, the reflected direction of sound waves generated by a speaker unit in the inner space will be changed and the amplitude of sound waves will be decreased by an irregular surface formed in the inner surface of the continuous side wall. As the result, standing waves and echoes mixing with original sound waves may be eliminated.
US09131298B2

In general, techniques are described for performing constrained dynamic amplitude panning in collaborative sound systems. A headend device comprising one or more processors may perform the techniques. The processors may be configured to identify, for a mobile device participating in a collaborative surround sound system, a specified location of a virtual speaker of the collaborative surround sound system and determine a constraint that impacts playback of audio signals rendered from an audio source by the mobile device. The processors may be further configure to perform dynamic spatial rendering of the audio source with the determined constraint to render audio signals that reduces the impact of the determined constraint during playback of the audio signals by the mobile device.
US09131297B2

Provided are an audio signal processing apparatus and method. The audio signal processing apparatus includes: a sensing unit for sensing an impedance value of a headphone and adjusting a gain to be applied to an audio signal based on the sensed impedance value; and an amplifier for generating an output audio signal by receiving at least one bias voltage corresponding to the adjusted gain and amplifying the input audio signal according to the adjusted gain. The audio signal processing apparatus is capable of appropriately adjusting the magnitude of an acoustic signal output from a headphone, according to the product specifications of the headphone.
US09131293B2

A magnetic assembly for a speaker is disclosed. The magnetic assembly includes a yoke, a magnet module installed on the yoke, and a pole module mounted on the magnet module. The magnet module includes a main magnet, a first secondary magnet and a second secondary magnet, the pole module includes a main pole plate, a first secondary pole plate and a second secondary pole plate. The first secondary pole plate includes a first pole protrusion extending perpendicularly from an edge thereof, and the second secondary pole plate includes a second pole protrusion extending perpendicularly from an edge thereof. The first pole protrusion and the second pole protrusion are located facing two opposite side walls of the main magnet respectively.
US09131292B2

Provided is a wireless microphone system comprising a microphone and a wireless receiver, wherein the wireless microphone system is provided with: a normal communication mode in which communication is performed by using a normal unique word (UWN) preset in both the microphone and the wireless receiver devices; a confidential setting mode in which a confidential unique word (UWX) is transmitted without being set in either of said devices; and a confidential communication mode in which communication is performed by both said devices by using the confidential unique word (UWX) set by the confidential setting mode.
US09131291B2

An audio recording and playback device, of the present invention, capable of recording and playing back audio, comprises an audio input section for converting audio input during an audio recording operation into an electrical audio signal, a power feed section for carrying out power feeds to the audio input section by means of a balanced transmission line, an amplifier section for amplifying the audio signal, a boost section for generating a power feed voltage to be applied to the balanced transmission line and outputting to the power feed section, a output voltage changing section for carrying out control to vary the output voltage of the boost section, and a control section for controlling the power feed voltage of the power feed section by controlling the power feed section and the output voltage changing section.
US09131290B2

An audio coding device includes a time frequency transform unit that, with respect to each of a plurality of channels included in an audio signal, generates a time frequency signal indicating frequency components at each time by performing a time frequency transform on a signal of the channel; a transient detection unit that detects a transient with respect to each of the plurality of channels so as to obtain a transient detection time; a transient time correction unit that, when a difference in transient detection times between an early detection channel in which the transient detection time is earliest and a late detection channel that is a channel other than the early detection channel among the plurality of channels is within a range in which the transient; a grid determination unit that, with respect to each of the plurality of channels, and a coding unit that codes.
US09131281B2

A method for embedding, multiplexing and broadcasting of multiple audio metadata in an analog video stream and thereby generating output analog video containing multiple separable audio-video tuples of optimum quality. Further, a user study is performed on a sample tutorial video for various frame rates and resolution to calculate the mean opinion score for deriving the degree of multiplexing that may be provided without deteriorating the quality of video.
US09131279B2

In general, techniques are described for preparing video data in accordance with a wireless display protocol. For example, a portable device comprising a module to store video data, a wireless display host module and a wireless interface may implement the techniques of this disclosure. The wireless display host module determines one or more display parameters of a three-dimensional (3D) display device external from the portable device and prepares the video data to generate 3D video data based on the determined display parameters. The wireless interface then wirelessly transmits the 3D video data to the external 3D display device. In this way, a portable device implements the techniques to prepare video data in accordance with a wireless display protocol.
US09131273B1

Information about current television programming and web access by a user can be used to select and deliver ads or content to a television of the user or a computer of the user (e.g., the ads or content can be displayed through a web browser). Additional information (e.g., geographical location or demographics of the user) can also be used in the selection of ads or content to be delivered to the television or computer.
US09131265B2

Methods and systems for providing satellite television service to a premises may comprise receiving satellite television signals utilizing a satellite dish, converting received satellite signals to internet protocol (IP) signals, and wirelessly communicating the IP signals into a premises to which the satellite dish corresponds. The IP signals may, for example, conform to a multimedia over cable alliance (MoCA) standard or a IEEE 802.11x standard. The wirelessly communicating may comprise magnetic coupling. The received satellite signals may, for example, be converted to IP signals utilizing an IP low-noise block downconverter (IP-LNB) which may comprise full-band capture receivers. The wireless communication of the IP signals may, for example, be within a wireless network of the dwelling or may be independent of a wireless network of the dwelling. The wirelessly communicated IP signals may be beam-formed and may be communicated wirelessly over one or more industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands.
US09131263B2

Described herein are techniques for managing content stored on a distributed network. Content is initially placed onto the network and populated across one or more nodes. The content is distributed in association with decay parameters that define a lifetime for the population of the content on the network. Various communication nodes of the distributed network are configured to process the content decay parameters to determine whether to delete the content during subsequent time periods.
US09131261B2

An information processor includes a receiver configured to receive, from a first device, a response information request including content identification information for identifying a content in a network; an extraction portion configured to extract a plurality of element information pieces included in the content identification information; a storage to store therein each of conditions for a first element information piece among the plurality of element information pieces, and a response information piece in association with each other; and a generator configured to generate a response message including the response information piece stored in association with a condition that the first element information piece extracted by the extraction portion satisfies among the conditions for the first element information piece stored in the storage portion.
US09131260B2

A streaming media device includes a printed circuit board hosting components configured to access internet data. A connector is linked to the printed circuit board and adapted for connection to an audio/visual device. The connector and printed circuit board are configured to receive power from the audio/visual device. A housing encloses the printed circuit board and a portion of the connector.
US09131258B2

A method for providing a personalized service in an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) includes pairing a mobile terminal with the IPTV. The method also includes receiving personalized data from the paired mobile terminal, and searching the Internet for contents satisfying the received personalized data and providing the searched contents.
US09131255B2

A request is received from a subscriber of a video content network offering a switched digital video service, to establish a new switched digital video session within a service group of the video content network, which group includes both preferred and standard subscribers and has a plurality of existing sessions. It is determined whether adequate bandwidth is available to establish the new switched digital video session without tearing down any of the existing sessions. Responsive to the determination indicating that adequate bandwidth is not available without tearing down any of the existing sessions, at least one of the existing sessions is torn down. In this step, those of the existing sessions corresponding to the preferred subscribers are exempted from teardown. The new switched digital video session is established in accordance with the request. A switched digital video control apparatus, a set-top terminal, and a system are also disclosed.
US09131241B2

Adjustment of hardware acceleration level in a video decoder utilizing hardware acceleration is described. Errors are detected in a bitstream as it is decoded using different levels of error detection based on decoding characteristics. A statistical analysis is performed on the error values as they are detected. In one technique, if the bitstream is categorized as fitting a high error rate state in a bitstream model, then hardware acceleration is dropped. In another technique, error statistics based on run-lengths of good and bad bitstream units are kept, and compared to predetermined thresholds. If the thresholds are exceeded, the hardware acceleration level is dropped. The level is dropped in order to take advantage of superior error handing abilities of software-based decoding over hardware-accelerated decoding.
US09131240B2

A video decoding method and apparatus, the video decoding apparatus including: a decoder unit to control a video decoding operation; and a multi-core processor to perform the video decoding operation on an input bitstream by using the decoding unit, wherein the multi-core processor includes: a first core to parse the input bitstream into a plurality of slices and to allocate the slices; and a second core to receive one of the slices, to generate a plurality of macroblocks by decoding the received slice, to alternately store the macroblocks in first and second buffers included in an auxiliary memory thereof, to alternately transfer the macroblocks from the first and second buffers to a main memory, and to reconstruct an image for the macroblocks, wherein the macroblocks are transferred from one of the first and second buffers while the macroblocks are stored in the other one of the first and second buffers.
US09131236B2

A code amount control method used in a video encoding method for performing code amount control by estimating a generated code amount for an encoding target picture. The control method includes steps of computing a feature value of the encoding target picture and stores the value into a storage device; extracting a feature value of a previously-encoded picture stored in the storage device and used for generated code amount estimation; comparing the feature values of the encoding target picture and the previously-encoded picture; and a step performed according to a result of the comparison. If it is determined that difference between both feature values is larger than a predetermined criterion value, the amount of code generated for the encoding target picture is estimated using no result of encoding of the previously-encoded picture, and otherwise the relevant generated code amount is estimated based on a result of the encoding.
US09131234B1

A method for signaling sample adaptive offset (SAO) band offset syntax elements in a video encoder is provided that includes receiving a plurality of band offset syntax elements, entropy encoding an absolute value of a magnitude of each band offset syntax element in a compressed video bit stream, and entropy encoding a sign of each non-zero band offset syntax element in the compressed video bit stream following the absolute values of the magnitudes.
US09131225B2

A video display apparatus can adjust the parallax level of stereoscopic video images in accordance with the video image size and allows a user to make further parallax adjustment. The video display apparatus acquires the video image size of the stereoscopic video images, sets a default value of a depth adjustment value for adjusting the parallax level of the stereoscopic video images based on the acquired video image size, changes the depth adjustment value when the user has provided an input representing a change in the depth adjustment value, sets a parallax adjustment level of the stereoscopic video images based on the changed depth adjustment value, and adjusts the parallax level of the stereoscopic video images based on the parallax adjustment level.
US09131222B2

An image processing device includes a phase difference detection portion configured to detect phase difference between parallax images by performing correlation value calculation with a plurality of parallax images, and generate phase difference distribution in an image. The phase difference detection portion performs the phase difference detection individually along two or more directions different from each other, and generates the phase difference distribution by utilizing results of the phase difference detection regarding the two or more directions.
US09131213B2

The described embodiments relate to methods and systems for detecting the blockiness of a video signal comprised of a number of pixels. The method includes the steps of calculating a total number of pixels in the video signal in flat blocks and visible block edge transitions, and generating a blockiness indicator from the total number of pixels in flat blocks and visible block edge transitions. The step of calculating the total number of pixels in flat blocks and the total number of pixels in visible block edge transitions may include calculating differential values for each pixel in the video signal, analyzing the differential values to determine if the pixel is part of a transition and/or a flat area and then counting the number of pixels in flat blocks and visible block edge transitions to produce a total number of pixels in flat blocks and a total number of pixels in visible block edge transitions.
US09131207B2

There is provided a video recording apparatus including a content accumulation part accumulating video content, a feature extraction processing part extracting an image or voice as a feature from the video content accumulated by the content accumulation part, and obtaining word information from the extracted image or the extracted voice, a word information acquisition part acquiring sorted word information obtained using clustering processing on word information identified from an image captured by a camera, and a content retrieval part retrieving relevant video content from the video content accumulated by the content accumulation part based on the sorted word information acquired by the word information acquisition part and the word information acquired by the feature extraction processing part.
US09131201B1

A gain may be applied to a short-exposure image to form a virtual long-exposure image. The short-exposure image may have been captured using a short total exposure time (TET), the virtual long-exposure image may have a virtual long TET, and the virtual long TET may be greater than the short TET. A true long-exposure image may be captured using a true long TET. The true long TET may be substantially equal to the virtual long TET. Color values of at least some pixels of the true long-exposure image may be copied to corresponding pixels of the virtual long-exposure image.
US09131199B2

An imaging apparatus has an image pickup device having a plurality of pixels having input-output characteristic which non-linearly changes according to input and a plurality of color filters in a plurality of colors arranged on respective pixels; an output signal linear convertor converting a first output signal from the image pickup device into a second output signal which is predicted to be output from the image pickup device on the assumption that the image pickup device outputs the second output signal which linearly changes all over a range of the input brightness; a color signal generator generating color signals in the plurality of colors on each pixel based on the second output signal; a brightness signal generator generating a brightness signal from the first output signal; and a color brightness composition part combining the color signals and the brightness signal to generate an image signal.
US09131190B2

There is provided an image display device, including a first obtaining unit for obtaining a first image, a second obtaining unit for obtaining a second image to be superimposed on the first image, a reproducing unit for generating an output image by superimposing the second image on the first image and displaying the generated output image, a detecting unit for detecting a position in the output image of a cursor operated by a user, and a reproduction controller for controlling display of the second image by the reproducing unit according to positional relationship between a display position of the second image in the output image and a cursor position detected by the detecting unit.
US09131186B2

An image formation apparatus includes: a platen on which to place a document; a scanner unit configured to scan the document placed on the platen; a document detection unit configured to detect the document placed on the platen; an authentication information input unit configured to receive input of a piece of first authentication information; and a control unit configured, when the document detection unit detects the document before use of the image formation is permitted on the basis of the piece of first authentication information received by the authentication information input unit, to cause the scanner unit to start to scan the document in accordance with a predetermined scan condition if the use is permitted on the basis of the piece of first authentication information received by the authentication information input unit.
US09131183B2

A signal processing circuit 4 includes a clock circuit 24 which generates a clock signal which has been subjected to spread spectrum modulation and supplies the clock signal to a photoelectric conversion element; a AD converter 15 which performs AD conversion on an image signal obtained by the photoelectric conversion element; a noise detecting circuit 21 which detects a noise amplitude of a noise signal that is caused by the spread spectrum modulation of the clock signal and is included in the image signal which has been AD converted; and an analog correction circuit 23 and an digital correction circuit 22 that calculate a correction factor based on the noise amplitude, generate a correction signal by multiplying the digital modulation signal by the correction factor, and superimpose the correction signal onto the image signal at an input side or an output side of the AD converter.
US09131182B2

An image processing apparatus discriminates between a first region, which is a consecutive region existing on a region exceeding a predetermined area in an input image, and a second region, which is other than the first region, performs smoothing processing of differing strengths on the first region and the second region, and performs image transformation processing on the image on which smoothing processing was performed.
US09131179B2

A solid-state imaging device and a camera system are disclosed. The solid-state imaging device includes a pixel unit and a pixel signal readout circuit. The pixel signal readout circuit includes a plurality of comparators disposed to correspond to a pixel column array, and a plurality of counters. Each counter includes a first amplifier, a second amplifier, and a mirror circuit to from a current mirror in parallel with the second amplifier. The first amplifier includes differential transistors, initializing switches connected between gates and collectors of the differential transistors, and first and second capacitors connected to each of the gates of the differential transistors. The second amplifier includes an initializing switch and a third capacitor. The mirror circuit includes a gate input transistor whose gate is inputted with a voltage sampled by the first amplifier or a voltage sampled by the second amplifier.
US09131176B2

The driving device includes an applied voltage control unit configured to perform a transfer process of controlling a charge-coupled device to transfer electric charges. The applied voltage control unit is configured to switch, in order from a first end to a second end of a line of transfer electrodes of the charge-coupled device, a voltage applied to the transfer electrode from a control voltage for forming a potential well to a reference voltage for eliminating the potential well. The applied voltage control unit includes a control circuit configured to generate a driving signal based on a clock signal, and a driving circuit configured to apply the control voltage and the reference voltage selectively to the transfer electrode in accordance with the driving signal. The control circuit is configured to delay a second driving signal defined by the driving signal associated with one of the adjacent transfer electrodes from a first driving signal defined by the driving signal associated with the other of the adjacent transfer electrodes so as to adjust a phase difference between the first driving signal and the second driving signal to a value corresponding to predetermined time shorter than a period of the clock signal.
US09131163B2

Disclosed embodiments are directed to methods, systems, and circuits of generating compact descriptors for transmission over a communications network. A method according to one embodiment includes receiving an uncompressed descriptor, performing zero-thresholding on the uncompressed descriptor to generate a zero-threshold-delimited descriptor, quantizing the zero-threshold-delimited descriptor to generate a quantized descriptor, and coding the quantized descriptor to generate a compact descriptor for transmission over a communications network. The uncompressed and compact descriptors may be 3D descriptors, such as where the uncompressed descriptor is a SHOT descriptor. The operation of coding can be ZeroFlag coding, ExpGolomb coding, or Arithmetic coding, for example.
US09131159B2

A method and apparatus for optical field communication, wherein incident light is spread on the surface of an image sensor with a diffuser element; a conventional digital image is captured with high exposure pixel rows of the image sensor; and the light intensity on two successive low exposure pixel rows of the image sensor is recorded. The recorded light intensities of the two successive low exposure pixel rows are compared; and in response to comparing the recorded light intensities of the two successive low exposure pixel rows, a value of a bit received via optical field communication is determined.
US09131158B2

There is provided an apparatus including a moving-image capturing apparatus including a clipping unit configured to clip an image signal according to an image size read from an image sensor based on zoom ratio information, and a size conversion unit configured to perform an image size conversion process as necessary on the image signal clipped by the clipping unit based on the zoom ratio information.
US09131151B2

An image capturing apparatus comprises an image capturing unit configured to capture images by an image sensor; an acquisition unit configured to acquire information relating to sensitivities of the image sensor used for capturing the images; a composition unit configured to add a plurality of images for generating a composite image; and a development processing unit configured to perform development processing of data of the composite image generated by the composition unit; wherein a plurality of parameters having different characteristics corresponding to the sensitivities of the image sensor are provided as the parameters used for the development processing; further comprising a control unit configured to perform controlling to compare the sensitivities used for shooting the plurality of images and set the parameter corresponding to the highest sensitivity as the parameter used for the development processing.
US09131149B2

An image processing device includes: a determination unit determining whether each character included as a subject in a captured image is an unnoted non-main character; and a controller controlling an image-related process which is a process related to an image on the basis of a status of the character determined as a non-main character.
US09131144B2

A focus control apparatus and method for controlling the focus manually is provided. The focus control apparatus includes a shutter button, a display for displaying an image whose focus is changed depending on a moving direction of a drag occurring after the shutter button is touched in a preview mode, and a controller for controlling the display to display the image whose focus is changed depending on the moving direction of the drag occurring after the shutter button is touched in the preview mode.
US09131141B2

An iris recognition system and method for operating same is disclosed. The iris recognition system includes an image sensor, a buffer, a comparator, autofocus logic, and gain control logic. The image sensor is configured to obtain at least one image from a camera. The buffer communicatively connected to the image sensor stores values associated with the pixels in the image sensor. The comparator communicatively connected to the buffer obtains a coarse segmentation of an iris of a subject. The autofocus logic for adjusts the focus of a lens associated with the camera. The gain control logic adjusts the gain of the image sensor. The functions of obtaining a coarse segmentation, adjusting the focus of the lens, and adjusting the gain are based on the locations of the pixels with the highest value in the image sensor as stored in the buffer.
US09131133B2

The present invention relates to a stabilized camera module configured to prevent instable movement of a bobbin caused by outside force, the module including a holder formed at a lateral surface with at least one slit, a bobbin movably coupled to an inside of the holder and having a protruder protruding outside of the holder by penetrating the slit, a lens assembly coupled to an inside of the bobbin and including one or more lenses receiving an optical image of an object, and one or more elastic members formed between the holder and the bobbin to prevent the bobbin from moving to one side of the holder.
US09131127B2

A method and apparatus is provided for reconstructing video frames that include missing pixels as a result of video stabilization techniques to compensate for camera movement and/or zooming. In one example, the method and apparatus caches transformed frames of video, identifies coordinates of missing pixels in a current transformed frame, and sequentially processes, for only the missing pixel coordinates, the cached transformed frames in reverse chronological order to identify pixels at coordinates in the cached transformed frames having valid data and corresponding to one of the missing pixel coordinates. Upon identifying a pixel having valid data at a coordinate in a cached transformed frame corresponding to a missing pixel coordinate, the method and apparatus inserts the valid data at the missing pixel coordinate.
US09131123B2

Provided is a method for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle, with which vehicle driving safely can be improved. The disclosed method for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle involves: a step (S1100: YES; S1400) of activating a notification section that gives off an alarm to the driver of the vehicle when the vehicle starts to move; and a step (S1400) of displaying, on a screen inside the vehicle, a display item that accepts an operation for cancelling the alarm, as well as a image which is based on captured video-image data of the surroundings of the vehicle, when the vehicle starts to move.
US09131122B2

In a display apparatus connected to an image processing apparatus which detects the change amount in an input image and stores, as a detected image, an image during a period with a change amount equal to or more than a predetermined amount, the change log of the change amount and the detected image are received, the change log is displayed by using a graph, and information related to the detected image is displayed on the graph in a superposed manner.
US09131121B2

An intrusion detection device includes: a light emitting unit which forms a plurality of light emitting marks arranged on a boundary of an intrusion monitoring area; an imaging device which images an area including the plurality of light emitting marks, and outputs the captured image; and a detection unit which detects predetermined marks which are different from the light emitting marks, from the output image, sets a masking area on the image based on the detected marks, and detects an intrusion material in the intrusion monitoring area based on the image in an area other than the masking area.
US09131116B2

An information processing apparatus includes: a program guide displaying unit configured to display a program guide on a predetermined display, the program guide being such that program information is arranged in an area having a time axis and a channel axis; an indicator acquisition unit configured to acquire an indicator indicative of the number of viewers viewing each of a plurality of programs listed in the program guide in a similar time zone; and a popularity determination unit configured to determine the popularity of the program in accordance with the indicator. The program guide displaying unit displays at least some of the plurality of programs in a mode indicating the popularity of the program.
US09131114B2

A method for encrypting content includes using a plurality of different encryption schemes to produce encrypted content. Encryption information is provided so as to indicate which of the plurality of different encryption schemes is used on portions of the content that was encrypted. Encryption information and the encrypted content are both sent as a content stream to another device. The decryption involves using the encryption information to help control the decryption so that the correct one of a plurality of different decryption schemes is applied to the proper portions of the encrypted content.
US09131112B1

Methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, are described for allocating resources in a media-based conferencing session. A server computing device receives a first request to join a conference session from a first end point device associated with a non-organizer participant, including a first media stream. The server computing device determines a hosting site by querying a media location service and determines configuration attributes by querying a database. The server computing device connects the media stream to a waiting room at the hosting site. The server computing device receives a second request to join the conference session from a second end point device associated with an organizer, including a second media stream. The server computing device determines a meeting room for the conference session by querying the media location service and establishes the conference session by transferring the first media stream and the second media stream into the meeting room.
US09131101B2

An image reading apparatus includes: a reading unit which reads an original as an object to be read in a main scanning direction every time a command signal is inputted; a command unit which inputs the command signal to the reading unit; a conveying unit which conveys at least one of the original and the reading unit so as to change a relative position between the reading unit and the original in a sub scanning direction; a signal output unit which outputs a displacement signal every time the relative position is changed by a predetermined amount; and a control unit which controls the command unit. The command unit which operates in a first mode to output the command signal to the reading unit at a predetermined time interval and in a second mode to output the command signal to the reading unit at a timing synchronized with the displacement signal.
US09131099B2

A configuration is adopted in which an image sensor unit includes: a sensor substrate on which a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements are mounted; a light source that includes light-emitting elements and is for illuminating a document; a light guide that guides light from the light source from one end face in a longitudinal direction and linearly illuminates the document; a rod lens array imaging reflected light from the document on the sensor substrate; and a frame attaching each of these, and in which the frame detachably includes a spacer provided in proximity to the light source, and the spacer includes a light shield roof elongated so as to cover the light source and the end of the light guide.
US09131091B2

A document reading device includes: a document reading device main body; and an opening/closing body with one end supported rotatably with respect to the document reading device main body while another end openably/closably provided, the other end of the opening/closing body being provided with a handgrip having a depression sloped toward inside of the opening/closing body in accordance with approach of the opening/closing body to the document reading device main body in a closed status with respect to the document reading device main body.
US09131085B2

In a communication system, an image forming apparatus sends an address of a receiving section to a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal receives a selection of an image data among plural thumbnails displayed on a display section, and wirelessly sends the selected image data to the image forming apparatus with the address. The image forming apparatus receives the selected image data sent with the address by the mobile terminal, and prints an image based on the selected image data. A communication between the mobile terminal and the image forming apparatus is performed wirelessly with an IEEE 802.11 standard. The image forming apparatus continuously performs a second printing, when the receiving section receives a selected image data again in a condition that the communication with the mobile terminal is continuously established by the receiving section after the printing of the received image data is finished.
US09131070B2

A system and method which overcome capacity and latency limitations of online charging systems. In an embodiment of the invention an online mediation system includes a SCIM, a Local-OCS and an SDR Processor. The SCIM includes smart offloading functionality which can determine, based on network events and account status, whether a session should be offloaded. Where a session should be offloaded, the SCIM initializes and mediates an offloaded charging session with the Local-OCS. In an embodiment, the SCIM includes smart offloading functionality which make a determination within an offloaded session based on additional network events, the used units and the account status whether a session should continue to be offloaded. Where a session should not continue to be offloaded, the SCIM terminates the offloaded charging session with the Local-OCS and initializes and mediate a charging session with an online OCS.
US09131069B2

Systems, methods, and computer program products for provisioning a temporary disposable number are described. A user can be provided with a pool of available temporary disposable numbers that have a limited shelf life. The user can select one of the available temporary disposable numbers while submitting a permanent phone number associated with a communications device (e.g., mobile phone, home phone, business phone, etc.). Prior to activating the selected temporary disposable number, the temporary disposable number is linked to the permanent phone number. After activation, when an incoming call to the temporary disposable number is received, the permanent phone number is identified to be associated with the temporary disposable number being called. The incoming call is then forwarded to the communications device on which the permanent phone number is established.
US09131061B2

An audio gateway device may establish a wireless connection between the audio gateway device and the hands free device using a protocol supporting a single subscription. The audio gateway device may also establish a first call which terminates or originates at the hands free device via a first subscription. An outgoing call may be established via a second subscription by: (a) receiving a first indicator from the hands free device to switch subscriptions, where the first indicator does not specify a subscription; and (b) establishing an originating second call via the second subscription which originates at the hands free device. Similarly, an incoming call may be established via the second subscription by: (a) sending a second indicator to the hands free device of an incoming third call, where the second indicator does not specify a subscription; and (b) establishing the third call via the second subscription which terminates at the hands free device.
US09131056B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus can be used for the establishment of a conference call via a packet network (which may be an IP fixed packet network) administered by a communications server, including a Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) based server.
US09131028B2

Example systems and methods of content sharing via social networking are presented. In one example, availability of a first user device to provide media content over a communication network is detected. A second user device is identified via an association of the first user device with the second user device that is specified in a social network. An acceptance by the second user device to receive the media content from the first user device is determined. In response to the acceptance, transmission of the media content provided by the first user device over the communication network to the second user device is initiated.
US09131027B2

