US09307682B2
An apparatus includes a display. The display may include a frame disposed at a bottom surface of the display. The apparatus may include a semiconductor chip. A heat pipe constructed of a thermally conductive material may be affixed to the frame. A surface of the heat pipe may oppose the semiconductor chip at a predetermined distance from the semiconductor chip.
US09307679B2
In accordance with embodiments, a server room managing air conditioning system includes: a first coil; a second coil; and an air supply fan. The first coil adjusts returned air of a server room to a predetermined temperature value lower than a supplied air temperature target value and dehumidifies the returned air. The second coil adjusts the returned air of the server room to a predetermined temperature value higher than the supplied air temperature target value so that the supplied air temperature target value and a supplied air humidity target value can be achieved when the returned air is mixed with air adjusted by the first coil. The air supply fan mixes the returned air and supplies the mixed returned air as the supplied air to the server room.
US09307660B2
A collapsible electronic equipment is provided, including a first part, a first rotary mechanism, a joint element, and a second part. The first part has a first side and a second side. The first rotary mechanism is disposed on the first part, and the joint element is disposed on the first rotary mechanism. The second part is pivotally connected to the joint element. When the second part is situated on a first side/a second side of the first part, the joint element or the second part contacts the first side/the second side of the first part.
US09307653B2
A substrate cleaning method is capable of preventing a liquid stream on a substrate from being cut and circuit patterns thereon from being damaged. The substrate cleaning method includes a liquid film forming process that forms a liquid film on an entire substrate surface by supplying a cleaning liquid L from a central portion of the substrate W toward a peripheral portion thereof while rotating the substrate; a drying region forming process that discharges a gas G on the substrate surface and removes the cleaning liquid on the substrate surface; and a residual liquid removing process that removes the cleaning liquid remaining between the circuit patterns by discharging a gas G while moving in a diametrical direction of the substrate.
US09307642B2
A printed-board includes a first conductor-layer, a second conductor-layer provided to a layer different from the first conductor-layer, an insulation-layer provided between the first conductor-layer and the second conductor-layer, a plurality of through-holes that pass through the first conductor-layer, the second conductor-layer, and the insulation-layer, and a plurality of vias that are formed in the plurality of through-holes, respectively, and couple the first conductor-layer and the second conductor-layer, each of the plurality of vias including a conductor portion that occupies part of an internal space of the through-hole, and a non-conductor portion that occupies remaining part of the internal space, wherein in a given pair of vias adjacent to each other, the conductor portion of one of the pair of vias is arranged so as to face the non-conductor portion of another one of the pair of vias.
US09307631B2
According to various aspects, exemplary embodiments include one or more frequency selective surfaces, which may be used for attenuating, reflecting, and/or redirecting electromagnetic signals. Also disclosed are methods of using one or more frequency selective surfaces for attenuating, reflecting, and/or redirecting electromagnetic signals.
US09307625B2
A droplet dispensing device includes a reservoir for receiving a liquid material, an outlet nozzle in fluid communication with the reservoir and a piezoelectric actuating means acting on the liquid material at the outlet nozzle to exit the outlet nozzle in a sequence of droplets. A piezoelectric actuating means that includes a piston, which is actuated by a piezoelectric actuator at one end and dips the other, free end into the liquid material is provided just upstream of the outlet nozzle.
US09307620B2
A two-conductor hard-wired communications link accepts a value of at least one parameter from an environmental sensor in the form of data encoded on the conductors via current modulation. The sensor can be mounted in a location remote from a controller. A circuit connected to the sensor transmits an RF signal representing the value of the parameter detected by the sensor. A data relay connects to the hard-wired communication link of the controller. The data relay includes a receiver that receives the RF signal, and circuitry configured to extract the value of the parameter and to emulate a set of physical and protocol properties of the hard-wired communication link of the controller.
US09307617B2
There is provided an illumination apparatus including an illumination unit, a reception unit, and a control unit configured to control illumination of the illumination unit in accordance with a default illumination pattern. When the reception unit receives an illumination pattern, the control unit performs illumination control different from the illumination according to the default illumination pattern.
US09307612B2
The present invention discloses a light emitting device driver circuit and a driving method of a light emitting device circuit. The light emitting device driver circuit is for driving a light emitting device circuit with plural light emitting devices connected in series. The light emitting device driver circuit determines a number of the conductive light emitting devices according to a rectified input voltage. The light emitting device driver circuit includes: a switch module, a current source circuit, and a total harmonic distortion (THD) compensation circuit. The THD compensation circuit generates an adjustment current according to the rectified input voltage. The current source circuit provides a light emitting device current to the light emitting device circuit according to the adjustment current, such that the THD is reduced.
US09307609B2
A light-emitting module includes at least one first light-emitting component, at least one second light-emitting component, a first driving component, a second driving component, and a control component. The first light-emitting component is configured to emit a white light having a first predetermined color temperature according to a first power of a first driving signal. The second light-emitting component is configured to emit another white light having a second predetermined color temperature according to a second power of a second driving signal. The control component is configured to separately output the first and second driving signals, and to separately adjust the first and second powers of the first and second driving signals, so as to mix the white lights having the first and second predetermined color temperatures to output a white light having an output color temperature.
US09307601B2
An electronic lighting system and method described herein control energy provided to an electronic lighting device, such as one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and/or compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), of the electronic lighting system. A triac-based dimmer phase cuts a line voltage provided to the electronic lighting system. A controller of the electronic lighting system utilizes a probing system to overcome idiosyncrasies of the triac-based dimmer to allow the controller to probe and sense the line voltage. To reduce energy consumption, rather than probing each cycle of the output voltage of the triac-based dimmer, the controller periodically or intermittently probes the output voltage of the triac-based dimmer.
US09307593B1
LED lamp systems as described herein include a dimmer switch and a bleeder circuit. The bleeder circuit provides a bleeder current to management voltage and to prevent the dimmer switch from turning off prematurely. The bleeder circuit may monitor the AC input voltage outputted by the dimmer switch. When the AC input voltage is less than a first threshold, the bleeder circuit provides a bleeder current. When the AC input voltage is greater than a second threshold, the bleeder circuit adjusts the bleeder current to less than a predetermined level.
US09307587B1
A driver circuit (e.g., an LED driver circuit) provides power to a load (e.g. an LED light source) from a DC power rail. A self-oscillating LLC series resonant inverter is configured to connect to the DC power rail, receive DC power from the DC power rail, and provide an AC output signal. A current limiting capacitor is connected to the self-oscillating LLC series resonant inverter. The current limiting capacitor receives the AC output signal from the self-oscillating LLC series resonant inverter and provides an AC current signal. The rectifier circuit receives the AC current signal from the current limiting capacitor and provides a DC current to the load.
US09307577B2
An apparatus, device, method, computer program product, and system that detects an operative coupling between a first electronic device and a second electronic device, the first and second electronic devices having a presence in a geographic locale, and obtains a user assistance corresponding to the operative coupling.
US09307565B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate selectively and simultaneously establishing multiple bearers in wireless communication networks. A core network entity in a wireless network can transmit a bearer establishment request to an access point comprising a list of bearers to establish with a related mobile device. The bearer establishment request comprising list of bearers includes separate non-access stratum (NAS) messages corresponding to each bearer in the list. The separate NAS messages can be linked to each bearer entry in the list. The access point can receive the list and attempt to initialize one or more radio bearers in the list. Since the NAS messages individually correspond to a given bearer, the access point can forward NAS messages to the mobile device only for bearers that are successfully initialized allowing selective establishment thereof. In addition, the access point can provide initialization status for the individual bearers to the core network.
US09307560B2
A method for scheduling a random-access communication system having high-priority (HP) and low-priority (LP) nodes is provided, where the scheduling is configured such that the system provides an absolute throughput guarantee for the HP nodes, and a proportional throughput guarantee for the LP nodes. The method is based on obtaining a length of a contention window assigned to an individual node, which is either a HP or a LP node, from a per-slot attempt rate of this individual node. In particular, the attempt rate of each individual node is determined by an algorithm configured such that a resultant sum of the per-slot attempt rates of all the individual nodes is a fixed value independent of the number of the individual nodes. By this scheduling method, the maximum system throughput is approached. The method can be advantageously used in a wireless local area network (WLAN).
US09307555B2
A method for a mobile terminal to access a network through a cell phone is provided. The mobile terminal may be connected to a network enabled cell phone via a WIFI (wireless fidelity) connection mode, and the network enabled cell phone may serve as a gateway router. TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol) operating principle having element information, such as source address, source port, protocol, destination address and destination port in a data packet, may be processed when a data packet arrives at a network layer of a network enabled cell phone. A Hash table may be dynamically established for searching a network connection, and NAT (network address translation) treatment may be carried out to a data packet, thus, an associated mobile terminal may simultaneously access the network with the network enabled cell phone by the external network IP address of the network enabled cell phone. Because the two devices may share an IP address to access the network, all the network flow may be generated at the gateway cell phone, thus, avoiding cost of other devices. Furthermore, a Hash table may be dynamically established for the data packet in the present invention, which may accelerate search speed of a data packet and processing speed.
US09307545B2
The present description relates to a method in which a first terminal communicates with a base station via a second terminal in a wireless access system supporting machine-type communication (MTC). The method comprises the following steps: transmitting, to the second terminal, uplink data to be transmitted to the base station; receiving, from the base station, control information corresponding to the quality of a link between the first terminal and the second terminal; and retransmitting the uplink data to the second terminal in accordance with the received control information, wherein the control information includes information on the delay between the second terminal and the base station, and information on the measured quality of the link between the first terminal and the second terminal.
US09307535B1
A base station that serves a plurality of wireless communication devices (WCDs) will group the WCDs into physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) channel (PHICH) groups based on channel quality reported by the WCDs and will then differentially allocate transmission power among the PHICH groups, so as to provide higher transmission power for transmission to PHICH groups of WCDs that reported lower channel quality, while providing lower transmission power for transmission to PHICH groups of WCDs that reported higher channel quality.
US09307532B2
A communication system, such as a wireless CDMA system, detects markers with fewer errors by having field units transmit the markers at different power levels (e.g., 9 dB for one marker and 11 dB for another marker). The difference in power levels of the markers allows the base station to identify the request markers using alternative criteria with a low probability of error, where the alternative criteria may include comparing the markers to respective energy level thresholds, monitoring occupancy of time slots, occupancy of mutually exclusive code channels, or combinations thereof. For example, in one particular embodiment, a request marker, which is generally a high priority marker, is transmitted with higher power, which improves the probability of detection and reduces the probability of false detection of the request marker.
US09307527B2
A wireless communication device configured for selecting a codeword and determining a symbol length for uplink control information is described. The wireless communication device includes a processor and instructions stored in memory. The wireless communication device establishes communication with a base station, receives downlink control information from the base station and receives base station information. The wireless communication device generates uplink control information based on the base station information. The wireless communication device also determines a number of symbols for the uplink control information for a plurality of layers and sends the uplink control information.
US09307526B2
A radio communication apparatus receives control information on one or more control channel elements (CCEs) with consecutive CCE number(s). The radio communication apparatus first-spreads a response signal with a sequence defined by a cyclic shift value that is determined among a plurality of cyclic shift values from an index of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), which is associated with a first CCE number of the one or more CCEs, and second-spreads the first-spread response signal with an orthogonal sequence that is determined among a plurality of orthogonal sequences from the index. One of cyclic shift values used for an orthogonal sequence is determined from an index of the PUCCH, which is associated with an odd CCE number, and another one of the cyclic shift values used for the same orthogonal sequence is determined from an index of the PUCCH, which is associated with an even CCE number.
US09307521B2
Methods and apparatuses determine and indicate QCL behavior for or to a UE. A method for determining QCL behavior for the UE method includes, when configured in TM10 for a serving cell, determining whether a CRC for a PDSCH transmission scheduled by DCI format 1A is scrambled using a C-RNTI. The method also includes, in response to determining C-RNTI scrambling, determining whether a transmission scheme of the PDSCH transmission uses a non-MBSFN subframe configuration and whether the PDSCH transmission is transmitted on antenna port 0 or a TxD scheme is used. The method further includes, in response to determining the non-MBSFN subframe configuration and antenna port 0 or the TxD scheme being used, determining to use QCL behavior 1 for PDSCH reception. Additionally, the method includes, in response to determining a MBSFN subframe configuration and antenna port 7 being used, determining to use QCL behavior 2 for PDSCH reception.
US09307512B2
Methods and devices are disclosed for enabling efficient network registration using a shared radio resource for at least a first and second SIM of a multi-SIM wireless communication device. After the end of a radio-off condition of the radio resource, the wireless device may identify services supported by each of the first and second SIMs, evaluate criticality of the supported services, determine which of the first and second SIM supports the service having the highest criticality, and prevent the other SIM from registering with its network before the SIM with the service of the highest criticality has successfully registered for service in its selected network.
US09307506B1
Systems for synchronizing transmission through the introduction of a specific additional delay in a wireless telecommunications network are provided. RF transmission delays are adjusted for a distributed antenna system (DAS) that must maintain synchronization with RF transmissions in a macro cellular network. Delays are introduced at each DAS node using a delay panel or a measurement procedure to synchronize the transmission of the DAS with the macro cellular network.
US09307499B2
A user device transmits data at a first transmit power level. The user device detects a presence of a human body part within a predetermined distance from an antenna of the user device using one or more sensors disposed at a back side of the user device. In response to the detection of the presence of the human body part, the user device transmits information at a second transmit power level that is less than the first transmit power level.
US09307495B2
The disclosed embodiments provide a system that monitors a battery in a portable electronic device. During operation, the system monitors a state of charge of the battery while the battery is powering the portable electronic device. Next, when the state of charge of the battery reaches a predetermined reserve capacity, the system monitors a voltage of the battery. Then, when the monitored voltage of the battery reaches a predetermined termination voltage, the system puts the portable electronic device into a low power usage state.
US09307493B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure include systems and methods for management of mobile device radio state. In some embodiments, a method, which can be implemented on a system, allows a network component (e.g., the policy and charging rules function in a UMTS network) to determine whether a mobile device is idle or active. Based on this determination, the network component may modify the behavior of a network element (e.g., a base station, eNode B or Node B) in relation to promotion or demotion of the mobile device's radio state. In some embodiments, the disclosed system can include a client side component on the mobile device which can determine criteria to be used by the network component to govern and optimize changes in mobile device radio state in a manner that conserves device and network resources.
US09307489B2
Methods and apparatus for preferring connections between networks. In one embodiment, a mobile device is capable of hybrid network operation (e.g. LTE and CDMA 1× operation), allowing the mobile device to be registered to a CDMA 1× network for voice calls while receiving and sending data traffic over a LTE network. However, any data sent by the LTE network may be lost if the data was transmitted during a tune-away to the CDMA 1× network to perform maintenance operations. In one variant, the mobile device can disable the idle voice connection to the CDMA 1× network based on a request from resident applications requiring real-time data streaming, which are more likely to experience data loss. Consequently, potential data loss due to a network tune-away is prevented, thereby improving data performance of the resident applications. In another embodiment, an adaptive transmit receive mode can be selectively disabled/enabled for data traffic.
US09307472B2
The present invention provides a method and system for facilitating efficient handoff and data throughput in mobile broadband communication systems. Methods implemented by a system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention include selectively enabled soft handoff, performing Layer 2 bearer functions at the base station and using the mobile device to coordinate soft handoff and interference avoidance without the need for a centralized coordination function.
US09307468B2
A communication system that includes mobile user equipment and a communication network is provided. The communication network includes a first base station communicating with the user equipment according to a first defined radio frame format with a first sequence of radio frames each having the same length and each being allocated a respective first System Frame Number (SFN) to sequentially number the radio frames of the first sequence. A second base station is provided to communicate with the user equipment according to a second defined radio frame format including a second sequence of radio frames each having the same length and each being allocated a respective second SFN such that the radio frames of the second sequence are sequentially numbered. A radio signal includes first information indicative of a difference between the first and second SFNs at a particular time and second information usable with the first information.
US09307467B2
A network reselection procedure, of a wireless communication device, that occurs following a network detachment event, such as a device sleep event or a device power savings mode event. The wireless communication device attempts to acquire a first wireless network to which the wireless communication device was most recently attached, immediately preceding the network detachment event. Then, in response to an unsuccessful acquisition of the first wireless network, the wireless communication device attempts an alternate network acquisition utilizing a Most Recently Used List (MRUL) that is stored at the wireless communication device and includes information about one or more frequency bands allocated to a primary service provider with which the wireless communication device is affiliated. After determining whether the alternate network acquisition attempt was successful, the wireless communication device attaches to a second network and stores information associated with the second network.
US09307457B2
Performing selective tune-away by a user equipment (UE). The UE may include a first radio that is configurable to operate according to a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT. The UE may use the radio to communicate using the first RAT and the second RAT using the first radio. The UE may also perform measurement of a received signal strength for the first RAT. The UE may determine if the received signal strength is less than a threshold. Neighbor cell measurement and/or synchronization may be performed if the received signal strength is less than the threshold. However, if the received signal strength is greater than the threshold, the neighbor cell measurement and/or synchronization may not be performed. The UE may continue to perform page decoding for the first RAT using the first radio, e.g., for each discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle of the first RAT.
US09307447B2
A method is implemented in a mobile device for managing access to resources of a cellular communication system. The cellular communication system includes a plurality of base stations providing wireless access to the resources of the cellular communication system. The mobile device implements an enhanced extended access class barring (EEAB) process to minimize overloading of the resources of the cellular communication system.
US09307446B2
A method and an apparatus for distributing a load of a base station in a wireless communication system supporting multi-carriers are provided. In the method, carriers are classified into a plurality of groups. A load of each of a plurality of cells corresponding to the plurality of groups, is determined. A cell load of each of the plurality of cells is compared with at least one threshold set in advance. When a cell load of a first cell has a value greater than the at least one threshold set in advance, a cell inside a group of the first cell or a cell inside a group different from the first cell is selected depending on the cell load of the first cell. A terminal of the first cell is allowed to perform a handover to the selected cell.
US09307439B2
Management of a network may be accomplished by adjusting timer settings and/or retry criteria. For example, communications and management from an end-to-end perspective of entities in a network may be conducted; timers and/or retry criteria may be adjusted dynamically based on network traffic load; timers and/or retry criteria may be adjusted dynamically based on overload conditions; feedback mechanisms may be implemented to allow downstream network elements to inform upstream network elements about the health status and/or load condition of the network; and/or differentiated timer and retry criteria/mechanisms may be implemented.
US09307438B2
A method for deactivating a first node in a communication network includes determining, in a first time period, a number (A) of active mobile UE devices in a first network cell; determining a number (B) of static UE devices in the first network cell; and determining a number (C) of requests for direct D2D communication from UE devices in the first network cell. The method includes estimating a number of active UE devices in the first network cell for a second time period based on one or more of A, B, and C and determining whether the estimated number of active UE devices is less than a threshold. If so, the method includes transmitting a request to a second node to take over communication with one or more of the UE devices. If the request is accepted by the second node, the first node is deactivated.
US09307429B2
A user device includes a wireless interface to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN) link with another user device. The user device further includes a notification controller to, in response to a link termination event (306) for the WPAN link, selectively trigger a user alert based on at least one of: an indication (312) of whether the user device is in proximity to a user; and an indication (314) of whether the other user device is identified as a user-portable device. The notification controller may selectively trigger a user alert further based on an indication (308) of whether the first device is connected to a specified wireless local area network (WLAN).
US09307421B2
A method for setting up a radio front haul link by a serving Base Station (BS) in a cooperative communication system is provided. The method includes receiving a measurement result report message including a measurement result for each of a serving BS and neighbor BSs, determining at least one neighbor BS with which the serving BS will set up a radio front haul link according to the measurement result for each of the serving BS and the neighbor BSs, and performing a radio front haul link set up operation with the at least one neighbor BS.
US09307420B2
A method for noise rise estimation in a wireless communication system comprises measuring (210) of received total wideband power of an antenna a plurality of times. An estimate of a noise floor measure is computed (212) based on at least a number of the measured received total wideband powers of the antenna. Interference whitening of a received signal is performed (214) per user for a multitude of users. A useful signal power per user after the interference whitening, preferably Frequency Domain Equalization, is determined (216). A noise rise measure per user is calculated (220), based at least on the useful signal power per user and the noise floor measure. The calculation in turn comprises compensation of the noise rise measure per user for the effects of the interference whitening. An arrangement for noise rise estimation is adapted for such a method. A radio base station comprises such an arrangement.
US09307416B2
The present invention may include system for utilizing operational information obtained by one wireless communication medium that is supported by a wireless device in order to optimize the operation of another wireless communication medium also supported in the same device. More specifically, the present invention may leverage channel condition information collected as part of the standard operation of a wireless communication medium including interference avoidance capabilities, like Bluetooth™ with Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH), in order to modify the operation in another wireless communication medium such as by determining a channel scan list of potential operational channels to scan, determining a scan order for the channel scan list of potential communication channels based on, for example, the probability that a channel is currently being utilized by a target device, and/or altering a scan rate for one or more communication channels.
US09307408B2
Embodiments of a mobile device and method for secure online sign-up and provisioning of credentials for Wi-Fi hotspots are generally described herein. In some embodiments, provisioning occurs using a service set identifier (SSID) to associate with a hotspot and retrieve a virtual LAN (VLAN) identifier. The VLAN identifier is used to complete the signup and provisioning process. In some embodiments, a hotspot may implement a primary SSID and a dependent SSID. The mobile device associates with the hotspot using the dependent SSID to perform the secure online signup and provisioning process. Once credentials are obtained using the signup and provisioning process, the device can connect to the hotspot using the primary SSID and the already provisioned credentials. The provisioned credentials may include certificates, username/password, or SIM-type credentials.
US09307404B2
A network unlocking method of a mobile terminal is disclosed in the invention. The method includes: after being used, a mobile terminal whose network is locked transmitting hardware information to a network sever (101); when the mobile terminal needs to unlock the network, it logging in a website providing the download of a network unlocking file, the website obtaining the hardware information of the currently logging-in mobile terminal and performing hardware information matching by the network server (103); when the matching is successful, the mobile terminal downloading the network unlocking file from the website and unlocking the network with an unlocking code in the network unlocking file. A mobile terminal and a network unlocking system thereof are also disclosed in the invention.
US09307392B2
A method for negotiating a session personality based at least in part on a roaming agreement is provided. The method can include a roaming access network receiving an identifier provided by an access terminal attendant to establishment of a session between the access terminal and the roaming access network. The method can further include the roaming access network using the identifier to determine a home network associated with the access terminal. The method can additionally include the roaming access network determining one or more radio access technology (RAT) versions covered by a roaming agreement between the home network and the roaming access network. The method can also include the roaming access network negotiating a session personality for use in the session based at least in part on the one or more RAT versions covered by the roaming agreement.
US09307387B2
Even if the roles of apparatuses are not decided in advance when automatically setting communication parameters, communication parameter setting processing and network joining processing are appropriately executed without requiring the user to select the roles of apparatuses. The invention is characterized by a communication method for a communication apparatus, including a first search step of searching for a communication partner apparatus on a predetermined communication channel, a second search step of searching for a communication partner apparatus on all communication channels available for communication, and a search control step of searching for a communication partner apparatus using the first and second search steps.
US09307383B1
An illustrative apparatus may include a UAV request apparatus having a housing with at least one interface configured to accept one or more inputs that are each indicative of a particular type of medical situation. A control system may be configured to receive, via the interface, a first input that corresponds to a first type of medical situation in which a defibrillator is configured to provide medical support; and send, via a first network interface to an access system for a network of UAVs, a medical support request including a unique electronic identifier for the apparatus and an indication of the first type of medical situation, such that a UAV delivers a defibrillator to a location associated with the unique electronic identifier.
US09307381B2
An apparatus, method and system for providing an emergency alert message in a communication system. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a transceiver (250) configured to receive an alert of an emergency message on a plurality of broadcast subchannels and to receive at least one message segment associated with the emergency message on the plurality of broadcast subchannels. The apparatus also includes a processor (220) configured to reconstruct the emergency message from the at least one message segment associated therewith.
US09307378B2
Mechanisms are provided for identifying, selecting, presenting travel media to users of a mobile device. User location information and directional information is received and travel media including images, video, and audio relevant to an attraction within visual range of a user is presented. A user turning toward a particular monument may be presented with an audio or video tour of the monument that progresses as the user moves about the monument. A user approaching a particular district may be presented with video commercials about fine dining in the area. Presentations may be adjusted as the user changes location or changes viewing direction and selections may be tailored to user interests and preferences.
US09307358B2
Techniques of non-intrusive region notification are described. A mobile device can be programmed to trigger an application program when the mobile device enters or exits a region. The region can be defined by various virtual fencing technologies. If, at the time of entry or exit of a region, the mobile device is in a power-saving operating mode, the mobile device can transition to an active operating mode temporarily, register a fence-crossing event (entry or exit of the region) with the application program, and then transition back to the power-saving operating mode. The mobile device can launch the registered application program in response to the mobile device receiving a user input to enter the active operating mode. The application program can provide a user interface associated with the region on a display surface of the mobile device in place of a home screen or other user interface.
US09307354B2
A mobile device enables its user to retroactively “check in,” on social media, to locations to which the device has previously been. The mobile device automatically tracks the locations to which it goes during some time interval. As the mobile device goes to each location, the mobile device stores data that specifies that location. Following the time interval, and potentially in response to a request by the device's user to view the locations previously visited, the mobile device presents a list of at least some of the locations on its display. The device's user can select one or more of the presented locations. The selection of a location causes the mobile device to post, to an Internet-based social media service, information pertaining to the selected location. For example, such information can indicate that the device's user had been at the selected location.
US09307350B2
Protocol adaptation layer for wireless communications. Communication devices that include one or more radio modules operable in accordance with multiple communication protocols establish communications using one communication protocol and then switch to another communication protocol. This switching to another communication protocol may be performed based on a variety of factors including effectuating communications of higher throughput, supporting uni-directional communications vs. bi-directional communications, or any other desired factor. In some embodiments, various communication devices include two radio modules that are each implemented to operate in accordance with one particular communication protocol. Alternatively, a multi-protocol capable radio module may support and operate in accordance with more than one communication protocol. Examples of possible communication protocols include those compliant with Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11, and/or 802.15.3c.
US09307349B2
A first Bluetooth terminal having a short range communication module that is set as an anchor searches for a peripheral Bluetooth terminal and transmits information of the found Bluetooth terminal to a place management server. The place management server updates place information of a user of the found Bluetooth terminal to place information of the first Bluetooth terminal and transmits the updated place information to the found Bluetooth terminal.
US09307346B2
A method and a system for remotely interacting with items in an electric field affected environment for communicating with a computing device is provided. The system includes a host for receiving commands from a computing device and a client for receiving and performing the signals received from the host. The host sends signals via modulated electric field. The client interacts with the items in the environment to determine their presence and location. The client further includes sensing devices and acting devices for sensing the condition of the items and manipulating the items respectively.
US09307341B2
A method and system of personalizing a mobile phone over a wireless network is provided. The method is fast, reliable, and eliminates the need for an uninterrupted online connection to a host server in order to achieve successful download of user information. With the method and system, a mobile phone can be personalized for various purposes, such as for conducting financial transactions.
US09307332B2
A listening instrument includes a) a microphone unit for picking up an input sound from the current acoustic environment of the user and converting it to an electric microphone signal; b) a microphone gain unit for applying a specific microphone gain to the microphone signal and providing a modified microphone signal; c) a direct electric input signal representing an audio signal; d) a direct gain unit for applying a specific direct gain to the direct electric input signal and providing a modified direct electric input signal; e) a detector unit for classifying the current acoustic environment and providing one or more classification parameters; f) a control unit for controlling the specific microphone gain applied to the electric microphone signal and/or the specific direct gain applied to the direct electric input signal based on the one or more classification parameters.
US09307326B2
A microphone array, having a three-dimensional (3D) shape, has a plurality of microphone devices mounted onto (at least one) flexible printed circuit board (PCB), which is bent to achieve the 3D dimensional shape. Output signals from the microphone devices can be combined (e.g., by weighted or unweighted summation or differencing) to form sub-element output signals and/or element output signals, and ultimately a single array output signal for the microphone array. The PCB may be uniformly flexible or may have rigid sections interconnected by flexible portions. Possible 3D shapes include (without limitation) cylinders, spirals, serpentines, and polyhedrons, each formed from a single flexible PCB. Alternatively, the microphone array may be an assembly of multiple, interconnecting sub-arrays, each having two or more rigid portions separated by one or more flexible portions, where each sub-array has at least one cut-out portion for receiving a rigid portion of another sub-array.
US09307325B2
There is disclosed a transducer apparatus for acoustic communications through a substrate at a predetermined center frequency, the apparatus comprising:—an active piezoelectric element for generating an acoustic signal; an intermediate layer, having a surface for accommodating the piezoelectric element, and having a first array of protrusions on a surface opposite the surface for accommodating the piezoelectric element; and a second array of protrusions at the substrate, wherein the active piezoelectric element is mounted onto the intermediate layer, and the intermediate layer is secured in position relative to the substrate such that the first array of protrusions faces the second array of protrusions such that the acoustic signal may propagate through the first and second arrays. There are further disclosed a method of mounting such an apparatus and a plate suitable for use in the transducer apparatus.
