US09155233B2
An electromagnetic shield is provided, for example for a printed circuit board. A shield lid fits onto a base structure having at least two, more typically four, opposing sidewalls. The lid includes a top portion and a lip extending downward from the top portion to cap the base structure. The lid includes at least one deformation inhibiting feature extending downward from the top portion, for placement near or against an interior portion of a sidewall, for example against an edge of a folded-over sidewall. The deformation inhibiting feature may include one or more half-dimples stamped into the lid. In response to an external force, the deformation inhibiting feature presses against its adjacent sidewall in order to brace the shield lid. This inhibits the base structure from deforming the lip due to outward pressure of a sidewall onto a portion of the lip, located opposite the deformation inhibiting feature.
US09155221B2
A system includes a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) enclosure having a power area for housing power components and a component area for housing components configured to receive power from the power components. The system further includes at least one DSLAM positioned in the component area of the DSLAM enclosure and an AC power supply for providing AC power to the at least one DSLAM. The AC power supply is positioned in the power area of the DSLAM enclosure.
US09155212B2
A base body includes a fiducial stage part provided with an inner terminal group, and an upper stage part located at a side of an outer edge of a package with respect to the fiducial stage part and protruding with respect to the fiducial stage part through a step part. A frame body is bonded to the upper stage part, and an inner edge of the frame body is located at the side of the outer edge of the package with respect to the step part.
US09155206B2
In a solder connection element (1), which is intended in particular for soldering onto a brittle substrate such as a window pane, for connecting an electrical component, which solder connection element has a body (2) provided for connecting purposes and at least two solder feet (3) protruding therefrom, a respective elastically deformable connecting part which is suitable for accommodating differences in thermal expansion extending between the body and the solder feet, more than two solder feet (3) are provided according to the invention for soldering onto a surface, wherein differences in thermal expansion and effects of mechanical forces from the component to be connected can be accommodated in at least two coordinate directions parallel to the substrate surface by way of resilience of the solder feet (3) and/or the connecting parts relative to the body (2) and/or the solder connection element (1). The body (2) itself can also be configured so as to be resilient by way of incisions (6) and/or equipped with a plug-in lug (5).
US09155203B2
According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes: a device configured to partially provide a second conductor layer on a surface of a first conductor layer; a device configured to partially provide a first insulating layer on the surface of the first conductor layer; a device configured to integrate the first conductor layer, the second conductor layer, the first insulating layer, and a third conductor layer, in a state in which the second conductor layer and the first insulating layer provided on the surface of the first conductor layer are covered with the third conductor layer from a side opposite the first conductor layer; a device configured to form a conductor pattern by partially removing at least one of the first conductor layer and the third conductor layer in a structure obtained by the integrating; and a device configured to cover both sides of the structure.
US09155202B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to circuit layouts that are compatible with printing electronic inks, printed circuits formed by printing an electronic ink or a combination of printing and conventional blanket deposition and photolithography, and methods of forming circuits by printing electronic inks onto structures having print-compatible shapes. The layouts include features having (i) a print-compatible shape and (ii) an orientation that is either orthogonal or parallel to the orientation of every other feature in the layout.
US09155199B2
The present invention relates to a passive device embedded in a substrate, which includes a laminate formed by alternately laminating a plurality of internal electrodes and dielectric layers; a first external electrode covering one side surface of the laminate and having a first upper cover region, which covers a part of an upper portion of the laminate, and a first lower cover region, which covers a part of a lower portion of the laminate and is smaller than the first upper cover region; and a second external electrode covering the other side surface of the laminate and having a second lower cover region, which covers a part of the lower portion of the laminate, and a second upper cover region, which covers a part of the upper portion of the laminate and is smaller than the second lower cover region, and the substrate.
US09155198B2
An electronic module includes a substrate, which includes a dielectric material having multiple sides, including first and second sides, and first and second cavities indented respectively within the first and second sides. First and second conductive contacts within the first and second cavities are configured for contact with at least first and second electronic components that are mounted respectively in the first and second cavities. Conductive traces within the substrate are in electrical communication with the first and second conductive contacts.
US09155197B2
A laminated chip electronic component includes: a ceramic body including internal electrodes and dielectric layers; external electrodes formed to cover both end portions of the ceramic body in a length direction; an active layer in which the internal electrodes are disposed in an opposing manner, while having the dielectric layers interposed therebetween, to form capacitance; and upper and lower cover layers formed on upper and lower portions of the active layer in a thickness direction, the lower cover layer having a thickness greater than that of the upper cover layer.
US09155190B2
Some embodiments include a method of preparing a flexible substrate assembly. Other embodiments of related methods and structures are also disclosed.
US09155182B2
Systems and methods for tuning a parameter associated with plasma impedance are described. One of the methods includes receiving information to determine a variable. The information is measured at a transmission line and is measured when the parameter has a first value. The transmission line is used to provide power to a plasma chamber. The method further includes determining whether the variable is at a local minima and providing the first value to tune the impedance matching circuit upon determining that the variable is at the local minima. The method includes changing the first value to a second value of the parameter upon determining that the variable is not at the local minima and determining whether the variable is at a local minima when the parameter has the second value.
US09155179B2
Techniques for forming a target and for producing extreme ultraviolet light include releasing an initial target material toward a target location, the target material including a material that emits extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light when converted to plasma; directing a first amplified light beam toward the initial target material, the first amplified light beam having an energy sufficient to form a collection of pieces of target material from the initial target material, each of the pieces being smaller than the initial target material and being spatially distributed throughout a hemisphere shaped volume; and directing a second amplified light beam toward the collection of pieces to convert the pieces of target material to plasma that emits EUV light.
US09155175B2
An exemplary liquid crystal display panel includes a substrate and first conductive units. The first conductive units are arranged at a surface of the substrate. Each of the first conductive units includes a plurality of first connecting portions, a plurality of second connecting portions and a conductive portion with a plurality of conductive particles. The conductive portion is located between the first connecting portions and the second connecting portions, thus electrically connecting the first connecting portions to the second connecting portions. A method for manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel is also provided.
US09155168B2
A user wearable device may be implemented with a light source to provide illumination to an area of interest. In one example, the light source may be selectively operated by switches, physical displacement (e.g., movement) of the device, or other approaches. In another example, the device may be implemented as a wristwatch to display time, date, or related information to a user. In another example, the device may be implemented with appropriate processing or communication components to perform other tasks. In other embodiments, various methods of using, operating, or manufacturing such devices are provided.
US09155166B2
Control of lighting fixtures in a lighting network may be distributed among the lighting fixtures. The lighting fixtures may be broken into groups that are associated with different lighting zones. At least some of the lighting fixtures will have or be associated with one or more sensors. Within the overall lighting network or the various lighting zones, the lighting fixtures may share sensor data from their sensors. Each lighting fixture may process sensor data provided by its own sensor, a remote standalone sensor, or lighting fixture, and process the sensor data according to the lighting fixture's own internal logic to control operation of the lighting fixture. The lighting fixtures may also receive control input from other lighting fixtures, control nodes, light switches, and commissioning tools. The control input may be processed along with the sensor data according to the internal logic to further enhance control of the lighting fixture.
US09155164B2
The invention relates to an HF system that comprises an HF device (5), particularly an HF lamp, as well an HF spark-plug or similar HF plasma application, and an HF signal-incoupling device (3) for operating said HF device (5). The HF system comprises an oscillator (7) for generating an HF signal to operate said HF device (5), and said system is characterised in that it comprises means (15) for generating a voltage signal (Uprop) that is proportional to the degree of adaptation of the HF device, on the basis of the HF signal generated by the oscillator (7) and a signal reflected by said HF device. Moreover, the system is characterised in that it comprises a device (27), preferably without a microprocessor, for generating a control signal (UA) for adapting the oscillator (7) output-frequency on the basis of the voltage signal (Uprop) which is proportional to the degree of adaptation of the HF device (5).
US09155163B2
In at least one embodiment, an electronic system includes a controller, and the controller provides compatibility between an electronic light source and a trailing edge dimmer. In at least one embodiment, the controller is capable of predicting an estimated occurrence of a trailing edge of a phase cut AC voltage and accelerating a transition of the phase cut AC voltage from the trailing edge to a predetermined voltage threshold. In at least one embodiment, the controller predicts an estimated occurrence of the trailing edge of the phase cut AC voltage on the basis of actual observations from one or more previous cycles of the phase cut AC voltage.
US09155147B2
Disclosed are a light emitting diode illumination apparatus and a control method thereof. The light emitting diode illumination apparatus includes a light source that includes a plurality of light emitting diode channels including one or more light emitting diodes, and emits light by application of a rectified voltage obtained by converting an AC voltage, and a control circuit that selectively provides current paths according to a change in a level of the rectified voltage through a plurality of switching circuits connected to the light emitting diode channels, and controls pulse widths of control pulses provided to the switching circuits such that an current supplied to the light source of each channel follows a waveform of the rectified voltage.
US09155139B2
An LED driver circuit that can regulate the input signal voltage so that the driver circuit can be used over wide input voltage range or at predetermined voltages. Discrete components are used to drive an LED array with a constant current. The LED driver circuit includes a dynamic current regulator. The dynamic current regulator includes a resistor and capacitor in parallel to provide dynamic current regulation to a switching mode power supply circuit that controls the LED illumination.
US09155133B2
A method of drying and buffering organic moist products, particularly food items. Introducing the product into a first chamber, bringing the first chamber to a first reduced ambient pressure, feeding microwave energy from a microwave source so as to increase the temperature and buffer the moist product, and increasing the reduced ambient pressure to a less reduced second ambient pressure multiple times and subsequently reducing the ambient pressure to the first reduced ambient pressure. Wherein the increase of the ambient pressure is carried out faster than the reduction thereof, followed by a final drying of the product in a second chamber while feeding infrared radiation at a third (reduced) ambient pressure. Subsequently, the product is cooled and discharged into the atmosphere. Thus, increased product quality, in particular a more consistent and more stable product is obtained.
US09155130B2
An induction cooktop appliance system and method for controlling the induction cooktop appliance based on a cookware position is provided. A variable power signal can be applied to an induction coil from an inverter. The power signal can be driven at a test frequency and an operating frequency. An electrical signal can be detected across a shunt resistor based on the test frequency and a cookware position can be determined based on the electrical signal. The operating frequency supplied to the induction coil can be modified based on determined cookware position.
US09155123B2
A wireless home entertainment hub (WHEB) to communicate with audio sink devices is disclosed. The WHEB may instruct the audio sink device to change volume of audio data provided to the audio sink device. The WHEB may also transmit instructions to the audio sink device to discontinue reception of the audio data from a first source device and begin reception of data from a second source device in response to activation of the second source device.
US09155122B2
A method and apparatus are disclosed for multi cell wireless communication, wherein a status of a secondary serving cell is determined. On the condition that the secondary serving cell is disabled, a Hybrid Repeat Request (HARQ) process associated with the secondary serving cell is released.
US09155121B2
In order to re-establish a suspended RRC connection, the mobile device (101) in one example sends a connection re-establishment request message to the RAN (102) to have the suspended RRC connection re-established. The RAN node may need to attempt to retrieve the RRC connection data (either from memory or if from another network element if stored elsewhere/if the RRC connection was suspended by another RAN node) and verifies whether the RRC connection is valid. When verified, the mobile device (101) receives, in response to the message, a connection re-establishment command message from the RAN (102). In response to the message, the mobile device (101) re-establishes the RRC connection with the RAN (102), using the stored RRC connection information, and sends a connection re-establishment complete message to the RAN (102). The mobile device (101) and RAN (102) may then resume user plane data communication with each other.
US09155108B2
In a communications system a message is sent from a mobile terminal to a radio access network on a common transport channel, the message comprising information associated with one or more access entities of the radio access network. The information which is sent to the radio access network is based on a default reporting configuration stored in the mobile terminal.
US09155105B2
An enhanced access control method is proposed for machine-type communications (MTC) in a 3GPP LTE-Advanced network. An MTC device is configured for enhanced access barring (EAB). When the MTC device attempts access to the network, the NAS layer checks whether EAB is applicable for the MTC device. If yes, then the NAS layer forwards EAB configuration to the AS layer for further EAB control. Based on the EAB configuration, a base station broadcasts EAB information to UEs via system information block. The EAB information indicates whether barring is applied to a number of EAB categories and a number of access classes. Based on the EAB information, the MTC devices performs EAB for access attempt to RRC. If access is not barred under EAB, then the MTC device further performs ACB for access attempt to RRC.
US09155101B2
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for dynamic association ordering based on service differentiation in wireless local area networks. A WiFi™ or other access point can broadcast beacon information to surrounding stations, and receive probe requests from those stations seeking to associate with the access point. The access point can determine a classification for each station, depending on station attributes such as subscription status, handoff status, or others. Stations receiving a higher classification can enter the association process sooner than those with lower classifications. The association order can be managed by inserting a delay in the probe response, by broadcasting the classifications which will be processed in the next beacon interval, or by adjusting the order in which association steps will be performed. Stations having higher classifications can be associated more quickly than lower-classification stations, in contrast to conventional association techniques which handle probe requests in the order received.
US09155098B2
A method of wireless communication includes determining a capability for a number of channel state information configurations supported by a user equipment (UE). The channel state information processes link a channel measurement report with an interference measurement report. The UE transmits the capability to an eNodeB. Additionally, the UE receives CSI process configurations. The CSI process configurations identify CSI processes that can be requested by the eNodeB.
US09155095B2
In a radio communication apparatus a configuration section sets transmission bands and receiving bands in a band group. A configuration control section controls the configuration section so that each of the receiving bands is not included between the transmission bands in the band group. In a radio communication apparatus a filter section includes a filter which can extract transmission bands lumped together. When a band group which is transmitted from the radio communication apparatus and in which setting is performed so that each of receiving bands is not included between transmission bands is received, a filter control section controls the filter section so as to extract the transmission bands from the received band group.
US09155075B2
In an embodiment, a UE determines to transmit a message (e.g., an alert message, a call initiation message). Based on the type of the message to be transmitted, the UE selectively transmits supplemental data configured to prompt an access network to transition the UE to a dedicated channel state (DCS). In another embodiment, an application server configured to arbitrate communication sessions between UEs receives a message for transmission to a target UE. Based on the type of the message to be transmitted to the target UE, the application server selectively transmits, to a serving access network of the target UE, supplemental data configured to prompt the serving access network to transition the target UE to the DCS. In another embodiment, the access network selectively transitions a target UE to the DCS based on whether differently sized messages are received at the access network for transmission to the target UE.
US09155074B2
A method for resource allocation, method for channel state information transmission, base station and user equipment. Wherein the method for resource allocation includes: determining, by a base station, that it is necessary for a UE to report aperiodic CSI of relevant downlink CCs; and allocating, by the base station, corresponding resources to the UE according to the number of the relevant downlink CCs. The base station allocates corresponding resources to the UE in accordance with the number of relevant downlink CCs, resource allocation is flexible, and the transmission of UCI in case of multiple carriers is supported.
US09155066B2
Provided is a method for transmitting paging information in a cellular system. An object of the method is transmitting paging information which can improve applicability of a limited radio resource by variably and flexibly setting up and mapping a transport channel and a physical channel in order to transmit information notifying start of downlink information from a base station to a terminal in a cellular system for packet transmission. The method includes the steps of: forming a paging channel (PCH) in a transport channel corresponding to generation of paging information; setting a paging indication channel (PICH) based on the paging information and forming the paging indication channel in a radio resource of a physical layer; and allocating the paging channel to the radio resource of the physical layer.
US09155065B2
The present invention relates a radio network node (204, 304) and methods therein for coordinating paging commands. A method comprises receiving paging command information related to a UE from a paging controller node, where the paging command information comprises a list of radio network nodes. Within method a radio network node then obtains information about available physical radio resources (S-218, S-326, 406, 506) of a second radio network node (206, 306), for paging, and determines physical radio resources (S-220, S-328, 408, 508) to be used for transmitting a paging command for the UE, and transmits information related to a paging command (S-222, S-330, 410, 510 for the UE, to said second radio network node (206, 306).
US09155057B2
Femtocell synchronization is disclosed, in which a femtocell transmits a request over an out-of-band (OOB) link to a proximate mobile device for synchronization assistance. In response to the request, the mobile device transmits an access probe to a serving macro base station. The femtocell detects the access probe and uses aiding information to decode the access probe to determine the timing and/or frequency information. The femtocell uses this timing and/or frequency information for its synchronization.
US09155050B2
An apparatus is disclosed for determining a gain factor of an E-DPDCH in a compressed mode. In disclosure, the E-DPDCH gain factor in the compressed mode is determined according to the number of E-DPDCHs used for initial transmission of data. With the determined E-DPDCH gain factor, the transmission power of the E-DPDCH can be accordingly determined. As the E-DPDCH gain factor in compressed mode is determined according to the number of the E-DPDCHs for initial transmission of data, the gain factor of the E-DPDCH in compressed mode can be determined accurately, and thus the transmit power of the E-DPDCH can be determined accurately according to the E-DPDCH gain factor in the compressed mode. Therefore, the waste of transmit power of the E-DPDCH is reduced, and thus the system capacity is improved.
US09155040B2
Access terminals are adapted to facilitate power conservation by selectively powering down one or more hardware block when processing a general page message (GPM) received in slotted idle mode. An access terminal may include a processor core, a de-interleaver, a decoder and a firmware block. The firmware block may be adapted to enable the processor core to sleep while the firmware block collects samples of a received transmission and extracts symbols from the collected samples. The firmware block may further power ON the de-interleaver to de-interleave the extracted symbols, and the decoder to decode the de-interleaved symbols. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also included.
US09155037B2
A method of providing signaling information for a wireless communication node includes: obtaining, at first user equipment (UE), first information associated with a first node of a first radio access technology (RAT) network that uses a first RAT, the first UE being configured for wireless telecommunication; and sending, in response to obtaining the first information, second information from the first UE to a second node of a second RAT network that uses a second RAT that is different from the first RAT.
US09155021B2
The connection state of a wireless line, in which a communication can be immediately made in an estimated time period, is preset by estimating the time period with a high possibility of making a communication based on the communication history of a wireless terminal for a predetermined past period in a communication made between the wireless terminal and a wireless base station.
US09155012B2
It is disclosed a method (and related apparatus) including deciding a handover of a terminal from a relaying source entity to a relaying target entity based on information related to at least one link between the relaying source and target entities and source and target network access entities.
US09155011B2
A method for transmitting data in a wireless radio network having a multiplicity of base stations for wirelessly sending and receiving data, wherein the base stations are wirelessly networked such that each base station can communicate wirelessly with one or more adjacent base stations. Broadcast messages are transmitted between a mobile station for wirelessly sending and/or receiving data and the base stations and broadcast messages are also forwarded between the base stations. These broadcast messages do not have an associated explicit connection between two units in the radio network. Moreover, the mobile station which receives a broadcast message can process this message regardless of the base station from which it originates. This avoids so-called “hand offs,” which are used in the prior art to associate a mobile station with a new base station when the mobile station moves out of range of the earlier base station. These hand offs result in time delays which are unacceptable in safety-critical applications. The novel method is particularly suitable for use in traffic systems, particularly in rail traffic systems, in which, by way of example, a train is controlled via a central unit using the radio network. In such applications, it is particularly important for no relatively long delays to arise in the data transmission, since otherwise the safety of the traffic system is no longer assured.
US09155009B2
A method to control multiple radio access bearers is performed at a mobile wireless communication device when the mobile wireless communication device is connected to a radio network subsystem in a wireless communication network by first and second bidirectional radio access bearers. The mobile wireless communication device transmits a data packet on an uplink of the first bidirectional radio access bearer to the radio network subsystem. When the data packet is not correctly received by the radio network subsystem, the mobile wireless communication device retransmits the data packet repeatedly. After N retransmissions of the data packet, the mobile wireless communication device releases the first bidirectional radio access bearer while maintaining the second bidirectional radio access bearer. The first bidirectional radio access bearer provides a channel to transport packet switched data, and the second bidirectional radio access bearer provides a channel to transport circuit switched data.
US09155005B2
Methods and apparatus for wireless communication in a mobile device that includes relinquishing a client side high level operation system (HLOS) internet protocol (IP) context of a user equipment (UE), when the UE, connected to a network via a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) connection, is transported to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) connection area. Aspects of the methods and apparatus include maintaining a Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context of the UE, when the UE, connected to the network via the WWAN connection, is transported to a WLAN connection area. Aspects of the methods and apparatus include setting a linger timer for a certain period of time to defer deactivation of the PDP context and deactivating the PDP context when the linger timer expires.
US09155001B2
Methods, devices, and systems for information selection in a wireless communication system are provided. In one embodiment, a method of information selection in a wireless communication system comprises receiving a selection request signal by a propagator node, wherein the selection request signal identifies information requested by a selector node; determining all or a portion of the selection request signal matches all or a portion of an information tag stored in an information cache of the propagator node, wherein the information tag is associated with an information datagram; and forwarding the information datagram from the propagator node to the selector node, wherein the information datagram contains all or a portion of the information.
US09154999B2
A wireless communication apparatus includes: a communication control unit performing a connection rights reservation request for wirelessly connecting to a predetermined network in a specific region in a specific time band; and a control unit performing control for setting the connection rights based on the setting information according to the reservation request.
US09154994B2
A mobile telecommunications network includes a core network and a radio access network. The radio access network has a network node that wirelessly communicates with a mobile terminal registered with the radio access network. The radio access network includes a controller that controls the use of network resources by the mobile terminal and processes control plane signaling. The controller includes an applicator that receives policy information and/or routing information from the core network and provides instructions to the network node to act in accordance with the received information. The network node includes an enforcer that enforces the instructions received from the controller so as to control whether the terminal uplink user plane traffic and control plane signalling messages are passed to the core network, routed to the controller, or duplicated and provided to both the core network and the controller.
US09154989B2
A method and apparatus of reporting logged measurements in a wireless communication system is provided. A user equipment in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected mode receives Minimization of Drive Tests (MDT) configuration from a base station and starts a validity timer upon receiving the MDT configuration. The user equipment in an RRC idle mode logs measurements based on the MDT configuration to collect logged measurements while the validity timer is running. When the validity timer is expired, the user equipment discards the MDT configuration.
US09154988B2
Method for reporting channel state information in wireless communication system, and device therefor
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. Particularly, the present invention relates to a method and a device for reporting channel state information, the method comprising the steps of: carrying out operations for periodic reporting of a first channel state information item; and carrying out operations for periodic reporting of a second channel state information item, wherein the period for reporting the first channel state information item is longer than the period for reporting the second channel state information item, and the second channel state information item is determined on the basis of the first channel state information item.
US09154986B2
A method of MDT measurement configuration triggering for a mobile device in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method comprises determining whether an event predefined in the mobile device occurs, and transmitting a message for indicating a network of the wireless communication system to configure a MDT measurement to the mobile device, to the network when the event occurs.
US09154981B2
A transmission period determination method, etc. capable of setting IPT transmission period by using general-purpose wireless modules and existing drivers is provided. A wireless communication system is a wireless backhaul. A route is established from a core node to a slave node. The core node assigns a specified transmission period and transmits a plurality of training packets to the slave node. The slave node transmits, to a transmission period determination device, the number of training packets received first and last and the number of training packets received without overlap. An estimation unit estimates a training time, the time for the slave node to receive the training packets. A calculation unit calculates a training metric candidate. An updating unit compares the values of the current training metric and the training metric candidate to determine the IPT transmission period.
US09154980B2
A fading simulator includes a transition time setting means that sets up a predetermined transition time, at the time of switching of a fading setting using a fading parameter, between the fading setting before switching and the fading setting after switching, and a smoothing processing means that smoothly changes a value before the switching to a value after the switching with respect to at least one of a delay parameter, a Doppler effect parameter and a path loss parameter, during the transition time.
US09154969B1
In a method of calibrating a wireless communication device, a first sounding packet is transmitted from the wireless communication device to a calibration station. A first channel descriptor is generated based on the first sounding packet. A second sounding packet is transmitted from the calibration station to the wireless communication device. A second channel descriptor is generated based on the second sounding packet. The first channel descriptor and the second channel descriptor are obtained at a controller. Calibration coefficients indicative of one or both of phase imbalance and amplitude imbalance between a receive radio frequency (RF) chain and a transmit RF chain at the wireless communication device are generated based on the first and the second channel descriptors. The calibration coefficients are sent from the controller to the wireless communication device.
US09154958B2
Security system for cloud computing that will improve the security of users' authentications to cloud data and resources. User authentication to cloud resources requires analyzing confidence in the hardware used to transmit the authentication for access to the cloud data and/or resource. User authentication can be transmitted after the user confirms administrative rights and/or physical security control over the hardware used to transmit the authentication for access to the cloud data and/or resource. The hardware used to access the cloud data and/or resource can be analyzed for malicious code before the user authentication is transmitted. The authentication can be provided on a hardware token, and the system can execute on the hardware token to analyze hardware confidence and thereafter transmit the user authentication.
US09154955B1
A mobile communication device. The device comprises a cellular radio transceiver, a processor, a memory, and an application stored in the memory. When executed by the processor, the application receives an input that initiates access to a premium communication service via an untrusted network, determines whether an authentication payload is stored in the memory. When the application determines it is not stored in the memory, it transmits via the cellular radio transceiver to a media gateway a request to execute a service provided by an authorization server, receives an authentication payload from the media gateway via the cellular ratio transceiver, stores the authentication payload in the memory, and accesses the premium communication service initiated by the input based on the authentication payload stored in the memory.
US09154952B2
A method and system for authenticating a user includes providing an invocation element capable of being activated by a single user action, receiving an indication that the invocation element has been activated, obtaining a location of a wireless device associated with the user, determining whether the wireless device is associated with an authorized user, approving the user to use the application based on a predetermined location criterion, and producing an indication that the user has been authenticated.
US09154944B2
A method is provided for handling subscription data in a telecommunications network having first, second, and third network entities, the first network entity providing the functions of at least one of a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) and a Home Location Register (HLR), the second network entity providing the functions of at least one of a Visitor Location Register (VLR) and a Mobile Management Entity (MME), and the third network entity providing routing functionality. The method includes: storing first subscription data; receiving, by the third network entity, a first message with regard to the subscriber; and sending, by the third network entity, a second message to the first network entity.
US09154939B2
A system and a method are provided managing services associated with a mobile device. It includes detecting a new identity module card is in the mobile device; receiving a username ID and a password on the mobile device; and upon verifying that the username ID and the password are identical to a previous username ID and a previous password associated with the mobile device, the mobile device enabling access to the services. In another aspect, after detecting a new identity module card, and if an input is received to associate a new username ID and a new password with the mobile device, then the services are erased from the mobile device.
US09154934B2
A method for operating a seeker device includes generating a first seeker truncated hash output from a sought service name, and generating a second seeker truncated hash output from the sought service name, wherein the first seeker truncated hash output and the second seeker truncated hash output are uncorrelated. The method also includes transmitting a first request message including the first seeker truncated hash output, and receiving a first response message from an advertiser device, the first response message including a second advertiser truncated hash output generated from an advertised service name, wherein the first seeker truncated hash output matches a first advertiser truncated hash output generated from the advertised service name.
US09154929B2
A method and system for introducing support for SM rejections in a USAT network rejection event including an APN. The method and system provide the UICC with all PDP Context activation rejection cause codes received by the ME and their respective APNs. Such a method and system allows the UICC to monitor all the rejections to intelligently select an appropriate APN to activate using its Open channel command.
US09154928B2
Presented herein are methods and apparatuses for improved control of cross divert functionality in dual-SIM dual-standby (DSDS) wireless devices. According to example methods and apparatuses presented herein, a dual-SIM dual-standby device may receive a command to exit cross-divert mode, obtain a first phone number associated with a first subscription on the DSDS device and a second phone number associated with a second subscription on the DSDS device as a result of receiving the command, enable and/or disable Call Forward Not Reachable services for both the first subscription and the second subscription, activate and/or deactivate call waiting services associated with each of the first subscription and the second subscription, and forward a call from one subscription to another subscription of the DSDS device. As such, less user-intensive control of cross divert in DSDS devices is attainable.
US09154927B2
A method of operating a reader system includes: establishment a hand held reader configured to read an information bearing medium at an establishment and accepting text message communications from the establishment; reading the information bearing medium at the establishment with the reader; and, sending at least one text message communication to an operator of the reader at the establishment on the reader GUI from the establishment when the establishment recognizes a need for a specific notice requirement after reading the information bearing medium.
US09154926B1
Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods for delivery of a message based on a status of a receiving device. In a particular embodiment, a method provides, in a first wireless communication device, receiving first user input from a user indicating a message for transmission to a second wireless communication device. The method further provides receiving second user input from the user indicating that the message should not be delivered to the second wireless communication device when a status of the second wireless communication device satisfies a criteria. The method further provides transferring the message and an indication of the second user input to a wireless communication network, wherein, based on the indication of the second user input, the wireless communication network does not deliver the message to the second wireless communication device if the criteria is satisfied.
US09154923B2
A mobile device screen projection system for an in-vehicle display is provided. The system receives mobile device content from a mobile device, receives context data from a plurality of information sources associated with at least one of the vehicle and the mobile device, determines an integrated context based on the context data, and selectively renders the mobile device content on the in-vehicle display based on the integrated context.
US09154922B2
A multicast management method of a base station is provided. The base station generates a CRC for a message including resource allocation information of a multicast group including a plurality of terminals, and masks the CRC by a CRC mask. The base station adds the masked CRC to the message, and then transmits the message to which the masked CRC is added to the multicast group.
US09154919B2
A system and method for providing localization of a mobile electronic device within an environment includes at least one server in communication with the mobile electronic device. The at least one server is adapted to receive at least one picture and at least one accelerometer measurement from the mobile electronic device. The at least one server includes a localization module that provides localization to the mobile electronic device based on the at least one picture, the at least one accelerometer measurement and on at least one 3-dimensional map of the environment.
US09154912B2
Methods for selectively filtering message content received at a mobile device based upon a current location of the mobile device and/or a user's presence status and devices configured to selectively filter message content based upon a location of the mobile device and/or a user's presence status.
US09154911B2
A wireless communication system generates operating information indicating if a monitoring wireless communication device is in active mode or in idle mode for a wireless data service. The wireless system receives location information that indicates geographic locations of a monitored wireless communication device for delivery to the monitoring wireless communication device. The system stores the location information if the monitoring wireless communication device is in idle mode. The system wirelessly transfers the location information to the monitoring wireless communication device if the monitoring wireless communication device is in active mode. If the monitoring wireless communication device transitions from idle mode to active mode and has stored location information, the system generates summary location data for the monitored wireless communication device based on the stored location information and wirelessly transfers the summary location data to the monitoring wireless communication device.