A method includes: obtaining, by a client, a media presentation description file, where the media presentation description file includes a priority level of a coding representation group of media; selecting a coding representation group according to the priority level of the coding representation group and a current network bandwidth, and selecting one coding representation from each selected coding representation group; and requesting, according to address information that is of the selected coding representation and is obtained by parsing the media presentation description file, a media segment of the coding representation from a server that is indicated by the address information.
US09130993B2

A wireless connection system having at least one host device and at least one client device is disclosed. The client device is brought close to the host device, near field wireless communications are performed and an authentication process of authenticating the client device is performed with connection setting information through the near field wireless communications when wireless communications are performed between the host device and the client device based on a predetermined wireless communication standard. When the client device has been successfully authenticated with the connection setting information in the authentication process, the client device is permitted to perform the wireless communications. When the client device has not been successfully authenticated with the connection setting information in the authentication process, the client device is not permitted to perform the wireless communications.
US09130992B2

Disclosed is a method for efficient transport of packets between a mobile station and a secure gateway over a wireless local area network for accessing home services. In the method, a first encryption security association is established for transporting first-type packets from the secure gateway to the mobile station, and a second encryption security association is established for transporting first-type packets from the mobile station to the secure gateway. Next, a first null-encryption security association is established for transporting second-type packets from the secure gateway to the mobile station, and a second null-encryption security association is established for transporting second-type packets from the mobile station to the secure gateway. Second-type packets are selected for transport using the second null-encryption security association based on a traffic selector. Also, second-type packets may be selected for transport using the first null-encryption security association based on a traffic selector. The traffic selector may be preconfigured.
US09130990B2

A domain name server includes a zone file containing partitioning rules that define the partitioning of all subfolders of this domain into subzones. The DNS data of each of these subzones is hosted by a partition server that is able to obtain from the zone file information for identifying the partition server able to respond to a query sent by a client to obtain a DNS folder.
US09130989B2

Methods and systems are provided for securing email communications. According to one embodiment, a network device receives an outbound email originated by a computing device of an internal network and directed to a target recipient. It is determined whether a domain name of the target recipient is present in a global doppelganger database. When the domain name is determined to be present in the global doppelganger database, transmission of the outbound email to the target recipient is prevented if the domain name is an unacceptable domain name and transmission of the outbound email to the target recipient is permitted if the domain name is an acceptable domain name.
US09130977B2

A system and method for separation of traffic processing in a computing farm. The method comprises allocating a first group of computing resources of the computing farm to a trusted zone and a second group of computing resources to an un-trusted zone, wherein the computing resources in the first group are allocated to ensure at least service-level agreements (SLA) guaranteed to a group of trusted clients; determining, based on a plurality of security risk indication parameters, if a client associated with an incoming traffic is a trusted client or an un-trusted client; forwarding the incoming traffic to the second group of computing resources when the client is determined to be an un-trusted client; and diverting the incoming traffic to the first group of computing resources when the client is determined to be a trusted client, thereby ensuring at least the SLA guaranteed to the trusted client.
US09130967B2

A method and system for network element recovery are provided. In one form, frontend servers intelligently proxy error or unavailability messages returned by backend servers and simulate frontend server failure. In at least one form, the frontend server also includes intelligence or logic to determine that directing the client to recover service to an alternate system or site would assure better service availability, reliability, and/or quality-of-experience for the client.
US09130962B2

Reputations of domain registrars are calculated based on the hosting of risky domains. The more undesirable domains a registrar hosts, the lower is its reputation. The risk level of the hosted domains is also a factor in determining the reputation. When a user attempts to access a hosted domain, the calculated reputation of the hosting domain registrar is used in determining what security steps to apply to the access attempt. The worse the reputation of the hosting registrar, the more security is applied, all else being equal.
US09130959B2

A method and apparatus are described including determining if a received message is from a monitored peer, forwarding the received message to a coordinator responsive to said determination, determining if the received message is a request message, opening a port for the peer responsive to the second determination, forwarding the request message to a monitored peer via the opened port and forwarding a response message to the monitored peer responsive to the second determination.
US09130956B2

A de-registration method and system for IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) centralized service are provided in the present invention, wherein the method comprises: a Circuit Switched User Equipment (CS UE) moves from a source enhanced Mobile Switch Center Server (eMSC Server) into the control area of a target Mobile Switch Center Server (MSC Server); during a location cancelling process in which the CS UE changes the MSC Server to which it is attached, the source eMSC Server starts up delay timing after receiving a location cancelling request; when the delay time is reached, the source eMSC Server performs the de-registration of the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) instead of the CS UE. The method and system of the present invention ensure that the de-registration request of the source eMSC Server arrives at the Serving Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) later than the registration request of the target MSC server, so as to avoid unnecessary redundant signaling and improve the system processing efficiency.
US09130949B2

An anonymizing apparatus includes a processor configured to receive an instruction from a first apparatus, anonymize an anonymized part of a first data based on a type of an application program that causes the first apparatus to send the instruction, and transmit the anonymized first data to the first apparatus.
US09130948B2

A method for opening a browser includes: receiving a signal for starting up a browser and opening the browser; judging whether a locally stored first splash screen image is valid at the current time; if yes, displaying the first splash screen image, if not, displaying a local default second splash screen image; after the opening the browser, further including: sending first information to a server, wherein the first information includes client basic information and image information of the first splash screen image, wherein the client basic information includes a screen size of the client and a client attribute; receiving second information returned by the server according to the first information; and updating the locally stored first splash screen image according to the second information.
US09130947B2

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a computer-implemented system and method for data exchange management. The method may incorporate a physical data exchange management system and/or a logical data exchange management system. The method may include storing a data exchange profile for each communicating entity, receiving a request for data exchange from one of the communicating entities, and processing the request through a request handler for handling receipt of data exchange requests from the communicating entities, wherein the request handler accesses a relevant data exchange profile for the requesting communicating entity. The method may additionally include formatting data for exchange in accordance with the relevant data exchange profile and delivering the formatted data to a destination in accordance with the relevant data exchange profile.
US09130937B1

In certain embodiments, a method includes receiving a message at a first network interface of a first node. The first network interface communicates with a first network while a second network interface communicates with a second network. The method includes determining a set of expected tokens and an expected order of tokens. A plurality of tokens are accessed that were generated for the message, each of the plurality of tokens associated with a policy service of a plurality of policy services. The method includes generating a plurality of decrypted tokens from the plurality of tokens using a first parameter associated with the plurality of policy services and validating the decrypted tokens by comparing the decrypted tokens to the set of expected tokens. In response to validating the decrypted tokens and determining that the decrypted tokens are in the expected order, an approval is generated.
US09130936B2

Improved approaches for providing secure remote access to resources maintained on private networks are disclosed. According to one aspect, predetermined elements, such as applets, can be modified to redirect all communications to and from an application server through an intermediate server. The intermediate server in turn communicates with the application servers. According to another aspect, a communication framework can be provided to funnel communication between an applet and a server through a communication layer so as to provide managed and/or secured communications there between.
US09130931B2

A method for reading at least one attribute stored in an ID token using first, second and third computer systems, wherein the third computer system comprises a browser and a client, and wherein a service certificate is assigned to the second computer system, wherein the service certificate comprises an identifier which is used to identify the second computer system, wherein the ID token is assigned to a user, a first cryptographically protected connection (TLS1) is set up between the browser of the third computer system and the second computer system, wherein the third computer system receives a first certificate, the first certificate is stored by the third computer system, the third computer system receives a signed attribute specification via the first connection, a second cryptographically protected connection (TLS2) is set up between the browser of the third computer system and the first computer system, wherein the third computer system receives a second certificate, the signed attribute specification is forwarded from the third computer system to the first computer system via the second connection, the first computer system accesses an authorization certificate, wherein the authorization certificate comprises the identifier, a third cryptographically protected connection (TLS3) is set up between the first computer system and the client of the third computer system, wherein the third computer system receives the authorization certificate containing the identifier via the third connection, the client of the third computer system checks whether the first certificate comprises the identifier as proof of the fact that the first certificate matches the service certificate, the user is authenticated with respect to the ID token, the first computer system is authenticated with respect to the ID token, a fourth cryptographically protected connection with end-to-end encryption is set up between the ID token and the first computer system, after the user and the first computer system have been successfully authenticated with respect to the ID token, the first computer system has read access to the at least one attribute stored in the ID token via the fourth connection in order to read the one or more attributes specified in the attribute specification from the ID token,—the first computer system transmits the at least one attribute to the second computer system after said attribute has been signed.
US09130929B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for authenticating an identity of an online user. One method includes receiving from the user, through a first device, a request to access a web page associated with the user's online account; transmitting to the user an image that contains a unique ID and a URL of an authentication server; and receiving from the user, through the first device, an authentication request containing the unique ID. The method also includes receiving from the user, through a second device, a log-in ID associated with the user and the unique ID; and authenticating the identity of the user to grant the user access, through the first device, to the web page associated with the user's online account.
US09130914B2

A pairing server (313) includes: a first generation unit (317a) which generates a first pairing identifier when the pairing server receives a first request from a receiving terminal (307); a first transmitting unit (316a) which transmits the first pairing identifier to the receiving terminal (307) in response to the first request; a second generation unit (317b) which generates a second pairing identifier when the pairing server receives from a transmitting terminal (301) a second request which includes the first pairing identifier; a second transmitting unit (316b) which transmits the second pairing identifier to the receiving terminal (307) or the transmitting terminal (301) in response to the second request; and a pairing unit (315e) which pairs the receiving terminal (307) and the transmitting terminal (301) when the pairing server receives a third request which includes the first pairing identifier and the second pairing identifier.
US09130905B2

Techniques for content review with proxy comment management are presented. Comments associated with content review are managed separately from the content itself. Some comments are associated with participants internal to a secure network where the comments are managed while other comments are originally received from external participants located outside the secure network. The external comments are adopted by one or more of the internal participants that act as proxies for the external participants and their supplied comments. The proxy relationship permits the external comments to be added to the comments for the content review within the secure network.
US09130900B2

A system and method for providing automated assistance for a user using a computing device comprises, receiving a user request for assistance. The system and method can include determining semantics of the user request and identifying at least one domain, at least one task, and at least one parameter for the user request. The system and method can include accessing one or more semantic web services through an application and determine at least one responsive answer such as to respond to the user request.
US09130890B2

In a method of scheduling frames, a first channel of a plurality of channels is selected for a first frame. The first frame is sent across a media-independent interface to a physical-layer device for transmission on the first channel. A data rate of the media-independent interface is greater than a data rate of the physical-layer device for the first channel. After the first frame is sent across the media-independent interface, subsequent sending of frames for the first channel across the media-independent interface is disabled for a period of time that is based at least in part on rate adaption from the data rate of the media-independent interface to the data rate of the physical-layer device for the first channel.
US09130884B2

A routing device is provided, the routing device includes a first network interface unit, a second network interface unit and a processing unit. The first network interface unit connects the routing device to a local private network. The second network interface unit connects the routing device to the Internet. The processing unit assigns a virtual subnet to a remote routing device for a remote host in a remote private network to obtain a virtual Internet protocol (IP) address according to the virtual subnet. The processing unit receives a network packet from a local host in the local private network through the first network interface unit, and encapsulates the network packet according to a public IP address of the remote routing device to generate an alternative packet. Then, the processing unit delivers the alternative packet to the Internet through the second network interface unit.
US09130883B2

A packet preprocessing device is used in conjunction with a non-programmable packet forwarding processor (NLFP) to apply a different system function to received data packets than the function normally applied by the NLFP on the packets. Received data packets are pre-processed (e.g., modifying, manipulating, altering, spoofing, etc.) in order to enable, or cause, NLFPs that process the data packets to provide, in effect, a system-level behavior on the packets that is different from the system-level behavior for which the NLFP is/was conventionally designed. The data packet is “pre-processed” to change or manipulate the data packet, and then the NLFP processes the pre-processed data packet in accordance with its conventional function(s) which alters the overall function applied to the data packet.
US09130879B2

Methods and systems described herein facilitate offload processing of encapsulated packets. A virtualization manager enables a virtual switch to be associated with a virtual overlay network. A virtual machine includes a virtual NIC that is connected to the virtual overlay network via the virtual switch. The virtualization manager is configured to encapsulate an outgoing packet sent from the virtual machine to the virtual overlay network. The virtualization manager is also configured to de-encapsulate an incoming packet sent from the virtual overlay network to the virtual machine. A physical NIC is configured to calculate at least one inner checksum based on the encapsulated outgoing packet and to verify at least one inner checksum included in the de-encapsulated incoming packet.
US09130872B2

An example method for workload based service chain insertion in a network environment is provided and includes partitioning a service-path into fragments at a service controller, where the service-path comprises an ordered sequence of services to be provided to a packet associated with a workload in a network. The method also includes determining a location of service nodes providing the services; and provisioning the fragments at interfaces at a distributed virtual switch. The method could further include generating a plurality of service insertion points corresponding to the fragments at a service dispatcher. The service dispatcher can include a plurality of data plane components, and the service insertion points are generated at the data plane components.
US09130871B2

Interference classification with minimal or incomplete information. Receivers in access points and in other network devices on a wireless digital network may be switched to a spectrum monitor mode in which they provide amplitude-versus-frequency information for a chosen part of the spectrum. This may be performed by performing a FFT or similar transform on the signals from the receiver. Receivers are calibrated with known interference sources in controlled environments to determine peaks, pulse frequency, bandwidth, and other identifying parameters of the interference source in best and worst case conditions. These calibrated values are used for matching interference signatures. Calibration is also performed using partial signatures collected over a short period in the order of microseconds. These partial signals may be used to detect interferers while scanning.
US09130866B2

In one embodiment, a network frame is received at flow aware navigator between a client computer and a server computer. The flow aware navigator is configured to determine whether the network frame should be forwarded to one or more network services for processing before forwarding the network frame to the server computer. If the flow aware navigator determines that the network frame should be forwarded to one or more network services for processing before forwarding the network frame to the server computer, the flow aware navigator forwards the network frame to the one or more network services for processing. In response to receiving the processed network frame from the network services, the flow aware navigator then forwards the processed network frame to the server computer.
US09130865B2

A method in an active network element. The network element is coupled with a standby network element by an inter-chassis communication channel used to synchronize session state for sessions handled by the active network element from the active network element to the standby network element. The network element is deployed in a Layer 3 network that is used to transmit Layer 2 data. The method is one of limiting disruption in the handling of the sessions. The method includes monitoring a Layer 2 interface for failures and monitoring a Layer 3 interface for failures. A failure is detected on the Layer 2 interface. The network element communicates with the standby network element, over the inter-chassis communication channel, in response to detecting the failure on the Layer 2 interface, to have the standby network element at least assist with the handling of the sessions.
US09130855B2

The present invention is a method and apparatus for obtaining information transmitted between a source station and a destination station in a non broadcast multiple access network. A connection between the source station and a server for the destination station is established. The server has a cache containing the information. The source station transmits a request packet having parameters relating to the information to the server. The source station receives a reply packet containing the information from the server. The reply packet matches the parameters of the request packet.
US09130850B2

A monitoring system is configured to perform a cause analysis of an event which occurs in any of a plurality of node apparatuses. The monitoring system is configured to store a plurality of rules indicating a correspondence relationship between one or more condition events regarding any of the plurality of node apparatuses, and a conclusion. The monitoring system is configured to specify the first conclusion associated with the detected condition event based on the rule, and perform a detection possibility judgment on whether the monitoring system can detect the condition event or not, for each of one or more condition events out of a plurality of condition events, and calculate the first index value indicating the certainty of the first conclusion being the cause, based on the existence of detection of one or more condition events associated with the first conclusion and the result of the detection possibility judgment.
US09130840B2

A host server may optimize configurations of a set of readers under its control. The server assigns a multicast address to each reader in the set. Once connected, the server sends a multicast message to each reader assigned to the multicast address or to each reader within a given address range. Information in the multicast message is used for configuring or managing polling operations of each reader assigned to the multicast address or each reader within the given address range.
US09130837B2

A method in an example embodiment includes creating an initial information package for a device in a domain of a network environment when the device is unconfigured. The method further includes communicating the initial information package to a signing authority, receiving an authorization token from the signing authority, and sending the authorization token to the unconfigured device, where the unconfigured device validates the authorization token based on a credential in the unconfigured device. In more specific embodiments, the initial information package includes a unique device identifier of the unconfigured device and a domain identifier of the domain. In further embodiments, the signing authority creates the authorization token by applying an authorization signature to the unique device identifier and the domain identifier. In other embodiments, the method includes receiving an audit history report of the unconfigured device and applying a policy to the device based on the audit history report.
US09130836B2

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes identifying for a new node added to a communications network a plurality of existing network nodes respectively connected to one of a plurality of ports of the new node and capable of implementing a particular routing protocol; selecting one of the identified existing network nodes to serve as a designated forwarder (“DF”) for the new node; performing a power on auto provisioning (“PoAP”) procedure in connection with the new node; and opening the ports of the new node to which the identified existing network nodes are connected.
US09130828B2

A custom tracking system can provide functionality for operators of content sites to specify types of content delivery data to be tracked in a content delivery network. The custom tracking system can propagate operator tracking preferences to edge nodes in the content delivery network, such as delivery servers, which can track delivery data according to the preferences. The custom tracking system can use one or more tracking filters to reduce the storage burden of certain tracking requests while still providing relevant results. The custom tracking system can output results of the custom tracking for presentation to the content site operator.
US09130819B2

In a network search processor, configured to handle search requests in a router, a scheduler for scheduling rule matching threads initiated by a plurality of initiating engines is designed to make efficient use of the resources in the network search processor while providing high speed performance. According to at least one example embodiment, the scheduler and a corresponding scheduling method comprise: determining a set of bundles of rule matching threads, each bundle being initiated by a separate initiating engine; distributing rule matching threads in each bundle into a number of subgroups of rule matching threads; assigning the subgroups of rule matching threads associated with each bundle of the set of bundles to multiple scheduling queues; and sending rule matching threads, assigned to each scheduling queue, to rule matching engines according to an order based on priorities associated with the respective bundles of rule matching threads.
US09130816B2

System and method are disclosed for synchronization of a transmitting device and a receiving device that communicate with each other via pulse modulation. The synchronization technique entails the transmitting device sending one or more quasi-periodic pulse sequences to the receiving device. A quasi-periodic pulse sequence is based on a substantially periodic pulse sequence, and may include some non-periodic pulses or not include some periodic pulses. The transmitting device may transmit frames each including a preamble that comprises one or more quasi-periodic pulse sequences, and a data payload that may comprise data. The receiving device receives the signal, generates samples of the signal, and detects the quasi-periodic pulse sequences in the received signal by analyzing samples based on a sample associated with a pulse and the period associated with the substantially periodic pulse sequence. The receiving device is further able to detect frames based on the detection of the sequence, and extract data therefrom.
US09130809B2

An apparatus for receiving signals includes a receiver for receiving a time domain signal from a transmitter, wherein at least one first information bit is mapped, resulting in at least one first mapped symbol; at least one second information bit is mapped, resulting in at least one second mapped symbol; the at least one second mapped symbol is multiplied by at least one third information bit; and the time domain signal is generated from the at least one first mapped symbol and the at least one second mapped symbol.
US09130808B2

A communication system and method using a Golay sequence, are provided. In the communication method, 2nd order Reed-Muller coding is performed on data to generate a codeword, and exponential modulation is performed on the codeword to generate a near Golay complementary sequence. Factors for generating the codeword are permutations of a 1st order Reed-Muller generator, and cosets and offsets of a 2nd order Reed-Muller code calculated based on the permutations of the 1st order Reed-Muller generator, etc.
US09130803B2

Control of collaborative devices, including providing at least two collaborative devices, wherein each collaborative device comprises a client device and an embedded Java server, providing a registry service to which the collaborative devices are coupled for data communications, and providing at least one registry table, wherein the registry table includes registry records, wherein the registry records include registry records representing capabilities of collaborative devices, wherein the registry records representing capabilities of collaborative devices include data elements describing, for each collaborative device, capabilities, tertiary relationships, and network connectivities. The method further includes providing a service bundle of OSGI-compliant Java servlets comprising at least one predetermined algorithm for controlling the collaborative devices, and controlling the collaborative devices in accordance with the predetermined algorithm.
US09130791B2

Techniques for efficiently deriving uplink channel estimates without consuming much additional uplink resources are described. A user equipment (UE) may send a request for uplink resources on a request channel (REQCH) whenever the UE desires to transmit data on the uplink. The UE may send the REQCH on a set of subcarriers and from multiple antennas, e.g., send REQCH data on data subcarriers and pilot on pilot subcarriers. A node B may receive the request, estimate the complex channel gains for the pilot subcarriers based on received pilot symbols, and coherently demodulate received data symbols based on the channel gain estimates. The Node B may estimate the complex channel gains for the data subcarriers based on demodulated data symbols and derive a channel estimate for each UE antenna based on the channel gain estimates for the pilot and data subcarriers. The Node B may use the channel estimates for MIMO scheduling, subband scheduling, and rate selection.
US09130789B2

An embodiment of a receiver includes a channel estimator and a data-recovery unit. The channel estimator is configured to determine a characteristic of a channel over which a first signal, which is received simultaneously with a second signal, propagated, the first and second signals respectively having first and second components that include approximately a frequency. And the data-recovery unit is configured to recover data from the first signal in response to the determined channel characteristic. For example, such a receiver may be able to receive simultaneously, and over the same channel space, orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexed (OFDM) signals that include one or more of the same subcarrier frequencies, and to recover data from one or more of the OFDM signals despite the frequency overlap. A receiver with this capability may allow an increase in the effective bandwidth of the channel space, and thus may allow more devices to simultaneously share the channel space.
US09130782B2

The present invention discloses a method, system, service selection entity, and service management entity for selecting a service provision entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, so as to select heterogeneous service provision entities for heterogeneous service requesting entities. The method includes: receiving service capability information of service provision entities; obtaining service request information of a service requesting entity; and selecting a service provision entity of an appropriate service capability to provide a service for the service requesting entity according to the service capability information of service provision entities and the service request information of the service requesting entity. The present invention is applicable to P2P overlay networks.
US09130767B2

The present invention relates to a method, a system and a VoIP signal generator for determining the quality of an IP network connection, comprising the steps of generating a measuring signal by way of a signal generator for measuring the quality of an IP network connection; determining, by way of the signal generator, for each of the generated at least one measuring signal the respective signal quality of each generated measuring signal; and simultaneously transmitting the at least one measuring signal and the respective quality information over the IP network connection to a receiver.
US09130764B2

A method for handling multicast traffic is presented. A method of handling multicast traffic according to some embodiments of the present invention includes forming IP multicast (IPMC) groups of hypervisors based on broadcast domains; and directing multicast traffic from a broadcast domain on a source hypervisor to hypervisors that are members of the IPMC group.
US09130761B2

A method, system and program for transmitting a data stream in a network of interconnectable end-user nodes comprising a source node, a plurality of recipient nodes and a plurality of further nodes, wherein each end-user node executes a communication client application. The method comprises: the source receiving a command to transmit the data stream to the plurality of recipients; selecting from the plurality of further nodes at least one relaying node to relay the data stream between the source node and the plurality of recipients; the source establishing a connection to the at least one relaying node; the at least one relaying node establishing a connection to each of the plurality of recipients; transmitting the data stream from the source to the at least one relaying node; and transmitting the data stream from the at least one relaying node to the plurality of recipients.
US09130760B2

The various embodiments include methods, computers and communication systems for establishing a closed feedback loop across multiple heterogeneous networks within a telecommunications system, which may include measuring a first attribute of a communication in a first telecommunications domain and sending a first request message including information relating to the measured first attribute to a server. The server may receive the first request message, identify a second telecommunications domain involved in the communication based on information in the first request message, generate a second request message that includes information for adjusting a second attribute of the communication, and send the second request message to the second telecommunications domain. A computing device in the second telecommunications domain may receive the second request message and adjust the second attribute of the communication to alter the first attribute of the communication in the first telecommunications domain.
US09130751B2

Method and systems are described for estimating signal impairments, in particular jitter that includes uncorrelated, non-periodic signal impairments. One system may take the form of an oscilloscope. The estimates may take the form of a probability density function (PDF) for uncorrelated signal impairments that has been modified to replace low probability regions with a known approximation and an extrapolation of the known approximation.
US09130736B2

A transceiver system having a phase and frequency locked architecture is described. The transceiver system includes a clock and data recovery type receiver, a frequency divider and a transmitter. The clock and data recovery type receiver receives an external signal from a host unit and extracts the external signal to generate a clock signal and a data signal. The frequency divider is used to divide the frequency of the clock signal for generating a reference clock signal. The transmitter transmits output data content based on the reference clock signal.
US09130731B2

A method for receiving data over a plurality of carrier components at a Mobile Station (MS) is provided. The method includes receiving, from a Base Station (BS), resource allocation information including a first allocation information indicating at least one resource allocated to a first carrier component in a first subframe and a second allocation information indicating at least one resource allocated to a second carrier component in a second subframe and receiving data, from the BS, on the at least one resource of the first carrier component and on the at least one resource of the second carrier component based on the resource allocation information.
US09130730B1

Fixed-length communication traffic blocks, for transmission over a wireless communication link, are generated from communication traffic that is received at a primary communication apparatus. The generated blocks are distributed between a first wireless communication link associated with the primary apparatus and a second wireless communication link associated with a secondary apparatus, for transmission of the communication traffic blocks over the first and second wireless communication links. The distribution of the communication traffic blocks is through an inter-apparatus communication link between the primary and secondary apparatus. Communication traffic blocks that are received over the second wireless communication link are transferred to the primary apparatus through the inter-apparatus communication ink and combined, with blocks that are received on the first wireless communication link, into a communication traffic stream. One or more secondary wireless communication links may be provided by one or more respective installations of secondary apparatus.
US09130726B2

Methods and apparatuses are provided that include decoding multicast broadcast communications where scheduling information related to a multicast channel is not properly received over a control channel. Media access control (MAC) packets can be decoded to determine whether a MAC subheader indicates the packet relates to a logical channel by indicating an associated channel identifier. Where the channel identifier of the MAC packet matches that of a requested logical channel, data in the MAC packet can be provided to a communications layer. Subsequent packets can be processed and provided to the communications layer until a different channel identifier is encountered.
US09130701B2

The present invention relates to coded multidirectional relaying in a network communication system. By sending information about the processing (610, 724, 736, 818, 822) and modulation (742, 828) of data, performed in a network coding node (104, 200, 404, 504), to a first (102, 300, 402, 502) and second (106, 300, 406, 506) network decoding nodes, network decoding can be correctly performed by the first and second network decoding nodes in general and not just for special communication cases.
US09130694B2

The present invention provides a phase jump detection method, apparatus, and system. In embodiments of the present invention, by collecting N frequency control words, a phase jump in an intermediate frequency signal is detected according to the N frequency control words. An extra phase jump meter is not required, and therefore detection may be supported on massive microwave communication devices, thereby improving the detection efficiency.
US09130692B2