US09307322B2
Frequency response correction systems and methods for consumer electronic (CE) devices are disclosed. Applying one or more of disclosed techniques can improve a consumer's listening experience. The frequency response of a CE device can be corrected to remove or attenuate salient, undesirable features of with minimal user interaction. Audio quality can be tuned for optimal or near optimal performance even at maximum or near maximum volume levels substantially without fluctuations, clipping, or any other distortions. In some embodiments, audio response of the CE device can be captured, smoothed, and corrected. Correction parameters can be stored on the CE device.
US09307321B1
Methods and systems specifically designed to reduce loudspeaker distortion by reducing voice coil excursion are provided. An input audio signal is processed based on a specific linear model of a loudspeaker, and a dynamic filter is generated and applied to this audio signal. The filter changes the relative phases of the spectral components of the input signal to reduce estimated excursion peaks. The quality of the audio signal is not diminished in comparison to traditional filter approaches. The processing of the input signal may involve determining a main frequency which may be used to determine the fundamental frequency. Multiples of the fundamental frequencies provide harmonic frequencies. The phases of all the harmonic frequencies, including the fundamental, may be measured and compared to a target vector of phases. The difference between the measured phases and the target phases may then be used to calculate the poles and zeros and corresponding filter coefficients.
US09307304B2
Signals may be forwarded to a variety of ports for transmission. The signals may be modulated for transmission. The forwarding of signals to ports may be accomplished by forwarding the signals to one or more signal modulators using a processing unit. The mapping of signals to ports may change responsive to a triggering event.
US09307294B2
In response to a user's operation, a menu screen generating section (12) changes a menu screen to be generated (i) from a first menu screen (M1) in which thumbnail images (Ta through Tg) corresponding to respective plurality of pieces of content are linearly arranged (ii) to a second menu screen (M2) in which the thumbnail images (Ta through Tg) are circularly arranged.
US09307290B1
Electronic program guide descriptions, of content referenced by the electronic program guide, are user-targeted based on user data. Such user-targeted electronic program guide descriptions aid users in identifying desirable content, thereby increasing user interaction performance with a content presentation device providing such user-targeted electronic program guide descriptions. To generate user-targeted electronic program guide descriptions, received electronic program guide information includes different, alternative or mutually exclusive, content descriptions of a given content item. Such electronic program guide information is compared with the user data and user-targeted content item descriptions is generated from the different content descriptions. A visual electronic program guide, including the user-targeted content item description, is displayed to a user on a physical display device.
US09307287B2
A transport stream provider for providing a plurality of transport stream packets describing digital media information is configured to provide a transport stream packet of a first packet type including a program association table and key information for decrypting encrypted media information. The program association table contains an association between a program No. and a packet type identifier of a further transport stream packet of a second packet type. The transport stream provider is configured to provide a transport stream packet of the second packet type in such a manner that the transport stream packet of the second packet type contains a reference to packet type identifiers of transport stream payload data packets which describe contents of different content types of the digital media information.
US09307285B2
Methods of operating a communications system comprise, in one example, inserting advertising in a program stream by a receiving device based, at least in part, on an encrypted segmentation message embedded in the program steam. The at least one segmentation message defines an expanse of the program stream to receive the advertising. At least one embedded decoy message is included in the program stream, as well. In one example the receiving device, which may be a set-top terminal, for example, is coupled to a display device, such as a television, at a user location. A method of operating a receiving device coupled to a display device at a user location is also disclosed, comprising programming the receiving device to record a program and recording the program based, at least in part, on at least one segmentation message in a program stream. Systems are disclosed, as well.
US09307283B2
A digital television (DTV) receiver for processing a DTV signal, the DTV receiver includes a receiver to receive a digital television signal including a plurality of extended text table (ETT) instances that appear in transport stream packets with common PID values, the ETT instances having common table ID values, each ETT instance comprising a section header and a message body, the section header containing a table identification (ID) extension field that serves to establish uniqueness of each ETT instance, the message body containing an extended text message (ETM) which provides detailed descriptions of a virtual channel or an event associated with each ETT instance, wherein the section header further contains a current next indicator field and a section syntax indicator field, a demodulator to demodulate the digital television signal, and an identifier to identify at least one pertinent ETT instance from the plurality of ETT instances.
US09307274B2
Various arrangements for providing remote access to locally-recorded television programming is presented. In some embodiments, a DVR is presented that it is configured to receive input indicating a timer for recording a television channel during a time period. The DVR may record television programming on the television channel during the time period indicated by the timer. The television receiver may further receive input indicating the television programming is to be stored remotely. The DVR may transmit the television programming to a media distribution management system via a second network. The DVR may transmit an indication of a user account to the media distribution management system via the second network.
US09307272B2
A purchase transaction method for IPTV product and IPTV receiver thereof using the same are provided. The purchase transaction method for IPTV product includes requesting to make a purchase for a offering by using a identifier of the offering, wherein the offering is a combination of one or more products to be purchased and purchase terms for the products; and obtaining a response returned from the request to indicate success or failure of the requested purchase.
US09307267B2
Scalable techniques for dynamic data encoding and decoding are directed toward a system including a plurality of frame processing units. A main frame processing unit manages frame processing unit resource, dispatches frames to appropriate frame processing units. One or more auxiliary frame processing units encode or decode the non-reference frames dispatched by the main frame processing unit. The main frame processing unit encodes or decodes the reference frames and encodes or decodes non-reference frames if none of the auxiliary frame processing units are available.
US09307263B2
Provided are a method and apparatus for determining a context model for entropy encoding and decoding of a transformation coefficient. According to the method and apparatus, a context set index ctxset is obtained based on color component information of a transformation unit, a location of a current subset, and whether there is a significant transformation coefficient having a value greater than a first critical value in a previous subset, and a context offset c1 is obtained based on a length of a previous transformation coefficient having consecutive 1s. Also, a context index ctxids for entropy encoding and decoding of a first critical value flag is determined based on the obtained context set index and the context offset.
US09307262B2
Several methods and systems for facilitating multimedia data encoding are disclosed. In an embodiment, a plurality of picture buffers associated with multimedia data are received in an order of capture associated with the plurality of picture buffers. Buffer information is configured for each picture buffer from among the plurality of picture buffers comprising at least one of a metadata associated with the corresponding picture buffer and one or more encoding parameters for the corresponding picture buffer. A provision of picture buffers in an order of encoding is facilitated based on the configured buffer information.
US09307259B2
Image decoding methods are provided. First, an input bitstream corresponding to an image is acquired and an entropy decoding operation is performed on a block to be decoded in the input bitstream to obtain a decoding result, wherein the decoding result includes at least one coefficient having a corresponding block position information and coefficient value. It is then determined whether the coefficient value of the at least one coefficient is zero. When the coefficient value of the at least one coefficient is not zero, the at least one coefficient is determined as an non-zero coefficient and the block position information and coefficient value corresponding to the non-zero coefficient are stored to an external storage device. When the coefficient value of the at least one coefficient is zero, the block position information and coefficient value corresponding to the at least one coefficient are not stored.
US09307258B2
Disclosed are various embodiments directed to transcoding a media file in parallel. A media file may be accessed, the media file comprising a bit stream expressing a series of pictures. A first random access point in the bit stream and a second random access point in the bit stream are identified. An input segment of the bit stream is generated, the input segment comprising a starting point, the starting point being the first random access point. One of a plurality of transcoders is selected to transcode the input segment for generating a corresponding output segment, each transcoder being configured to operate concurrently in parallel. The output segment is stored in a memory.
US09307246B2
Provided is an intra prediction decoding apparatus that restores quantized residual coefficients, intra prediction information and size information on a prediction unit from a received bit stream, restores an intra prediction mode of the current prediction unit on the basis of the intra prediction information and the size information on the current prediction unit, generates unavailable reference pixels of the prediction unit, and adaptively filters the reference pixels on the basis of the intra prediction mode. Also, the apparatus generates a prediction block by adaptively filtering reference pixels corresponding to the intra prediction mode. Then, the apparatus generates a restoration image using the prediction block and a restored residual block. Accordingly, a prediction block close to an original image can be restored, and an image compression ratio can be improved.
US09307237B2
A video codec comprising a processor configured to generate a prediction block for a chroma block, wherein the prediction block comprises a predicted chroma sample, wherein the predicted chroma sample is based on a filtered reconstructed luma sample located in a corresponding reconstructed luma block, a plurality of downsampled filtered reconstructed luma samples located in positions neighboring the corresponding reconstructed luma block, and a plurality of downsampled chroma samples located in positions neighboring the chroma block.
US09307236B2
A system and method for decoding digital video by processing multiple regions of an image in parallel, even when there are dependencies between rows in the image, are disclosed. The method generally involves decoding multiple rows concurrently, with the start of decoding of a given row being delayed until portions of the other rows on which the given row depends have been decoded. The system generally comprises parallel processors, with one processor typically decoding one row and another processor typically decoding the row above it. In accordance with the present invention, however, any number or type of processors can decode, or perform decoding functions on, the image in parallel.
US09307231B2
An apparatus is disclosed which may serve as a target for calibrating a camera. The apparatus comprises one or more planar surfaces. The apparatus includes at least one fiducial marking on a planar surface. The set of all planar markings on the apparatus are distinguishable.
US09307228B2
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a depth of field maintaining apparatus, a 3D display system and a display method. The depth of field maintaining apparatus comprises: a 3D video signal input device; a position measuring device; an image processing device; and a 3D video signal output device, wherein the 3D video signal input device, the position measuring device and the 3D video signal output device are connected to the image processing device, the 3D video signal input device transmits an acquired 3D video signal to the image processing device, the position measuring device transmits detected position information of the viewer and the display screen to the image processing device, and the image processing device adjusts a space between corresponding object points in left and right eye images in a 3D video signal in accordance with the position information, such that a depth of field remains unchanged, and transmits a adjusted 3D video signal to the 3D video signal output device.
US09307227B2
A method of generating a stereoscopic image registration and color balance evaluation display enables a user to align two cameras used to produce a stereoscopic video signal or to analyze a received stereoscopic video signal. Left and right images from the cameras are converted into desired video signal components. Corresponding pixels from the left and right images are compared for each of the video signal components, and plotted as x and y inputs to a Cartesian plot to produce respective two-dimensional (2D) histograms. The multiple 2D histograms are presented as a Quad Diamond display so a user may align the two cameras or analyze the received stereoscopic video signal.
US09307214B1
A brightness-sensitive automatic white balance method includes (a) determining the brightness of a scene captured in an electronic color image, (b) selecting a color-weighting map based upon the brightness of the scene, (c) extracting auto white balance parameters from the color-weighting map, and (d) white balancing the electronic color image according to the auto white balance parameters. An adaptive automatic white balance method includes (a) refining, based upon a first electronic color image of a scene illuminated by an illuminant of a first spectral type, a color-weighting probability distribution for the illuminant of the first spectral type, wherein the color-weighting probability distribution may be brightness-specific, (b) extracting auto white balance parameters from the refined color-weighting probability distribution, and (c) white balancing, according to the auto white balance parameters, an electronic color image of a scene illuminated by the illuminant of the first spectral type.
US09307210B2
The present invention provides a novel image output apparatus that includes an operation processing unit that processes an operation request from a user, a projecting unit that projects a display image from a video providing apparatus and UIs from the image projector, a determining unit that determines whether or not it is necessary to switch a source of a video signal by using a current input type and a source of a video signal with reference to a data table that associates an input type that indicates a type of a port from which an image to be projected is acquired with a source of a video signal that forms an image to be projected, and a controller that switches a source of a video signal and executes a process indicated by an operation request from a user if it is necessary to switch the source of a video signal.
US09307205B2
A system and method for utilizing a secured service provider memory are disclosed. An electronic device is associated with a subscriber and is in communication with a data distribution network configured to deliver data by a service provider to the subscriber. The data distribution network comprises a server in communication with the data distribution network and the server configured to deliver a stream of data over the data distribution network. The electronic device comprises a first memory communicatively connected to the server. The first memory is configured to receive and store data from the server and it is accessible by the subscriber. A second memory is also communicatively connected to the server. The second memory is configured to receive and store data from the server, though the second memory is accessible only by the service provider.
US09307202B2
A method for creating situation awareness when scheduling video conferences includes providing a user with access to a set of names stored in a directory service database, and allowing the user to select one or more of the names. In response to selection of one or more names, geographical location values associated with the names in the directory service database are retrieved, and a map is provided. The map and one or more geographical objects showing the geographical location of the users associated with the selected names is then displayed on a display.
US09307200B2
A video conference endpoint detects faces at associated face positions in video frames capturing a scene. The endpoint frames the video frames to a view of the scene encompassing all of the detected faces. The endpoint detects that a previously detected face is no longer detected. In response, a timeout period is started and independently of detecting faces, motion is detected across the view. It is determined if any detected motion (i) coincides with the face position of the previously detected face that is no longer detected, and (ii) occurs before the timeout period expires. If conditions (i) and (ii) are met, the endpoint restarts the timeout period and repeats the independently detecting motion and the determining. Otherwise, the endpoint reframes the view to encompass the remaining detected faces.
US09307198B2
A system that enables remote participation in a live proceeding includes a first computer configured to transmit and receive audio and video data with a second computer through a network. An audio mixer is configured to combine a first audio signal received from a microphone with a second audio signal received from the first computer to provide a third audio signal. A capture device is coupled to the audio mixer and to the first computer. The capture device is configured to receive the third audio signal from the audio mixer and a video signal from a video camera coupled to the capture device, and to process the third audio signal and the video signal such that audio and video data of the third audio signal and the video signal may be stored in a computer readable storage medium.
US09307195B2
A user terminal for participating in video calls comprises: an encoder having a frame size, being the size in pixels at which it encodes frames of video; and a pre-processing stage which supplies a sequence of frames to the encoder at that frame size, each frame comprising at least an image region representing a source video image at a respective moment in time. The pre-processing stage is configured to supply at least some of the frames to the encoder in a modified form, by resizing the source video image to produce the image region of each modified frame with a size smaller than the frame size of the encoder, and combining with a border region such that the modified frame matches the frame size of the encoder. The encoder encodes the frames at the frame size and transmits them to a receiving terminal as part of a live video call.
US09307190B2
Methods and apparatus that permit two users to physically interact with one another from a distance using their telecommunication device are disclosed. In an exemplary method, a connection between the telecommunication devices may be established and an indication of inputs at the first and second telecommunication devices received. The inputs may be verified to have been input at the telecommunication devices either substantially simultaneously or overlapping in time. A signal may be sent to the telecommunication devices instructing them to provide a physically perceptible output responsive to verification of substantially simultaneous or overlapping inputs. The physically perceptible outputs may comprise photographs or video clips taken or recorded substantially simultaneously by the telecommunications devices responsive to the substantially simultaneous or overlapping inputs.
US09307188B2
An article of manufacture includes a computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to receive a formatted video signal, decode the formatted video signal into one or more watermarked images, perform watermark decoding of one of the one or more watermarked images to retrieve a frame sequence number and perform video quality assessment based, at least in part, upon the frame sequence number and perform parameter optimization based, at least in part, upon a result of the video quality assessment.
US09307177B2
An apparatus and method for providing a graphic user interface which is used in a display device operated by a remote controller are provided. A graphic user interface screen includes a main information display area for displaying main information in the form in which a plurality of main elements are recursively disposed and a sub-information display area for displaying sub-information including supplementary information according to information provided on the main information display area. At least one sub-element included in a main element is operated by a direction selection signal which indicates a direction perpendicular to a disposition direction of the main elements.
US09307167B2
An image pickup device includes: an image pickup section including a plurality of pixels, the pixels each including a photoelectric conversion element; a drive section performing a readout operation and a reset operation of a signal electric charge, the signal electric charge being accumulated in the pixel; and a correction section correcting a timing of performing the reset operation to allow an afterimage in an image output from the image pickup section to be reduced.
US09307166B2
Various systems and methods for an all-in-focus implementation are described herein. A system to for operating a camera, comprising an image sensor in the camera to capture a sequence of images in different focal planes, at least a portion of the sequence of images occurring before receiving a signal to store an all-in-focus image, a user interface module to receive, from a user, the signal to store an all-in-focus image, and an image processor to fuse at least two images to result in the all-in-focus image, wherein the at least two images have different focal planes.
US09307163B2
An imaging device of the present invention comprises an image sensor having a plurality of pixels made up of a first pixel group and a second pixel group, a flicker detection section for detecting bright states and dark states of all taken images based on a periodic flicker action of a light source contained in a subject from image output from the second pixel group, and a flicker correction calculation section 4 for, when light of brightness having bright states and dark states due to periodic flicker is incident, correcting brightness output gain corresponding to all pixels of the plurality of pixels corresponding to the first pixel group so that brightness output of taking images from the first pixel group becomes a standard brightness output.
US09307160B2
Methods and systems for generating HDR (High Dynamic Range) images are provided. First, frames are continuously captured, wherein the respective frames are captured with a same exposure time. At least one intermediary frame is then generated according to at least one of the frames. The at least one intermediary frame is composed using a HDR composition algorithm to generate a HDR image.
US09307157B2
An imaging apparatus includes a sensor configured to photoelectrically convert light from an object to output a signal, a selection unit configured to select one of a first exposure control mode and a second exposure control mode having an exposure changing amount per unit time larger than that of the first exposure control mode, and a controller configured to perform control to transmit diaphragm control information generated based on the output signal from the sensor, first information, and second information to a connected lens unit, wherein the first information is about the exposure control mode selected by the selection unit, and the second information is speed information of a diaphragm unit corresponding to the lens unit.
US09307154B2
An image processing device according to the present disclosure includes: a locating unit which locates a first in-focus region of each of plural images which are obtained by capturing a same subject and have different in-focus positions; and a display unit which displays a first image among the plural images, wherein when a certain position is designated on the first image displayed by the display unit, at least a second image having the first in-focus region which includes the certain position is selected from among the plural images, and the selected second image is displayed on the display unit.
US09307147B1
An apparatus having a first circuit is disclosed. The first circuit may (i) receive an input signal from an electro-optical sensor and (ii) generate a compressed signal. The first circuit generally includes re-sampler circuits configured to process the input signal to generate output samples. Each output sample may be a linear combination of at least two input samples. Video processing may include at least two tasks among (a) generating a video signal by converting the input signal for an external video monitor, (b) generating a video signal by converting the input signal for a preview screen and (c) generating a video signal by resolution reduction of the input signal before compression. At least two re-sampler circuits may perform different tasks. Still processing generally includes a noise reduction of an input image of the input signal using at least one of the at least two re-sampler circuits.
US09307144B2
An image capturing apparatus includes image capturing devices; page memories for the image capturing devices, respectively, each page memory storing a piece of image data output from the corresponding image capturing device; a page-memory read unit configured to read pieces of image data stored in the page memories line by line in a time division manner; an image processing unit configured to perform predetermined image processing on the pieces of image data read from the page memories for the image capturing devices line by line in the time division manner; and a write monitoring unit configured to monitor write states of the pieces of image data that are output from the image capturing devices and written into the page memories, and control the page-memory read unit to start reading the pieces of image data from the page memories.
US09307142B2
An imaging method includes photographing a subject to acquire image data, determining a pointing motion performed by a photographer included in the subject based on the image data, and outputting an instruction signal corresponding to the motion. The method further includes performing the photographing more than once to acquire image data based on the instruction signal, and creating a composite image based on the image data obtained by the performing the photographing more than once and the instruction signal.
US09307140B2
A distance detection apparatus includes a calculation unit configured to detect an object distance to an object based on a first signal formed by a luminous flux that has passed through a first pupil area of an imaging optical system and a second signal formed by a luminous flux that has passed through a second pupil area of the imaging optical system different from the first pupil area, which are generated by using an image sensing unit including multiple pixels. The calculation unit performs a first process for calculating one of a defocus amount and the object distance by a phase difference method based on the first signal and the second signal and a second process for calculating one of the defocus amount and the object distance by a depth-from-defocus (DFD) method based on the first signal and the second signal.
US09307139B2
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit that photographs an object through a lens; a memory unit that stores images captured by the imaging unit; an adjusting unit that adjusts a position of the lens, based on a value that is obtained from each of the images captured by the imaging unit and that represents an extent of focusing by the lens; a calculating unit that calculates a local maximum value of the value, based on temporal changes of the value that is obtained from each of the images successively captured by the imaging unit and that represents the extent of focusing by the lens; and a selecting unit that selects an image from among the images stored in the memory unit, based on differences of the local maximum value and the value obtained from each of the images and representing the extent of focusing by the lens.
US09307135B2
A photographing apparatus is provided. The photographing apparatus includes: a main body including a photographing unit configured to photograph a subject; a first holder fixed to the main body; a viewfinder including a display unit and an ocular portion configured to view an image of the subject displayed on the display unit, wherein the viewfinder is supported by the first holder such that the ocular portion is slid to a first position adjacent to the main body and a second position spaced apart from the main body; and a toggle spring configured to elastically connect the first holder and the viewfinder, wherein a direction of an elastic force of the toggle spring is switched from a slide obstructing direction to a slide allowing direction when the viewfinder is slid.
US09307117B2
A management apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus for managing usage of the image forming apparatus is disclosed. The management apparatus includes a user data storage part for storing user identification data and use restriction data corresponding to the user identification data, and a use restriction data acquiring part for acquiring the use restriction data corresponding to the user identification data.
US09307110B2
A document conveying portion is configured to convey a document sheet along a conveyance path extending sequentially through a turn-around portion at which a conveyance direction is reversed and a predetermined reading position. A reading unit is movable in a predetermined moving direction below the document conveying portion and a document table and includes a unit housing in which a light source, an optical element, and an image sensor are mounted. The reading unit is formed such that, between the turn-around portion and a first end portion of the document conveying portion which is close to the turn-around portion in the moving direction, a second end portion of the unit housing at a side of the first end portion in the moving direction is located in a state where light is applied from the light source to the reading position.
US09307106B1
An image forming apparatus includes plural image holding bodies, plural image writing devices, a movement member, and a retractor. The image holding bodies are arranged in a predetermined direction. The image writing devices face and write images onto the respective image holding bodies. The movement member holds the image holding bodies, is able to be drawn through an opening in a cover of a housing of the image forming apparatus, and is moved in an image holding body arrangement direction. The retractor retracts the image writing devices when the movement member is drawn through the opening. The retractor includes first and second retracting mechanisms. The first retracting mechanism retracts the image writing devices to respective first retracted positions. The second retracting mechanism retracts the image writing devices to respective second retracted positions after the first retracting mechanism has retracted the image writing devices.
US09307101B2
An information processing apparatus including: a communication section for communicating with a portable type terminal device which is provided with a photographing function, a display function, and a communication function; and a control section for: a) receiving a photographed image of an image forming apparatus, having been photographed by the portable type terminal device, from the portable type terminal device; b) determining a photographed location of the image forming apparatus based on the photographed image; and c) transmitting a display information according to the photographed location to the portable type terminal device.
US09307099B2
Transfer-side facsimile machine, facsimile communication system and reception-side facsimile machine
A multifunctional machine includes a facsimile communication portion and a control portion that makes the facsimile communication portion transfer facsimile data to a reception-side facsimile machine. When the facsimile communication portion starts to perform communication for data transfer with the reception-side facsimile machine, the facsimile communication portion receives, from the reception-side facsimile machine, a reception allowance/rejection signal in conformity with a facsimile communication protocol. When the control portion indicates the reception allowance of the transfer of the reception allowance/rejection signal, the facsimile communication portion is made to transfer the facsimile data to the reception-side facsimile machine.
US09307098B2
There is provided a transport section configured to transport a recording medium in a first direction and a second direction which is a reverse of the first direction, a head configured to record an image on the recording medium, a first sensor arranged on a downstream side of the head in the first direction and configured to detect presence or absence of abnormality on the recording medium, and a control section configured to execute an operation where the image is recorded on the recording medium using the head while the recording medium is being transported in the first direction by the transport section and an operation where the recording medium is transported in the second direction by the transport section.
US09307095B2
A prepaid messaging solution that utilizes a pre-delivery debit query to tariff a short message, coupled with an additional debit query performed once necessary billing information has been acquired. A short message is tariffed prior to message delivery via a pre-delivery debit query to a prepaid server. During message delivery, the prepaid server is queried a second time, following the HLR query performed by the Short Message Service Center (SMSC). This subsequent debit query bills a subscriber for any additional service fees discovered throughout message delivery, e.g., international/roaming fees, etc. If either the pre-delivery debit query or the subsequent debit query indicates that a subscriber has insufficient account balance to deliver a short message, the message is prevented from being delivered. If a message is dropped due to lack of account balance, any funds debited throughout the attempted message delivery may be credited back to the subscriber's prepaid account.
US09307090B2
Novel tools and techniques for providing a subscriber with converged voice services, in which calls to one of the subscriber's telephone numbers is routed to some or all of the subscriber's telephone numbers (e.g., sequentially or simultaneously, depending on system configuration and/or subscriber preference). Some implementations employ a VoIP switch to handle call distribution among the subscriber's various phone lines, even if some (or all) of the subscribers telephone lines are not VoIP lines. In such implementations, upon receiving an incoming call directed to one of the subscriber's lines, a service switching point will route the call to a VoIP switch. Instructed by an application server, the VoIP switch will set up call legs (e.g., via the PSTN) to one or more of the subscribers' telephone numbers. Optionally, when one of the call legs is answered, the application server will instruct the VoIP switch to disconnect the other call legs.
US09307082B2
Communication sessions are enhanced with customer relationship management (CRM) information. A unified communication (UC) client application retrieves contextual information associated with a contact through a CRM extension from a CRM application. Opportunities associated with the contact are presented from the contextual information. Contacts associated with a selected opportunity are organized by stakeholder and team member categories and presented through the UC client application. Documents associated with the opportunity are also displayed by the UC client application. Any alterations to the contextual information through one of the presentation views including contact, opportunity, people, and documents are transmitted back to the CRM application through the CRM extension for storage.
US09307075B1
A first communication device receives a communication from a second communication device. The communication could be part of the signaling used to establish a call to the second communication device or an audio signal that the second communication device conveys after its user has answered the call and started speaking. Based on the communication from the second communication device, the first communication device provides a user-discernible indication regarding the environment in which the second communication device is being used, such as an indication that the second communication device is being used with a speakerphone. If the second communication device is being used in a vehicle, the first communication device may also provide a user-discernible indication regarding the operational status of the vehicle, such as whether the vehicle is in motion and/or the number of occupants in the vehicle.
US09307074B1
A computer implemented method includes making a phone call from a sender to a receiver and providing a non-audio identifier to the receiver in a phone call signal of the phone call. The non-audio identifier provides access to information of the sender by the receiver.
US09307070B1
The communication device comprising a voice communication implementer, a 1st device remotely controlling implementer, a 2nd device remotely controlling implementer, and a device vibration implementer.
US09307069B2
A home appliance, a mobile terminal, and an operation method thereof are disclosed. The home appliance includes a communication unit to receive a remote control signal from a mobile terminal, an input unit to receive a user input signal from a local key, and a controller to assign priority to the user input signal according to the input of the local key and to control an operation of the home appliance corresponding to the user input signal when a time difference between input of the local key and reception of the remote control signal is within a predetermined time. When a plurality of control rights is requested, the home appliance may assign priority to any one of the requested control rights.
US09307054B2
A system for protocol processing in a computer network has an intelligent network interface card (INIC) or communication processing device (CPD) associated with a host computer. The INIC or CPD provides a fast-path that avoids host protocol processing for most large multipacket messages, greatly accelerating data communication. The INIC or CPD also assists the host for those message packets that are chosen for processing by host software layers. A communication control block (CCB) for a message is defined that allows DMA controllers of the INIC to move data, free of headers, directly to or from a destination or source in the host. The CCB can be passed back to the host for message processing by the host. The INIC or CPD contains hardware circuits configured for protocol processing that can perform that specific task faster than the host CPU. One embodiment includes a processor providing transmit, receive and management processing, with full duplex communication for four fast Ethernet nodes.
US09307051B2
A social networking system selects a configuration for presenting a story unit describing one or more actions performed by one or more social networking system users. In particular, story units having a particular type are presented to social networking system users using different configurations. Interactions between the social networking system users and the story units presented using the different configurations are captured and analyzed. Based on the analysis, a configuration is selected and used for subsequently presented story units having the same particular type.
US09307050B2
Network devices, systems and methods are described that configure a network device user interface. One method includes receiving input to define user-selectable information from among a list of pre-arranged network information presented on a network device display. The method includes configuring the user-selectable information into a particular grouping and presenting the user-selectable information according to the particular grouping.
US09307049B2
A Voice-over-IP-(VoIP-) telephony computer system includes a client computer (1) with a web browser (20) installed and which is connectable to a network (4) with access to the public Internet (6), a web server (101) which can be reached over the public Internet (6) from said client computer (1), a gateway computer (102) which can be reached over the public Internet (6) from said client computer (1), a VoIP private branch exchange (PBX) device (9) which can be reached from said gateway computer (102), wherein the VoIP telephone computer system is adapted to run following steps of establishing and maintaining a VoIP telephone connection between the client computer (1) on the one hand and the gateway computer (102) and the VoIP PBX device (9) on the other hand: the client computer (1), using the web browser (20), downloads an applet type application (30), which is adapted to establish a VoIP telephone connection from said web server (101), said downloaded applet type application (30) establishes a tunnel connection (50) to said gateway computer (102) and installs a SIP telephony client (40) on said client computer (1), and all VoIP telephone connection related data between the client computer (1) and the gateway computer (102) and vice versa are transferred using the tunnel connection (50).