US09154907B2
A user equipment (UE) communicating with a radio access network (RAN) sends to a network entity (e.g., an MSC/SGSN) a request for periodic reporting of the UE location to a client entity. After the request is approved, the MSC/SGSN sends to the RAN signaling to initiate periodic location reporting for the UE. The RAN may request a positioning center (e.g., a SAS) to send assistance data to the UE. The RAN may coordinate and control the periodic location reporting or may pass the control over to the positioning center. For each location reporting, the UE sends location information (e.g., measurements made by the UE or a location estimate computed by the UE) to the RAN. The SAS computes a location estimate if the UE sends measurements. The RAN then sends the location estimate for the UE to the MSC/SGSN, which forwards the location estimate toward the client entity.
US09154906B2
Dynamic and current information is provided regarding a wireless device's entry into or exit from a geographically defined “watched” area. An area watcher application monitors preconfigured wireless devices entry/exit into preconfigured watched areas. The watched areas may watch for any/all subscribers, or for select, preconfigured subscribers listed in an appropriate table or database. Provision of location information is triggered by a wireless subscriber's entry, exit or changing between designated ‘watched’ areas or locations. Continuous polling may be used, or the mobile device itself or network element may be triggered to push its own location upon notification of its entry into or out of watched areas from an area watcher. A third party may be notified when a wireless user enters an area surrounding their retail store, and be sent a message such as “sale inside”, or “Your rentals are overdue”, on their wireless device.
US09154898B2
A system and a method of improving sound image localization through cross-placement are provided. The system includes a first stereo system including a first left side speaker that is provided with a left side audio signal and a first right side speaker that is provided with a right side audio signal, and a second stereo system including a second left side speaker that is provided with a left side audio signal and a second right side speaker that is provided with a right side audio signal. The second right side speaker is provided adjacent to the first left side speaker and the second left side speaker is provided adjacent to the first right side speaker.
US09154889B2
An improved open-ear hearing aid to compensate for hearing loss includes a microphone for picking up incident sound and converting it to an electrical audio signal. An ear insert positionable within a human ear canal is provided for producing an output sound amplified within one or more frequency bands in response to incident sound picked up by the microphone. The in-band gain of the amplified sound output of the ear insert's loudspeaker is dependent on the user's hearing loss characteristics and the sound pressure levels of the incident sound. The form of the ear insert allows transmission of incident sound directly to the eardrum, where it is summed at the eardrum with the amplified sound output from the ear insert. Sound output is maximum at low incident sound pressure levels and minimum when the incident sound exceeds a set cut-off level.
US09154877B2
In general, techniques are described for forming a collaborative sound system. A headend device comprising one or more processors may perform the techniques. The processors may be configured to identify mobile devices that each includes a speaker and that are available to participate in a collaborative surround sound system. The processors may configure the collaborative surround sound system to utilize the speaker of each of the mobile devices as one or more virtual speakers of this system and then render audio signals from an audio source such that when the audio signals are played by the speakers of the mobile devices the audio playback of the audio signals appears to originate from the one or more virtual speakers of the collaborative surround sound system. The processors may then transmit the processed audio signals rendered to the mobile device participating in the collaborative surround sound system.
US09154876B2
Disclosed are an apparatus and method for creating an acoustic radiation pattern, which may improve sound focusing performance to a target position. The acoustic radiation pattern creating apparatus may process an input signal which may be output through a speaker array in a room such that at least one vertical-directional reflected wave component of the input signal may overlap a direct sound of the input signal at the target position. Then, the acoustic radiation pattern creating apparatus may replicate the processed input signal by the number of output channels of the speaker array, and may process the replicated input signals such that the replicated input signals may form a predetermined radiation pattern in a horizontal direction in the room when the replicated input signals are output through the speaker array.
US09154873B2
Method, user device and computer program product for suppressing echo. An audio signal is outputted from a speaker. A microphone receives an audio signal which includes echo resulting from said outputted audio signal. An echo path of the echo is modelled using a plurality of models. A first of the models is a FIR based model and a second of the models is different to the first model. The first model is used to determine a first model estimate of the echo power of a first component of the echo. The second model is used to determine a second model estimate of the echo power of a second component of the echo. The first and second model estimates of the echo power are combined. The combined estimate of the echo power is used to apply echo suppression to the received audio signal, thereby suppressing the echo.
US09154871B2
A condenser microphone includes a volume restrictor disposed in a space inside a microphone case and an electronic circuit disposed in the space and encompassed by the volume restrictor. The volume restrictor reduces the volume of the space and prevents sound waves entering the space through openings on the microphone case from reaching the electronic circuit.
US09154870B2
Sound generation device, sound generation method and storage medium storing sound generation program
Disclosed is a sound generation device including a receiver which receives a sound emission instructing signal in which time data is included and a difference calculator which calculates a difference between a timing indicated in the received time data and a timing when the sound emission instructing signal is received by the receiver, when the sound emission instructing signal in which the time data is included is received. The sound generation device further includes a histogram creator which creates a histogram on the basis of the calculated difference and a difference calculated previously, when the difference is calculated and a timing controller which controls a timing for supplying the received sound emission instructing signal to a sound emission unit on the basis of the calculated difference and a most frequent difference in the created histogram, when the difference is calculated.
US09154864B1
A speaker assembly includes a shellpot for receiving a speaker motor, the shellpot having a groove extending along an outer surface thereof. The speaker assembly further includes a speaker basket with a base portion having an opening therein for receiving the shellpot, the speaker basket including a plurality of flexible tabs substantially surrounding a perimeter of the opening, wherein the plurality of tabs are received in the groove to couple the shellpot to the speaker basket.
US09154862B2
A flat panel loudspeaker system may include a panel having a core, an inner sheet coupled to an inner surface of the core and an outer sheet coupled to an outer surface of the core, the panel having a weakened area defined by at least one slot formed through the outer sheet, and an exciter that is detachable for replacement purposes, is attached to the panel at the weakened area and configured to vibrate the panel to generate sound energy.
US09154861B2
The present invention relates to method for synchronizing time, apparatus and system. The method discloses an OLT generates a Passive Optical Network (PON) downstream frame from to an Optical Network Unit (ONU), wherein the PON downstream frame comprises a time synchronization message based on Ethernet protocol, wherein the time synchronization message comprises a time value that is referenced to a PON Media Access Control (MAC) control layer and that indicates the ONU to adjust a time of a clock coupled to the ONU; and send the PON downstream frame.
US09154857B2
The disclosed embodiments include a method, apparatus, and computer program product for simplifying the process of creating a video-on-demand system. For example, in one embodiment, a method for creating a video-on-demand (VOD) system is disclosed that includes dynamically capturing segments of an adaptive bit rate (ABR) live stream of the program at time of broadcasting and storing the captured segments of the ABR live stream of the program as a VOD file. The method also includes creating a manifest file comprising information for playing back the VOD file. The method further includes playing back, using the manifest, the VOD file by transmitting the captured ABR segments to a client device in response to receiving a subscriber request for the program.
US09154843B2
An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded.
US09154833B2
[Object] To realize processing for switching a reproduction state from broadcast data to network data and resuming the reproduction of the original broadcast data.[Solving Means] A browser (241) acquires, via a network, an XML-AIT having a content equivalent to a broadcast AIT defining a life cycle of a broadcast application while a VoD content is reproduced after being switched from the broadcast application. The browser (241) manages the broadcast application based on the XML-AIT and resumes the reception of the broadcast application after the reproduction of the VoD content is ended. With this structure, processing of separating two transport streams at the same time becomes unnecessary, and one demultiplexer (23) only needs to be provided.
US09154823B2
An advertisement selecting system is disclosed providing, when selecting advertisements to be exposed to subscribers over the Internet, exposure control reflecting the inventory of advertisements by taking into account results of past exposure of each of the advertisements. When subscribers with a particular profile biased to specific tastes or preferences gain access to contents carrying advertisements, the first-ranked advertisement, i.e., the one best targeted for the subscribers in question, is exposed repeatedly but in a manner also making way for the advertisements in second and subsequent places which would be less likely to be exposed if handled conventionally, so that the stocked advertisements are exposed in fairly averaged fashion. Advertisement exposure is thus controlled in a manner averting lopsided exposure of certain (or partial) advertisement information by giving consideration to the advertisement inventory.
US09154821B2
Methods and systems for enhancing program-viewing experience with viewership, message, and supplemental data include receiving a program identifier for a media program to be viewed; receiving one or more of viewership, message, and/or supplemental data relating to the media program; compiling the viewership, message, and/or supplemental data with the program identifier; storing the viewership, message, and/or supplemental data in a memory in association with the program identifier; and providing display data representing the viewership, message, and/or supplemental data and the program identifier.
US09154792B2
A video encoder is configured to determine a first and second binary string for a value indicating the position of the last significant coefficient, within a video block of size T. A video decoder is configured to determine a value indicating the position of a last significant coefficient within a video block of size T based on a first and second binary string. In one example, the first binary string is based on a truncated unary coding scheme defined by a maximum bit length defined by 2 log2(T)−1 and the second binary string is based on a fixed length coding scheme defined by a maximum bit length defined by log2(T)−2.
US09154789B2
A motion vector predictive encoding method, a motion vector decoding method, a predictive encoding apparatus, a decoding apparatuses, and storage media storing motion vector predictive encoding and decoding programs are provided, thereby reducing the amount of generated code with respect to the motion vector, and improving the efficiency of the motion-vector prediction. If the motion-compensating mode of the target small block to be encoded is the global motion compensation, the encoding mode of an already-encoded small block is the interframe coding mode, and the motion-compensating mode of the already-encoded small block is the global motion compensation, then the motion vector of the translational motion model is determined for each pixel of the already-encoded small block, based on the global motion vector (steps S1-S5). Next, the representative motion vector is calculated as the predicted vector, based on the motion vector of each pixel of the already-encoded small block (step S6). Finally, the prediction error is calculated for each component of the motion vector and each prediction error is encoded (steps S7 and S8).
US09154787B2
The techniques of this disclosure are generally related to parallel coding of video units that reside along rows or columns of blocks in largest coding units. For example, the techniques include removing intra-prediction dependencies between two video units in different rows or columns to allow for parallel coding of rows or columns of the video units.
US09154786B2
Provided are an apparatus and method for predictive coding/decoding for improving a compression rate of multiview video using one or two additional reference frame buffers. The predictive encoding apparatus includes: a multiview reference picture providing unit for providing a reference picture for a predictive encoding according to temporal and spatial GOP structure information; a prediction unit for creating a vector by predicting which part of the reference picture inputted from the multiview reference picture providing unit is referred by a picture to currently encode; a transforming and quantizing unit for obtaining a difference signal between the predicted signal inputted from the prediction unit and a picture signal to currently encode, transforming the obtained difference signal, quantizing the transformed signal, and compressing the quantized signal; and an entropy encoding unit for encoding the quantized signal and the vectors according to a predetermined scheme and outputting the encoded signal.
US09154782B2
Apparatuses and methods for adjusting coefficients for use in video encoding are described. An example apparatus may include an encoder that may be configured to receive transform coefficients and adjust selected ones of the transform coefficients (e.g. reset the selected ones to zero) based on a comparison with a threshold. The adjusted coefficients may then be quantized, which may result in effectively increasing a QP range of the encoder.
US09154781B2
According to the present invention, an image encoding/decoding method comprises the steps of: performing an intra prediction on a current block so as to generate a prediction block; performing filtering on a filtering target pixel in the prediction block on the basis of the intra prediction mode of the current block so as to generate a final prediction block; and generating a reconstructed block on the basis of a reconstructed differential block corresponding to the current block and on the final prediction block. According to the present invention, image encoding/decoding efficiency can be improved.
US09154773B2
A robot is made to recognize and manipulate different types of cable harnesses in an assembly line. This is achieved by using a stereo camera system to define a 3D cloud of a given cable harness. Pose information of specific parts of the cable harness are determined from the 3D point cloud, and the cable harness is then re-presented as a collection of primitive geometric shapes of known dimensions, whose positions and orientations follow the spatial position of the represented cable harness. The robot can then manipulate the cable harness by using the simplified representation as a reference.
US09154766B2
A method for outputting a 3D image and a display apparatus using the same are provided. The method for outputting a 3D image includes generating a left eye image and a right eye image using an input image, decreasing resolution of the left eye image and the right eye image by a predetermined positive number of times and outputting the left eye image and the right eye image by increasing an output frequency by the positive number of times. Accordingly, a 60 Hz timing controller used for a general display apparatus may be used and thus, a flickering effect and a cross-talk effect may be prevented.
US09154765B2
A method, computer readable medium and apparatus that can produce a depth image based on a first image of a scene from a first viewpoint and a second image of the scene from a second viewpoint. The first and second viewpoints are displaced along a first dimension. A third image and a fourth image are produced based on the depth image. The third and fourth images correspond to third and fourth viewpoints, respectively. The third and fourth viewpoints are displaced along a second dimension different from the first dimension.
US09154761B2
In general, video segmentation techniques are described. According to various examples, the video segmentation techniques may be based on video content. An example method includes determining one or more segments into which to divide video content, dividing the video content into the determined number of segments identifying a boundary frame associated with each of the segments, and adjusting the respective boundary frame associated with a first segment of the segments to generate an adjusted boundary frame associated with the first segment, wherein the adjusting is based on an one or more entity representations associated with the adjusted boundary frame.
US09154755B2
A lens shift mechanism includes a movable portion configured to support a projection lens and movable in two directions orthogonal to each other in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis; first and second operating units configured to generate drive forces for moving the movable portion in the two directions, respectively, first and second rotating portions to which the drive forces generated by the first and second operating units are transmitted, and a lock mechanism configured to be capable of switching between a locked state in which the two operating units are locked and an unlocked state in which the two rotating portions are rotatable, and the lock mechanism includes first and second locking members configured to lock the first and second rotating portions respectively and a lever mechanism configured to move the two locking members.
US09154754B2
A projector including a first light source, a second light source that emits light having a color different from the first light source, a light modulator that modulates the light emitted from each of the first and the second light sources, and a controller that controls a first operation state in which the first and the second light sources are driven based on time division driving to perform image display and a second operation state in which the first and the second light sources are driven based on time division driving to perform illumination, wherein in the second operation state, a switching frequency at which the first and the second light sources are switched from one to the other is higher than a switching frequency at which the first and the second light sources are switched from one to the other in the first operation state.
US09154751B2
A display includes a light source, a first color wheel, a second color wheel, an actuator, a controller, and a light modulator. The light source is for providing a light beam. The first color wheel includes plural primary-color filtering areas, and the second color wheel includes plural left or right eye filtering areas. The actuator rotates the first color wheel and the second color wheel. The controller is for controlling the rotations of the first color wheel and the second color wheel, such that the light beam passing through the first color wheel and the second color wheel is filtered to plural left or right eye primary-color light beams with different spectra. The light modulator is for modulating the left or right primary-color light beams and projecting the modulated left or right primary-color light beams onto a screen to display an image.
US09154744B2
A method and system are provided for configuring or registering an edge device with a video management server (VMS) in a digital video network. The edge device initiates a registration process and sends an unsolicited pre-registration request, including edge-device-specific configuration information, to the VMS. This is in contrast to known approaches in which the VMS initiates registration. The VMS automatically pre-registers the edge device based on the received unsolicited pre-registration request. An edge device registration activator is displayed for the pre-registered edge device. In response to activation or selection of the edge device registration activator, the VMS registers the pre-registered device to the VMS using the edge-device-specific configuration information received in the unsolicited pre-registration request. The registration can be performed in a single operation, without the VMS having to gather further information. The edge device can be configured to more than one VMS at a time.
US09154742B2
In a terminal location specifying system, landmark information of a landmark located within a specified distance from an approximate position is retrieved based on approximate position information of a mobile terminal, and the retrieved landmark information is transmitted to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal can thereby acquire the landmark information about the landmark located in the vicinity of the mobile terminal. Further, because the landmark information pre-stored in a server is transmitted to the mobile terminal, it is possible to reliably specify the position of the mobile terminal based on the landmark image. Then, the photographing position of the image is analyzed based on the landmark image, and the photographing position is managed as the located position of the mobile terminal and used for position correction, and it is thus possible to accurately specify the position of the mobile terminal.
US09154734B2
A system, method, and device for use in videoconferencing. The method typically includes installing a videoconferencing services switch at an access point to an IP network, and registering a plurality of subscribers for videoconferencing services. Each subscriber typically has a plurality of endpoints. The method further includes receiving subscriber-specific settings to be applied to multiple videoconferencing calls from the plurality of endpoints associated with each subscriber. The method further includes storing the subscriber-specific settings at a location accessible to the switch, and configuring the switch to connect calls from the plurality of endpoints at each subscriber based on the corresponding subscriber-specific settings.
US09154727B2
An imaging device of the present invention comprises a photographing lens for forming a subject image, an imaging section for converting the subject image to image signals and outputting the image signals, a storage section for storing image data obtained based on the image signals output from the storage section, an attitude detection section for detecting an attitude of the imaging device, an image detection section for detecting a face image contained in the image signals, and a storage control section for determining storage start and storage end for the image data, based on detection results of the attitude detection section and detection results of the image detection section.
US09154725B1
An assembly instruction and warranty storage device stores and plays warranty information and instructive audio and video directions for assembling a product. The device includes a housing. A processor is coupled to and positioned in the housing. A memory unit is positioned in the housing. The memory unit is communicatively coupled to the processor. Audio data and visual data relating to assembly and warranty of a product is stored in the memory unit. A display screen is coupled to the housing and is operationally coupled to the processor wherein the display screen displays a video image produced from the video data stored in the memory unit. A speaker is coupled to the housing and is operationally coupled to the processor wherein the speaker broadcasts an audio transmission produced from the audio data stored in the memory unit.
US09154724B2
A computer implemented method and apparatus for managing digital video recorder storage for one or more users. Each user in the multi-user environment is assigned an amount of program storage in the digital video recorder. Responsive to receiving a request to record a new program from a user in the multi-user environment, an associated amount of program storage assigned to the use is determined. Responsive to a determination that addition of the new program will not exceed the associated amount of program storage assigned to the user, the new program is recorded to the program storage.
US09154723B2
A receiving terminal includes a data acquiring unit which acquires from the content server information that is required for the export of the content and that includes information about a capability required for the receiving terminal and information about a capability required for the removable medium. A propriety judgment unit compares the information about the capability required for the receiving terminal with information about a capability the receiving terminal possesses, compares the information about the capability required for the removable medium with information about a capability the removable medium possesses, and judges whether or not the export processing of the content can be performed. A control unit makes a processing relevant to a purchase of the content or to the export of the content perform, according to a judgment result by the propriety judgment unit.
US09154721B2
Various embodiments described herein provide techniques for a DVR to utilize the same data stream to record multiple events with adjacent time slots simultaneously. A DVR is configured to recognize when two recording timers for programs on the same channel overlap. Content for each program may be stored in separate event files on the DVR or the content in one event file may be linked with the content in another event file. Thus, overlapping content may be accessed through either of the event files.
US09154720B2
A display device includes a display part that displays images on a front surface, a board attachment material configured to support the display part from a rear surface that is opposite the front surface of the display part, and a circuit board attached in the board attachment area on the non-electroconductive surface side of the board attachment material. The board attachment material includes a non-electroconductive surface having no electroconductivity placed on the rear surface side, an electroconductive surface having electroconductivity placed on a side opposite to the non-electroconductive surface side, and a board attachment area on the non-electroconductive surface side. A non-board attachment area of the non-electroconductive surface of the board attachment material is exposed to an outside.
US09154719B2
An image sensor has a pixel array, a readout portion configured to read out a signal from the pixel array, and a control portion which controls the readout portion. The readout portion includes a row selecting portion which selects a row in the pixel array, a column selecting portion which selects a column in the pixel array, and an output portion which outputs a signal from a pixel, of pixels on a row selected by the row selecting portion, which corresponds to a column selected by the column selecting portion. The pixel array includes blocks differing in distance from the output portion, and the control portion controls readout periods required by the readout portion to read out signals from the blocks so as to read out signals from blocks in longer readout periods as distances from the output portion increase.
US09154718B2
According to one embodiment, a solid state imaging device includes an image CDS processing unit that outputs a pixel signal based on a difference between a pixel voltage read from a pixel during a reset period and a pixel voltage read from the pixel during a signal read period, a temperature sensor that outputs a diode voltage when a diode current is changed, a temperature CDS processing unit that outputs a temperature measurement value based on a difference of the diode voltage at the time when the diode current is changed, and a timing generator that controls the reset period, the signal read period, and timing of changing the diode current of the temperature sensor.
US09154716B2
An image processing unit includes a candidate pixel group determiner to specify each pixel of an image to be processed as pixel of interest, extract pixels having divergence in position in a certain range from the pixel of interest, and determine, from the extracted pixels, pixels having divergence in pixel value in a certain range from the pixel of interest as a candidate pixel group, an associator to associate the candidate pixel group with the pixel of interest, and an image processor to perform image processing on the candidate pixel group associated with the pixel of interest. The image processor selects, from the candidate pixel group, pixels having divergence in pixel value in a certain range from the pixel of interest as a pixel group to be processed, and smoothes the pixel value of the pixel of interest in accordance with each pixel value of the candidate pixel group.
US09154710B2
An apparatus and method for receiving a current video frame of a program video having a plurality of scene cuts switching between video segments originating from respective cameras of a plurality of cameras and automatically identifying the camera from which the current video frame originated. The apparatus having a feature database storing predetermined features for a plurality of cameras filming a program video originating from the plurality of cameras, a recognition unit receiving a current video frame of the program video, extracting features from the current video frame, and comparing the features to the previously stored features and a camera model estimator computing an estimated camera model based on corresponding feature pairs and previously stored features, wherein if the estimated camera model is within a predetermined threshold of a stored camera model for one of the plurality of cameras, that camera is identified as originating the current video frame.
US09154709B2
A method, computer program product, and system is described. An aspect of an image is identified. One or more other images are identified based upon, at least in part, the one or more other images including one or more other aspects similar to the identified aspect of the image. One or more image filters associated with the one or more other images, including a first image filter, are identified. The first image filter is applied to the image.
US09154708B1
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for simultaneously capturing flash and ambient illuminated images. In use, an ambient sample is stored based on an electrical signal from a photodiode of an image sensor. Also, a flash sample is stored based on the electrical signal from the photodiode of the image sensor. Further, a first value is output based on the ambient sample, and a second value is output based on the flash sample, for generating at least one image. Finally, at least one of the first value and the second value is amplified utilizing two or more gains.
US09154706B2
The present invention is directed to an imaging apparatus configured to display a through image in a visible manner when it is assumed that a status of a focus is confirmed even if a multiple live view display suitable for composition adjustment is performed in multiple exposure photography. The imaging apparatus includes a generation unit configured to multiple-synthesize a through image and at least a captured image, and to generate a multiple-composite image, a display control unit configured to perform control to display the multiple-composite image on a display unit while sequentially updating the multiple-composite image, a magnification instruction receiving unit configured to receive an image magnification instruction, and a control unit configured to perform control to display a through image magnified without multiple-synthesizing, on the display unit when receiving the magnification instruction while displaying the multiple-composite image.
US09154702B2
Since an image projected from a projector has basically not high quality due to degradation of brightness and mixture of outside light, the image shot by the conventional technology includes the projected image with basically not high quality. In order to solve the above deficiency, in an aspect of the present invention provides an image system, where live performance is provided to audience by image projection on the screen, and the image to be shot does not include the projected image with low quality. For example, the image system can later synthesize a high-quality image having the same content as the projected image.
US09154689B2
A focus detector for detecting a defocus amount of an image pickup optical system based on a displacement amount between two images formed by two beams divided from the image pickup optical system and passed through two pupil areas, the focus detector including: two lenses; two phase difference sensors for photoelectrically converting two subject images formed by the two lenses into two image signals; a correlation computing unit for dividing the two image signals based on a reference number-of-pixels to compute an image displacement amount for each divided area; a waveform coincidence computing unit for computing a coincidence degree of the two image signals in the each divided area in which the image displacement amount is computed by the correlation computing unit; and a defocus computing unit for computing a defocus amount based on the coincidence degree of the two image signals computed by the waveform coincidence computing unit.
US09154675B2
An image capturing module for reducing assembly tilt angle includes an image sensing unit, an optical auxiliary unit and a leveling auxiliary unit. The image sensing unit includes a carrier substrate and an image sensing chip disposed on the carrier substrate and electrically connected to the carrier substrate. The optical auxiliary unit includes a housing frame disposed on the carrier substrate to cover the image sensing chip and a lens assembly disposed inside the housing frame and above the image sensing chip. The leveling auxiliary unit includes a plurality of adhesive materials disposed on the image sensing chip and a light-transmitting leveling substrate supported above the image sensing chip by the adhesive materials. The housing frame directly contacts and downwardly abuts against the light-transmitting leveling substrate, and each adhesive material is formed by mixing adhesive glue and a plurality of micro support bodies.
US09154670B1
An image capturing module having a built-in topmost dustproof structure includes an image sensing unit, a housing frame and an actuator structure. The image sensing unit includes a carrier substrate and an image sensing chip on the carrier substrate. The housing frame is disposed on the carrier substrate to surround the image sensing chip. The actuator structure includes a lens holder disposed on the housing frame and a movable lens assembly movably disposed inside the lens holder. The lens holder has a first topmost surrounding structure disposed on the inner surrounding surface and the topmost side thereof. The movable lens assembly has a second topmost surrounding structure disposed on the outer perimeter surface and the topmost side thereof and above the first topmost surrounding structure. The first topmost surrounding structure and the second topmost surrounding structure are mated with each other to form the built-in topmost dustproof structure.
US09154669B2
An image apparatus and an image processing method are provided. The image apparatus determines a type of original format of inputted image data and determines a degree of noise reduction in accordance with the determined type of original format. As a result, an optimized noise reduction can be carried out.
US09154667B2
A calibration apparatus includes a calibration section and a conversion section. The calibration section performs calibration with first and second image reading apparatuses which read in-line a color patch formed on paper by an image forming apparatus. The first image reading apparatus includes a first device which reads the color patch and outputs the reading result as a first signal. The second image reading apparatus includes a second device which reads the color patch and outputs the reading result as a second signal having a format different from a format of the first signal. The conversion section converts the first signal into an after-conversion first signal having the format of the second signal. The calibration section performs the calibration in such a way that an output value of the second signal is adjusted to an output value of the after-conversion first signal.
US09154661B2
An image processing apparatus acquires user information and changes a default setting value for at least one of a plurality of processes that are defined in a process definition file. The changed default setting value is displayed on a setting screen. The image processing apparatus changes the default setting value based on the frequency with which a setting value has been changed by a user that corresponds to the user information in processing in accordance with the process definition file.
US09154655B2
A method of displaying a preview image from an image forming apparatus. The displaying method includes receiving a preview image request, requesting to an outer server a preview image requested from a user among total pages comprising a pint data according to the preview image request, receiving a preview image on requested pages from the outer server, and displaying the received preview image. Accordingly, the preview image can be generated and displayed quickly.
US09154654B2
A data processing device includes a first storing unit for storing a plurality of job definition data indicating content of processing corresponding to instructions in accordance with a series of operations by a user, a second storing unit for storing rule information indicating a rule for determining order of displaying a plurality of items of identification information respectively identifying the plurality of the job definition data, a updating unit for updating the rule information stored in the second storing unit, a control unit for determining the order of displaying the plurality of the items of the identification information in accordance with the rule information stored in the second storing unit, and a displaying unit for displaying the plurality of the items of the identification information in the order determined by the control unit.
US09154651B2
If connection to an output apparatus is detected, a configuring apparatus acquires information about the output apparatus. If disconnection of communication connection with the output apparatus is detected, the configuring apparatus makes various configurations based on the acquired information. If communication connection with the output apparatus is detected again after the configuration, the configuring apparatus transmits the configured information to the output apparatus.
US09154647B2
A central processor for installation in an imaging device with a CMOS image sensor. The central processor had an image sensor interface for receiving data from the CMOS image sensor and multiple processing units configured to operate in parallel for processing data from the image sensor interface. Each of the processing units has rewritable memory for microcode that operatively controls that processing unit. The multiple processing units and the image sensor interface are integrated onto a single chip.
US09154644B2
An image reading apparatus includes: a reader configured to read an image to create image data representative of the image; a processor; and a memory storing instructions. According to the instructions, the processor receives first operational input for causing the reader to read the image and obtains a registration request transmitted from a first device that is one of at least one information processing device connected to the image reading apparatus through a network. The registration request is for registering the first device as a transmission destination to which the image data is to be transmitted. The processor registers the first device as the transmission destination, based on the obtained registration request. When the image data is created by the reader in response to receipt of the first operational input, the processor transmits the image data crated by the reader, to the registered first device.
US09154632B2
The invention relates to a method and a communications arrangement for operating a communications connection between a communications terminal device (KE1) associated with a first participant and at least one first terminal device (KE2) associated with a second participant. For a process running on a second terminal device (RE1) integrating with a first communications terminal device (KE1) to be operated by the first participant, said process being free of functions for controlling the communications connection, at least one piece of information that is reproducible on a terminal device is extracted from a process-produced output (P1) to the second terminal device (RE1). Further, upon initiation of the communications connection between the communications terminal device (KE1) and the first terminal device (KE2), the reproducible information is transmitted to at one of the least one terminal devices (KE2, RE2) associated with the second participant.
US09154631B2
A method for identifying a conference call from a communication device, wherein the communication device includes a memory for storing a calendar event record. The method includes: parsing at least some of the calendar event record, wherein the parsing includes an automatic discovery feature; determining, based on the parsing, whether the calendar event record includes conference call scheduling information in relation to a scheduled conference call session; generating, based on the parsing, one or more identifiers for at least some of the conference call scheduling information; and storing in the memory the one or more identifiers. A host communication device and a non-host participant communication device can also be configured for performing the method.
US09154630B2
A radio networking system includes at least a first communication port operable to facilitate communication between the radio networking system and a first communication platform. The system further includes at least a second communication port operable to facilitate communication between the radio networking system and a second communication platform. Additionally, a call control software module is operable to automatically and intelligently switch an incoming call from the first communication platform to the second communication platform which is controlled by a processor operable to execute the call control software module according to the information contained in a system configuration database. The call control software module further manages the configuration of call connections and conferencing services and supports real time user control of desired communication services.