A method for routing C-band and L-band optical signals, and a system, apparatus, and computer program that operate in accordance with the method. The method comprises selecting one or more C-band optical signals using one or more C-band components, resulting in one or more selected C-band optical signals. One or more L-band optical signals are selected using one or more L-band components, resulting in one or more selected L-band optical signals. The selected C-band and L-band optical signals are combined.
US09130690B1

A receiving device includes: a propagation path compensation unit that compensates a signal by using a propagation path characteristic; a power arithmetic section that arithmetically operates power of a signal; a first reciprocal processing section that performs reciprocal processing on power to output a signal; an error arithmetic section that arithmetically operates an error of the compensated signal; a subtractor that subtracts the signal output from the first reciprocal processing section from the error; a second reciprocal processing unit that performs reciprocal processing on the signal output from the subtractor to output a signal; a first multiplier that multiplies the power and the signal output from the second reciprocal processing unit together to output a signal; and a second multiplier that multiplies the signal compensated by the propagation path compensation unit and the signal output from the first multiplier together to output a signal to an adder.
US09130688B2

Embodiments of user equipment (UE) and method for handover enhancement using reference signal received quality (RSRQ) in a wireless network are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a UE adaptively selects handover initiation parameters based, at least in part, on a velocity of the UE. The UE may determine an RSRQ of a serving cell and an RSRQ of a target cell and may transmit a measurement report to a serving eNB for handover from the serving cell to the target cell when the target cell RSRQ exceeds the serving cell RSRQ in accordance with the selected handover initiation parameters. In some of these embodiments, the handover initiation parameters may include an offset value, such as an A3offset value, and a time-to-trigger (TTT) that comprise an A3offset-TTT pair.
US09130687B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for direct passive monitoring of packet delay variation and time error in network packet communications. Packets traversing between slave and master clocks are monitored to provide direct results of the actual conditions without the need to rely upon inference determinations. Certain embodiments provide tap configurations to monitor packet flows, while certain other embodiments provide in-line configurations to monitor packet flows. Certain further embodiments provide multiple monitoring devices that can be used for passive monitoring purposes, such as passive monitoring to test boundary clock. These multiple monitoring devices can be configured to be within a single or different test instruments. Other variations are also described.
US09130685B1

Optimizing parameters includes, during a time interval, rotating from setting a first parameter to a first value for a first time period, to setting the first parameter to a second value for a second time period such that the time interval includes multiple first time periods in which the first parameter is set to the first value sequenced with multiple second time periods in which the first parameter is set to the second value; obtaining, for the time interval, a first set of ratings corresponding to the first time periods and a second set of ratings corresponding to the second time periods; averaging, for the time interval, the first set of ratings to a first average rating and the second set of ratings to a second average rating; and correlating the first average rating to the first value and the second average rating to the second value.
US09130681B2

An optical transmitter may include an optical source to provide a first optical signal having a varying frequency; an optical circuit to receive a portion of the first optical signal and provide a second optical signal corresponding to a change in frequency of the first optical signal; a photodetector to receive the first optical signal and provide an electrical signal that is indicative of the change in frequency of the first optical signal; an integrator to receive the electrical signal and provide an inverted electrical signal; and a controller to process the inverted electrical signal and provide a current, associated with the inverted electrical signal, to the optical source. The optical source may reduce the phase noise associated with the first optical signal based on the current.
US09130679B1

Methods and systems for transmission and reception of ternary phase-shift keyed data that include mapping triplets of binary bits to pairs of ternary symbols, such that three bits of data are encoded across two symbols having three-point constellations; modulating the pairs of ternary symbols onto a carrier; and transmitting the modulated carrier across a transmission medium.
US09130678B2

A high-speed signal generator. A digital signal processing (DSP) block generates a set of N (where N is an integer and N≧2) parallel digital sub-band signals, each digital sub-band signal having frequency components within a spectral range between 0 Hz and ±Fs/2, where Fs is a sample rate of the digital sub-band signals. A respective Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) processes each digital sub-band signal to generate a corresponding analog sub-band signal, each DAC having a sample rate of Fs/2. A combiner combines the analog sub-band signals to generate an output analog signal having frequency components within a spectral range between 0 Hz and ±NFs/2.
US09130674B2

There is disclosed a sensing device (100) adapted to receive light emitted from a plurality of light sources (A, B), each of the plurality of light sources (A, B) emitting light comprising a light source identifier. The sensing device (100) comprises a sensing module (110) comprising a light selection unit (114) configured to receive at least a portion of the light emitted from the plurality of light sources (A, B) and a light selection unit (114) configured to receive at least a portion of the light emitted from the plurality of light sources (A, B). The light selection unit (114) is adapted to selectively convey a selected portion of light received by the light selection unit (114) to a second photo sensor unit (116). The light selection unit (114) is arranged relatively to the first photo sensor unit (112), or vice versa, in such a way that the selected portion of light is associated with a photo sensor of a plurality of photo sensors of the first photo sensor unit (114) detecting light.
US09130672B2

A repeater that enables both bi-directional optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) and loop gain monitoring techniques that may be employed, for example, in particularly long repeater spans. In one embodiment, the repeater includes high loss loopback (HLLB) paths configured to couple test signals between incoming and outgoing fiber paths. The HLLB paths are coupled from the outputs to the inputs of amplifiers within the repeater and couple both OTDR and loopback signals from an outgoing fiber path to an incoming fiber path so that may be returned to line monitoring equipment that transmitted the test signals.
US09130671B2

Disclosed is an apparatus for monitoring failure positions on fibers in a WDM-PON system and a WDM-PON system having the apparatus.
US09130666B2

Receiver circuits that can be reconfigured to generate test signals in a wireless device are disclosed. In an exemplary design, an apparatus includes a mixer and an amplifier. The mixer downconverts an input radio frequency (RF) signal based on a local oscillator (LO) signal in a first mode. The amplifier, which is formed by at least a portion of the mixer, amplifies the LO signal and provides an amplified LO signal in a second mode. In another exemplary design, an apparatus includes an amplifier and an attenuator. The amplifier receives and amplifies an input RF signal in a first mode. The attenuator, which is formed by at least a portion of the amplifier, receives and passes an LO signal in a second mode.
US09130663B2

A system and method for modifying the carrier frequency of first and second signals associated with first and second sequences, respectively, of consecutive time intervals, comprises: first means determining two carrier frequencies respectively associated with each of the two signals based on one time interval or at least two consecutive and continuous time intervals, said time interval(s) belonging to a sequence of consecutive time intervals of known duration; and second means determining a first time interval or at least two first consecutive time intervals belonging to the first sequence, based on a second time interval belonging to the second sequence, by establishing a temporal correspondence between each end of said time interval of said second sequence and an interval of said first sequence including this end. The first means determines said carrier frequencies based on one time interval or at least two consecutive time intervals, belonging to said first sequence.
US09130658B2

A network device can be configured to dynamically adapt its current primary receiver coupling to channel conditions. For each of a plurality of transmitting network devices, the network device can determine a potential primary receiver coupling of the first network device for receiving communications from the transmitting network device based, at least in part, on a performance measurement associated with each of the plurality of communication channels between the network device and the transmitting device. The network device can select its current primary receiver coupling based, at least in part, on the potential primary receiver couplings determined for the plurality of transmitting network devices. In addition, the network device can also determine how to communicate with a receiving network device based, at least in part, on a preferred communication channel between the two network devices and a current primary receiver coupling of the receiving network device.
US09130645B2

A method and system is disclosed for simultaneously down-converting multiple selected signals, such as RF signals, into adjacent ranges in an intermediate frequency band so that the total resulting bandwidth, and thus the sampling rate required to digitize the signal, is minimized. A first signal is down-converted into a range starting at a lowest selected frequency in the IF band. The next signal is down-converted, into a range higher than, but near or adjacent to, the down-converted range of the first signal, and so on. A guard band may be left between the signals if desired. In this way, the selected signals occupy the minimum bandwidth required. When the selection of signals to be down-converted is changed, the frequency ranges are dynamically adjusted so that the signals being down-converted always occupy the lowest ranges of the IF band.
US09130644B2

A customer satellite terminal provides seamless hand-off from a descending satellite to an ascending satellite in an equatorial MEO constellation at RF. The hand-off from the descending satellite to the ascending satellite is conducted when the propagation delay from the ascending satellite and the descending satellite are equal, by aligning first and second amplitudes, first and second frequency offsets, and first and second phases.
US09130636B2

A radio that includes a transceiver to transmit and receive RF signals. The transceiver including a transmitter, a transformer, and a receiver, the transformer is coupled to and shared between the transmitter and the receiver. A resonator is formed by the combination of the transformer and capacitive elements of the transmitter and receiver.
US09130627B2

A receiver may be dynamically configurable, during run-time, into a plurality of modes of operation. In a first mode of operation the receiver may demodulate received signals having relative low inter-symbol correlation using a near zero ISI filter and symbol slicing. In a second mode of operation the receiver may demodulate received signals having relatively high inter-symbol correlation using an input filter configured to achieve a desired total partial response and a sequence estimation algorithm.
US09130612B2

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate creating a unified format that can accommodate various MIMO modes. The unified format can employed with a single payload size that includes uplink control information for each available MIMO mode. By packaging the payload with uplink control information related to each MIMO mode, the uplink control information can be utilized with any suitable or available MIMO mode.
US09130610B1

A transmission apparatus includes a digital amplifier having a plurality of class-D amplifiers connected in parallel to each other, each of the class-D amplifiers including a logic circuit that processes input signals from two input terminals and outputs the input signals to one of two output terminals, according to a selection signal, and including capacitors connected in series to the two output terminals, respectively, a first selection circuit that outputs either an in-phase component or a quadrature component of a transmission signal to the digital amplifier depending on the selection signal, and a second selection circuit that outputs either an in-phase component carrier signal or a quadrature component carrier signal to the digital amplifier depending on the selection signal.
US09130609B2

A telecommunications system is provided that can re-sample a digitized signal at a resample rate that is based on one or more factors to better utilize bandwidth. The factors can include the bandwidth of the signal that the digitized signal represents, the amount of bandwidth owned or used by the carrier, the full bandwidth of the designated RF band, the bandwidth of the serial link, the frame length of the serial link, the segmentation of the frames on the serial link, and the capability of the equipment at the receiving end of a serial link. The re-sampled signal can be transmitted to another unit that is remote to the unit transmitting the signal. The other unit can include a re-sampling device that restores the re-sampled signal to a digital signal that can be converted to an analog signal for wireless transmission.
US09130608B2

A radio transmission system includes: a first electronic device; and a second electronic device having a mounting structure mounted with the first electronic device, wherein a millimeter wave signal transmission line capable of transmitting information in a millimeter wave band is formed between the first electronic device and the second electronic device when the first electronic device is mounted in the mounting structure of the second electronic device, and between the first electronic device and the second electronic device, a transmission object signal is converted into a millimeter wave signal and then the millimeter wave signal is transmitted via the millimeter wave signal transmission line.
US09130603B2

Systems, methods, and devices for wireless communication are included herein. An aspect of the subject matter described in the disclosure provides a device configured to detect a transmission. The device includes a receiver configured to receive an inductive communication signal having a center frequency. The device further includes an analog-to-digital converter configured to sample the signal at a rate higher than twice the center frequency. The device further includes one or more processors configured to digitally downconvert the signal. The processors are further configured to compare an energy of the downconverted signal to a detection threshold. The device further includes a transmitter configured to selectively transmit a communication based on the comparison.
US09130600B2

A circuit for a receiver with reconfigurable low-power or wideband operation may comprise one or more main signal paths each coupled to a first port and including a low-noise amplifier (LNA) configured to provide a radio frequency (RF) signal to a main mixer circuit. An auxiliary signal path may be coupled to a second port. The auxiliary signal path may include an auxiliary mixer configured to provide an on-chip matching input impedance that may match an impedance of the antenna. The first port may be coupled to an RF antenna through an off-chip matching circuit, when a low-power operation is desired. The first port may be coupled to the second port and to the RF antenna, when a wideband operation is desired.
US09130599B2

A data processing system includes a binary data detector having a hard decision output, a reliability calculator operable to calculate an error pattern reliability metric for each of a number of dominant error patterns associated with the hard decision output, and a converter operable to convert the error pattern reliability metrics to multi-level soft information.
US09130597B2

Improving the performance, life and amount of data storage in write limited non-volatile memory may be achieved by: a) utilizing a serial content-addressable memory (CAM) to perform logical address translation, b) a minimum CAM function to perform erase error count wear leveling, c) increasingly refining a two dimensional error-correction coding (ECC) method as needed to correct for degrading storage, and/or d) serially generating ECC and using an ECC serial decoder to correct the data.
US09130585B2

In PIPE coding, where alphabet symbols are distributed among a plurality of specialized entropy en/decoders according to their probability distribution estimate, a categorizing stage is provided where source symbols to be encoded are sub-divided into a first substream which is subject to VLC coding, and a second substream which is subject to PIPE coding. By this measure, source symbols having an appropriate symbol probability distribution, i.e. a probability distribution suitable for being efficiently coded by means of VLC coding without the deficiencies outlined above in the introductory portion of the specification of the present application, may be categorized as VLC coded symbols whereas other symbols may be treated as PIPE coded symbols and subject to PIPE coding, the coding complexity of which is higher than VLC coding, but at a better compression efficiency.
US09130579B2

An atomic oscillator includes an atomic cell in which an atom is enclosed, a magnetic field generation part to apply a magnetic field to the atomic cell, a reference oscillator which is controlled based on an atomic resonance signal outputted from the atomic cell and generates a reference signal, and a fractional N-PLL which receives the reference signal to generate a signal including a resonance frequency of the atom, in which when a maximum digit of the resonance frequency adjustable by the magnetic field generation part is a boundary digit, the fractional N-PLL can adjust at least a digit one digit higher than the boundary digit.
US09130573B2

Disclosed herein is a signal processing apparatus including: a voltage-controlled oscillation block having a parameter high in correlation with a filter; a measuring block configured to measure an oscillation frequency of the voltage-controlled oscillation block; and a control block configured to control the parameter of the filter by use of a measuring result of the oscillation frequency obtained by the measuring block.
US09130568B2

A logic gate with three inputs A, B, and C, and one output implementing a function MAJ(A,B,C)=A*B+B*C+A*C comprising two mutually exclusive transmission gates (TGs) connected in series, based on two parallel double-gate controllable polarity devices, a polarity of each being controlled by input A and a conduction being controlled by input B, or vice-versa, in opposite polarities, and that route either an input A or C from one side of the transmission gates to the output.
US09130567B2

An inverter device including a tunable diode device and a diode device that includes a control terminal connected to an input terminal of the inverter device, an anode terminal connected to a high-level voltage terminal, and a cathode terminal connected to an output terminal of the inverter device, wherein the diode device is configured to turn on or off according to a voltage applied to the control terminal.
US09130564B2

A method and apparatus for use in improving the linearity characteristics of MOSFET devices using an accumulated charge sink (ACS) are disclosed. The method and apparatus are adapted to remove, reduce, or otherwise control accumulated charge in SOI MOSFETs, thereby yielding improvements in FET performance characteristics. In one exemplary embodiment, a circuit having at least one SOI MOSFET is configured to operate in an accumulated charge regime. An accumulated charge sink, operatively coupled to the body of the SOI MOSFET, eliminates, removes or otherwise controls accumulated charge when the FET is operated in the accumulated charge regime, thereby reducing the nonlinearity of the parasitic off-state source-to-drain capacitance of the SOI MOSFET. In RF switch circuits implemented with the improved SOI MOSFET devices, harmonic and intermodulation distortion is reduced by removing or otherwise controlling the accumulated charge when the SOI MOSFET operates in an accumulated charge regime.
US09130561B1

Techniques and mechanisms generate a configuration bit stream to load into a circuit such as a Programmable Logic Device (PLD). A configuration bit stream may have a reduced size if “phantom bits” not corresponding to configuration elements are removed. However, the PLD may need a full-sized and properly ordered configuration bit stream in order to be properly configured. Techniques and mechanisms are described for selectively adding a “padding bit” to compensate for the missing phantom bits.
US09130560B2

An apparatus, comprising a load; an output FET having a drain coupled to the load; a first and second of a pair strong FETs, wherein: a) a source of the first of the pair of the strong FETs is coupled to the load; b) a drain of the first pair of the strong FETs is coupled to the source of the second of the of the pair of the strong FETs; the drain of the second pair of the strong FETs is coupled to a gate of the output FET; and a fixed current mirror is coupled to the gate of the first of the pair of the strong FETs.
US09130558B2

In order to reduce power consumption, an arithmetic circuit having a function of performing a logic operation processing based on an input signal, storing a potential set in accordance with the result of the logic operation processing as stored data, and outputting a signal with a value corresponding to the stored data as an output signal. The arithmetic circuit includes an arithmetic portion performing the logic operation processing, a first field-effect transistor controlling whether a first potential, which is the potential corresponding to the result of the logic operation processing is set, and a second field-effect transistor controlling whether the potential of the output signal data is set at a second potential which is a reference potential.
US09130556B2

Disclosed herein is a device that includes a first buffer circuit coupled between a first power supply line and a data terminal and a second buffer circuit coupled between a second power supply line and the data terminal. First and second internal data signals complementary to each other are supplied to a level shifter, thereby third and fourth internal data signals complementary to each other are generated by changing amplitude values of the first and second internal data signals. The first and the second buffer circuits are controlled based on the third and fourth internal data signals such that one of the first and second buffer circuits turns on and the other of the first and second buffer circuits turns off.
US09130553B2

A voltage selector circuit is described. The voltage selector circuit includes a first voltage input, a second voltage input, and a voltage comparison input. The voltage selector circuit also includes a first voltage selector connected to an output. The first voltage selector is configured to compare the first voltage input and the second voltage input to the voltage comparison input. The voltage selector circuit also includes a second voltage selector connected to the output. The second voltage selector is configured to compare the first voltage input to the second voltage input using an early trigger, such that the second voltage selector is configured to switch on before the first voltage selector switches off.
US09130549B2

In an embodiment, a flip flop circuit includes a master latch and a slave latch. The master latch comprises a storage element, a first data leg, and a second data leg. The first and second data legs may be coupled to the storage element. Clock selection logic may be coupled to the first and second data legs. The clock selection logic may have a select input for selecting between the first and second data legs. The slave latch may be coupled to the master latch.
US09130544B2

A period signal generation circuit including a control voltage generator and a period controller. The control voltage generator selecting one of temperature-dependent voltages to output the selected temperature-dependent voltage as a control voltage. The first and second temperature-dependent voltages varying according to a temperature and the third temperature-dependent voltage is constant regardless of variation of the temperature. The period controller configured to determine an amount of a current discharging from an internal node in response to the control voltage and outputs a periodic signal whose cycle time is determined according to a level of an internal signal induced at the internal node.
US09130542B1

A noise filter disclosed herein is configured to suppress a common mode voltage that is generated in cables connected to an electric power converter. The noise filter includes: detecting capacitors connected to the cables, respectively, and configured to detect the common mode voltage; an operational amplifier having a positive input terminal via which the common mode voltage detected by the detecting capacitors is inputted; an emitter follower circuit having an input terminal connected to an output terminal of the operational amplifier and having an output terminal connected to a negative input terminal of the operational amplifier; and a transformer configured to apply a compensating voltage to each of the cables by applying a voltage at the output terminal of the emitter follower circuit to each of the cables in opposite phase.
US09130541B2

Active EMC filter connectable between an electric power source and an electric load. The filter has capacitors (C×N, C×U) connected between active conductors of the power source and a star point electric node. A filter capacitor (Cst, CstU) is connected between the star point and ground. A half-bridge has two switching devices (T3, T4; T1, T2) connected in cascade between a positive supply voltage and a negative supply voltage. A smoothing circuit (RgN, LgN; RgU, RgU) is connected between a common node of the switching devices and the star point. A control unit (Drive_N, Drive_U) drives the switching devices (T3, T4; T1, T2) digitally either in an ON-state or in an OFF-state, such as to limit a leakage current.
US09130538B2

A SAW filter has two DMS tracks. Each DMS track includes six converters, with two converters each acting as input or output converters. The two DMS tracks are electrically connected in series by way of four pairs of coupling converters and the associated coupling lines. A common inner ground line is provided between the two DMS tracks, which extends over the entire length of the DMS tracks and crosses the coupling lines. The input converters of the first DMS track are connected to an asymmetrical port, while the output converters of the second DMS track are connected to a symmetrical port.
US09130532B2

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for RF filtering. Related apparatus, systems, methods, and articles are also described.
US09130531B1

Among other things, one or more semiconductor arrangements and techniques for forming such semiconductor arrangements are provided herein. A semiconductor arrangement comprises a cap wafer, a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) wafer, and a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) wafer. The MEMS wafer comprises a thermal insulator air gap formed between a sensing layer and a membrane. An ambient pressure chamber is formed between the CMOS wafer and the membrane of the MEMS wafer. The ambient pressure chamber is configured as a second thermal insulator air gap. The thermal insulator air gap and the second thermal insulator air gap protect portions of the semiconductor arrangement, such as the MEMS wafer, from heat originating from the CMOS wafer, which can otherwise damage such portions of the semiconductor arrangement. In some embodiments, one or more buffer layers are formed over the cap wafer as stress buffers.
US09130522B2

A first signal path has one or a plurality of coils arranged in series, the coils being connected to the output of a first amplifier. A second signal path has the same number of coils as the coils of the first signal path, the coils being arranged in series and connected to the output of a second amplifier. Coupling paths have capacitors and couple the first signal path and the second signal path at both ends of the corresponding coils on the first signal path and the second signal path. A SW controlling unit switches a switch to a contact when a signal is input from the first amplifier and switches the switch to a contact when a signal is input from the second amplifier.
US09130511B2

Designs and techniques for improving the linearity of the power amplifiers, especially of the non-linear types, operated in microwave and millimeter-wave frequency using method through purposely designed active transistors or passive devices or both, are disclosed. The techniques use the manipulation of transistors' cut-off frequencies (fT) design, attached loaded linearization stub and characteristics of space attenuation of microwave signals individually or in combination of them. The disclosed techniques provide the advantages to compromise the performance among linearity, gain and power consumption in a wide range of power amplifier types, such as Class-AB, B, C, D, E and F in the different application scenarios.
US09130509B2

A device includes a low noise amplifier (LNA) for amplifying an input signal, with the LNA including a first transistor configured to receive the input signal, a second transistor configured to receive a bias current and forming a current mirror for the first transistor, and an operational amplifier (op amp) operative to generate a bias voltage for the first and second transistors to match operating points of the first and second transistors.
US09130503B2

A solar energy module includes a photovoltaic unit including a layer of one or more solar cells. The layer has a front side exposed to incident radiation and an opposite back side. The solar energy module also includes a thermal unit thermally coupled to the back side of the layer of one or more solar cells. The thermal unit includes one or more channels through which a thermal transfer fluid flows, wherein a portion of the incident radiation is converted into electricity by the layer of one or more solar cells and a portion of the incident radiation is simultaneously converted to heat for increasing the temperature of the thermal transfer fluid. The solar energy module also includes a heating system to further increase the temperature of the thermal transfer fluid. The heating system is powered by electricity generated by the one or more solar cells. The solar energy module further includes a controller for controlling the relative amounts of heat and electricity output by the solar energy module by controlling the amount of electricity produced by the one or more solar cells that is diverted to the heating system for increasing the temperature of the thermal transfer fluid.
US09130500B2

A circuit disconnection element that can open or short-circuit between a power storage element and a step-up/step-down bidirectional chopper circuit is provided in a power storage system, thereby preventing a self-discharge state in a process of charging. Furthermore, at the time of occurrence of an abnormality, the power storage element is detached from other devices including the step-up/step-down bidirectional chopper circuit. Accordingly, an energy loss of the power storage element at the time of power regeneration can be reduced to improve the energy use efficiency. Further, breakage influences such that the power storage element causes breakage in other devices at the time of occurrence of the abnormality can be prevented, thereby enabling to obtain an AC motor drive device having mounted therein a highly safe power storage system.
US09130498B2

A signal-phase DC motor control circuit is disclosed. The signal-phase DC motor control circuit includes a logic circuit, a switching circuit and a driving circuit. The logic circuit transmits a first logic signal, a second logic signal, a third logic signal and a forth logic signal. The switching circuit transmits a first direction driving signal according to a PWM signal and the first logic signal, and transmits a second direction driving signal according to the PWM signal and the second logic signal. The driving circuit transmits a first output signal according to the first direction driving signal and the fourth logic signal, and transmits a second output signal according to the second direction driving signal and the third logic signal. The first output signal and the second output signal are positive half-wave sinusoidal wave, and the phase difference between the first output signal and the second output signal is 180 degrees.
US09130494B2

A method and apparatus for controlling an electric motor. A controller is configured to identify a start time for a signal based on a back electromotive force present in an electric motor during operation of the electric motor. The start time is for a position of a rotor relative to a group of coils. The controller is further configured to send the signal to the group of coils using the start time identified. An effect of the back electromotive force on the signal is reduced.
US09130491B2

A system and a method of controlling a blower of a vehicle. The method includes detecting, by a controller, a turning of a key to an off position of the vehicle. In addition, the controller is configured to detect whether a high voltage DC-DC converter and a high voltage battery are normally operated in response to detecting the turning of the key to an off position. Regenerative energy generated by a regenerative brake operation of the blower is transmitted by the controller through two different paths based on whether the high voltage DC-DC converter and the high voltage battery are normally operated.
US09130490B2

Synthesized signal generation circuits are provided to correspond to a U-coil, a V-coil, a W-coil, respectively, and generate synthesized signals by synthesizing a first command signal and a second command signal generated by a command signal generation circuit. CPU output terminals output the synthesized signals. Signal wires are provided with one ends being connected electrically to the CPU output terminals, respectively, and other ends being connected electrically to IC input terminals of a driver IC, respectively. Gate signal generation circuits separate the synthesized signals applied to the IC input terminals to generate first gate signals as gate signals for high-side FETs and second gate signals as gate signals for low-side FETs.
US09130488B2

An diesel or gas engine-generator unit comprises an internal combustion engine and an alternator, the output of which unit, in use, is adapted to supply electrical power to a site load. The unit is further provided with means to apply a further load (2) to the unit controllable by a switching arrangement (4,5), the unit further comprising a controller, which can be the genset controller, which is adapted to control the switching unit to apply the further load (2) before electrical power is supplied to the site load. This preloading of the generator enables significantly greater load steps to be applied to the genset. The preload can be a resistive, capacitive or inductive load and can also be applied in steps.
US09130479B2

The invention relates to an adaptive controlling method for controlling energy supplied by an electrical source to a resonance tank that is connectable to an electric load. The method comprises the step of determining an energy amount to be supplied to the tank, based on information of energy in the resonance tank.
US09130471B2

An assembly includes a converter and a controller. The converter has a winding around a transformer core, first and second switches configured to alternately connect respective winding segments to an input power, and first and second resistors respectively connected in series with the switches. The controller is configured to compare voltages corresponding to currents through the resistors and terminate operation of the converter when a difference between the voltages exceeds a threshold indicative of transformer core flux walking.
US09130465B2