US09307047B2
Communication about an event is achieved through a call for media, allowing diverse forms of media such as text, audio, picture, and video to be associated with the call for media for a past, present and/or future event, an event being definable by location, a set time, an object, a state of being, an individual, any combination thereof and others, etc. Calls for media need not be stated as direct requests, but may simply be an event name, to which users may respond with related media. Associating specific communication with an event allows all forms of media used or captured to be related to the event for easier tagging, cataloging, or archiving, while also creating a way to alert others that media is desired for an event and can aggregate this media from one or many users, organize and prioritize event-related media to create presentations of the event, etc.
US09307045B2
A pre-fetching map data system and method identifies a subset of map data to corresponding to one or more points of interest to be displayed on the map. The map data is stored on a remote map database in map data tiles. The pre-fetching map data system identifies those map data tiles that correspond to the one or more points of interest, where the identified pre-fetch map data tiles are sent from the remote database to a client device for cache storage. The number of pre-fetch map data tiles are determined using a tile budget that is dynamically adjusted in response to changing conditions on a client device.
US09307043B2
Example methods and systems are directed to a staging engine. A system may comprise two computing devices. The first computing device may be accessible to a plurality of users. The second computing device may be inaccessible to the plurality of users, but accessible by the first computing device. The first computing device may cause a user interface (“UI”) to be presented to a user accessing the first computing device. The UI may include data retrieved from the second computing device and may be operable to store data. The data entered into the UI for storage may be incomplete relative to the data structures expected by the second computing device. The first computing device or the second computing device may stage the data until additional data that completes the expected data structures is received. After the expected data is complete, the data may be stored.
US09307036B2
A method and system for web access using a cross-domain cookie that uses a cookie server to generate a public cookie which uniquely identifies a client and is adapted for the client to access multiple operator servers that are recognized by the public cookie. When an operator server receives an access request from the client without a valid public cookie recognizing the operator server, it redirects the access request to the cookie server, which generates a public cookie, redirects the access request back to the operator server and passes along the public cookie. The operator server then writes the public cookie into the client and binds itself with the public cookie. A public cookie may include a group of related cookies identifying the common client that are generated this way to allow the same client's activities to be tracked by different operator servers having different domain names over the Internet.
US09307030B2
An electronic apparatus includes a communication unit connected to a first unit network and configured for communication with a plurality of unit networks comprising a plurality of clients, and a controller configured to control the electronic apparatus within the first unit network to operate in one of a proxy mode and a node mode if the plurality of clients form a private network, wherein the controller controls the electronic apparatus to directly communicate with a second unit network in the proxy mode, and controls the electronic apparatus to be connected to another client of the first unit network operating in the proxy mode and communicate with the second unit network through the other client in the node mode, and when the electronic apparatus operates in the node mode, the controller selectively changes the operational mode to the proxy mode depending on a private network service provided to the electronic apparatus.
US09307026B2
Disclosed are various embodiments for facilitating fulfillment of applications to various devices that may be associated with a user account. When a request to obtain access to an application is received, a device characteristic of the various devices is identified and a corresponding application binary associated with the application is identified. The corresponding application binaries are distributed to the devices corresponding to the user account. Additionally, an appropriate browser accessible application is identified and access can be granted to a device depending upon the capabilities of a browser executed by the device.
US09307020B2
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to data backup and archival tools and provide a method, system and computer program product for the dispersal and retrieval of fragments in a peer-to-peer data backup and archival network. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for the dispersal and retrieval of fragments in a peer-to-peer data backup and archival network can include partitioning a file into multiple, different fragments for storage in a peer-to-peer data backup and archival network, selecting different peer hosts in the peer-to-peer data backup and archival network to store different ones of the fragments, and storing each of the fragments in at least one of the selected different peer hosts. Optionally, the fragments can be encrypted before storage in the different peer hosts.
US09307008B2
Disclosed are an apparatus and methods of remotely managing a managed machine over a communication network. One example method of operation may include identifying the managed machine operating in a communication network and transmitting a connection establishment message to the managed machine over the communication network. In response, an acceptance message may be received from the manage machine. Once a secure channel has been established, the administrator may begin transmitting a command prompt command over the communication network to be executed on the managed machine. The management operations may be performed from a browser-based application.
US09307003B1
The present invention relates to systems, apparatus, and methods of modeling a hierarchical object relationship in a hypertext mark-up language (HTML) context. In some embodiments, a probabilistic determination is made of parentage of content objects being requested over a communications system. In certain embodiments, the content objects are intercepted by a proxy server as part of a prefetching system. When parentage is uncertain, a system may identify a plurality of nodes that are potential parent/root nodes for the content object, associate a likelihood with each parent/root node, and establish a potential parent/root node as the parent for the purposes of a prefetching. Various embodiments use referrers where reliable, supplemented or supplanted by other techniques (e.g., “rootable” URL determinations) to model the object hierarchies and parent/root relationships.
US09307002B2
It is provided a method for delivering a 3D content comprising a 2D part and a metadata part which are divided into equal number of segments and are transmitted in two multicast streams, the method comprising the steps of receiving a request for the 3D content with a starting time point corresponding to a starting segment of the 2D part and a starting segment of the metadata part; and scheduling the transmission of at least one segment of the 2D part including the starting segment of the 2D part in a first multicast stream and the transmission of at least one segment of the metadata part including the starting segment of the metadata part in a second multicast stream, wherein, the transmission of the starting segment of the 2D part and the transmission of the starting segment of the metadata part are synchronized.
US09306998B2
Example systems and methods of content sharing via social networking are presented. In one example, availability of a first user device to provide media content over a communication network is detected. A second user device is identified via an association of the first user device with the second user device that is specified in a social network. An acceptance by the second user device to receive the media content from the first user device is determined. In response to the acceptance, transmission of the media content provided by the first user device over the communication network to the second user device is initiated.
US09306996B2
A streaming connection management method and system are provided. In the streaming connection management method, a streaming source establishes a plurality of connecting requests through a first relay server, and the first relay server provides first streaming data. A number of connections established with the first relay server is determined. When the number of the connections established with the first relay server is greater than or equal to a first relay threshold of the first relay server, a data balance method is executed to obtain a second relay threshold. The first relay server is adjusted to provide a second streaming data, in which a pixel value of the first streaming data is greater than a pixel value of the second streaming data.
US09306994B2
In one embodiment, a method includes identifying a current encoding rate requested by a client device for content received from a content source, setting at a network device a rate limit to limit the rate at which the content is received at the client device based on the current encoding rate, and adjusting the rate limit based on changes in the current encoding rate. The rate limit is set to allow the client device to change the current encoding rate to a next higher available encoding rate.
US09306981B2
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for facilitating trusted handling of genomic and/or other bioinformatic information. Certain embodiments may facilitate policy-based governance of access to and/or use of bioinformatic information, improved interaction with and/or use of distributed bioinformatic information, parallelization of various processes involving bioinformatic information, and/or reduced user involvement in bioinformatic workflow processes, and/or the like. Further embodiments may provide for memoization processes that may persistently store final and/or intermediate results of computations performed using genomic data for use in connection with future computations.
US09306977B2
Systems, methods, devices, and network architectures are disclosed for creating and implementing secure wireless, wired, and/or optical networks using specially modified “stealth” packets, cells, frames, and/or other “stealth” information structures. This enables stealth packets, network elements, and networks to have a low probability of detection, interception, and interpretation. The “stealth” packets, switches, networks, and methods provide invisibility or “cloaking” by modifying previously existing standards rules for packet structures, protocols, timing, synchronization, and other elements.Stealth packets, network elements, and networks may be further enhanced with encryption techniques by encrypting various parts of, or the entire packet structure itself, for example, headers, preambles, payload, and/or other packet elements. Using encryption to modify the packet structure itself adds an entirely new level of encryption complexity, thus making the stealth communications orders of magnitude more difficult to decrypt than standard decryption techniques.
US09306966B2
A method for unsupervised anomaly detection, which are algorithms that are designed to process unlabeled data. Data elements are mapped to a feature space which is typically a vector space d. Anomalies are detected by determining which points lies in sparse regions of the feature space. Two feature maps are used for mapping data elements to a feature apace. A first map is a data-dependent normalization feature map which we apply to network connections. A second feature map is a spectrum kernel which we apply to system call traces.
US09306965B1
A cybersecurity system for processing events to produce scores, alerts, and mitigation actions. The system includes sensors for receiving and processing data to form events, distributed analytic platform for processing events to form analytic workflows, and scoring engines for processing events using analytic workflows to produce scoring engine messages. The system also includes real time analytic engine for processing scoring engine messages and distributed analytic platform messages using the analytic workflows and analytic workflow and event processing rules to form and transmit a threat intelligence message. Threat intelligence messages include broadcast messages, mitigation messages, and model update messages. The system also includes logical segments which associate an analytic model, a set of analytic models, or an analytic workflow; one or more sources of inputs about activity within the logical segment, and a set of actions for mitigating an impact of the anomalous activity occurring within the logical segment.
US09306957B2
According to some embodiments, a method and apparatus are provided to receive, at a central security manager located on a computer network, first network information from a first network resource associated with a first network perspective and receive, at the central security manager, second network information from a second network resource associated with a first network perspective. The first network information and the second network information are aggregated. A potential attack to the network is determined and a defensive measure is implemented in response to the potential attack to the network.
US09306952B2
In accordance with the teachings of the present embodiment, a system and method for wireless gaming with location-dependent gaming functions are provided. In a particular embodiment, the apparatus includes a gaming server; a wireless network at least partially covering a property, the wireless network comprising a plurality of signal detection devices; and a gaming communication device operable to transmit and receive gaming information to and from the gaming server via the wireless network. A location of the gaming communication device on the property is used to alter a game play function, such as a bet option, wager, graphic overlay, permission, or to provide location-dependent advertising or embedded advertising. Based upon the location of the gaming communication device on the property, a predetermined functionality of the gaming communication device may be enabled and/or controlled.
US09306951B1
Embodiments are directed to providing access to a resource over a network. A client device may request access to a server. An application may be provided to the client device. The application may cause control of the client device to be switched from a first desktop to a secure desktop. The secure desktop may be configured to restrict applications access to within the secure desktop. An indication of the resource on the server to map to may be received at the client device. The indicated resource may be mapped onto a file system on the client device. Mapping may comprise using a remote file access protocol, using DLL injection, or adding a kernel module to an operating system on the client device. The mapped resource may be constrained to be accessed through the secure desktop.
US09306948B2
A method and a mobile device having a plurality of modes of operation, the method associating each connection interface on the mobile device with one of a plurality of modes; and restricting access to a profile for each connection interface on the mobile device to only a subset of applications based on the mode associated with the profile.
US09306941B2
Embodiments are directed to a local, paperless document sharing, editing, and marking system which allows users connected to a local network to share, view, edit, mark, and save documents without needing to download them from an internet-based cloud server. A router is used to create a secure, local network to which all participants connect. A user selects documents from a drive connected to the router and shares those documents with other attendees, allowing the attendees to edit, save, and share the documents, mark the documents as exhibits to a legal proceeding, save the documents to a drive, and/or email the documents.
US09306930B2
A computer system receives a service request over a service channel from a user device, initiates a challenge to the user device to provide authentication information based on a set of authenticators, and determines an initial level of authentication. When the initial level of authentication is not sufficient for the service channel or protected resource, the apparatus generates a challenge to the user device with at least one additional authenticator and determines an achieved level of authentication based on the further authentication information. When the achieved level of authentication reaches a target authentication level for the service channel, the apparatus continues processing the service request by the service channel. The computer may transfer the service request to another service channel with the authentication token obtained on the original service channel and further challenges the user device with additional authenticators when a higher level of authentication is necessary.
US09306924B2
A telematics system can provide authenticated access to telematic services. Upon connection of a mobile communication device to an automotive telematic system, and receipt of a request to access a telematic service, the system can determine by a processing unit of the automotive telematic system whether a personalized key for user authentication is required to access the telematic service and, if it is determined that the personalized key is required, request the personalized key from the mobile communication device.
US09306922B2
A centralized authorization client, in a secure system, that references service provider specific on-behalf authorization protocol implementation records for generating access request messages for accessing user resources hosted by multiple service providers, is disclosed. The service provider-specific authorization implementation records include parameters for requesting user resources associated with a requesting user provided by a specific service provider. Applications running in the secure system can send access request messages through the authorization client to obtain authorization or access to user resources in multiple external service providers so the resources can be displayed, or otherwise manipulated, from application within the secure system. Once authorization is obtained for accessing the resources, the authorization client can store authorization tokens for use in persistent authorized access to multiple external service providers for resources owned by particular users.
US09306921B2
A method includes identifying a first node in a plurality of nodes based on a client device identifier for a client device, the client device being associated with a first network device; storing, information for the client device, on the first node; responsive to the client device associating with a second network device, retrieving the information for the client device by: identifying the first node based on the client device identifier for the client device and obtaining the information from the first node.
US09306919B2
An information processing apparatus includes a first receiving unit that receives a registration instruction to register a second information processing apparatus from a first information processing apparatus, a key generating unit that generates key information when the first receiving unit has received the registration instruction, an associating unit that associates, with the key information, registration instructing user identification information, an instruction generating unit that generates an instruction, including the key information, to cause the second information processing apparatus to communicate with the information processing apparatus, a transmitting unit that transmits the instruction to the first information processing apparatus, a second receiving unit that receives the key information and information related to registration of the second information processing apparatus, and a memory unit that stores the registration instructing user identification information in association with the information related to the registration of the second information apparatus.
US09306918B2
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a gateway comprising a controller to receive from a communication device a request for media content, receive a key and a record associated with the communications device from an interactive television system, wherein the record comprises a list of entitled media content, determine whether the requested media content is in the list of entitled media content, retrieve the requested media content from the interactive television system when the requested media content is determined to be in the list of entitled media content, encrypt the retrieved media content utilizing the key, and transmit the encrypted media content to the communications device. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09306917B2
A mechanism is provided for secure data storage in a distributed computing system by a client of the distributed computing system. A gateway device intercepts a data file from at least a portion of stream data during transmission. If the destination of the data file is the storage, the gateway device selects a set of analysis algorithms to determine whether the data file comprises sensitive data.
US09306908B2
An anti-malware (AM) apparatus includes: a hardware-based firewall (FW) engine, including a packet matching engine configured to perform matching of a packet with a plurality of FW rules, and to generate a matching results; and an FW function module configured to determine an action for filtering the packet on the basis of the matching result.
US09306906B2
Systems and methods for utilizing uni-directional inter-host communication in an air gap environment
A request message is generated with a trusted network entity executing trusted code on a first network layer. The request message to target a non-trusted network entity executing non-trusted code on a second network layer. The request message is transmitted from the trusted network entity to the non-trusted network entity through at least a policy enforcement entity. The policy enforcement entity applies one or more network traffic rules to enforce a unidirectional flow of traffic from the first network layer to the second network layer. A response check message is generated with the trusted network entity. The response check message to determine whether response information is available on the non-trusted network entity in response to the request message. The response check message is transmitted from the trusted network entity to the non-trusted network entity through at least the policy enforcement entity. The response check message to determine whether the response information is stored in a conceptual mailbox on the non-trusted network entity.
US09306902B2
An embedded thin DHCP mechanism may issue an IP address in one or two frames that a P2P group owner (GO) transmits to a client during connection establishment. In particular, the IP address may generally comprise an IPv4 address having four octets, wherein the first two octets are hardcoded, the third octet is derived from a physical address of the GO, and the GO passes the fourth octet to the client during connection establishment. The GO may pass the fourth octet to the client in a frame mandatory to connection establishment or include an attribute in the mandatory frame to specify a subsequent frame that will contain the fourth octet. In response to the client receiving the fourth octet, the client may then generate the complete IP address. Additionally, the embedded thin DHCP mechanism may be suitably modified for use with Internet Connection Sharing or IPv6 architectures.
US09306896B2
A social networking system provides suggestions of gifts to users for presentation to a target user for a life event of the target user. Merchants provide bids for their products. The social networking system selects products as gift suggestions based on the merchants' bids, recipient's interests, and the candidate user to whom the gift is suggested. The selected gift and any messages relating to the life event are held until a specified time and then delivered to the target user. At the time of delivery, the target user may be provided with alternative products that the target user can select instead of the gift. The social networking system can earn revenue based on promotion of products as gift suggestions, promotion of products as gift alternatives, and for any financial transaction related to the gift.
US09306893B2
Systems and methods for managing electronic messages are disclosed. In some implementations, a method includes, at a computing device, causing an electronic message to be displayed to a user in an electronic message folder. Responsive to detecting that the user has read at least a portion of the electronic message, without user intervention, the electronic message is removed from the electronic message folder. In some implementations, the electronic message folder is a message inbox and the electronic message is removed from the message inbox to an archive or delete folder. In some implementations, the computing device includes one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors.
US09306892B2
Various embodiments of systems and methods for a transaction message collector are described herein. The message collector receives the message from a message producer. In one aspect, the message is stored in an active message bulk storage or a new active message bulk storage. In another aspect, after the message is stored in the message collector, a confirmation is sent from the message collector to the message producer informing the message producer that the message is stored in the message collector. In yet another aspect, the active message bulk storage is forwarded to a message consumer for consumption based upon meeting at least one of plurality of time or memory based conditions. In a further aspect, after the active message bulk storage is consumed by the message consumer a result of consumption of the active message bulk storage is created and sent to the message producer.
US09306891B2
Methods, servers and systems for communicating signaling information in a telecommunications signaling network implement methods that include receiving a first message encoding signaling information from a source component and processing the message using a fixed pipeline having a plurality of modules, each module having at least one procedure for performing a specific set of tasks. Application level routing operations may be performed to identify a suitable destination component. Information contained in the first message may be used to generate a second message encoding signaling information, which is sent to the identified destination component.
US09306889B2
Disclosed are a method and device for processing messages. The method includes: determining, when a message sent by software is intercepted, whether the message is a spam message; when the message is not a spam message, having the message displayed in a notification toolbar; and when the message is a spam message, prompting a user in the notification toolbar that the software may be implanted with a malicious plug-in, and providing an option label for the user to judge and select whether to inhibit displaying all messages sent by the software, including the message.
US09306880B1
A directory maintains a record of where a user is located within a plurality of virtual environments. As the user moves within a virtual environment or between virtual environments the user's location is updated in the directory. The user (invitation sender) may send invitations to other users (invitation recipients) to meet the user at a particular time. The invitation may be implemented as a URI which may be sent by Instant Message, E-mail, chat, etc. When an invitation recipient clicks on the URI to accept the invitation, the invitation will be validated and, if valid, enable the invitation recipient to move to the current location of the invitation sender. Invitations may be to meet the invitation sender or to follow the invitation sender. Where the invitation is to follow the invitation sender, a group may be formed that can move within and between virtual environments.
US09306875B2
Some embodiments provide a system that includes a set of network controllers for receiving definitions of first and second logical switching elements. The system includes several managed switching elements. The set of network controllers configure the several managed switching elements to implement the defined first and second logical switching elements. The system includes several network hosts that are each (1) communicatively coupled to one of the several managed switching elements and (2) associated with one of the first and second logical switching elements. Network data communicated between network hosts associated with the first logical switching element are isolated from network data communicated between network hosts associated with the second logical switching element.
US09306872B2
Embodiments of the present application relate generally to electrical and electronic hardware, computer software, wired and wireless network communications, Bluetooth systems, RF systems, self-powered wireless devices, and consumer electronic (CE) devices. More specifically the present application relates to provision of networked based services to Bluetooth-enabled devices. The present application describes a very low-cost, multi-purpose, rapidly re-purposable Bluetooth node that may sit at the edge of a network and may be configured to allow a network system to dynamically add and remove different Bluetooth capabilities and allow for a much higher level of management of Bluetooth devices that are interacting with the network.
US09306869B2
Virtual machines within a network computing environment negotiate among themselves with regard to the sharing of resources via respective resource managers. The resource agent monitors resource allocation patterns of its virtual machine and responsively updates usage data in a resource availability map and compares the updated usage data to a minimum operational requirements threshold and a surplus amount threshold. If the updated usage fails to meet the minimum operational requirements threshold, the resource agent determines a needed shortfall amount of resources, searches the resource availability map for offers of the shortfall from resource agents, and sends out a request to a resource agent offering the shortfall amount. If the updated usage data meets the minimum operational requirements threshold, the resource agent determines a surplus amount of a resource that exceeds the surplus amount threshold and creates and broadcasts an offer of the surplus amount to the other resource agents.
US09306863B2
Method, apparatus, and systems for Link Transfer, bit error detection and link retry using flit bundles asynchronous to link Fabric Packets. A first type of packet comprising a Fabric Packet is generated and its data content is divided into multiple data units called “flits.” The flits are then bundled into a second type of packet comprising Link Transfer Packets (LTPs). The LTPs are then sent over single link segments in a fabric comprising many point-to-point links. Each LTP includes a CRC that is used to ensure that data transmitted over each link segment is error free, and comprises a unit of retransmission. The size of the fabric packets may vary, and they may be larger or smaller than an LTP. The transfer scheme enabled flits from multiple fabric packets to be bundled into a single LTP. Upon receipt at a fabric endpoint, the flits from the LTPs are extracted and reassembled to regenerate the Fabric Packets.
US09306859B2
A method for establishing a packet flow with another device over a communication network includes determining a first value of a priority indicator based on the type of data flow and exchanging signaling messages with that other device in order to enable the establishment of the data flow. The first value is inserted into the first of those signaling messages. Upon receiving a signaling message having a received value of that priority indicator, a sent value is determined based on that received value, and inserted into the packets of the packet flow.
US09306839B2
The present invention provides IEEE 802.11u failover for a mesh network that contains a root node coupled to a network operations center through a backhaul connection and coupled to a plurality of non-root nodes at least one non-root node of which being capable of IEEE 802.11u communication with an infrastructure device of an external network. A first step includes determining that a first connection to the root-node in the mesh network has been disrupted, disrupting communications on the backhaul connection. A next step includes configuring the one non-root node to act as a root node and configuring a radio of the one non-root node to act as an IEEE 802.11u client. A next step includes associating the radio to the infrastructure device of the external network using an IEEE 802.11u protocol. A next step includes establishing a secure tunnel second connection from the one non-root node to the network operations center through the infrastructure device of the external network using the IEEE 802.11u protocol. A next step includes passing backhaul data through the secure tunnel second connection.
US09306834B2
A selected node of a network of nodes determines a communication path through the network, by iteratively performing the following until a pipe diameter value (PDV) converges. An approximate pressure value (APV) of the selected node is determined by repeatingly acquiring an adjacent node's provisional pressure value (PPV), and updating a PPV of the selected node based on the PDV and a length of each of a number of links, the adjacent node's PPV, and the selected node's flux. After the selected node's APV is determined, an APV of the adjacent node is acquired, and a flux of each link is determined based on the PDV, the link's length, and the adjacent and selected nodes' APVs. The PDV is updated based on each link's flux that has been determined, the PDV, and a slime mold function, without acquiring and without using any PDV of the adjacent node.
US09306833B2
In one embodiment, a particular node in a computer network, that is, one receiving electrical power from a grid source, may determine routing metrics to a plurality of neighbor nodes of the particular node in the computer network. In addition, the node also determines power grid connectivity of the plurality of neighbor nodes. Traffic may be routed from the particular node to one or more select neighbor nodes having preferred routing metrics, until a power outage condition at the particular node is detected, at which time the traffic (e.g., last gasp messages) may be routed from the particular node to one or more select neighbor nodes having diverse power grid connectivity from the particular node. In this manner, traffic may be routed via a device that is not also experiencing the power outage condition.
US09306828B2
A method of sampling sensor data from a computing system is presented. The computing system includes a plurality of components and a sensor network for monitoring the computing system. The sensor network includes primary sensor nodes operable to obtain primary parameter data from a measurement of a primary parameter of the components, and secondary sensor nodes operable to obtain secondary parameter data from a measurement of secondary parameters of the components. The method includes: a) obtaining secondary parameter data from secondary sensor nodes relating to components; b) processing, in a computing device, the secondary parameter data; c) determining, based upon determined or pre-determined relationships between the secondary parameters and the primary parameter, a sample rate for the primary parameter data for the components; and d) obtaining primary parameter data from the primary sensor nodes relating to components at the determined sample rate.
US09306826B2
Provided is a method of estimating a queuing delay. The method includes: obtaining a round trip time (RTT) reference value, a forward one-way transmit time (OTT) reference value and a backward OTT reference value; and in accordance with a determination of whether a first increment rate is larger or smaller than a second increment rate, updating one of the forward OTT reference value and the backward OTT reference value based on the RTT reference value, the first increment rate being a rate of increment in local time of the transmitter, the second increment rate being a rate of increment in local time of the receiver.
US09306817B2
In a system for availability metrics for customer premises equipment (CPE), CPE includes a non-volatile memory and a timer. Service availability interruption events and time stamps associated with the events are recorded in the non-volatile memory and transmitted to a computing device, which calculates availability metrics based on the interruption events and time stamps from the non-volatile memory of the CPE.
US09306806B1
Configuration information describing a plurality of network devices in a multi-vendor, multi-class, multi-layer network is analyzed using an ontology analysis to create resource profiles comprising descriptions, configurations, inter-relationships and states of the network devices. Predefined network operational policies are applied to a virtual construct of the network created using the resource profiles determine compliance of the network with the policies. Configuration information is received dynamically and stored in a database to create a historical record of network configurations that can be analyzed to correlate configuration changes with operational changes.
US09306803B2
Embodiments of the invention provide a network device for implementing configuration synchronization, including a port configured to a receive a configuration file, a memory, and a processing engine configured such that if a configuration file is received on the port, the processing engine determines a neighbor device of the network device and forwards the configuration file to the neighbor device, and wherein if a configuration file is received on the port and the network device is a member of a predetermined peer group, the configuration file is loaded into the memory.
US09306797B2
Communication systems, such as the long term evolution (LTE) of the third generation partnership project (3GPP), may interoperate with other communication systems. Interoperating communication systems may benefit from forking interworking in cases where, for example, one network supports session initiation protocol forking and one network does not. A method may include receiving a session initiation protocol invite request containing a session description protocol offer from a network not supporting forking. The method may also include receiving, in different early dialogs, a plurality of provisional session initiation protocol responses containing session description protocol answers. The method may further include storing information from the answers together with information about a related session information protocol dialog.
US09306796B1
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for dynamically configuring a virtual environment for identifying unwanted data. In use, a virtual environment located on a first device is dynamically configured based on at least one property of a second device. Further, unwanted data is identified, utilizing the virtual environment.
US09306792B2
Methods, systems, and apparatuses for down-converting a modulated carrier signal to a demodulated baseband signal by sampling a portion of the energy of the carrier signal are described herein. Briefly stated, such methods systems, and apparatuses operate by receiving a modulated carrier signal and using a control signal to control a switch or switches so as to transfer a portion of the energy from the modulated carrier signal in the form of charge to a storage capacitor during a plurality of aperture periods and to discharge the charge in the storage capacitor into a load during the time between the plurality of aperture periods. The demodulated baseband signal is generated during both the charging and the discharging of the storage capacitor based on the energy accumulated at the storage capacitor as a net result of previous charging and discharging of the storage capacitor.
US09306787B2
There is provided a signal processing device including a first correction processing section that performs first correction on a predetermined signal, an adaptive processing section that performs predetermined adaptive processing on the signal that has been subjected to the first correction, and a second correction processing section that performs second correction, which is reverse correction of the first correction, on the signal that has been subjected to the adaptive processing, in accordance with the amount of delay in the adaptive processing.
US09306777B2
A direct conversion receiver includes: a high linearity mixer device including a sampler unit charge-sampling an input current according to a sampling frequency, and a buffer unit receiving an output signal from the sampler unit while having a low input impedance, amplifying the received signal, and outputting a current signal; and a filter device decimating an output signal from the mixer device and FIR-filtering the decimated signal.
US09306775B1
A receiver disposed in a serializer/deserializer (SerDes) system includes a coupling capacitor configured to receive a serial input signal from a transmitter operatively coupled with the receiver via a communication channel established therebetween and to output a capacitance output signal, an equalizer configured to receive a signal including the capacitance output signal having a baseline wander gain subtracted therefrom, a running disparity generator receiving decoded symbols and generating a running disparity signal, and a low-pass filter receiving the running disparity signal and outputting the BLW gain.
US09306768B2
A method provided in one example embodiment includes a first network device receiving a request comprising a name of a port profile to be subscribed to by a virtual interface (“VIF”). For the first subscribing to the port profile, the first network device notifies a second network device concerning use of the port profile and the second network device applies a network configuration in connection with the notifying. The first network device may receive a removal request identifying a port profile to be unsubscribed from by a VIF. For the last VIF unsubscribing from the identified port profile, the first network device notifies the second network device concerning the unsubscription and the second network device applies a new network configuration in connection with the unsubscription notification. In one embodiment, the second network device comprises a virtualization profile corresponding to the port profile preconfigured thereon for specifying the network configuration.
US09306763B2
In one embodiment, a custom user interface (UI) is provided for a plurality of devices of a home automation system within a structure. A configuration database is constructed that stores logical representations. The logical representations stored in the configuration database to include components, services, rooms, and zones. A mobile application (app) finds and connects to the configuration database. The mobile app then queries the configuration database. Based on the querying, the mobile app presents a custom user interface (UI) to the user on a display screen, wherein the custom UI is usable to control one or more of the plurality of devices of the home automation system.
US09306759B2
A system may include a group of user devices; and one or more base stations configured to receive programming content from a content provider, and distribute the received programming content, via a broadcast or multicast technique, to the group of user devices. A particular user device, of the group of user devices, may receive distributed programming content, and output, to device that is external to the user device, the programming content received from the particular base station.