US09154620B2
A method of assisting communication for a user is provided. The method includes receiving an IM message including a request for a voice carry over from the user, and transmitting to the user an invitation to join a first voice connection. The method further includes initiating the first voice connection with the user, and initiating a second voice connection with a recipient. Additionally, the method includes communicating to the recipient a first voice communication from the user over the first and second voice connections, and communicating to the user a response IM message including a transcribed version of a second voice communication from the recipient. An apparatus for assisting communication for a user is provided. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions is provided. The computer-executable instructions cause a processor to perform a method when executed.
US09154618B2
Various technologies described herein pertain to retaining content of a conference call for accelerated replay. The content of the conference call can be recorded. Further, establishment of a connection of a participant to the conference call can be detected. For instance, the connection can be established with a computing device of the participant. Moreover, the establishment of the connection of the participant to the conference call can be detected subsequent to initiation of the recording of the content of the conference call. Responsive to detection of the establishment of the connection of the participant to the conference call, at least a portion of recorded content of the conference call can be transmitted to the computing device for playback at a playback speed that is greater than a speed at which the content is recorded.
US09154613B2
A method for indicating voice input state for a call on a communications device. A processor unit identifies the state of voice input for the call. In response to the state of the voice input being a mute state, the processor unit identifies a mute setting for the mute state based on a user profile. Thereafter, first audio data specified by the mute setting is played with audio data from the call on the communications device. In response to the state of the voice input being an unmute state, the processor unit identifies an unmute setting for the unmute state based on the user profile. Thereafter, second audio data specified by the unmute setting is played with the audio data from the call on the communications device.
US09154603B2
An apparatus includes a recognition unit configured to recognize a function included in a communication partner and a determination unit configured to determine processing, which the communication partner performs on transmission data, according to the recognized function and a type of the transmission data.
US09154599B2
Systems and methods associated with an intercom system for a drive-through, quick service restaurant facility is disclosed. Generally, a plurality of headsets is configured for communication with a base station. A speaker is associated with the drive-through facility is configured to be located near a menu board, and is configured for communication with the base station. A microphone is also configured to be located near the menu board and configured for communication with the base station. A plurality of parameters control the configuration of the intercom system, and the base station is connectable to a wide area communication network to enable remote adjustment of the plurality of parameters.
US09154592B2
Mobile communications devices having moveable housings are described. In an implementation, a mobile communications device includes a first housing that includes a display device; and a second housing that includes a keyboard. At least one of the first or second housings are moveable between a first configuration in which the first housing substantially covers the second housing so the keyboard is covered and the display device is viewable and a second configuration in which the keyboard is exposed and positioned such that an outer plane of the keyboard is positioned in a substantially similar plane to that of an outer surface of the display device.
US09154590B2
Business card with incorporated ringer formed by a mobile phone module, a strong memory module and optionally a multimedia presentation module in which the device is off by default and is only activated by pressing a bottom (5 or 6) in order to make a telephone call to a predetermined telephone number according to the time and day. The components of the three modules are distributed in an upper area where they are soldered to a FLEX cable (23) an intermediate area for battery and a lower area formed by a multiplayer base plate (26) to which the components thereof are soldered. The card has a thickness of between 2 and 4.5 mm and the functional elements thereof are placed on the sides of said card, with the exception of the screen which is installed in a FACE.
US09154584B1
Allocation of buffers for a TCP proxy session between a client and a server by a service gateway includes: monitoring dynamic network behaviors for server and client side sessions of the TCP proxy session; and allocating capacity for a server side buffer and capacity for a client side buffer in a memory buffer based on the dynamic server side network behaviors, the dynamic client side network behaviors, and a weighted average of a capacity of the memory buffer. In one approach to the allocation, the gateway determines whether an available capacity of the server or client side buffer is sufficient to store a data packet. If not sufficient, the allocated capacity of the server or client side buffer is increased based on measurements of the dynamic network behaviors and the weighted average, and the available capacity of the server or client side buffer is adjusted accordingly.
US09154580B2
The present subject matter discloses a system and a method for managing a connection between a client and an application within a server in a network. In one implementation, the method includes receiving a connection request from the client. The method further includes associating with a worker thread, a unique identifier (UID) that uniquely identifies the received connection request. Further, the method involves, communicating a message that includes client data associated with the connection request to the application by the worker thread. The method also includes obtaining, by a reverse worker thread, a reply message associated with the UID from the application. The reverse worker thread is configured to communicate the reply message to the client.
US09154556B1
A technique manages access to a limited number of computerized sessions. The technique involves receiving, from a waiting user, a session request for a computerized session, and queuing the session request in a wait queue in response to all of the limited number of computerized sessions being currently assigned to other users. The technique further involves, while the session request is queued in the wait queue, providing permission to the waiting user to un-assign a computerized session which is currently assigned to another user. With such a technique, the user has the option of simply waiting until a computerized session has been relinquished (i.e., if the user is willing to be patient) or un-assigning a computerized session currently assigned to another user (e.g., in order to speed up access to a computerized session).
US09154553B2
A computer-implemented method may comprise processing agreements received over a computer network at a first replicated state machine deployed on processes belonging to a first membership in an order defined by a first globally ordered set of agreements associated with the first membership; receiving an agreement to change membership that is configured to cause the first replicated state machine to be deployed on processes belonging to a second membership that is associated with a second globally ordered set of agreements; and processing the agreement to change membership at a point within the first globally ordered set of agreements.
US09154548B2
Auditable data distribution from a server to clients is achieved as follows. The server delivers chunks of a data file, and identifiers of the chunks, to the clients. For each chunk of the data file received by the clients, a digest is generated by the client that received the chunk, using at least a part of the chunk and further data of the client that received the chunk. The further data is known to the server. The client that received this chunk sends the digest to the server, which receives the digest. The server determines an identity of the clink that received the chunk in question, by comparing the digest to the chunks that the server has sent and to the further data known to the server. The server stores the identity of the client that received the chunk.
US09154537B2
An event trigger data string is formulated and added to digital content for distribution to an audience via broadcast, satellite, cable or any other technology. The event trigger data string includes identification of an event source, identification of an operation to be performed, and a payload. A controller reads the data string and outputs a command to an appropriate event source for alteration of a digital content stream based upon the identified operation. The payload may, for example, identify an advertisement or notice to be spliced into or out of the digital content stream. Such event trigger data strings may be added to many different digital content streams, and a router or switching component may distribute the streams to systems that disseminate them to the audience. The technique enables interaction with different event sources, and allows command of multiple different operations by these event sources.
US09154530B2
The present invention provides a facility management platform to monitor and view the status of a plurality of individually addressable downstream devices including, but not limited to, addressable terminals, IRG's, settops, cable modems, taps, nodes, and/or hubs at a network control center. The FMP may display problems at these downstream devices, for example, power loss, and/or may automatically notify the appropriate companies and/or personnel to correct the problem.
US09154525B2
An SIP terminal control system makes it possible for SIP terminals to be connected to the system including a master main device and one or more slave main devices. The SIP terminal control system includes the master main device and slave main devices connected to the master main device. The master main device includes multilink sections each corresponding to the master main device or to each of the slave main devices. The master main device and the slave main devices each include an SIP terminal connecting section which connects SIP terminals. The multilink sections and the SIP terminal connecting sections are connected to each other by an SIP link. The multilink sections operate by using a CPU of the master main device. The SIP terminal connecting sections each operate by using a CPU of the slave main device or master main device that contains the SIP terminal connecting section.
US09154520B1
A computer-implemented method for notifying users of endpoint devices about blocked downloads may include (1) detecting, at a networking device, at least one attempt by an endpoint device to download a file from an external network, (2) determining that the networking device has already blocked at least one previous attempt to download the file from the external network based at least in part on at least one potential policy violation associated with the file, (3) directing the networking device to block the attempt by the endpoint device to download the file from the external network, and then (4) providing the endpoint device with at least one notification indicating that the attempt by the endpoint device to download the file has been blocked based at least in part on the potential policy violation associated with the file. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09154515B1
Information security may include defending information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, destruction, and so forth. Described herein are systems, methods and devices for enabling a user device to implement functions for dynamically identifying and reacting to potentially malicious activity. In one example, a user device configures a sentinel node to identify potentially malicious behavior by causing the sentinel node to analyze data from selected emitter nodes and selected algorithms. The user device may also specify how the sentinel node reacts to potential malicious activity.
US09154510B2
It is disclosed a method (and related apparatus) including selecting, at a first endpoint entity, at least one range of protection to be granted, the range of protection relating to one of a plurality of network elements in at least one access network and at least one core network and to a second endpoint entity, and transmitting, to a network element entity, a signaling message including first establishment information indicating the at least one range of protection to be granted; and a method (and related apparatus) including receiving, at the network element entity, the signaling message from the first endpoint entity, obtaining, from a second endpoint entity and based on the first establishment information, second establishment information indicating protection granted by the second endpoint entity, and signaling, from the network element entity to the first endpoint entity, third establishment information indicating the protection granted to the first endpoint entity.
US09154504B2
A device apparatus transmits a request for delegating authority, after it is delegated from a user, to an application, together with first authority information identified, to an approval server system, and acquires second authority information issued based on the first authority information from the approval server system.
US09154499B2
Systems and methods for protecting data stored on an electronic device from access by an illegitimate user are presented. The data is protected by activating an offline data delete module installed in the electronic device to conditionally delete the data according to the following criteria: after establishing a first communication between an agent installed in the electronic device and a remote server, obtaining a password from a user if a second communication is not established between the agent and the remote server within a predetermined period of time. After obtaining a password from the user, deleting at least some data stored on the electronic device after a second communication is not established between the agent and the remote server within the predetermined period of time and a predetermined number of incorrect passwords has been obtained.
US09154498B2
Shareable content items links with use restrictions. In one embodiment, for example, a method comprises: receiving, from a client computing device used by a link submitter, a request to access a server-stored content item at a sharable link; denying the access requested by the link submitter based on one or more use restrictions associated with the shareable link; prompting the link submitter to request approval to access to the server-stored content item at the shareable link; responsive to receiving approval for the link submitter to access the server-stored content item at the shareable link, modifying the use restrictions associated with the shareable link to allow the link submitter to access the server-stored content item at the shareable link.
US09154495B1
In some embodiments, techniques for secure data entry comprise receiving request data, requesting secure data entry via a programmatic interface, and receiving encrypted input data, wherein a key used for the encryption is associated with said identity-related data.
US09154492B2
A method, in a server, implementing a moving target defense against cross-site scripting includes receiving a request for a web page, wherein the server has N versions of the web page each with a mutated version of JavaScript; selecting a web page of the N versions; and sending an indication of the mutated version of JavaScript associated with the web page in response to the request. Another method, in a client device, using a moving target defense against cross-site scripting includes requesting a web page; receiving an indication of a mutated version of JavaScript for the web page; and adjusting a JavaScript interpreter based on the mutated version of JavaScript for the web page.
US09154490B2
An apparatus is provided for facilitating cross-platform authentication. The apparatus may include at least one memory and at least one processor configured to detect that a visual token includes data indicating one or more authentication credentials for accessing a communication device in response to scanning the visual token. The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to communicate the authentication credentials of the detected visual token to the communication device to request the communication device to determine whether the authentication credentials are valid for a user. The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to enable access to the communication device in response to receiving an indication from the communication device that the authentication credentials of the detected visual token are valid. Corresponding computer program products and methods are also provided.
US09154489B2
A scalable access filter that is used together with others like it in a virtual private network to control access by users at clients in the network to information resources provided by servers in the network. Each access filter uses a local copy of an access control data base to determine whether an access request is made by a user. Each user belongs to one or more user groups and each information resource belongs to one or more information sets. Access is permitted or denied according to access policies which define access in terms of the user groups and information sets. The first access filter in the path performs the access check, encrypts and authenticates the request; the other access filters in the path do not repeat the access check. The interface used by applications to determine whether a user has access to an entity is now an SQL entity. The policy server assembles the information needed for the response to the query from various information sources, including source external to the policy server.
US09154488B2
A method of authentication and accessing resources is provided. A client device may send a request to a proxy device to access a resource, such as an enterprise resource. The proxy device may authenticate with one or more servers associated with the resource. During authentication, the proxy device may receive a request for a signature controlled by the client device. In response, the proxy device may send a request to the client device for the signature. The request may also include context information that identify a data structure of authentication information exchanged (or to be exchanged) during the authentication session. If the client device verifies the context information, the client device may send the requested signature.
US09154487B2
The present invention relates to auto-provisioning of authentication data for client devices. A registration server includes a gateway determination unit, which is configured to determine a gateway apparatus transferring a request signal from a device, and a processing unit. The processing unit is configured to transmit a first signal including a token and first access information of the gateway apparatus to the device if an identifier of the gateway apparatus is stored on the server, and to transmit a second signal indicating a positive response to the gateway apparatus when it obtains the token and the identifier based on a third signal received in response to the first signal. The gateway apparatus sends the secret value to the device when it receives the second signal.
US09154465B2
Protecting privacy when communicating with a web server via a communication network, includes receiving by a first privacy agent a request from an application program of a client system for a connection to a web server having a target web server address, sending the request together with a first identification from the first privacy agent to the second privacy agent, forwarding the request together with a second identification from the second privacy agent to the third privacy agent. Further processing is performed responsive to determining that the target web server address matches a defined web server address which is accessible by the third privacy agent.
US09154464B2
Techniques for concealing temporary identifiers (IDs) assigned to user equipments (UEs) by a wireless communication system are described. At a network entity, a first ID Assigned to a UE and possibly a salt value are transformed, e.g., based on a hash function, to obtain a second ID for the UE. An output message directed to the UE is generated based on an input message, the second ID, and the salt value (if present). The output message is sent via a common channel shared by the UE and other UEs. At the UE, a message is received via the common channel, and a salt value (if sent) is obtained from the received message. The first ID and the salt value are transformed to obtain the second ID, which is used to determine whether the received message is intended for the UE.
US09154462B2
A method of managing firewall change requests for a communication network includes providing a change request interface comprising a plurality of change request form types, each request form including an interface for entering requestor identification information, Internet Protocol (IP) address information, change implementation schedule information, and submission information specifying any requestor instructions for implementing the change, receiving completed change request forms from at least one requestor, arranging the completed change request forms in a request queue, and presenting the request queue to at least one administrator responsible for implementing firewall changes in the communication network.
US09154460B1
Methods and apparatus for supporting secure packet communications, e.g., sRTP/sRTCP, which are resistant to denial of service attacks are described. A received packet is identified to correspond to a particular stream being received, the stream having a current expected set of packet sequence numbers, e.g., a current window including a next expected packet sequence number and at least one packet sequence number in the expected packet window on each side of the expected packet sequence number. Unencrypted information from the received packet, e.g., a received packet sequence number, is used to determine at least one of: to drop the received packet, or to assign the packet to one of a plurality of policing levels. If the packet passes policing at its assigned policing level, the packet may undergo authentication and decryption to determine if it is a valid packet.
US09154459B2
A network access manager controls access to a network interface according to a set of access control instructions specifying permissible and impermissible addresses and domains on a network. The network access manager establishes a graylist of addresses based on a domain request that is associated with a whitelisted domain that is accessed via a blacklisted address. When a request to establish a connection is received directed to a graylisted address, the connection is permitted to establish and the connection is added to a session graylist. When a session data transfer packet is received, if the session corresponds to a session on the session graylist, the session data transfer packet is examined to determine if it matches a whitelisted domain, in which case the session is associated with a session whitelist and permitted access to the network. The access control instructions may be automatically updated from a trusted access control management system.
US09154455B1
Method and system for a network device having a plurality of queues for receiving information from another device is provided. A frame is received at a receive queue of the network device. The process determines that the receive queue of the network device has reached a programmable threshold value and determines if a frame waiting at the receive queue is eligible for being dropped. The frame is eligible for being dropped when a drop eligibility bit is set in a frame header by a sender of the frame, when a priority established for the frame indicates that the frame is drop eligible and when a destination for the frame is congested.
US09154447B2
A system and method for stitching Ethernet networks. Communications are sent from a number of communications networks in one of two or more standards. The communications are converted from the two or more standards to a core standard. The communications are sent across a core network in communication with the number of communications networks utilizing the core standard. The communications are converted from the core standard to one of the two or more standards utilized by each of the number of communications networks receiving the communications in response to the communications reaching the number of communications networks.
US09154443B2
An advanced processor comprises a plurality of multithreaded processor cores each having a data cache and instruction cache. A data switch interconnect is coupled to each of the processor cores and configured to pass information among the processor cores. A messaging network is coupled to each of the processor cores and a plurality of communication ports. In one aspect of an embodiment of the invention, the data switch interconnect is coupled to each of the processor cores by its respective data cache, and the messaging network is coupled to each of the processor cores by its respective message station. Advantages of the invention include the ability to provide high bandwidth communications between computer systems and memory in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
US09154442B2
Described embodiments process hash operation requests of a network processor. A hash processor determines a job identifier, a corresponding hash table, and a setting of a traversal indicator for a received hash operation request that includes a desired key. The hash processor concurrently generates a read request for a first bucket of the hash table, and provides the job identifier, the key and the traversal indicator to a read return processor. The read return processor stores the key and traversal indicator in a job memory and stores, in a return memory, entries of the first bucket of the hash table. If a stored entry matches the desired key, the read return processor determines, based on the traversal indicator, whether to read a next bucket of the hash table and provides the job identifier, the matching key, and the address of the bucket containing the matching key to the hash processor.
US09154423B1
Embodiments are directed towards minimizing the impact flood attacks may have on packet traffic management performance. A packet traffic management device (“PTMD”) may employ a data flow segment (“DFS”) and control segment (“CS”). The CS may perform high-level control functions and per-flow policy enforcement for connection flows maintained at the DFS, while the DFS may perform statistics gathering, per-packet policy enforcement (e.g., packet address translations), or the like, on connection flows maintained at the DFS. The DFS may include high-speed flow caches and other high-speed components that may be comprised of high-performance computer memory. The impact of flood attacks may be reduced by protecting the high-speed flow caches from being consumed by flow control data associated with malicious and/or in-operative non-genuine network connections. In at least one of the various embodiments, flood control filters may be adaptively activated based on the condition and quality of network traffic received at PTMD.
US09154408B2
A system and method for traffic polarization during failures includes a communication network cluster including a first network switching unit configured to communicate with a first network node via a first network link and a second network node via a second network link, a second network switching unit configured to communicate with the first network node via a third network link and the second network node via a fourth network link, and a first intra-cluster link coupling the first network switching unit to the second network switching unit. The second network switching unit is further configured to respond to a failure in the fourth network link by broadcasting a route withdrawal message to the first network switching unit and the first network node. The first network switching unit is configured to accept rerouted network traffic from the first network node via the first network link resulting from the route withdrawal message.
US09154406B2
An edge router 12 sends a router advertisement to wireless terminals 11 to notify the wireless terminals 11 of the hop limit. Each wireless terminals 11 stores the notified hop limit in the hop limit field of an IPv6 packet. The edge router 12 stores the maximum number of hops in the user's home system 1 and the maximum number of hops in the IP network NW. When receiving a communication packet sent from the user's home system 1 to the IP network NW, the edge router 12 sets the hop limit in the communication packet to the maximum number of hops in the IP network NW. When receiving a communication packet sent from the IP network NW to the user's home system 1, the edge router 12 sets the hop limit in the communication packet to the maximum number of hops in the user's home system 1.
US09154405B2
A network fabric includes interconnected network nodes, each having access to a database containing predetermined paths from each network node to each other network node in the network fabric. Each network node determines, in response to an incoming frame, whether the frame is a fabric protocol data unit (PDU) having a header containing path attributes including a destination node address. If the frame is a fabric PDU, the node selects a first path to the destination node from the database, and forwards the fabric PDU to a next hop in accordance with the selected path. If the frame is not a fabric PDU, the node selects a second path through the network fabric to the destination node from the database, adds the header with the path attributes to the frame to produce the fabric PDU, and forwards the fabric PDU to the next hop in accordance with the second path.
US09154402B2
A method including formatting an advertisement message having a dedicated preferred route to one of a first physical entity and a first logical entity of a first autonomous system (“AS”), the dedicated preferred route being based on at least two routing attributes, and transmitting the advertisement message from the first AS to a second AS. A routing device including a formatting module formatting an advertisement message having a dedicated preferred route to one of a first physical entity and a first logical entity of a first autonomous system (“AS”), the dedicated preferred route being based on at least two routing attributes, and a transmitting module transmitting the advertisement message from the first AS to a second AS.
US09154392B2
An electronic device may adaptively manage power consumption associated with transmission and/or reception of signals by the electronic device, wherein the adaptive power management may comprise adjusting transmit power and/or one or more power-related thresholds used during transmission or reception operations in the electronic device. Adjustments to the transmit power and/or the one or more power-related thresholds may be determined based on comparison between power measurement associated with signals received by said electronic device with original transmit power for the signals. The reception power measurement may be determined based on detected received signal strength indication (RSSI). The original transmit power may be determined based on signal transmission information embedded in at least one frame carried via said signals. The original transmission power may be embedded as an equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) value.
US09154387B2
Data useful in analyzing the effectiveness of policies for handling transactions involving client communications is automatically collected at network intermediary devices and delivered to an analysis server as part of feedback communications from the network intermediary devices. The data may be collected according to data collection directives distributed to the network intermediary devices along with updates to policies for handling transactions, those updates being configured to alter actions of the network intermediary devices, for example to accommodate changes in behaviors of content servers from which the network intermediary devices obtain content in connection with the client communications.
US09154382B2
An information processing system includes a master node and a plurality of cluster nodes managed by the master node, and stores a node list having set a transfer sequence of the request information sent from the master node to the cluster nodes. The cluster nodes accept the request information to transfer the same to the next transfer destinations according to the node list or to the master node if the next transfer destinations do not exist. The master node sends the request information to one of the cluster nodes according to the node list, and divides the plurality of cluster nodes into a cluster node group positioned under the management of the master node and another cluster node group positioned under the management of a predetermined cluster node according to the time interval after sending the request information until receiving the request information from other cluster nodes.
US09154379B2
A security system is provided. The security system comprises a plurality of hardware device modules and a plurality of sensor detection devices. At least one hardware device module has a microcontroller coupled to a memory element that stores a configuration map for remote configuration comprising configuration option information available for the hardware device module. The plurality of sensor detection devices are capable of sending a signal to one or more of the hardware device modules.
US09154374B2
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium and traffic analysis computing device for analyzing network traffic comprising sending to one or more network devices a request to capture one or more network information upon identifying a fault within a network. Next, one or more network reporting files comprising the captured one or more network information is received from each of the one or more network devices. Upon receiving the network reporting files, a location at which the identified fault occurred within the network is determined. Based on the determination, one or more corrective actions is performed at the location of the identified fault within the network.
US09154366B1
A method of modeling and analyzing load across servers in a cloud computing environment. The method comprises analyzing a processor, a memory, and an input/output utilization of each of a plurality of servers, where each server is comprised of at least one logical partition. A chart displaying a usage pattern is presented for each server. A list of logical partitions is presented for each server of the plurality of servers. A selection of at least one logical partition on a first server of the plurality of servers and a selection of a second server of the plurality of servers is received. The utilization impacts of moving the logical partition to the selected second server are modeled and an updated chart displaying the usage pattern for each server based on the modeled migration of the logical partition is presented. The modeled optimal location stored in a disaster recovery plan.
US09154363B2
Systems and methods for communicating packets having a plurality of formats are described herein. In some aspects, a signal (SIG) field in the preamble of a packet may indicate whether an extension field, such as an extension SIG field or SIG-B field, is included in the packet. In another aspect, one or more detectors may be used to auto-detect packets formatted as one of at least two different formats based on a short training field (STF) of a received packet. In some aspects, along training field (LTF) in the preamble of a packet may indicate whether the payload is repetition coded.
US09154354B2
A multicarrier modem has a plurality of carriers over which data is transmitted. By assigning, foe example, one or more different margins to the individual carriers the data rate and impairment immunity can be increased.
US09154348B2
A method for improving communication sensitivity by a wireless communication device is described. The method includes obtaining a string of bits. The method also includes mapping each bit in the string of bits to a pre-allocated bit pattern to create a series of concatenated pre-allocated bit patterns. The method further includes generating a modulated signal based on the series. The method additionally includes transmitting the modulated signal.
US09154334B2
An apparatus management device, which is connected via a network to an apparatus, includes a storage unit configured to store a default value for a parameter of the apparatus and a table including coefficients associated with counter values indicating operational status of the apparatus; an apparatus information obtaining unit configured to obtain apparatus information including a counter value indicating the operational status from the apparatus; a parameter value calculation unit configured to obtain one of the coefficients that corresponds to the counter value in the obtained apparatus information by referring to the table, and to calculate an update value for the parameter of the apparatus by multiplying the default value by the one of the coefficients; and a setting unit configured to set the parameter of the apparatus at the update value.
US09154333B2
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to audio stream management in an audio conferencing server and provide a method, system and computer program product for balancing audio server loadability and audio server scalability based upon monitored resource consumption. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for balancing audio server loadability and audio server scalability based upon monitored resource consumption can be provided. The method can include monitoring computing conditions in an audio conferencing server receiving encoded audio packets from coupled Internet Protocol (IP) audio clients and routing the encoded audio packets as audio streams to the IP audio clients, and responsive to detecting deteriorating computing conditions in the audio conferencing server, reducing a number of the audio streams forwarded to the IP audio clients by the audio conferencing server.
US09154325B2
An apparatus and a method for transferring data and energy over network units of a defined network. The apparatus has at least two units, a bus coupling the units with a receive line and a transmit line and a bus control device coupled with the bus, the bus control device having first means for controlling the transfer of data defined by the defined network as data voltage signals over the transmit line and over the receive line, second means for charging the data voltage signals on the transmit line with first supply voltage signals adapted for voltage supply of units of a first plane system, and third means for charging the data voltage signals on the receive line with second supply voltage signals adapted for voltage supply of units of a second plane system.
US09154324B2
A method and a filter system for filtering messages which are received, via a serial data bus of a communications network, in a communication module of a user connected to the data bus. To allow particularly simple and efficient filtering of incoming messages, even when there is a large number of filtering criteria, it is proposed that the filter system includes a list in which multiple identifier pairs are stored which define a range delimited in each case by a first identifier and a second identifier. The identifier for an incoming message is compared at least to selected identifier pairs from the list, and a query is made concerning whether the identifier for the incoming message is greater than, or greater than or equal to, the selected first identifier, and is less than, or less than or equal to, the selected second identifier. The incoming message is forwarded to the application or rejected, depending on the configuration bit specification, if the identifier for the incoming message is within the range delimited by the first identifier and the second identifier.
US09154319B2
The present invention relates to a point code emulation apparatus and method for dividing a Common Channel Signaling System No. 7 (or SS7) signaling network into two or more networks. The point code emulator is adapted to receive TCAP messages from two or more subnets and converts, for the messages crossing over the subnets, the information of the TCAP messages, including originating point code, destination point code, and transaction identifier, (and optionally, calling party number and called party number), and forwards to the other one of the two or more subnets. Correspondence among the two or more subnets may be provisioned by an authorized user of the system, may be learned automatically by the system based on ISUP message correspondences or previous TCAP transactions, or may be automatically discovered by the system broadcasting messages to nodes in the destined one of the two or more subnets.
US09154316B2
An apparatus and method for emulating a shared or source distribution tree within an MPLS network. In one embodiment of the method, a router receives a multicast data packet. The router transmits the multicast data packet to a first router via a first point-to-point label switched path (LSP). The router replicates the multicast data packet to produce a replicated multicast data packet. Then the router transmits the replicated multicast data packet to a second router via a second point-to-point LSP. The first point-to-point LSP is distinct from the second point-to-point LSP.
US09154310B1
A resilient device authentication system and method comprising: one or more verification authorities (VAs) including a memory loaded with a complete verification set that includes hardware part-specific data, and configured to create a limited verification set (LVS) therefrom; one or more provisioning entities (PEs) each connectable to at least one of the VAs, including a memory loaded with a LVS, and configured to select a subset of data therefrom so as to create an application limited verification set (ALVS). Also disclosed is a device comprising a controller, device memory, input/output capable of communicating with the authentication system, and a physically-unclonable function associated with hardware part-specific information corresponding to hardware part-specific data in the loaded CVS. Further disclosed is an authentication system including hardware security modules.
US09154302B2
A system and method of authenticated ID-based key exchange and remote login with insecure token and PIN number can provide an authenticated key agreement protocol based on an elliptic curve bilinear type-3 pairing. A server acts as an Authentication Service to Clients and a Trusted Authority (TA) issues identity based secret numbers to Clients and Authentication Services. Included in the system and method is the capability for the Client to split their secret number into two parts, a Client selected PIN number, and the larger number, the Token.
US09154299B2
Methods and apparatus involve protecting data encrypted by a first key on an endpoint computing asset including a drive with full disk encryption. The endpoint has both a main operating system for applications, and the like, and another operating system during a pre-boot phase of operation. During use, the pre-boot operating system prevents a user of the endpoint from accessing the encrypted data and the key. In one embodiment, an information exchange partition on the endpoint is accessible from a remote location and includes data encrypted using a second key accessible to both the pre-boot operating system and the main operating system. Another embodiment allows for the provision of a network connection to the endpoint during the pre-boot phase of operation in accordance with a security policy.
US09154293B2
Disclosed are a method and apparatus for estimating symbol timing in a non-synchronized OFDM system. The present invention includes synchronizing a frame of a received signal, estimating the symbol timing of each symbol of the frame based on the synchronization, compensating for the symbol timing using a phase difference attributable to a Symbol Timing Offset (STO), variably changing within a Cyclic Prefix (CP) interval due to the frequency offset of a sampling clock and thermal noise, and performing channel equalization using a preamble based on output including corrected phase rotation.
US09154292B2
A communication apparatus (a slave) that performs time synchronization with a master apparatus on the basis of a time synchronization message transmitted from the master apparatus (a master) at a fixed cycle. The communication apparatus (the slave) includes a CPU that stores, in a transmission request message for requesting transmission of the time synchronization message, a requesting transmission rate, and transmits the transmission request message to the communication apparatus (the master). The CPU calculates time synchronization accuracy, which is a difference between time of the master apparatus and time of its own apparatus, on the basis of the time synchronization message; determines on the basis of the time synchronization accuracy whether the requesting transmission rate is changed; and, transmits, if it is determined that the requesting transmission rate is changed, the transmission request message, in which the changed requesting transmission rate is stored, to the communication apparatus (the master).
US09154288B2
Apparatus and method for communication are provided. The apparatus is configured to receive from an upper scheduler data for user terminals served by the apparatus, wherein a first set of terminals is connected to more than one cell and a second set of user terminals is not connected to more than one cell; receive from an upper scheduler physical layer resources to be allocated for the first set of user terminals; determine physical layer resources for the second set of user terminals and allocate the received and determined resources for the user terminals.