Systems and methods are provided for managing switching operation of a power converter, for example and without limitation, for powering LEDs in an efficient manner. According to one aspect, a system for managing a switching operation of a power converter includes an off time control system for managing operation modes of a power converter. The off time control system includes an active device for transmitting a bias signal, where the bias signal is configured for modulating a zero diode current signal for controlling a trigger signal, and a resistive body for discharging the bias signal.
US09130459B2

A boost converter capable of reducing a common-mode current that flows to the outside of a casing. In the converter, a boost circuit includes first and second inductors and at least one switching element electrically connected therebetween. A controller turns on and off the at least one switching element to boost an input voltage of the boost circuit. A first floating capacitor is formed between a first electrical path, which is at the same potential as a junction between the at least one switching element and the first inductor, and a mounting member coupled to a reference potential member with an insulator therebetween. A second floating capacitor is formed between a second electrical path, which is at the same potential as a junction between the at least one switching element and the second inductor, and the mounting member.
US09130458B2

A static synchronous compensator for use in reactive power compensation, the static synchronous compensator comprising at least one primary compensator limb including first and second DC terminals, and an AC terminal for connection in use to an AC network, the or each primary compensator limb defining first and second limb portions, each limb portion—including at least one switching element connected in series with a chain-link converter—between a respective one of the first and second DC terminals and the AC terminal, the switching elements of the first and second limb portions being operable to switch the respective chain-link converters in and out of circuit between the respective DC terminal and the AC terminal and the chain-link converters being operable to generate a voltage waveform at the AC terminal; and a secondary compensator limb including at least one DC link capacitor connected between the first and second DC terminals, the secondary compensator limb being connected in parallel with the or each primary compensator limb.
US09130452B2

There is provided a gate driving device, including: an inverter arm including a high-side switch and a low-side switch; a gate driving unit receiving an instruction signal to provide switching control to the inverter arm, outputting a control signal to control switching of the inverter arm, and including a plurality of gate drivers; and a balancing unit causing voltage applied to the plurality of gate drivers to be divided to be supplied to respective gate drivers among the plurality of gate drivers, according to the switching of the inverter arm based on the control signal.
US09130450B2

A power supply system includes: a switching power supply, which rectifies and smoothes an AC voltage of an AC power supply to generate a first DC voltage in a normal mode; a control unit, which controls the switching power supply to switch between the normal mode and a power saving mode; and a low-capacity power supply circuit, which supplies power to the control unit in the power saving mode, and which includes: a first capacitor, which includes a first electrode connected to one end of the AC power supply, and a second electrode; a second capacitor, which includes a first electrode connected to the other end of the AC power supply, and a second electrode; a rectifying circuit, which rectify an AC voltage applied to both capacitors; and a smoothing circuit, which smoothes the rectified AC voltage to generate a smooth voltage.
US09130428B2

According to one embodiment, there is provided a 3-phase 2-pole 2-layer armature winding, housed in 72 slots provided in a laminated iron core, a winding of each phase including six parallel circuits separated into two phase belts. Upper coil pieces of first and fourth parallel circuits are placed at 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 12th positions, and lower coil pieces of the first and fourth parallel circuits are placed at 1st, 6th, 9th, and 10th positions, upper and lower coil pieces of second and fifth parallel circuits are placed at 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 11th positions, and upper coil pieces of third and six parallel circuits are placed at 1st, 6th, 9th, and 10th positions, and lower coil pieces of the third and six parallel circuits are placed at 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 12th positions, from the center of a pole.
US09130427B2

An arrangement for producing a star connection in the case of an electromotor, in particular three-phase motor; first crimp sleeves being slid onto stator winding-wire end regions and joined thereto; the first crimp sleeves being joined to the second crimp sleeves by a respective welded connection; the second crimp sleeves being slid onto an electrical line and joined thereto.
US09130421B2

An embodiment of an electric machine includes inner and outer housing sections attached to one another to form, at an axial end of the electric machine, a cooling channel therebetween. Such electric machine also includes a bearing carrier coupled to the housing sections and radially registered to the inside diameter of the inner housing section. An embodiment of an electric machine includes annular, L-shaped inner and outer sheet metal housing sections enclosing a cooling channel at an axial end of the electric machine and otherwise being substantially parallel and contiguous, and includes a first bearing assembly coupled to the inner housing section.
US09130412B2

A motor drive assembly for a vehicle is provided and includes an electric motor. A rotor of the electric motor includes a spindle rotatably supported by a first bearing located on a first side of the spindle close to a speed reducer and a second bearing located on a second side of the spindle opposite from the first side of the spindle and remote from the speed reducer. The spindle includes a tubular, hollow, rotor core mounting portion having an inner diameter larger than the diameter of a cylindrical surface on which the first bearing is fitted.
US09130411B2

A smart meter includes: a power supply control unit which causes stoppage of a supply of power passing through the smart meter to an television and so on, when an RD command to stop the supply is received; a first communication unit which performs a first communication through which the RD command is received; a second communication unit which performs a second communication; and a communication control unit which: causes the performance of the first communication before the RD command is received; and prohibit the performance of the first communication and cause only the performance of the second communication, after the RD command is received.
US09130404B2

A multiple redundant solar power system comprises a primary solar power set, a secondary solar power set, a first control unit, and a second control unit. The primary solar power set includes a first solar panel, a first battery, and a first electrical output line. The secondary solar power set includes a second solar panel, a second battery, and a second electrical output line. The first control unit is connected between the first battery and the second battery. When the first battery has a low voltage, electrical power can be supplied from the second battery to the first battery. The second control unit is connected between the first battery and an external electrical power source. When the second battery has a low voltage, electrical power can be supplied from the external electrical power source to the first battery.
US09130403B2

A system, method and device for determining load profile of a power line conductor supplying power to a plurality of power customers is provided. In one embodiment the system includes an automated meter reading system configured to receive meter data including data of the power consumed by each of the plurality of power customers as measured by the power meters; a phase detection system configured to determine one of the plurality of power lines to which each of the power meters is electrically connected; a meter grouping system configured to determine groups of power meter that are commonly connected to the plurality of power line conductors; and a load profile system configured to determine a load profile for each group of power meters by combining the meter data from each meter of each group over a plurality of time periods.
US09130393B2

Some embodiments concern a method of isolating low amplitude signals in one or more electrical signals. The method can include: using a data acquisition device to acquire one or more electrical signals; using a first processor to compute one or more first parameters related to the one or more electrical signals; using the first processor to determine one or more first portions of the one or more electrical signal that comprise one or more transient signals; using the first processor to selectively mask the one or more first portions of the one or more electrical signals to create one or more output signals; and adjusting a gain of the data acquisition device based upon one or more second parameters of the one or more output signals. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09130390B2

In some embodiments, a power extractor utilizes power transfer circuitry with analysis circuitry to detect a power slope and to control the magnitude of the current in response to the detected power slope. The power analysis circuitry may increase the current as long as the power slope shows an increase in power and may decrease the current as long as the power slope shows a decrease in power. The magnitude of the current is responsive to the duty cycle of the switching circuitry and to the detected power slope. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09130384B2

A consumer electronics device charging device having a pair of rotatable blades, wherein the blades are rotatable from a deployed position in which ends of the blades are inserted into a standard wall outlet to a retracted position in which the ends of the blades are spread apart from one another and lie flat against the charger to decrease the overall thickness of the charger.
US09130383B2

A charging/discharging control device that can protect a chargeable/dischargeable battery cell from an excess current state while preventing the device from being increased in scale and from being complex. The charging/discharging control device includes: switches that are connected in parallel on current paths between a battery and a positive terminal of a battery pack; a switching control unit that switches between a charging current path and a discharging current path; a protective element that fuses the charging current path when a current value of the charging current path flowing through the switch exceeds a first fusing current value; and a protective element that fuses the discharging current path when a current value of the discharging current path flowing through the switch exceeds a second fusing current value higher than the first fusing current value.
US09130378B2

In a power converter, a primary winding receives an input power. In addition, multiple secondary windings transform the input power into multiple charging currents to charge a set of cells via a set of paths. The multiple secondary windings further balance the set of cells based on the charging currents. A ratio between a first turn number of a first secondary winding of the secondary windings and a second turn number of a second secondary winding of the secondary windings is determined by a nominal voltage ratio between two corresponding cells of the set of cells.
US09130375B2

The disclosure provides a charger including a base and a charging circuit. The base includes a coupling portion for detachably coupling with one of multiple supporting stands. Each of the supporting stands has a supporting container with different standards. The coupling portion has a coupling surface. The coupling surface is used for supporting one of the supporting stands. The charging circuit is disposed in the base and the charging circuit has a first electrical connector. The first electrical connector protrudes from the coupling surface. When the coupling portion is coupled with the supporting stand, a portion of the first electrical connector is disposed in the supporting container.
US09130361B2

A blade assembly is provided for use in a wire stripping system, where the blade assembly includes a first blade including a first cutting opening therein, the first opening including a first guide surface on one side of the first opening and a first cutting surface on the opposite side of the first opening, and a second blade including a second cutting opening therein, the second opening including a second guide surface on one side of the second opening and a second cutting surface on the opposite side of the second opening. The blades impart a rotation force on the wire to cause the cutting surfaces to make a depth-controlled circumferential cut in the sheath around the entire wire.
US09130359B2

In one embodiment, an electric vehicle charging station comprises a body attached to a base, wherein the base is operably connected to a deflector mechanism, wherein the body moves from a rest position disposed along a major axis of the electric vehicle charging station to an impact position, with an articulation angle disposed therebetween, upon an impact having a force greater than or equal to 5 kiloNewtons.
US09130356B2

A spark plug includes a metallic shell, an insulator, a center electrode, a ground electrode, and a thin firing pad. The thin firing pad is made from a noble metal and can be attached to the center electrode, the ground electrode, or to both. In some examples, the thin firing pad possesses certain geometric properties and relationships that can improve ignitability and durability of the thin firing pad.
US09130354B2

The invention relates to a rapid disconnect device for surge arrestors, in particular plate-type or flat varistors, comprising at least one element that is maintained under a mechanical stress, and a disconnection point for disconnecting the surge arrestor from the respective power grid upon thermal overload, wherein the disconnection point comprises contacts, the positions of which vary relative to one another, wherein one of said contacts is designed to be fixed. According to the invention, the contacts of varying positions relative to one another are electrically connected without the use of solder in such a way that incident current forces act primarily in the contact force direction and such that the moving contacts of the positionally-variable contacts of a lost element located at the surge arrestor and thermally detachable therefrom can be moved from a closed position to the disconnected position.
US09130353B2

A laser diode arrangement having at least one semiconductor substrate, having at least two laser stacks each having an active zone and having at least one intermediate layer. The laser stacks and the intermediate layer are grown monolithically on the semiconductor substrate. The intermediate layer is arranged between the laser stacks. The active zone of the first laser stack can be actuated separately from the active zone of the at least one further laser stack.
US09130352B2

An optical semiconductor device includes: a substrate of semiconductor; an array having a plurality of active regions arranged on the substrate so as to emit light to the same direction, the plurality of active regions being arranged more densely at ends of the array than in the center of the array in a direction crossing the light emitting direction; and electrodes which inject current to the plurality of active regions.
US09130351B2

Systems and methods for modulating the output of a difference frequency generator such as an OPO, OPA or OPG include a pump fiber laser having at least one internal, directly modulatible component, wherein the pump fiber laser produces a pump signal, and a difference frequency generator coupled to the pump fiber laser. The difference frequency generator is configured for accepting the pump signal of the pump fiber laser and producing an output signal, wherein parameters of the output signal are determined based on direct modulation of the internal, directly modulatible component of the pump fiber laser.
US09130341B2

A semiconductor laser drive apparatus includes: a current setting circuit that stores a first set value for a light-emission current obtained by subtracting a first bias current used when the semiconductor laser element emits light, from a drive current used when the semiconductor laser element emits light, a second set value for the first bias current, and a third set value for a second bias current used when the semiconductor laser element does not emit light; a first current generator circuit that generates a first input current from the first set value; a second current generator circuit that generates a second input current from the second set value and a third input current from the third set value; and a switching circuit that supplies a sum of the first and second input currents to a drive circuit when a light-emission control signal is on, and the third input current to the drive circuit when the light-emission control signal is off.
US09130328B1

A RF pass-through connector comprises at least a spring-loaded terminal comprised of a rod member and a sleeve member resiliently telescopically formed in a housing and adapted to be correspondingly contacted with a signal terminal formed in a socket and a receptacle cavity in the socket to be electrically connected with a grounding loop formed in a circuit board fixed in an electronic device, whereby upon a connection of the RF pass-through connector with the socket of the electronic device, a reliable, stable and efficient signal communication or transmission may be obtained through the terminals.
US09130325B2

A current return network element for aircraft particularly with high conductivity. The purpose is achieved by using a plurality of electrically conducting strips intersecting each other and made from a single piece, at a spacing from each other so as to form a plurality of openings between them.
US09130321B2

An electrical connector for electrically connecting an IC package to a circuit board includes an insulating housing having a plurality of receiving holes and a plurality of contacts received in the receiving holes. Each of the contacts includes a retaining portion engaging with the insulating housing, and a spring arm deforming freely in a certain range, wherein the spring arm includes an elastic deformation portion, a recess portion protruding downwardly from the elastic deformation portion for contacting with a ball grid array (BGA) package and a protrusion portion protruding upwardly from the recess portion for contacting with a land gird array (LGA) package.
US09130310B2

An electrical connector for testing of missile launch rail is provided. The electrical contacts of the connector move from a rear disengaged position to forward engaged positions via the energy of a compressed spring. The connector base has rail mounts for securing to a missile launch rail. A housing attaches to the base and houses a plunger, an insulator, electrical contacts, and a tube, which move forward and aft as a unit. A knob on a rear tube end enables user to limit the initial impact of the electrical contacts on contact pins or striker points of missile launch rail. The connector can provide electrical connection with launch rail pins as rail pins recede into the missile launch rail. Electrical contact position is governed, in part, by locating pins which ride in a track cut into an outer surface of the tube and move with rotation of an indexing ring.
US09130305B2

Waterproof apparatus for cables and cable interfaces are provided herein. An exemplary apparatus includes a coupler body that includes a first end configured to releaseably couple with a connector bulkhead and a second end having an opening that is sized to receive a sealing gland, a cavity for receiving the sealing gland, the sealing gland comprising an outer peripheral surface configured to sealingly engage with an inner surface of the cavity, the sealing gland comprising an aperture that is configured to receive a cable.
US09130302B1

An audio jack connector includes an insulating housing which has a base body defining a holding cavity in a bottom thereof and an inserting body defining an inserting chamber, a plurality of electrical terminals disposed in the base body, a fixing member fastened in the holding cavity of the insulating housing to cover and hold the electrical terminals in the base body, and a sealing tape covering under the fixing member and adhered outside the insulating housing and the fixing member to seal up splicing gaps between sidewalls of the holding cavity and peripheral edges of the fixing member. So the audio jack connector can effectively prevent the water vapor and dust passing through the inserting chamber onto a printed circuit board of an electronic product where the audio jack connector is used.
US09130300B2

A water resistant connector jointing with a housing, comprises a base, a sleeve plug disposed in the base, a clamping member disposed in the base and a locking member. The sleeve plug contacts with the neck portion of the base. The locking member is locked at the housing and contacts with the clamping member. The transmission line passes through the locking member, the clamping member, and the sleeve plug such that one portion of the transmission line is exposed at the exterior of the base. The locking member moves linearly and extrudes the clamping member and the sleeve plug such that the sleeve plug has deformation by the extrusion from the neck portion of the base. The effects of water resistance and seal may be achieved by using the sleeve plug to tightly joint with the internal wall of the base and the transmission line.
US09130296B2

A power jack, comprising an insulating housing, a socket which set in the bottom of the insulating housing, a movable socket cover which covers the socket and an elastic device between the socket cover and the socket which for ejecting the cover; the housing has a pair of limiting portions each having a button assembled thereto; the socket cover has an elastic arm which could clamp the limiting portion, so as to lock the socket cover; the elastic arm can be pushed away from the limiting portion by the button, so that the cover can be removed away from the socket. Therefore, it is convenient and safe for users to extract the plug with single hand.
US09130295B2

In an electrical plug connector comprising an insulating contact adapter the contact adapter has a first wing which can be pivoted between an open and a closed position. The contact adapter is designed to enclose a metal contact element between the first wing and a wall of the contact adapter when the first wing is in the closed position.
US09130289B2

An apparatus may include a conductive wire and a plug. The plug may be electrically and mechanically coupled to the conductive wire. The plug may include a non-conductive overmold, an electrically conductive barrel, and a lip. The non-conductive overmold may surround the conductive wire. The electrically conductive barrel may extend from the overmold, and may have a width that is smaller than a width of the overmold. The lip may extend from the barrel in a direction substantially perpendicular to a direction in which the barrel extends from the overmold. A distance from an outer portion of the lip to an opposite outer portion of the lip may be at least twice a length that the barrel extends from the overmold.
US09130278B2

A patch radiator suitable for operation with circular or dual linear polarizations is described. The patch radiator includes a patch antenna element and a pair of excitation circuits. The excitation circuits include a feed line and a turning circuit configured such that a single feed line enables independent operation of each polarization. This allows for the operation of the patch and therefore array as either linear, slant, elliptical, or circular polarization.
US09130272B2

A wrist-worn electronic device includes an antenna that receives externally transmitted radio signals; a case of which at least part is made of a non-conductive material; an information display unit that is housed inside the case, is flat, and is made of a non-conductive material; a back cover that is attached to the case and is made of a conductive material; and a reception unit that is positioned and housed inside the case between the information display unit and the back cover, and processes a reception signal based on radio signals received by the antenna. The antenna has an antenna electrode that is disposed and formed as a line around the outside of the information display unit. The back cover is connected to the ground potential of the reception unit and reflects the radio signals.
US09130271B2

Field-serviceable radio frequency modules can be achieved by replacing hard-wired radio frequency (RF) feedback paths with external near-field RF probes. Notably, the near-field RF probes may allow for the RF module to be installed/re-installed on a backplane or other support structure without fowling factory calibration settings. Multiple near-field RF probes can monitor a single RF module. Additionally, a single near-field RF probe can monitor multiple RF modules.
US09130270B1

A scan alignment system and method for calibrating a scan path for a directional antenna system is presented. The scan alignment system calibrates the scan path by generating a scan path, scanning the directional antenna through the scan path, receiving a signal signature responsive to the scanning, comparing the signal signature with a reference signature, and determining a corrective calibration to apply to the scan path that minimizes the difference between the signal signature and the reference signature. In an embodiment, the reference signature is modeled based on the directional antenna and the intended scan path.
US09130267B2

A wireless handheld or portable device includes an antenna system operative in a first frequency region and a higher, second frequency region that includes an antenna structure, a matching and tuning system, and an external input/output port. The antenna structure includes at least one radiating element including a connection point, a ground plane layer including at least one connection point, and at least one internal input/output port. At least one radiating element of the antenna structure protrudes beyond the ground plane layer. The antenna structure features at any of its at least one internal input/output ports when disconnected from the matching and tuning system an input return loss curve having a minimum at a frequency outside the first frequency region of operation of the antenna system. The matching and tuning system provides impedance matching to the antenna system in the first and second regions of operation of the antenna system.
US09130263B2

Disclosed are to a communication terminal and an antenna apparatus thereof. The antenna apparatus includes an antenna device including a feeding point to which a signal is applied; and at least one variable reactance device connected to the antenna device. The communication terminal determines a communication network to access to drive the antenna apparatus corresponding to the determined communication network, and accesses to the determined communication network through the antenna apparatus to communicate. Accordingly, a resonance frequency band of the antenna apparatus is expanded.
US09130259B2

The invention refer to an antennaless wireless handset or portable device that may include a user interface module, a processing module, a memory module, a communication module, and a power management module. The communication module may include a radiating system capable of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals in a first frequency region. The radiating system may include a radiating structure comprising or consisting of at least one ground plane layer including a connection point, at least one radiation booster including a connection point, and an internal port wherein the internal port is defined between the connection point of the at least one radiation booster and the connection point of the at least one ground layer.
US09130256B2

A dielectric waveguide filter which, in one embodiment, is comprised of a plurality of monoblocks coupled together in a side-by-side relationship. In one embodiment, the waveguide filter includes two end monoblocks and two interior monoblocks each defining two resonators. First and second RF signal input/output electrodes are defined on the two end monoblocks. In one embodiment, a direct RF signal transmission path is defined in part by the combination of the resonators, RF signal transmission bridges on each of the monoblocks that interconnect the resonators on each of the monoblocks, and RF signal transmission windows between and interconnecting the resonators of adjacent monoblocks. In one embodiment, alternate or cross-coupling RF signal transmission paths are defined by external RF signal transmission lines that extend between adjacent monoblocks.
US09130248B2

A method for modeling changes in the state of charge vs. open circuit voltage (SOC-OCV) curve for a lithium-ion battery cell as it ages. During battery pack charging, voltage and current data are gathered for a battery cell. A set of state equations are used to determine the stoichiometry and state of charge of the cathode half-cell based on the charging current profile over time. The voltage and current data, along with the stoichiometry and state of charge of the cathode half-cell, are then used to estimate maximum and minimum solid concentration values at the anode, using an error function parameter regression/optimization. With stoichiometric conditions at both the cathode and anode calculated, the cell's capacity and a new SOC-OCV curve can be determined.
US09130244B2

A nonaqueous electrolytic solution of an electrolyte salt dissolved in a nonaqueous solvent, which contains a carboxylate represented by the following general formula (8) in an amount of from 0.01 to 5% by mass of the nonaqueous electrolytic solution: wherein X31 represents -A2-C≡Y2, -A2-C(═O)O-A3-C≡Y2 or -A2-C(═O)O-A4; A1, A2 and A3 each independently represent an alkylene group having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms; A4 represents an alkyl group having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms; Y1 and Y2 each independently represent CH or N.
US09130239B2

Phosphate ester compounds are prepared by reacting phosphoryl chloride with at least one mono(alkylene glycol) monoether or poly(alkylene glycol) monoether, or a mixture at least one mono(alkylene glycol) monoether or poly(alkylene glycol) monoether and at least one alkylene glycol or polyalkylene glycol, in the presence of at least three moles per mole of phosphoryl chloride of a pyridinyl compound that is devoid of aliphatic nitrogen atoms.
US09130231B2

In a lithium ion battery, one or more chelating agents may be attached to a microporous polymer separator for placement between a negative electrode and a positive electrode or to a polymer binder material used to construct the negative electrode, the positive electrode, or both. The chelating agents may comprise, for example, at least one of a crown ether, a crown ether, a podand, a lariat ether, a calixarene, a calixcrown, or mixtures thereof. The chelating agents can help improve the useful life of the lithium ion battery by complexing with unwanted metal cations that may become present in the battery's electrolyte solution while, at the same time, not significantly interfering with the movement of lithium ions between the negative and positive electrodes.
US09130229B2

Electrochemical cells containing a stoichiometric capacity ratio of carbon-treated carbon monofluoride to carbon monofluoride being greater than 1:1 provide electrochemical cells having a tunable end-of-service indication.
US09130225B2

A seawater battery of dissolved oxygen type includes a battery frame (1), n pieces of metal anode plates (2), n pieces of inert cathode plates (3), current collectors and wires (5). The battery frame (1) is consisted of an upper base (6) and a lower base (7), wherein the upper base and the lower base are respectively consisted of an outer ring and a central fixing component. The fixing component is connected with and fixed to the outer ring by a connector, and n pieces of metal anode plates are inserted on the connector so as to construct a cylindrical or frustum-shaped structure. The inert cathode plates are inserted between the metal anode plates along radial direction of the outer ring, and are connected with and fixed to the outer ring and the fixing component of the upper base and the lower base. The metal anode plates are welded in series by wires constituting the anode of the battery and the inert cathode plates are welded in series by wires constituting the cathode of the battery.
US09130222B2

A fuel cell system of the present invention includes a fixing unit that fixes or releases hydrazine, a fuel cell to which hydrazine released in the fixing unit is supplied as fuel, a supply line for supplying an aqueous hydrazine solution from a hydrazine supply source to the fixing unit, a drain line for draining drained water from the fixing unit, a first sensing unit for detecting a hydrazine concentration in an aqueous hydrazine solution flowing in the supply line, a second sensing unit for detecting a hydrazine concentration in drained water flowing in the drain line, and a detection unit that detects the amount of hydrazine fixed in the fixing unit based on the concentration values detected by the first sensing unit and the second sensing unit.
US09130217B2

A metal-halogen flow battery system includes a stack of flow cells, an electrolyte reservoir and one or more of a concentrated halogen return line fluidly connecting the stack to the reservoir, a venturi, a mixer, a concentrated halogen pump, or a concentrated halogen line heater.
US09130214B2

An electrode material for lithium secondary battery comprises a nanoheterostructure which contains a lithium-ion conductor and an electrode active substance of which one inorganic component is a matrix, and of which the other inorganic component is three-dimensionally and periodically arranged in the matrix, and has a three-dimensional periodic structure whose average value of one unit length of a repeated structure is 1 nm to 100 nm.
US09130211B2

A battery mounting structure includes a locking device 23 that fastens and releases a battery 13 mounted on a mounting part 16, and an auxiliary removal lever 24 that presses the battery 13 in a released state from the mounting part 16 in a removal direction. The locking device 23 has a cylindrical locking barrel 27. The auxiliary removal lever 24 has a pushing member 32 that presses the battery 13 in the removal direction and is pivotally supported by the locking barrel 27 so as to be fit onto the locking barrel 27.
US09130208B2

The present invention relates to improved membrane electrode assemblies and fuel cells with long lifetime, comprising two electrochemically active electrodes separated by a polymer electrolyte membrane based on polybenzoxazole-polybenzimidazole block polymers.
US09130195B2

A device having high index layers is provided. The device includes an organic light emissive device, an air interface, a first planarization layer, and a first barrier layer. The first planarization layer is disposed between the air interface and the organic light emissive device and has an index of refraction of at least 1.6. The first barrier layer is disposed between the first planarization layer and the organic emissive device and has an index of refraction of at least 1.6.
US09130190B2

A display includes: a light-emitting element formed by laminating a first electrode layer, an organic layer including a light-emitting layer and a second electrode layer in order on a base; and an auxiliary wiring layer being arranged so as to surround the organic layer and being electrically connected to the second electrode layer, in which the auxiliary wiring layer includes a two-layer configuration including a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer, the first conductive layer has lower contact resistance to the second electrode layer than that of the second conductive layer, the two-layer configuration in the auxiliary wiring layer is formed so that an end surface of the second conductive layer is recessed inward from an end surface of the first conductive layer, thereby a part of a top surface of the first conductive layer is in contact with the second electrode layer.
US09130184B2

A new light-emitting device utilizing phosphorescence is provided. Further, an electronic device and a lighting device which utilize phosphorescence are provided. One embodiment of the present invention is a light-emitting device including a phosphorescent organometallic iridium complex comprising iridium and either pyrimidine having an aryl group at the 4-position or 1,3,5-triazine having an aryl group at the 2-position. One of nitrogen in the pyrimidine or 1,3,5-triazine is coordinated to the iridium. Also, each of the pyrimidine and 1,3,5-triazine has a substituent such as an alkyl group or an aryl group. Further the ortho position of the aryl group which is bonded to the 4-position of the pyrimidine or the 2-position of the 1,3,5-triazine is bonded to the iridium.
US09130182B2