US09306753B1
A system and method for enabling safety in and for initial impromptu meetings facilitated by electronic devices. Prior to the meeting, participants each download a same generated event ticket and the public key of the other meeting participant. At the meeting location, each individual's electronic device via a mobile application initiates close-proximity communication with the other mobile application; signs the ticket with its stored private key; exchanges signed tickets; verifies the received signed ticket using the downloaded public key; and compares the verified signed ticket with the downloaded ticket to authenticate the other individual.
US09306748B2
An authentication method and apparatus in a communication system are provided. In a method for authenticating a first node at a second authentication server in a communication system comprising the first node registered to a first authentication server and a second node registered to the second authentication server, an authentication request message requesting authentication of the first node is received from the second node, the authentication request message is transmitted to the first authentication server, and upon receipt of an authentication success message indicating successful authentication of the first node from the first authentication server, the authentication success message is transmitted to the second node.
US09306742B1
A first portion of a cryptographic key can be conveyed through a secure channel to a device that can interact with a home network. After the first portion is received, a prompt can be sent by the recipient of the portion through a non-secure channel to the sender of the portion to send a second portion of the key. The cryptographic key can be constituted from the received portions and used by the device to secure communications with home network.
US09306738B2
The subject disclosure is directed towards secure computations of encrypted data over a network. In response to user desired security settings with respect to the encrypted data, software/hardware library components automatically select parameter data for configuring a fully homomorphic encryption scheme to secure the encrypted data items while executing a set of computational operations. A client initiates the set of computational operations via the library components and if requested, receives secure computation results in return.
US09306734B2
According to an embodiment, a communication device is connected to a key generating device which generates an encryption key. The communication device includes a querying unit, an encryption processor, and a selecting unit. The querying unit is configured to send a query to the key generating device about capability information which indicates capability of the key generating device to generate the encryption key. The encryption processor is configured to implement a plurality of encryption functions. The selecting unit is configured to select, from among the plurality of encryption functions, an encryption function according to the capability information. The encryption processor implements the encryption function thus selected.
US09306729B2
System, method and computer program product for setting phase control codes to (in-phase) I and (quadrature) Q rotators to a first code pair, different by enough to produce a phase difference between the rotator outputs sufficient to be detected with minimal error by a phase-to-voltage converter. Auxiliary trim DACs are then adjusted according to calibration logic until a comparator output detects a phase difference between the I and Q rotators are within tolerable limits. The resulting trim codes are stored for both the codes in the pair. These trim codes along with the main codes are subsequently applied whenever the codes are used thereafter. These steps are repeated with each successive code pair having the same separation as the first code pair, e.g. both incremented by same amount until all codes have been calibrated. In this manner having the phase separation between all code pairs forced to the same value.
US09306726B2
To optimize operation of a mobile terminal apparatus when a Half-duplex FDD scheme is applied, the mobile terminal apparatus performs radio communications with a base station apparatus by HD-FDD, and when transmission timing of an uplink signal and reception timing of a downlink signal overlaps each other, selectively performs transmission processing of the uplink signal and reception processing of the downlink signal, based on a priority relationship defined between the uplink signal and the downlink signal.
US09306704B2
A broadcasting method and a communication device are disclosed by the present invention. The method includes: receiving a first data packet; and if the currently received first data packet is a repeated data packet, discarding the currently received first data packet when the times that the currently received first data packet is capable of being forwarded is less than or equal to the times that is determined according to a pre-stored hop parameter of the first data packet. After receiving the repeated data packet, a device further determines, according to a judgement result, whether to discard the data packet or continue forwarding the data packet, thereby improving the reliability of sending the data packet in the broadcasting manner.
US09306700B2
Disclosed are a method and device for transmitting optical signals. The method comprises: if there is Raman crosstalk between a first optical network system and a coexistence system, an upstream wavelength band of the first optical network system is set outside a range with an upstream wavelength band of the coexistence system being a center and with an impact intensity of the Raman crosstalk being a radius, and a downstream wavelength band of the first optical network system is set outside a range with the downstream wavelength band of the coexistence system being a center and with the impact intensity of the Raman crosstalk being a radius; and optical signals are transmitted by using the upstream wavelength band of the first optical network system and the downstream wavelength band of the first optical network system. The disclosure can avoid interference and improve signal quality.
US09306681B2
A system of mobile devices that reduces the transmission strength of outgoing signals originating from a handheld device, and sends such signals to a second device, situated near or on a lower-body location, where the signals may be amplified to the current permitted maximum transmission strength vis-a-vis the brain (SAR), or above that level to the greater maximum strength permitted in the areas of, e.g., the feet and ankles, where the signal is then sent outward. The devices divert radio frequency (RF) radiation exposure downward toward the lower extremities. The intelligence and power of the devices may be split between two or more devices, resulting in longer use time, deeper and more complex computing capability, and fewer disruptions due to power. In addition, a benefit in one or more embodiments is better, more reliable reception, due to the use of two or more coordinated receiving antennas.
US09306680B2
A method and a device for calibrating frequency synthesizer in communication terminal are provided. The method may include: controlling the communication terminal to transmit a continuous wave signal in a specified channel; controlling a measurement device to measure the continuous wave signal to obtain a measured frequency deviation value of the frequency synthesizer in the communication terminal; calculating a center oscillation frequency point of a reference crystal oscillator of the communication terminal and a frequency calibration step corresponding to the center oscillation frequency point based on the measured frequency deviation value; and storing the center oscillation frequency point and the corresponding frequency calibration step in the communication terminal. The method can reduce frequency calibration cost and time.
US09306675B2
A digital coherent receiver, includes: an acquisition circuit configured to acquire a plurality of digital electrical signals obtained by sampling a plurality of analog electrical signals by using a sampling signal and digitally converting the plurality of analog electrical signals, the plurality of analog electrical signals being obtained by subjecting a plurality of optical signals to photoelectric conversion; a phase deviation detector configured to output a detection value corresponding to a phase deviation between the sampling signal and the optical signals by using the digital electrical signals; a determination circuit configured to determine whether or not a variation amount of the detection value is equal to or less than a first variation amount; and a compensation circuit configured to compensate wavelength dispersion of the digital electrical signals based on the detection value when the variation amount is equal to or less than the first variation amount.
US09306674B1
The present disclosure generally pertains to optical communication apparatuses having field-tunable power characteristics. In one exemplary embodiment, an optical communication apparatus has an optical transmitter. The optical transmitter is coupled to logic that receives a user input indicative of a desired transmit mode for the transmitter, and the logic then dynamically tunes the transmitter's output power according to the selected transmit mode. In addition, the optical communication apparatus may have an optical receiver for receiving optical signals. The sensitivity of the receiver is controlled by a bias voltage that is applied to the receiver by the logic. The logic is configured to receive a user input indicative of a desired receive mode and then to tune the receiver's sensitivity via the bias voltage according to the selected receive mode. Accordingly, both the transmitter and receiver of an optical communication apparatus can be tuned in the field to operate in a desired range, and a field technician can therefore utilize the same optical communication apparatus in any of a variety of applications.
US09306665B1
System and method of generating a received signal strength indication, the method including: selecting a high power level of a transmitter to be received above a receiver threshold at a predetermined distance from the transmitter; selecting a low power level of the transmitter to be received below the receiver threshold at the predetermined distance; transmitting a marker signal at high power; and adjacent in time to the marker signal, transmitting a power-varying signal, wherein a power of the power-varying signal varies monotonically between the high power level and the low power level.
US09306659B2
A radio communication system includes: a first member; a second member; a transmitting apparatus provided on the first member; and a receiving apparatus provided on the second member, wherein the first member and the second member are provided such that they can move relative to each other; and radio communication is performed when the transmitting apparatus and the receiving apparatus face each other as the first member and the second member move relative to each other.
US09306656B2
There is provided apparatus for propagation of a wireless signal through a barrier comprising a first antenna for location on a first side of the barrier, a second antenna for location on a second side of the barrier and a waveguide. The waveguide comprises a conducting member passing through the barrier between the first and second sides. The conducting member is held within an insulator sleeve such that it is spaced from a surrounding metal wall of the waveguide. A wireless signal received by the waveguide on the first side of the barrier is transmitted through the barrier by Transverse Electro-Magnetic (TEM) mode propagation along the waveguide is re-radiated on the second side.
US09306640B2
In adaptive modulation and coding scheme (MCS) selection for directional antenna systems, at least one table is defined that maps different ranges of signal quality values to different sets of MCS parameters. In some implementations, each range corresponds to a separate table (e.g., a given table will include the MCS and other information for that range of signal quality values). In the event an abrupt change in signal quality is detected (e.g., a change in received signal strength greater than or equal to a defined threshold), instead of using a conventional rate selection algorithm, a new MCS is selected through the use of the ranges from the table(s). In this way, a relatively large change in MCS may be accommodated, if warranted by the change in signal quality.
US09306631B2
A method of conditioning a first signal transmitted between a first and a second near field communication, NFC, device, the method comprising: determining a transfer function representative of a distortion arising from transfer of a signal from the first NFC device to the second NFC device; determining a pre-distortion function from the transfer function; and applying the pre-distortion function to the first signal, wherein the pre-distortion function at least partially compensates for the determined transfer function.
US09306625B2
An aircraft systems interface unit includes a multiplexer and a broadband over power line (BPL) modem. The multiplexer includes a plurality of inputs and an output for outputting data received through the plurality of inputs. Each input is configured for connection to at least one aircraft data bus. The BPL modem is coupled to the output of the multiplexer and configured to transmit data received from the multiplexer over a power line.
US09306624B1
In one or more embodiments, an apparatus includes a first power-line communication circuit to communicate data with a second power-line communication circuit over power lines and using a communication protocol requiring that one of the first power-line communication circuit or the second power-line communication circuit join into regular communications in response to an initiation message received over the power lines. The first power-line communication circuit communicates data regularly with the second power-line communication circuit over the power lines after being joined into regular communications by an initiation message received over the power lines, the initiation message being communicated over the power lines at an initiation time interval, the initiation time interval being based on a random interval that is within an interval range and that is based on a relative time at which at least two of the plurality of endpoint devices are designated to join within an interval range.
US09306618B2
A filter enhancer provides greater performance in a passive filter. The passive filter has an input terminal for receiving a signal in a first frequency band and an output terminal for providing a signal in a second frequency band. The filter enhancer includes: (a) a first canceller circuit coupled between input terminal and output terminal, the first canceller circuit including a first finite impulse response (FIR) filter for attenuating signals in the first frequency band; and (b) a control circuit coupled to output terminal and first canceller circuit for providing adaptive coefficients for configuring the first FIR filter. The first FIR filter may be implemented by either a digital FIR filter or an analog FIR filter. The filter enhancer may further include a second canceller circuit coupled between input terminal and output terminal, the second canceller circuit including a second FIR filter for attenuating signals in the second frequency band.
US09306615B2
The present invention provides a method for a communication terminal to reside in a plurality of networks, and a communication terminal thereof. The method comprises the steps of: acquiring a first signal intensity corresponding to a first communication network and acquiring a second signal intensity corresponding to a second communication network; when the first signal intensity is greater than a first threshold, registering a first service in the first communication network; when the second signal intensity is greater than a second threshold, registering a second service in the second communication network; when the second signal intensity is less than or equal to the second threshold, searching for the second communication network and registering the second service in the first communication network; and when the first signal intensity is less than or equal to the first threshold, searching for the first communication network and registering the first service in the second communication network. According to the present invention, the communication terminal can operate at both the first communication network and the second communication network simultaneously, and can execute the first service and second service at the same time. As a result, it is able to ensure a normal, basic communication service as well as a high-speed data service.
US09306609B1
A front-end of a first differential circuit is DC-coupled to a second differential circuit. The front-end comprises a resistive element, a voltage sensor and a current adjustor. The resistive element has a resistivity between a first end that is DC-coupled to the second circuit and a second end that is DC-coupled to the first circuit and accepts a programmable current passing therethrough to impose a voltage across the element that varies in direction and amplitude according to the current value. The voltage sensor senses a difference between a DC voltage at the second end of the resistive element and a desired reference voltage of the first circuit. The current adjustor adjusts a direction and amplitude of the programmable current so that the voltage of the first circuit matches the desired reference voltage of the first circuit. The first circuit may be a receiver circuit and the second circuit may be a transmitter circuit. The front-end may further comprise a current canceller comprising a second resistive element connected at a first end to the output of the second circuit. The current canceller senses the programmable current and generates a current of equal amplitude through the second resistive element and away from the output of the second circuit. The current canceller may be implemented in digital or analog form and/or in differential or common-mode operation.
US09306605B1
An electronic device includes a radio configured to operate at an operating frequency, and a first universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) configured to operate as a master and at a baud rate. The electronic device also includes a second UART configured to communicate with the first UART, operating as a slave. The second UART has a controller configured to generate a frequency shift based upon the operating frequency of the radio being evenly divisible by the baud rate, and a baud clock generator. The baud clock generator is configured to generate an operating baud rate from a master clock signal, with the operating baud rate to be the baud rate shifted by the frequency shift. Transmitter circuitry is configured to operate based on the operating baud rate, and receiver circuitry is configured to operate based on the operating baud rate.
US09306604B2
A corner mounted device is provided. The corner mounted device includes a housing and a data transmitter within the housing. The housing may include a first rear surface, a second rear surface, and a front surface adjoining the first rear surface and the second rear surface, with an internal cavity formed in between. The housing may be in the form of a wedge shape. The first rear surface and the second rear surface may be substantially perpendicular relative to one another, and may thereby be secured to a corner of intersecting walls and/or ceiling.
US09306602B2
An encoding method generates an encoded sequence by performing encoding of a given coding rate according to a predetermined parity check matrix. The predetermined parity check matrix is a first parity check matrix or a second parity check matrix. The first parity check matrix corresponds to a low-density parity check (LDPC) convolutional code using a plurality of parity check polynomials. The second parity check matrix is generated by performing at least one of row permutation and column permutation with respect to the first parity check matrix. An eth parity check polynomial that satisfies zero, of the LDPC convolutional code, is expressible by using a predetermined mathematical formula.
US09306599B2
Apparatuses, systems, and methods are disclosed for reconfiguring an array of storage elements. A storage element error module is configured to determine that one or more storage elements in an array of storage elements are in error. An array of storage elements stores a first ECC block and first parity data generated from the first ECC block. A data reconfiguration module is configured to generate a second ECC block comprising at least a portion of data of a first ECC block. A new configuration storage module is configured to store a second ECC block and associated second parity data on fewer storage elements than a number of storage elements in an array.
US09306594B2
A continuous-time sigma delta radio frequency modulator is provided, including at least two LC resonators coupled in parallel by a coupling capacitive element, producing an at least 4th-order bandpass filter, a frequency response of the bandpass filter presenting at least two poles that can be brought closer together or moved further apart depending on the capacitive element value; a feedback loop for shaping the quantization noise with a predetermined noise transfer function; and an adder for receiving: at one of its inputs an analog signal; and at its other input a signal provided by the feedback loop; and the output of which is linked to the input of the bandpass filter, the feedback loop including a finite impulse response filter, the coefficients of which being calculated to obtain a noise transfer function which maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio in a signal bandwidth while ensuring the stability of the feedback loop.
US09306593B2
A semiconductor device includes an analog-digital converter circuit. The analog-digital converter circuit includes a delay cell array and an encoder. The delay cell array contains n number of serially-coupled delay cells, receives a reference clock signal, and utilizes an analog input signal as the power supply voltage for the delay cells in each stage. The encoder encodes an output signal from the delay cell in each stage for the delay cell array and outputs the encoded output signal as a digital output signal. The n number of delay cells includes delay quantities weighted for each delay cell. The encoder encodes the output signal of the delay cells in each stage for the delay cell array by weighting corresponding to the number of delay cell stage.
US09306592B2
A feedback loop, which feedbacks information of an output voltage or a load current, is provided. The feedback loop has a first mode, which digitalizes and feedbacks the information of the current voltage or the load current, and a second mode, which feedbacks the information as an analog value.
US09306586B2
An all-digital phase locked loop includes a time to digital converter that determines a fractional portion of a phase count. The time to digital converter has a quantization error that may be caused by phase noise, delay errors or skew errors. Several methods and devices may reduce the quantization error. A noise source may add dithering to the reference clock at an input of the time to digital converter. A digital processor may use two successive rising edges of the oscillator signal to count time delays of the time to digital convertor to the reference clock. The digital processor uses these counts to determine a ratio of the time delays and the time period of the oscillator signal for controlling a digitally controlled oscillator. A radio frequency counter circuit detects whether the oscillator signal leads or lags the reference clock because of skew and generates a phase signal to correct the skew.
US09306565B2
A non-volatile memory device determines, based at least partly on a first multi-bit device address received via a signaling interface and an incoming chip-select signal, whether the device is to participate in a memory access transaction by receiving or outputting data via an I/O node of the signaling interface. Based at least in part on that determination, on-die termination circuitry within the non-volatile memory device switchably couples or decouples a termination resistance between the I/O node and a supply voltage node during a data transmission phase of the memory access transaction.
US09306556B2
An analog-switch circuit (1) having: a resistor (R1); a resistor (R2); a CMOS analog switch (S1) in which a first end is connected to an input end (Vin) via the resistor (R1), and a second end is connected to an output end (Vout); and a CMOS analog switch (S2), in which a first end is connected to the first end of the analog switch (S1), and a second end is connected to a ground end via the resistor (R2). The CMOS analog switch (S2) is turned on or off in antiphase to the analog switch (S1).
US09306553B2
Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a voltage level shifting circuit employing a low latency, AC-coupled voltage boost circuit, as well as other circuits and apparatus incorporating such a level shifting circuit. Such level shifting circuits provide significantly lower latency compared to conventional level shifters (e.g., latency reduced by at least a factor of two). Offering consistent latency over the simulation corners, level shifting circuits described herein also provide significantly lower power consumption and reduced duty cycle distortion compared to conventional level shifters.
US09306551B2
An interpolator includes interpolation cells. Each interpolation cell includes a first driving unit and a second driving unit. The first driving unit includes a first pulling-up circuit for selectively coupling an output terminal to a high voltage, a first pulling-down circuit for selectively coupling the output terminal to a low voltage, and a pair of first switches for selectively enabling/disabling the first pulling-up circuit and the first pulling-down circuit. The second driving unit includes a second pulling-up circuit for selectively coupling the output terminal to the high voltage, a second pulling-down circuit for selectively coupling the output terminal to the low voltage, and a pair of second switches for selectively enabling/disabling the second pulling-up circuit and the second pulling-down circuit. Driving capabilities of the first and second pulling-up circuits are not all equal, and/or driving capabilities of the first and second pulling-down circuits are not all equal.
US09306550B2
A Schmitt Trigger is implemented in FDSOI technology. The Schmitt Trigger includes a first inverting stage having an NMOS and PMOS transistor having their drains tied together. The NMOS and PMOS transistor each have a first gate coupled to the input voltage and a back gate coupled to the output of the Schmitt Trigger.
US09306546B2
An example embodiment includes a fiber optic integrated circuit (IC). The fiber optic IC includes an integrated power supply. The integrated power supply includes a filter, an active switch, and a pulse width modulator (“PWM”). The filter is configured to convert a signal to an output signal of the integrated power supply. The active switch is configured to control introduction of the signal to the filter. The PWM is configured to generate a PWM output signal that triggers the active switch.
US09306544B2
An electronic device may include a first transistor having a normally-on characteristic; a second transistor connected to the first transistor and having a normally-off characteristic; a constant voltage application unit configured to apply a constant voltage to a gate of the first transistor; and a switching unit configured to apply a switching signal to the second transistor. The first transistor may be a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). The second transistor may be a field-effect transistor (FET). The constant voltage application unit may include a diode connected to the gate of the first transistor; and a constant current source connected to the diode.
US09306540B2
An IF-noise-shaping transistorized current-mode lowpass filter is applied to quadrature in a balanced circuit. A first pair of transistors receiving current inputs from a mixer are connected so that each of the first pair of transistors has its gate cross coupled to the output of the other of the first pair of transistors. A second pair of transistors are connected in series with respected outputs of respective ones of the first pair of transistors and having gates connected to a first common voltage node, and a capacitance is used to connect the current inputs of one of the first and second pairs of transistors. An active inductive load is connected between the current inputs of one of the first and second pairs of transistors.
US09306537B1
An integrated circuit device includes an integrated circuit substrate having a two piece package thereon. The package has a hermetically sealed cavity therein and a crystal resonator within the cavity. The crystal resonator includes at least one electrode electrically coupled to a portion of the integrated circuit substrate by an electrically conductive via, which extends at least partially through the package. The package may include a material selected from a group consisting of glass and ceramics. The crystal resonator includes a crystal blank and first and second electrodes on first and second opposing sides of the crystal blank. The package includes a base having a recess therein and a cap hermetically sealed to the base. The cap includes first and second electrical traces thereon, which are electrically connected to the first and second electrodes of the crystal resonator.
US09306528B2
A composite LC resonator includes a ground electrode adjacent to a first principal surface of a multilayer body, a first capacitor electrode farther inward than the ground electrode and defining a first capacitor together with the ground electrode, a first electrode of a second capacitor, a second electrode of the second capacitor defining a second capacitor together with the first electrode of the second capacitor, a first via-electrode defining a first inductor, a first end of the first via-electrode electrically connected to the first capacitor electrode and a second end of the first via-electrode electrically connected to the first electrode of the second capacitor, and a second via-electrode defining a second inductor, a first end of the second via-electrode electrically connected to the second electrode of the second capacitor and a second end of the second via-electrode being electrically connected to the ground electrode.
US09306527B1
Scalar-longitudinal waves (SLWs) may be transmitted and/or received. A first apparatus configured to transmit and/or receive SLWs may include a linear first conductor configured to operate as a linear monopole antenna at a first operating frequency. The first apparatus may include a tubular second conductor coaxially aligned with the first conductor and an annular balun configured to cancel most or all return current on an outer surface of the second conductor during operation such that the first conductor transmits or receives SLWs. A second apparatus configured to transmit and/or receive scalar-longitudinal waves may include a bifilar coil formed in an alternating fashion of a first conductor and a second conductor such that an electrical current in the coil will propagate in opposite directions in adjacent turns of the coil thereby cancelling any magnetic field so that during operation the coil transmits or receives SLWs.
US09306526B2
Disclosed are switching circuits and methods that enable a device to switch between two wireless protocols with antenna sharing. In some implementations, the device may use two different wireless protocols concurrently and with high isolation. In some implementations, the device can be provided with insertion loss matched transmission diversity for one of the wireless protocols. In some embodiments, various signal paths and related switches that allow such functionalities can be implemented on a single die such as a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) die.
US09306515B2
A power amplifier is provided. The power amplifier comprises a plurality of power amplifier units and a bias unit. The power amplifier units are connected in parallel with each other to receive a differential input signal. The power amplifier units perform a power amplifying so as to output a differential output signal. The bias unit is coupled to the power amplifier units and supplies a plurality of bias signals to the power amplifier units respectively. At least two of the power amplifier units are enable to operate in different class regions in according with the corresponding bias signals.
US09306512B2
An amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation amplifier circuit includes a first amplifier to which a high frequency signal and a modulating signal are supplied, and that is configured to perform an amplification of the high frequency signal and an ASK modulation, and a second amplifier to which an output of the first amplifier and the modulating signal are supplied, and that is configured to perform an amplification of the output signal from the first amplifier and an ASK modulation. In some configurations, an amplification gain of the second amplifier is set higher than an amplification gain of the first amplifier.
US09306507B2
A controller for controlling a signal processor includes a transformation unit and a control unit. The transformation unit is configured to generate at least one amplitude-modulation-to-phase-modulation-distortion within a signal, output by using the signal processor according to a signal processing, based on generated at least one amplitude-modulation-to-amplitude-modulation-distortion of the signal. The control unit is configured to adjust the signal processing of the signal processor so as to minimize the at least one amplitude-modulation-to-phase-modulation-distortion.
US09306505B2
A low-noise amplifier (LNA) circuit utilizes the capacitive cross coupling technique with two pairs of NMOS transistors in conjunction with two cross coupled PMOS transistors to obtain a reduced noise figure. By using the cross coupling technique on the PMOS input transistor, the LNA circuit is able to reduce the noise figure below 2 dB without the use of an inductor. This LNA circuit may be used to amplify a signal in the WLAN band or the Bluetooth band, either independently or simultaneously.
US09306503B2
A system for combining power includes a plurality of branches and a secondary winding. The plurality of branches are configured to provide branch power. Each of the branches contribute to the branch power at non-peak power. The secondary winding is configured to combine the branch power from the plurality of branches into an output power.
US09306497B2
A variable frequency synthesizer and method of outputting the variable frequency is disclosed. The synthesizer comprises a first reference frequency, a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) receiving the first reference frequency and outputting a tuned frequency, a variable frequency comb generator receiving the tuned frequency and outputting a variable frequency comb comprised of a plurality of comb lines, a mixer receiving the variable frequency comb and a signal from an oscillator and outputting an intermediate frequency, a phase lock loop (PLL) receiving a second reference frequency and the intermediate frequency and outputting a phase lock signal, and the oscillator receiving the phase lock signal and outputting a variable synthesized frequency.
US09306494B2
An oscillation device includes an oscillator, an oscillation detection unit that detects oscillation of the oscillator and outputs an oscillation detection signal, and a drive unit that generates a drive signal in keeping with the oscillation detection signal and outputs the drive signal to the oscillator. The drive unit includes a phase shift unit that shifts the phase to provide the drive signal as positive feedback to the oscillator. The phase shift unit includes a disturbance generating unit that outputs the periodic signal, a fluctuation unit that causes the amount of phase shift to fluctuate based on the periodic signal, a drive amplitude detection unit that detects the amplitude of the drive signal and outputs a drive amplitude signal, a product detection unit that outputs a detection signal after performing product detection on the drive amplitude signal based on the periodic signal, and an adjustment unit that adjusts the phase-shift amount based on the detection signal.
US09306493B2
An oscillator circuit comprises a current path including a capacitor having a first side and a second side, wherein each of the first and second side of the capacitor is selectively connectable to at least a first supply terminal to apply a first voltage potential or a second supply terminal to apply a second voltage potential. The oscillator circuit comprises a comparator having a first input terminal being selectively connectable to the first or the second side of the capacitor, and a second input terminal being connected to a terminal to apply a reference voltage. An output signal of the oscillator circuit is generated in dependence on a comparator output signal of the comparator.
US09306488B2
A dual inverter system to drive a motor in an electronic apparatus and a method of controlling the same include a first inverter connected to one side of a stator winding of the motor to modulate a pulse width and to adjust power supplied to the motor, a second inverter connected to the other side of the stator winding of the motor to modulate a pulse width and to adjust power supplied to the motor, a first current detector connected to the first inverter to detect a current flowing in the first inverter, a second current detector connected to the second inverter to detect a current flowing in the second inverter, and a controller to control the motor by controlling a pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal applied to the first inverter or the second inverter based on the current flowing in at least one of the first inverter and the second inverter.
US09306485B2
An electrical supply line for operating a first electric motor includes a first converter for supplying electric energy to the first electric motor in dependence of a first control variable, a connected network connecting the first converter to a DC voltage source, an oscillation suppression controller for generating first correction information, and a first correction module for generating the first control variable by taking into consideration an operating parameter of the first electric motor and by taking into consideration the first correction information. An electrical supply system includes two of the supply lines. A corresponding method for operating an electric drive is also described.
US09306479B2
A variable speed fan motor, including: a variable speed motor and a motor controller. The motor controller includes a microprocessor, an inverter circuit, a gear detection circuit, and a power supply unit. The gear detection circuit includes a plurality of Hall current sensing units. Each second power input line is connected with a first input end of each of the Hall current sensing units. Second input ends of the Hall current sensing units are connected in parallel, and are connected with a second AC input end of the power supply unit. An output end of the Hall current sensing unit is connected with an input end of the microprocessor. The microprocessor selects operating parameters according to an energized signal of the second power input lines and controls the variable speed motor to operate in accordance with the selected operating parameters.
US09306475B1
A three-degrees-of-freedom MEMS electrostatic piston-tube actuator is disclosed. The actuator comprises two structures. A structure that comprises a plurality of fixed piston-like electrodes that are attached to a base, and form the stator of the actuator. A second structure that comprises a plurality of moving tube-like electrodes that are attached to the body of the upper structure and form the rotor of the actuator. The rotor is attached to the stator through a mechanical spring. The rotor of the actuator provides a 3-DOF motion, comprising vertical translation and bi-axial rotation about the axes of the structures. The present piston-tube actuator utilizes a configuration that enables the use of wide area electrodes, and therefore, provides a high output force enabling translation of the rotor or a high output torque enabling rotation of the rotor.
US09306469B2
A rectifier and an electrical power facility in which the rectifier is disposed are provided that relate to the field of electromechanical technologies. The rectifier includes a rectifier circuit, a relay, and a controller. The rectifier further includes a detection resistor and a detection circuit, where the detection resistor is connected in series to a winding in the relay, a detection point of the detection circuit is set between the detection resistor and the winding, and an output end of the detection circuit is connected to the controller. When a voltage detected at the detection point of the detection circuit is abnormal, the detection circuit outputs an alarm signal to the controller, and after receiving the alarm signal, the controller stops outputting a driving signal to the driving end of the rectifier circuit.