US09154282B2
A wireless communication terminal and method for determining a number of Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) groups (N) in the downlink subframe based on a first parameter, a second parameter and a determined cyclic prefix (CP) duration, wherein the first parameter indicates a downlink system bandwidth in terms of a number of resource blocks and the second parameter indicates a scaling factor. The terminal receives downlink control signaling in a set of resource elements in the subframe, wherein the set of resource elements is determined based partly on the number of PHICH groups (N).
US09154281B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for inserting data symbols and pilot symbols in an OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) transmission resource utilizing frequency hopping patterns for the data symbols and/or the pilot symbols. Data symbols and pilot symbols are allocated for down link (base station to mobile station) and up link (mobile station to bases station) transmission resources in a two-dimensional time-frequency pattern. For each antenna of a MIMO-OFDM (multiple input multiple output OFDM) communication system, pilot symbols are inserted in a scattered pattern in time-frequency and data symbols are inserted in an identical frequency-hopping pattern in time-frequency as that of other antennas.
US09154278B2
A mobile communications device having an LTE radio technology and at least one other technology (for example, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) determines whether transmissions using the other radio technology causes, or is likely to cause interference in reception of LTE signals. If such interference exists or is likely, then a signal indicating interference is sent to the LTE base station, which can take action to try to mitigate or prevent such interference. The mobile communications device can have a timer so that the interference indicating signal is only sent periodically, either at regular intervals, or whenever the interference is determined to exist after the timer period has expired. In some cases, a signal indicating that the interference level has reduced can be sent, again either at regular intervals, to whenever the interference level changes.
US09154277B2
This patent application considers the configuration aperiodic sounding reference signal parameters by radio resource control signaling and the triggering of aperiodic SRS transmission by detection of a positive trigger in downlink control information. Transmission timing rules are also proposed to determine the valid subframes for aperiodic SRS transmission.
US09154261B2
A communication device is configured to encode and/or decode low density parity check (LDPC) coded signals. Such LDPC coded signals are characterized by LDPC matrices having a particular form. An LDPC matrix may be partitioned into a left hand side matrix and the right hand side matrix. The right hand side matrix can be lower triangular such that all of the sub-matrices therein are all-zero-valued sub-matrices (e.g., all of the elements within an all-zero-valued sub-matrix have the value of “0”) except for those sub-matrices located on a main diagonal of the right hand side matrix and another diagonal that is adjacently located to the left of the main diagonal. A device may be configured to employ different LDPC codes having different LDPC matrices for different LDPC coded signals. The different LDPC matrices may be based generally on a common form (e.g., with a right hand side matrix as described above).
US09154258B1
Systems and methods are disclosed including a subsea link idler apparatus comprising at least one data laser generating a first laser beam as a data signal, having a first frequency within a first data channel bandwidth slot; a first continuous wave laser generating a second laser beam with a first polarization and a second frequency being within a second data channel bandwidth slot; a second continuous wave laser generating a third laser beam with a second polarization different from the first polarization and a third frequency being offset from the second frequency and being within the second data channel bandwidth slot; a polarization beam combiner positioned in paths of the second and third laser beams combining the second and third laser beams into an idler signal; and a transmitter receiving and transmitting the data signal and idler signal.
US09154257B2
A frequency assignment method for selecting a frequency width used on a route connecting between a start point and an end point when the start point and the end point of an optical signal are supplied in a photonic network including an optical node that includes an optical switch for switching the optical signal without electrically terminating the optical signal is disclosed. The frequency assignment method includes steps of: obtaining a correlation amount of use state of wavelength or frequency between adjacent links by referring to a route calculation result; determining a fixed frequency width or variable frequency width to be set for a communication route based on the correlation amount; and assigning the fixed frequency width or the variable frequency width on the route.
US09154248B2
A system and method provide an enhanced listening experience for a user of a radio receiver or other device that receives broadcast or streamed content having a plurality of program channels. The method and system buffer designated channels at the receiver and, when switching among channels, play back the buffered designated channels during reception from a selected point therein depending on the channel or other criteria. When switching to a different channel during reception, a user is able to hear content in a buffered program channel with music from the start of a song, for example, whereas content in a channel with news, talk radio, or live sports is played back from live reception, even though the content segments are transmitted at different start times relative to their selected times for playback following a channel change. User controls allow navigation among buffered designated channels during reception.
US09154241B2
A test system for testing a wireless electronic device is provided. The test system may include a test host and a tester. The test host may instruct the electronic device under test (DUT) to transmit radio-frequency test signals in a selected resource block of a desired channel identified by a channel number in the Long Term Evolution frequency band. The tester may measure harmonic output power levels of the radio-frequency test signals transmitted by the DUT at harmonic frequencies of the selected resource block. The test host may compare the measured harmonic output power levels to threshold power levels to characterize the radio-frequency performance of wireless circuitry in the DUT. The test system may test the radio-frequency performance of the DUT for radio-frequency test signals transmitted by the DUT in some or all resource blocks in the desired Long Term Evolution band.
US09154238B2
In one example embodiment, a method for reducing an effect of an interference signal on data being transmitted over a communication channel is disclosed. The method includes determining, by a processor, a code vector representing data based on an information vector and an interference vector, the information vector representing the data, the interference vector representing the interference signal. The method further includes generating, by the processor, a transmit vector for transmitting the data based on the code vector and the interference vector.
US09154237B2
A method and apparatus of mitigating multipath coupling interference in a wireless repeater system 10 includes measuring an error signal E(z) in a signal path of the repeater which contains the desired communication signals and the multipath coupling interference and determining a cepstrum cee[n] of the error signal E(z), wherein the cepstrum cee[n] is reflective of the open-loop gain G(z) of the system. The method further includes extracting the impulse response of the open-loop gain G(z) from the cepstrum cee[n] of the error signal E(z), calculating a plurality of cancellation filter coefficients using the extracted impulse response, and adaptively applying the plurality of filter coefficients to an adjustable filter to generate the cancellation signal necessary to mitigate the multipath coupling interference.
US09154226B2
An optical signal quality monitoring apparatus includes an optical detector for directly receiving an optical signal modulated in an optical path and converting the optical signal to an electric signal, an asynchronous sampling unit for asynchronously sampling the electric signal of the optical detector at a reduced speed, and a digital signal processor for monitoring an optical signal quality by finding a synchronized amplitude histogram of data sampled in the asynchronous sampling unit. An optical signal quality monitoring method includes (a) a step of allowing an optical detector to directly receive a modulated optical signal and to convert the optical signal to an electric signal; (b) a step of allowing an asynchronous sampling unit to asynchronously sample the electric signal; and (c) a step of allowing a digital signal processor to monitor an optical signal quality by generating a synchronized amplitude histogram of sampled data.
US09154218B2
A method and apparatus establish a connection in a mobile terminal with a device compatible with BLUETOOTH, a short range wireless communications technology at the 2.4 GHz band. If connectable BLUETOOTH devices are detected in the vicinity of the mobile terminal and there is at least one priority-registered BLUETOOTH device among the detected BLUETOOTH devices, the mobile terminal connects with a highest-priority BLUETOOTH device among the detected BLUETOOTH devices. If other connectable BLUETOOTH devices are detected in the vicinity of the mobile terminal while the mobile terminal is connected to a BLUETOOTH device, and there is at least one priority-registered BLUETOOTH device higher in priority than the currently connected BLUETOOTH device, among the detected BLUETOOTH devices, the mobile terminal switches the connection to a highest-priority BLUETOOTH device among the detected BLUETOOTH devices.
US09154216B2
In a satellite-based augmentation system a data stream is generated that includes user messages having different message types. A plurality of predetermined unique sequences of message types are formed and each formed sequence is allocated to one of a plurality of data sources that are used for generating user messages in the satellite-based augmentation system. A data source is selected for generating a data stream that includes user messages. The selected data source generates the data stream including user messages by using the predetermined unique sequence of message types that is allocated to the selected data source.
US09154212B2
A radio transmission apparatus includes a plurality of transmission antennas, a start symbol generating unit that generates a start symbol as a reference signal during the start of differential coding, a differential coding unit (a differential coding unit, a transmission-signal-power calculating unit, and a 1/square root operation unit) that subjects a transmission symbol, to which information bits are mapped, to differential coding and generates a symbol after differentiation, and a space-time coding unit that subjects the start symbol or the symbol after differentiation to space-time coding and generates signals to be transmitted from transmission antennas. The differential coding unit determines, on the basis of electric power of the start symbol or electric power of the symbol after differentiation generated last time, electric power of the symbol after differentiation generated in the current differential coding processing.
US09154189B2
This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus for tuning a transmit coil for operation in a plurality of frequency bands. In one aspect, a method of wireless power transmission is provided. The method includes exciting a first part of a wireless power transmission system, via a wireless power transmitter. The method further includes detecting, in the presence of a non-charging object, a first change in a first parameter. The first parameter is indicative of a coupling between the non-charging object and the first part. The method further includes varying a characteristic of the wireless power transmission based on said first change.
US09154185B2
The present invention extends to methods, devices, systems, and computer program products for managing audio output through an intermediary. In some embodiments, an audio controller emulates a direct connection between an audio source device and an audio output device. In other embodiments, audio content local to an audio controller is combined with other audio content passing through the audio controller on its way from an audio source device to an audio output device. In additional embodiments, an audio output device is locked to an audio controller.
US09154170B2
A circuit for a low-noise interface between an amplifier and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) may comprise a capacitor element having a capacitance of C coupled between a first and second output node of the amplifier. A resistor circuit coupled between the capacitor element and input nodes of the ADC. A desired value RL for a load resistance of the amplifier is provided by selecting suitable initial values for resistances of the resistor circuit. A desired bandwidth for the at least one amplifier is achieved by selecting a value of the capacitance C based on the desired value RL for the load resistance.
US09154167B1
A radio frequency transmitting device includes a frequency multiplier circuit, a mixer circuit, a power splitter, a plurality of phase shifting circuits, a plurality of amplifiers, and a plurality of antennas. The frequency multiplier circuit is configured to amplify a fundamental signal to generate a harmonic signal. The mixer circuit is configured to generate a RF signal based on an input signal and the harmonic signal. The power splitter is configured to generate a plurality of sub-RF signals. The phase shifting circuits are configured to shift the phase of the sub-RF signals. The amplifiers are configured to amplify the power of the sub-RF signals. The antennas are configured to transmit the sub-RF signals. Furthermore, a radio frequency receiving device is also disclosed herein.
US09154162B2
A method of transmitting data in a wireless access system includes: calculating a number C of code blocks using a size B of an input bit sequence, a maximum size Z of the code blocks, and a size L of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) which is to be attached to each of the code blocks; calculating a size B′ of a modified input bit sequence using the number C, the size L, and the size B; obtaining a size K of each of the code blocks using the size B′ and the number C; segmenting the input bit sequence to have the number C of the code blocks and the obtained size K of each of the code blocks; generating the code blocks by attaching the CRC to each of the segmented input bit sequences; and channel-coding the code blocks.
US09154157B2
Systems and methods to accelerate compression and decompression with a search unit implemented in the processor core. According to an embodiment, a search unit may be implemented to perform compression or decompression on an input stream of data. The search unit may use a look-up table to identify appropriate compression or decompression symbols. The look-up table may be populated with a table derived using the variable length coding symbols of a sequence of vertices to be compressed or extracted from a received data stream to be decompressed. A comparator and a finite state machine may be implemented in the search unit to facilitate traversal of the look-up table.
US09154154B2
Methods and systems for a low input voltage low impedance termination stage for current inputs may include, in a semiconductor die, generating an output current proportional to an input signal, where the output current is generated by an output stage that may include a pair of input cascode transistors and at least one pair of stacked output transistors. A source-follower feedback path for the input cascode transistors may include a feedback transistor with its gate terminal coupled to a drain terminal of a first of the input cascode transistors, a drain of the feedback transistor coupled to a supply voltage, and a source terminal of the feedback transistor coupled to a current source that is coupled to ground. A current source may be coupled to the drain of the first of the input cascode transistors. The supply voltage may be coupled to the stacked output transistors via a load resistor.
US09154153B2
Apparatus and methods are presented for compensating for offsets in digital-to-analog converters (DACs). An apparatus may comprise a gain block. The non-inverting input of the gain block may be provided with a bias voltage selected to exceed the worst-case expected positive offset of a DAC. Feedback from the output of the gain block may be provided to a processor. The processor may be connected to drive the DAC.
US09154147B2
The present disclosure relates to the field of background estimation in a time-interleaved analog-to-digital converter (ADC). More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for background estimation of offset and gain errors in a time-interleaved ADC based on sample count. The error estimation unit of the time-interleaved ADC system includes a counting unit, a subtractor and an integrator. The method for estimating an offset error in a time-interleaved ADC includes determining signs of the signals and outputting corresponding values by the counting unit. The values are further compared and integrated to estimate the offset error. The method for estimating a gain error in a time-interleaved ADC includes determining the absolute values of the signals and comparing the absolute values with a predetermined threshold value. The comparison results are further integrated to estimate the gain error.
US09154146B1
Disclosed are systems employing a digital background calibration technique for linearizing the front-end circuits of IF-sampling ADCs. The disclosed systems and methods employ a power series model to eliminate the static non-linearity with split-ADC architecture and LMS algorithm for background learning. The present disclosure utilizes a technique for applying two different offset signals to the input of two conversion paths in the split-ADC architecture. When the system nonlinearity is successfully calibrated, the output difference between the two conversion paths results in a fixed offset that is identical to the offset injected at the input. The disclosed digital background calibration technique can linearize the front-end circuits of high-speed ADCs and significantly reduce power consumption.
US09154145B2
Methods and apparatuses featuring a multiplying injection-locked oscillator are described. Some embodiments include a pulse-generator-and-injector and one or more injection-locked oscillators. The outputs of the pulse-generator-and-injector can be injected into corresponding injection points of an injection-locked oscillator. In embodiments that include multiple injection-locked oscillators, the outputs of each injection-locked oscillator can be injected into the corresponding injection points of the next injection-locked oscillator. Some embodiments reduce deterministic jitter by dynamically modifying the loop length of an injection-locked oscillator, and/or by using a duty cycle corrector, and/or by multiplexing/blending the outputs from multiple delay elements of an injection-locked oscillator.
US09154142B2
Embodiments are disclosed of an apparatus capable of performing multi-rate synchronous communication between component chips. Each chip may receive a common clock reference signal, and may generate an internal clock signal dependent on the clock reference signal. A clock distribution tree and phase-locked loop may be used to minimize internal clock skew at I/O circuitry at the chip perimeter. Each chip may also generate an internal synchronizing signal that is phase-aligned to the received clock reference signal. Each chip may use its respective synchronizing signal to synchronize multiple clock dividers that provide software-selectable adjusted-frequency clock signals to the I/O cells of the chip. In this way, the adjusted-frequency clock signals of the multiple chips are edge-aligned to the low-skew internal clock signals, and phase-aligned to the common clock reference signal, allowing the I/O cells of the multiple chips to perform synchronous communication at multiple rates with low clock skew.
US09154138B2
A stressed substrate for transient electronic systems (i.e., electronic systems that visually disappear when triggered to do so) that includes one or more stress-engineered layers that store potential energy in the form of a significant internal stress. An associated trigger mechanism is also provided that, when triggered, causes an initial fracture in the stressed substrate, whereby the fracture energy nearly instantaneously travels throughout the stressed substrate, causing the stressed substrate to shatter into multiple small (e.g., micron-sized) pieces that are difficult to detect. The internal stress is incorporated into the stressed substrate through strategies similar to glass tempering (for example through heat or chemical treatment), or by depositing thin-film layers with large amounts of stress. Patterned fracture features are optionally provided to control the final fractured particle size. Electronic systems built on the substrate are entirely destroyed and dispersed during the transience event.
US09154133B2
An inverter type level shifter includes a first power supply voltage and a first ground voltage. A first inverter operates on the first power supply voltage and the first ground voltage to generate a first inverter output. The first inverter includes a first PMOS transistor having a drain coupled to a source of a blocking PMOS transistor and a first NMOS transistor having a drain coupled to a source of a blocking NMOS transistor. The level shifter further includes a second power supply voltage and a second ground voltage, and a second inverter coupled to the first inverter output and operates on the second power supply voltage and the second ground voltage. The blocking PMOS provides the required blocking on the event of the voltage spike in the second power supply voltage w.r.t the first power supply voltage and the blocking NMOS transistor provides the required blocking on the event of the voltage spike in the second ground voltage with respect to the first ground voltage.
US09154116B2
Various aspects are directed to providing an output/state based upon an input value. Consistent with one or more embodiments, an apparatus includes a bias circuit that is connected between power and common rails and includes first and second current paths that provide first and second reference currents. A current-mirroring circuit provides a first mirrored current in response to a voltage input transitioning in a first direction between voltage levels, and a second mirrored current in response to a voltage input transitioning in an opposite direction. A logic circuit operates in a first state based upon the first mirrored current and the first reference current, and operates in a second state based upon the second mirrored current and the second reference current.
US09154109B2
An MEMS vibrator includes a substrate, a fixation section disposed above a principal surface of the substrate, a support section extending from the fixation section, and a vibrating body (an upper electrode) separated from the substrate and supported by the support section in a node part of a vibration, and the vibrating body is a 2n-fold rotationally symmetric body having 2n beams radially extending from a node part of a vibration, wherein n is a natural number.
US09154100B2
An equalizer (402) is shown, having a state variable filter in which a first MDAC (502) is coupled to a first integrator (503) and a second MDAC (504) is coupled to a second integrator (505) to allow control of the corner frequency of the state variable filter. The MDACs are each configured to provide variable attenuation in a plurality of discrete steps. A digital attenuation controller is coupled to and adjusts the attenuation of the MDACs independently, and effects a one-step increase in the corner frequency of the state variable filter by first determining the attenuation levels of the MDACs, and then controlling the attenuation levels of the MDACs in accordance with their existing attenuation levels.
US09154084B2
An apparatus includes an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit includes a low-noise amplifier having a first complex input impedance. The integrated circuit includes a complex attenuator coupled to an input terminal of the integrated circuit. The complex attenuator has a second complex input impedance and a first complex output impedance. The apparatus may include a matching network coupled to the input terminal of the integrated circuit. The matching network is external to the integrated circuit. The matching network may have a first real input impedance and a second complex output impedance. The second complex output impedance is matched to the second complex input impedance.
US09154082B2
An input signal amplifier includes an inverting amplifier that outputs an input signal, a logic of which is inverted; a first switch. that switches an input, terminal of the inverting amplifier to be grounded or not; and a feedback resistor connected in parallel with the inverting amplifier and including a plurality of resistors with different values of resistance. The feedback resistor includes both a second switch that shorts or opens the feedback resistor via at least one of the resistors and a third switch that shorts or opens the feedback resistor via another of the resistors.
US09154076B2
A dual-mode crystal oscillator includes a single AT-cut quartz crystal piece, a package, and an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit includes an oscillation circuit configured to cause the AT-cut quartz crystal piece to oscillate at a frequency in the MHz band, a dividing circuit configured to divide the frequency in the MHz band to generate a frequency of 32.768 kHz, a selection circuit configured to select one of a pause state where the frequency in the MHz band is not output and an active state where the frequency in the MHz band is output. The mounting surface includes three electrodes arranged in a direction along the long side and two electrodes arranged in a direction along the short side. The electrode to output the frequency of 32.768 kHz and the electrode to output the frequency in the MHz band are arranged not adjacent to one another.
US09154066B2
A drive control apparatus includes a stepping motor, a position detection unit configured to detect a rotational position of a rotor of the stepping motor, a feedback drive unit configured to drive the stepping motor by a feedback control based on an output from the position detection unit, an open loop drive unit configured to drive the stepping motor by an open loop control, and a switching unit configured to switch the driving of the stepping motor between the driving of the stepping motor by the feedback control and the driving of the stepping motor by the open loop control, wherein the feedback drive unit and the open loop drive unit are both configured to drive the stepping motor by microstep driving.
US09154064B2
A control device for a three-phase AC motor includes: an inverter having switching elements; current sensors for sensing a current in the motor; and a control means having a feedback control operation part for operating a voltage command of each phase and switching the switching elements based on the voltage command. When a positive and negative offset abnormality occurs, the control means executes a positive and negative offset abnormality detection process that the control means compares a value, which is obtained by integrating a variation in a voltage command of each phase over a predetermined detection interval, with a predetermined abnormality threshold value, the voltage command being outputted by the feedback control operation part with respect to a variation in the current caused by the positive and negative offset abnormality.
US09154061B2
A control system for a motor includes an angle determination module, a control module, an angle generation module, and an estimator module. The angle determination module generates an output rotor angle indicative of a desired angle of a rotor of the motor. The control module controls current supplied to the motor based on the output rotor angle. The angle generation module generates a commanded rotor angle in response to a commanded speed. The estimator module determines an estimated rotor angle of the motor. Upon startup of the motor, the angle determination module generates the output rotor angle based on the commanded rotor angle. Upon beginning of a transition period, the angle determination module generates the output rotor angle based on the commanded rotor angle and the estimated rotor angle. Upon ending of the transition period, the angle determination module generates the output rotor angle based on the estimated rotor angle.
US09154059B2
In relation to a multilevel inverter of three levels or more, a decrease in safety due to breakdown is suppressed while avoiding destruction of switching elements. An inverter includes switching elements connected in series between a positive terminal and a negative terminal, reverse blocking switching elements connected one each between connection points of pairs of the switching elements and an intermediate terminal, alternating current output terminals, a control unit that generates control signals for switching between a turning on and turning off of the plurality of switching elements, a control signal interrupt circuit that, on an interrupt signal interrupting the output voltage of the alternating current output terminals being input, interrupts each of the control signals to the first switching elements and second switching elements, regardless of the state of the control signals, and a monitoring unit that diagnoses a breakdown of the control signal interrupt circuit.
US09154048B2
An AC/DC converter system comprises an input circuit for connection to a three-phase AC source. An isolation transformer comprises a symmetrical core with a set of primary windings and first and second sets of secondary windings wound on the symmetrical core providing balanced flux in all three phases and magnetically coupling to the set of primary windings. The first and second sets of secondary windings are phase shifted by select amounts from the set of primary windings. The set of primary windings is connected to the input circuit. An AC/DC converter comprises first, second and third three-phase rectifiers, the first three-phase rectifier is powered by the first set of secondary windings, the second three-phase rectifier is powered by the second set of secondary windings, and the third three-phase rectifier is powered by the input circuit. An output circuit is connected between the AC/DC converter and a DC load.
US09154043B2
A power source device that outputs a DC voltage includes a rectification unit configured to rectify an input pulse voltage, a voltage-current conversion unit disposed on a side where the pulse voltage is input into the rectification unit, a current-voltage conversion unit configured to convert a current from the voltage-current conversion unit into a voltage, and a comparison unit configured to compare the voltage from the current-voltage conversion unit with a reference voltage. An operation of the rectification unit is controlled based on an output from the comparison unit.
US09154037B2
A current-mode buck converter is disclosed, wherein the current-mode buck converter operates in a pulse width modulation (PWM) mode or a pulse frequency modulation (PFM) mode. When the current-mode buck converter enters into the PFM mode, the voltage level of the parking voltage is maintained at the voltage level of compensation voltage, so as to decrease switch loss of the current-mode buck converter operating between PWM mode and PFM mode, and stabilize the output voltage of the current-mode buck converter.
US09154028B2
An apparatus for controlling a charge pump includes a current sensor arranged to output a current sense signal that is linearly proportional to an output current of the charge pump, and an oscillator that provides a clock signal for the charge pump. The oscillator receives the current sense signal and uses it to vary an oscillation frequency of the clock signal. An amplitude of the clock signal also may be varied in response to the current sense signal.
US09154026B2
Described is an apparatus which comprises: a low-side switch coupled to an output node for providing regulated voltage supply; and a first driver operable to cause the low-side switch to turn off when the output node rises above a first transistor threshold voltage. Described is also a voltage regulator which comprises: a signal generator to generate a pulse-width modulated (PWM) signal; a bridge having a low-side switch coupled to an output node for providing regulated voltage supply according to the PWM signal; a first driver operable to cause the low-side switch to turn off when the output node rises above a first transistor threshold voltage; and a bridge controller to provide control signals to the first driver. The voltage regulator may operate without diode clamps and its operation is self-timed. The voltage regulator also provides tolerance against process variation.
US09154023B2
In a spinning processing method of processing cylindrical parts includes: joining at least two sheets of metal plates by bring together sheet surfaces of the metal plates; rotating the metal plates using a rotating shaft that is arranged perpendicular to the sheet surfaces of the metal plates; applying a separating and deforming force at a coupling position on a periphery of the at least two sheets of the metal plates to separate and deform the metal plates while the at least two sheets of the metal plates rotate; and applying a cylinder forming force to at least one of the metal plates to form a cylinder along the rotating shaft.
US09154022B2
An alternator includes a B+ bolt, rectifier B+ terminals, a bus having bends respectively surrounding ones of the rectifier B+ terminals and having an end formed into a ring terminal, and a stop, where the bus ring terminal is placed onto the B+ bolt and a load cable ring terminal may be placed onto the B+ bolt in direct contact with the bus ring terminal and secured thereto by the stop. A method of connecting B+ on an alternator includes bending a copper bus conductor so that one side of the bus conductor surrounds and abuts each of the rectifier B+ terminals, shaping one end of the bus conductor into a ring terminal, and placing the ring terminal of the bus conductor onto the B+ stud. A method includes coupling the B+ terminals and the B+ stud together with a copper bus conductor, and cooling the copper bus conductor.
US09154016B2
A sorting machine comprising propulsion devices installed on ground and at least a train of interconnected carriages provided with supporting wheels including electrical alternators to supply electrical power onboard. The alternators are housed within the wheels which comprise a fixed inner ring bearing stator windings made integral with a fork supporting the wheel and a rotative outer ring hosting permanent magnets and spinning around a shaft in front of the windings. The generator wheels, when driven by the sorting machine motion, supply small contributions of electrical power which are added up into the electrical distribution bus, a cable that is common to all the interconnected carriages of the sorting machine. Small contributions add up to several kw of power amount available and the carriage servos are able to take advantage of the available power to activate the belt units in order to load parcels and sort to destinations.
US09154013B2
An electric motor has a stator, a shaft and a rotor. The stator has an annular yoke portion; a plurality of stator teeth inwardly extending from the yoke portion; stator windings wound on the stator teeth; and a molded member made of heat conductive plastic material. The molded member has a plurality of fins arranged on an outer wall of the yoke portion, a covering portion disposed in the spaces between adjacent stator teeth, and two connecting portions respectively located at axially outer end faces of the yoke portion and connected to the covering portion and the fins. The covering portion covers an inner wall of the yoke portion and the stator windings, and connects to the fins via the connecting portions. Heat generated by the stator windings is transmitted to the fins via the covering portion and the connecting portions, where it is dissipated.
US09154007B2
A laminated rotor for an electric machine is disclosed. In an embodiment, the rotor comprises a plurality of stacked laminations. Each lamination includes a plurality of radially extending slots arranged about a circumference thereof, and a first chamfer on a surface of each of the slots, wherein the surface mates with a wedge. The first chamfer connects the surface and a first face of the lamination. A stud member passes longitudinally through a hole in the lamination stack, a first end flange member on a first end of the lamination stack, and a second end flange member on a second end of the lamination stack. A first fastener is affixed to a first end of each of the at least one stud member; and a second fastener affixed to a second end of each of the at least one stud member.
US09154002B2
A wireless power supply system that detects communications in the input power to the switching circuit. In this aspect of the invention, the wireless power supply includes a detector for generating a signal indicative of the current in the input to the switching circuitry, a band-pass filter for filtering the detected signal, an amplifier for amplifying the filtered signal, a filter for filtering the amplified signal and a comparator for converting the final signal into a stream of high and low signals that can be passed to a controller for processing as binary data stream. In a second aspect, the wireless power supply system includes a detector for generating a signal that varies in dependence on changes in the phase relationship between the current and the voltage in the primary-side tank circuit, a band-pass filter for filtering the signal, an amplifier for amplifying the filtered signal, a filter for filtering the amplified signal and a comparator for converting the final signal into a stream of high and low signals that can be passed to a controller for processing as binary data stream.
US09153992B2
The present invention discloses a power bank circuit. The power bank circuit includes a charger circuit, a battery circuit, a power conversion circuit, a temperature detecting circuit and a current distribution circuit. The charger circuit receives an input voltage and provides a charging current to the battery circuit. The power conversion circuit converts a battery voltage to an output voltage and provides an output current. The temperature detecting circuit detects the temperature of the packaged structure. When the temperature of the packaged structure exceeds a first predetermined temperature, the current distribution circuit first reduces the output current. When the temperature of the packaged structure exceeds a second predetermined temperature, the current distribution circuit then reduces the charging current.
US09153991B2
In one embodiment, an electrochemical battery system performs optimized charging of a battery. The electrochemical battery system includes at least one electrochemical cell, a memory storing command instructions, and a controller operably connected to the memory and a current source. The controller executes the command instructions to generate a first prediction of at least one state parameter corresponding to an internal state of the at least one electrochemical cell in the event that a first input current is applied to the at least one electrochemical cell for a predetermined time based upon a present state of the at least one state parameter in the electrochemical cell, determine a second input current based on the first prediction and at least one predetermined state parameter constraint, and control the current source to apply the second input current to the at least one electrochemical cell.
US09153990B2
A system and method for identifying and responding to exceptional charge events of series-connected energy storage elements. An exceptional charge event detector for an energy storage system having a plurality of series-connected battery elements, comprising: a data acquisition system determining, for each battery element of the plurality of series-connected battery elements, a series of charge dependent parameters during an operational period of the energy storage system; a controller, coupled to said data acquisition system, establishing a characterization for each battery element of the plurality of series-connected battery elements from said series of charge dependent parameters; wherein said characterization includes either a normal characteristic pattern or an exceptional characteristic pattern for each time segment of a plurality of time segments spanning said operational period; and wherein said controller detects an exceptional charge event for a selected one battery element whenever said characterization for said selected one battery element includes an exceptional characteristic pattern in any particular time segment where a normal characteristic pattern is expected.