A light-emitting element with high emission efficiency is provided. A light-emitting element with a long lifetime is provided. The light-emitting element includes an anode; a hole-transport layer over the anode, containing a hole-transport compound and a compound; a light-emitting layer over the hole-transport layer, containing a host material and a guest material; and a cathode over the light-emitting layer. The host material is an electron-transport compound. The guest material and the compound are each independently a phosphorescent compound or a thermally activated delayed fluorescence material. A peak of an emission spectrum of the compound is on a shorter wavelength side than a peak of an emission spectrum of the guest material. Only the guest material emits light.
US09130180B2

An image sensor is provided. The image sensor includes an interlayered dielectric structure having a first recess region, in which an organic photoelectric layer is provided, and a second recess region, in which a color filter is provided. The second recess region may be provided under the first recess region.
US09130179B2

A device comprising an array of transistors, including: patterned conductive layers located at lower and upper levels in a stack of layers on a substrate, which patterned conductive layers define gate conductors and source-drain electrodes of the array of transistors; wherein the stack of layers further comprises a dielectric layer below said lower level, and a further patterned conductive layer below said dielectric layer; and wherein said further patterned conductive layer both provides an electrical function in said array of transistors via said dielectric layer, and defines openings via which the dielectric layer serves to increase the strength of adhesion between the device substrate and the patterned conductive layer at said lower level.
US09130176B2

The present invention is to provide the following: a material for hole injection transport layers and a production method thereof, the material capable of forming a hole injection transport layer by the solution application method and increasing device lifetime; an ink for forming hole injection transport layers and a production method thereof, the ink capable of forming a hole injection transport layer by the solution application method and increasing device lifetime; and a long-life device and a production method thereof; wherein disclosed is a material for hole injection transport layers, which is a reaction product of a molybdenum complex with a compound represented by the following chemical formula (i): wherein R1, R2, X1 and X2 are as explained in the Description.
US09130166B2

A cell structure of a non-volatile memory includes a first metal layer, a first dielectric layer, a first transition layer, a second metal layer, a second dielectric layer, a second transition layer, and a third metal layer. The first dielectric layer is disposed over the first metal layer, and has a first via. The first transition layer is arranged between the first via and the first metal layer. The second metal layer is formed within the first via and contacted with the first transition layer. The second dielectric layer is disposed over the second metal layer and the first dielectric layer, and has a second via. The second transition layer is arranged between the second via and the second metal layer. The third metal layer is formed within the second via and contacted with the second transition layer.
US09130163B2

A method of forming a phase change material memory cell includes forming a number of memory structure regions, wherein the memory structure regions include a bottom electrode material and a sacrificial material, forming a number of insulator regions between the number of memory structure regions, forming a number of openings between the number of insulator regions and forming a contoured surface on the number of insulator regions by removing the sacrificial material and a portion of the number of insulator regions, forming a number of dielectric spacers on the number of insulator regions, forming a contoured opening between the number of insulator regions and exposing the bottom electrode material by removing a portion of the number of dielectric spacers, and forming a phase change material in the opening between the number of insulator regions.
US09130159B2

Disclosed is a fabrication method of an element with nanogap electrodes including a first electrode, a second electrode provided above the first electrode, and a gap provided between the first electrode and the second electrode, the gap being in an order of nanometer to allow resistive state to be switched by applying a predetermined voltage between the first electrode and the second electrode, the method comprising: forming the first electrode; forming a spacer on an upper surface of the first electrode; forming the second electrode in contact with an upper surface of the spacer; and removing the spacer to form the gap.
US09130152B2

A piezoelectric component includes at least one planned fracture layer for generating and guiding cracks in the component in a controlled manner. The planned fracture layer is disposed between two electrode layers adjacent to each other in the direction of the stack. The distance d2 of the two electrode layers is greater than the distance dl of two adjacent electrode layers between which no planned fracture layer is provided.
US09130145B2

A surface acoustic wave component contains two fan-shaped interdigital transducers disposed on a piezoelectric substrate, the prongs and gaps of which transducers forming groups having the same length, called cells, between them, and narrow in the averaged prong direction. The cells are structured like cells of unidirectional transducers, and at least one of the fan-shaped interdigital transducers is composed of partial transducers. The partial transducers are disposed one behind the other, perpendicular to the averaged prong direction.
US09130141B2

Disclosed is a light-emitting diode element including a first semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type, a second semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type, an active layer. A first electrode is provided on a surface of the second semiconductor layer. A second electrode is provided in a second region of the principal surface of the first semiconductor layer. A conductive layer is arranged such that the conductive layer covers a third region, a fourth region, and a fifth region in the rear surface of the first semiconductor layer. In the rear surface of the first semiconductor layer, the first semiconductor layer includes a sixth region which is not covered with the conductive layer and which overlaps another part of the first electrode. The first semiconductor layer is not provided with a through electrode.
US09130127B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor light emitting device includes a stacked structure body, first and second electrodes. The stacked structure body includes first and second semiconductor layers and a light emitting layer provided between the second and first semiconductor layers, and has first and second major surfaces. The first electrode has a first contact part coming into contact with the first semiconductor layer. The second electrode has a part coming into contact with the second semiconductor layer. A surface of the first semiconductor layer on a side of the first major surface has a first part having a part overlapping a contact surface with the first semiconductor layer and a second part having a part overlapping the second semiconductor layer. The second part has irregularity. A pitch of the irregularity is longer than a peak wavelength of emission light. The first part has smaller irregularity than the second part.
US09130120B2

A substrate comprises a Group III-V material having an upper surface and a buffer layer having a thickness of not greater than about 1.3 μm and overlying the upper surface of the substrate. A plurality of optoelectronic devices formed on the substrate having a normalized light emission wavelength standard deviation of not greater than about 0.0641 nm/cm2 at a wavelength within a range of between about 400 nm to about 550 nm.
US09130117B2

A light emitting device is disclosed. The light emitting device includes a light emitting structure including a first semiconductor layer doped with a first dopant while including a first region and a second region stepped relative to the first region, a second semiconductor layer doped with a second dopant different from the first dopant while disposed over the second region, and an active layer disposed between the first and second semiconductor layers, a first electrode disposed on the first region, and a functional member disposed between one side surface of the light emitting structure adjacent to the first electrode and the first electrode while being disposed at the first region, wherein the functional member has a thickness greater than a thickness of the first electrode and less than a thickness of the light emitting structure, with respect to a surface of the first region.
US09130114B2

A vertical light emitting diode (VLED) die includes an epitaxial structure having a first-type confinement layer, an active layer on the first-type confinement layer configured as a multiple quantum well (MQW) configured to emit light, and a second-type confinement layer having a roughened surface. In a first embodiment, the roughened surface includes a pattern of holes with a depth (d) in a major surface thereof surrounded by a pattern of protuberances with a height (h) on the major surface. In a second embodiment, the roughened surface includes a pattern of primary protuberances surrounded by a pattern of secondary protuberances.
US09130097B2

A solar powered variable light attenuating device includes a liquid crystal cell, a photovoltaic cell in electrical communication with the liquid crystal cell, and a light concentrator having a light absorbing surface and a light emitting surface optically coupled to the photovoltaic cell. At least a portion of light impinging on the light absorbing surface of the light concentrator is concentrated and directed through the light emitting surface to a photon-absorbing portion of the photovoltaic cell to generate a voltage. The generated voltage is used to change the liquid crystal cell from a de-energized state to an energized state in response to sunlight directed toward the photovoltaic cell.
US09130092B1

A photovoltaic solar concentrator is disclosed with one or more transverse-junction solar cells (also termed point contact solar cells) and a lens located above each solar cell to concentrate sunlight onto the solar cell to generate electricity. Piezoelectric actuators tilt or translate each lens to track the sun using a feedback-control circuit which senses the electricity generated by one or more of the solar cells. The piezoelectric actuators can be coupled through a displacement-multiplier linkage to provide an increased range of movement of each lens. Each lens in the solar concentrator can be supported on a frame (also termed a tilt plate) having three legs, with the movement of the legs being controlled by the piezoelectric actuators.
US09130091B2

The present invention is premised’ upon an assembly that includes at least a photovoltaic building sheathing element capable of being affixed on a building structure, the photovoltaic building sheathing element. The element including a photovoltaic cell assembly, a body portion attached to one or more portions of the photovoltaic cell assembly; and at feast a first and a second connector assembly capable of directly or indirectly electrically connecting the photovoltaic cell assembly to one or more adjoining devices; wherein the body portion includes one or more geometric features adapted to engage a vertically adjoining device before installation.
US09130085B2

An apparatus comprises a graphene film; a first arrangement of quantum dots of a first type located in contact with the graphene film as a first monolayer; a second arrangement of quantum dots of a second type located in contact with the graphene film as a second monolayer; an input voltage source connected to an end of the graphene film; and an output voltage probe connected to the graphene film between the first arrangement of quantum dots and the second arrangement of quantum dots.
US09130083B2

A semiconductor light receiving device includes a substrate having an incident surface receiving light incident on the semiconductor light receiving device and a principal surface opposite to the incident surface; a first semiconductor layer disposed on the principal surface of the substrate, the first semiconductor layer defining one of a cathode region and an anode region; a light absorbing region disposed on the first semiconductor layer; and a second semiconductor layer disposed on the light absorbing region, the second semiconductor layer defining the other of the cathode region and the anode region and forming a junction with the light absorbing region. The light absorbing region includes a semiconductor layer having a conductivity type opposite to the conductivity type of the first semiconductor layer. The semiconductor layer of the light absorbing region forms a p-n junction with the first semiconductor layer.
US09130074B2

Solar cells of varying composition are disclosed, generally including a central substrate, conductive layer(s), antireflection layers(s), passivation layer(s) and/or electrode(s). Multifunctional layers provide combined functions of passivation, transparency, sufficient conductivity for vertical carrier flow, the junction, and/or varying degrees of anti-reflectivity. Improved manufacturing methods including single-side CVD deposition processes and thermal treatment for layer formation and/or conversion are also disclosed.
US09130073B2

A method for producing a continuous film of at least one solar cell module comprises the steps of depositing (8) a material forming a release layer onto a surrogate substrate in the form of a belt (1) being moved in a continuous loop, depositing (12, 14, 17) layers forming a solar cell film onto said release layer, applying (25) a first protective plastic layer onto the solar cell film, separating (31) a film including at least said solar cell film and said plastic layer attached thereto from said belt, and applying (35) a second protective plastic layer on the side of said film separated opposite to said first protective plastic layer.
US09130068B2

A method for forming a light emitting device comprises forming a buffer layer having a plurality of layers comprising a substrate, an aluminum gallium nitride layer adjacent to the substrate, and a gallium nitride layer adjacent to the aluminum gallium nitride layer. During the formation of each of the plurality of layers, one or more process parameters are selected such that an individual layer of the plurality of layers is strained.
US09130063B2

A semiconductor device having a main electrode connected to a first semiconductor region and a second semiconductor layer on a semiconductor substrate so that a pn-junction diode is formed with the first semiconductor region being interposed and a Schottky barrier diode is formed with the second semiconductor layer being interposed on a surface of the semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor device includes a first electrode configured to ohmic-contact the first semiconductor region; a second electrode configured to Schottky-contact the second semiconductor layer and not having a portion directly contacting the first electrode; and a conductive reaction suppression layer to suppress a reaction between a material configuring the first electrode and a material configuring the second electrode are provided on the surface of the semiconductor substrate, and the main electrode is electrically connected to the first electrode and the second electrode.
US09130059B2

A method of semiconductor device fabrication includes forming a first dummy gate structure in a first region of a semiconductor substrate and forming a second dummy gate structure in a second region of the semiconductor substrate. A protective layer (e.g., oxide and/or silicon nitride hard mask) is formed on the second dummy gate structure. The first dummy gate structure is removed after forming the protective layer, thereby providing a first trench. A capping layer (e.g., silicon) is formed in the first trench. A metal gate structure may be formed on the capping layer. The protective layer may protect the second dummy gate structure during the removal of the first dummy gate structure.
US09130056B1

Methods of dicing semiconductor wafers, each wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits, are described. In an example, a method of dicing a semiconductor wafer having integrated circuits on a front side thereof involves laminating a pre-patterned bi-layer wafer-level underfill material stack on the integrated circuits of the semiconductor wafer. The pre-patterned bi-layer wafer-level underfill material stack has regions corresponding to the integrated circuits and gaps corresponding to dicing streets between the integrated circuits. The method also involves plasma etching to form trenches in the semiconductor wafer in alignment with the dicing streets to singulate the integrated circuits. An upper layer of the pre-patterned bi-layer wafer-level underfill material stack protects the integrated circuits during the plasma etching.
US09130053B2

This technology relates to a nonvolatile memory device and a method of fabricating the same. The nonvolatile memory device may include a pipe connection gate electrode configured to have a bottom buried in a groove formed in a substrate, one or more pipe channel layers formed within the pipe connection gate electrode, pairs of main channel layers each coupled to the pipe channel layer and extended in a direction substantially perpendicular to the substrate, and a plurality of interlayer insulating layers and a plurality of cell gate electrodes alternately stacked along the main channel layers, wherein the pipe connection gate electrode includes a metal silicide layer formed within the groove. The electric resistance of the pipe connection gate electrode may be greatly reduced without an increase in a substantial height by forming the metal silicide layer buried in the substrate under the pipe connection gate electrode.
US09130044B2

The invention relates to a semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor layer, a gate electrode overlapping with a channel formation region of the oxide semiconductor layer, and a source electrode or a drain electrode overlapping with a first region of the oxide semiconductor layer, and a second region between the channel formation region and the first region. An upper layer of the second region includes a microvoid. The microvoid is formed by adding nitrogen to the upper layer of the second region. Thus, upper layer of the second region contains lager amount of nitrogen than a lower layer of the second region.
US09130043B2

An object is to provide a method for manufacturing a highly reliable semiconductor device which includes a thin film transistor using an oxide semiconductor and having stable electric characteristics. In manufacture of a semiconductor device in which an oxide semiconductor is used for a channel formation region, after an oxide semiconductor film is formed, a conductive film including a metal, a metal compound, or an alloy that can absorb or adsorb moisture, a hydroxy group, or hydrogen is formed to overlap with the oxide semiconductor film with an insulating film provided therebetween. Then, heat treatment is performed in the state where the conductive film is exposed; in such a manner, activation treatment for removing moisture, oxygen, hydrogen, or the like adsorbed onto a surface of or in the conductive film is performed.
US09130038B2

A semiconductor memory device, a memory system including the same, a method of manufacturing the same and a method of operating the same are provided. The semiconductor memory device includes a pipe channel layer, vertical channel layers coupled to a top surface of the pipe channel layer, a first pipe gate substantially surrounding a bottom surface and side surfaces of the pipe channel layer, a boosting gate formed over the pipe channel layer, and first insulating layers and conductive layers alternately stacked over the boosting gate and the pipe channel layer.
US09130037B2

A semiconductor device may include a semiconductor substrate, a first conductive type well and a second conductive type drift region in the semiconductor substrate, the drift region including a first drift doping region and a second drift doping region, the second drift doping region vertically overlapping the well, and a first conductive type body region in the well, the body region being in contact with a side of the first drift doping region. The first drift doping region and the second doping region may include a first conductive type dopant and a second conductive type dopant, and an average density of the first conductive type dopant in the first drift doping region may be less than an average density of the first conductive type dopant in the second drift doping region.
US09130036B2

A semiconductor device includes: a substrate with an off-angle; an SiC layer provided on a principal surface of the substrate, including an n type drift region, and having a trench whose bottom is located in the drift region; and a gate electrode provided in the trench in the SiC layer. In the trench in the SiC layer, a first angle formed by at least part of a first sidewall on an off-direction side and the principal surface of the substrate is an obtuse angle, and a second angle formed by at least part of a second sidewall opposite to the first sidewall and the principal surface of the substrate is an acute angle, in a cross section parallel to a direction of a normal line to the principal surface of the substrate and a direction of a c-axis of the substrate.
US09130029B2

A approach for recessing and capping metal gate structures is disclosed. Embodiments include: forming a dummy gate electrode on a substrate; forming a hard mask over the dummy gate electrode; forming spacers on opposite sides of the dummy gate electrode and the hard mask; forming an interlayer dielectric (ILD) over the substrate adjacent the spacers; forming a first trench in the ILD down to the dummy gate electrode; removing the dummy gate electrode to form a second trench below the first trench; forming a metal gate structure in the first and second trenches; and forming a gate cap over the metal gate structure.
US09130020B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of interconnects of an nth layer, a plurality of interconnects of a (n+1)th layer, a plurality of stacked films of the nth layer, each of the plurality of stacked films of the nth layer including a memory element, an inter-layer insulating film of the nth layer, a plurality of interconnects of a (n+2)th layer, a plurality of stacked films of the (n+1)th layer, each of the plurality of stacked films of the (n+1)th layer including a memory element, and an inter-layer insulating film of the (n+1)th layer. The inter-layer insulating film of the (n+1)th layer is provided also at a side surface of an end portion in the first direction of the interconnects of the nth layer.
US09130019B2

Conductive contact structure of a circuit structures and methods of fabrication thereof are provided. The fabrication includes, for instance, providing at least one contact opening disposed over a semiconductor substrate; forming a carbon-rich contact liner material including a carbon-containing species and an elemental carbon disposed therein, the carbon-containing species and the elemental carbon together defining a set carbon content within the carbon-rich contact liner material; and depositing the carbon-rich contact liner material conformally within the at least one contact opening disposed over the semiconductor substrate.
US09130008B2

Some embodiments relate to a silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) that includes a current path which couples an SCR anode to an SCR cathode. The current path includes a first vertical current path component coupled to the SCR anode, and a second vertical current path component coupled to the SCR cathode. A horizontal current path component includes a first well region and a second well region that meet at a junction lying along a first plane. The first and second well regions cooperatively span a distance between the first and second vertical current path components. The first and second vertical current path components mirror one another symmetrically about the first plane.
US09130003B2

A structure for picking up a collector region including a pair of polysilicon stacks formed in the isolation regions and extending below the collector region; and a pair of collector electrodes contacting on the polysilicon stacks, wherein the pair of polysilicon stacks includes: an undoped polysilicon layer and a doped polysilicon layer located on the undoped polysilicon layer, wherein a depth of the doped polysilicon layer is greater than a depth of the collector region; the depth of the collector region is greater than a depth of the isolation regions.
US09130001B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide an edge ring for supporting a substrate with increased temperature uniformity. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention provide an edge ring having one or more fins formed on an energy receiving surface of the edge ring. The fins may have at least one sloped side relative to a main body of the edge ring.
US09129995B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a semiconductor substrate, a first insulating film provided on the semiconductor substrate, a silicon film provided on the first insulating film, a metal silicide film provided on the silicon film, a second insulating film provided on the metal silicide film, and an electrode provided on the second insulating film.
US09129994B2

A fin field effect transistor (FET) including a fin structure and a method for forming the fin FET are provided. In an exemplary method, the fin FET can be formed by forming at least one fin seed, including a top surface and sidewalls, on a substrate. A first semiconductor layer can then be formed at least on the sidewalls of the at least one fin seed. A second semiconductor layer can be formed on the first semiconductor layer. The second semiconductor layer and the at least one fin seed can be made of a same material. The first semiconductor layer can be removed to form a fin structure including the at least one fin seed and the second semiconductor layer.
US09129992B2

Designs and fabrication of dual-gate thin film transistors are provided. An active region and a top gate electrode of the transistor can be made of a transparent thin film material. A photoresist can be coated onto a surface of the transparent conductive thin film for forming the top gate electrode. Light is from the bottom of the substrate during exposure. After the development, a photoresist pattern aligned with the bottom gate electrode is formed on the surface of the conductive thin film. The top gate electrode aligned with the bottom gate electrode is formed by etching the conductive thin film. The bottom gate electrode can be used as a mask, which may save the cost for manufacturing the transistor and improve the accuracy of alignment between the top gate electrode and the bottom gate electrode and the performance of the dual-gate thin film transistor.
US09129986B2

Approaches for spacer chamfering in a replacement metal gate (RMG) device are provided. Specifically, a semiconductor device is provided with a set of fins formed from a substrate; a silicon-based layer conformally deposited over the set of fins; an etch-stop layer (e.g., titanium nitride (TiN)) formed over the silicon-based layer, the etch-stop layer being selective to at least one of: silicon, oxide, and nitride; a set of RMG structures formed over the substrate; a set of spacers formed along each of the set of RMG structures, wherein a vertical layer of material from each of the set of spacers is removed selective to the etch-stop layer. By chamfering each sidewall spacer, a wider area for subsequent work-function (WF) metal deposition is provided. Meanwhile, each transistor channel region is covered by the etch-stop layer (e.g., TiN), which maintains the original gate critical dimension during reactive ion etching.
US09129975B2

In one embodiment, a method for forming an electronic package structure includes providing a single unit leadframe having first terminals on a first or top surface. An electronic device is attached to the single unit leadframe and electrically connected to the first terminals. The leadframe, first terminals, and the electronic device are encapsulated with an encapsulating material. Second terminals are then formed by removing portions of a second or bottom surface of the leadframe. In one embodiment, the method can be used to fabricate a thin substrate chip scale package (“tsCSP”) type structure.
US09129962B1

The invention provides a semiconductor package structure. The semiconductor package structure includes a base. A first die is mounted on the base. The first die comprises a plurality of first pads with a first pad area arranged in a first tier. A plurality of second pads with a second pad area is arranged in a second tier. A second die is mounted on the base. The second die comprises a plurality of third pads with the first pad area and a plurality of fourth pads with the second pad area alternately arranged in a third tier. A first bonding wire has two terminals respectively coupled to one of the first pads and one of the fourth pads. A second bonding wire has two terminals respectively coupled to one of the third pads and one of the second pads.
US09129961B2

Electronic apparatus and methods of forming the electronic apparatus include a gallium lanthanide oxide film for use in a variety of electronic systems. The gallium lanthanide oxide film may be structured as one or more monolayers. The gallium lanthanide oxide film may be formed using atomic layer deposition.
US09129957B1

A method for forming a metal bump is provided. Firstly, a photo-resist layer is formed on an IC chip by using a lithographic process. The photo-resist layer comprises a metal bump reserved groove and a metal bump slit reserved portion with the extent covering a metal pad. The metal bump slit reserved portion is formed on the metal pad and within the metal bump reserved groove. Then, a deposition process is applied to form the metal bump in the metal bump reserved groove and have the metal bump slit reserved portion penetrating the metal bump. Afterward, the photo-resist layer is removed to leave the metal bump with a metal bump slit therein.
US09129944B2

A package includes a device die including a first plurality of metal pillars at a top surface of the device die. The package further includes a die stack including a plurality of dies bonded together, and a second plurality of metal pillars at a top surface of the die stack. One of the device die and the plurality of dies includes a semiconductor substrate and a through-via penetrating through the semiconductor substrate, A polymer region includes portions encircling the device die and the die stack, wherein a bottom surface of the polymer region is substantially level with a bottom surface of the device die and a bottom surface of the die stack. A top surface of the polymer region is level with top ends of the first and the second plurality of metal pillars. Redistribution lines are formed over the first and the second plurality of metal pillars.
US09129933B2

A semiconductor module has a first substrate and a second substrate placed opposite to the first substrate. A first semiconductor element is provided such that the high-heat main face of the first semiconductor faces the second substrate and is thermally connected to the second substrate via a wiring layer. A second semiconductor element is provided such that the high-heat main face of the second semiconductor faces the first substrate and is thermally connected to the first substrate via another wiring layer. The emitter electrode of the first semiconductor element and the collector electrode of the second semiconductor element are electrically connected to each other via a heat spreader.
US09129932B2

A semiconductor module includes an insulating substrate (200) that is made of AlN and that has a first plane (201) and a second plane (202) both of which face mutually opposite directions, a first conductor layer (210) formed on the first plane (201), a second conductor layer (220) formed on the second plane (202), a semiconductor device (300) bonded to the first conductor layer (210) with a first solder layer (510) interposed therebetween, and a heat dissipation plate (400) that is formed in a rectangular shape when viewed planarly and that is bonded to the second conductor layer (220) with a second solder layer (520) interposed therebetween, and, in this semiconductor module, the heat dissipation plate (400) is deformed so as to become convex in a direction in which the second plane (202) is pointed when viewed from a width direction thereof.
US09129930B2

A device comprising a substrate, an integrated circuit (IC) die attached to the substrate on one side, a plurality of contact pads on an active side of the IC die, a plurality of thermally and electrically conductive legs, each of the legs attached to a respective one of the contact pads, and an encapsulating material formed around the substrate, the IC die, and a portion of the legs. A contact end of each of the legs is exposed, and one of the contact ends conducts a signal from a transistor in the IC die.
US09129929B2

A semiconductor assembly comprises a package, which in turn comprises at least one substrate, a first die stacked onto the substrate, at least one further die stacked onto the first die, at least one heat spreader in the package, and TSV:s extending through the stacked dies. The ends of the TSV:s are exposed at the further die.
US09129918B2

Systems and methods are provided for annealing a semiconductor structure. For example, a semiconductor structure is provided. An energy-converting material capable of increasing the semiconductor structure's absorption of microwave radiation is provided. A heat reflector is provided between the energy-converting material and the semiconductor structure, the heat reflector being capable of reflecting thermal radiation from the semiconductor structure. Microwave radiation is applied to the energy-converting material and the semiconductor structure to anneal the semiconductor structure for fabricating semiconductor devices.
US09129917B2

An organic light-emitting device includes a first transparent substrate, an organic light-emitting diode and a bi-stable light control element. The organic light-emitting diode is disposed under the first transparent substrate. The bi-stable light control element is disposed under the organic light-emitting diode. The bi-stable light control element is configured to change an optical state thereof according to a received control signal and thereby changing the amount of lights capable of emitting through the bi-stable light control element. A control method for the aforementioned organic light-emitting device is also provided.
US09129915B2

Increase in resolution of an organic EL display panel is made achievable with a relatively simple process. An emissive layer of an OLED is formed by stacking an R emissive layer, a G emissive layer, and a B emissive layer corresponding to an R color, a G color, and a B color. The glass-transition temperatures Tg-R, Tg-G, and Tg-B of the R emissive layer, the G emissive layer, and the B emissive layer are set to satisfy Tg-R
US09129910B2

Semiconductor device and method for forming a semiconductor device are presented. A substrate having top and bottom pad stacks is provided. Each pad stack includes at least first and second pad layers. The second pad layer of the bottom pad stack is removed by a batch process. Trench isolation regions are formed in the substrate.
US09129909B2

In a patterning method according to the present embodiment, a guide pattern is formed on a processing target film. The guide pattern is configured by concave portions and convex portions extending in a predetermined direction. A block copolymer layer is formed on the guide pattern. The block copolymer layer contains at least two block chains. A layer of microphase-separated structures is formed on the concave portions and the convex portions, respectively, by microphase-separating the block copolymer layer. The processing target film is formed into predetermined patterns by selectively removing the processing target film. At least a part of the block copolymer layer is used as a mask.
US09129907B2