US09306467B2
The invention concerns an electrical module for adapting a first signal of a first system to a second signal of a second system, including: an input arranged so that a power source can be connected thereto, said power source delivering a first signal, said first signal being a direct signal, a converter module arranged to convert the supply voltage into an intermediate rectified signal formed of a direct component and a sinusoidal component; an inverter module arranged to output a signal compatible with a second signal of a second system.
US09306465B2
A converter operable for powering one or more loads having a variable switching frequency. The switching frequency of the converter being selectable based on a desired output power level and/or whether switching of a plurality of switches of the converter is characterized as zero voltage switching (ZVS) or non-zero voltage switching (NZVS).
US09306462B2
A constant current control circuit includes a sample and hold unit coupled to a current sensing resistor of a power converter, for storing a current sensing voltage of the current sensing resistor; a first capacitor for storing a comparison voltage; a discharge unit coupled between the sample and hold unit and the first capacitor, for controlling a discharge current of the first capacitor according to a reference voltage and the current sensing voltage stored in the sample and hold unit; a charge unit coupled to the first capacitor, for controlling a charging current of the first capacitor according to the reference voltage and a ground voltage; and a comparator for comparing the comparison voltage with the reference voltage to generate a comparison result, and outputting a control signal according to the comparison result, in order to control a duty cycle of the power converter.
US09306457B2
A method and apparatus for monitoring instantaneous load current is disclosed. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a voltage regulator and at least one functional unit implemented thereon. The voltage regulator includes a supply circuit configured to provide a voltage to the functional unit, and a sense circuit configured to determine an amount of current provided to the functional unit by the supply circuit. The sense circuit may determine the instantaneous load current being provided to the functional unit. An indication circuit is configured to provide, to the functional unit, an indication of the amount of current supplied thereto by the supply circuit.
US09306444B2
A control system for a harmonic neutralized frequency changer. The control system includes a processor, a narrow band harmonic controller and a fundamental current controller. The narrow band harmonic controller is communicably connected to the processor and is configured to reduce a positive sequence component, a negative sequence component and a zero sequence component of a harmonic generated by a cycloconverter of the harmonic neutralized frequency changer. The fundamental current controller is communicably connected to the processor and is configured to reduce a fundamental frequency component of current flowing in a neutralization inverter of the harmonic neutralized frequency changer.
US09306424B2
A rotor for a rotary electric machine includes a pair of Lundell-type cores, a plurality of magnets, and a magnet retainer. The pair of Lundell-type cores includes a plurality of claw poles with flange portions projecting to a circumferential direction of the rotor from an end portion on an outer diameter side of each of the claw poles. The plurality of magnets are arranged between the pair of Lundell-type cores, and are magnetized in a direction of reducing flux leakage. The magnet retainer retains each of the magnets, and has side surfaces in the circumferential direction. At least one of the side surfaces is provided with at least one projection for restraining movement of the magnet retainer in an axial direction along a rotary shaft.
US09306423B2
Disclosed therein is a motor with a variable magnetic flux, which includes a rotor and a stator located inside the rotor. The rotor includes a rotor housing, a plurality of unit rotor cores and magnets which are attached to the inner wall surface of the rotor housing, and the unit rotor cores and the magnets are arranged in turn. The stator includes a stator core base and a plurality of teeth radially formed on the outer peripheral surface of the stator core base at equal intervals, and each of the teeth has ears formed at both sides of an end thereof.
US09306421B2
A core formed from powder, such as a stator core for use in a motor for a vehicle, wherein the core is formed from metallic powder and includes an outer part disposed at an inside of the motor, an inner part disposed at an inside of the motor, and a winding part which connects the outer part and the inner part and on which a wire is wound, and to a motor for a vehicle using the same. The winding part is formed to have rounded corners and a height lower than the height of the inner part, and a connection part is obliquely formed between the winding part and the inner part so that the winding part and the inner part are naturally connected.
US09306419B2
A first device may have a processor and a power management system configured to receive a request from a second device. The first device may receive attribute data from the second device and compare the attribute data of the second device to attribute data of the first device. The first device may then determine whether the second device is a qualifying device based on the comparison and it may also determine a power transfer mode of the first device based on whether the device is a qualifying device and on the attribute data of the first and second device.
US09306413B2
In one embodiment, a charging circuit for a charge accumulator comprises a first terminal (A1) for supplying a charging voltage (UC) and for connecting the charge accumulator (SC) connected to a reference potential terminal (10), a second terminal (A2) for providing a load voltage (UD) and for connecting an electrical load (D1), a control assembly (ST) which is coupled to the first and the second terminals (A1, A2) and has a signal output (A3) for providing a first charge state signal (S1) and a test output (TA) for providing at test signal (on), and a current source (I1) that is coupled to the second terminal (A2), wherein the first charge state signal (S1) is provided depending on a value of an additional voltage (U12) between the first and the second terminals (A1, A2) and depending on the test signal (on), and wherein the charging voltage (UC) is supplied depending on the first charge state signal (S1). The invention also relates to a method for charging a charge accumulator.
US09306412B2
A system and method for controlling charging for a vehicle is disclosed. The system comprises a statistical analyzer, an estimation module and a determination module. The statistical analyzer analyzes a set of data describing utility rate information and one or more behaviors of the vehicle. The estimation module estimates one or more tendency parameters based at least in part on the analyzing. The determination module determines a charging setting based at least in part on the one or more tendency parameters. The charging setting comprises one or more of a target charging battery state of charge (SoC), a charging start time and a charging end time.
US09306403B2
A battery module includes lithium-ion battery cells and at least one discharge circuit configured to discharge the battery cells. The discharge circuit includes a control signal input, a switch, and a resistor and is configured to close the switch in reaction to a control signal at the control signal input, in order to electrically connect terminals of the battery module. The battery module can then be reliably discharged by a corresponding control signal.
US09306400B2
A power transmission device in a power transmission system including the power transmission device including a primary coil and a power reception device including a secondary coil, the primary coil being electromagnetically coupled to the secondary coil, to receive in the power reception device AC power transmitted from the power transmission device, comprises a waveform monitor circuit configured to detect an electric potential at one end of the primary coil and output a waveform monitor signal formed by restricting the detected electric potential to an electric potential which is equal to or higher than a ground electric potential; a waveform detection circuit configured to detect a waveform change in the waveform monitor signal input from the waveform monitor circuit; and a data detection circuit configured to detect data transmitted by load change by a load modulation unit in the power reception device based on a result of detection of the waveform change detected by the waveform detection circuit.
US09306398B2
An input/output apparatus is provided which is capable of preventing electric shock without reinforcing the insulation of a power-supply unit and capable of connecting to a USB, a LAN, or the like. An input/output apparatus includes a power-supply circuit that uses electric power as the power supply of the present apparatus, which is generated in a resonance circuit by an induction of an AC magnetic field from the resonance circuit on the apparatus main body side, and a communication circuit that transmits and receives a signal between a resonance circuit of the present apparatus and a resonance circuit on the apparatus main body side, and capable of being insulated from the power supply of the apparatus main body by receiving electric power from the apparatus main body in a non-contact state and by communicating with the apparatus main body in a non-contact state, thereby.
US09306395B2
The present invention relates to a control system and an associated method for controlling an amount of reactive power delivered from a wind power plant to an associated power supply grid, the control system comprising a wind power plant controller and a number of wind turbine controllers each being in communication with said wind power plant controller, wherein the wind power plant controller is adapted to provide a grid voltage reference in response to a required total amount of reactive power to at least one wind turbine controller, said wind turbine controller comprising a voltage control loop comprising means for cancellation of a steady-state local voltage error.
US09306392B2
A control circuit comprising: first and second terminals for respective connection to first and second power transmission lines; a current transmission path extending between the first and second terminals and having first and second current transmission path portions separated by a third terminal, either or both of the first and second current transmission path portions including at least one module, the or each module including at least one energy storage device; an auxiliary terminal for connection to ground or the second power transmission line; an energy conversion block for removing energy from the power transmission lines, the energy conversion block extending between the third and auxiliary terminals such that the energy conversion block branches from the current transmission path, the energy conversion block including at least one energy conversion element; and a control unit which selectively removes the or each energy storage device from the current transmission path.
US09306391B2
A direct current (DC) transmission and distribution (T&D) system includes a plurality of DC-to-DC converter devices defining a plurality of isolatable portions of the DC T&D system. The DC T&D system also includes a DC T&D control system coupled to the DC-to-DC converter devices. The DC T&D control system includes a plurality of current sensors. At least one of the current sensors is positioned at one of the DC-to-DC converter devices. The current sensor is configured to transmit signals representative of a value of DC electric current transmission through the DC-to-DC converter device. The DC T&D control system also includes a plurality of processors. At least one processor is coupled to the current sensor and the DC-to-DC converter device. The processor is configured to regulate DC current transmission through the DC-to-DC converter device as a function of the value of DC current transmission through the DC-to-DC converter device.
US09306383B2
A low current protection circuit is configured to detect a lowering of a load current flowing a load to perform a low current protection operation and includes: a load current detection configured to detect a load current; a low current detection configured to detect a lowering of the load current by comparing the load current detected by the load current detection unit and a preset reference value; a protection unit configured to perform the low current protection operation when the lowering of the load current is detected by the low current detection unit; and a masking unit configured to mask the low current protection operation of the protection unit from when the lowering of the load current is detected by the low current detection unit to when a masking time period depending on a duty ratio of the external pulse signal elapses.
US09306382B2
A method of jointing two high voltage impregnated cables may include exposing an impregnated cable insulation layer of cable ends by removing at least one protecting layer and an outer semiconducting layer; exposing a terminal length of conductors of the cable ends by cutting a portion of the impregnated cable insulation layer and by removing an inner semiconducting layer; mechanically and electrically connecting the conductors; filling at least in part a space left by the removed impregnated cable insulation layer with a conductive insert; providing an intermediate semiconducting layer to surround the conductive insert and abutting on portions of cable insulation layers adjacent to the conductive insert; applying a stratified insulation, impregnated with a second viscous compound, overlapping the exposed impregnated cable insulation layer of the cable ends and covering the intermediate semiconducting layer; electrically screening the conductors; and tightly containing the first and/or second viscous compounds.
US09306379B2
A fuse and power distribution block is provided which includes a polymer base, and multiple conductive base blocks for connection with incoming power lines or outgoing accessory lines. Each conductive base block also provides multiple alternative fuse connections on a first upper horizontal platform, a second lower horizontal platform, and a third intermediate vertical platform interconnecting the first and second platforms. The fuse and power distribution block may, depending on the desired accessory system, include 4 or 6 conductive base blocks. The fuse and power distribution block has an attractive transparent polymer cover and shell.
US09306377B1
A rodding assembly containing a body, a first wing projecting outward from a first side surface of the body and extending at least partially along the length of the body, a second wing projecting outward from the second side surface of the body and extending at least partially along the length of the body, at least one spring loaded mechanism attached to an upper surface of the body, and a rod assembly attached to a rear surface of the body.
US09306372B2
A semiconductor device comprising a substrate; a monolithic gain region disposed on the substrate and operable to produce optical gain in response to current injection, including a first electrode over a first portion of the gain region having a first length L1, with a first current I1 being applied; and a second electrode over a second portion of the gain region having a second length L2, with a second current I2 being applied; wherein I1/L1 is greater than I2/L2.
US09306369B2
Wavelength-selective external resonators can be used to greatly increase the output brightness of dense wavelength beam combining (DWBC) system beams by stabilizing the wavelengths of the beams emitted by the individual emitters of the DWBC laser source. The present invention pertains to external resonant cavities that utilize thin-film filtering elements as wavelength-selective elements in external resonators. The present invention further pertains to particular embodiments that utilize thin-film filtering elements in DWBC systems as both output beam coupling elements and wavelength selective elements. The present invention provides advantages over the prior art that include decreased cost, increased fidelity of wavelength selection, and increased wall plug efficiency.
US09306367B2
A device for amplifying a laser beam is provided. The device includes at least one amplifier chamber in which a laser-active material is provided, at least one transmitting optical member delimiting the amplifier chamber and being arranged at a tilt angle, α, with respect to a plane oriented perpendicularly with respect to an optical axis of the laser beam, and at least one detection unit. The laser beam is reflected by the transmitting optical member into a back reflected laser beam, and the detection unit is arranged such that it detects the back reflected laser beam.
US09306360B1
A method and device for eliminating torsion during the servicing of cable heads. The device is a tool with a handle portion and clamping members having an opening and gripping surfaces for receiving and gripping two different cable-heads for servicing, such as attachment or detachment. When the handle portion is squeezed and held, the tool provides a compression force substantially parallel to a common central axis of the cable heads. The arrangement of the tool prevents undesired load on the cable heads, optimizes the efficiency of servicing while preventing damage to the cable-heads.
US09306357B2
An electrical power connector preparation method including employing a cold drawing technique to draw a metal round rod into a thin thickness conducting contact bar, stamping the thin thickness conducting contact bar to form a mating contact portion and a mounting portion, attaching the thin thickness conducting contact bar to a contact material strip, cutting off the thin thickness conducting contact bar, repeating the aforesaid steps to obtain a large amount of metal contacts at the contact material strip and then shaping the metal contacts, removing the shaped metal contacts from the contact materials trip and electroplating the shaped metal contacts, and then using an insert molding technique to mold electrically insulative terminal blocks on metal contacts so as to obtain electrical power connectors directly, or assembling electrically insulative terminal block and the respective metal contacts with one respective electrically insulative housing to form a respective electrical power connector.
US09306351B2
A power distribution connection apparatus comprises a busbar that includes a first frame body and a second frame body, where one end of the first frame body is connected to one end of the second frame body; a fastener that includes a fastening part and a first connecting part, where the fastening part is fitted outside the first frame body or the second frame body, and slides along the first frame body or the second frame body, there is a tooth needle mounting hole on the first connecting part, and the first connecting part and the fastening part are connected on one side of the first frame body or the second frame body; and a tooth needle, where one end of the tooth needle is plugged inside the tooth needle mounting hole, and the plugging depth is adjustable.
US09306346B2
A coaxial cable-connector assembly includes a coaxial cable and a coaxial cable connector. The coaxial cable includes: a central conductor having a connector end; a dielectric layer that overlies the central conductor; and an outer conductor that overlies the dielectric layer having a connector end. The coaxial connector includes: a central conductor extension configured to mate with a mating connector at one end; a first insulative layer interposed between an opposed second end of the central conductor extension and the connector end of the central conductor; an outer conductor extension configured to mate with a mating connector at one end; and a second insulative layer interposed between an opposed second end of the outer conductor extension and the connector end of the outer conductor. This configuration can reduce and/or avoid PIM within the connection of two coaxial connectors.
US09306338B2
A board-mount electrical connector includes an electrically conductive rear shell interposed between a contact-retaining front body and an insulator member that holds a plurality of board-mount contacts. The rear shell includes at least one electrically conductive shielding divider that extends through the insulator member and is positioned between two or more of the board-mount contacts. Also disclosed is a rear shell elbow for an electrical connector that is assembled from a pair of slidably interlocking members that form an X-shaped divider within the rear shell when assembled.
US09306334B2
A plug connector (100) includes a shell (10) and a printed circuit board (20) received in the shell. The printed circuit board includes a grounding layer (22), a conductive layer (21) disposed at a first side of the grounding layer, and an insulative layer (23) disposed therebetween. The conductive layer includes a pair of grounding traces (210), and a signal channel disposed between and isolated with the grounding traces. The signal channel includes a signal mating portion (221) disposed at a front portion. Each of the grounding traces includes a grounding mating portion (211) disposed at a front portion. Each of the grounding mating portions has a front end extending beyond the signal mating portion. The printed circuit board includes a pair of connecting traces (214). Each of the front ends of the grounding mating portions directly connects with the grounding layer by corresponding one of the connecting traces.
US09306326B2
A connector (1) includes a connector housing (2), a terminal (3) received in a terminal reception chamber (21), and a retainer (4) inserted in a retainer insertion hole (22) of the connector housing (2) and configured to shift between a terminal insertion allowable position and a terminal fit position. A terminal locking protrusion (47) of the retainer (4) has a base protrusion (45) configured to come in contact with a rear wall (31b) of an opposite terminal connection part (31) of the terminal (3) with the retainer (4) being in the terminal fit position, and a tip end protrusion (46) provided on an enter-side face of the base protrusion (45) and configured to enter space inside a connection part (33) of the terminal (3) with the retainer (4) being in the terminal fit position.
US09306324B2
An coaxial cable connector is configured to engage with an outer thread of a threaded connector. The coaxial cable connector comprises an inner sleeve, an outer sleeve arranged around the inner sleeve and a nut arranged around the inner sleeve. The nut comprises a metal sheet integral with an inner flange of the nut, wherein the metal sheet is between the inner flange and a cylindrical surface of the inner sleeve. The metal sheet has a fixed side, close to an outer flange of the inner sleeve, fixed to the inner flange of the nut, and a free side, away from the outer flange of the inner sleeve, abutting against the cylindrical surface of the inner sleeve. An empty gap is between the metal sheet and the inner flange. When the nut comprises an inner thread engaging with the outer thread, the outer flange is configured to be between the inner flange and the threaded connector.
US09306322B2
A patient support apparatus—such as a bed, stretcher, cot, chair, operating table, or the like—includes at least one electrical connector having at least one magnet integrated therein for magnetically retaining the connector with a complementary connector. The connector and the complementary connector may be designed such that they are retained together substantially only by magnetic forces, rather than frictional forces. Multiple magnets may be included within the connectors such that the connectors only couple together in a specific orientation. The connector may connect the patient support apparatus to a mattress positioned thereon, to a wall outlet, to a removable footboard or headboard, to a removable pedestal, or to other devices. The connector may include an internal safety switch that turns on a high voltage connection only when a low voltage connection is established.
US09306321B2
To prevent, with a simple structure, damage on a component such as a conductive contact at the time of operation of an actuator, an actuator pinching a signal transmission medium by being moved to a connection acting position facing a wiring board is provided with a protective projection protruding toward the wiring board with the actuator being moved to the connection acting position. With this, a gap between the actuator and the printed wiring board is covered with the protective projection from outside, the components such as conductive contacts disposed inside the gap between the actuator and the printed wiring board are prevented from being in contact with a nail of an operator.
US09306315B2
An enclosure assembly for a cable extending in a connection direction includes a mating closure and a sealing enclosure operably coupled to the mating closure in the connection direction. Additionally, the enclosure assembly includes an end fitting operably coupled to the sealing enclosure. The end fitting includes a cable channel extending in the connection direction and is configured to receive the cable. A force applied to the cable is transmitted to the mating closure through the sealing enclosure.
US09306301B2
A wire-to-board connector includes a plug which is attached to a wire, and a receptacle which is mounted on a connector mounting surface of a board. The plug and the receptacle are each formed of metal, and the plug is mated with the receptacle to thereby connect the wire to the board. The wire-to-board connector has the following structure. A wire direction corresponding to a longitudinal direction of the wire in the vicinity of the plug when the plug is mated with the receptacle is parallel to the connector mounting surface of the board. A mating direction in which the plug is mated with the receptacle is a direction approaching the connector mounting surface of the board.
US09306300B2
An obversely and reversely pluggable connector structure, includes a multi-plate circuit board, first transmission conductor set and second transmission conductor set each, a plurality of first soldering faces and second soldering faces, a plurality of first conduction portions and second conduction portions, a plurality of first through holes and second through hole portions, a first shielding shell and second shielding shell each, first capacitor unit and second capacitor unit each at least, allowing the first transmission conductor set and second transmission conductor set different in length to clamp a connector to the circuit board together through the above components, and components for soldering, conducting, reducing noise are configured correspondingly to each transmission conductor set, thereby achieving the reduction of the volume upon a connector assembly, and having the effect of decreasing EMI (Electromagnetic interference) and RFI (radio frequency interference).
US09306296B2
The invention relates to a contact-making apparatus for establishing electrical contact between a conductor or a plurality of conductors of a cable which is to be connected and a plug connector, comprising an insulating body which can be inserted into a chamber of a plug connector housing which is provided for this purpose, and at least one pressure piece which is suitable for receiving at least one conductor, wherein the at least one pressure piece is connected to the insulating body in a pivotable and articulated manner, and wherein the insulating body comprises at least one recess which in turn contains at least one insulation-displacement terminal, and wherein the pressure piece can be recessed in the at least one recess in the insulating body, and therefore the insulation-displacement terminal makes electrical contact with the end portion of the conductor.
US09306291B2
A mobile device at least includes a dielectric substrate, an antenna array, and a transceiver. The antenna array at least includes a first antenna and a second antenna. The first and second antennas are both embedded in the dielectric substrate. The first and second antennas have different polarizations. The transceiver is coupled to the antenna array so as to transmit or receive a signal. The polarization of the antenna array may be dynamically adjusted by controlling a phase difference between the first antenna and the second antenna.
US09306286B2
A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader antenna includes a feeding frame, a upper stub unit connected with the first side of the feeding frame, and a lower stub unit connected with the second side of the feeding frame, wherein the upper stub unit includes M first stubs extending towards the second side of the feeding frame, the lower stub unit includes N second stubs extending towards the first side of the feeding frame, the M first stubs and the N second stubs are arranged alternately intervallic, where M, N are integers that are greater than one.
US09306284B2
An antenna includes antenna coil having a magnetic-material core and a coil conductor. The antenna coil is arranged toward a side of a planar conductor, such as a circuit board. Of the coil conductor, a first conductor part close to a first main face of the magnetic-material core and a second conductor part close to a second main face of the magnetic-material core are provided such that the first conductor part is not over the second conductor part in view from a line in a direction normal to the first main face or the second main face of the magnetic-material core. In addition, a coil axis of the coil conductor is orthogonal to the side of the planar conductor.
US09306281B2
A wireless communication device including an antenna element and a resonant divider is provided. The antenna element has a resonant path so that an operation frequency of the antenna element covers a first band and a second band. The resonant divider is electrically connected to the antenna element and provides a current path connected in parallel with a part of the resonant path. The resonant divider delays a current flowing through the current path so that the antenna element is incapable of covering an interval band between the first band and the second band.
US09306279B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a wireless terminal including a PCB, an antenna, and a data connector. The PCB has a groove, which divides the PCB into a first part and a second part. The second part is connected to the antenna, the first part is connected to the data connector through a rotating shaft, and connecting wires of the data connector are connected to the second part. The first part and the second part each have a ground. The ground of the first part is connected to a metal casing of the data connector and a ground wire of the data connector is connected to the ground of the second part and the ground wire of the data connector is electrically connected to the metal casing of the data connector.
US09306270B2
The present invention refers to an active antenna array having a plurality of antenna elements comprising: at least one first subset of the plurality of antenna elements, the at least one first subset relaying a first radio signal having a first antenna beam pattern; and at least one second subset of the plurality of antenna elements, the at least one second subset relaying a second radio signal having a second antenna beam pattern, wherein at least one of the plurality of antenna elements is a common antenna element belonging to both the first subset and the second subset. A method for operating the active antenna array is also disclosed.
US09306262B2
A turnstile antenna element and balun for use in a phased array are described. The antenna includes a plurality of stacked bowtie radiators. Each stacked bowtie radiator includes a driven conductor and a passive conductor separated by a dielectric. The balun includes a central member having dielectric slabs symmetrically disposed on external surfaces thereof. At least one end of the balun is provided having a shape such that conductors on the dielectric slabs of the balun can be coupled to the driven radiator conductors.
US09306261B2
A magnetic field method for mitigating passive intermodulation distortion. The method is useful both for mitigating passive intermodulation and for easily locating dominant sources of it, even in shielded components.
US09306259B2
A horn antenna is formed within a multilayer substrate and has a generally trapezoidal shaped top plate and bottom plate formed in different layers of the multilayer substrate. A set of densely spaced vias form two sidewalls of the horn antenna by coupling adjacent edges of the top plate and the bottom plate. The horn antenna has a narrow input end and a wider flare end. A microstrip line is coupled to the top plate and a ground plane element is coupled to the bottom plate at the input end of the horn antenna.
US09306258B2
A mixed-mode cavity filter is disclosed. The disclosed cavity filter includes: at least one first cavity configured to hold a metal coaxial resonator; and at least one second cavity configured to hold a dielectric resonator, where a first coupling window is formed in a wall formed between the first cavity and the second cavity, the first coupling window includes a horizontal window formed parallel to a bottom portion and a vertical window formed perpendicularly to the bottom portion, and the horizontal window and the vertical window overlap each other in at least a partial area. A mixed-mode filter according to an embodiment of the invention can achieve a small size and a light weight while providing low losses.
US09306255B1
Structures and methods for interconnects and associated alignment and assembly mechanisms for and between chips, components, and 3D systems.
US09306252B2
Operating a battery assembly that includes one or more rechargeable battery cells includes: monitoring one or more operational parameters of the battery cells; and dynamically controlling pressure applied to the one or more battery cells based at least in part on one or more of the monitored operational parameters.
US09306249B2
A method of estimating temperature at a core of a module of a traction battery of an electric or hybrid vehicle in which is packaged a plurality of electric charge accumulating elements, the method including: measuring a temperature at a level of an exterior wall of the battery module; and calculating an estimation of the temperature at the core of the battery module on the basis of the measurement of the temperature.
US09306238B2
A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode and a nonaqueous electrolyte. The positive electrode includes LixMnaNibCocMdO2(0
US09306235B2
Provided are redox flow batteries employing supporting electrolyte of a ring- or spiro-type structure and having high energy efficiencies and energy densities.
US09306228B2
A fuel cell includes a solid polymer electrolyte membrane, and a cathode separator and an anode separator sandwiching a solid polymer electrolyte membrane therebetween. The fuel cell includes an oxidant gas channel including a plurality of wave-shaped channel portions extending in a horizontal direction. Part of one of the plurality of wave-shaped channel portions that is disposed at the lower end in the vertical direction protrude downward from a planar region of electrode catalyst layers, i.e. a power generation region, in the vertical direction.
US09306216B2
A negative active material for a rechargeable lithium battery includes a Si—Al—Fe alloy represented by Formula 1. The Si—Al—Fe alloy includes a Si phase and an alloy phase, and the alloy phase includes Si, Al, and Fe in a ratio of atomic percentages of about 3:3:2: xSi-yAl-zFe Formula 1 wherein 50 at %≦x≦90 at %, 5 at %≦y≦30 at %, 5 at %≦z≦30 at %, and x+y+z=100 at %.
US09306212B2
A positive active material for a rechargeable lithium battery includes a porous material including primary particles, and secondary particles including aggregates of a plurality of the primary particles. The porous material has a tap density of 0.3 to less than 1.0 g/cc. A positive electrode includes the positive active material. A rechargeable lithium battery includes the positive electrode including the positive active material.
US09306209B2
The present invention provides a method of preparing a negative active material for a rechargeable lithium battery, comprising the steps of: mixing a silicon precursor, a surfactant comprising an ammonium halide salt having a organic group, an initiator, and a solvent; heat-treating the mixture; cooling the heat-treated mixture to room temperature; washing the cooled, heat treated mixture; and calcining the washed product.
US09306208B2
Disclosed is a manufacturing method of an electrode for an electrochemical element having a superior adhesion and is used for an electrochemical element with excellent productivity due to a short predoping time. Specifically disclosed is that the method is characterized by comprising a step for compression forming of electrode material (a mixed powder or composite particles) including an alkaline metal powder or an alkaline earth metal powder each having a coated surface.
US09306203B2
A rechargeable battery includes an electrode assembly having a positive electrode and a negative electrode; a case housing the electrode assembly; a cap plate coupled to the case; and a terminal electrically coupled to the electrode assembly and having a base portion located on the cap plate and a protrusion portion protruding from the base portion and spaced from the cap plate.
US09306195B2
An electrochemical cell is presented. An anode compartment in the cell contains a sacrificial metal in an amount between about 10 volume percent and about 40 volume percent, based on the volume of the compartment. The sacrificial metal has an oxidation potential less than the oxidation potential of iron. An energy storage device including such an electrochemical cell is also provided.
US09306179B2
A novel emitter compound having the formula Os(L1)(L2)(L3) and a novel method of making such compounds are disclosed. In the formula Os(L1)(L2)(L3), each of L1, L2, and L3 is independently a bidentate ligand. The method includes (a) reacting a precursor of ligand L1 with an osmium precursor to form a first intermediate product that has the ligand L1 coordinated to the osmium, wherein the osmium precursor has the formula OsHx(PR3)y, wherein x is an integer from 2 to 6 and y is an integer from 2 to 5, and R is selected from the group consisting of aryl, alkyl and cycloalkyl; (b) reacting the first intermediate product with a reducing agent to form a Os(II) second intermediate product; (c) reacting the second intermediate product with a coordinating solvent to form a third intermediate product; and (d) reacting a mixture of ligands L2 and L3 with said third intermediate product.
US09306178B2
The current invention relates to novel platinum(II) based organometallic materials. These materials show high emission quantum efficiencies and low self-quenching constant. Also provided are high efficiency, green to orange emitting organic light-emitting diode (OLED) that are fabricated using platinum(II) based organometallic materials as the light-emitting material. The organometallic materials of the invention are soluble in common solvents; therefore, solution process methods such as spin coating and printing can be used for device fabrication. The devices fabricated from these materials show low efficiency roll-off.
US09306176B2
An organic electroluminescent element comprising a substrate; a pair of electrodes including an anode and a cathode, disposed on the substrate; and at least one organic layer including a light emitting layer, disposed between the electrodes, wherein the light emitting layer includes a compound represented by the following general formula: wherein: R1, R2, and R19; R11 to R18; and A1 to A4 are as defined in the specification.