US09153978B2
A portable battery box is described. The portable battery box is suitable for charging and housing a battery and comprises: a charging apparatus for charging a battery; a hollow lid shell and a hollow base shell for housing a rechargeable battery, the base hollow shell including a base wall, a top wall and at least one side wall extending between the base and top walls; and at least one handle disposed in a respective one of the side walls of the hollow base shell. Also described is a method for monitoring the charging of a battery in use disposed within a battery box, the method including the steps of: measuring first charging and/or discharging parameters at selected time intervals; estimating selected other charging parameters at selected time intervals; and displaying the first and other charging or discharging parameters on a display screen associated with the battery box, the charging or discharging parameters being selected from the group consisting of: battery voltage; charging cycle; time to charge completion; time to discharge completion; condition of the battery; battery charging current; battery discharging current.
US09153976B2
A temperature control system for a battery in an energy storage system is disclosed. In one aspect, the temperature control system includes a circuit configured to determine that the temperature of the battery has been maintained below a normal operation temperature for a predetermined duration. The circuit is further configured to alternatingly repeat charging and discharging operations using a winding in a primary side of an inverter to generate reactive current to flow in opposite directions through the battery until the temperature of the battery is restored to the normal operation temperature.
US09153966B2
Provided are charging/discharging spots which are connected to a power grid and which charge storage batteries of electric vehicles connected thereto and discharge charged power of the storage batteries to the power grid; a data center which collects and stores current position information of electric vehicles located in a territory and charging state information of storage batteries of the electric vehicles; and a power aggregator which ranks degrees of necessity of charging/discharging the storage batteries of the respective electric vehicles based on the stored position information, the charging state information of the storage batteries and position information of the charging/discharging spots and creates a ranking list indicating the ranks. The power aggregator distributes information for guiding each of the electric vehicles to a designated one of the charging/discharging spots for charging or discharging in accordance with the ranking list. Accordingly, moving electric vehicles can be guided to charging/discharging spots, so that power charged/discharged on the power grid side can be kept more surely.
US09153959B2
A phase detection circuit includes first to third power input modules, first to third power input terminals, an alarm module, first to fifth electronic switches, and a power management module. The power input modules are used to convert pulse signals from a multi-phase power supply into direct current voltages and output the direct current voltages to the first to third electronic switches. When the multi-phase power supply operates abnormally, no direct current voltages are output to the first to third electronic switches and the alarm module alarms.
US09153957B2
The present invention relates to an electrostatic discharge protection device. The electrostatic discharge protection device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate, an electrostatic discharge absorbing layer having a plating film formed on the substrate, electrodes disposed on the substrate to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined interval with the electrostatic discharge absorbing layer interposed therebetween, and an insulating layer for covering the substrate and the electrodes.
US09153955B2
An isolator 10 is formed with an isolation transformer 13 that blocks an abnormal voltage entering from a communication line 30 and protects a protection target device 40. A pulse transformer 43 in the device 40 includes a primary winding 43a connected to a secondary winding 13b of the transformer 13 and a secondary winding 43b connected to an inner circuit. A medium tap of the primary winding 43a is grounded through an inner capacitance Ci of the device 40. A parasitic capacitance Cs between the primary winding 13a and the secondary winding 13b of the transformer 13 and the inner capacitance Ci are connected in series, an abnormal voltage is divided by the capacitance Cs and the capacitance Ci, and a capacitance value of the capacitance Cs is set such that the divided voltage of the capacitance Ci is equal to or below a predetermined value.
US09153953B2
There is provided a fault detection apparatus including an open/close unit configured to open/close an electric path to pass a direct current forward, a reverse-current detector configured to detect a reverse current running through the electric path backward, and an opening unit configured to open the open/close unit when the reverse current is detected by the reverse-current detector.
US09153934B2
A fundamental wavelength light generating unit generates light of a fundamental wavelength in accordance with an output wavelength instruction signal. An optical amplifier unit amplifies the light of the fundamental wavelength. A wavelength converting part includes nonlinear optical crystals that each perform wavelength conversion and temperature regulators that each regulate the temperature of the corresponding nonlinear optical crystal, wherein the wavelength converting part converts the light amplified by the optical amplifier unit to light of the wavelength indicated by the output wavelength instruction signal. A storage unit stores correspondence information that indicates a correspondence relationship between the wavelength of the output light and the temperature of each of the nonlinear optical crystals based on the corresponding wavelength. A control unit controls each of the temperature regulators such that the temperature of the corresponding nonlinear optical crystal reaches the temperature to be set in accordance with the output wavelength instruction signal.
US09153933B2
The present invention relates to a crystal fiber, and more particularly to a Ti: sapphire crystal fiber, a manufacturing method thereof, and a wide band light source with the same. The Ti: sapphire single crystal is grown by means of laser-heated pedestal growth (LHPG) method into a crystal fiber of a predetermined diameter. The as-grown crystal fiber is annealed for enhancing its fluorescence and reducing the infra-red residual absorption. The annealed crystal fiber is inserted into a glass capillary and is grown into a single-clad crystal fiber. The wide band light source comprises: a pumping source for providing a pumping light; a single-clad Ti: sapphire crystal fiber for absorbing the pumping light and emitting the wide band light.
US09153931B2
The present invention uses a laser apparatus capable of selecting a wavelength of light to be outputted from a plurality of wavelengths, including: a branching unit which is formed of a polarizer and is configured to branch an optical path formed in a resonator including a reflecting unit having a plurality of fixed reflecting planes and an output mirror, into a plurality of optical paths, thereby forming a common optical path having an end defined by the output mirror and a plurality of optical path branches each having an end defined by any one of the reflecting planes; a laser medium disposed in the common optical path; and a selecting unit configured to select, from the plurality of optical path branches, an optical path branch which corresponds to a wavelength of light to be outputted.
US09153927B2
A regenerative amplifier according to one aspect of this disclosure is used in combination with a laser device, and the regenerative amplifier may include: a pair of resonator mirrors constituting an optical resonator; a slab amplifier provided between the pair of the resonator mirrors for amplifying a laser beam with a predetermined wavelength outputted from the laser device; and an optical system disposed to configure a multipass optical path along which the laser beam is reciprocated inside the slab amplifier, the optical system transferring an optical image of the laser beam at a first position as an optical image of the laser beam at a second position.
US09153925B2
A dual orientation connector having a connector tab with first and second major opposing surfaces and a plurality of electrical contacts carried by the connector tab. A retainer is positioned at an entrance end of the tab and is overmolded on a portion of a carrier. The carrier has a first portion positioned within the tab, a second portion extending through the retainer and a third portion extending out of the retainer at an angle with respect to the longitudinal plane of the tab. The carrier has a plurality of conductors formed thereon and extending from the first portion to the third portion.
US09153922B2
A multi-application connector includes a mating connection module including an electrical insulating terminal holder, a conducting terminal set and a metal shield and configured subject to a first predetermined electrical connector standard, and an adapter module configured subject to a second predetermined standard and including an electrical insulating terminal holder detachably insertable into the mating connection module, a signal terminal set electrically connectable to the conducting terminal set of the mating connection module and a metal shield surrounding a front tongue block of the electrical insulating terminal holder and signal terminal set of the adapter module.
US09153914B2
A power device including a power circuit assembly, a first plug assembly, and a second plug assembly is described herein. The first plug assembly is coupled to the power circuit assembly for transmitting power from a power source to the power circuit assembly at a first voltage. The second plug assembly is coupled to the power circuit assembly for controllably transmitting power from the power source to the power circuit assembly at a second voltage and at a third voltage.
US09153906B1
A socket connector includes an insulating housing defining an inserting chamber in the front thereof and a receiving groove in the back face thereof, a plurality of conductive terminals disposed in the insulating housing, and a latch. Two sides of the receiving groove further extend forward to form two inserting grooves of which each front end is communicated with the inserting chamber. The latch has a first base plate positioned in the receiving groove. Two opposite side edges of the first base plate are bent and extend forward to form two first clamping portions inserted in the inserting grooves with front ends thereof projecting into the inserting chamber. Two opposite outer sides of the first clamping portions protrude outward to form a pair of bumps located in the rear of the first clamping portions and resisting against outmost two inner sidewalls of the inserting grooves.
US09153903B2
An electrical connector defining a mating direction, includes an insulative housing a plurality of contacts retained in the insulative housing. The insulative housing includes several side walls and a bottom wall connecting the side walls and a mating space surrounded by the side walls and bottom wall. Each contact comprises a contacting portion received in the mating space and a mounting portion protruding perpendicularly from to run through the bottom wall. One of the side walls defines at least an opening and the opening extends along a direction parallel to the contacts and runs through the bottom wall. The opening defines a retaining surface facing to the bottom wall.
US09153895B2
An electrical connector plug having resilient contact terminals electrically connects to an electrical connector socket with a casing and two groups of engaging terminals mounted on or in the casing. The electrical connector plug has an electrically conductive housing. A coupling device extends in a longitudinal direction and has a base portion. Two groups of resilient contact terminals are mounted in the coupling device axially symmetrically arranged with each other in the longitudinal direction, each of which has a flat section and an upwardly protruding contact section. A metallic shield frame is electrically connected to and secured to the electrically conductive housing, having a frame section, a front section, and two lateral protective sections. An electrically conductive section extends from the frame section towards the front section for electrical connection to the casing of the electrical connector socket.
US09153893B2
A terminal block (10) connects terminals (T) at ends of wires extending from a motor and busbars (B) extending from an inverter and includes nuts (20) on which the terminals (T) and the busbars (B) are placed and which fasten the terminals (T) and the busbars (B) together with bolts (BT). A bracket (40) is arranged below the nuts (20), and a resin portion (50) integrally fixes the nuts (20) and the bracket (40). The bracket (40) includes a mounting portion (42) exposed from the resin portion (50) and is fixed to a metal motor case. An embedded portion (41) is embedded in the resin portion (50). The resin portion (50) includes first locks (57) for locking screw grooves (47A) of screw holes (47) on the mounting portion (42) from below, and a second lock (58) for locking an engaging portion 49 on the embedded portion (41) from below.
US09153892B2
A header-side holding metal fitting is provided with lock piece portions, which are movable in a width direction X of a connector (a header housing) relative to a connection piece (a base portion) of the header-side holding metal fitting. The lock piece portions are lockable to lock holes (lock portions) which are formed in regions of a socket housing (a socket body) opposed to the lock piece portions when the socket housing and a header housing (a header body) are in an engaged state.
US09153885B2
A field device is provided. The field device includes field device electronics configured to couple to a transducer. A plurality of terminals is coupled to the field device electronics and is configured to couple the field device to a process communication loop to allow the field device to communicate over the process communication loop. Each of the plurality of terminals is configured to support multiple conductor attachment types.
US09153879B2
An electrical terminal for automotive vehicle connectors comprising a cage extending in a terminal insertion direction between a front opening and a tail. A locking lance extends longitudinally substantially in the insertion direction above the top wall from a joint to a free end. The locking lance is astride an intermediate bar which extends substantially along the insertion direction from a front portion to a rear portion respectively linked to the front end and the rear end of the cage.
US09153878B2
A method is provided for attaching a termination arrangement to a shielded cable which includes a conductive core, a core insulation layer, a conductive shield layer, and an outer insulation layer. A length of the outer insulation layer is removed to expose an end portion of the conductive shield layer and a length of the core insulation layer is removed to expose a portion of the conductive core. The termination assembly is provided having a terminal, a core crimp section in electrical communication with the terminal, and an inner ferrule section connected to the core crimp section. The core crimp section is positioned adjacent to the exposed conductive core and crimped around said conductive core in electrical contact therewith. The inner ferrule section is positioned adjacent to the exposed conductive shield layer and crimped around the core insulation layer. The core crimp section is separated from the inner ferrule section.
US09153877B2
A spacecraft has a high efficiency multi-beam antenna (MBA) system that serves a coverage region on the Earth. The coverage region subtends an angle, when viewed from the spacecraft, of at least ten degrees. The antenna system provides, within the coverage region, at least sixteen spot beams. A signal provided by the MBA system to each spot beam has a carrier to interference ratio (C/I) of no less than 20 dB. The system enables use of a three color frequency reuse scheme without recourse to signal encoding.
US09153872B2
An antenna system including a radiation element retainer device including an attachment element configured to attach a radiation element to the radiation element retainer device. An attachment element attaches one radiation element to the radiation element retainer device. The radiation element retainer device is configured to be arranged with a circuit board carrier, such that the radiation element is electrically connectable to a circuit board, arranged at the circuit board carrier, as the radiation element is fixed on the radiation element retainer device by the attachment elements. The antenna system further includes a main board and a plurality of sets of attachment elements. The attachment elements are integrated formed with the retainer device, such that the attachment elements and the main board include one single piece of material that forms the radiation element retainer device.
US09153868B2
The present invention provides a wireless electronic device including an adaptive antenna unit and a processing unit. The adaptive antenna unit directionally receives data from a first electronic device. The processing unit estimates a feedback time for when the wireless electronic device may receive data from the first electronic device when a predetermined condition is met, and enables the adaptive antenna unit to form a specific radiation field in a specific direction to receive data through the specific radiation field after the feedback time.
US09153863B2
Disclosed are methods and devices of microwave/millimeter wave package application.
US09153854B1
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for receiving and transmitting signals at a balloon. Received signals can be received at the balloon, which can include a payload and an envelope. The envelope can include at least a first antenna section and a second antenna section. Both the first and second antenna sections are configured at least to receive the received signals and convey at least the received signals to the payload. The first antenna section can include a first metallization pattern to receive a first type of signal. The second antenna section can include a second metallization pattern to receive a second type of signal, with the first metallization pattern being different from the second metallization pattern.
US09153844B2
An energy storage system can comprise: an energy storage device and a temperature management device and controller configured for establishing an intra-cell temperature gradient along the axis when the energy storage device is in an idle state. The energy storage device can have an axis and comprise a housing having an axis and an interior surface defining a volume; a separator disposed in the volume and having a first surface that defines at least a portion of a first chamber and a second surface that defines at least a portion of a second chamber; a cathodic material in ionic communication with the separator; and an electrolyte in ionic communication with the cathodic material and the separator. The first chamber can be in ionic communication with the second chamber through the separator.
US09153842B2
A rechargeable lithium battery includes a positive electrode including a positive active material and an activated carbon, a negative electrode including a negative active material, and a lithium salt and a non-aqueous organic solvent, wherein the non-aqueous organic solvent includes about 30 volume % to about 90 volume % of propylene carbonate.
US09153835B2
A button cell includes a housing cup and a housing top separated from one another by an electrically insulating seal and which form a housing with a flat bottom area and a flat top area parallel to it and an electrode-separator assembly within the housing including at least one positive and at least one negative electrode in the form of flat layers and connected to one another by at least one flat separator, wherein the electrode layers are aligned essentially at right angles to the flat bottom and top areas and the button cell is closed without being beaded over.
US09153828B2
A system and method for determining if an RH sensor that measures the relative humidity of cathode inlet air provided to a fuel cell stack or an HFR circuit that measures stack water content is operating properly. The method provides the cathode inlet air through a WVT unit that increases the water content of the cathode inlet air. The method uses a water buffer model for determining the water content of the fuel cell stack based on inputs from a plurality of system components and revises a water transfer model using the HFR humidification signal or the RH signal to correct for WVT unit degradation. The method determines whether the RH sensor or the HFR circuit is operating properly, such as by determining if the HFR humidification signal is increasing at a rate that is faster than what the stack water content is able to increase.
US09153827B2
Even when the atmospheric pressure is lowered, a sufficient amount of oxidant gas is supplied to a fuel cell without causing any failure in a compressor. A control unit judges whether or not both the following conditions are satisfied: the accelerator opening degree detected by an accelerator opening degree sensor is equal to or larger than a predetermined opening degree; and the state where the atmospheric pressure detected by a pressure sensor is equal to or lower than a predetermined pressure value has been maintained for a predetermined time period or longer. If the judgment result is positive, the control unit changes the maximum rotation speed permitted in the compressor from a normal maximum rotation speed to an increased maximum rotation speed. The control unit then judges whether or not a predetermined time period has elapsed from when the maximum rotation speed was changed to the increased maximum rotation speed, and also judges whether or not the state where a discharge temperature of the compressor detected by the temperature sensor is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature has been maintained for a predetermined time or longer. If the result of at least one of these judgments is positive, the control unit returns the maximum rotation speed to the normal maximum rotation speed.
US09153824B2
Described is a functional layer for high-temperature fuel cells and to a method for the production of functional layers. The functional layer is in particular a low-sintering, electrically conductive, ceramic layer which is formed between an interconnector and a cathode of a fuel cell. The functional layer is formed from a material which has at least two phases. A first phase is a perovskite ceramic material containing bismuth-cobalt and a second phase is a bismuth manganite and/or bismuth cobaltite (Bi—Mn—Co—0).
US09153820B2
A binder composition for a non-aqueous battery electrode containing a binder and an ether compound represented by the formula (1), and an electrolyte solution composition for a non-aqueous battery containing an ether compound represented by the formula (1), wherein m and n each independently represent 0 or 1, and R1 represents a divalent linear hydrocarbon group which may have in the bond thereof one or more intervening groups selected from the group consisting of an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, and a carbonyl group.
US09153815B2
A cathode active material is a lithium-rich lithium-containing compound having a bedded salt-type crystal structure. A product SD of a specific surface area S in square meters per gram and a crystallite diameter D in micrometer is equal to or more than about 1.4×10−6 cubic meters per gram.
US09153813B2
A secondary battery including a pouch; an electrode assembly in the pouch, the electrode assembly comprising a first electrode plate, a second electrode plate and a separator between the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate; and a first electrode tab and a second electrode tab extending from the electrode assembly, wherein a portion of at least one of the first electrode tab or the second electrode tab protruding from the pouch is non-planar along its length.
US09153810B2
A cover for a battery module having a plurality of battery cells arranged in a stacked configuration includes a non-conductive main body having a plurality of spaced apart recessed regions formed therein and a plurality of electrically conductive connectors, each of the connectors disposed in one of the recessed regions and coupled to the main body.
US09153806B2
A power source unit includes a battery module including a stack and a coupling member that binds the stack, the stack including a plurality of battery cells aligned, and a container that accommodates therein the battery module. The container includes a projecting portion projecting from an inner wall of the container toward a surface of the battery module, and a top end portion of the projecting portion is located separately from the coupling member.
US09153801B2
A rechargeable battery including an electrode assembly; a case including a cavity, the electrode assembly being in the cavity; a cap plate coupled with an opening of the case; and an electrode terminal extending through a terminal hole of the cap plate, the electrode terminal being electrically insulated from the cap plate and electrically connected to the electrode assembly, wherein the electrode terminal includes a plate terminal disposed on an external surface of the cap plate, and a bolt terminal extending at least partially in and being secured to the plate terminal.
US09153797B2
The present disclosure relates to a large area organic light emitting diode display and a method for manufacturing the same. A photoresist is deposited across first and second pixel areas of the display. The photoresist is patterned to generate a patterned photoresist by stripping away first portions of the photoresist in the first pixel areas while keeping second portions of the photoresist in the second pixel areas. An organic emission layer is deposited across the first and second pixel areas over the patterned photoresist. An electron transport layer is deposited across the first pixel areas and the second pixel areas over the organic emission layer. Portions of the organic emission layer and the electron transport layer in the second pixel areas are removed by stripping away the second portions of the photoresist while keeping portions of the organic emission layer and the electron transport layer in the first pixel areas.
US09153794B2
A low temperature, low cost method of encapsulating organic light emitting diodes (OLED) that avoids damage to the OLED device. A metal passivation layer is formed using a plasma, UV-ozone, or wet chemical treatment, wherein the metal passivation layer serves to encapsulate and protect the OLED from moisture and oxygen. Alternatively, a buffer layer and a metal layer are formed onto the OLED and the metal layer is treated using a plasma, UV-ozone, or wet chemical treatment, to form a metal passivation layer that serves to encapsulate and protect the OLED from moisture and oxygen.
US09153790B2
An organic electroluminescence device including an anode, an emitting layer, a blocking layer, an electron-injecting layer and a cathode in sequential order; wherein the emitting layer contains a host and a dopant which gives fluorescent emission of which the main peak wavelength is 550 nm or less; the affinity Ad of the dopant is smaller than the affinity Ah of the host; the triplet energy ETd of the dopant is larger than the triplet energy ETh of the host; the triplet energy ETb of the blocking layer is larger than ETh; and the blocking layer includes an aromatic hydrocarbon compound.
US09153789B2
An organic transistor is provided with: an insulating substrate; a pair of insulating pedestals (2, 3) that are arranged spaced apart from each other on the substrate and that form respectively raised flat surfaces; a source electrode (4) provided on the raised flat surface formed on one of the pedestals; a drain electrode (5) provided on the raised flat surface formed on the other pedestal; a gate electrode (6) provided on the substrate between the pair of pedestals; and an organic semiconductor layer (7) arranged in contact with the upper surfaces of the source electrode and the drain electrode. The gate electrode and the lower surface of the organic semiconductor layer vertically oppose each other across a gap region (8), and the side surfaces of the pedestals facing the gap region are shaped such that the lower side edges recede apart from the gate electrode with respect to the upper side edges. A contact resistance between the source and drain electrodes and the organic semiconductor layer is reduced, high-speed response performance is enhanced by shortening the channel, and short-circuits between the source and drain electrodes and the gate electrode, which accompany shortening of the channel, can be avoided.
US09153782B2
To provide a method of efficiently manufacturing an organic light-emitting element with excellent light-emitting characteristics by application, the method includes: preparing ink and filling an inkjet device having an ink ejection nozzle with ink; preparing a substrate having a base layer including a first electrode; and positioning the inkjet device above the substrate, and causing the inkjet device to eject a drop of the ink onto the base layer, wherein, in the preparation of the ink, a value Z denoting a reciprocal of the Ohnesorge number Oh determined by density ρ (g/dm3), surface tension γ (mN/m), and viscosity η (mPa·s) of the ink and a diameter r (mm) of the ink ejection nozzle satisfies Formula 1, in the ejection of the drop of the ink, speed V (m/s) of the ejected drop satisfies Formula 2, and the value Z and the speed V (m/s) satisfy Formula 3.
US09153769B2
A center of a multi-layer piezoelectric element is an active region and deforms to a greater degree than ends thereof which is an inactive region during driving operation, and is therefore more susceptible to stress concentration and crack development. To address this problem, a multi-layer piezoelectric element includes a columnar stacked body in which piezoelectric layers and internal electrode layers are alternately laminated, and a pair of external electrodes configured to bond to side faces of the columnar stacked body, wherein a side face of the columnar stacked body is configured so that a surface roughness of a center of the side face in a stacked direction of the columnar stacked body is greater than those of ends of the side face in the stacked direction of the columnar stacked body. This makes it possible to relax the stress exerted on the side face of the columnar stacked body, and thereby enhance the durability of the multi-layer piezoelectric element.
US09153768B2
Provided is piezoelectric/electrostrictive body generating large electric-field-induced strain, and having high durability with respect to an electric field having a direction opposite to a polarization direction. A composition of piezoelectric/electrostrictive ceramics is represented by a general formula Pba{ZnbSbc(ZrdTi1-d)1-b-c}O3. As for a, b, c, and d, 0.985≦a≦0.998, 0.010≦b≦0.040, 0.025≦c≦0.090, 0.460≦d≦0.510, and 2.125≦c/b≦3.000 are satisfied. An accessory component containing at least one element selected from the group consisting of Mn, Cr, Fe, and a rare-earth element may be added to a main component. An additive amount of the at least one element relative to 100 parts by weight of the main component is 0.3 parts by weight or less in terms of an oxide.
US09153764B2
An apparatus including a piezoelectric substrate configured to propagate a surface acoustic wave; and a transducer, coupled to the piezoelectric substrate, including at least one graphene electrode configured to transduce a propagating surface acoustic wave to an electrical signal.
US09153747B2
A light-emitting element includes a light-emitting stack which has an active layer, and a non-oxide insulative layer below the light-emitting stack, wherein a refractive index of the non-oxide insulative layer is less than 1.4.
US09153745B2
A Light Emitting Diode (LED) package and a method of manufacturing the same. The LED package includes a substrate. The substrate defines therein a cavity having a tapered shape, a stepped portion formed on the upper end of the cavity, and a through hole formed in the bottom of the cavity. A conductive film fills the through-hole and is formed on the bottom and the side surfaces of the cavity. An LED has a fluorescent layer thereon, and is flip-chip bonded onto the conductive film. An encapsulant encapsulates the cavity. A Zener diode or a rectifier is provided on the silicon substrate.
US09153744B2
A light-emitting element includes a semiconductor portion, an upper electrode and a lower electrode. The upper electrode includes a plurality of first external connectors, a plurality of second external connectors, a first inward elongated portion extending from each of the first external connectors, a second inward elongated portion extending from each of the second external connectors, a first outward elongated portion extending from each of the first external connectors toward a side opposite to a side where the second external connectors are disposed, and connecting two first external connectors next to each other, and a second outward elongated portion extending from each of the second external connectors toward a side opposite to a side where the first external connectors are disposed, and connecting two second external connectors next to each other.
US09153741B1
To improve light extraction efficiency of a deep ultraviolet light-emitting diode (DUVLED), a typical LED element has a single crystal substrate made of sapphire or AlN, The ultraviolet layer is arranged as a film stack having an n-type conductive layer, a recombination layer, and a p-type conductive layer. A stack of a p-type contact layer and a reflective electrode is disposed on the p-type conductive layer. The ultraviolet emission layer and a p-type contact layer are made of mixed crystal of AlN and GaN. The transmittance for the emission wavelength of the p-type contact layer is increased, and the light extraction efficiency is improved. Also an LED element whose p-type contact layer is configured in a layered structure and whose reflective electrode is patterned is provided. Moreover, an electric appliance having such LED elements is provided.
US09153734B2
A method of fabricating a semiconductor structure involves forming an anisotropic nanocrystalline core from a first semiconductor material, the anisotropic nanocrystalline core having an aspect ratio between, but not including, 1.0 and 2.0, and forming a nanocrystalline shell from a second, different, semiconductor material to at least partially surround the anisotropic nanocrystalline core.
US09153731B2
A tight confinement nanocrystal comprises a homogeneous center region having a first composition and a smoothly varying region having a second composition wherein a confining potential barrier monotonically increases and then monotonically decreases as the smoothly varying region extends from the surface of the homogeneous center region to an outer surface of the nanocrystal. A method of producing the nanocrystal comprises forming a first solution by combining a solvent and at most two nanocrystal precursors; heating the first solution to a nucleation temperature; adding to the first solution, a second solution having a solvent, at least one additional and different precursor to form the homogeneous center region and at most an initial portion of the smoothly varying region; and lowering the solution temperature to a growth temperature to complete growth of the smoothly varying region.
US09153730B2
A method of doping solar cell front contact can improve the efficiency of CdTe-based or other kinds of solar cells.
US09153726B1
A photodetector detects the absence or presence of light by detecting a change in the inductance of a coil. The magnetic field generated when a current flows through the coil passes through an electron-hole generation region. Charged particles in the electron-hole generation region come under the influence of the magnetic field, and generate eddy currents whose magnitudes depend on whether light is absent or present. The eddy currents generate a magnetic field that opposes the magnetic field generated by current flowing through the coil.
US09153717B2
A method for forming a backside illuminated photo-sensitive device includes forming a gradated sacrificial buffer layer onto a sacrificial substrate, forming a uniform layer onto the gradated sacrificial buffer layer, forming a second gradated buffer layer onto the uniform layer, forming a silicon layer onto the second gradated buffer layer, bonding a device layer to the silicon layer, and removing the gradated sacrificial buffer layer and the sacrificial substrate.
US09153714B2
A photoelectric conversion device according to an exemplary embodiment includes a first substrate, a photoelectric conversion layer disposed above the first substrate, a second substrate which is different from the first substrate and disposed on the photoelectric conversion layer, and a nano pillar layer disposed above the second substrate in which the nano pillar layer includes a plurality of nano pillars which is spaced apart from each other, so as to easily absorb the light.
US09153707B2
An embodiment of the invention provides a chip package which includes: a semiconductor substrate having a first surface and a second surface; a device region disposed in the semiconductor substrate; a dielectric layer disposed on the first surface of the semiconductor substrate; a conducting pad structure disposed in the dielectric layer and electrically connected to the device region, a carrier substrate disposed on the dielectric layer; and a conducting structure disposed in a bottom surface of the carrier substrate and electrically contacting with the conducting pad structure.
US09153702B2
The semiconductor device includes a first conductive layer over a substrate; an oxide semiconductor layer which covers the first conductive layer; a second conductive layer in a region which is not overlapped with the first conductive layer over the oxide semiconductor layer; an insulating layer which covers the oxide semiconductor layer and the second conductive layer; and a third conductive layer in a region including at least a region which is not overlapped with the first conductive layer or the second conductive layer over the insulating layer.
US09153695B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure are a FinFET device, and methods of forming a FinFET device. An embodiment is a method for forming a FinFET device, the method comprising forming a semiconductor strip over a semiconductor substrate, wherein the semiconductor strip is disposed in a dielectric layer, forming a gate over the semiconductor strip and the dielectric layer, and forming a first recess and a second recess in the semiconductor strip, wherein the first recess is on an opposite side of the gate from the second recess. The method further comprises forming a source region in the first recess and a drain region in the second recess, and recessing the dielectric layer, wherein a first portion of the semiconductor strip extends above a top surface of the dielectric layer forming a semiconductor fin.
US09153679B2
A silicon-controlled rectification device with high efficiency is disclosed, which comprises a P-type region surrounding an N-type region. A first P-type heavily doped area is arranged in the N-type region and connected with a high-voltage terminal. A plurality of second N-type heavily doped areas is arranged in the N-type region. A plurality of second P-type heavily doped areas is closer to the second N-type heavily doped areas than the first N-type heavily doped area and arranged in the P-type region. At least one third N-type heavily doped area is arranged in the P-type region and connected with a low-voltage terminal. Alternatively or in combination, the second N-type heavily doped areas and the second P-type heavily doped areas are respectively arranged in the P-type region and the N-type region.
US09153677B2
An IGBT is disclosed with a high emitter-gate capacitance, wherein an active cell region can include plural emitter and gate regions. A termination edge region can include a varied lateral doping region VLD. Each gate polysilicon layer can be arranged at a surface of the semiconductor substrate in the gate regions, separated from the semiconductor substrate by a first insulating layer. A first SIPOS layer and a covering second insulating layer overlie at least portions of the gate polysilicon layer. In a central area, the gate polysilicon layer is in electrical contact with the overlying first SIPOS layer whereas, in a peripheral area, the gate polysilicon layer is electrically separated from the overlying first SIPOS layer. A substrate surface at the VLD region is in electrical contact with a second SIPOS layer, and an increased gate-emitter capacitance may be achieved by slightly modifying etch masks during manufacturing.