The present invention provides a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) composition suitable for polishing semiconductor materials. The composition has a pH of about 5 or less and comprises colloidal silica, at least one onium compound selected from the group consisting of a phosphonium salt, a sulfonium salt, and a combination thereof, and an aqueous carrier therefor; A CMP method for polishing a surface of a semiconductor material utilizing the composition is also disclosed.
US09129901B2

There is provided a polishing method for polishing a non-oxide single-crystal substrate such as a silicon carbide single-crystal substrate at a high polishing rate to obtain a high-quality surface that is smooth and excellent in surface properties. This polishing method is a method of supplying a polishing liquid to a polishing pad not including abrasive grains to bring a surface to be polished of the non-oxide single-crystal substrate and the polishing pad into contact with each other and polishing the surface to be polished by a relative movement between them, the method characterized in that the polishing liquid comprises: an oxidant whose redox potential is 0.5 V or more and which contains a transition metal; and water, and does not contain abrasive grains.
US09129888B2

A nitride-based semiconductor device includes a buffer layer on a substrate, a nitride-based semiconductor layer on the buffer layer, at least one ion implanted layer within the nitride-based semiconductor layer, and a channel layer on the nitride-based semiconductor layer.
US09129880B2

An imaging device includes: a plurality of first absorption layers that absorb an infrared ray with a given wavelength range, and generate pixel signals of a plurality of pixels, respectively; at least one second absorption layer that absorbs an infrared ray with a wavelength range which is different from the given wavelength range of the first absorption layers, and generates a pixel signal common to the pixels; a plurality of first electrodes that take out the pixel signals from the first absorption layers, respectively; and a second electrode that takes out the pixel signal from the at least one second absorption layer.
US09129871B2

Disclosed herein is a transistor including: a semiconductor layer; a first gate insulation film and a first interlayer insulation film which are provided on a specific surface side of the semiconductor layer; a first gate electrode provided at a location between the first gate insulation film and the first interlayer insulation film; an insulation film provided on the other surface side of the semiconductor layer; source and drain electrodes provided by being electrically connected to the semiconductor layer; and a shield electrode layer provided in such a way that at least portions of the shield electrode layer face edges of the first gate electrode, wherein at least one of the first gate insulation film, the first interlayer insulation film and the insulation film include a silicon-oxide film.
US09129864B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes, an oxide semiconductor layer including a channel region, and a source region and a drain region, a first insulation film covering the channel region and exposing the source region and the drain region, a first conductive layer including a gate electrode, and a first terminal electrode, a second insulation film covering the first conductive layer, the source region and the drain region, a second conductive layer including a source electrode, a drain electrode, and a second terminal electrode which is opposed to the first terminal electrode via the second insulation film, and a third insulation film interposed between the second insulation film, and the source electrode and the drain electrode.
US09129854B2

A NAND flash memory chip is made by forming sacrificial control gate structures and sacrificial select structures, and subsequently replacing these sacrificial structures with metal. Filler structures are formed between sacrificial control gate structures and are subsequently removed to form air gaps between neighboring control gate lines and between floating gates.
US09129851B2

In a semiconductor device having a vertical semiconductor element configured to pass an electric current between an upper electrode and a lower electrode, a field stop layer includes a phosphorus/arsenic layer doped with phosphorus or arsenic and a proton layer doped with proton. The phosphorus/arsenic layer is formed from a back side of a semiconductor substrate to a predetermined depth. The proton layer is deeper than the phosphorus/arsenic layer. An impurity concentration of the proton layer peaks inside the phosphorus/arsenic layer and gradually, continuously decreases at a depth greater than the phosphorus/arsenic layer.
US09129850B2

A semiconductor device comprises a conductor film and a capacitor comprising a lower electrode provided on the conductor film. The conductor film includes a first conductive film containing a first metal, a second conductive film containing a second metal on the first conductive film, and an oxide film of the second metal on the second conductive film. The oxide film of the second metal has a lower electric resistivity than an oxide film of the first metal.
US09129849B2

A stacked capacitor structure of the instant disclosure comprises a substrate and a plurality of stacked capacitors. The substrate has an insulating layer formed thereon and a plurality of contact plugs in the insulating layer, wherein the contact plugs are exposed on the upper surface of the insulating layer. Specially, each of the stacked capacitors comprises a lower electrode, a dielectric layer, and an upper electrode. The lower electrode is arranged on one of the contact plugs and has a columnar base portion and a crown shaped upper portion. The dielectric layer is arranged on the lower electrode and covers the outer surface of the lower electrode. The upper electrode is arranged above the lower electrode, wherein the dielectric layer is intermediately between the upper electrode and the lower electrode.
US09129847B2

This invention includes a capacitorless one transistor DRAM cell that includes a pair of spaced source/drain regions received within semiconductive material. An electrically floating body region is disposed between the source/drain regions within the semiconductive material. A first gate spaced is apart from and capacitively coupled to the body region between the source/drain regions. A pair of opposing conductively interconnected second gates are spaced from and received laterally outward of the first gate. The second gates are spaced from and capacitively coupled to the body region laterally outward of the first gate and between the pair of source/drain regions. Methods of forming lines of capacitorless one transistor DRAM cells are disclosed.
US09129844B2

Vertical meander inductors for small core voltage regulators and approaches to fabricating vertical meander inductors for small core voltage regulators are described. For example, a semiconductor die includes a substrate. An integrated circuit is disposed on an active surface of the substrate. An inductor is coupled to the integrated circuit. The inductor is disposed conformal with an insulating layer disposed on an essentially planar surface of the substrate. The insulating layer has an undulating topography.
US09129832B2

An LED multi-chip bonding die (1) comprises a packaging enclosure, a plurality of LED chips and a packaging cover, wherein the chips are arranged in one line from top to bottom on the emitting platform. Large area electrodes are equipped on the packaging enclosure and the packaging cover is made of transparent silicone gel so that the bonding die can emit larger light energy and higher luminance via the packaging cover while the heat produced by the chips can be quickly dissipated by the electrodes. A light strip (20) equipped with the bonding die comprises a plurality of bonding die sections and circuit board (2) and each bonding die section (1) comprises four LED multi-chip bonding dies (1) and a current-limiting resistor in series circuit. Each series circuit is connected in parallel and circuit board (2) is printed circuit board which can provide a optimal heat-dissipating structure for chips of bonding die.
US09129830B2

Three-dimensional semiconductor memory devices and methods of fabricating the same. The device may include first, second and third conductive lines disposed at different vertical levels to define two intersections, and two memory cells disposed at the two intersections, respectively. The first and second conductive lines may extend parallel to each other, and the third conductive line may extend to cross the first and second conductive lines. The first and second conductive lines can be alternatingly arranged along the length of third conductive line in vertical sectional view, and the third conductive line may be spaced vertically apart from the first and second conductive lines.
US09129829B2

Methods of forming microelectronic structures are described. Embodiments of those methods include forming a nanowire device comprising a substrate comprising source/drain structures adjacent to spacers, and nanowire channel structures disposed between the spacers, wherein the nanowire channel structures are vertically stacked above each other.
US09129827B2

Techniques are disclosed for converting a strain-inducing semiconductor buffer layer into an electrical insulator at one or more locations of the buffer layer, thereby allowing an above device layer to have a number of benefits, which in some embodiments include those that arise from being grown on a strain-inducing buffer and having a buried electrical insulator layer. For instance, having a buried electrical insulator layer (initially used as a strain-inducing buffer during fabrication of the above active device layer) between the Fin and substrate of a non-planar integrated transistor circuit may simultaneously enable a low-doped Fin with high mobility, desirable device electrostatics and elimination or otherwise reduction of substrate junction leakage. Also, the presence of such an electrical insulator under the source and drain regions may further significantly reduce junction leakage. In some embodiments, substantially the entire buffer layer is converted to an electrical insulator.
US09129825B2

At least one doped semiconductor material region is formed over a crystalline insulator layer. A disposable gate structure and a planarization dielectric layer laterally surrounding the disposable gate structure are formed over the at least one doped semiconductor material region. The disposable gate structure is removed selective to the planarization dielectric layer to form a gate cavity. Portions of the at least one doped semiconductor material region are removed from underneath the gate cavity. Remaining portions of the at least one doped semiconductor material region constitute a source region and a drain region. A faceted crystalline dielectric material portion is grown from a physically exposed surface of the crystalline insulator layer. A contoured channel region is epitaxially grown on the faceted crystalline dielectric material portion. The contoured channel region increases the distance that charge carriers travel relative to a separation distance between the source region and the drain region.
US09129821B1

An electrostatic discharge protection device including a protection circuit, a first resister and a low-pass filter is provided. The protection circuit includes a first element and a second element. The first element and the second element are electrically connected in series between a power line and a ground line, and a connection node is disposed between the first element and the second element. The low-pass filter, the protection circuit and the first resister are electrically connected in series between an input pad and an internal circuit.
US09129818B2

A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a plurality of conductive pads formed in consecutive conductive layers, and a bump structure. The plurality of conductive pads is aligned and arranged one above another over the substrate. The plurality of conductive pads comprises a first conductive pad and a second conductive pad. The first conductive pad is above the second conductive pad. A redistribution layer extends the second conductive pad. The first conductive pad is not extended by a redistribution layer. The bump structure is formed directly on the first conductive pad and electrically coupled to the plurality of conductive pads.
US09129805B2

An ESD protection device includes an MOS transistor with a source region, drain region and gate region. A node designated for ESD protection is electrically coupled to the drain. A diode is coupled between the gate and source, wherein the diode would be reverse biased if the MOS transistor were in the active operating region.
US09129797B2

Disclosed is a low-cost and resource-saving cleaning method wherein high cleaning effects are obtained by high-pressure jet cleaning or two-fluid cleaning using a gas-dissolved water. In the high-pressure jet cleaning method or the two-fluid cleaning method, a cleaning liquid or a mixed fluid of the cleaning liquid and a gas is jetted from a cleaning fluid jetting nozzle toward a subject to be cleaned, and the subject is cleaned. The cleaning liquid introduced into the cleaning fluid jetting nozzle contains the dissolved gas in a quantity equal to or more than the saturation solubility at the liquid temperature of the cleaning liquid.
US09129786B2

The invention generally relates to systems and methods for sample analysis. In certain embodiments, the invention provides systems for analyzing a sample that include an electric source, a vacuum chamber including a conducting member, in which the conducting member is coupled to the electric source, a sample introduction member coupled to the vacuum chamber, and a mass analyzer. The system is configured such that a distal end of the sample introduction member resides within the vacuum chamber and proximate the conducting member, such that an electrical discharge may be produced between the sample introduction member and the conducting member. A neutral gas that has been introduced into the vacuum chamber interacts with the generated discharge, producing ions within the vacuum chamber that are subsequently transferred into the mass analyzer in the vacuum chamber.
US09129783B2

A method of mass spectrometry is disclosed comprising providing a mixture of different analyte ions and supplying electrons or reagent ions to said mixture so as to transfer charge to the analyte ions. The transfer of charge causes at least some of the analyte ions to dissociate and others of the analyte ions not to dissociate, but to form intermediate ions of altered charge state. These intermediate ions are then isolated from other ions and excited so as to dissociate into daughter ions. The intermediate ions and their daughter ions are analyzed and associated with each other so that the intermediate can be identified from their daughter ions. The analyte ions can then be identified from the intermediate ions, since they differ only in charge state. The disclosed method enables analyte ions to be associated with their fragment ions, and therefore identified, without having to isolate individual analyte ions prior to their interactions with the electrons or reagent ions.
US09129772B2

Provided is means which enables observation of the shape of a specimen as it is without deforming the specimen. Observation is made by allowing a specimen-holding member having an opening (for example, microgrid and mesh) to hold an ionic liquid and charging a specimen thereto, to allow the specimen to suspend in the ionic liquid. Furthermore, in the proximity of the specimen-holding member, a mechanism of injecting an ionic liquid (ionic liquid introduction mechanism) and/or an electrode are provided. When a voltage is applied to the electrode, the specimen moves or deforms in the ionic liquid. How the specimen moves or deforms can be observed. Furthermore, in the proximity of specimen-holding member, an evaporation apparatus is provided to enable charge of the specimen into the ionic liquid while evaporating. Furthermore, in the proximity of the specimen-holding member, a microcapillary is provided to charge a liquid-state specimen into the ionic liquid. Note that the specimen-holding member is designed to be rotatable.
US09129770B2

An ion source for use in a radiation generator includes a sealed envelope containing an ionizable gas therein. The ion source also includes a RF antenna external to the sealed envelope, the RF antenna to transmit time-varying electromagnetic fields within the sealed envelope for producing ions from the ionizable gas. There is at least one extractor within the sealed envelope having a potential such that the ions are attracted toward the at least one extractor.
US09129763B2

A mobile terminal includes a terminal main body and a keypad assembly provided in the main body and formed to receive a control command, wherein the keypad assembly includes a key top disposed on one surface of the main body to cover a switch installed in the main body, an actuator mounted on the key top and having at least a portion protruded to press the switch, and a pattern member including a base portion coupled to the actuator and a plated layer having at least a portion penetrating the key top to form a pattern exposed to the outside and plated on an outer surface of the base portion.
US09129760B2

A shutter system for a switchgear compartment includes a moveable shutter translatable between a closed position and an open position. Also included is a pusher operatively coupled to a first side of the moveable shutter and configured to impart a force on the moveable shutter in response to an insertion of an electrical device within the switchgear compartment. Further included is a cam member having a cam shaft operatively coupled to the moveable shutter, the cam shaft having a cam track. Yet further included is a bell crank configured to guide along the cam track and translate the moveable shutter between the closed position and the open position.
US09129758B2

Disclosed is a switch device including a housing, a plurality of components (including a conductive member, a conducting member, a switch member and an actuating member) accommodated in the housing, and a lid body disposed on the housing. Two vertical boards are disposed on a bottom portion of the housing, and a receiving space is formed in a middle part of the bottom portion. The conductive member has an electrode that is disposed on an upper side in the receiving space adjacent to the two vertical boards. A plurality of grooves are disposed on the bottom portion outside the two vertical boards. The switch member is disposed in the receiving space. A contact pad corresponding to the electrode is disposed between a bottom portion of the switch member and the actuating member at a top portion of the switch member, and is linearly aligned with the actuating member.
US09129756B2

A lithium-ion capacitor includes a cathode, an anode, and a porous separator positioned between the cathode and the anode. The cathode is formed using activated carbon, and the anode is formed from a composite material that includes lithium titanium oxide and a carbon material such as hard carbon or graphite.
US09129744B2

An electrical power source including at least one hollow fiber incorporated in a material structure, wherein the at least one hollow fiber forms part of an electric circuit capable of storing or generating electrical power. In this way power sources may be provided as an integral part of a fiber composite structure or fabric.
US09129743B1

An energy distribution system and methods for coupling a plurality of energy storage cells to at least one of an energy source and an energy load. Each energy storage cell is coupled, at an interface, via a distinct power converter, to a winding, as is an energy source or load, coupled at an energy port to a secondary winding. The plurality of windings sharing a magnetic flux field and thus constitute a transformer. While separate processors are associated with each power converter, a subset of the plurality of processors may be intercoupled for control based on conditions associated with at least one of the plurality of energy storage cells. A central processor may govern operation of a subset of the processors, moreover, a subset of the plurality of processors may also be connected to a local area network and the central processor may communicate with other processors and may also be coupled to an external network such as the internet. Cells are readily switched out individually and recruited to match instantaneous load demand.
US09129731B2

Disclosed is a sintered magnet which is a rare-earth magnet using a less amount of a rare-earth element but having a higher maximum energy product and a higher coercivity. The sintered magnet includes a NdFeB crystal; and an FeCo crystal adjacent to the NdFeB crystal through the medium of a grain boundary. The FeCo crystal includes a core and a periphery and has a cobalt concentration decreasing from the core to the periphery. The FeCo crystal has a difference in cobalt concentration of 2 atomic percent or more between the core and the periphery. In the NdFeB crystal, cobalt and a heavy rare-earth element are unevenly distributed and enriched in the vicinity of the grain boundary.
US09129729B2

A ceramic electronic component includes a ceramic base body and first and second outer electrodes. The ceramic base body includes first and second primary surfaces, first and second side surfaces, and first and second end surfaces. The first and second outer electrodes are arranged on the ceramic base body so that front end portions of the outer electrodes face each other. The first and the second outer electrodes include outermost layers each containing Cu. Outermost layers of the facing front end portions of the first and the second outer electrodes are more oxidized than outermost layers of the other portions of the first and the second outer electrodes.
US09129728B2

A system for forming a subsurface wellbore includes a rack and pinion system including a chuck drive system. The chuck drive system operates a drilling string. An automatic position control system includes at least one measurement sensor coupled to the rack and pinion system. The automatic position control system controls the rack and pinion system to determine a position of the drilling string.
US09129724B2

A shielded electrical cable is disclosed. The cable includes a plurality of conductor sets that extend along the length of the cable and are spaced apart from each other along the width of the cable. Each conductor set includes one or more insulated conductors, and first and second shielding films that are disposed on opposite first and second sides of the cable. The first and second films include cover portions and pinched portions arranged such that, in transverse cross section, the cover portions of the first and second films in combination substantially surround each conductor set, and the pinched portions of the first and second films in combination form pinched portions of the cable on each side of each conductor set. Each conductor set also includes an EMI absorbing layer that is disposed on the first side of the cable, and an adhesive layer that bonds the first shielding film to the second shielding film in the pinched portions of the cable. The plurality of conductor sets includes a first conductor set that includes neighboring first and second insulated conductors and has corresponding first cover portions of the first and second shielding films and corresponding first pinched portions of the first and second shielding films that form a first pinched region of the cable on one side of the first conductor set. The maximum separation between the first cover portions of the first and second shielding films is D. The minimum separation between the first pinched portions of the first and second shielding films is d1. d1/D is less than 0.25. The minimum separation between the first cover portions of the first and second shielding films in a region between the first and second insulated conductors is d2. d2/D is greater than 0.33.
US09129723B2

In one embodiment, a bulk carbon nanotube and metallic composite is provided. The bulk carbon nanotube and metallic composite includes a bulk carbon nanotube material layer including a plurality of carbon nanotubes, and a metal film applied across the bulk carbon nanotube material layer. The metal film penetrates into the interstices between individual carbon nanotubes to reduce an electrical resistance between the plurality of carbon nanotubes.
US09129716B2

In certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention, three-dimensional micro-mechanical devices and/or micro-structures can be made using a production casting process. As part of this process, an intermediate mold can be made from or derived from a precision stack lamination and used to fabricate the devices and/or structures. Further, the micro-devices and/or micro-structures can be fabricated on planar or nonplanar surfaces through use of a series of production casting processes and intermediate molds. The use of precision stack lamination can allow the fabrication of high aspect ratio structures. Moreover, via certain molding and/or casting materials, molds having cavities with protruding undercuts also can be fabricated.
US09129715B2

A high resolution x-ray microscope with a high flux x-ray source that allows high speed metrology or inspection of objects such as integrated circuits (ICs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), and other IC packaging technologies. The object to be investigated is illuminated by collimated, high-flux x-rays from an extended source having a designated x-ray spectrum. The system also comprises a stage to control the position and orientation of the object; a scintillator that absorbs x-rays and emits visible photons positioned in very close proximity to (or in contact with) the object; an optical imaging system that forms a highly magnified, high-resolution image of the photons emitted by the scintillator; and a detector such as a CCD array to convert the image to electronic signals.
US09129710B1

A dynamic trim method includes testing a selected number of cells on a die with predetermined testing margins. Data from this testing is used to determine dynamic reference margins for improving yield. Advantageously, yield is improved by allowing functioning fast or slow units to pass wafer sort by applying the dynamic reference margins for varying processes.
US09129709B2

A nonvolatile memory device includes a first memory region and a second memory region. The nonvolatile memory device is programmed by storing program data in the first memory region, performing coarse programming and fine programming to store the program data in the second memory region, and in response to a read request, accessing the program data from the first memory region or the second memory region according to a fine program flag indicating whether the coarse programming has been completed.
US09129702B2

A method is provided for refreshing a volatile memory. The method includes storing address information about a weak cell row address that is to be refreshed according to a weak cell refresh period that is shorter than a refresh period, performing a counting operation for generating a refresh row address, comparing the refresh row address with the address information, refreshing the weak cell row address when a result of the comparison shows that the refresh row address and the weak cell row address of the address information coincide with each other, changing the weak cell row address by changing a pointer of the address information, and refreshing the changed weak cell row address according to the weak cell refresh period.
US09129696B2

A soft-decision read method of a nonvolatile memory device includes receiving a soft-decision read command, applying a read voltage to a selected word line, pre-charging bit lines respectively connected to selected memory cells of the selected word line, continuously sensing states of the selected memory cells. The pre-charged voltages of the bit lines and the read voltage supplied to the selected word line are not varied during the sensing states of the selected memory cells.
US09129695B2

Current appearing on a bit-line with no memory cells asserted may be used during a bit-line pre-charge time before a read is performed so as to bias a gate-drain shorted PMOS pull-up device connected between the bit-line and a power supply at a VDD potential. The capacitance connected to the gate of this PMOS pull-up device may be used to “store” the resultant gate-source voltage when the drain is disconnected once the pre-charge time is completed. Once the read operation starts, the current of the PMOS pull-up device that has the “stored” resultant gate-source voltage is re-used as the reference for sensing the state of an asserted memory cell connected to the bit-line during the read operation thereof.
US09129684B2

A memory device has an array of memory cells and a controller coupled to the array of memory cells. The controller is configured to determine a program window after a portion of a particular programming operation performed on the memory device is performed and before a subsequent portion of the particular programming operation performed on the memory device is performed. The controller is configured to determine the program window responsive to an amount of program disturb experienced by a particular state of a memory cell. The controller is configured to perform the subsequent portion of the particular programming operation performed on the memory device using the determined program window.
US09129676B2

In various embodiments, electronic devices containing switchably conductive silicon oxide as a switching element are described herein. The electronic devices are two-terminal devices containing a first electrical contact and a second electrical contact in which at least one of the first electrical contact or the second electrical contact is deposed on a substrate to define a gap region therebetween. A switching layer containing a switchably conductive silicon oxide resides in the gap region between the first electrical contact and the second electrical contact. The electronic devices exhibit hysteretic current versus voltage properties, enabling their use in switching and memory applications. Methods for configuring, operating and constructing the electronic devices are also presented herein.
US09129674B2

Memory devices, controllers, and electronic devices comprising memory devices are described. In one embodiment, a memory device comprises a volatile memory, a nonvolatile memory, and a controller comprising a memory buffer, and logic to transfer data between the nonvolatile memory and the volatile memory via the memory buffer in response to requests from an application, wherein data in the memory buffer is accessible to the application. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.
US09129662B2

Embodiments of the invention describe driving data onto a bus. The embodiments include a data driver circuit having a data capture circuit coupled to the bus. The data capture circuit receives data relative to a write strobe signal and captures a first digit of the data responsive to a first edge of the write strobe signal and at least a second digit responsive to a second edge of the write strobe signal. The data driver circuit includes a feedback capture circuit that captures each digit in substantially the same manner as the data capture circuit, and generates a latch control signal indicative of when each digit is latched. The latch control signal is provided to a write control circuit that determines which digit was latched first relative to a timing, and generates a select control signal to drive captured digits onto the bus in the order the digits were received.
US09129658B1

According to one embodiment, a controller in a magnetic disk drive manages the influence, on a first track on a disk, of data writes to tracks within outer and inner adjacent track ranges, using first and second counters associated with the first track. The first and second counters are indicative of the numbers of data writes to tracks within the outer and inner adjacent track ranges, respectively. Based on the values of the first and second counters, the controller reads data from the first track, and rewrites the read data to the first track.
US09129646B2

A magnetic recording system includes an array of analog inputs operable to receive an array of analog signals retrieved from a magnetic storage medium, where one of the array of analog signals corresponds with a reference channel, a timing recovery circuit operable to generate a clock signal based on the analog signal for the reference channel, a number of analog to digital converters each operable to sample one of the array of analog signals based on the clock signal to yield a number of digital channels, and a joint equalizer operable to filter the digital channels to yield an equalized output.
US09129645B2

A data demodulation method may include converting an analog signal into a digital signal; detecting a peak point of a reproduced signal; creating a plurality of preliminary data rows for creating demodulated data; and creating demodulated data. The preliminary data rows may include the first individual data to be identified on the basis of the interval, and are formed of the first individual data of plural bits. Creating a plurality of preliminary data rows may use a template listing part of, or all of, a plurality of bit patterns being formed of second individual data.
US09129641B2

A method and system for media selection and sharing is disclosed. According to one embodiment, media content is received from a media source and is stored in a buffer for a first time period. A second time period within the first time period is determined for creating a media clip from the media content stored in the buffer. A media clip is generated as determined by the second time period. A user provides an input, and the user's input is associated with the media clip to take one or more effects on the media clip. The media clip enhanced with the one more effects is transmitted over a network to share with other users.
US09129634B1

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to a magnetic write head including a media facing surface and a surface opposite the media facing surface. The magnetic write head further includes a reflector extending from the surface opposite the media facing surface toward the media facing surface. A semiconductor laser diode gain region protrudes out of the surface opposite the media facing surface, and the reflector helps optimizing the optical energy generated in the semiconductor laser diode gain region to be a single mode over a large current and temperature range.
US09129629B1

According to one embodiment, when a timing error between a signal read back from a multi-spiral pattern pre-recorded on a magnetic disc and an SSW clock generated at a read/write channel is set as an SSW clock following error, SSW clock accuracy is determined based on results of comparison between SSW clock following errors read from two different points in each of spiral patterns constituting the multi-spiral pattern.
US09129628B1

Managing data stored in a Data Storage Device (DSD) including at least one disk for storing data. Data is written in a first region of the at least one disk with a first track density. A frequency of access is determined for the data written in the first region, and the frequency of access is compared to a threshold. Based on the comparison, a copy of the data written in the first region is written in a second region of the at least one disk with a second track density different than the first track density.
US09129621B1

A microwave-assisted recording head comprises a main pole configured to emit a recording magnetic field for affecting a magnetic medium, the main pole serving as a first electrode and having a front portion at an air bearing surface (ABS) and a rear portion extending from the front portion. A microwave oscillator is positioned on a trailing side surface of the main pole. The trailing-side surface of the main pole forms a flat plane along the front and rear portions and is inclined with respect to a leading side surface at the front portion. The head body is inclined at an acute angle to the ABS, such that an acute angle, between 10 and 30 degrees, is formed between the trailing side surface of the main pole and the ABS.
US09129606B2

Query history expansion may be provided. Upon receiving a spoken query from a user, an adapted language model may be applied to convert the spoken query to text. The adapted language model may comprise a plurality of queries interpolated from the user's previous queries and queries associated with other users. The spoken query may be executed and the results of the spoken query may be provided to the user.
US09129605B2

A system and method for voice and speech analysis which correlates a speaker signal source and a normalized signal comprising measurements of input acoustic data to a database of language, dialect, accent, and/or speaker attributes in order to create a transcription of the input acoustic data.
US09129604B2