US09306155B2
A magnetic junction usable in a magnetic device and a method for providing the magnetic junction are described. The magnetic junction includes a free layer, a pinned layer and nonmagnetic spacer layer between the free and pinned layers. The free layer includes at least one of a hybrid perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) structure and tetragonal bulk perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (B-PMA) structure. At least one of the free layer and the pinned layer have a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy greater than an out-of-plane demagnetization energy. The magnetic junction is configured such that the free layer is switchable between a plurality of stable magnetic states when a write current is passed through the magnetic junction.
US09306147B2
The present invention relates to a method of producing a substrate, including the steps of preparing a substrate having a nickel layer formed on a copper layer through plating, subjecting the nickel layer to thermal treatment at 800-1000° C., and epitaxial-growing an intermediate layer on the nickel layer, after the step of subjecting the nickel layer to thermal treatment. According to the present invention, there can be provided a substrate that allows the orientation and flatness at the surface of a nickel layer to be improved, and a method of producing the substrate.
US09306135B2
A mold release film, which is adapted to be disposed on the cavity surface of a mold to form a resin-encapsulated portion by encapsulating a semiconductor element of a semiconductor device with a curable encapsulation resin, has a tensile modulus of elasticity of from 10 to 24 MPa at 132° C. as measured in accordance with JIS K 7127, and a peak peel resistance of at most 0.8 N/25 mm.
US09306132B2
A light emitting device in an embodiment includes first and second light transmissive insulators and a light emitting diode arranged between them. First and second electrodes of the light emitting diode are electrically connected to a conductive circuit layer provided on a surface of at least one of the first and second light transmissive insulators. Between the first light transmissive insulator and the second light transmissive insulator, a third light transmissive insulator is embedded which has at least one of a Vicat softening temperature of 80° C. or higher and 160° C. or lower and a tensile storage elastic modulus of 0.01 GPa or more and 10 GPa or less.
US09306124B2
A light-emitting device includes a semiconductor light emitting stack and an electrode on the semiconductor light emitting stack, wherein the electrode includes a mirror layer, an adhesion layer inserted between the mirror layer and the semiconductor light emitting stack, a bonding layer, and a barrier layer inserted between the mirror layer and the bonding layer and covering the mirror layer to prevent the mirror layer from reacting with the bonding layer, wherein the barrier layer includes a first pair of different metals.
US09306123B2
A light-emitting element comprises a light-emitting semiconductor stack comprising a first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer on the first semiconductor layer, and a light-emitting layer between the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer; a first electrode comprising an contact area and an extension electrically connected to the first semiconductor layer, wherein the extension is connected to the contact area; a second electrode on the second semiconductor layer; and a first conductive part and a second conductive part formed on the light-emitting semiconductor stack and respectively electrically connected to the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the extension is formed beyond a projected area of the second conductive part and not covered by the first conductive part, and the contact area is covered by the first conductive part.
US09306120B2
A method of fabricating method light-emitting diode according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes forming a first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductivity-type semiconductor layer on a first substrate, forming a second substrate on the second conductivity-type semiconductor layer, separating the first substrate from the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, forming a mask pattern including a plurality of openings on the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer exposed after separating the substrate, etching the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer having the mask pattern disposed thereon to form a plurality of recesses separated from each other, removing the mask pattern, and etching a surface of the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer to form a sub-micro texture.
US09306118B2
A method of treating a substrate includes forming a plurality of nicks on an upper surface of the substrate by an electromagnetic wave without using a mask, wherein sidewalls of each nick have fusion formed thereon; roughening the sidewalls by removing the fusion; and forming an epitaxial multi-layer structure on the upper surface and the nicks. The roughened sidewalls of each nick comprise an average roughness equal to or larger than 1 nm.
US09306116B2
Methods for bonding semiconductor wafers requiring the transfer of electrical and optical signals between the bonded wafers and across the bonding interface by interfusing optical interconnects on one wafer with optical interconnects on a second wafer, interfusing electrical interconnects on one wafer with electrical interconnects on the second wafer, and interfusing a dielectric intermediary bonding layer on one wafer with the dielectric intermediary bonding layer on the second wafer to bond the wafers together with electrical interconnections and optical interconnections between the wafers. The methods are also applicable to the bonding of semiconductor wafers to provide a high density of electrical interconnects between wafers.
US09306104B2
The invention relates to a photovoltaic concentrator module with multifunction frame and also to a method for production thereof. The concentrator module has a lens- and a base plate, between which a frame extends. Between the lens plate and the frame and/or the base plate and the frame, two sealing compounds and/or adhesive compounds extend, which compounds differ with respect to their hardening time and/or gas permeability.
US09306095B2
A solar cell includes: a substrate having heat dissipating characteristics; a solar cell bonded to the substrate such that the solar cell is electrically connected on a first conductive line and a second conductive line, which are disposed on a surface of the substrate; a lens, which is bonded to a transparent electrode of the solar cell; a plurality of projections, which maintain a gap between the substrate and the lens; tapered hole sections in the substrate, each of said tapered hole sections having a tapered section of each of the protruding sections fitted therein; and a sealing resin applied to the gap.
US09306093B2
A scribed photovoltaic device, comprising a photovoltaic device configured for generating electrical energy responsive to receiving solar radiation, the photovoltaic device comprising a plurality of electrically connected photovoltaic sections comprising a photovoltaic light absorbing chalcopyrite semiconductor region (“PLACS region”) disposed between first and second electrode regions. The photovoltaic sections can each comprise a scribe channel extending along and into two of the regions, wherein the scribe channel can comprise a pair of spaced opposing sidewalls of one of the regions, a pair of terraces comprising a pair of spaced opposing terrace shoulders, and a second pair of spaced opposing sidewalls of another one of the regions, with the spacing of the second pair of sidewalls being different than the spacing of the first pair of sidewalls. The spacing of the second pair of sidewalls can be less than the spacing of the first pair of sidewalls, and another one of the regions comprises the PLACS region.
US09306089B2
A solar cell module according to the invention includes a solar cell; a light guiding portion including a first fluorescent substance having a faint color and that emits light having low luminosity factor, the light guiding portion absorbing part of light incident from the outside using the first fluorescent substance and transmitting a first light beam emitted from the first fluorescent substance toward the solar cell; and a converter disposed between the light guiding portion and the solar cell, the converter converting the first light beam incident from the light guiding portion into a second light beam to which the solar cell has higher spectral sensitivity than to the first light beam and causing the second light beam to be incident on the solar cell. Thus, when the solar cell module is used as a window, the solar cell module is highly transparent and highly efficiently generates power.
US09306077B2
A method for processing an oxide semiconductor containing indium, gallium, and zinc is provided. In the method, the oxide semiconductor layer comprises a plurality of excess oxygen, a first oxygen vacancy that is close to first indium and captures first hydrogen, and a second oxygen vacancy that is close to second indium and captures second hydrogen, the first hydrogen captured by the first oxygen vacancy is bonded to one of a plurality of excess oxygen to so that a hydroxyl is formed; the hydroxyl is bonded to the second hydrogen captured by the second oxygen vacancy to release as water; and then, the first oxygen vacancy captures one of excess oxygen and the second oxygen vacancy captures one of excess oxygen.
US09306068B2
Transistor structures having channel regions comprising alternating layers of compressively and tensilely strained epitaxial materials are provided. The alternating epitaxial layers can form channel regions in single and multigate transistor structures. In alternate embodiments, one of the two alternating layers is selectively etched away to form nanoribbons or nanowires of the remaining material. The resulting strained nanoribbons or nanowires form the channel regions of transistor structures. Also provided are computing devices comprising transistors comprising channel regions comprised of alternating compressively and tensilely strained epitaxial layers and computing devices comprising transistors comprising channel regions comprised of strained nanoribbons or nanowires.
US09306060B1
Semiconductor device structures and related fabrication methods are provided. An exemplary semiconductor device structure includes a body region of semiconductor material having a first conductivity type, a source region of semiconductor material having a second conductivity type within the body region, a junction isolation region of semiconductor material having the second conductivity type, a drain region of semiconductor material having the second conductivity type, and first and second drift regions of semiconductor material having the second conductivity type. The first drift region resides laterally between the drain region and the junction isolation region, the junction isolation region resides laterally between the first drift region and the second drift region, and the second drift region resides laterally between the body region and the junction isolation region.
US09306056B2
A semiconductor device (e.g., a flip chip) includes a substrate layer that is separated from a drain contact by an intervening layer. Trench-like feed-through elements that pass through the intervening layer are used to electrically connect the drain contact and the substrate layer when the device is operated.
US09306046B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor element with a plurality of gates, an emitter pattern insulated from the plurality of gates and an emitter electrode formed on the emitter pattern, the semiconductor element being formed such that a main current flows into the emitter electrode via the emitter pattern, a first solder formed on a part of the emitter electrode, a second solder formed on a part of the emitter electrode apart from the first solder, and a terminal connected to the emitter electrode by means of the first solder and the second solder, wherein the semiconductor element includes a first solder region, a second solder region and an intermediate region, a density of the gates in each of the solder regions are equal, and a current density of the main current in the intermediate region is lower than current densities of the main currents in the other solder regions.
US09306045B2
A semiconductor power device is provided, comprising a substrate of a first conductive type, a buffering layer of a second conductive type formed on the substrate, a voltage supporting layer formed on the buffering layer, and alternating sections of different conductive types formed at the substrate. The voltage supporting layer comprises first semiconductor regions of the first conductive type and second semiconductor regions of the second conductive type, wherein the first semiconductor regions and the second semiconductor regions are alternately arranged. The alternating section and the buffering layer form a segmented structure of alternated conductive types, which is used as an anode of the semiconductor device.
US09306039B2
A memory device, and method of make same, having a substrate of semiconductor material of a first conductivity type, first and second spaced-apart regions in the substrate of a second conductivity type, with a channel region in the substrate therebetween, a conductive floating gate over and insulated from the substrate, wherein the floating gate is disposed at least partially over the first region and a first portion of the channel region, a conductive second gate laterally adjacent to and insulated from the floating gate, wherein the second gate is disposed at least partially over and insulated from a second portion of the channel region, and a stressor region of embedded silicon carbide formed in the substrate underneath the second gate.
US09306036B2
Approaches for protecting a semiconductor device (e.g., a fin field effect transistor device (FinFET)) using a nitride spacer are provided. Specifically, a nitride spacer is formed over an oxide and a set of fins of the FinFET device to mitigate damage during subsequent processing. The nitride spacer is deposited before the block layers to protect the oxide on top of a set of gates in an open area of the FinFET device uncovered by a photoresist. The oxide on top of each gate will be preserved throughout all of the block layers to provide hardmask protection during subsequent source/drain epitaxial layering. Furthermore, the fins that are open and uncovered by the photoresist or the set of gates remain protected by the nitride spacer. Accordingly, fin erosion caused by amorphization of the fins exposed to resist strip processes is prevented, resulting in improved device yield.
US09306031B2
A compound semiconductor device includes a substrate having an opening formed from the rear side thereof; a compound semiconductor layer disposed over the surface of the substrate; a local p-type region in the compound semiconductor layer, partially exposed at the end of the substrate opening; and a rear electrode made of a conductive material, disposed in the substrate opening so as to be connected to the local p-type region.
US09306029B2
A device includes an epitaxial region extending into a front surface of a chip. A portion of the chip adjacent the epitaxial region defines a collector. A gate is provided in a trench extending into the epitaxial region from the front surface. An emitter includes a body extending into the epitaxial region at a first side of the trench and a source extending into the body region from the front surface at the trench. A dummy emitter extends into the epitaxial region from the front surface at a second side of the trench opposite said first side. The dummy emitter lacks the source. The gate extends along a first wall of the trench facing the emitter region. A dummy gate is formed in the trench in a manner electrically isolated from the gate and extending along a second wall of the trench opposite said first wall.
US09306025B2
A semiconductor device includes an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) dielectric stack on a surface of a substrate, and a high work function gate electrode formed over a surface of the ONO dielectric stack. The ONO dielectric stack includes a multi-layer charge storage layer including a silicon-rich, oxygen-lean top silicon nitride layer and an oxygen-rich bottom silicon nitride layer. The high work function gate electrode includes a P+ doped polysilicon layer.
US09306022B1
A semiconductor device includes a body including a first junction region; a pillar positioned over the body, and including a vertical channel region and a second junction region over the vertical channel region; a gate trench exposing side surfaces of the pillar; a gate dielectric layer covering the gate trench; and a gate electrode embedded in the gate trench, with the gate dielectric layer interposed therebetween. The gate electrode includes a first work function liner overlapping with the vertical channel region, and including an aluminum-containing metal nitride; a second work function liner overlapping with the second junction region, and including a silicon-containing non-metal material; and an air gap positioned between the second work function liner and the second junction region.
US09306014B1
High-electron-mobility transistors that include field plates are described. In a first implementation, a HEMT includes a first and a second semiconductor material disposed to form a heterojunction at which a two-dimensional electron gas arises and source, a drain, and gate electrodes. The gate electrode is disposed to regulate conduction in the heterojunction between the source electrode and the drain electrode. The gate has a drain-side edge. A gate-connected field plate is disposed above a drain-side edge of the gate electrode and extends laterally toward the drain. A second field plate is disposed above a drain-side edge of the gate-connected field plate and extends laterally toward the drain.
US09306006B2
There is provided a silicon carbide semiconductor device allowing for suppression of breakage of an element upon short circuit of load. A MOSFET includes a silicon carbide layer, a gate insulating film, a gate electrode, a source electrode, and a drain electrode. The silicon carbide layer includes a drift region, a body region, and a source region. The MOSFET is configured such that a relational expression of n<−0.02RonA+0.7 is established in a case where a contact width of the source region and the source electrode is represented by n (μm) in a cross section in a thickness direction of the silicon carbide layer and a migration direction of carriers in the body region and where on resistance of the MOSFET in a state in which an inversion layer is formed in a channel region is represented by RonA (mΩcm2).
US09306005B2
According to example embodiments, an electronic device includes: a semiconductor layer; a graphene directly contacting a desired (and/or alternatively predetermined) area of the semiconductor layer; and a metal layer on the graphene. The desired (and/or alternatively predetermined) area of the semiconductor layer include one of: a constant doping density, a doping density that is equal to or less than 1019 cm−3, and a depletion width of less than or equal to 3 nm.
US09305989B2
An organic light-emitting display and a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display are described. According to an aspect, the organic light-emitting display includes a substrate, a photodiode on the substrate, a planarization layer covering the photodiode, a first electrode on the planarization layer, a pixel defining layer at least partially exposing the first electrode, an organic layer covering the first electrode which is exposed by the pixel defining layer and a second electrode covering the pixel defining layer and the organic layer.
US09305984B2
A method of manufacturing a flexible display includes: forming a first barrier layer on a flexible substrate; forming a second barrier layer including silicon nitride on the first barrier layer; releasing stress of the second barrier layer; forming a first buffer layer including silicon nitride on the second barrier layer; forming a second buffer layer on the first buffer layer; and forming a thin film transistor on the second buffer layer.
US09305982B2
The present disclosure provides a liquid crystal panel, including: a first substrate and a second substrate opposite to the first substrate; a first optical spacer formed on one side of the first substrate facing the second substrate; a pad formed on one side of the second substrate facing the first substrate and corresponding to the first optical spacer; a TFT formed on the side of the second substrate facing the first substrate, being provided with a plurality of scanning lines and a plurality of data lines vertically intersecting with the scanning lines; and a second optical spacer and a third optical spacer formed on the side of the first substrate facing the second substrate, with the second optical spacer corresponding to two sides of the TFT along a direction of the scanning line.
US09305981B2
A display device includes a display area in which pixels are arranged in a matrix, and an inspection area that is formed around the display area, and has an inspection pixel, in which the display area includes plural first electrodes that are disposed in the respective pixels, a light emitting organic layer that includes plural organic material layers having a light emitting layer, and a second electrode that covers the display area, and the inspection pixel includes an inspection first electrode electrically independent from the respective first electrodes, an inspection organic layer in which at least one light emitting layer of the plural organic material layers is continuous from the display area, and comes in contact with the inspection first electrode, and an inspection second electrode that is continuous from the second electrode, and comes in contact with the inspection organic layer.
US09305977B1
A resistive random access memory including a substrate, a dielectric layer disposed on the substrate and at least one memory cell string is provided. The memory cell string includes memory cells and second vias. The memory cells are vertically and adjacently disposed in the dielectric layer, and each of the memory cells includes a first via, two conductive lines respectively disposed at two sides of the first via and two variable resistance structures respectively disposed between the first via and the conductive lines. In the vertically adjacent two memory cells, the variable resistance structures of the upper memory cell and the variable resistance structures of the lower memory cell are isolated from each other. The second vias are respectively disposed in the dielectric layer under the first vias and connected to the first vias, and the vertically adjacent two first vias are connected by the second via.
US09305973B2
Polysilicon diodes fabricated in standard CMOS logic processes can be used as program selectors for One-Time Programmable (OTP) devices, using electrical fuse, contact/via fuse, contact/via anti-fuse, or gate-oxide breakdown anti-fuse etc. as OTP element The diode can be constructed by P+/N+ implants on a polysilicon as a program selector. The OTP device can have an OTP element coupled to a polysilicon diode. The OTP devices can be used to construct a two-dimensional OTP memory with the N-terminals of the diodes in a row connected as a wordline and the OTP elements in a column connected as a bitline.
US09305966B2
BSI image sensors and methods. In an embodiment, a substrate is provided having a sensor array and a periphery region and having a front side and a back side surface; a bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) is formed over the back side to a first thickness, over the sensor array region and the periphery region; forming a first dielectric layer over the BARC; a metal shield is formed; selectively removing the metal shield from over the sensor array region; selectively removing the first dielectric layer from over the sensor array region, wherein a portion of the first thickness of the BARC is also removed and a remainder of the first thickness of the BARC remains during the process of selectively removing the first dielectric layer; forming a second dielectric layer over the remainder of the BARC and over the metal shield; and forming a passivation layer over the second dielectric layer.
US09305964B1
A semiconductor structure includes an optoelectronic device located in one region of a substrate. A dielectric material is located adjacent and atop the optoelectronic device. A top contact is located within a region of the dielectric material and contacting a topmost surface of the optoelectronic device. A bottom metal contact is located beneath the optoelectronic device and lining a pair of openings located with other regions of the dielectric material, wherein a portion of the bottom metal contact contacts an entire bottommost surface of the optoelectronic device.
US09305962B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to a camera assembly including a rear-facing camera and a front-facing camera operatively coupled together (e.g., bonded, stacked on a common substrate). In some embodiments of the invention, a system having an array of frontside illuminated (FSI) imaging pixels is bonded to a system having an array of backside illuminated (BSI) imaging pixels, creating a camera assembly with a minimal size (e.g., a reduced thickness compared to prior art solutions). An FSI image sensor wafer may be used as a handle wafer for a BSI image sensor wafer when it is thinned, thereby decreasing the thickness of the overall camera module. According to other embodiments of the invention, two package dies, one a BSI image sensor, the other an FSI image sensor, are stacked on a common substrate such as a printed circuit board, and are operatively coupled together via redistribution layers.
US09305959B2
A sensor includes a sensor array formed on a first side of a substrate and at least one circuit operative to communicate with the sensor array formed on a second side of the substrate. At least one via extends through the substrate to electrically connect the sensor array to the at least one circuit. Placing the at least one circuit on the second side of the substrate allows the sensor array to occupy substantially all of the first side of the substrate.
US09305958B2
A solid-state image sensing apparatus includes a solid-state image sensing device, signal processing circuit device, and a multi-layer wiring package. The solid-state image sensing device has a pixel in an image sensing area thereof. The pixel receives incident light and generate a signal electric charge. The signal processing circuit device is arranged to face the image sensing area and applies signal processing to a signal output from the solid-state image sensing device. The multi-layer wiring package has wiring layers, the solid-state image sensing device, and the signal processing circuit device. Each of the wiring layers is laminated via an insulator. The multi-layer wiring package is formed such that a first wiring layer provided between the solid-state image sensing device and the signal processing circuit device has a greater thickness than second wiring layers and has heat conductivity higher than or equal to heat conductivity of the second wiring layers.
US09305957B2
Provided is an imaging apparatus having a plurality of light receiving parts for each one microlens in order for capturing a three-dimensional image, while being capable of obtaining a more natural image when creating a two-dimensional image. The imaging apparatus includes: a microlens array (2) having a plurality of microlenses (20) regularly aligned two-dimensionally; an imaging lens for imaging light from a subject onto the microlens array (2); and a plurality of light receiving parts (22L, 22R) disposed for each of the plurality of microlenses (20). The plurality of light receiving parts (22L, 22R) associated with each microlens (20) receive the light from the subject that has been imaged onto the microlens and subject the light to photoelectric conversion. The imaging lens has a pupil which is disposed as being out of conjugation with a light receiving plane of the light receiving parts (22L, 22R).
US09305950B2
A solid-state imaging apparatus, comprising a plurality of pixels arrayed on a substrate, and element isolation regions formed between the plurality of pixels on the substrate, wherein the plurality of pixels include a first pixel including a first color filter for passing light having a first wavelength, a second pixel including a second color filter for passing light having a second wavelength longer than the first wavelength, and a pixel for focus detection including a light-shielding pattern arranged on the photoelectric conversion portion to limit light entering the photoelectric conversion portion, and among the element isolation regions, a first region between the pixel for focus detection and the first pixel has a potential barrier against a signal charge, which is lower than that of a second region between the first pixel and the second pixel.
US09305940B2
A thin film transistor includes a gate electrode, an active pattern overlapping with the gate electrode and including a semiconductive oxide, and a source metal pattern disposed on the active pattern and including a source electrode and a drain electrode spaced apart from the source electrode. The active pattern underlaps an entire portion of a lower surface of the source metal pattern and minimally protrudes beyond lateral ends of the source metal pattern due to the active pattern having sidewall taper angles that are substantially greater than corresponding and adjacent sidewall taper angles of the overlying source metal pattern. Thus parasitic capacitance may be reduced and performance enhanced.
US09305938B2
Methods of fabricating integrated structures, and methods of forming vertically-stacked memory cells
Some embodiments include a method of fabricating integrated structures. A metal-containing material is formed over a stack of alternating first and second levels. An opening is formed through the metal-containing material and the stack. Repeating vertically-stacked electrical components are formed along the stack at sidewalls of the opening. Some embodiments include a method of forming vertically-stacked memory cells. Metal-containing material is formed over a stack of alternating silicon dioxide levels and conductively-doped silicon levels. A first opening is formed through the metal-containing material and the stack. Cavities are formed to extend into the conductively-doped silicon levels along sidewalls of the first opening. Charge-blocking dielectric and charge-storage structures are formed within the cavities to leave a second opening. Sidewalls of the second opening are lined with gate dielectric and then channel material is formed within the second opening.
US09305923B1
A first sacrificial gate structure of a first width and a second sacrificial gate structure of a second width greater than the first width are provided on a semiconductor material portion. A dielectric spacer and a planarizing dielectric material are provided surrounding each sacrificial gate structure. Each sacrificial gate structure is then removed forming gate cavities. A high k dielectric material, a metal nitride hard mask and a physical vapor deposited (PVD) amorphous-silicon cap are provided. Vertical portions of the metal nitride hard mask and the high k dielectric material are removed from a portion of each gate cavity. Additional PVD amorphous silicon is then deposited and then all amorphous silicon and remaining metal nitride hard mask portions are removed. A work function portion having a stair-like surface, a diffusion barrier portion, a conductive metal structure and a dielectric cap are then formed into to each of the gate cavities.
US09305921B2
A semiconductor device including: a first gate pattern disposed in a peripheral region of a substrate; a second gate pattern disposed in a cell region of the substrate; a first insulator formed on sidewalls of the first gate pattern; and a second insulator formed on sidewalls of the second gate pattern, wherein a dielectric constant of the first insulator is different from a dielectric constant of the second insulator, and wherein a height of the second insulator is greater than a height of the second gate pattern.
US09305915B2
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit is provided. The ESD protection circuit includes a first NMOS transistor coupled to a power line, a second NMOS transistor coupled between the first transistor and a ground, a detection unit, providing a detection signal when an ESD event occurs at the power line, and a trigger unit, turning on the second NMOS transistor and the first NMOS transistor in sequence in response to the detection signal, such that a discharge path is formed from the power line to the ground via the first and second NMOS transistors. The trigger unit includes a first PMOS transistor coupled between the power line and a gate of the second NMOS transistor, a fourth resistor, and a second PMOS transistor, having a gate coupled to the cathode of the diode for receiving the detection signal.
US09305903B2
A light-emitting device includes a first light-emitting element disposed on a substrate, a convex-shaped first sealing resin that includes an annular portion formed in a closed annular shape in a top view and seals the first light-emitting element, a second light-emitting element disposed on the substrate in a region surrounded by the annular portion of the first sealing resin, and a second sealing resin filled in the region surrounded by the annular portion so as to seal the second light-emitting element. One of the first and second sealing resin includes a phosphor particle or the first and second sealing resins include a phosphor particle to emit a different fluorescent color from each other.
US09305901B2
A computing component may consist of a die package that has at least a board, first computing layer, and second computing layer. Dielectric layers can separate each of the board, first computing layer, and second computing layer. The first computing layer may be disposed between the board and second computing layer. One or more interconnects can continuously extend from the second computing layer to the board with a non-circular cross-section shape.
US09305894B2
A clamping apparatus applies a force to a workpiece during processing. The clamping apparatus includes a base defining a work area configured to receive a joined structure having multiple elements. The base defines a recess in the work area. An adjustable mechanism is configured to releasably couple to the base and apply a adjustable downward force to the joined structure to bend the joined structure downwardly into the recess during a process. A resilient plunger is part of the adjustable mechanism. The resilient plunger extends downwardly from a top plate of the adjustable mechanism, and the resilient plunger is configured to contact a top of a first element of the joined structure to apply the downward force.
US09305893B1
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor package includes disposing a structural body over one surface of a substrate formed with a plurality of bond fingers and a plurality of dummy bond fingers; forming an overhang portion by stacking a semiconductor chip formed with a plurality of bonding pads and a plurality of dummy bonding pads adjacent to one edge over the structural body such that the one edge projects out of a side surface of the structural body; forming a plurality of dummy wires which electrically couple the dummy bonding pads and the dummy bond fingers; and forming a plurality of conductive wires which electrically couple the bonding pads and the bond fingers after the dummy wires are formed.
US09305889B2
A leadless integrated circuit (IC) package comprising an IC chip mounted on a die attach pad and a plurality of electrical contacts electrically connected to the IC chip. The IC chip, the electrical contacts, and the die attach pad are all covered with a molding material, with portions of the electrical contacts and die attach pad protruding from a bottom surface of the molding material.
US09305884B1
An overlay mark applied to a LELE-type double patterning lithography (DPL) process including a first lithography step, a first etching step, a second lithography step and a second etching step in sequence is described. The overlay mark includes a first x-directional pattern and a first y-directional pattern of a previous layer, second x-directional and y-directional patterns of a current layer defined by the first lithography step, and third x-directional and y-directional patterns of the current layer defined by the second lithography step. The second x-directional patterns and the third x-directional patterns are arranged alternately beside the first x-directional pattern. The second y-directional patterns and the third y-directional patterns are arranged alternately beside the first y-directional pattern.
US09305855B2
A semiconductor package device includes a lower package, an interposer disposed on the lower package and including a ground layer and at least one opening, and an upper package on the interposer. The lower package includes a first package substrate, a first semiconductor chip on the first package substrate, and a first molding compound layer on the first package substrate. The upper package includes a second package substrate and at least one upper semiconductor chip on the second package substrate. A heat transfer member includes a first portion disposed between the interposer and the upper package, a second portion disposed in the at least one opening of the interposer, and a third portion disposed between the interposer and the lower package.
US09305853B2
A bottom package for a PoP (package-on-package) may be formed with a reinforcement layer supporting a thin or coreless substrate. The reinforcement layer may provide stiffness and rigidity to the substrate to increase the stiffness and rigidity of the bottom package and provide better handling of the substrate. The reinforcement layer may be formed using core material, a laminate layer, and a metal layer. The substrate may be formed on the reinforcement layer. The reinforcement layer may include an opening sized to accommodate a die. The die may be coupled to an exposed surface of the substrate in the opening. Metal filled vias through the reinforcement layer may be used to couple the substrate to a top package.
US09305841B2
A method including forming a trench over a layer disposed on a semiconductor substrate. The trench is filled with a first material to form a filled trench. A feature of a second material is formed over the filled trench. The feature is disposed over the filled trench and extends along two opposing sidewalls of the filled trench to a top surface of the layer. The feature is then planarized to expose a top surface of the filled trench and provide a first portion of the feature adjacent a first sidewall of the two opposing sidewalls of the filled trench and a second portion of the feature adjacent a second sidewall of the two opposing sidewalls of the filled trench. The first and second portions of the feature are used to define a dimension of an interconnect feature disposed over the semiconductor substrate.
US09305837B2
A semiconductor arrangement and method of formation are provided. The semiconductor arrangement includes a first metal trace having a first metal trace width between about 30 nm to about 60 nm and a first metal trace length. A second metal trace has a second metal trace width between about 10 nm to about 20 nm and a second metal trace length, the first metal trace length different than the second metal trace length. A dielectric layer is between the first metal trace and the second metal trace. The dielectric layer has a dielectric layer width between the first metal trace and the second metal trace between about 10 nm to about 20 nm. The semiconductor arrangement is formed in a manner that allows metal traces having small dimensions to be formed where the metal traces have different dimensions from one another.