US09153674B2
A semiconductor device is disclosed. One embodiment provides a cell area and a junction termination area at a first side of a semiconductor zone of a first conductivity type. At least one first region of a second conductivity type is formed at a second side of the semiconductor zone. The at least one first region is opposed to the cell area region. At least one second region of the second conductivity type is formed at the second side of the semiconductor zone. The at least one second region is opposed to the cell area region and has a lateral dimension smaller than the at least first region.
US09153646B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a structural body, an insulating film, and a control electrode. The structural body has a first surface, and includes a first semiconductor region including silicon carbide of a first conductivity type, a second semiconductor region including silicon carbide of a second conductivity type, and a third semiconductor region including silicon carbide of the first conductivity type. The structural body has a portion in which the first semiconductor region, the second semiconductor region, and the third semiconductor region are arranged in this order in a first direction along the first surface. The insulating film is provided on the first surface of the structural body. The control electrode is provided on the insulating film. The structural body has a buried region provided between the second semiconductor region and the first surface. The buried region is doped with a group V element.
US09153644B2
A method of fabricating an electronic apparatus includes forming an active layer over a wafer, forming a backscatter layer over the wafer, and directing radiation toward the wafer to anneal the active layer. The backscatter layer is not transparent to the radiation, more reflective than absorptive of the radiation, and positioned such that the backscatter layer inhibits exposure of the wafer to the radiation apart from the active layer.
US09153641B2
Disclosed is a wafer level package having a cylindrical capacitor, which is capable of increasing electrostatic capacity thanks to the use of a cylindrical capacitor structure and which includes a wafer chip having a bonding pad formed thereon and an insulating layer formed thereon and exposing the bonding pad, a redistribution layer connected to the bonding pad and extending to one side of the insulating layer, a cylindrical outer electrode connected to the redistribution layer and having a center opening therein, a cylindrical inner electrode formed in the center opening of the outer electrode so as to be separated from the outer electrode, a dielectric layer formed between the outer electrode and the inner electrode, and a resin sealing portion formed on the insulating layer to cover the redistribution layer, the inner electrode, the outer electrode and the dielectric layer and having a first recess for exposing an upper surface of the inner electrode. A method of fabricating the wafer level package having a cylindrical capacitor is also provided.
US09153635B2
There is provided a light emitting display apparatus including at least a light emitting element and a thin film transistor (TFT) for driving the light emitting element, characterized in that a mechanism is provided in which a semiconductor constituting the TFT is irradiated with at least a part of light whose wavelength is longer than a predetermined wavelength among the light emitted by the light emitting element.
US09153630B2
Provided is a light-emitting device and an information processing device which include a light-emitting element mounted on a housing and an optical component detachable from the housing. The optical component is capable of condensing light emitted from the light-emitting element. This structure allows a user to select the emission of diffused light and condensed light by attaching or detaching the optical component.
US09153622B2
Disclosed is a light emitting device including a light emitting structure including a plurality of light emitting regions including a first semiconductor layer, an active layer and a second semiconductor layer, and a plurality of boundary regions disposed between the light emitting regions, a first electrode unit disposed on the first semiconductor layer in one of the light emitting regions, a second electrode unit disposed on the second semiconductor layer in another of the light emitting regions, at least one connection electrode to electrically connect the first semiconductor layer of one of adjacent light emitting regions to the second semiconductor layer of the other thereof, and an intermediate pad disposed on the first semiconductor layer or the second semiconductor layer in at least one of the light emitting regions, wherein the light emitting regions are connected in series through the connection electrode.
US09153619B2
In a CMOS image sensor in which a plurality of pixels is arranged in a matrix, a transistor in which a channel formation region includes an oxide semiconductor is used for each of a charge accumulation control transistor and a reset transistor which are in a pixel portion. After a reset operation of the signal charge accumulation portion is performed in all the pixels arranged in the matrix, a charge accumulation operation by the photodiode is performed in all the pixels, and a read operation of a signal from the pixel is performed per row. Accordingly, an image can be taken without a distortion.
US09153610B2
A solid-state image sensor comprising a pixel array in which a plurality of pixels are arrayed in a matrix having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, wherein the pixel array includes a first wiring layer and a second wiring layer arranged above the first wiring layer, the first wiring layer includes first column signal lines arranged at the respective columns of the pixel array, and the second wiring layer includes second column signal lines arranged at the respective columns of the pixel array.
US09153609B2
Embodiments of a hybrid imaging sensor that optimizes a pixel array area on a substrate using a stacking scheme for placement of related circuitry with minimal vertical interconnects between stacked substrates and associated features are disclosed. Embodiments of maximized pixel array size/die size (area optimization) are disclosed, and an optimized imaging sensor providing improved image quality, improved functionality, and improved form factors for specific applications common to the industry of digital imaging are also disclosed. Embodiments of the above may include systems, methods and processes for staggering ADC or column circuit bumps in a column or sub-column hybrid image sensor using vertical interconnects are also disclosed.
US09153602B2
An object is to improve reliability of a semiconductor device. A semiconductor device including a driver circuit portion and a display portion (also referred to as a pixel portion) over the same substrate is provided. The driver circuit portion and the display portion include thin film transistors in which a semiconductor layer includes an oxide semiconductor; a first wiring; and a second wiring. The thin film transistors each include a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer. In the thin film transistor in the driver circuit portion, the semiconductor layer is sandwiched between a gate electrode layer and a conductive layer. The first wiring and the second wiring are electrically connected to each other in an opening provided in a gate insulating film through an oxide conductive layer.
US09153601B2
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a gate electrode, an insulating layer, a source electrode, a drain electrode, a semiconductor channel layer, a first passivation layer and a second passivation layer. The gate is formed on the substrate. The insulating layer covers the gate electrode. The source electrode and the drain electrode are positioned on the insulating layer. The semiconductor channel layer is disposed on the insulating layer, and connects the source electrode and the drain electrode. The first passivation layer covers the source electrode, the drain electrode and the semiconductor channel layer. The first passivation layer includes silicon oxide. The second passivation layer is disposed on the first passivation layer. The second passivation layer includes silicon nitride that has a hydrogen concentration of about 2.0×1022 atom/cm3 to about 3.11×1022 atom/cm3.
US09153598B2
A semiconductor device that includes a plurality of first conductive patterns stacked over a substrate, dummy patterns formed in the first conductive patterns, respectively, first barrier patterns each surrounding the respective first conductive patterns and partially interposed between the respective first conductive patterns and the respective dummy patterns, second barrier patterns each surrounding the respective first barrier patterns and the respective dummy patterns, a second conductive pattern located over or under the first conductive patterns, and a third barrier pattern surrounding the second conductive pattern, wherein the second conductive pattern has a greater thickness than the first conductive patterns.
US09153597B2
The inventive concept provides methods of manufacturing three-dimensional semiconductor devices. In some embodiments, the methods include forming a stack structure including sacrificial layers and insulation layers, forming a trench penetrating the stack structure, forming a hydrophobic passivation element on the surfaces of the insulation layers that were exposed by the trench and selectively removing the sacrificial layers.
US09153589B2
The semiconductor device includes a source line, a bit line, a signal line, a word line, memory cells connected in parallel between the source line and the bit line, a first driver circuit electrically connected to the source line and the bit line through switching elements, a second driver circuit electrically connected to the source line through a switching element, a third driver circuit electrically connected to the signal line, and a fourth driver circuit electrically connected to the word line. The memory cell includes a first transistor including a first gate electrode, a first source electrode, and a first drain electrode, a second transistor including a second gate electrode, a second source electrode, and a second drain electrode, and a capacitor. The second transistor includes an oxide semiconductor material.
US09153584B2
A transistor device is provided that includes a substrate, a first channel region formed in a first portion of the substrate and being doped with a dopant of a first type of conductivity, a second channel region formed in a second portion of the substrate and being doped with a dopant of a second type of conductivity, a gate insulating layer formed on the first channel region and on the second channel region, a dielectric capping layer formed on the gate insulating layer, a first gate region formed on the dielectric capping layer over the first channel region, and a second gate region formed on the dielectric capping layer over the second channel region, wherein the first gate region and the second gate region are made of the same material, and wherein one of the first gate region and the second gate region comprises an ion implantation.
US09153577B2
Provided is a method of fabricating a nonvolatile memory device. The method of fabricating a nonvolatile memory device, the method comprising: sequentially stacking a first interlayer insulating film, a first sacrificial film, a second interlayer insulating film, and a second sacrificial film on a semiconductor substrate; forming a first penetrating portion, which exposes a region of a top surface of the semiconductor substrate, by etching the first and second interlayer insulating films and the first and second sacrificial films; forming an epitaxial layer on the exposed region of the top surface of the semiconductor substrate in the first penetrating portion by epitaxial growth; forming a first electrode, which contacts a resistance change film and the epitaxial layer, in the first penetrating portion; exposing regions of side surfaces of the epitaxial layer by removing the first epitaxial film; forming an insulating film inside the exposed regions of the side surfaces of the epitaxial layer; and forming a second electrode on the exposed regions of the side surfaces of the epitaxial layer.
US09153575B2
When a semiconductor substrate of a semiconductor device is viewed from above, an isolation region, an IGBT region, and a diode region are all formed adjacent to each other. A deep region that is connected to a body region and an anode region is formed in the isolation region. A drift region is formed extending across the isolation region, the IGBT region, and the diode region, inside the semiconductor substrate. A collector region that extends across the isolation region, the IGBT region and the diode region, and a cathode region positioned in the diode region, are formed in a region exposed on a lower surface of the semiconductor substrate. A boundary between the collector region and the cathode region is in the diode region, in a cross-section that cuts across a boundary between the isolation region and the diode region, and divides the isolation region and the diode region. The collector region formed in the isolation region has a higher dopant impurity concentration than the collector region in the IGBT region.
US09153570B2
An electrostatic discharge tolerant device includes a semiconductor body having a first conductivity type, and a pad. A surrounding well having a second conductivity type is laid out in a ring to surround an area for an electrostatic discharge circuit in the semiconductor body. The surrounding well is relatively deep, and in addition to defining the area for the electrostatic discharge circuit, provides the first terminal of a diode formed with the semiconductor body. Within the area surrounded by the surrounding well, a diode coupled to the pad and a transistor coupled to the voltage reference are connected in series and form a parasitic device in the semiconductor body.
US09153565B2
A device includes a first chip including an image sensor therein, and a second chip bonded to the first chip. The second chip includes a logic device selected from the group consisting essentially of a reset transistor, a selector, a row selector, and combinations thereof therein. The logic device and the image sensor are electrically coupled to each other, and are parts of a same pixel unit.
US09153556B2
The adhesive sheet for manufacturing a semiconductor device is an adhesive sheet for manufacturing a semiconductor device used when a semiconductor element is adhered to an adherend and the semiconductor element is wire-bonded, and is a peelable adhesive sheet in which the 180 degree peeling adhesive strength against a silicon wafer is 5 (N/25 mm width) or less.
US09153555B2
A method and structure are provided to enable wire bond connections over active and/or passive devices and/or low-k dielectrics, formed on an Integrated Circuit die. A semiconductor substrate having active and/or passive devices is provided, with interconnect metallization formed over the active and/or passive devices. A passivation layer formed over the interconnect metallization is provided, wherein openings are formed in the passivation layer to an upper metal layer of the interconnect metallization. Compliant metal bond pads are formed over the passivation layer, wherein the compliant metal bond pads are connected through the openings to the upper metal layer, and wherein the compliant metal bond pads are formed substantially over the active and/or passive devices. The compliant metal bond pads may be formed of a composite metal structure.
US09153552B2
An example includes a die package including a microelectronic die having a lower die surface, an upper die surface parallel to the lower die surface, and a die side, the microelectronic die including an active region and an inactive region. The example optionally includes a heat spreader having a lower heat spreader surface, an upper heat spreader surface parallel to the lower heat spreader surface, and at least one heat spreader side, the heat spreader disposed on the upper surface of the microelectronic die in thermal communication with the inactive region of the die and electrically insulated from the active region. The example optionally includes an encapsulation material encapsulating the die side and the heat spreader side and lower heat spreader surface, the encapsulation material including a lower surface substantially parallel to the die lower surface and an upper surface substantially parallel to the die upper surface.
US09153545B2
A light-emitting element according to the present invention includes a semiconductor light-emitting element having a front surface and a rear surface so that light is extracted from the rear surface, and having a first n-side electrode and a first p-side electrode on the front surface, and a support element having a conductive substrate having a front surface and a rear surface as well as a second n-side electrode and a second p-side electrode formed on the front surface of the conductive substrate, the first n-side electrode and the second n-side electrode, and the first p-side electrode and the second p-side electrode are so bonded to one another respectively that the semiconductor light-emitting element is supported by the support element in a facedown posture downwardly directing the front surface, and the support element has an n-side external electrode and a p-side external electrode formed on the rear surface of the conductive substrate, a conductive via passing through the conductive substrate from the front surface up to the rear surface for electrically connecting the second n-side electrode and the n-side external electrode and/or the second p-side electrode and the p-side external electrode with each other, and an insulating film formed between the via and the conductive substrate to cover the side surface of the via.
US09153544B2
A semiconductor wafer has a plurality of semiconductor die separated by a saw street. The wafer is mounted to dicing tape. The wafer is singulated through the saw street to expose side surfaces of the semiconductor die. An ESD protection layer is formed over the semiconductor die and around the exposed side surfaces of the semiconductor die. The ESD protection layer can be a metal layer, encapsulant film, conductive polymer, conductive ink, or insulating layer covered by a metal layer. The ESD protection layer is singulated between the semiconductor die. The semiconductor die covered by the ESD protection layer are mounted to a temporary carrier. An encapsulant is deposited over the ESD protection layer covering the semiconductor die. The carrier is removed. An interconnect structure is formed over the semiconductor die and encapsulant. The ESD protection layer is electrically connected to the interconnect structure to provide an ESD path.
US09153543B1
In one embodiment a semiconductor package includes a metal lid configured as a shield that effectively surrounds the active circuitry, and thus forms a type of Faraday shield. The lid is electrically coupled to a metalized area located on the surface of the active circuitry, or to an additional metalized die. Appropriate interconnect methods between the lid and the metalized die or metalized area include, but are not restricted to, wire bonding, bumps, tabs, or similar techniques.
US09153541B2
A semiconductor device includes a first insulator film having a first opening, a first wiring layer extending from the first opening onto the first insulator film, a first semiconductor chip mounted on the first insulator film so as to be electrically coupled with the first wiring layer, and a resin portion applied on the first insulation film to cover the first semiconductor chip.
US09153535B1
A line layout method includes: forming i core layers each including a main layer that extends in a first direction and has a first end and a second end, and an end layer that is connected with the first end of the main layer and protrudes in a second direction; forming a first spacer on a sidewall of the core layer; removing the core layers; and forming 2i auxiliary patterns. i is an integer equal to or greater than 1. The auxiliary patterns extend in the first direction and are spaced and arranged in the first direction. In a region corresponding to the end layer, a portion not overlapping the auxiliary patterns has an I-beam shape.
US09153530B2
Systems and methods according to embodiments of the invention enable flip chip packaging using high density routing while minimizing the thickness and layer count of the flip chip package. By using a photoresist layer to create very fine traces on a metallic base layer, embodiments of the present invention combine advantages of leadframe substrates and laminate substrates by supporting high-density routing while minimizing layer count and manufacturing cost. Additionally, the use of raised metallic pads in a routing layer enables embodiments of the present invention to include highly compact traces that pass over IC die bond pad connection sites without directly coupling to these bond IC die bond pad connection sites. Further, embodiments of the present invention can support multiple thin routing layers without the need for organic (e.g., laminate) material separating these routing layers.
US09153521B2
A method of manufacturing a package carrier is provided. An insulation cover is provided. The insulation cover has an inner surface and an outer surface opposite to each other, a plurality of openings, and a containing space. A patterned metal layer is formed on the outer surface of the insulation cover. A surface treatment layer is formed on the patterned metal layer. A heat dissipation element is formed in the containing space of the insulation cover and structurally connected to the insulation cover. A thermal-conductive layer is formed on a surface of the heat dissipation element, and a portion of the thermal-conductive layer is exposed by the openings of the insulation cover.
US09153519B2
A semiconductor device has a connection structure in which a power semiconductor chip is mounted on an insulating substrate having conductor patterns bonded to front and rear surfaces thereof and the insulating substrate is bonded to a heat-dissipating base member to dissipate heat generated from the power semiconductor chip to outside. The conductor pattern bonded to the heat-dissipating base member is formed such that a thickness of a circumferential portion of a bonding surface of the conductor pattern bonded to the insulating substrate is less than that of a center of the bonding portion.
US09153514B2
Disclosed herein is a power module package including: a first substrate having one surface and the other surface; a second substrate contacting one surface of the first substrate; a third substrate contacting one side of the other surface of the first substrate; a first lead frame contacting the other side of the other surface of the first substrate; and a second lead frame electrically connected to the third substrate.
US09153503B2
A method of providing a plurality of classified photovoltaic articles, including the steps of providing a first photovoltaic element that includes a plurality of photovoltaic articles on a continuous flexible substrate, forming a electrically insulating material on the first photovoltaic element at one or more predetermined locations, separating adjacent photovoltaic articles from each other, determining an efficiency of each photovoltaic article by measuring its current-voltage characteristics, and classifying each photovoltaic article according to its efficiency.
US09153499B2
Provided is a semiconductor device including first, second and third source/drain regions. A first conductive plug in contact with the first source/drain regions, having a first width and a first height, and including a first material is provided. An interlayer insulating layer covering the first conductive plug and the substrate is disposed. A second conductive plug vertically penetrating the interlayer insulating layer to be in contact with the second source/drain regions, having a second width and a second height, and including a second material is provided. A third conductive plug vertically penetrating the interlayer insulating layer to be in contact with the third source/drain regions, having a third width and a third height, and including a third material is disposed. The second material includes a noble metal, a noble metal oxide or a perovskite-based conductive oxide.
US09153498B2
Methods of forming semiconductor device with self-aligned contact elements and the resulting devices
One method disclosed herein includes forming a sacrificial etch stop material in a recess above a replacement gate structure, with the sacrificial etch stop material in position, forming a self-aligned contact that is conductively coupled to the source/drain region, after forming the self-aligned contact, performing at least one process operation to expose and remove the sacrificial etch stop material in the recess so as to thereby re-expose the recess, and forming a third layer of insulating material in at least the re-exposed recess.
US09153497B2
Some embodiments include methods in which a pair of spaced-apart adjacent features is formed over a substrate. The features have silicon dioxide surfaces. Silicon nitride is deposited between the features. A first region of the silicon nitride is protected with a mask while a second region is not. The second region is removed to form an opening between the features. Some embodiments include semiconductor constructions that contain a pair of spaced-apart adjacent features. The features are lines extending along a first direction, and are spaced from one another by a trench. Alternating plugs and intervening materials are within the trench, with the plugs and intervening materials alternating along the first direction. The intervening materials consist of silicon nitride, and the plugs have lateral peripheries that directly contact silicon dioxide of the features, and that directly contact silicon nitride of the intervening regions.
US09153496B2
Methods of manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuits having FinFET structures with epitaxially formed source and drain regions are disclosed. A method of fabricating an integrated circuit includes forming a plurality of silicon fin structures on a semiconductor substrate, epitaxially growing a silicon material on the fin structures, wherein a merged source/drain region is formed on the fin structures, and anisotropically etching at least one of the merged source drain regions to form an un-merged source/drain region.
US09153495B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: a step of forming an inorganic insulating film and an organic insulating film on one surface of a first substrate; a step of forming an opening portion by dry-etching a laminated film of them; a step of forming a bump electrode inside the opening portion; and a step (bonding step) of bonding the one surface of the first substrate having a bump electrode formed thereon and one surface of a second substrate having a bump electrode formed thereon to each other. A surface treatment on the inorganic insulating film is performed subsequent to the step of forming the opening portion but prior to the bonding step. By performing the surface treatment on the organic insulating film, connecting property between the substrates can be improved.
US09153492B2
A semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed, which can prevent migration of copper (Cu) ion when forming a Through Silicon Via (TSV). The semiconductor device includes a through silicon via (TSV) formed to pass through a semiconductor substrate; an oxide film located at a lower sidewall of the TSV; and a first prevention film formed to cover an upper portion of the TSV, an upper sidewall of the TSV, and an upper surface of the oxide film.
US09153490B2
A solid-state imaging device has a sensor substrate having a pixel region on which photoelectric converters are arrayed; a driving circuit provided on a front face side that is opposite from a light receiving face as to the photoelectric converters on the sensor substrate; an insulation layer, provided on the light receiving face, and having a stepped construction wherein the film thickness of the pixel region is thinner than the film thickness in a periphery region provided on the outside of the pixel region; a wiring provided to the periphery region on the light receiving face side; and on-chip lenses provided to positions corresponding to the photoelectric converters on the insulation layer.
US09153488B1
A resistor includes a first conductive layer; a second conductive layer protruding from the first conductive layer; a third conductive layer located above and facing the first conductive layer to face the first conductive layer; and at least two contact plugs electrically coupled to the third conductive layer.
US09153476B2
A prefabricated multi-die leadframe having a plurality of contact pads is mounted over a temporary carrier. A first semiconductor die is mounted over the carrier between the contact pads of the leadframe. A second semiconductor die is mounted over the contact pads of the leadframe and over the first die. An encapsulant is deposited over the leadframe and first and second die. The carrier is removed. A first interconnect structure is formed over the leadframe and the first die and a first surface of the encapsulant. A channel is cut through the encapsulant and leadframe to separate the contact pads. A plurality of conductive vias can be formed through the encapsulant. A second interconnect structure is formed over a second surface of the encapsulant opposite the first surface of the encapsulant. The second interconnect structure is electrically connected to the conductive vias.
US09153475B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of isolation regions, a plurality of trenches, where each of the plurality of trenches is formed in a corresponding isolation region, of the plurality of isolation regions, and where the plurality of trenches are arranged, in parallel, along a first direction, a plurality of gate lines formed on the semiconductor substrate in a second direction crossing the plurality of trenches, an insulating layer formed between each of the plurality of gate lines, a first air gap formed in at least one of the plurality of trenches, the first air gap extending in the first direction, and a second air gap formed in at least one of the insulating layers, the second air gap extending in the second direction.
US09153473B2
Methods for forming a 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 layers of the top and bottom pad stacks include an initial thickness TT1 and TB1 respectively. Trench isolation regions are formed in the substrate. The second pad layer of the top and bottom pad stacks are removed after forming the trench isolation regions by a batch wet etch process.
US09153472B2
Uniformity of vapor deposited coatings on semiconductor wafers is improved by employing an apparatus having a gas distributor head below a susceptor onto which the wafer is placed, the gas distributor head directing a fan of cooling gas at the rear side of the susceptor. The ratio of the diameter of the cooled section of the susceptor to the diameter D of the wafer is preferably from 0.1 to 0.4.
US09153471B2
The present invention relates to an adhesive composition for a wafer processing film, a wafer processing film, and a semiconductor wafer processing method. In the semiconductor wafer processing process such as a dicing process or a back grinding process, a delaminating force with respect to a wafer to be attached may be effectively reduced to improve process efficiency and prevent the wafer from being warped or cracked.
US09153469B2
A calculating apparatus includes an acquiring portion and a calculating portion. The acquiring portion acquires a center position of a wafer placed on an alignment apparatus, and a wafer angle corresponding to a marker such as an orientation flat. The calculating portion calculates by using the wafer center position and the wafer angle, a rotational angle of the wafer on the alignment apparatus, an approach angle, which is an angle of a direction in which a transfer robot approaches the wafer, and a distance between the wafer after the rotation and the transfer robot. Then, the alignment apparatus rotates the wafer by the rotational angle. The transfer robot turns by the approach angle. Subsequently, the transfer robot extends its arm according to the distance, thereby approaching the wafer, and retrieves the wafer.
US09153460B2
An assembly process for a heatsink attachment module for a chip packaging apparatus is provided and includes attaching a semiconductor chip to a substrate to form a module subassembly, placing a load frame and shim in a fixture, dispensing adhesive to the load frame and loadably placing the module subassembly chip face down in the fixture.
US09153451B2
A method of forming a planar surface for a semiconductor device structure. The method comprises forming a particle film comprising a plurality of discrete particles on a non-planar surface of a semiconductor device structure. The semiconductor device structure is subjected to at least one chemical-mechanical polishing process after forming the particle film on the non-planar surface of the semiconductor device structure. Methods of forming a semiconductor device structure are also described.
US09153448B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate configured to include a channel, a gate supported by the semiconductor substrate to control current flow through the channel, a first dielectric layer supported by the semiconductor substrate and including an opening in which the gate is disposed, and a second dielectric layer disposed between the first dielectric layer and a surface of the semiconductor substrate in a first area over the channel. The second dielectric layer is patterned such that the first dielectric layer is disposed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate in a second area over the channel.
US09153446B2
A semiconductor device includes a substrate including a trench, a buried gate filling a part of the trench, an inter-layer dielectric layer formed on the buried gate to gap-fill the rest of the trench, and a protection layer covering substantially an entire surface of the substrate including the inter-layer dielectric layer.
US09153440B2
A method includes providing a first mask pattern over a substrate, forming first spacers adjoining sidewalls of the first mask pattern, removing the first mask pattern, forming second spacers adjoining sidewalls of the first spacers, forming a filling layer over the substrate and between the second spacers, and forming a second mask pattern over the substrate.
US09153421B2
A method for detecting plasma instability within a processing chamber of a plasma processing system during substrate processing is provided. The method includes collecting a set of process data, the process data including a set of induced current signals flowing through a measuring capacitor. The method further includes converting the set of induced current signals into a set of analog voltage signals and converting the set of analog voltage signals into a set of digital signals. The method also includes analyzing the set of digital signals to detect high frequency perturbations, the high frequency perturbations indicating the plasma instability.
US09153410B2
A method for generating an X-ray includes the steps of: disposing at least a target in a chamber; irradiating an electron beam onto the target from an electron beam source disposed in or outside the chamber so as to satisfy a relation of β≦60 degrees if an incident angle of the electron beam is defined as “β”; and generating and taking an X-ray out of the target so as to satisfy a relation of −30 degrees≦β−α≦60 degrees if an output angle of the X-ray relative to a surface of the target is defined as “α”.
US09153407B2
An X-ray tube is provided. The X-ray tube includes a first housing including an X-ray window formed therein, a second housing being rotatable about a rotational shaft installed within the first housing, an anode installed on the rotational shaft within the second housing and positioned in one side of the rotational shaft in an extending direction of the rotational shaft, an emitter installed on the rotational shaft within the second housing, positioned in the other side of the rotational shaft in the extending direction of the rotational shaft, and emitting electron beams, a lens unit installed between the anode and the emitter and focusing the electron beams emitted from the emitter to the anode, and an electron beam deflection unit installed on the rotational shaft to deflect an angle of electron beams moving toward the anode from the lens unit.
US09153404B2
Devices and methods are provided to allow rapid deflection of a charged particle beam. The disclosed devices can, for example, be used as part of a hadron therapy system to allow scanning of a target area within a patient's body. The disclosed charged particle beam deflectors include a dielectric wall accelerator (DWA) with a hollow center and a dielectric wall that is substantially parallel to a z-axis that runs through the hollow center. The dielectric wall includes one or more deformed high gradient insulators (HGIs) that are configured to produce an electric field with an component in a direction perpendicular to the z-axis. A control component is also provided to establish the electric field component in the direction perpendicular to the z-axis and to control deflection of a charged particle beam in the direction perpendicular to the z-axis as the charged particle beam travels through the hollow center of the DWA.
US09153388B2
A sealed monolithic electrochemical system is disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the sealed monolithic electrochemical system includes an electrically insulating substrate; an electrically conducting pattern arranged to support a plurality of blocks of porous structures arranged on the substrate, wherein each porous structure includes a working electrode, an insulating layer and a counter electrode, and wherein an electrolyte is at least partially filled in the blocks of porous structures for forming a plurality of electrochemical cells; and an encapsulation covering the plurality of blocks of porous structures. In at least one embodiment, each block includes at least one porous structure, where the blocks may be individually disconnected and a method individually disconnecting such a system.
US09153384B2
An electrolytic capacitor includes a capacitor element and an electrolyte solution impregnated in the capacitor element. The capacitor element includes an anode foil, cathode foil, separator, and a solid electrolytic layer. The anode foil has a dielectric layer on its surface, and the cathode foil confronts the anode foil. The separator is interposed between the anode foil and the cathode foil. The solid electrolytic layer is formed on the surfaces of the anode foil, cathode foil, and separator as an aggregate of fine particles of conductive polymer. The separator has an air-tightness not greater than 2.0 s/100 ml. Sizes of the fine particles measure not greater than 100 nm in diameter, and an amount of the fine particles contained falls within a range from 0.3 mg/cm2 to 1.2 mg/cm2, inclusive, as converted to weight per unit area of the anode foil.
US09153379B2
A method of making a composite magnet wire includes mixing alumina nano particles with a polyimide polymer to form a polyimide mixture, the alumina nano particles having a surface treatment applied to outer surfaces of the alumina nano particles, the surface treatment including a phenyl-silane; coating a wire with the polyimide mixture by passing the wire through a coating die; heating the coated wire; cooling the coated wire; passing the coated wire through an annealing oven at a temperature of about 425° C. to about 475° C. at a speed of about 15 to about 30 feet per minute to anneal the coated wire; cooling the annealed coating wire; spooling the coated wire onto a metal spool; heating the spooled wire at about 300° C. to about 400° C. for about 20 to about 40 minutes; and cooling the heated spooled wire.
US09153376B2
A harmonic cancelling interphase magnetic device (1) comprising a magnetic core of rectangular shape with three wound legs (14) and two non-wound legs (12), wherein the cross-section of said non-wound legs (12) is thinner than the cross-section of said wound legs (14). The magnetic device is designed for a front end multi-pulse rectifier or inverter. Its use enables reduction of the harmonics of the currents absorbed or injected to three-phase power line. Compare to known solutions, cost, material and dimensions of the magnetic device are significantly reduced.
US09153374B2
In an embodiment, a drive system includes a transformer enclosed in an enclosure including a heat exchanger to cool a fluid medium. In addition, the system includes a plurality of power cubes each including a rectifier, a DC-link, and an inverter. Each power cube may include a plurality of cold plates each coupled to a corresponding switching device of the inverter, an inlet port in communication with a first one of the plurality of cold plates and an outlet port in communication with a last one of the plurality of cold plates. In turn, a manifold assembly is to couple at least the power cubes to enable two phase cooling of the power cubes and the transformer via one or more heat exchangers.