System and method for using information extracted from intuitive multimodal interactions in the context of media for media tagging are disclosed. In one embodiment, multimodal information related to media is captured during multimodal interactions of a plurality of users. The multimodal information includes speech information and gesture information. Further, the multimodal information is analyzed to identify speech portions of interest. Furthermore, relevant tags for tagging the media are extracted from the speech portions of interest.
US09129597B2

An audio signal decoder configured to provide a decoded audio signal representation on the basis of an encoded audio signal representation including a sampling frequency information, an encoded time warp information and an encoded spectrum representation includes a time warp calculator and a warp decoder. The time warp calculator is configured to adapt a mapping rule for mapping codewords of the encoded time warp information onto decoded time warp values describing the decoded time warp information in dependence on the sampling frequency information. The warp decoder is configured to provide the decoded audio signal representation on the basis of the encoded spectrum representation and in dependence on the decoded time warp information.
US09129593B2

A method includes receiving at least a first input audio channel and a second input audio channel, and using an inter-channel prediction model to form at least one inter-channel parameter. The first and second input audio channels represent a spatial audio image of an acoustic space. The inter-channel prediction model is a linear prediction model representing a predicted sample of the first input audio channel using a weighted linear combination of samples of the second input audio channel. An apparatus for practicing the method and a corresponding computer program product are also disclosed.
US09129582B2

The invention helps build a practical telescopic gauge to measure length and end angles needed for sound post in stringed instrument. It shows improvements of telescopic type gauge where, first adding a spring to control force while extending or reducing length and second adding rounded members at least one end of the gauge overcome difficulties in measuring the length. Further a three part swivel end consisting of ball, swivel cap and resolution plate held together by magnetic force allow satisfactory angle measurement. Because magnetic force is used, the swivel end parts can be removed leaving rounded ball end open for length measurements, then other components are added as required. This type of swivel end is also useful in improving currently available caliper type gauge.
US09129579B2

A source driver (20) includes: a first amplifier circuit and a second amplifier circuit each amplifying either one of input signals that are in-phase and antiphase; and a switching control circuit (29) which supplies an offset switching signal (4) for switching the input signals, the switching control circuit (29) supplying the offset switching signal (4) having a higher frequency than a horizontal synchronization signal. This provides a display drive circuit capable of enhancing a display quality while preventing a flicker from occurring in an entire display screen.
US09129561B2

Systems and methods for displaying at least one image on an active display include a graphics generator for generating one or more graphics in form of at least one ghost image and a projector for projecting the generated at least one ghost image as an excitation light signal on the active display. The projector is a low power projector. Also included are number of detection diodes associated with pixels for detecting one or more excitation light signals for exciting each pixel associated with the detection diodes. Further included, is a photon detection circuit for generating at least one high power image photon based on the emitted light signal of each pixel on the active display and a number of light emitting diodes (LEDs) associated with each of the detection diodes for generating an emitted light signal for each of the pixels of the incident ghost image for generating an image on the active display.
US09129556B2

A display device includes a scan driver, a data driver, a power supply unit configured to supply power through a plurality of power supply inlet portions, a pixel unit including a plurality of pixels that receives scan signals, emission control signals, data signals and the power so as to display an image, the pixel unit being partitioned into a plurality of partition areas to correspond to the respective power supply inlet portions, and a current limit circuit configured to calculate values of current for each of the partition areas based on gray scale data of an image signal, and configured to correct the gray scale data so as to limit luminance of the pixel unit when at least one of the values of current for each partition area is a reference value or more.
US09129555B2

An LED display device includes a first scan switching element between a data line and a first node, a first voltage transfer switching element between a first drive voltage line and the first node, a first detection switching element between second and third nodes, a first driving switching element between the first drive voltage line and the third node, a first emission control switching element between the third node and a first LED, a second scan switching element between the data line and the second node, a second voltage transfer switching element between the first drive voltage line and the second node, a second detection switching element between the first node and a fourth node, a second driving switching element, a second emission control switching element between the fourth node and a second LED, and a common capacitor between the first node and the second node.
US09129542B2

An embodiment of the invention provides a system and method for generating and displaying climate system models. A data collector automatically extracts global earth data from multiple data sources, wherein the global earth data includes image data and/or text data. The global earth data includes atmospheric data, hydrospheric data, lithospheric data, cryospheric data, biospheric data, and/or anthrospheric data. A processor connected to the data collector generates global images based on the extracted global earth data, wherein the global images display the global earth data on a map. A display connected to the processor displays at least one second global image on a first global image. The first global image includes first global earth data for a select geographic area; and, the second global image includes second global earth data for the select geographic area.
US09129539B2

A device for displaying information comprising at least one display element which includes: a liquid, the surface energy thereof being variable by means of an electric field; a first and a second volume for receiving the liquid, wherein said first and said second volume are defined by a first effective radius or a second effective radius, respectively, a fluidic passage between said first and said second volume, wherein in a first state said liquid substantially occupies said first volume and wherein in a second state said liquid substantially occupies said second volume, is characterized in that said passage is configured such that the fraction of the liquid facing to the unoccupied volume comprises a radius which is smaller than the effective radius of the presently occupied volume.
US09129537B1

Display boards of the kind generally used for presentations in educational and business settings, for example, and that can be made from a variety of materials including foam board and rigid paper pulp, are provided that include an opening for a screen of a multimedia device, a holder for the multimedia device, and a support for stabilizing the display board.
US09129534B2

A roping training dummy is claimed comprising a dummy representing an animal having a target to be lassoed by a roper. A position sensor, such as video camera or radar system, is disposed on the dummy for monitoring the real-time position of the roper relative to the lasso target. A monitor on the dummy is visible to the roper and operatively connected to the position sensor. The monitor displays the roper's real-time position and a positional reference corresponding to a preferred roper placement.
US09129530B2

A system for determining a route is provided. The system includes a method for determining estimation function values corresponding to a plurality of vertices on a first graph, where the first graph corresponds to a first route network. The method further includes searching for a first route from a first starting point to the destination on a second graph based on the estimation function values. The system further includes a storage unit and a processor coupled to the storage unit for receiving graph data, where the processor is configured to determine estimation function values corresponding to a plurality of vertices on the first graph corresponding to a first route network, and is further configured to search for a route from a first starting point to the destination on a second graph based on the estimation function values. The device may further include an input unit, a clock unit, a traffic message receiver, and/or a position determining unit.
US09129529B2

A traffic management system provides traffic information and allows controlling and influencing traffic in a traffic network, such as a street network in a city. The system includes a traffic management center with a generator for the central creation of an information message for road users. The traffic management system includes terminals to be carried along by the road users for receiving and outputting the information message. Data transmitters transfer the information message from the traffic management center to the terminal. The generators are configured to localize the information message by assigning a location code for destination-oriented transmission and/or output of the located information message. The location code represents a location or section of the traffic network relating to the information message. The road user on the move within the traffic network can be provided directly and explicitly with up-to-date information messages.
US09129519B2

A system and method for predicting whether a vehicle will come to a stop at an intersection is provided. Generally, the system contains a memory; and a processor configured by the memory to perform the steps of: generating a prediction of whether the vehicle will or will not stop at the intersection before a first time based on vehicle data measured during a first time window; and at a second time, the second time being before the first time and approximately equal to a time at which the time window ends, providing an indication that the vehicle will not stop at the intersection before the first time based upon the prediction, wherein generating the prediction comprises using a classification model, the classification model configured to indicate whether the vehicle will or will not stop at the intersection before the first time based on a plurality of input parameters, and wherein the plurality of input parameters are selected from the group consisting of speed, acceleration, and distance to the intersection.
US09129518B2

The device control system includes: a device controller connected to a load device via a signal line; a wireless master connected to the signal line; and a wireless slave. The device controller outputs a first control signal indicative of an intended state of the load device when receiving a second control signal from the wireless slave via the wireless master or receiving via the signal line a third control signal sent in response to a state check signal. When receiving a state change notice sent in response to the first control signal, the device controller sends the state change notice to the wireless master. When receiving the state change notice, the wireless master sends the received state change notice to the wireless slave.
US09129511B2

The fact that a movable object exits a specific area is judged with high accuracy. A first movement sensor detects the movement of the movable object in a first area. A second movement sensor detects the movement of the movable object in a second area including the first area. A time judgment unit judges whether or not a time difference from a time point when a measurement value obtained by the first movement sensor becomes a predetermined value or less to a time point when a measurement value obtained by the second movement sensor becomes the predetermined value or less is a first threshold value or more. An existence judgment unit judges that the movable object does not exist in the first area in the case where the time judgment unit has judged that the time difference is the first threshold value or more.
US09129508B2

Disclosed is a method and system to avoid traffic accident by waking up, without false alarm, a sleeping or completely inactive motor vehicle driver. The method and the system utilizes simultaneously at least four different specified detections with so arranged thresholds for wake-up alarm, that the driver after waking up without false alarm has the possibility to avoid an impending traffic accident by evasive maneuver and other vehicle control.
US09129501B1

Systems and methods can support managing clinical care user responses to patient alarms. An alarm management system can maintain models of alarm response behavior for the clinical care users. The system can receive an alarm indication and an alarm context from a patient. A target user associated with the patient can be determined. The system can determine alarm response options to be offered to the target user. The system can transmit the alarm indication and the determined alarm response options from the alarm management system to a mobile device associated with the target user. The system can receive a response to the transmitted alarm from the target user. The system can interpret the received response to the transmitted alarm. The model of response behavior associated with the target user can be adapted in light of the received response to the transmitted alarm.
US09129497B2

Systems and methods for monitoring conditions are provided. A system can comprise a plurality of wireless transmitters and a plurality of repeaters. At least one wireless transmitter can be integrated into an alarm. The repeaters can be dispersed throughout a region at defined locations. The system can also include a computer to receive information communicated from the repeaters and the transmitters. The computer can include software for evaluating received information, identifying an alarm condition and an originating location of the alarm condition, and for reporting the alarm condition to a remote location. Other embodiments are also claimed and described.
US09129490B2

There is disclosed an electronic gaming system (100) comprising one or more player interfaces (6, 7, 17), and a main video display screen (1). The system enables players to simultaneously play a plurality of reel-type games and to place bets on lines of the games. The system displays a plurality of display windows on the main display screen, each window being associated with a respective one of the simultaneously played games and displaying the reels of that game, each reel displaying reel indicia. The system is configured for any one of the games to enter a feature phase when a feature-triggering event occurs. At the start of the feature phase, all the display windows on the main screen, except the particular display window associated with the feature phase, reduce in size or disappear, while the size of the feature game's display window increases, and the other games are also suspended, until the feature phase is completed.
US09129483B2

A central gaming server communicates with a gaming workstation over a network, such as a local area network or wide area computer network. The gaming server makes an initial determination of payout percentage for an instance of a game engaged in by the workstation, and generates results of turns of the game in accordance with the initial payout percentage. In one embodiment, the payout percentage is dynamically changed by the gaming server, and it generates additional results of turns of the game using the new payout percentage. Triggers for determining a new payout percentage could be that a predetermined number of turns of play at the initial payout percentage have occurred, the elapsing of a certain amount of time, or the player logging off the game and then logging back on. In further embodiments, the gaming workstation includes a processor and instructions for locally determining an initial payout percentage, the results of play, and dynamically changing the payout percentage without requiring communication with a central gaming server.
US09129474B2

A system for providing a bonus with multiple remote inputs includes a bonus machine and at least one remote device. The bonus machine includes a game capable of providing a player with an award and maintains a bonus value. The remote device is independent of the bonus machine and transmits information associated with an event which can influence the bonus value. A method for providing a bonus with multiple remote inputs includes providing a first bonus machine having a bonus value and at least one game capable of providing a player with an award, providing a remote device, and communicating information from the remote device to the first bonus machine which can influence the bonus value.
US09129473B2

Intelligent gaming tables and methods of providing game play through the gaming tables are described herein. The gaming table includes a table having a table surface, a plurality of player stations, and a common display configured to display gaming content to a plurality of players. The gaming table further includes an interface configured to communicate with a plurality of user input devices. The gaming table includes a gaming controller. The gaming controller is configured to communicate with the plurality of user input devices through the interface, receive location information relating to touches or contacts detected on the table surface, analyze the information relating to the touches or contacts, identify a user performing each of the touches or contacts with the table surface, and implement player input instructions contained within the information relating to the touches or contacts.
US09129471B2

A mechanical reel (32) for a gaming system (10) is disclosed. The reel (32) has a circumferential reel surface (48). The reel (32) has at least one symbol bearing surface (50) offset from the reel surface.
US09129468B2

A method of validation of a voucher in a gaming machine includes receiving the voucher in the gaming machine from a user. The voucher includes first coded indicia having first identification data and value data. The voucher also includes second coded indicia being generally non-viewable and having second identification data. The method also includes reading the first coded indicia and decoding the first coded indicia to determine the first identification data and the value data. The method further includes reading the second coded indicia and decoding the second coded indicia to determine the second identification data. An algorithm is executed with a controller using at least one of the first identification data, the second identification data, and the value data to generate algorithm data. The method also includes validating the authenticity of the voucher with the controller using at least the algorithm data to determine if the voucher is authentic.
US09129466B2

An automated banking machine operates to cause financial transfers responsive to data read from data bearing records. A card actuated automated banking machine may accept checks and dispense cash to users. The banking machine is operated to acquire image and magnetic data from deposited checks to determine the genuineness of checks and the authority of a user to receive cash for such checks. Cash may be credited to a user account corresponding to card data or may be dispensed to the user from the banking machine responsive to one or more deposited checks.
US09129462B2

A method for monitoring transportation of bills ensures reliable control of the transportation processes. Each bill (BN) is routed through a light barrier that has a light-sensitive sensor (S) to detect at least one edge of the bill (BN). To suppress detection of windows (W) and to detect the rear edge (HK) of the bill (BN), the signal (S0) produced by the sensor (S) is debounced. The debounce time (dT) is set based on the length of the bill (BN), to a first period (dT1) that corresponds to the expected length of the bill (BN). The debounce time (dT) is set to the first period (dT1) as soon as the signal (S0) produced by the sensor (S) indicates the first appearance of an edge, particularly the front edge (VK), of the bill (BN). The debounce time can be set to a second shorter, period (dT2) after the first period (dT1) has elapsed.
US09129457B2

An electronic door lock mounts to a door and includes an inner side and an outer side. The electronic door lock is operable to control access to an access controlled area positioned adjacent the inner side of the door. The electronic door lock includes an outer base connected to the outer side of the door, an inner base connected to the inner side of the door, a locking mechanism coupled to the door and movable between a locked position and an unlocked position in response to a control signal, and a control circuit disposed within the inner base and operable to generate the control signal in response to an input credential. An attachment interface is at least partially formed as part of the outer base. Each of a plurality of different types of credential readers is selectively attachable and removable from the attachment interface when the outer base is attached to the door to electrically connect a selected one of the plurality of different types of credential readers to the control circuit to provide the input. A communication module is connected to the control circuit, and the communication module is operable to communicate with a device that is separate from the electronic door lock.
US09129440B2

The present invention comprises a novel method and apparatus for displaying and managing relationships between data elements of a database, including, without limitation, relationships between data elements representing or associated with members of a social network in a social network database. In one or more embodiments, attributes or values of data elements of a database are interpreted as unique locations in a multidimensional environment. Data elements are graphically displayed from the perspective of a point within the multidimensional environment. Attributes and relationships between data elements are displayed by visual characteristics of the displayed data elements (e.g. location, color, shape, animation) and by graphical elements connecting related displayed elements (e.g. similar colors, shapes, or connecting lines or areas).
US09129438B2

A method of converting an image from one form to another form by a conversion apparatus having a memory and a processor, the method including the steps of receiving a captured image, extracting at least one image dimension attribute from the image, calculating at least one dimension attribute of the image based on the image dimension attribute, modifying the image based on the calculated dimension attribute and the extracted dimension attribute, and displaying the modified image on a display unit.
US09129434B2

A method is provided for animating a three-dimensional object using an animation rig. An exemplary method according to the invention is a method that defines a positional relationship between the location of one or more known points on first surface and an equal number of corresponding points on a virtual surface, and a time interval. The time interval is incremented, and the positional offsets of one or more known points on the first surface are determined. The corresponding point or points on the virtual surface are then transformed by the positional offset, and the change in animation rig control values for the transformed points on the virtual surface are calculated. The animation rig control values are then updated based on said calculations.
US09129428B2

Methods and systems are provided for efficiently identifying map tiles of a raised-relief map to retrieve from a server. An electronic device can use estimates of height(s) for various region(s) of the map to determine map tiles that are likely viewable from a given position of a virtual camera. The device can calculate the intersection of the field of view of the virtual camera with the estimated heights to determine a location of the map tiles (e.g., as determined by a 2D grid) needed. In this manner, the electronic device can retrieve, from a map server, the map tiles needed to display the image, without retrieving extraneous tiles that are not needed. Identifying such tiles can reduce the amount of data to be sent across a network and reduce the number of requests for tiles, since the correct tiles can be obtained with the first request.
US09129420B2

A contemplated system analyzes files used to create 3D objects by first virtually constructing the 3D object, and then by examining the virtual construct in a variety of different ways to determine if the 3D object has protected content. The system could examine the virtualized object from a variety of different angles, read characters embossed or imprinted upon the 3D object, and could even play virtualized records and other virtualized video/audio tools to determine if the 3D object has protected content. If the system rules that the 3D object has a high probability of having protected content, an alert is sent to an appropriate authority.
US09129419B2

A method monitors an evolution of a physical quantity. The method includes measuring the evolution of the value of the physical quantity, and displaying in a first graphical zone a bar graph representing the evolution of the value received from the sensor until this value reaches a first threshold, the graphical zone has a first displaying scale. When the monitored value reaches the first threshold, the bar graph is displayed and represents the evolution of the value received from the sensor in a second graphical zone. The second graphical zone is a zoom of a part of the first graphical zone and has at least a second displaying scale. At least one magnified portion of the second graphical zone is further displayed, the magnified portion having at least a third displaying scale.
US09129412B2

An image processing apparatus includes: a color feature data calculation unit configured to calculate color feature data of each pixel in an intraluminal image or color feature data of each small region obtained by dividing the intraluminal image into a plurality of small regions; a residue candidate distribution determination unit configured to determine, from among the color feature data, color feature data distributed on a side comparatively strong in redness to be a mucosa distribution and determine color feature data distributed on a side comparatively weak in redness to be a residue candidate distribution; and a residue distribution determination unit configured to determine, from among distributions of the color feature data determined to be the residue candidate distribution, a residue candidate distribution distributed on a side strong in yellowness with reference to the mucosa distribution to be a residue distribution.
US09129401B2

An image processing apparatus includes a size reducing unit that reduces sizes of a plurality of continuous images, which are still images obtained by continuously capturing images of a moving object, to thereby generate reduced continuous images; a mask generating unit that extracts moving object regions from the reduced continuous images, to thereby generate reduced moving object extraction mask images; a size restoring unit that enlarges the reduced moving object extraction mask images to the same size as original sizes of the continuous images that are not reduced by the size reducing unit, to thereby generate moving object extraction mask images; and a combining unit that extracts the moving object regions from the continuous images by using the moving object extraction mask images to thereby obtain moving object images, and combines the moving object images in a predetermined one of the continuous images.
US09129399B2

In embodiments of optical flow with nearest neighbor field fusion, an initial motion field can be generated based on the apparent motion of objects between digital images, and the initial motion field accounts for small displacements of the object motion. Matching patches of a nearest neighbor field can also be determined for the digital images, where patches of an initial size are compared to determine the matching patches, and the nearest neighbor field accounts for large displacements of the object motion. Additionally, region patch matches can be compared and determined between the digital images, where the region patches are larger than the initial size matching patches. Optimal pixel assignments can then be determined for a fused image representation of the digital images, where the optimal pixel assignments are determined from the initial motion field, the matching patches, and the region patch matches.
US09129390B2

For each of a number of landmarks in an image an initial position of the landmark is defined. Next a neighborhood around the initial position comprising a number of candidate locations of the landmark, is sampled and a cost is associated with each of the candidate locations. A cost function expressing a weighted sum of overall gray level cost and overall shape cost for all candidate locations is optimized. A segmented anatomic entity is defined as a path through a selected combination of candidate locations for which combination the cost function is optimized. During optimization towards the optimal segmented surface/volume graph traversal methods are exploited.
US09129389B2

There is provided an X-ray CT apparatus capable of correcting the unevenness of the contrast concentration due to discontinuities in time between slices in contrast imaging using a Prospective Triggering method. In an X-ray CT apparatus 1, projection data in a specific phase of the heart is obtained by performing a scan by emitting X-rays after a predetermined time from the detection of the R wave of electrocardiogram information at each position of the heart in the body axis direction. An image processing device 4 reconstructs a tomographic image on the basis of collected projection data, calculates the projection data collection time in each scan from electrocardiogram information collected from an electrocardiograph 5, calculates the time between scans on the basis of the calculated projection data collection time, and corrects a concentration difference so as to change smoothly for an image of a position in the body axis direction in a range according to the time between scans.
US09129388B2

Techniques to generate global tone-mapping operators (G-TMOs) that, when applied to high dynamic range images, visually approximate the use of spatially varying tone-mapping operators (SV-TMOs) are described. The disclosed G-TMOs provide substantially the same visual benefits as SV-TMOs but do not suffer from spatial artifacts such as halos and are, in addition, computationally efficient compared to SV-TMOs. In general, G-TMOs may be identified based on application of a SV-TMO to a down-sampled version of a full-resolution input image (e.g., a thumbnail). An optimized mapping between the SV-TMO's input and output constitutes the G-TMO. It has been unexpectedly discovered that when optimized (e.g., to minimize the error between the SV-TMO's input and output), G-TMOs so generated provide an excellent visual approximation to the SV-TMO (as applied to the full-resolution image).
US09129378B2

A method and an apparatus for recovering a component of a distortion field of an image of a set of multi-view images are described. Also described are a method and an apparatus for determining a disparity field of an image of a set of multi-view images, which makes use of such method.In a first step pixel correspondences between the image and another image of the set of multi-view images are determined. A disparity field is then determined from at least a subset of the determined pixel correspondences. The disparity field is smoothed and the component of the distortion field is estimated from the smoothed disparity field. When determining a second disparity field the estimated component of the distortion field is taken into account when determining pixel correspondences between the image and another image of the set of multi-view images.
US09129375B1

Techniques are described for determining the pose of an object based on a 3D point set representing the object. The 3D point set is rotated into a 2D coordinate system and a model object contour is aligned with the contour of the rotated point set using an iterative process. The aligned model object contour is then rotated back into the original 3D coordinate system, where its pose is assumed to represent the pose of the object.
US09129366B2

This disclosure generally relates to medical systems and methods. In one aspect of the invention, a method includes determining a fluorescent light intensity at one or more points on each of multiple recorded images, and producing an image based on the determined fluorescent light intensity at the one or more points.
US09129365B2

A computerized system provides assistance for placement of localization markers for medical operations such as ACL repair procedures. The system displays, on a graphical user interface, an image of an anatomical structure and allows identification, via an input device on the graphical user interface, of a set of landmark locations identifying respective anatomical positions within the displayed image of the anatomical structure. The system displays a graphical overlay over the image of the anatomical structure. Placement of the graphical overlay is based on the set of landmark locations. The system displays at least one localization marker within the graphical overlay. The localization marker(s) identify a location for performing a surgical operation associated with the anatomical structure, such as ACL repair surgical operations.
US09129364B2

A method of processing input digital image data representing an image into output digital image data, comprising: providing (100) input image data; providing and initializing (200) a level set function representation for approximating the output digital image data; providing (300) a speed function; determining (400) a propagation direction trend map relating to image points of the level set function, said map comprising one or more trend directions associated with said image points so that each one of said image points has an associated trend direction; updating (500, 520) the level set function using the speed function and the propagation direction trend map, so that the speed function is excluded from contributing in the updating of the level set function in image points for which the speed of the speed function is not in the associated trend direction; and providing (700) the output digital image data based on the level set function. By the exclusion, propagation in a coherent manner is enabled and speed penalty owing to local wiggling as observed in conventional methods can be avoided.
US09129358B2

An inspecting apparatus includes an image pickup unit configured to pick up a plurality of images of an inspection target object with different exposure times and generate, image data of an inspection target object image including an inspection region, a weighted-image-data generating unit configured to weight, for each of the image data generated with the exposure times different from one another, data of pixels indicating a region where a difference in gradation of pixel values is relatively large among regions of pixels included in the image data and generate weighted image data, an image-data combining unit configured to generate combined image data obtained by combining the generated respective weighted image data, and a determining unit configured to determine a state of the inspection region on the basis of image data of a reference image set and the generated combined image data.
US09129357B2

An image processing apparatus including an image processing unit and configured to generate an enlarged image of an original image. The image processing unit is configured to generate the enlarged image by sequentially and repeatedly executing an edge-enhancement and enlargement process on the original image. The edge-enhancement and enlargement process is a process for enhancing edges in an image while enlarging the image.
US09129350B2

Systems and methods for analyzing test strip comb members having a plurality of fingers are disclosed. The systems and methods may analyze a test strip comb member to determine the presence of one more analytes on each of the plurality of fingers.
US09129348B2

A method of creating a container file for large format imagery and organizing data within the container file are described. In one embodiment, the method of creating the container file includes validating user input parameters for the file container, and determining whether the container file already exists, the container file having file container metadata. If the file container does not exist, creating the container by creating one or more empty records in a storage device, the one or more empty records having an image file section reserved for storing an image, an image metadata section reserved for storing data about the image and a record metadata section having at least a mark indicating that the image file section is empty. A size of the image file section, a size of the image metadata section and a size of the record metadata section are determined using the user input parameters.
US09129339B2

A social networking system leverages information obtained regarding user interactions with applications hosted through the social networking system as well as information obtained regarding purchases of application-related digital items and digital currencies to provide insight into user behavior. The social networking system can use these insights to enhance the user's experience of the applications, purchases, and the social networking system generally. For example, the social networking system can customize transaction flows, provide credit referrals, and provide users with aggregated yet personally tailored sales information.
US09129332B1

Price searching and intelligent shopping lists on a mobile device is provided. A system for providing a shopping list comprises at least one subsystem that receives input data containing product identification information, at least one subsystem that determines location information of a product identified by the product identification information, and at least one subsystem that determines a proposed route from a particular location to a location of the product identified by the location information.
US09129326B2

A system and method are disclosed for the creation of future time based search. Service providers identify their availability. This information is then searchable by potential clients to determine if relevant, local service providers are available to perform needed service.
US09129321B2

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a fraud detection system that records an audit log of modifications made by a user to a selection of fraud detection rules in a merchant profile. The audit log contains details of the modifications and the user associated with the modifications. A search can be conducted on the audit log to determine details of modifications made to a merchant profile within the fraud detection system.
US09129319B2

Systems and methods for ordering supplies from suppliers or for other e-commerce activities are described. Standards for placing orders and registering catalog information in a database are described. Systems and methods for placing orders, preprocessing supplier information using geographic information, conducting data searches and analysis locally on user access devices, continuously updating displays of browser frames, tracking orders using accounting codes, placing graphical custom orders, submitting graphical orders to suppliers, placing group orders, reducing risks associated with delinquent accounts receivable, and combinations thereof are described.
US09129318B2