US09305836B1
A semiconductor substrate including one or more conductors is provided. A first layer and a second layer are deposited on the top surface of the conductors. A dielectric cap layer is formed over the semiconductor substrate and air gaps are etched into the dielectric layer. The result is a bilayer cap air gap structure with effective electrical performance.
US09305833B2
A method is provided for fabricating a semiconductor structure. The method includes providing a substrate; and forming a conductive layer in one surface of the substrate. The method also includes forming a dielectric layer on the surface of the substrate; and forming an opening exposing a portion of the conductive layer in the dielectric layer. Further, the method includes forming a passivation layer for protecting the portion of the conductive layer on a surface of the portion of the conductive layer on the bottom of the opening using a passivation solution; and cleaning inner surface of the opening using a cleaning solution not reacting with the passivation layer. Further, the method also includes removing the passivation layer; and forming a metal layer connecting with the conductive layer in the opening.
US09305831B2
Embodiments described herein relate to methods for forming an air gap interconnect. A metal spacer layer is conformally deposited on a substrate having mandrel structures formed thereon. The metal spacer layer is etched to form spacer features and the mandrel structures are removed from the substrate. Various other dielectric deposition, patterning and etching steps may be performed to desirably pattern materials present on the substrate. Ultimately, a trench is formed between adjacent spacer features and a capping layer is deposited over the trench to form an air gap between the adjacent spacer features. For packaging purposes, an interconnect via may be configured to contact at least one of the spacer features adjacent the air gap.
US09305824B2
Using an STI insulating film in a high breakdown voltage MOSFET leads to deterioration in reliability due to impact ionization near the bottom corner of a drain isolation insulating film.The invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit device including forming a hard mask film, an opening therein, and a sidewall insulating film on the side surface thereof; forming a shallow trench in the opening with the hard mask film as a mask and oxidizing at least an exposed portion; filling the trench with an insulating film and then removing it so as to leave it outside the trench in the opening and thereby forming a drain offset STI insulating film inside and outside the trench; and forming a gate electrode extending from the upper portion of a gate insulating film in an active region contiguous thereto to the upper portion of the drain offset insulating film.
US09305818B2
A substrate processing apparatus, which utilizes a first transfer apparatus and a second transfer apparatus which are configured to transfer a transfer container containing a plurality of substrates, along a first transfer path and a second transfer path whose lateral positions differ from each other, respectively, including a first load port where the transfer container is loaded and unloaded by the first transfer apparatus, and a second load port that is arranged stepwise with respect to the first load port, with the transfer container being loaded to and unloaded from the second load port by the second transfer apparatus.
US09305815B2
A rail transport system and method for a semiconductor fabrication facility (FAB). In one embodiment, the system includes a network of stationary rails and a wheeled vehicle movable on the rails via rolling movement. The vehicle is operable to hold a wafer carrier that stores a plurality of wafers. A cross-floor transport system is provided that may include a vehicle lifter positioned near the network of rails that extends between a first elevation and a second elevation in the FAB. The lifter is configured and operable to receive the vehicle from rails at the first elevation and vertically transport the vehicle to rails at the second elevation without removing the wafer carrier from the wheeled vehicle. In one embodiment, the lifter is configured so that the vehicle may be rolled directly onto and off of the lifter for vertical transport.
US09305814B2
A method of inspecting a substrate processing apparatus, which is capable of preventing product substrates from being supplied to a substrate processing chamber to be inspected, and inspecting the substrate processing chamber in desired timing. Product wafers W (product substrates) are inhibited from being conveyed into a processing unit to be inspected (substrate processing chamber) according to a selection of a menu option “QC MODE” by an operator, or in response to instruction from a host computer. A QC wafer is permitted to be conveyed from a carrier connected to an associated load port 24 into the processing unit to be inspected, in response to a notification the fact that a wafer stored in the carrier connected to the associated load port 24 is the QC wafer.
US09305812B2
Disclosed herein is a die eject assembly for a die bonder that may include a poker pin having an elongate shaft portion with a first end and a second end. The poker pin further includes a base portion having a first end and a second end. The base portion has a maximum diameter that is larger than the maximum diameter of the elongate shaft portion. The elongate shaft portion first end is fixedly attached to the base portion second end.
US09305809B1
An integrated circuit packaging system and method of manufacture thereof includes: discrete components coupled to a top trace; vias attached to the top trace separated from the discrete components; a dielectric layer on the top trace, the discrete components, and the vias, includes a component surface formed above the discrete components, with the top trace coplanar with the dielectric layer; and system interconnects coupled to the vias for electrically connecting the top trace, the discrete components, or a combination thereof to the system interconnects.
US09305795B2
A plasma processing method can etch regions having different densities at the same etching rates. When etching with surface wave plasma, both of layers contain Si and N, a processing gas includes a hydro fluorocarbon gas, a rare gas, and an oxygen gas, and a high frequency bias potential is applied to a preset location at a side of a substrate. Further, a power per unit area of the substrate, which generates the high frequency bias potential, is set to be about 0 W/m2 or more to about 400 W/m2 or less.
US09305784B2
On a plane of a semiconductor wafer, two types of in-plane regions comprising full-width non-ion-implantation regions and partial ion implantation regions, which are alternately arranged one or more times in a direction orthogonal to a scanning direction of an ion beam are created. During the creation of the partial ion implantation regions, reciprocating scanning using the ion beam can be repeated until the target dose can be satisfied while performing or stopping ion beam radiation onto the semiconductor wafer in a state in which the semiconductor wafer can be fixed. During the creation of the full-width non-ion-implantation regions, the semiconductor wafer can be moved without performing the ion beam radiation onto the semiconductor wafer. Then, by repeating fixing and movement of the semiconductor wafer plural times, ion implantation regions and non-ion-implantation regions are created in desired regions of the semiconductor wafer.
US09305783B2
A nanoimprint lithography method, including: pressing a mold in a photosensitive resin to form at least one imprint pattern defined by a stamped area and an adjacent area, the adjacent area being less stamped or not stamped at all, and being thicker than the stamped area; and exposure to a certain amount of sunlight. Respective thicknesses of the two areas are defined such that the two areas absorb a different amount of the sunlight and the amount of sunlight provided by the exposure is predetermined so as to be great enough to activate the resin in whichever of the two areas has the greater absorption, and so as not to be great enough to activate the other of the two areas.
US09305775B2
An access device having a reduced height and capable of suppressing leakage current, a method of fabricating the same, and a semiconductor memory device including the same, are provided. The access device may include a stacked structure including a first-type semiconductor layer having a first dopant, a second-type semiconductor layer having a second dopant, and a third-type semiconductor layer. A first counter-doping layer, having a counter-dopant to the first dopant, is interposed between the first-type semiconductor layer and the third-type semiconductor layer. A second counter-doping layer, having a counter-dopant to the second dopant, is interposed between the third-type semiconductor layer and the second-type semiconductor layer.
US09305761B2
An ion source for a mass spectrometer and a method of ionizing a sample are disclosed. A droplet generator is configured to emit a stream of analyte droplets, which are ionized upon impact with a target, thus forming an ion stream. Preferably, the droplets have a diameter that is greater than a preset value to increase the kinetic energy of the droplets. Additionally, the droplet generator can be configured to create a gas flow that increases the kinetic energy of the droplets. In one embodiment, the target is positioned upstream of an inlet of a mass spectrometer so that the ion stream enters the inlet. In another preferred embodiment, the target is positioned downstream of the inlet so that the stream of droplets passes through the inlet of the mass spectrometer, and the inlet is provided with a pressure drop that increases the kinetic energy of the droplets.
US09305755B2
From the data obtained by an LC/MS analysis in which an automatic MSn analysis is performed, all MS2 spectrum data are collected (S1), and a data matrix is created whose elements are peak intensity data with different precursor ions being arrayed in the horizontal direction and the mass-to-charge ratio of the product ions in the vertical direction (S2). By using the data in this data matrix, the correlation coefficients between two precursor ions are computed to create a correlation coefficient matrix (S3). In the correlation coefficient matrix, the diagonal elements whose value is “1” are all replaced by “0” to create an adjacency matrix (S4). A network analysis is performed for the adjacency matrix to create a network map showing the correlations among different precursor ions (MS2spectra) (S5). The network map is displayed on a window of a display unit simultaneously with the result of an MS1 analysis to provide an analysis operator with information on the compounds contained in a sample or the structure thereof (S6).
US09305751B2
A microwave plasma processing apparatus includes a processing space; a microwave generator which generates microwaves for generating a plasma; a distributor which distributes the microwaves to a plurality of waveguides; an antenna installed in a processing container to seal the processing space and to radiate microwaves distributed by the distributor, to the processing space; and a monitor unit configured to monitor a voltage of each of the plurality of waveguides. A control unit acquires a control value of a distribution ratio of the distributor, which corresponds to a difference between a voltage monitor value of the monitor unit and a predetermined voltage reference value, from a storage unit that stores the difference and the control value corresponding to each other. The control unit is also configured to control the distribution ratio of the distributor, based on the acquired control value.
US09305742B2
A method for packetizing a beam-charged particle, in which the particles pass through an electric field in a device is provided. The device includes an annular shaped central electrode which, in the direction of the beam, is arranged between a first outer electrode and a second outer electrode. A time-dependent electric voltage signal is applied to the central electrode, the temporal course thereof being selected such that particles inside the device undergo a position-dependent speed modification. The course of the speed modification is approximately sawtooth-shaped in the direction of the beam. An associated device is also provided.
US09305731B2
A supply system for supplying energy in an aircraft includes at least one electrical line including at least one core connectable to a pole of a current source, an electrically conductive shield, and a detection unit having at least two electrical inputs. The shield surrounds the at least one core under a distance and creates an intermediate space between the at least one core and the shield. At least one port of the detection unit is connected to the at least one core. At least another port of the detection unit is connected to at least one of the shield and the at least one core. The detection unit is adapted for detecting a differential current over the at least one core or an absolute current between the shield and a ground potential for generating a warning signal if a predetermined threshold value for the detected current value is exceeded.
US09305729B2
A normal relay emulator is described. The normal relay emulator may include a trigger circuit configured to detect a condition on a first power rail, the first power rail having a first voltage supply level. A boost converter electrically coupled to the first power rail and configured to boost the first voltage supply level to a second, higher, voltage supply level is provided. A bi-stable relay having a first terminal and a second terminal and an actuator electrically coupled to the boost converter and communicatively coupled to the trigger circuit is also provided. The actuator may be configured to energize the bi-stable relay using the second voltage supply level such that electrical contact between the first terminal and the second terminal changes between a first state and a second state based on the trigger circuit detecting the condition.
US09305717B2
An electrochemical device has a lid, case, electric storage element, electrolyte, and conductive bonding material layer. The case has a via hole and forms a solution chamber between itself and the lid. The electric storage element is accommodated in the solution chamber. The electrolyte is accommodated in the solution chamber. The wiring has a via hole part provided in the via hole and connects the interior and exterior of the solution chamber. The conductive bonding material layer fixes the electric storage element onto the case while electrically connecting the electric storage element and via hole part, where the conductive bonding material layer has a contact area that contacts the case and non-contact area that does not contact the case and the non-contact area is formed in a manner surrounding the via hole.
US09305713B2
There is provided a hybrid nanostructure including Au nanoparticles, a photoelectrode for a solar cell having the hybrid nanostructure, and a solar cell including the photoelectrode.
US09305712B2
There is provided a tantalum capacitor, including: a capacitor body including a tantalum powder and having a tantalum wire, a molding part formed to expose an end portion of the tantalum wire and enclose the capacitor body, an anode lead frame including an anode mounting part and an anode terminal part, the anode terminal part being connected to the tantalum wire, a thin plate electrode formed on a lower surface of the capacitor body and exposed through the other end surface of the molding part, and a cathode lead frame including a cathode mounting part and a cathode terminal part, the cathode terminal part being connected to the thin plate electrode.
US09305711B2
A carbon nanostructure's geometry and electrical characteristics can be controlled. A method for processing a carbon nanostructure according to the present invention includes the steps of: preparing a carbon nanostructure (e.g., a carbon nanotube) (a CNT preparation step); and exposing the carbon nanotube to an energy beam (e.g., an electron beam) while vibrating the carbon nanotube (an exposure step). This facilitates modifying the carbon nanotube in length and electrical characteristics.
US09305709B2
In accordance with the teachings described herein, a multi-level thin film capacitor on a ceramic substrate and method of manufacturing the same are provided. The multi-level thin film capacitor (MLC) may include at least one high permittivity dielectric layer between at least two electrode layers, the electrode layers being formed from a conductive thin film material. A buffer layer may be included between the ceramic substrate and the thin film MLC. The buffer layer may have a smooth surface with a surface roughness (Ra) less than or equal to 0.08 micrometers (um).
US09305698B2
A coil component is provided with a coil, a base supporting the coil having a first surface parallel to an extending direction of the terminal section of the coil, and a terminal electrode having a first terminal portion printed on the first surface of the base. The first surface has a stepped surface including an upper stage surface and a lower stage surface. The first terminal portion has a stepped shape including an upper stage portion formed on the upper stage surface and a lower stage portion formed on the lower stage surface. The upper stage portion has a first terminal surface contacting the terminal section of the coil. The lower stage portion has a second terminal surface positioned on an extension line of the terminal section of the coil and not contacting the terminal section of the coil.
US09305681B2
A wiring harness including a high-voltage conductive path having a shape holding function for holding a shape along an arrangement pathway. The high-voltage conductive path includes a positive electrode conductor, a first insulator extruded and arranged outside of the positive electrode conductor, a negative electrode arranged outside of the first insulator, a second insulator extruded and arranged outside of the negative electrode conductor, a shield member wrapped outside of the second insulator, first and second sheaths extruded and arranged outside of the shield member.
US09305679B2
A vinyl chloride resin composition includes 55 to 70 parts by mass of a plasticizer, 20 to 65 parts by mass of a metal hydrate and 0.3 to 3 parts by mass of a polytetrafluoroethylene per 100 parts by mass of a vinyl chloride resin. The polytetrafluoroethylene includes a fibril-forming polytetrafluoroethylene and a non-fibril-forming polytetrafluoroethylene.
US09305670B2
A TIP monitoring control equipment has: a process computer, a TIP control panel, and data transmitting unit. The process computer includes a operation input unit, a TIP scanning unit, a first TIP level data transmitting and receiving unit, and a TIP level data storage unit. To a first TIP level data transmitting and receiving unit, an LPRM level signal, an APRM level signal and TIP level data accumulated in the TIP control panel are input in synchronization with a TIP position signal. The TIP control panel includes a TIP driving control unit, a TIP level processing unit, a TIP position processing unit, a TIP level data accumulation unit and a second TIP level data transmitting and receiving unit. The second TIP level data transmitting and receiving unit transmits TIP level data accumulated in the TIP level data accumulation unit to the process computer via the data transmission unit.
US09305663B2
Examples are disclosed for assessing pass/fail status of non-volatile memory. In some examples, information may be received to indicate a block having memory pages associated with non-volatile memory cells. The information may indicate at least some of the memory pages have bit errors in excess of an error correction code (ECC) ability to correct. For these examples, the block may be selected for read testing. Read testing may include programming the memory pages with a known pattern and waiting a period of time. Following the period of time each memory page may be read and if a resulting pattern read matches the known pattern programmed to each memory page, the memory page passes. The block may be taken offline if the number of passing memory pages is below a pass threshold number. Other examples are described and claimed.
US09305658B2
A read is performed using a first iteration of a read threshold voltage that is set to a default voltage to obtain a first characteristic. A second iteration of the read threshold voltage is generated using the default voltage and an offset. A read is performed using the second iteration of the read threshold voltage to obtain a second characteristic. A third iteration of the read threshold voltage is generated using the first and second characteristics. A read is performed using the third iteration of the read threshold voltage to obtain a third characteristic. It is determined if the third characteristic is one of the two characteristics closest to a stored characteristic. If so, a fourth iteration of the read threshold voltage is generated using the two closest characteristics.
US09305654B2
Methods, and apparatuses to erase and or soft program a block of NAND memory may include performing an erase cycle on a block of NAND memory comprising two or more sub-blocks, verifying the two or more sub-blocks until a sub-block fails to verify, stopping the verification in response to the failed verify, performing another erase cycle on the block of NAND memory, and re-starting to verify the two or more sub-blocks at the sub-block that failed to verify.
US09305649B1
A page buffer for a NAND flash memory array includes a pre-charge switch, a first switch, a read switch, a write switch, a latch, and a data switch. The pre-charge switch is coupled between a supply node with a supply voltage and a bit line that is coupled to a selected cell of the NAND flash memory array. The first switch is coupled between the bit line and a data node. The read switch is coupled between the data node and an I/O node. The write switch is coupled between an inverse data node, which is out of phase with the data node, and the I/O node. The latch is coupled between the data node and the inverse data node. The data switch is coupled between the inverse data node and a first node. The enable switch is coupled between the first node and a ground.
US09305645B2
An element according to an embodiment can transit between at least two states including a low-resistance state and a high-resistance state. The element comprises a first electrode, a second electrode, a first layer and a second layer. The first electrode includes metal elements. The first layer is located between the first electrode and the second electrode while contacting with the first electrode. The second layer is located between the first layer and the second electrode. At the low-resistance state, a density of the metal elements in the first layer is higher than that of the metal elements in the second layer. The density of the metal elements in the first layer at the low-resistance state is higher than that of the metal elements in the first layer at the high-resistance state. A relative permittivity of the second layer is higher than a relative permittivity of the first layer.
US09305642B2
Resistance memory device and apparatus, a fabrication method thereof, an operation method thereof, and a system including the same are provided. The resistance memory device may include a data storage unit and a first interconnection connected to the data storage unit. A first access device may be connected in series with the data storage unit and a second access device may be connected in series with the first access device. A second interconnection may be connected to the second access device. A third interconnection may be connected to the first access device to drive the first access device and a fourth interconnection connected to the second access device to drive the second access device.
US09305636B2
Improved random-access memory cells, complementary cells, and memory devices. RRAM cells are provided for storing information in a plurality of programmable cell states. An electrically-insulating matrix is located between first and second electrodes such that an electrically-conductive path, which extends in a direction between the electrodes, can be formed within the matrix on application of a write voltage to the electrodes. The programmable cell states correspond to respective configurations of the conductive path in the matrix. An electrically-conductive component extends in a direction between the electrodes in contact with the insulating matrix. The arrangement is such that the resistance presented by the component to a cell current produced by a read voltage applied to the electrodes to read the programmed cell state is at least about that of the conductive path and at most about that of the insulating matrix in any of the cell states.
US09305625B2
Apparatuses and methods including a plurality of memory units are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a plurality of memory units. Each of the plurality of memory units include a master/slave identification (ID) node coupled to a first voltage source node via a resistive element. Each of the plurality of memory units further include a master/slave ID circuit configured to determine whether a memory unit is a master memory unit or a slave memory unit based on a voltage level detected at the master/slave ID node. The master/slave ID node of each of the plurality of memory units other than a first memory unit is further coupled to a respective second voltage source node via a through—substrate via (TSV) of a respective adjacent memory unit of the plurality of memory units.
US09305624B2
A memory device includes a substrate, and, disposed thereover, an array of vertical memory switches. Each switch has at least three terminals and a cross-sectional area less than 6F2.
US09305616B2
A semiconductor memory cell array is provided which includes a first memory cell array area including first group memory cells arranged in a chip in a matrix of rows and columns and having a first operating speed; and a second memory cell array area including second group memory cells arranged in the chip in a matrix of rows and columns and having a second operating speed different from the first operating speed. The first and second memory cell array areas are accessed by addressing of a DRAM controller.
US09305607B2
An architecture and method are provided for reading and writing, in parallel or in series, an electronic memory component based on a two-dimensional matrix of two-terminal binary memory unit cells built into a crossbar architecture. The component includes a logical column-selector located outside the matrix and activating at least one column, one or more cells of which are subjected to read or write processing. Also provided is a component and method with the reading of the status of the cells by differential detection on from two cells of two different rows, either between a storage column and a constant reference column, or between two rows or two storage columns. A component is also provided in which specific selection structure is exclusively dedicated to read operations, and/or in which complementary cells in two complementary columns connected together are encoded in a single atomic operation by means of a single write current.
US09305602B2
An object-based audio system, an object-based audio providing method, and an object-based audio playback method using a preset are provided. The object-based audio system includes a reference information providing unit to provide reference information used to refer to a storage location of an object-based audio file, and a preset information providing unit to provide preset information used to control at least one audio object forming the object-based audio file.
US09305601B1
A system and method for generating a synchronized mix of a plurality of audiovisual tracks is provided. A new audiovisual track may be recorded simultaneously while one or more other audiovisual tracks are being played to help simulate a live jam session as closely as possible. In a “DJ Mix” mode, a user may manipulate sequencing and/or characteristics related to one or more audiovisual tracks included in a project in real-time while the project (e.g., song) is being played. A synchronized mix of a plurality of audiovisual tracks may be generated based on various attributes associated with the audiovisual tracks. For example, audiovisual tracks that are recorded along with a metronome may be synchronized based on a metronome clock rate selected by a user.
US09305595B2
A method of operating a multi-reader two-dimensional magnetic recording system includes determining a position of a multi-reader head of the multi-reader two-dimensional magnetic recording system, determining an areal density push according to the position of the multi-reader head, and performing an operation to read data from or write data to a magnetic recording medium according to the areal density push.
US09305590B2
A device comprises a data storage media storing data content and a digital signature. At least a portion of the digital signature is encrypted on the data storage media. The device also includes a removable control circuitry including a unique key. If the unique key corresponds to the encrypted portion of the digital signature, the removable control circuitry allows access to the data content. If the unique key does not correspond to the encrypted portion of the digital signature, the removable control circuitry prevents access to the data content. Embodiments of the invention may be useful to prevent a user from accessing the data content without the original control circuitry used to write the data content. For example, embodiments of the invention may prevent a user from using a different control circuitry that would readily allow unauthorized copying and distribution of the data content.
US09305584B2
A magnetic disk device according to an embodiment includes a magnetic head including a write head with a high-frequency oscillator and a read head, a recording medium, a driving unit configured to moves the magnetic head on the recording medium, a measuring unit configured to obtain a first read signal with no current or a smaller current and a second read signal with a normal current supplied in the normal writing operation, a comparison unit configured to calculate comparative data indicating a comparison result between the first and second read signals, and a determination unit configured to determine an oscillation characteristic from the comparative data.
US09305571B2
A magnetic disk according to one embodiment includes a recording layer; and a layer of graphene formed above the recording layer. A nucleation layer may be formed between the recording layer and the graphene layer in some approaches. A magnetic device according to another embodiment includes a transducer; a nucleation layer formed above the transducer; and a layer of graphene formed on the nucleation layer. A method according to one embodiment includes forming a nucleation layer above a magnetic layer of a magnetic disk or magnetic device; and forming a layer of graphene on the nucleation layer. A method according to another embodiment includes depositing SiC above a magnetic layer of a magnetic disk or magnetic device, the SiC being equivalent to several monolayers thick; and surface heating the SiC to selectively evaporate some of the Si from the SiC for forming a layer of graphene on a SiC layer. Additional products and methods are also presented.
US09305561B2
The MPEG2 Advanced Audio Coder (AAC) standard limits the number of filters used to either one filter for a “short” block or three filters for a “long” block. In cases where the need for additional filters is present but the limit of permissible filters has been reached, the remaining frequency spectra are simply not covered by TNS. Two solutions are proposed to deploy TNS filters in order to get the entire spectrum of the signal into TNS. The first method involves a filter bridging technique and complies with the current AAC standard. The second method involves a filter clustering technique. Although the second method is both more efficient and accurate in capturing the temporal structure of the time signal, it is not AAC standard compliant. Thus, a new syntax for packing filter information derived using the second method for transmission to a receiver is also outlined.
US09305550B2
An apparatus and method for tracking dialogue and other sound signals in film, television or other systems with multiple channel sound is described. One or more audio channels which is expected to carry the speech of persons appearing in the program or other particular types of sounds is inspected to determine if that channel's audio includes particular sounds such as MUEVs, including phonemes corresponding to human speech patterns. If an improper number of particular sounds such as phonemes are found in the channel(s) an action such as a report, an alarm, a correction, or other action is taken. The inspection of the audio channel(s) may be made in conjunction with the appearance of corresponding images associated with the sound, such as visemes in the video signal, to improve the determination of types of sounds such as phonemes.
US09305544B1
A source language sentence is tagged with non-lexical tags, such as part-of-speech tags and is parsed using a lexicalized parser trained in the source language. A target language sentence that is a translation of the source language sentence is tagged with non-lexical labels (e.g., part-of speech tags) and is parsed using a delexicalized parser that has been trained in the source language to produce k-best parses. The best parse is selected based on the parse's alignment with lexicalized parse of the source language sentence. The selected best parse can be used to update the parameter vector of a lexicalized parser for the target language.
US09305542B2
A customized live the application module can be configured in association with the mobile communication device in order to automatically vocalize the information preselected by a user in a multitude of languages. A text-to-speech application module can be integrated with the customized live tile application module to automatically vocalize the preselected information. The information can be obtained from a tile and/or a website integrated with a remote server and announced after a text to speech conversion process without opening the tile, if the tiles are selected for announcement of information by the device. The information can be obtained in real-time. Such an approach automatically and instantly pushes a vocal alert with respect to the user-selected information on the mobile communication device thereby permitting the user to continue multitasking. Information from tiles can also be rendered on second screens from a mobile device.
US09305538B2
A transmission obscuring cover device obscures video and audio transmissions from an electronic apparatus. The device includes a panel having a bottom surface. An adhesive is coupled to the bottom surface for being adhered to an electronic apparatus. The panel is a sound absorber wherein the panel is configured for being positioned over a microphone of the electronic apparatus to inhibit transmission of sound to the microphone.
US09305535B2
A safety alert device (200) is formed of a clip (210) and integrated whistle (220) coupled to a portable communication device (300). The clip and integrated whistle can be removed or re-oriented from the radio (300) to provide user access to the whistle. The removal or rotation of the safety alert device (200) having clip and integrated whistle can further enable emergency radio mode operation. The whistle (220) operates as a safety alert when the battery of the portable communication device is either charged or discharged.
US09305532B1
A cable positioning device for positioning a cable attached to an instrument is provided including a connecting member for affixing the device to the instrument, a spiral member having a first end, a second end, and coils between the first end and the second end. The first end of the spiral member is disposed on the connecting member. The spiral member is for receiving and guiding the cable longitudinally through said spiral member. The spiral member is fabricated from a semi-rigid material providing for flexion when a strain is transferred to the device via the cable, and is positionable by a user of the device. A terminating member disposed on the second end.
US09305530B1
A technology for synchronizing text with audio includes analyzing the audio to identify voice segments in the audio where a human voice is present and to identify non-voice segments in proximity to the voice segments. Segmented text associated with the audio, having text segments, may be identified and synchronized to the voice segments.
US09305528B1
A clamping device for holding shoulder rest to violin and viola includes a holding member, a plurality of clamping members, and a shaft. The holding member has a base portion and an extended portion outward extended from the base portion. The clamping members are connected to the extended portion. The shaft is extended through the clamping members and the extended portion. With these arrangements, a shoulder rest can be very conveniently assembled to a violin or a viola and can be freely adjusted in angle for use.
US09305525B2
The present invention provides an interchangeable, custom-designed guitar faceplate and guitar body for an electric guitar which allows one to quickly and easily change the appearance, the sounds, the tones and the resonance of the electric guitar. The interchangeable, custom-designed faceplate houses all components and electronics needed for an electric guitar solely on the faceplate itself, so that the tone, sound and resonance characteristics of the guitar can be changed simply by substituting alternate interchangeable faceplates. Further, after assembly of the interchangeable faceplate with the guitar body, the unique configuration of the components and electronic wiring on the faceplate, in combination with the guitar body configuration, produce superior and enhanced sounds, tones and resonance when played by a guitar player.
US09305515B2
A first proximity-based device at a content player receives content modification data from a second proximity-based device within a product and/or a product package when the product or product package is placed within a proximity to the first proximity-based device. A processor at the content player performs modified playback of media content based on the content modification data.
US09305514B1
Tablet computers send relevant geographic and identification data to an application server (one of the tablets, or a local or remote server) which groups them to form a video wall. Once placed next to one another in substantially the same plane, the tablets snap photographs at more or less the same time and these images are transmitted to the application server. The server determines the relative positions of the tablets and then streams a portion of a video or digital image to each of the tablets in order that all tablets display the video or image in an integrated fashion. The tablets may operate independently or may rely upon the remote application server. Relative positions are determined by analyzing features and determining an up-down or left-right relationship between pairs of images, sorting images into vertical and horizontal rows, and placing the images into a grid.
US09305499B2
A driving apparatus applied in a liquid crystal display is disclosed. The driving apparatus at least includes a first latch, a second latch, an output buffer, and a slew rate enhancing module. The first latch is used to store a second data signal. The second latch is used to store a first data signal. The first data signal is previous to the second data signal. The slew rate enhancing module is used to compare the first data signal and the second data signal to generate a compared result, and correspondingly output a control signal to the output buffer according to the compared result to control a driving current of the output buffer.