US09153368B2
A composite iron-based powder suitable for soft magnetic applications such as inductor cores. Also, a method for producing a soft magnetic component and the component produced by the method.
US09153366B2
A resistance element that includes a resistor made of a thin film containing VO2 as a main component and at least one of W, Nb, Mo and Ti as an additive element. The thin film has a plurality of layer regions distributed in the direction of thickness thereof, and amounts of the additive elements doped in the layer regions are different from each other between the adjacent layer regions. Terminal electrodes are disposed such that a current flows through the plural layer regions of the resistor. Preferably, an interval at which the plural layer regions are distributed is selected to be not less than 8 nm and not more than 35 nm.
US09153365B2
A temperature sensing element includes a thermistor composed of Si-base ceramics and a pair of metal electrodes bonded onto the surfaces of the thermistor. The metal electrodes contain Cr and a metal element α having a Si diffusion coefficient higher than that of Cr. A diffusion layer is formed in a bonding interface between the thermistor and each metal electrode, the diffusion layer including a silicide of the metal element α in a crystal grain boundary of the Si-base ceramics. A temperature sensor including the diffusion layers is provided. Owing to the diffusion layers, the temperature sensor ensures heat resistance and bonding reliability and enables temperature detection with high accuracy in a temperature range, in particular, of from −50° C. to 1050° C.
US09153364B2
An apparatus for the stripping of insulation lengthwise from an insulated wire or cable on a continuous basis for the recovery of the metal core of the wire or cable. The apparatus has a framework supporting a rotatable feeder wheel having one or more generally “V”-shaped grooves or cable guide paths that are preferably of unlike circumferences so that varying diameters of insulated cable may be stripped quickly. The feeder wheel works in cooperation with a movable carriage assembly supporting rotatable circular cutting tools. The grooves can be formed with shoulders and relieved slots for grabbing the cable. The apparatus further has a transmission mounted to the framework and connected to the feeder wheel by a shaft. The transmission is driven by either a removable electric motor or fixed electric motor.
US09153351B2
A collimation device for an X-ray beam, an optical device for analyzing a specimen by the scattering of an X-ray beam, and a collimator for an X-ray beam. The collimation device includes an enclosure configured to be under a vacuum or a controlled atmosphere, the enclosure including an inlet and an outlet for the X-ray beam and at least one plate made of a material having a diffracting periodic structure, the plate including two main faces and at least one flared aperture between the faces.
US09153349B2
A method for recycling AgInCd control rod absorber bar material from a used control rod from a nuclear power plant includes sectioning AgInCd absorber bar from a used control rod into a first section and a second section, the first section having a higher radioactivity than the second section; and recycling the material of the second section of the AgInCd absorber bar.
US09153348B2
After an inner wall tube, made of steel or alloy containing not less than 2% of Cr, whose outer surface thereof is machined and/or ground to a thickness of 0.1 mm or more including the scale layer, is inserted into an outer wall tube, made of ferritic steel containing not less than 2% of Cr, in which an oxide scale layer containing Cr and having a thickness of 10 to 30 μm is formed in the inner surface thereof, cold working at an outside diameter reduction rate of 5 to 30% is performed. Similarly cold worked after an inner wall tube having an oxide scale layer on the outer surface thereof, is inserted into an outer wall tube whose inner surface is machined and ground. A double-walled tube made has a uniform gap and an excellent thermal conductivity, and is suitable as materials for SG tubes of future FBR.
US09153347B2
The method delivers a storage system for Big Data usage. The system contains a matrix of unreliable physical data devices and data in this reliable big capacity storage system is protected by the triple protection so the method and system can protect storage system from more than 2 fault data devices. In some cases, the system can still deliver data when system has many failed data devices at the same. Floating Parity technology can also avoid heavily writing data to some device surfaces, due to parity update, which cause data device to be failed before expected device life time.
US09153345B2
Disclosed is an error generating apparatus of a solid state drive tester. The error processing operation of the storage is tested by inserting errors into a specific instruction to be transmitted to the storage, and detecting the results of the error processing operation of the storage when testing the storage. The error generating apparatus includes a host terminal for receiving a test condition for a test of a storage from a user, and a test control unit for generating a test pattern according to the test condition or generating a test pattern randomly, generating error data used to test an error characteristic of the storage, and testing the storage based on the test pattern and a normal instruction or an error instruction which is formed by inserting the error data into the normal instruction.
US09153342B2
Disclosed are a shift register, a gate driver and a display device, which relate the field of display technology and may eliminate the voltage coupled noise generated by a clock signal at an output terminal of the shift register effectively. The shift register comprises: a first input unit, a clock control unit, a second input unit, an inverting unit, a pulling-down unit and a first level selecting unit, a second level selecting unit, a third level selecting unit; the first input unit is connected with a first input signal terminal, the first level selecting unit and the second input unit, respectively, wherein a node at which the first input unit is connected with the second input unit is a pulling-up node, the first input unit is used for controlling a potential at the pulling-up node. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various display devices.
US09153340B2
A magnetic storage element includes a magnetic nanowire. A cross-section of the magnetic nanowire has first and second visible outlines, the first visible outline has a first minimal point at which a distance from a virtual straight line becomes minimal, a second minimal point at which the distance from the virtual straight line becomes minimal, and a first maximal point at which the distance from the virtual straight line becomes longest between the first minimal point and the second minimal point, and an angle between a first straight line connecting the first minimal point and the second minimal point, and one of a second straight line connecting the first minimal point and the first maximal point and a third straight line connecting the second minimal point and the first maximal point is not smaller than four degrees and not larger than 30 degrees.
US09153327B2
A flash memory apparatus is provided. The flash memory apparatus includes a plurality of memory cell regions. Each of the memory cell regions includes a plurality of memory cells, a programming voltage control generator and an erase voltage control generator. The memory cells receives a programming control voltage through a control end point for programming operation, and the memory cells receives an erase control voltage through an erase end point for erasing operation. The programming voltage control generator provides the programming control voltage to the memory cells, and the erase voltage control generator provides the erase control voltage to the memory cells.
US09153322B2
A memory array device is disclosed, which includes a plurality of memory array rows, each memory array row including a plurality of subsidiary memory arrays and a switch arranged between every adjacent two subsidiary memory arrays; wherein each subsidiary memory array includes: a memory unit for storing a data; a programming indication bit arranged prior to the memory unit for indicating whether the subsidiary memory array has been programmed; and an inversion indication bit arranged subsequent to the memory unit for indicating whether a data had been inverted before being written in the memory unit of the subsidiary memory array. A method for reducing a read current of a memory array device is also disclosed.
US09153307B2
An apparatus includes a group of data cells and a reference cell coupled to the group of data cells. The reference cell includes four magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) cells. Each of the four MTJ cells is coupled to a distinct word line. Each of the four MTJ cells includes an MTJ element and a single transistor. The single transistor of each particular MTJ cell is configured to enable read access to the MTJ element of the particular MTJ cell.
US09153306B2
Provided is a tunnel magnetoresistive effect element such that a high TMR ratio and a low write current can be realized, and the thermal stability factor (E/kBT) of a recording layer and a pinned layer is increased while an increase in resistance of the element as a whole is suppressed, thus enabling a stable operation. On at least one of a recording layer 21 and a pinned layer 22 each comprising CoFeB, electrically conductive oxide layers 31 and 32 are disposed on a side opposite to a tunnel barrier layer 10.
US09153305B2
Examples of the present disclosure provide devices and methods for accessing a memory array address space. An example memory array comprising a first address space comprising memory cells coupled to a first number of select lines and to a number of sense lines and a second address space comprising memory cells coupled to a second number of select lines and to the number of sense lines. The first address space is independently addressable relative to the second address space.
US09153293B2
A method of operating an integrated circuit includes determining at least one characteristic of at least one memory cell and conducting an operation for the at least one memory cell, wherein based on the at least one characteristic determined a disturbance for at least one additional memory cell is adjusted.
US09153292B2
An integrated circuit device having memory is disclosed. The integrated circuit device comprises programmable resources; programmable interconnect elements coupled to the programmable resources, the programmable interconnect elements enabling a communication of signals with the programmable resources; a plurality of memory blocks; and dedicated interconnect elements coupled to the plurality of memory blocks, the dedicated interconnect elements enabling access to the plurality of memory blocks. A method of implementing memory in an integrated circuit device is also disclosed.
US09153287B1
Methods and apparatus for facilitating pre-read and/or post-read operations of a disk drive. A write command is received including a logical block address (LBA) for user data in the write command. Parity data for correcting the user data is generated by encoding the LBA with the user data. The parity data is written on a disk of the disk drive with the user data so that the LBA can be recovered using the parity data when read from the disk. When a read command is received by the disk drive, requested user data is read from a first sector. User data and parity data is read from a second sector adjacent the first sector. The parity data is used to recover an LBA for the second sector and it is determined whether to store the user data read from the second sector based on the recovered LBA.
US09153284B2
A video signal generating apparatus is disclosed which includes: a camera configured to generate a video signal; an operating device configured to operate at least either the camera or an apparatus configured to receive the video signal; a text data generating device configured to generate text data including a meaningful term in response to the operation performed on the operating device; and a text data inserting device configured to insert the text data generated by the text data generating device into the video signal in a corresponding manner.
US09153274B2
A microwave-assisted magnetic head provides a high-reliability microwave-assisted magnetic head that reduces effective coercivity by giving microwave energy to a magnetic recording medium in an auxiliary manner and writes a data signal, a head gimbal assembly, and a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus. A microwave magnetic field generating element is arranged on a trailing shield side or a reproducing head element side with respect to a main magnetic pole that generates a recording magnetic field for writing a data signal into a magnetic recording medium, the microwave magnetic field generating element having a coil configuration in which a plurality of microwave magnetic field generating lines and a return line are formed by a continuous single line.
US09153272B1
At least one laser input current is applied to a laser in a heat assisted magnetic recording device. Laser output power of the laser is measured at the at least one applied laser current. A relationship is characterized amongst temperature, applied laser input current and laser output power. Laser current is set to an optimal laser current as determined at manufacturing. A metric of recording performance is measured to determine if the relationship is acceptable.
US09153270B1
A defect emulator module for a rotating storage device includes a coefficient module that generates a first coefficient. A location module generates a location. A defect signal module selectively modifies a read-back signal based on the first coefficient and the location. The first coefficient includes an emulation of a first defect in the read-back signal.
US09153254B1
A data writer may be configured with at least a write pole and a continuous coil with the continuous coil having a first turn with a first cross-sectional shape and a second turn with a second cross-sectional shape that differs from the first cross-sectional shape. The second turn may be positioned proximal a leading edge of the write pole and an air bearing surface while the first turn is positioned distal the air bearing surface.
US09153250B2
An apparatus disclosed herein comprises a magnetically free layer and a bottom shield, wherein a first portion of the bottom shield substantially adjacent the free layer is pinned perpendicular to an air-bearing surface (ABS) of the apparatus and a second portion of the bottom shield not substantially adjacent the free layer is pinned parallel to the ABS of the apparatus.
US09153241B2
The signal processing apparatus inserts the header information in a frame to probably be the reproduction start point by including: the first and the second coding units that code an input signal per frame; the first header inserting unit that inserts the SBR header indicating management information of the coded signal represented by a sequence of frames, in each frame at a regular interval within the coded signal; the control unit that determines a frame in which the SBR header is inserted, independent of the frames in which the first header inserting unit inserts the SBR header; and the second header inserting unit that singly inserts the SBR header in the frame determined by the control unit.
US09153236B2
A parametric background noise estimate is continuously updated during an active or non-silence phase so that the noise generation may immediately be started with upon the entrance of an inactive phase following the active phase. In accordance with another aspect, a spectral domain is very efficiently used in order to parameterize the background noise thereby yielding a background noise synthesis which is more realistic and thus leads to a more transparent active to inactive phase switching.
US09153227B2
An electronic handheld device is described having an options module for providing a user with at least one option in the handheld device, each option associated with an enabling mode of operation of the handheld device. The device also includes an enabling module for implementing, in response to a particular option being selected by a user, an associated enabling mode of operation. Each enabling mode of operation makes the handheld device more accessible to a person having a corresponding disability.
US09153222B1
The present invention relates to a plucked string performance data generation device, including a MIDI input interface used for receiving MIDI data, a plurality of infrared emitters and a plurality of infrared receivers used for forming infrared strings distributed radially in form of a sector, and an infrared emitter and an infrared receiver used for a mute switch, a microcontroller used for generating MIDI data from chord data acquired from the MIDI input interface and interrupt data of the infrared strings, a MIDI output interface connected with the microcontroller, and touch pads mounted onto corresponding infrared receivers. The device has an infrared string layout in form of a sector and the touch pads arranged above infrared string sensors to form a dual sensors, where appropriate, a user may use different sensors to control the same target, whereby realizing simulation of sound of a string instrument and facilitating the use thereof.
US09153209B2
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for generating a displacement map. The technique involves receiving a normal map which includes one or more normal vectors associated with a texture map, processing the one or more normal vectors to a calculate one or more depth difference vectors associated with the texture map, and generating one or more rays associated with a first texel of the texture map. The technique further involves calculating, for each of the one or more rays, relative depths of each of the one or more other texels traversed by the ray based on each of the depth difference vectors that correspond with the one or more other texels traversed by the ray, determining a displacement value associated with the first texel based on the relative depths calculated for the one or more rays, and storing the displacement value in a displacement map.
US09153208B2
A system and method for image data management. A tiled representation of a data set is accessed. The tiled representation includes a plurality of high-resolution tiles and a plurality of reduced-resolution tiles. A request to access said data set from a computing device is received. An image display window is determined based on said request from the computing device, where the image display window corresponds to a displayable image for display on the display device. At least one overlapping image to send the computing device is determined based on said image display window, where the at least one overlapping image is selected from the scaled full images, the plurality of high-resolution tiles, and the plurality of reduced resolution tiles. At least a portion of the at least one overlapping image is sent to the computing device.
US09153207B2
A method, a device and computer readable storage media facilitate detecting a scrolling area within digital content comprising a plurality of frames, wherein the detection includes a comparison between a current frame and a previous frame to determine at least one location within the current frame in which pixel values change in relation to a corresponding location of the reference frame, searching for a reference line of pixels within the scrolling area of the previous frame, in response to finding a reference line, searching for a corresponding matching line of pixels in the current frame that matches the reference line, and, in response to finding a corresponding matching line of pixels in the current frame, determining a degree of scrolling of content in the scrolling area of the current frame in relation to the previous frame.
US09153203B2
A method and an apparatus for generating superpixels for a sequence of frames are presented. A feature space of the sequence of frames is separated into a color subspace and a spatial subspace. A clustering is then performed that comprises iterative assigning and updating.
US09153200B2
A method of facilitating the display of an image. The method includes, in a display system comprising a display panel having pixels and a backlight having individually addressable colored light emitters configured to provide light to the pixels of the display panel, receiving image data corresponding to an image for display upon the display panel, the pixels each having a color to be displayed, so as to collectively display the image. The method also includes, for each pixel, evaluating whether the corresponding color to be displayed is out-of-gamut to the each pixel, so as to form a set of out-of-gamut pixels. A set of virtual primaries is determined so as to define intensities of light emitted by the colored light emitters of the backlight during display of the image, the virtual primaries determined according to the colors of the set of out-of-gamut pixels.
US09153199B2
A mobile equipment includes an alternative display searching part sending an alternative display list request including current position information indicating the current position of the mobile equipment to a server, receiving from the server an alternative display list representing a list of display devices located near the current position, and selecting an alternative destination display device from the alternative display list on the basis of an inter-device distance between each of the display device and the mobile equipment, an ME short-distance radio communication part sending a distance measuring signal request signal to the display devices by short-distance radio communication and estimating the inter-device distance on the basis of the field strength of a distance measuring signal sent from the display devices, and an ME network connection part sending event information of the mobile equipment to the alternative destination display device.
US09153188B2
A driving apparatus of a display is disclosed. The driving apparatus includes a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, an output buffer circuit and a pre-charge circuit. The DAC circuit receives a display data with a digital format for generating a gray level voltage. The output buffer circuit is coupled to the DAC circuit, and has an output terminal to output an output signal. The output buffer circuit receives the gray level voltage and the output signal, and compares the gray level voltage and the output signal to generate a comparison result. The pre-charge circuit is coupled to the output buffer circuit, and generates a pre-charge output signal to the output terminal of the output buffer circuit according to the comparison result and a pre-charge enable signal.
US09153165B2
The present invention provides an OLED display panel, a driving circuit, and a driving method. The OLED display panel includes: a first transparent substrate and a second transparent substrate arranged opposite to each other; an OLED array formed on one face of the first transparent substrate facing the second transparent substrate, and an optical display array and a first optical film formed on the other face of the first transparent substrate; and a second optical film formed on one face of the second transparent substrate opposite to the first transparent substrate, and an optical display array formed on the other face of the second transparent substrate. The first and second optical films can be switched between a non-opaque status and an opaque status.
US09153156B2
A liquid crystal display device includes a display part which has a plurality of divided segments and a control part, configured to control voltages applied to the segments. The control part changes a turning-on pattern of segments to be output to the display part from a first turning-on pattern which turns on a first segment group to a second turning-on pattern which turns on a second group, and subsequently to a third turning-on pattern which turns on a third segment group. Change of the turning-on pattern includes a control to apply a voltage to at least one of segments of the plurality of segments which are not commonly used in the first segment group in a period from a predetermined time before starting of change to the third turning-on pattern.
US09153155B2
An image signal source alternately outputs two types of image signal. A pixel shifting unit outputs an image as light displayed by a display element having a number of pixels corresponding to the image signal while alternately shifting the light by a distance of a ½ pixel horizontally and a ½ pixel vertically. A horizontal display control unit receives the image signal and, in response to an installation position, changes the received image signal so that an image corresponding to any one of the two types of image signal alternately outputted is horizontally shifted by one pixel. A display element drive unit receives the changed image signal and, in response to the installation position, controls the display element so that the display element displays an image obtained by horizontally inverting the image based on the received image signal.
US09153152B1
A magnetic assembly and method permitting the use of low-cost magnets capable of being fabricated in an efficient and low-cost manner having a plate having a mounting surface and an opposing bottom surface, with a plurality of magnetizable elements, each of which is fitted in a fixture having plural radial wings for holding the magnetizable elements against the mounting surface, and with an over mold of a plastic material covering the mounting surface, the fixture and the bottom surface.
US09153127B2
A video transmitting apparatus includes a providing unit configured to provide retransmission request information including information for retransmitting video information to be transmitted to a video receiving apparatus, a control unit configured to perform connection control for communication with the video receiving apparatus, a transmitting unit configured to transmit the retransmission request information provided by the providing unit and the video information to the video receiving apparatus, through communication for which connection control is performed by the control unit, a receiving unit configured to receive a retransmission request based on the retransmission request information, the retransmission request being transmitted from the video receiving apparatus, and a retransmitting unit configured to retransmit a specific part of the video information in accordance with the retransmission request received by the receiving unit.
US09153122B2
Improved efficiency in monitoring environmental conditions in the vicinity of an unattended computer system includes using the existing communication systems between the computer system and a network, to provide immediate information to users, emergency responders and anyone connected to the network. The system may also include an ability of the unattended computer system to receive a return message from the user ordering a physical action in response to the reported environmental condition, for example turning on a fire suppression system in response to a smoke alarm. The system may also include storage of environmental conditions and analysis of variations over time, as well as any interactions of various types of environmental conditions, such as giving more weight to a high temperature reading in conjunction with an elevated but not critical level of smoke.
US09153120B1
A computer-implemented method for locating lost devices may include (1) receiving a report of a lost device that specifies a hardware address that uniquely identifies the lost device, (2) collecting information from a helper device that has been connected to a local area network that indicates that a device with the hardware address of the lost device was observed as being connected to the local area network, (3) receiving location data from the helper device that specifies a location of the helper device, and (4) providing the location of the helper device as a location of the lost device in response to the report. Various other methods and systems are also disclosed.
US09153114B2
Fall detection method and systems with its unique designed sensors are disclosed. The capacitive sensing based systems use the abrupt changes of the capacitance value to detect whether a real fall event happens, while the reed sensor/or reed switch based systems work in power saving passive mode to detect the real fall event by analyzing the binary “on/off” signal available from the reed sensor/or reed switch. Both rely on the orientation change of the host body respects to local gravity direction during the falling process. The system can present either as a standalone system or a built-in component with supporting software installed on other devices.
US09153113B1
A smoke alarm system specifically designed to detect smoke near a kitchen stove includes a transmitter assembly having a smoke detection device housed within an enclosure which hangs upon an oven door handle or other such appendage. The transmitter assembly further comprises a transmitter module that generates a wireless signal upon detection of smoke and transmits the signal to a remote receiver. When activated by the signal from the transmitter assembly, the receiver assembly produces sound and illumination type alarms, thereby warning occupants of smoke that is emanating from the stove, and the need to take immediate corrective action.
US09153107B2
An alarming device including: a power module, a trigger module, a heat module, a noise module, and a visual module. The trigger module is configured to detect an emergency and trigger an event. The heat module is functionally in communication with the power module and the trigger module and configured to project heat when triggered by the trigger module. The noise module is functionally in communication with the power module and the trigger module and configured to project sound when triggered by the trigger module. The visual module is functionally in communication with the power module and the trigger module and configured to project light when triggered by the trigger module.
US09153106B1
A computing device includes one or more memory devices storing executable instructions, one or more processors configured to execute the instructions, a programmable display screen configured to display text-based information, a user activity sensor, a battery configured to provide power to the one or more processors, and a battery status visual indicator. The battery status indicator is located on a surface of the computing device and is configured to display, in response an indication from the user activity sensor of an interaction by a user with the computing device, non-text-based information indicating a status of the battery.
US09153104B2
Highly entertaining games are provided. When a trigger condition is established in a normal game, the following processes are executed: a process of shifting to a bonus game in which a re-trigger condition which is less stringent than the trigger condition may be established; a process of executing a free game at least once in the bonus game; and a process of increasing the number of times of execution of the free game in the bonus game, when the re-trigger condition is established in the bonus game.
US09153098B2
Methods and apparatuses for variable contribution multiple progressive jackpot games are disclosed. A variable contribution rate is determined as a function of a wager level. A contribution amount is determined by multiplying each wager by its corresponding contribution rate. The contribution amount is then added to at least two jackpot meters.
US09153095B2
A method includes establishing a Near Field Communication (NFC) between a wagering game machine and a mobile device, without a manual configuration and a manual intervention. The method includes receiving, into the wagering game machine, player identification data from the mobile device through the Near Field Communication. The method includes authenticating the player identification data, wherein the authenticating is at least part of a player login into a wagering game account.
US09153086B2
The invention relates to a device (10) for handling coins comprising a first supply unit (26) at a first side (22) of the device (10) for the input of coins, at least one coin processing unit (30) for processing the coins supplied via the first supply unit (26), comprising a coin storage system (32) that comprises at least two coin storages (54 to 68) for storing coins, wherein the coin processing unit (30) sorts the supplied coins at least according to one sorting criterion in the coin storages (54 to 58), and comprising a dispensing unit (28) provided at the first side (22) for dispensing the coins removed from the coin storage system (32). At a second side (42) a second supply unit (50) for the input of coins is provided, wherein the coins input via the second supply unit (50) can be supplied to the coin processing unit (30).
US09153078B2
A graphical user interface is provided that can be used on a diagnostic tool. The graphical user interface allows a technician to operate various functions of the diagnostic tool including searching for additional information on the Internet, receiving weather information that is relevant to certain diagnostic tests, and displaying in certain formats the retrieved vehicle data and when certain vehicles were last scanned or diagnosed.
US09153076B1
Method for providing mortgage collateralized servicing (MCS) contracts to mortgage servicers as a tool to manage hedging risk. The MCS contracts of the present invention pays mortgage servicers for their services, while providing a “self-hedging” component that reduces (or eliminates) the need for the servicer to engage in additional investing and trading in derivatives in order to hedge against servicing contract risks. Such risks typically include default, delinquency, pre-payment, and interest rate fluctuations associated with mortgage loans. Additionally, the method preserves the tax and accounting treatment for mortgage servicing rights contracts preferred by servicers.
US09153073B2
A source video stream is processed to extract a desired object from the remainder of video stream to produce a segmented video of the object. Additional relevant information, such as the orientation of the source camera for each frame in the resulting segmented video of the object, is also determined and stored. During replay, the segmented video of the object, as well as the source camera orientation are obtained. Using the source camera orientation for each frame of the segmented video of the object, as well as target camera orientation for each frame of a target video stream, a transformation for the segmented video of the object may be produced. The segmented video of the object may be displayed over the target video stream, which may be a live video stream of a scene, using the transformation to spatially register the segmented video to the target video stream.
US09153069B2
In some embodiments, a system and/or method may include accessing three-dimensional (3D) imaging software on a remote server. The method may include accessing over a network a 3D imaging software package on a remote server using a first system. The method may include assessing, using the remote server, a capability of the first system to execute the 3D imaging software package. The method may include displaying an output of the 3D imaging software using the first system based upon the assessed capabilities of the first system. In some embodiments, the method may include executing a first portion of the 3D imaging software using the remote server based upon the assessed capabilities of the first system. In some embodiments, the method may include executing a second portion of the 3D imaging software using the first system based upon the assessed capabilities of the first system.
US09153065B2
A method carried out by a graphics processing apparatus samples a texture value of a first texture layer at an offset to a second texture layer of a surface and adjusts pixel color for a pixel of the second texture layer using the texture value such that an appearance of depth is created between the first texture layer and the second texture layer. The method may adjust the pixel color using the sampled texture value alpha component. Another method includes transforming a surface normal vector to eye space for a surface having at least first and second texture layers mapped thereto, determining an offset between the first texture layer and the second texture layer using the transformed surface normal vector, sampling a texture value of the first texture layer using the offset, and adjusting pixel color for a pixel of the second texture layer using the texture value.
US09153063B2
A device and method for displaying data simultaneously in two-dimensional and three-dimensional formats. A user selects data to be represented in multiple formats simultaneously. A data rendition server retrieves the data and determines the three-dimensional representations that are possible. The user then selects the three-dimensional representation desired, and the server renders the data to the user in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional formats. The data may be rendered together with static data such as digital terrain data and other static data types. Data representations may be rotated and morphed as desired by the user.
US09153056B2
A computer-implemented method for creating an image collage includes automatically selecting a first image from the group of images that best fits image-collage template based on predetermined criteria, placing and fitting the first image in the image-collage template, automatically selecting one or more additional images from the group of images that best fits the image-collage template including one or more already placed images that include the first image, and placing and fitting the one or more additional images image in the image-collage template by the computer system. An image collage is formed after all images in the group are placed in the image-collage template.
US09153040B2
Provided is an image processing apparatus including a prediction section that generates a predicted value of a color difference component of a pixel of an image to be decoded by using a function of a value of a corresponding luminance component, a coefficient calculation section that calculates a coefficient of the function used by the prediction section by referencing a pixel around a block to which the pixel belongs, and a controller that controls a ratio of a number of reference pixels used by the coefficient calculation section to a block size of the block.
US09153039B2
A method is disclosed for reducing and compressing raw detector data to be transmitted of a quanta-counting detector. Count patterns are determined in the raw detector data, encoded with a reduced bit depth by comparison with the raw detector data, and the encoded count patterns are transmitted and decoded following the transmission. A data transmission path between a quanta-counting detector and a computer system is further disclosed, wherein program segments/modules are provided, which execute the afore-cited method steps during operation. Further, a CT system including such a data transmission path is also disclosed.
US09153029B2
A two-dimensional pattern comprises a plurality of R-planes each comprising a tiling of a corresponding R-ary block, being a block of radix R integer values, where for each dimension of the pattern, the least common multiple of the sizes of the tiled blocks in that dimension is greater than the size of the tiling that dimension, and any sub-block of a size less than the tiled blocks occurs on a regular grid with the same periodicity as the tiled block for that R-plane. The pattern may be used in determining a position of a location captured in an image by projecting the pattern onto a scene. An image is captured. The method determines from the captured image a sub-block associated with the location and constructs, a unique integer value for each R-plane. The unique integer values from each R-plane are used to determine the location in the image.
US09153028B2
Methods and systems for capturing motion and/or determining the shapes and positions of one or more objects in 3D space utilize cross-sections thereof. In various embodiments, images of the cross-sections are captured using a camera based on edge points thereof.
US09153026B2
Calibration for plenoptic imaging systems. The calibration preferably is performed automatically by a processor. In one approach, the processor accesses a plenoptic image captured by the plenoptic imaging system. The plenoptic image is analyzed to determine reference points for superpixels of the plenoptic imaging system, for example the centers of the superpixels. The reference points are used to determine a location of each superpixel relative to the detector array.
US09153011B2
Systems and methods for providing movement based level of detail (“LOD”) adjustments for textures in a graphics application are disclosed. The method includes displaying, in a user interface of a display device, a plurality of frames representing movement within a geographic area. The geographic area has texture rendered at one or more level of detail, the texture being based at least in part on map, satellite, or geographic imagery. The displayed level of detail of at least a portion of the geographic area is decreased in response to a frame rate of one or more of the plurality of frames and at least one of a ratio of areas of two frames of the plurality of frames, and a ratio of intersecting area of two frames of the plurality of frames to area of one of the two frames.
US09153008B2
In accordance with some embodiments, caching may be improved for tiles on shared edges between triangles. In some embodiments, the technique may be used for either color and depth caches or both caches.
US09152999B2
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for searching digital receipts at a mobile device. A customer mobile device receives and stores one or more digital receipts. The one or more digital receipts correspond to transactions conducted with a merchant. A user can select search criteria for searching stored digital receipts. The search criteria can be applied to stored digital receipts. Any stored digital receipts that satisfy the search criteria can be returned for display. In some embodiments, search criteria are selected to search for digital receipts associated with a specified payment method, such as, for example, cash, check, credit card, debit card, gift card, etc. In other embodiments, search criteria are selected to search for digital receipts having a purchase date within a specified purchase date range.
US09152981B2
Methods, systems and applications for updating, enhancing, organizing, and utilizing geographic maps, for locating points of interest and places of businesses, or POI's. Embodiments provide a method for collecting geo-coordinate data on POIs by eliciting participation of the business owners or designated employees to identify the specific locations of POI's on a map; a map program which synchronizes to a centralized database where POI and other more frequently changing and time-dependent map information is downloaded to individual users; a map program, where in addition to the standard contact information, “qualitative” information and website links are included in an POI information box to aid in pre-qualifying a POI before selection and in booking a reservation; a method for locating markers on an Internet-based search engine map; and an improved contact management system that allows locations of contacts to be viewed on a map while minimizing address geocoding.