A system and method for allocating suppliers to customers locate a plurality of suppliers in a geographical information system. Relative capability associated with each of the plurality of suppliers is determined. For each supplier in the plurality of suppliers, the system and method generate lines by linking said each supplier to neighboring suppliers in the plurality of suppliers, establish relative capability points on the lines between said each supplier and the neighboring suppliers, and define boundaries of a coverage region associated with said each supplier based on the relative capability points. A customer located in the coverage region is allocated to the associated supplier of the coverage region.
US09129313B1

A method and system for optimizing real-time bidding on online advertisement placements is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises receiving a real-time bidding (RTB) request from a RTB partner who is selling an impression on behalf of a publisher. Several probability scores are predetermined based on various criterion. During the processing of a real-time bid request, a combined probability score and threshold are calculated based on these probability scores. The decision to bid on and price to bid for the impression is determined by the RTB system. Campaign targets are based on the combined probability score. A RTB bid response indicating the selected campaign targets and the bid prices are returned to the RTB partner.
US09129312B1

A facility for bidding on a pending advertising opportunity is described. The facility receives at an advertiser a notification from a publisher. The notification contains keywords relating to a content request received by the publisher, and is sent by the publisher between its receipt of the content request and its dispatch of a content response responsive to the content request. In response to receiving the notification, the facility sends to the publisher a dynamic bid. The dynamic bid specifies an advertising message and a bid amount that the advertiser is willing to pay to present the advertising message in connection with a content response responsive to the content request produced by the publisher.
US09129306B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for selecting controlling keywords. In one aspect, a method includes determining that two or more targeting keywords for a same content item source are matched by one or more terms in a content item request, where a first targeting keyword matches the one or more terms with a more specific type of match than the second targeting keyword. If the bid associated with the second targeting keyword does not exceed the bid associated with the first targeting keyword, the first targeting keyword and the second targeting keyword are ranked based on selection scores. The targeting keywords are ranked based at least in part on the quality scores when the bid associated with the second targeting keyword does exceed the bid associated with the first targeting keyword.
US09129303B2

In one embodiment, a method of sharing locations of users participating in a social networking service at a geographic location and communicating app related information of users participating in the social networking service, the method executed by a computer system and comprises: receiving location information and text descriptive information from a mobile device of a first user of the social networking service, the location information representing a geographic location of the first user, the text descriptive information manually provided by the first user on an input module of the mobile device; associating the location information with the text descriptive information of the first user in a database; sending the text descriptive information and the location information of the first user to a second user for display.
US09129301B2

A system and method for placing an advertisement in a digital environment based upon a user's choice, subject to certain predetermined parameters, is disclosed. Through the method, a user is assigned a rating based upon, for example, his performance in a game. A list of advertisements which correspond to that rating is displayed to the user, who may then select a desired advertisement from the list. The selected advertisement is then displayed in the digital environment. Reports may be generated based upon the advertisements selected and the number of selections and/or impressions (e.g., uses or viewings) by the user, which may be sent to advertisers.
US09129298B2

A system and method for tracking patron events at a plurality of devices is provided. The plurality of devices include electronic gaming machines and non-gaming machines. Each game device has a value associated therewith. The system includes a plurality of player tracking devices (each associated with one of the electronic gaming machines) and a server. The player tracking devices identify patrons interacting with the system, track wagers made by the patrons on the electronic gaming machines and record wager data. The server receives the wager data and stores the wager data in a database and receives transaction data associated with a transaction associated with the patrons use of the non-gaming devices and stores the transaction data in the database, and establishes a player rating associated with each player as a function of the wager data and the transaction data.
US09129295B2

This disclosure concerns an interactive head-mounted eyepiece with an integrated processor for handling content for display and an integrated image source for introducing the content to an optical assembly through which the user views a surrounding environment and the displayed content wherein the optical assembly comprises a photochromic layer and a heater layer disposed on a see-through lens of the optical assembly, wherein the photochromic layer is heated by the heater layer to accelerate its transition from dark to clear.
US09129288B2

A system and method enables a central processor to control the operations of a plurality of checkout stations. Each checkout station includes a high speed data hub to provide data from a checkout station to the central processor. The central processor processes the data and generates data and/or commands. The data may be stored in a data repository located proximately with the central processor or at the checkout station that communicated the data to the central processor. Data messages generated by the central processor are communicated to the checkout stations at a high speed data rate of at least 12 Mbps. By using a central processor for controlling the operation of more than one checkout station, processors and processor support requirements are reduced for checkout stations.
US09129286B2

According to one aspect, in response to a request from a mobile application running at a mobile device of a customer, a personalized page is transmitted to the mobile application, the personalized page including a list of products retrieved from a customer profile of the customer. Each of the products is associated with one or more communications channels preferred by an associated client, which are retrieved from the client database. A live support request is received from the mobile application initiated from a selected product of the personalized page, the live support request including a selection selecting one of the preferred communications channels listed on the personalized page. A live communication session is established between the customer and a support agent using a selected communications channel for live support services to the customer concerning the selected product.
US09129273B2

Devices, systems, and methods are disclosed which relate to using a remote scanner for mobile transactions. A point of sale (POS) terminal communicates with a remote scanner that is removably coupled to the POS terminal. Logic on the POS terminal generates a request for a transaction information and transmits the request along with a restriction to the remote scanner. Logic on the remote scanner receives the request and the restriction, transmits the request to a mobile device, receives the transaction information while monitoring the restriction, and transmits the transaction information to the POS terminal for processing. The transaction information may be provided subject to the restriction.
US09129265B2

Disclosed is a computer-implemented method for providing a call efficiency indicator. The method includes determining an agent scheduled time for a call efficiency indicator period; determining a number of calls handled by the agent for each particular call type during the call efficiency indicator period; calculating the average time it took that agent to handle calls, on a call type basis and during the call efficiency indicator period; determining an Average Handle Time metric; calculating idle time for the agent for the call efficiency indicator period; and calculating the call efficiency indicator for the call efficiency indicator period as a function of the number of calls handled by the agent, the Average Handle Time, the idle time, and the agent scheduled time.
US09129264B2

A system and method for event resolution. The method includes determining whether a post-scheduled event or a pre-scheduled event conflicts with a scheduled event. The method further includes extracting details of the post-scheduled event or the pre-scheduled event and automatically populating a response with at least some of the extracted details. The method further includes sending the response with an accept indication when the post-scheduled event or the pre-scheduled event does not conflict with the scheduled event, or sending the response with a cancel indication when the post-scheduled event or the pre-scheduled event conflicts with the scheduled event, or sending the response with a tentatively accept indication when the post-scheduled event or the pre-scheduled event conflicts with the scheduled event.
US09129252B2

Selected embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, systems and media for systematically processing electronic communications for conditionally incrementing resources. In certain embodiments, electronic communications are received and processed in order to evaluate potential realization assistance functions by potential realization assistants according to processes that include resource incrementations that are conditioned on satisfactory potential realization function processing. Other methods, systems and media are also provided.
US09129244B2

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to decision node processing in a business process model and provide a method, system and computer program product for linked decision nodes in business process models. In an embodiment of the invention, a business process model simulation method can be provided. The method can include loading a business process model for simulation, designating a decision node in the business process model as a master decision node and linking another decision node in the business process model as a slave decision node to the master decision node. The method further can include simulating the master decision node to select an output pin and storing the selected output pin in association with the master decision node, and applying the selected output pin in the slave decision node when arriving at the slave decision node during the simulation without simulating the slave decision node.
US09129239B2

A system for providing a user/child with the arrival status of a driver/parent and method therefore includes providing a mobile code carrier, a code reader that identifies a code stored on the code carrier, a processor communicatively coupled to the code reader, a memory communicatively coupled to the processor storing a data base that includes a data structure, and a plurality of displays each communicatively coupled to the processor and located in one of a plurality of disparate locations within a building. The method further includes identifying the code, associating the code with a target and at least one location within the building, and displaying to one of the plurality of displays where the target is located a message indicating that the driver/parent has arrived.
US09129236B2

Forming a sequence plan for a machine to travel to a series of specified locations is described. An initial cost table (414) and a pattern of locations (412) is inputted to a Sequential Ordering Problem (SOP) solver (402). The resulting sequence (410) is processed by a motion planner (404) to derive by a motion planning procedure a plan of machine motions through the sequence. A cost table update (408) is performed based on the motion plan, which is then used for another iteration of the SOP solver (402).
US09129215B2

A system for developing and implementing empirically derived algorithms to generate decision rules to predict invalidity of subject reported data and fraud with research protocols in surveys allows for the identification of complex patterns of variables that detect or predict subject invalidity of subject reported data and fraud with the research protocol in the survey. The present invention may also be used to monitor invalidity of subject reported data within a research protocol to determine preferred actions to be performed. Optionally, the invention may provide a spectrum of invalidity, from minor invalidity needing only corrective feedback, to significant invalidity requiring subject removal from the survey. The algorithms and decision rules can also be domain-specific, such as detecting invalidity or fraud among subjects in a workplace satisfaction survey, or demographically specific, such as taking into account gender or age. The algorithms and decision rules may be optimized for the specific sample of subjects being studied.
US09129211B2

A system and method for fusing the outputs from multiple LiDAR sensors on a vehicle. The method includes providing object files for objects detected by the sensors at a previous sample time, where the object files identify the position, orientation and velocity of the detected objects. The method also includes receiving a plurality of scan returns from objects detected in the field-of-view of the sensors at a current sample time and constructing a point cloud from the scan returns. The method then segments the scan points in the point cloud into predicted clusters, where each cluster initially identifies an object detected by the sensors. The method matches the predicted clusters with predicted object models generated from objects being tracked during the previous sample time. The method creates new object models, deletes dying object models and updates the object files based on the object models for the current sample time.
US09129210B2

An efficient method and system to enhance digital acquisition devices for analog data is presented. The enhancements are available to the user in local as well as in remote deployments yielding efficiency gains for a large variety of business processes. The quality enhancements of the acquired digital data are achieved efficiently by employing virtual reacquisition, which renders unnecessary the physical reacquisition of the analog data in case the digital data by the acquisition are of insufficient quality. The method and system allows multiple users to access the same acquisition device for analog data. One or more users can virtually reacquire data provided by multiple analog or digital sources. The acquired raw data can be processed by each user according to his personal preferences and/or requirements.
US09129207B2

This is directed to systems, methods, and computer-readable media for printing maps and directions. In response to receiving an instruction to print directions, a device can define a layout optimized to show the route to travel, along with distinct steps that correspond to the route. The layout can include a map overview showing the entire route, with callouts identifying each step on the route. The layout can also include listings of individual steps, where each listing includes a reference number referring back to a callout and a description of the step. Each listings can also include a map tile showing a detailed view of the step corresponding to the listing. The map overview and the listings can be disposed, for example, in different columns of a landscape view.
US09129206B2

A printer can be connected to a computer or other host device without being limited by the type of data processed by the printer. A POS system 1 has a POS terminal 10 connected to a first printer 60 that has a print unit 71. The print data acquisition unit 66 of the first printer 60 acquires data output by the POS terminal 10. A conversion unit 67 applies at least one of a process of converting graphic data to text data, and a process of converting text data to graphic data, to the data acquired by the data acquisition unit 66, and the conversion unit 67 outputs the resulting converted data.
US09129205B2

An image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a font cache storage portion and a first determination portion. The font cache storage portion is configured to store a character image by an LRU method. The first determination portion is configured to determine whether to store the character image at a position of a head of the font cache storage portion, on the basis of a used state of the character image.
US09129204B2

A card reader may include a card conveying mechanism structured to convey the card; a conveying passage; a magnetic head to abut a magnetic stripe formed on a card and read or record data on the card; a head moving mechanism to move the magnetic head; and an abutting part abutting with one end of the card. The card conveying mechanism may include a drive source, and a first conveying roller and a second conveying roller. The first conveying roller is disposed on one end side of the conveying passage. The second conveying roller is disposed on the other end of the conveying passage. The card conveying mechanism may include a first torque limiter disposed in a power transmission path from the drive source to the first conveying roller, and a second torque limiter disposed in a power transmission path from the drive source to the second conveying roller.
US09129199B2

Universal cards are used in place of all the other traditional cards which a person may want to carry. The universal card can include a short range communications transceiver to communicate with a mobile device. The mobile device can include a user interface and an e-wallet application so that the user can interface with the e-wallet application for programming the universal card via the short range communication link. Once programmed, the universal card emulates a function of a traditional card.
US09129197B1

Document processing utilizing extraneous highlight added to the document. Sections or fields of a document including data utilized for document processing are marked or highlighted for processing. For example, a paper or printed document may be manually highlighted by a highlighter pen, or the highlight may be computer generated. An image of the highlighted bill is acquired. Highlighted sections within the image are identified, and bill data within the highlighted fields is extracted and utilized for bill processing.
US09129194B2

An image forming apparatus includes a first retrieval unit that retrieves a table of document data, an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording medium in accordance with the document data, a second retrieval unit that retrieves a cumulative amount of images formed by the image forming unit, a third retrieval unit that retrieves a threshold value of the cumulative amount of images formed by the image forming unit, and a display unit that displays a selection screen that allows a user to select document data forming an image from the document data included in the table. If the cumulative amount does not exceed the threshold value, the display unit displays a screen including a batch selection screen. If the cumulative amount exceeds the threshold value, the display unit displays an individual selection screen.
US09129190B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for identifying objects in images. One of the methods includes obtaining a first training image; down-sampling the first training image to generate a low-resolution first training image; processing the low-resolution first training image using a first neural network to generate a plurality of features of the low-resolution first training image and first scores for the low-resolution first training image; processing the first scores and the features of the low-resolution first training image using an initial patch locator neural network to generate an initial location of an initial patch of the first training image; locally perturbing the initial location to select an adjusted location for the initial patch of the first training image; and updating the current values of the parameters of the initial patch locator neural network to generate updated values using the adjusted location.
US09129189B2

In general, techniques are described for performing a vocabulary-based visual search using multi-resolution feature descriptors. A device may comprise one or more processors configured to perform the techniques. The processors may generate a hierarchically arranged data structure to be used when classifying objects included within a query image based on multi-resolution query feature descriptor extracted from the query image at a first scale space resolution and a second scale space resolution. The hierarchically arranged data structure may represent a first query feature descriptor of the multi-resolution feature descriptor extracted at the first scale space resolution and a second corresponding query feature descriptor of the multi-resolution feature descriptor extracted at the second scale space resolution hierarchically arranged according to the first scale space resolution and the second scale space resolution. The processors may then perform a visual search based on the generated data structure.
US09129186B2

A method and apparatus for processing an ultrasound image are provided. The method includes determining similarities between a first two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound image, among 2D ultrasound images of a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound image, and the 2D ultrasound images. The method further includes generating a predetermined number of similar ultrasound images with respect to the first 2D ultrasound image based on the similarities. The method further includes generating 3D volume data based on the predetermined number of the similar ultrasound images. The method further includes removing noise from the 3D volume data. The method further includes generating another 3D ultrasound image based on the noise-removed 3D volume data.
US09129177B2

Techniques described herein provide a method for automatically and intelligently creating and updating an OCR cache while performing OCR using a computing device. An image captured using a camera coupled to the computing device may be matched against prior images stored in the OCR cache. If a match is found, the OCR cache may be updated with new or better information utilizing the new image. The matched prior image may be retained in the OCR cache, or the new captured image may replace the matched prior image in the OCR cache. In one embodiment, techniques are described to remove or reduce glare before storing the image in the OCR cache. In some embodiments, glare is removed or reduced in the absence of performing OCR.
US09129169B1

RFID reader systems, readers, components, software and methods cause RFID tags to backscatter a combination made from at least portions of a first code and a second code, without transmitting any commands in the interim. The first and/or second codes may include a tag response to a reader challenge. In a number of embodiments, a separate command does not have to be sent for reading the second code along with the first code, thereby saving time in inventorying the tags. Plus, the combination can enable reading tag codes during tag manufacturing that are not otherwise readily available to read in the field. In some embodiments, the combination may further include one or more error-checking codes.
US09129164B2

A driver assist system is provided that generates a video signal representing a vehicle environment outside a vehicle. At least one feature is extracted from the video signal. A reference is selected from a plurality of reference features stored as location attributes in a map database. The extracted feature is compared to at least one reference feature. An object in the vehicle environment is identified based on the comparison of the extracted feature and the reference feature. An indication is provided to a driver of the vehicle on the basis of the identified object. In one example, the system includes a video capturing device, an indicating device, a vehicle-based processing resource and access to a map database server. Processing tasks may be distributed among the vehicle-based processing resource and an external processing resource.
US09129159B2

A video-based vehicle headlight state monitoring method and system. A vehicle image can be captured by an image-capturing unit and converted to a grayscale image. The grayscale image can be processed to locate a front license plate and identify a position of a headlight region in front of the vehicle utilizing an algorithm. An average digital count with respect to brightness of the headlight region can be compared with average digital count with respect to brightness of several parts of the vehicle and a background region to determine the vehicle headlights ON/OFF status. The headlights can be considered ON if the digital count level of the headlight region is higher than the digital count of the several parts of the vehicle and the background region. A warning signal can be initiated to turn the headlights on during a special situation utilizing a signal generator.
US09129157B2

Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for image-based status determination are presented. In some embodiments, a method includes capturing at least one image of a moving path. At least one feature within the at least one image is analyzed and based on the analysis of the at least one feature, a direction of movement of the moving path is determined. In some embodiments, a method includes capturing an image of an inclined path. At least one feature within the image is analyzed and based on analysis of the at least one feature, a determination is made whether the image was captured from a top position relative to the inclined path or a bottom position relative to the inclined path.
US09129147B1

Computerized methods for creating tracks of locations across frames of a video corresponding to a facial feature of a human. A set of feature location hypotheses is generated, as applied to images derived from the sequence of frames representing images of the human. Each hypothesis is refined, and a first set of confidence measures is associated with each hypothesis. A second set of confidence measures is associated with interframe transition, and a cost function that is a combination of hypotheses and transition confidence measures is minimized. A set of tracks is generated, characterizing each of a plurality of facial features within each frame of the sequence of frames. Performance analysis data may further be derived in a performance driven animation production pipeline, based on the generated tracks.
US09129141B2

This disclosure describes methods for use with energy management systems that electric utilities use to manage power distribution networks. The methods can account for changes in phase value that dynamic cross-phasing causes in the power distribution network. In one embodiment, the methods facilitate computer-based modeling of the power distribution network to include such changes in phase value into a connectivity model, which provides a schematic representation of the power distribution network.
US09129140B2

A squaring circuit has current mode triplet metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices, including a first MOS device, a second MOS device and a third MOS device each having a source operably coupled to a first current source; and a fourth MOS device, a fifth MOS device and a sixth MOS device each having a source operably coupled to a second current source. The drain of first and fourth MOS device is operably coupled to a first supply, the drain of second and fifth MOS device is operably coupled to a first differential output port and the drain of third and sixth MOS device is operably coupled to a second differential output port. The gate of first, second and sixth MOS device is connected to a first differential input port, and the gate of third, fourth and fifth MOS device is connected to a second differential input port.
US09129134B2

Systems and methods for providing privacy settings for applications associated with a user profile are provided. Exemplary methods include receiving a request from a member of a web-based social network to access a third-party application, providing privacy settings selections to control access to data associated with the installed application, receiving a privacy settings selection from the member, and providing to the third party application information about the user subject to the received privacy settings selections.
US09129129B2

Techniques are provided for a data security system that includes two mappings: a first mapping that maps a security policy to sensitive type and a second mapping that maps the sensitive type to one or more data sets. The sensitive type indicates a class of sensitive data. Example data sets include columns, tables, tablespaces, files, and directories in a file system. Because a security policy is not tightly coupled to a target data set, the security policy becomes data-agnostic, portable, and reusable. Also, a security policy may be objectless in that, at some point in time, the security policy is not associated with any data set. A security policy may also be multifunctional in that the security policy may include multiple security features or requirements. A security policy may also be exhaustive in that all necessary security requirements prescribed for a data set can be included in the security policy.
US09129126B2

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for updating changes to caches. In aspects, a provisioning server can receive by a hardware processor a security data provisioning request from a first application server in a set of application servers. In response to receiving the security data change provisioning request, identifying updated security data compatible with the cache of a second application server of the set of application servers. Further, sending a command to the second application server of the set of application servers to clear the cache of the second application server of the set of application servers. A provisioning server sending the updated security data to the cache of the second application server of the set of application servers.
US09129124B2

A method for dynamic provisioning of virtual systems includes, with a server system that hosts virtual systems, detecting a new virtual system on the server system, and with the server system, using a physical address of the new virtual system to perform network authentication on behalf of the new virtual system.
US09129120B2

In a system for providing access control management to electronic data, techniques to secure the electronic data and keep the electronic data secured at all times are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a secured file or secured document includes two parts: an attachment, referred to as a header, and an encrypted document or data portion. The header includes security information that points to or includes the access rules and a file key. The access rules facilitate restrictive access to the secured document and essentially determine who/when/how/where the secured document can be accessed. The file key is used to encrypt/decrypt the encrypted data portion. Only those who have the proper access privileges are permitted to retrieve the file key to encrypt/decrypt the encrypted data portion.
US09129103B2

Disclosed embodiments relate to authenticating a hypervisor with encoded hypervisor information. In one embodiment, booting firmware 112 includes instructions to determine whether a received hypervisor 108 is an authentic hypervisor. In one embodiment, booting firmware 112 includes instructions to determine whether the received hypervisor 108 is in a selected configuration. In one embodiment, booting firmware 112 includes instructions to determine whether the receive hypervisor 108 is a selected version.
US09129101B2

Systems and methods for authenticating electronic transactions are provided. The authentication methods employ a combination of security features. These security features can be based, for example, on unique knowledge of the person being authenticated, unique personal features and attributes of the person, the ability of the person to respond, and to do so in a fashion that a machine cannot, and so forth. Methods for enrolling the person prior to authentication are also provided, as well as systems for enrollment and authentication.
US09129099B1

A Privacy Preserving Portable Health Record (P3HR) based on Smart Enterprise Guardian (SEG) that incorporates smart card security and advanced flash storage encryption technology gives a patient the flexibility of using the services of a variety of generally unrelated healthcare practitioners and providers with control over their health records and the ability to provide comprehensive access to the patient's health records as would occur in a centralized clinic setting to in effect create a virtual medical clinic. The security architecture of the P3HR serves a group of medical patients, healthcare practitioners, and other associated providers such as hospitals and insurance providers. The system provides for continuously updated healthcare history of patients in a remote update server and on portable access devices, which are carried by patients.
US09129090B2

A device for processing electronic transactions is disclosed. The device includes a processor configured to receive, from a client processing device, a request for information to complete an electronic transaction by a user at an access device affiliated with an educational institution. The processor is further configured to transmit, to the client processing device, a response to the request, the response configured to be transmitted by the client processing device to the access device. The request for information is triggered at the access device by an identification carrier. The response to the request includes at least one of a permission or denial whether to provide, to the user, access to an educational space or item, access to electronic educational information, or determining at least one of the price and availability of an educational item to the user. A client-side device is also disclosed. Methods and machine-readable mediums are also disclosed.
US09129084B2

A method for analyzing adverse effects resulting from the use of a substance of interest, including identifying a substance of interest; selecting from multiple profiles related to the safety of the substance of interest, using at least one filter; at least one data mining engine; and an output device for displaying the analytic results from the data mining engine. The data mining engine is selected from (1) a proportional analysis engine; (2) a comparator, and (3) a correlator; whereby a user can receive analytic results from the selector, the proportional analysis engine, the comparator, and the correlator.
US09129080B2

A method of constructing an RF filter comprises designing an RF filter that includes a plurality of resonant elements disposed, a plurality of non-resonant elements coupling the resonant elements together to form a stop band having a plurality of transmission zeroes corresponding to respective frequencies of the resonant elements, and a sub-band between the transmission zeroes. The non-resonant elements comprise a variable non-resonant element for selectively introducing a reflection zero within the stop band to create a pass band in the sub-band. The method further comprises changing the order in which the resonant elements are disposed along the signal transmission path to create a plurality of filter solutions, computing a performance parameter for each of the filter solutions, comparing the performance parameters to each other, selecting one of the filter solutions based on the comparison of the computed performance parameters, and constructing the RF filter using the selected filter solution.
US09129077B2

According to one embodiment of the invention, a computerized method for predicting posture of a living object includes storing a plurality of posturing rules for a respective activity in a storage location, receiving a start posture of a first living object for the activity, receiving a location of a target for the activity, dividing the activity into a plurality of movements based on the start posture and the location of the target, and determining an end posture of the first living object for the activity. Determining the end posture includes applying at least one of the posturing rules for each of the movements and checking at least one of a plurality of constraints associated with each of the movements.
US09129075B2

Generation of a mesh model that can be analyzed with sufficient analysis accuracy for result evaluation and within a minimum possible calculation time even if a user does not grasp a tradeoff relation between analysis accuracy and analysis time due to mesh size is made possible. A mesh generation system designates an evaluation point (site) on an analysis target shape, analyzes plural analysis model data created with plural types of mesh size, stores a relation among mesh size, analysis result and calculation time in a mesh know-how DB, search for a mesh size which meets a required accuracy and calculation time limit, sets the mesh size that is found by the search to an analysis model. And displays the relation among mesh size, analysis result and calculation time.
US09129074B2

A method of making a mechanical multishear link includes sizing the multishear link by breaking down a system comprised by the link into as many subassemblies as there are simple shear interfaces, defining the subassemblies around each shear interface, describing each shear by its stiffness, and applying the mechanical relationships to achieve a system of equations for a computer-assisted resolution by applying the Huth method to each shear interface.
US09129073B2

A shape optimization method of a plate-like member which has a concavo-convex shape and includes: identifying a bend stress point where a bend stress is higher in a mode where a specific load is applied to the plate-like member; identifying a bend axis from a distribution of stress vectors around the bend stress point; identifying, in an orthogonal surface to the bend axis, a pair of membrane stress points where a ratio of a membrane stress to a sum of the bend stress and the membrane stress is higher; calculating an offset variable which is a distance between a line segment connecting the pair of the membrane stress points and the bend stress point; and identifying a shape of the plate-like member so as to minimize the offset variable.
US09129069B2

A digital rack interface pod (DRIP) that is able to establish a communications link between a remote access appliance and a server having a USB port and a video port, to facilitate a keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) session between the server and the appliance. The DRIP is also able to establish a communications link between the appliance and an Ethernet port of the server that is associated with a service processor (SP) of the server. In this manner the DRIP is able to route data from the SP of the server to the appliance as well as communications from the appliance to the SP Ethernet port of the server. The DRIP is able to intelligently determine which packets of information received from the appliance are intended for the SP Ethernet port of the server and routes those packets to the SP Ethernet port of the server. The DRIP also automatically monitors and dynamically reassigns its two Ethernet ports as needed so that whichever one of its two Ethernet ports it discovers a connection with the appliance on will be the port that it continues using to communicate with the appliance.