US09152976B2
Methods and apparatuses to present information to sellers/advertisers/advisors for connections to customers for real time communications. One embodiment includes: responsive to a request from a customer, determining a telephonic reference of the customer; presenting to at least one entity an option to be connected to the customer; responsive to a first entity selecting the option, initiating a telephonic connection to the customer using the determined telephonic reference of the customer to provide a telephonic connection between the customer and the first entity; and charging the first entity a fee for a lead to the customer in response to establishing the telephonic connection between the customer and the first entity.
US09152973B2
Systems and methods for providing a loyalty and rewards system that implements a user incentive program using smart card technology are provided. A loyalty system allows a user to systematically search, identify, store, and redeem electronic coupons and rebates associated with products from a large number of providers and manufactures. The loyalty system also integrates the activities associated with the user incentive program (e.g., coupon collection, storage, and redemption, etc.), with existing payment methods (e.g., charging a credit card, etc.) using smart card technology. Thus, the loyalty system allows the user to obtain savings and otherwise participate in the user incentive program without adding time consuming and tedious processing that is normally associated with coupon and rebate programs.
US09152966B2
A data reporting framework that works across on-premise and hosted Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms enabling definition and execution of secure custom reports is provided. A fetch query language of a CRM platform is used along with reporting service tools and constructs to enable users to upload and execute custom fetch based reports with support for expressions, code, formatting, and drill through. Users are also enabled to build simple reports from within CRM and, if needed, enhance those reports using reporting service tools and re-upload in CRM. Furthermore, custom reports may be executed in a sandboxed environment to provide full security in a multi-tenant, hosted CRM system.
US09152961B2
A method is provided for multiplexing messages exchanged between a payment terminal and a communication terminal via a connection between the payment terminal and the communication terminal using the iPod Accessory Protocol, iAP. The method includes: an initialization step of initializing an external communication interface with the communication terminal, a first transmission step of transmitting, to the communication terminal, a request for creation of remote virtual channels via the external communication interface; a creation step of creating, within the payment terminal, local virtual channels corresponding to the remote virtual channels; and a second transmission step of transmitting data frames associated with the local virtual channels via the external communication interface.
US09152958B2
A managed message, having a structured messaging element, may be sent to a plurality of devices. Detection that a recipient device has a wireless device capability with audible message presentation may be performed. The message data of the managed message may be transformed to be sent to the recipient device according to a wireless device capability specific file set into a format for audible presentation of the message data. A response aggregation message having a plurality of message statuses of the managed message may also be received.
US09152954B2
According to one embodiment of the invention, a system is provided for activating a plurality of cards. An activation indicator can be provided to an activation system to process the activation of the plurality of cards. If approved, the activation system transmits a message to the POS device indicating the activation.
US09152950B2
A method and computer program product for receiving notification of a first user response message concerning an email message received from a sender; receiving notification of a second user response message concerning the email message received from the sender; and providing the first and second users with one or more statistics concerning the email message.
US09152945B2
Systems and methods for automated vacation rental management via a website configured to allow property owners to be able to list their home or unit and information about the home or unit on the site for users to view and book rentals. The system allows the home or unit owners to be able to administer their own pages that are listing their homes, e.g. by editing their profile, rates, etc. Users are able to search by location and book times to stay at the vacation home, without interaction with the owner. The system enables automated management of the vacation property, via online payment of deposits and rental fees, automated updating of booking calendars, and automated communication between renters, cleaners, owners and any other entities associated with the process.
US09152940B2
The cartonization process in a distribution center can be modified to account for factors which influence the efficiency with which the products distributed from the distribution center can be stocked onto store shelves, such as layout (i.e., planogram) information indicating where the various products will actually be located in a store.
US09152938B2
In one example, a system can comprise a first data gathering mechanism set and a data processing mechanism set. The a first data gathering mechanism set can be configured to gather a first operational data set during operation of a first agricultural machine set, and to transmit the first operational data set to a network. The first operational data set can comprise information representative of one or more characteristics of an agricultural crop during production. The a data processing mechanism can be configured to store a combined data set comprising the first operational data set, and generate one or more reports based on the combined data set. Other embodiments and related methods are also disclosed herein.
US09152934B2
In some embodiments, a construction project administration system and method are disclosed that queries an administrator as to ownership, construction specifications, bidding parameters etc. for a proposed construction project using active first, second and third level questions and accepts and stores replies to the active questions. The stored replies can be compared to predetermined answers, and questions that become irrelevant based on the answers can be deactivated and taken off a list of questions to be asked. After a sufficient amount of questions are answered, the system can auto-configure a process for online construction management. For example a website can be set up that can be used by all parties to the project to automate communications, the exchange of data, status updates etc. including the submission of bids, acceptance of bids, and the award of contracts and many more paperless construction management features.
US09152905B2
Microdevices containing a predetermined preferential axis of magnetization are disposed in an array having discreet regions. Under influence of a magnetic field, the microdevices can have at least twelve discrete orientations, and can advantageously be flipped upside down in place. Microdevices can be coded in a manner that supports a coding space of at least 102, 103, 106 or even 1010 or more choices, and can include one or more chemically reactive sites. The regions can be defined by long and short bars, in which microdevices span gaps between the longer bars, and the shorter bars measure less than 60% of such gaps. Preferred embodiments are also provided to produce microfabricated microdevices for magnetic assembly-based arraying.
US09152904B2
A method for encoding a multi-lingual text in a matrix code symbol includes receiving a multi-lingual text comprising Latin-based characters in a Latin-based language and non-Latin-based characters in a non-Latin-based language, converting the non-Latin-based characters in the multi-lingual text to index values to produce a pseudo text, and encoding the pseudo text in a matrix-code symbol. The conversion is based on a predefined mapping that converts the Unicode values of the non-Latin-based characters to index values having fewer digits than the corresponding Unicode values of the non-Latin-based characters.
US09152903B2
Systems and methods for the automated generation of QR codes with embedded images therein are provided. The QR code has an active, machine-readable portion and a background portion. An example system comprises an image identification module to identify a human-readable image. A primitive creation module generates a primitive QR code. The primitive QR code comprises a machine-readable QR code having the image embedded in the QR code. An overlay interface module generates an intermediate QR code by modifying the active portion of the QR code using a first modification and modifying the background portion using a second modification.
US09152901B2
The invention relates to a method for the production of a book cover insert (11) and to a method for the production of a book-type security document (30) and also to a book cover insert and a book-type security document, in which at least one data carrier (22) that can be operated contactlessly is provided in a book cover insert (11). (In this respect FIG. 9).
US09152897B1
Printing a screened image includes a computer for converting a contone image to a digital image. A digital front end provides a screening tile, a dither magnitude curve, a spot function for each of the cells in the screening tile and a displacement vector for each of the cells. The digital front end displaces the center of each cell spot function and constructs a halftone image from the contone image and the screening tile by comparing value of each pixel from the contone image to a corresponding threshold value from the screening tile. If the pixel value exceeds the threshold value set a corresponding pixel in the halftone image to one otherwise set the corresponding pixel in the halftone image to zero. An imaging system prints the halftone image on a substrate.
US09152887B2
An object detection device (10) is provided with: a video image converting section (20) converting an input video image in which surroundings of a vehicle are shot, to a characteristics video image into which image characteristics have been extracted from the input video image; a video images-classified-by-distance extracting/composing section (30) extracting areas which differ according to distances from the characteristics video image on the basis of the distance from a vehicle and composing the areas; a first object detecting section (40) scanning a composite video image to perform first object detection processing; an object-candidate position specifying section (50) determining an object-candidate position from a result of the first object detection processing; a second object detecting section (60) performing second object detection processing for the object-candidate position; and an object position identifying section (70) identifying an object position from a result of the second object detecting section.
US09152881B2
Approaches for deciding what individuals in a population of visual system “neurons” are looking for using sparse overcomplete feature dictionaries are provided. A sparse overcomplete feature dictionary may be learned for an image dataset and a local sparse representation of the image dataset may be built using the learned feature dictionary. A local maximum pooling operation may be applied on the local sparse representation to produce a translation-tolerant representation of the image dataset. An object may then be classified and/or clustered within the translation-tolerant representation of the image dataset using a supervised classification algorithm and/or an unsupervised clustering algorithm.
US09152880B1
Methods for determining the probability of a human observer correctly performing a visual discrimination task of a target with a dynamic image stream, movie, are based on the V50 criterion, or the number of resolvable cycles needed by the human observer for a fifty percent probability of discrimination task completion, for performing the same visual discrimination task of the same targets in static scenes given an infinite amount of time. Once the V50 value is determined for the target set using static images, this value is used with the resolvable cycles V of the target set from the movie in an empirical Target Transfer Probability Function TTPF defined by P∞(t)=(V(t)/V50(t))1.5/(1+(V(t)/V50(t))1.5). The TTPF calculates the probability of correctly performing the visual discrimination task of a target at a given instance in time within the movie. These P∞ values are then modified by a time limited search equation.
US09152877B2
Shift-invariant wavelet transform with properly selected wavelet base and decomposition level(s), is used to characterize rough-wavelet granules producing wavelet granulation of a feature space for a multispectral image such as a remote sensing image. Through the use of the granulated feature space contextual information in time and/or frequency domains are analyzed individually or in combination. Neighborhood rough sets (NRS) are employed in the selection of a subset of granulated features that further explore the local and/or contextual information from neighbor granules.
US09152875B2
A video encoder receives a macro-block of an image frame, and determines whether the macro-block contains text. The video encoder computes a quantization parameter for quantizing the macro-block, with the quantization parameter computed to be smaller if the macro-block is determined to contain text. The video encoder encodes the macro-block using the quantization parameter. Text quality in the encoded macro-block is preserved.
US09152870B2
A computer vision service includes technologies to, among other things, analyze computer vision or learning tasks requested by computer applications, select computer vision or learning algorithms to execute the requested tasks based on one or more performance capabilities of the computer vision or learning algorithms, perform the computer vision or learning tasks for the computer applications using the selected algorithms, and expose the results of performing the computer vision or learning tasks for use by the computer applications.
US09152860B2
A system, methods, and apparatus for generating pattern recognition classifiers are disclosed. An example method includes identifying graphical objects within an image of a card object, for each identified graphical object: i) creating a bounding region encompassing the graphical object such that a border of the bounding region is located at a predetermined distance from segments of the graphical object, ii) determining pixels within the bounding region that correspond to the graphical object, iii) determining an origin of the graphical object based on an origin rule, iv) determining a text coordinate relative to the origin for each determined pixel, and v) determining a statistical probability that features are present within the graphical object, each of the features including at least one pixel having text coordinates and for each graphical object type, combining the statistical probabilities for each of the features of the identified graphical objects into a classifier data structure.
US09152857B2
A system for detecting an object is provided. The system includes a depth image receiver that receives a depth image from a depth camera; a strong classifier that classifies an object region and a non-object region in the depth image based on a characteristic of an object; and an object detector that detects the classified object region, wherein the strong classifier comprises a plurality of weak classifiers which are cascade connected to each other and classifies the object region and the non-object region by passing the depth image through the weak classifiers, the characteristic of the object is extracted based on a center depth value of the depth image, and the plurality of the weak classifiers are generated through a training process for classifying positive training images among a multiple number of positive training images and a multiple number of negative training images.
US09152854B2
An image processing apparatus and method. The image processing apparatus includes: a data acquisition device for acquiring image data of a subject including a target bone; and a data processor for acquiring binary image data by performing thresholding based on the image data, segmenting the binary image data into a plurality of segments by labeling, determining one of the plurality of segments as a target image based on image characteristics of the target bone, and measuring a length of the target bone based on the target image.
US09152853B2
A method and system for performing gesture recognition of a vehicle occupant employing a time of flight (TOF) sensor and a computing system in a vehicle. An embodiment of the method of the invention includes the steps of receiving one or more raw frames from the TOF sensor, performing clustering to locate one or more body part clusters of the vehicle occupant, calculating the location of the tip of the hand of the vehicle occupant, determining whether the hand has performed a dynamic or a static gesture, retrieving a command corresponding to one of the determined static or dynamic gestures, and executing the command.
US09152850B2
A face authentication procedure is performed on a face detected in a visible light image of a scene, and correctness of an authentication determination of the face authentication procedure is verified by comparing the visible light image to an infrared light image of the same scene. The verification may be performed by comparing the luminance and/or the size of an eye region in the visible light image to the luminance and/or the size of the eye region in the infrared light image.
US09152846B2
An authentication apparatus capable of reducing erroneous authentication. A face detection section detects a face area of an object from an image. A feature information extraction processor extracts feature information (image data) indicative of a feature of the object. An authentication determination section performs authentication by comparing registered image data and feature information of a specific object. A registration information processor determines, when one of objects associated with registered image data items is selected as an object to which the feature information of the specific object is to be added, whether or not to additionally register the feature information of the specific object as image data for the selected object, according to a degree of similarity between image data of the selected object and the feature information of the specific object.
US09152842B2
An electronic device can include at least one fingerprint image sensor that obtains fingerprint image information, where the fingerprint information can include at least a first partial fingerprint image and a second partial fingerprint image. At least one fingerprint navigation sensor can be disposed to receive navigation information responsive to at least one of movement or orientation of a user's finger with respect to the at least one fingerprint image sensor. At least one processing unit can combine the first partial fingerprint image and the second partial fingerprint image into at least one combined fingerprint image utilizing the navigation information.
US09152838B2
A fingerprint sensor which includes a conductive layer which is incorporatable within a housing adaptable for use in an electronic device.
US09152837B2
Apparatus for identifying a person who wishes to receive a computer file, or to input computer information, where identifying information for each of a plurality of registered individuals is stored in a database, calls for capturing images of an individual requesting to receive or alter computer information, and determining whether this individual is the same as one of the registered individuals whose identifying information is stored in the database. The stored identifying information includes both an alphanumeric identifier and images of a unique, visually observable biologic identifier on a body portion of each registered indvidual. The specificity of the identification process is enhanced by storing registered examples of altered biological information in the database, by causing the computer source to induce an alteration in a biologic indentifier of a requesting person at the time of the request, and by comparing the altered requesting person information to stored information.
US09152834B2
An arrangement for, and a method of, electro-optically reading a target by image capture, employ an aiming assembly for projecting an aiming light pattern on the target that is located within a range of working distances relative to a housing, an imaging assembly for capturing an image of the target and of the aiming light pattern over a field of view, and a controller for determining a distance of the target relative to the housing based on a position of the aiming light pattern in the captured image, for determining a scanning resolution based on the determined distance, for comparing the determined scanning resolution with a scanning resolution setting, and for processing the captured image based on the comparison.
US09152831B2
A smart card reader for controlling a chip card comprising at least one display and a keyboard characterised by the implementation of both the display and the keyboard with a single touch-sensitive screen.
US09152826B2
An electronic device is provided, the electronic device having an anti-theft interface. If damage to the anti-theft interface is detected, the electronic device enters a user authentication mode.
US09152824B2
Computer-based methods, techniques, and systems for automatically protecting a storage device from unwanted alterations are provided. Example embodiments provide a Disk Access Redirection System, which includes a Redirection Driver, an Available Space Table (“AST”), a Protected Space Redirection Table (“PSRT”), and optionally an Unprotected Space Table (“UST”). The Redirection Driver is installed and registered with the computer operating system so that it can intercept storage device access requests (such as a disk read/write). When a storage access request for a read or write is sent, the request is intercepted by the Redirection Driver, transparent to the code that invokes the storage access request. The Redirection Driver uses the AST, PSRT, and optionally the UST, to allocate available storage space for redirected write requests, redirect write requests for protected areas of the storage device, and redirect read requests when the read request specifies a storage location that has been previously redirected.
US09152816B2
Provided is a method of managing medical information in an operating system for a medical information database, the method including encrypting, by a first user, first medical information having patient treatment information by using a group key, and second medical information having patient private information by using a private key, generating, by the first user, an index corresponding to the encrypted first medical information, storing the encrypted first and second medical information and the index to the medical information database, searching, by a second user, the medical information database for the encrypted first medical information by using the index; and decrypting the searched encrypted first medical information by using the group key.
US09152814B1
In one aspect, a method to manage encrypted data includes configuring a first portion of a storage medium to store encrypted data. The encrypted data is encrypted using a time-based encryption key. The method also includes configuring a second portion of the storage medium to include metadata identifying the time-based encryption key and storing the time-based encryption key in a location other than the storage medium.
US09152809B1
A method and system for segmented architecture for managing access to electronic documents having private data and public data is disclosed herein. A request for an electronic document is sent to a segmentation server, and the request becomes two queries: one for the public or non-confidential data of the electronic document and one for the private or confidential data of the electronic document. The segmentation server determines if the request is made over a private network or a public network to determine whether private data should be sent in response to the request.
US09152808B1
Disclosed are various embodiments for obtaining policy data specifying decoy data eligible to be inserted within a response to an access of a data store. The decoy data is detected in the response among a plurality of non-decoy data based at least upon the policy data. An action associated with the decoy data is initiated in response to the access of the data store meeting a configurable threshold.
US09152801B2
A method for use in encrypting data using a computer. The method comprises receiving data to be encrypted, defining a set of byte codes comprising user byte codes, storing a transformation vector defined from the set of byte codes, retrieving the transformation vector from the memory, transforming a block of the data from the data to be encrypted, translating values of the user byte codes from the block of data across the transformation vector, randomly selecting one or more reversible operations to perform, performing the reversible operations during the translation of the values of the user byte codes from the block of data, and inserting the translated values of the user byte codes into an encrypted block of data.
US09152799B2
Systems and methods are provided for providing users at remote access devices with conditional access to server-based applications. Requests for access to server-based applications (e.g., requests to launch or obtain data associated with the server-based applications) by remote access devices may be prevented or allowed based on device compliance with one or more policies including whether data-retention prevention code can be downloaded to and operational on the remote access devices. The data-retention prevention code may be used to both determine whether data can be automatically deleted from a cache or file directory at the remote access device and to delete potentially retention-sensitive data once the data is downloaded to the remote access device from the server-based application.
US09152796B2
An interpreter is modified to create a source tracking object for a data object received from a data source and to record information associated with the data source into the source tracking object. The interpreter is modified to create a copy of the data object for a tracking event in an application program, to create a flow tracking object for the tracking event, and to record information associated with the tracking event into the flow tracking object as the tracking event processes the copy of the data object. The interpreter is modified to create a sink tracking object for outputting the copy of the data object to a data sink and to record information associated with the data sink into the sink tracking object. The source tracking object, the flow tracking object, and the sink tracking object are output as dynamic analysis of dataflow in the application program.
US09152784B2
A combination of shim and back-end server applications may be used to identify and block the installation of malicious applications on mobile devices. In practice, a shim application registers with a mobile device's operating system to intercept application installation operations. Upon intercepting an attempted installation operation, the shim application identifies the application seeking to be installed, generates a key uniquely identifying the application, and transmits the key over a network connection to a back-end server. The back-end server may be configured to crawl the Internet to identify malicious applications and compile and maintain a database of such applications. Upon receiving a key from the shim application, the back-end server can search its database to locate a matching application and, if found, respond to the mobile device with the application's status (e.g., malicious or not). The shim application can utilize this information to allow or block installation of the application.
US09152782B2
A network security system including a first-level security profile engine and a second-level security profile engine is disclosed. In an example of operation, the first-level security profile engine assigns a first-level security profile for a first user device, the first user device requesting access to a network; the second-level security profile engine assigns a first second-level security profile to the first user device, the first second-level security profile providing first network configuration information for the first user device; a device selection engine receives a selection of a second user device associated with the first-level security profile; and the second-level security profile engine assigns a second second-level security profile to the second user device, the second second-level security profile providing second network configuration information for the second user device. A device network configuration engine can then configure the first user device to access the network based on the first network configuration information.
US09152774B2
In an information management system, activity data is collected and analyzed for patterns. The information management system may be policy based. Activity data may be organized as entries including information on user, application, machine, action, object or document, time, and location. When checking for patterns in the activity or historical data, techniques may include inferencing, frequency checking, location and distance checking, and relationship checking, and any combination of these. Analyzing the activity data may include comparing like types or categories of information for two or more entries.
US09152771B2
An apparatus and method of managing a licensable item includes accessing a licensing policy related to managing a licensable item, and a license agent making a determination to act to enforce the licensing policy or to first communicate with a server before acting to enforce the licensing policy. Further, the apparatus and method include enforcing the licensing policy in accordance with the determination to act to enforce the licensing policy or to first communicate with a server before acting.
US09152769B2
This system of detecting endemic or epidemic diseases includes an analysis center connected by a computer network to a number of health booths in which health data can be measured and stored with the conditions under which the measurements are taken. The analysis center generates an alert automatically if an endemic or epidemic disease is detected.
US09152767B2
A method for treating an orthodontic condition can include receiving patient data, such as through a website, accessing a database having information derived from patient treatments, generating a model of an orthodontic condition defining one or more anatomic features of a set of teeth, identifying a diagnosis of an orthodontic condition and identifying a treatment regimen for the diagnosis. A method can include tagging an anatomic feature with an electronic identifier and automatically generating a tooth setup. A system can include a server and a database, which can include information relating to patient treatments, and a website for receiving patient data. A system can include an electronic model representing anatomic features of a patient's teeth and an application adapted to identify a diagnosis and a treatment regimen for an orthodontic condition, which can include executing artificial intelligence and/or other algorithms.
US09152766B2
A method for planning an infusion of a medical liquid by an infusion apparatus comprising an infusion device, wherein the method comprises the steps of: acquiring planning scan data which represent a medical image of at least a body region (3) of a patient and are obtained by a planning scan before the infusion device is positioned; determining a planned device position from the planning scan data; acquiring verification scan data which represent a medical image of the region of the patient after the infusion device has been positioned; determining a source volume of the liquid from the verification scan data; and determining infusion parameters from the verification scan data and the source volume.
US09152762B2
A system including a database storing a plurality of patient data corresponding to a plurality of patients, where the patient data corresponds to a particular patient and includes at least one image of the particular patient; and a component configured to receive patient identification information previously assigned to one of the particular patients, extract the patient data corresponding to the particular patient identification information received, and display the patient data on a display including at least one image of the particular patient.
US09152757B2
Embodiments include a system for determining cardiovascular information for a patient. The system may include at least one computer system configured to receive patient-specific data regarding a geometry of the patient's heart, and create a three-dimensional model representing at least a portion of the patient's heart based on the patient-specific data. The at least one computer system may be further configured to create a physics-based model relating to a blood flow characteristic of the patient's heart and determine a fractional flow reserve within the patient's heart based on the three-dimensional model and the physics-based model.
US09152747B2
A method, computer program product, and computer system for determining a magnitude and phase of a spurious-free dynamic range component. A first signal and a second signal may be received from a first source operatively connected to a differential component. A first output associated with the first signal and a second output associated with the second signal may be nulled. The first signal and the second signal may be shorted. A second source operatively connected to the differential component may be disconnected. The first signal of the first source may be applied at a same phase as the second source with an additional phase delta, +Y∘. A first differential residual signal may be measured using the first signal at the same phase as the second source with the additional phase delta, +Y∘. The second signal of the first source may be applied at the same phase as the second source with an additional phase delta, −Y∘. A second differential residual signal may be measured using the second signal at the same phase as the second source with the additional phase delta, −Y∘. The magnitude and phase of the distortion component of the first source may be determined based upon, at least in part, the first and second differential residual signal.
US09152741B2
There is provided a method of generating a three-dimensional (3D) shape by specifying a boundary between materials, including acquiring numerical data of a boundary line of a two-dimensional (2D) shape in a plane, generating a next 2D shape by moving the 2D shape in a direction intersecting the plane based on numerical data specifying a shape of the boundary and also by copying or deforming the 2D shape, and configuring a solid based on data of a generated 2D shape.
US09152739B2
A computer-implemented method of providing users with contextually relevant data associates metadata tags with data items extracted from a variety of data sources that summarize the data items in searchable form using a common format. Contextual data is collected from the users indicative of their current situation. This data is then correlated with the metadata tags to identify data items of potential interest to the users taking into account their current situation. The identified data items are pushed to the relevant receiving devices in real time over a communications network to provide the identified users with information relevant to their current situation.
US09152736B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for storing a plurality of documents in computer-readable memory, each document of the plurality of documents having a corresponding access control list (ACL), each ACL defining a plurality of users that are authorized to access a respective document, generating an index based on the plurality of users, the index comprising a plurality of partitions, each partition corresponding to a user of the plurality of users, and, for each document of the plurality of documents: ranking the users of the plurality of users, selecting a user as an indexing user based on the ranking, and storing the document in a partition of the index, the partition corresponding to the indexing user.
US09152732B2
A web application residing in a client device generates a user interface containing data objects hosted on a remote server. The web application contains a web app cache storing the data objects rendered in a web page. As additional data objects are needed, the web application searches for them first in the web app cache, then a browser cache, before utilizing a web browser to retrieve the data objects from the remote server.
US09152726B2
A location-related entity ranking technique is described that allows a user see the ranking of location-related entities near a desired location in response to a query. The technique can leverage the searches performed by a community of mobile device users at a given location and at a given time to infer the location-related entities that are popular at this specific location and time window. The technique can also filter out or re-rank these location-related entities based on the personal preferences of the person that submits the query and group preferences of a group to which the user belongs. The personal preferences can also be context specific (i.e. different restaurant preferences for lunch and dinner times).
US09152716B1
An improved search engine technique allows a user to ensure that an untrusted search engine provides complete and correct search results without requiring large proofs for large data collections. Thus techniques are presented for a trusted crawler to index a distributed collection of documents and create an authenticated search structure that allows an untrusted search server to return reliably complete and correct search results.
US09152713B1
A media stream, such as a news broadcast, is supplemented with documents that are relevant to the media stream. The documents may be web pages returned from a search engine. A search query generation component generates search queries for the search engine based on the media stream. A post processing component may re-rank and/or filter the documents to enhance the viewing experience for the user.
US09152703B1
A computer-implemented method for clustering data samples may include (1) identifying a plurality of samples, (2) identifying a plurality of candidate features, (3) identifying a plurality of candidate distance functions, (4) selecting a distance function by (i) selecting a set of features based on determining that a result of clustering a training set of samples using the set of features and the distance function fits an expected clustering of the training set of samples more closely than results from using an alternative set of features and (ii) determining that the result of clustering the training set using the set of features and the distance function fits the expected clustering of the training set of samples more closely than a best result of any other distance function, and (5) clustering the plurality of samples using the set of features and the distance function. Various other methods and systems are also disclosed.
US09152694B1
Automated classification of applications (“apps”) for mobile devices is provided. In some embodiments, automated classification of apps for mobile devices includes receiving an application (“app”); performing an analysis of the app using a classification engine; and determining an app category for the app based on the analysis performed using the classification engine.
US09152688B2
A method for estimating aggregates over a stream of axis-aligned rectangles, includes: decomposing the stream along one-dimensional intervals, wherein vertices for the rectangle are located in a predetermined grid; assigning each grid row to buckets, wherein the one-dimensional intervals are placed into buckets according to the corresponding rows in which the one-dimensional intervals are positioned; and estimating a sum of a number of grid points touched by at least one of the rectangles in each row of the grid to approximate a volume of the axis-aligned rectangles by: using pairwise-independent hash functions in a multi-dimensional algorithm to determine buckets that include a first interval corresponding to a given rectangle, wherein the interval has hash function results that meet a predetermined threshold; and inserting a second interval for the rectangle corresponding to the first interval into a one-dimensional algorithm for the corresponding bucket meeting the predetermined threshold.
US09152682B2
Embodiments are directed towards determining and tracking metadata for the generation of visualizations of requested data. A user may request data by providing a query that may be employed to search for the requested data. The query may include a plurality of commands, which may be employed in a pipeline to perform the search and to generate a table of the requested data. In some embodiments, each command may be executed to perform an action on a set of data. The execution of a command may generate one or more columns to append and/or insert into the table of requested data. Metadata for each generated column may be determined based on the actions performed by executing the commands. The table of requested data and the column metadata may be employed to generate and display a visualization of at least a portion of the requested data to a user.
US09152678B1
Apparatus, systems and methods for content ranking are disclosed. Historical click-through rates of first and second content items for a query are determined from an analysis of click logs and query logs. Temporal changes in the historical click-through rate of the first and second content items are identified. The rankings of the first and second content items are adjusted based on the temporal change.
US09152677B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for organizing music tracks based on shared metadata. In one aspect, a method includes identifying a set of common music tracks associated with a first user and a second user, wherein the set of common music tracks includes at least one music track present in both a first set of music tracks associated with the first user and a second set of music tracks associated with the second user. Metadata associated with at least one music track in the set of common music tracks is retrieved, the metadata being specific to the second user. A set of user music tracks associated with the first user is organized based on the retrieved metadata.
US09152673B2
Disclosed is a method of recovering from overflow of a hardware dynamically reconfigurable NFA cell array, to find matches within a symbol stream to regular expression or similar rules without missing matches due to overflow. Upon overflow, active states are selected to spill from the cell array, saving state information and spill position. Scanning continues a limited distance, with additional overflow spills possible, to a selected end of segment position where all active end states are removed and recorded. A re-scan of the segment from the first overflow position begins with each previously spilled state re-injected at the same position it was spilled from. At the end of the segment, saved end states are re-injected and scanning continues. RE-scans may iterate if there was additional overflow. NFA states may be assigned color codes, with connected states receiving the same color, to aid in efficient overflow recovery.
US09152672B2
A method for performing queries on a distributed time series data storage system is presented. The time series data storage system has a time series database that stores data blocks containing time stamped data across a plurality of computing devices. The system also includes an index database that stores an index associated with the time stamped data in each data block. The method includes the steps of sending a query, requesting indices, returning the indices, preparing a sub-query, forwarding the sub-query to an evaluator, evaluating the sub-query, performing a logical operation on each sub-query's result, receiving the sub-results at an output handler, and combining the sub-results.
US09152667B1
Systems and methods of analyzing search metrics are disclosed. System users are provided with insight into the query or search activity in their system domains. Disclosed systems can enable continuous monitoring of search engine logs for search events (i.e., searches performed by applications using the search engine. Collected data regarding search events is used to derive various metrics such as the total number of queries performed in a relevant period, the total number of queries without results; the top N queries with counts; the top N queries which produced no results, with counts; and the top N documents in results, with counts. In at least one embodiment of the disclosure all such metrics are computed for a last full hour period and all metrics, except in some cases a top-N report, are available for user viewing on an hourly basis.