US09305491B2
A method and an apparatus capable of increasing the video depths depending on the video content of each line in order to provide a maximum of color gradation for each given scene shall be proposed. For this purpose there is disclosed an apparatus for driving a display device including input means for receiving a digital value as video level for each pixel or cell of a line of the display device, reference signaling means for providing at least one reference driving signal and driving means for generating a driving signal on the basis of the digital value and the at least one reference driving signal. The apparatus further includes adjusting means for adjusting the at least one reference driving signal in dependence of the digital values of at least a part of the line.
US09305489B2
An OLED display includes a plurality of pixels, and a pixel includes a light emitting portion including an emission layer configured to generate light, a pixel electrode, and an opposing electrode facing each other. The light emitting portion is between the pixel electrode and the opposing electrode. Each pixel also includes a light outputting portion at a side of the fight emitting portion and configured to allow light to pass therethrough.
US09305484B2
A plasma display apparatus including a capacitive load and a driving circuit is provided. The plasma display apparatus includes a driving power source supplying a drive voltage to the capacitive load and a reference potential terminal supplying a reference potential to the capacitive load. A drive IC is coupled to the driving power source.
US09305475B2
A multipurpose sign base suitable for supporting temporary signs includes an upstanding mast supportable atop a support surface by a substantially horizontally extending, elongate, support member connected to a lower region of the mast, and by a plurality of elongate leg members of adjustable length each having an upper portion movably connected to a central region of the mast, and each having a lower portion movably connected to a different foot adapted to engage a different area of the support surface at locations arrayed about the mast. An upper region of the mast is connectable to a sign to support and display the sign. The legs and feet have retracted positions near the mast. A rearwardly extending formation of the horizontal support member can be coupled to a vehicle hitch so the sign base also can be supported on a vehicle for transport while displaying a sign.
US09305472B1
A traffic control paddle includes a frame with a handle and a head having two sides. The head has a perimeter, a face inset within the perimeter, a surface on the face carrying literal indicia, and an upstanding lip extending around the perimeter and projecting above the face by a first distance. Two spaced-apart light-emitting diodes in the face are seated in annular projections, each of which projects above the face by a second distance. The handle carries batteries and a switch to provide power to the light-emitting diodes. The light-emitting diodes are spaced above and below the literal indicia on the face and are programmed to blink.
US09305467B1
A customizable media content system for an article for allowing a consumer to customize one or more types of media within a card. The customizable media content system for an article generally includes selecting a card by a customer, selecting a first media module by said customer, wherein said first media module includes a first media content and assembling said first media module with said card by the customer.
US09305465B2
A method and system for creating a topic-based 3D virtual environment. The inventive method and system provides a 3D virtual environment that includes images, scenery, and content that relate to the topic of discussion in the virtual environment. If the virtual “meeting” should be adjourned or ended, the system saves the data, discussions that occurred during the meeting, and all the scenery and content related to the virtual meeting so that the meeting can be continued with all of the content and imagery in place. A virtual environment template containing this information is loaded and used for subsequent virtual meetings discussing the same topic.
US09305463B1
A method is provided for automatically activating an in-cabin camera system whenever the control system determines that the volume level of sounds detected within the car are in excess of a preset sound level, thereby allowing the driver under certain circumstances to monitor occupants of the rear portion of the passenger cabin without stopping the car or turning around in their seat. The system can be configured to analyze the detected sounds and compare those sounds to preset sound patterns, thus helping the system to distinguish between routine background noise and any sounds that indicate that activation of the in-cabin camera system is warranted.
US09305454B2
An apparatus and method control transmission of messages over a fixed bandwidth communication link from fixed position client or communication devices to a central controller. In one exemplary embodiment, the central controller determines an identifier associated with each communication device, a reporting period during which messages are to be transmitted by the communication devices, and transmission increments within the reporting period. The central controller allocates each transmission increment to a respective group of multiple communication devices. The central controller then determines transmission times for messages from the communication devices, such that a transmission time for any particular communication device is based on (a) the identifier for the particular communication device, (b) a duration of a transmission increment allocated to a group of communication devices that includes the particular communication device, and (c) a quantity of communication devices in the group of communication devices that includes the particular communication device.
US09305453B2
A system includes a processor configured to receive instructions from a vehicle computing system (VCS) to being reporting a mobile device location. The processor is also configured to access a list of emergency contacts. Further, the processor is configured to determine that a mobile device has left a predetermined perimeter around a last known vehicle location. The processor is additionally configured to periodically report mobile device GPS coordinates to members of the emergency contacts list, until the mobile device reaches a destination.
US09305449B2
The present invention provides a device for assisting a person in determining the presence or identity of obstacles in the person's path, characterized by a housing, a laser projector for generating a laser pattern in a surface in said person's path, a receiver for at least receiving a plurality of images of the laser pattern reflected from the surface and for generating a signal corresponding to said laser pattern reflection and a processor for processing said signal to at least determine the presence or identity of an object, and a warning generator for generating a warning to the person. The present invention also provides a method for assisting a person in determining the presence of an object in a person's path comprising generating a laser pattern comprising a plurality of laser lines on a surface, distinguishing between one or more straight line segments in the laser pattern and distorted line segments of said laser pattern after they are reflected from said surface and evaluating the distortions in said line segments of said laser pattern to determine the presence or identity of an object in the person's path. The present invention can be used to assist the visually impaired in seeing objects in their path or can be used by a sighted user in game play or at night for detecting obstacles. Some of the functions of the present device can be provided in a smart phone which can be adapted with a laser projection as a separate attachment or as part of the smart phone circuitry.
US09305445B1
An improved alarm system for monitoring movement through a passageway defined by opposing sidewalls. The alarm system has a lower passage indicator disposed toward the lower ends of the sidewalls, an upper passage indicator disposed toward the upper ends of the sidewalls and a control mechanism configured to sound an alarm if the lower passage indicator indicates passage through the passageway and the upper passage indicator does not. In one embodiment, each of the passage indicator comprises transducers that are configured to direct and receive sound waves, such as ultrasound waves, and provide lower and upper ultrasound waves that act as lower and upper barriers. If only the lower barrier is interrupted, indicating a child passing through the passageway, the control mechanism will generate an alarm signal. If both barriers are interrupted, indicating an adult passing through the passageway, the control mechanism will not generate the alarm signal.
US09305440B2
A message presentation method and system is disclosed. The method includes receiving by a computer processor of an electrical device, data associated with a function of the electrical device. The electrical device comprises light emitting devices. The computer processor generates an identification code identifying the function, a first bit signal associated with a first bit of the identification code, and a second bit signal associated with a second bit of the identification code. The computer processor transmits the first bit signal to a first light emitting device. The first bit signal results in the first light emitting device indicating the first bit signal as a first illuminated color.
US09305435B2
Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a gaming system and method for redeeming a winning ticket and/or a plurality of non-winning tickets having corresponding symbols for an award. Generally, in various embodiments, the gaming system of the present disclosure enables a player to: (a) redeem a winning ticket for a first award, and (b) redeem a set of two or more non-winning tickets having corresponding symbols for a second award. Thus, while an individual ticket may be a non-winning ticket when standing alone, the gaming system of the present disclosure enables that non-winning ticket to provide value to the player (in the form of an award) when combined with at least one additional non-winning ticket.
US09305430B2
A slot machine executes a slot game by rearranging symbols that are arranged in multiple partitioned regions in a matrix including first to fifth columns and first to third rows. There are multiple paylines in these partitioned regions in the matrix. A player selects and specifies some of these paylines to be bet with game media. By betting the game media on each of the specified paylines, those paylines are activated in the slot game. When the rearranged symbols form a winning combination on any of the activated paylines, the player receives an award. Moreover, the slot machine performs a process to decide an award content for a progressive bonus along execution of the slot game in which the player bets the game media on all the paylines or a predetermined number or more of the paylines. The process to decide the award content for the progressive bonus may also be performed when the slot games in which the player bets the game media on all the paylines or the predetermined number or more of the paylines are executed continuously a predetermined number of times.
US09305428B2
The invention relates to systems and methods of selecting and placing real-world wagers responsive to one or more wager triggers, obtaining outcomes of the real-world wagers, facilitating user interactions with various interactive media, and revealing the outcomes of the real-world wagers through the interactive media to give an appearance that the outcomes of the real-world wagers resulted from the user interactions even though the outcomes resulted from the real-world wagers and were determined before the user interactions. A real-world wager may be initiated by one or more wager triggers that cause the real-world wager to be placed. The one or more wager triggers may include, without limitation, acquisition of a token, user selection or initiation of interactive media (e.g., selection of a game to play), an occurrence of an event in the interactive media (e.g., based on a user controlled or other in-game action), and/or other events.
US09305410B2
A key fob assembly includes a mechanical key, a key fob, a control in the key fob, Hall effect switches in the key fob, and magnets associated with the mechanical key. The mechanical key is configured to cooperate with a mechanical lock. The key fob is configured to selectively connect with the mechanical key. The control in the key fob is for transmitting wireless signals to a vehicle to actuate components on the vehicle. The Hall effect switches in the key fob are each in electrical communication with the control. At least one of the Hall effect switches changes an operating state based on detecting a positive magnetic field and at least one other Hall effect switch changes an operating state based on detecting a negative magnetic field. Respective poles of the magnets are disposed such that connection of the mechanical key with the key fob in a storage position aligns the poles of the magnets with respective Hall effect switches for changing the operating state of the respective Hall effect switches.
US09305409B2
An electronic control unit comprises a central processing unit for calculating plural types of control data used for controlling a control object and a non-volatile memory rewritable of data. The processing unit writes sequentially type-affixed control data, in each of which type information indicating a type of control data is affixed to the control data, into a data write-in area in the non-volatile memory. When a hold condition corresponding to one of the plural types of control data is satisfied, the processing unit reads out the type-affixed control data, which includes the control data corresponding to a satisfied hold condition, from the data write-in area based on the type information, and writes the type-affixed control data read out from the data write-in area in a data holding area of the non-volatile memory.
US09305371B2
Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for defining transition zones for navigating a visualization. The visualization may be constructed from geometry of a scene and one or more texture images depicted the scene from various viewpoints. A transition zone may correspond to portions of the visualization that do not have a one-to-one correspondence with a single texture image, but are generated from textured geometry (e.g., a projection of texture imagery onto the geometry). Because a translated view may have visual error (e.g., a portion of the translated view is not correctly represented by the textured geometry), one or more transition zones, specifying translated view experiences (e.g., unrestricted view navigation, restricted view navigation, etc.), may be defined. For example, a snapback force may be applied when a current view corresponds to a transition zone having a relatively higher error.
US09305366B2
A system for analyzing pressure and/or temperature indicating material has an input for receiving a monochrome color density image captured from a pressure and/or temperature indicating material, the image being captured alongside a calibration target against a contrast sheet. A processing module is configured to receive the captured image of the indicating material and the calibration target and to generate a pseudo colored spectrum map by converting the monochrome color density image into a corresponding multi color map where the different colors on the map correspond to different color densities on the monochrome color density image. The processing module is configured to compare the captured colored calibration target against a stored reference image and to adjust the output pseudo colored spectrum map to account for environmental factors that are present during the capture of the monochrome color density image.
US09305363B2
A method for counting and tracking defined objects includes the step of receiving subset data with a data capturing device, wherein the subset data is associated with defined objects and includes a unique identifier, an entry time, an exit time, and location data for each defined object. The method further includes the steps of receiving subset data at a counting system, counting the defined objects, tracking the defined objects, associating a location of a defined object with a predefined area, and/or generating path data by plotting X and Y coordinates for the defined object within the predefined area at sequential time periods.
US09305362B1
A method relating generally to image processing is disclosed. In such a method, an image is preprocessed for noise suppression and edge detection with filters. The image is hierarchically decomposed to provide an image pyramid. The hierarchical decomposition includes successively down-scaling the image to provide different resolutions of the image corresponding to levels of the image pyramid. The image and the different resolutions of the image provide a set of images. A scene analysis of the set of images is performed. The performing of the scene analysis includes determining qualifications of blocks of the set of images for feature tracking. A subset of the blocks determined to be qualified for the feature tracking is selected. Motion estimation is performed on the subset of the blocks. The motion estimation is performed using a hierarchical set of motion estimation engines corresponding to levels of the image pyramid.
US09305358B2
Certain embodiments provide a computer system for determining a registration mapping between a novel medical image and a reference medical image, the computer system comprising: a storage system adapted to store data representing the novel medical image and the reference medical image and variance data for a plurality of different locations in the reference medical image representing a statistical variation for corresponding locations identified in a plurality of training medical images; and a processor unit operable to execute machine readable instructions to determine a registration mapping between the novel medical image and the reference medical image in a manner that takes account of the variance data for the plurality of different locations in the reference medical image.
US09305351B2
Methods of determining a probability of a suspect cancer nodule being malignant are provided. In one embodiment, the method begins with tabulating histogram data of malignant and benign nodules as a function of biomarker values for a specified patient population suspect of having a specific type of cancer. Next, the tabulated histogram data is separated into a plurality of biomarker bins where the bins are ranges of biomarker values, and malignancy probability fractions are calculated for each biomarker bin by dividing a number of true positives in each marker bin by a summed total of all true and false positives in each bin. Finally, a suspect nodule in a patient is scanned, a biomarker value for the suspect nodule determined, and a malignancy probability for the suspect nodule determined by reference to the tabulated histogram data and the malignancy probability fractions. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US09305345B2
A method for image based inspection of an object includes receiving an image of an object from an image capture device, wherein the image includes a representation of the object with mil-level precision. The method further includes projecting a measurement feature of the object from the image onto a three-dimensional (3D) model of the object based on a final projection matrix; determining a difference between the projected measurement feature and an existing measurement feature on the 3D model; and sending a notification including the difference between the projected measurement feature and the existing measurement feature.
US09305344B2
The present disclosure is generally directed to of method linear feature detection in a structure by providing a first digital image of the structure, creating a second corresponding digital image of the structure from the first digital image and determining a direction to shift pixels of the second corresponding digital image. A pixel shift value may be input to shift pixels of the second corresponding digital image, and pixels of the second corresponding digital image are shifted by the input pixel shift value in the determined direction. A third corresponding digital image of the structure may be calculated by subtracting the second corresponding digital image of the structure from the first digital image of the structure.
US09305341B2
A system and method for measurement of high aspect ratio through silicon via structures. A preferred embodiment includes a white light source and optical components adapted to provide a measurement beam which is nearly collimated with a measurement spot size of the same order of magnitude as the diameter (or effective diameter) of the TSV. These embodiments include a white light source with a variable aperture and other optical components chosen to control the angular spectrum of the incident light. In preferred embodiments the optical components include an automated XYZ stage and a system controller that are utilized to direct the illumination light so as to illuminate the top and bottom of TSV under analysis.
US09305338B1
A method can include receiving an input image, performing an edge-preservation enhancement on the input image, performing a local-extrema enhancement on the input image, and performing a digital transient improvement (DTi) operation on the input image. A gradient-based fusion of an output of the edge-preserving enhancement and an output of the local-extrema enhancement may be performed, and a transient-based fusion of an output of the gradient-based fusion and an output of the DTi operation may also be performed.
US09305336B2
A noise estimation apparatus and method to prevent texture from being erroneously determined as noise. To this end, the noise estimation method includes generating an initial noise map for an input image signal, generating at least one noise map based on a temporal change of an image signal continuing from the image signal, calculating a correlation value for each region between the initial noise map and the noise maps, and determining noise of an image according to a temporal change based on the correlation value.
US09305335B2
A display apparatus and a Non-Photorealistic Rendering process (NPR) are provided. The display apparatus includes: an image processor which processes an NPR with respect to an image so that brightness of a pixel having a brightness value less than a predetermined brightness value is reduced and a brightness of a pixel having a brightness value greater than the predetermined brightness value is increased. Accordingly, a cartoon effect can be maximized.
US09305326B2
An exemplary embodiment describes a method for tile elimination, including: reading in data of a new tile; reading signature values corresponding to the new tile from a signature value repository; generating signature values for the new tile; comparing the read signature values and the generated signature values of the same tile to determine whether the two sets of signature values being identical; when the two sets of signature values being identical, copying the new tile directly from a tile frame buffer without rendering; otherwise, updating the signature value repository with the generated signature values replacing the stored signature values; rendering the tile; and updating the tile frame buffer with the newly rendered tile.
US09305317B2
A method of analyzing audio signals, such as for a drive monitoring system, includes recording an audio signal from a mobile device, the audio signal including a background audio stream and a residual audio signal. Communication with an audio database is performed to obtain a reference signal. If a match between the background audio stream and the reference signal is determined, a time alignment between the background audio stream and the reference is computed. At least a portion of the recorded audio signal is aligned with the reference signal using the time alignment. The background audio stream is canceled from the recorded audio signal, to result in the residual audio stream. A computer processor is used to determine a driving behavior factor from the residual audio stream.
US09305315B2
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system for auditing custodian accounts is provided. The system includes a database system receiving customer and custodian information. A sorting processor performs a sort operation on the received customer and custodian information. A customer and custodian matching processor identifies matches between the sorted customer and custodian information. An interface unit outputs information relating to the existence of matches and non-matches between the customer and custodian information.
US09305313B2
A system and method for rendering a graphical user interface having recommendations. The method includes accessing, within a mobile device, a data store corresponding to a multimedia container. The multimedia container comprises a first object and a second object and the multimedia container is operable to comprise one or more applications, widgets, pieces of content, and other multimedia containers. The data store comprises metadata associated with the first object and the second object. The method further includes displaying a plurality of images each corresponding to a respective recommendation based at least on the metadata associated with the first object and receiving an input. The plurality of items is displayed within a first portion of a display device. The method further includes in response to the input, displaying the plurality of images within a second portion of the display device. The second portion of the display device is greater in size than the first portion of the display device.
US09305309B2
A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a point of sale device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; calculating a total purchase amount for the item in response to a request from the user to purchase the item; and sending payment authorization for the total purchase amount from the point of sale device to a payment entity, in which the payment authorization is sent to the payment entity via a mobile communication device of the user. The method further includes receiving a result of the payment authorization from the payment entity through the mobile communication device; and completing the payment transaction based on the result of the payment authorization.
US09305297B2
A client device requests a web page via a network, where the web page is identified by an identifier and references a widget. Following receipt of the requested web page, the client device requests the widget referenced by the requested web page and presents, within the requested web page, a presentation of the widget. Thereafter, in response to receiving user information within the presentation of the widget, the client device communicates the user information to a server via a secure connection between the widget on the client device and the server while maintaining user context at the client device in the requested web page, where the secure connection is initiated by the client device and employs a secure communication protocol implemented by the widget.
US09305295B2
Systems, methods and apparatus for conducting payment transactions are provided. Pursuant to some embodiments, the payment transactions may be conducted between a consumer operating a mobile device and a merchant.
US09305286B2
Methods and systems for model-driven candidate sorting for evaluating digital evaluations are described. In one embodiment, a sorting tool selects a data set of digital evaluation data for sorting. The data set includes candidate for evaluation candidates. The sorting tool analyzes the candidate data for the respective evaluation candidate to identify digital evaluation cues and applies the digital evaluation cues to a prediction model to predict an achievement index for the respective evaluation candidate. The list of evaluation candidates is sorted according the predicted achievement indices and the sorted list is presented to the reviewer in a user interface.
US09305281B2
Order allocation techniques pertaining to stops that a container makes in the process of fulfilling a customer order is disclosed. In one embodiment, this is accomplished by first identifying a pod that stocks the largest number of different items in a customer order. Then, a second pod is identified that stocks the largest number of remaining items in the customer order. The collection of pods defines a container path through the distribution center.
US09305276B2
Various embodiments include computer-implemented methods of modeling production for a semiconductor foundry. One method includes: obtaining a multi-part order including: a first order for a fixed number of preliminary products; and a second order for a fixed number of completed products formed from the fixed number of preliminary products; and determining an amount of inventory required to fulfill the first order and the second order, wherein the determining includes: creating a first model including a first inventory amount required to meet the first order; and creating a second model including a second inventory amount required to meet the second order, wherein the second model accounts for results from the first model, including the first inventory amount; and running a single linear programming (LP) process using the first model and the second model to determine the amount of inventory required to fulfill the first order.
US09305274B2
A current request for a server to perform work for a user profile can be received and processed at the server. It can be determined whether server usage by the profile exhibits a sufficient trend toward a threshold value to warrant performing traffic shaping for the user profile. If so, then a delay time can be calculated based on, or as a function of, server resources used in processing the current request, and a response to the current request can be delayed by the delay time.
US09305271B2
At least one embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method and/or an apparatus for automatically providing a common modelling pattern as a function of a plurality of stored process models. The common modelling patterns are identified according to three substeps, namely semantic annotation, extraction of pattern based description and composite process pattern mining. The detected common modelling patterns serve as best practice candidates as regards process engineering. At least one embodiment of the present invention finds application in a variety of domains being related to process management, such as process design, process mining and semantic process planning.
US09305260B2
Recording, analyzing and categorizing of user interface input via touchpad, touch screens or any device that can synthesize gestures from touch and pressure into input events. Such as, but not limited to, smart phones, touch pads and tablets. Humans may generate the input. The analysis of data may include statistical profiling of individual users as well as groups of users, the profiles can be stored in, but not limited to data containers such as files, secure storage, smart cards, databases, off device, in the cloud etc. A profile may be built from user/users behavior categorized into quantified types of behavior and/or gestures. The profile might be stored anonymized. The analysis may take place in real time or as post processing. Profiles can be compared against each other by all the types of quantified behaviors or by a select few.
US09305258B1
A set of techniques is described for optimizing the categorization of data items in a computing system. The techniques include continuously metering data items by traversing each data item through a chain of rules in a sequential order until the data item matches a rule. Once the item matches the rule, it can be successfully categorized. The system can then analyze the number of matches for each rule over a period of time and optimize the sequential order of the chain of rules according to the analysis of the number of matches. For example, the system can modify the sequential order by arranging the rules according to the number of matches of each rule. Alternatively, the system may compute a velocity of matches and use it to optimize the sequential order. Alternatively, the system may use the rate of change to optimize the sequential order.
US09305255B2
An electronic tag having a wristband includes a base defining at least one receiving notch, a radio frequency identification element received in the base, at least one connecting element connecting the radio frequency identification element, a locking module captured in the receiving notch and resisting the connecting element, and a wristband mounted in the locking module. The radio frequency identification element, the connecting element, the locking module, and the wristband cooperate to form a closed loop circuit to achieve an electric induction. When the wristband is detached from the locking module, the closed loop circuit is cut and the radio frequency identification element sends out an alarm.
US09305251B2
An image processing apparatus (1) according to the present invention includes a layer combining unit (11a) that generates a print image based on print data including a plurality of layers, a determining unit (11b) that determines whether objects included in different layers overlap each other in a single pixel constituting the print image, and a selecting unit (11c) that selects image processing to be performed with respect to the single pixel according to a combination of attribute information for each of the layers assigned to the single pixel, when the objects overlap each other in the corresponding single pixel.
US09305248B2
Test pattern data corresponds to a test pattern including a first pattern area and a second pattern area. In the first pattern area, patterns extending in a second direction are provided in a stepwise manner in correspondence with respective recording elements such that a gap in the second direction is provided between a back end of one of the patterns or each pattern and a front end of the pattern adjacent thereto. In the second pattern area, pattern columns extending in the second direction are provided in a stepwise manner in correspondence with a set of a predetermined number of consecutively provided recording elements such that a gap in the second direction is provided between a back end of one of the pattern columns or each pattern column and a front end of the pattern column adjacent thereto, the predetermined number being two or more consecutively provided recording elements.
US09305237B2
Methods and systems for efficiently and accurately detecting and identifying concealed materials. The system includes an analysis subsystem configured to process a number of pixelated images, the number of pixelated images obtained by repeatedly illuminating regions with a electromagnetic radiation source from a number of electromagnetic radiation sources, each repetition performed with a different wavelength. The number of pixelated images, after processing, constitute a vector of processed data at each pixel from a number of pixels. At each pixel, the vector of processed data is compared to a predetermined vector corresponding to a predetermined material, presence of the predetermined material being determined by the comparison.
US09305219B2
A method estimates free space near a moving object from a sequence of images in a video acquired of a scene by a camera system arranged on the moving object by first constructing a one-dimensional graph, wherein each node corresponds to a column of pixels in the image. Features are determined in the image, and an energy function is constructed on the graph based on the features. Using dynamic programming, the energy function is maximized to obtain the free space.
US09305217B2
Disclosed are an object tracking system using a robot and an object tracking method using a robot. The present invention provides an object tracking system using a robot and an object tracking method using a robot capable of continuously performing object tracking without missing the corresponding object even when the object deviates from a viewing angle of a camera, in tracking an image based object (person) using a robot.
US09305213B2
An image layout generating apparatus includes: a first image arranging unit for extracting a first piece of image data from a plurality of image data, and arrange a first image; an image data extracting unit for extracting a new piece of image data; an arranged image selecting unit configured to calculate an inter-image distance between the new piece of image data and image data of each arranged image, and select one of the arranged images; a second image arranging unit configured to arrange a new image to be above, below, left, or right of the selected arranged image by adjusting a size while maintaining an aspect ratio of the new image; and a size adjusting unit configured to adjust the sizes while maintaining the aspect ratios of all the arranged images so as to configure one set of images in which all of the arranged images overall form a rectangle.
US09305211B2
A method and apparatus for generating a dewarped document using a document image captured using a camera are provided. The method includes obtaining the document image captures using the camera, extracting text lines from the document image captured using the camera, determining a projection formula to convert positions of respective points constituting the extracted text lines to coordinates projected on a plane of the dewarped document, determining a target function used to calculate a difference between text lines projected on the place of the dewarped document using the projection formula and real text lines, calculating parameters that minimize the target function, and converting the document image to the dewarped document by substituting the calculated parameters into the projection formula.
US09305191B2
A hand hygiene compliance (HHC) system that, in addition to monitoring hand hygiene, provides messaging and asset tracking capabilities to improve workflow amongst employees working at a facility. In one embodiment, the HHC system includes a control unit that is associated with a hand hygiene dispenser and programmed to enable use of a menu of icons each time the control unit detects use of the hand hygiene dispenser by as individual, wherein the icons allow the individual to, without limitation, communicate, enter, obtain, or update workflow information. More specifically, the menu of icons is displayed on a feedback device associated with the control unit, and users select icons by physically touching the feedback device. Alternatively, the control unit includes a gesture sense system which allows users to select one or more icons via touch-free gestures.
US09305180B2
A data obfuscation system, method, and computer implementation via software or hardware allows a legitimate user to gain access via a query to data of sufficient granularity to be useful while maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive information about individual records. Output values of a data request are obfuscated in a repeatable manner, via the use of an Obfuscating Function (OF), while maintaining the amount of obfuscation within a range so that the transformed values provide to a user information of a prescribed level of granularity. The data obfuscating system and method is particularly applicable to databases. The data obfuscation engine may be implemented in hardware and/or software within a stand alone or distributed environment.
US09305173B2
An authorization system and associated method for selectively authorizing a host system to use one or more items of protected information associated with the host system. The authorization system includes a portable authorization device that is removably couplable to the host system. The portable authorization device is capable of receiving and storing multiple items of authorization information associated with a plurality of respective items of protected information from one or more information authorities. Preferably, the portable authorization device is capable of communicating with multiple types of information authorities. The portable authorization device selectively authorizes the host system to use the one or more respective items of protected information based upon the respective authorization information stored therein.
US09305158B2
In some examples, a method of authenticating is described. The method may include sending first repair parameters representing one or more first repair operations applied to a first marked image to generate a first repaired image to a first entity. The method may also include receiving, from the first entity, a second repaired image. The method may also include authenticating the first entity when the second repaired image received from the first entity matches the first repaired image.
US09305152B2
A PIN is automatically generated based on at least one rule when the user enters a password through a user device. In one example, the PIN is a truncated version of the password where each character in the truncated version is mapped onto a number. The mapping can be a truncation at the beginning or end of the password, or the mapping can be with any pattern or sequence of characters in the password. This PIN generation may be transparent to the user, such that the user may not even know the PIN was generated when the password was entered. When the user attempts to access restricted content, the user may enter the PIN instead of the password, where the user may be notified of the rule used to generate the PIN so that the user will know the PIN by knowing the password.
US09305151B1
A technique performs user authentication. The technique involves receiving, by processing circuitry, an authentication request which includes a set of authentication factors and which identifies a particular user. The technique further involves performing, by the processing circuitry, an authentication operation to generate an authentication result in response to the authentication request, the authentication result being based on (i) the set of authentication factors of the authentication request, (ii) a user authentication profile which profiles the particular user, and (iii) a lockout state identifying a lockout condition of the particular user which existed at the time of receiving the authentication request. The technique further involves providing, by the processing circuitry and as a response to the authentication request, an authentication action based on the authentication result.
US09305126B2
Aspects of the invention relate to techniques for using retiming to reduce circuit switching activity. Switching activity values at output ports of circuit elements of a circuit design are first computed based on switching activity values at input ports of the circuit elements and scaling factors associated with the circuit elements. Based on the switching activity values at the output ports of the circuit elements, one or more regions of the circuit design for retiming are identified. Retiming location information is then determined for the one or more regions. Finally, the identified one or more regions are then retimed to reduce switching activity based on the retiming location information.
US09305114B2
Systems, methods and computer-readable storage media are provided for building long queries utilizing query suggestions and query suggestion entities. Upon receiving at least a portion of a search query, a query suggestion is provided. Upon receiving a selection of the query suggestion, the search query is updated. Prior to executing the updated search query, a user is permitted to edit the updated search query. Query suggestions may be presented in association with query suggestion entity representations. A query suggestion entity is a separate and distinct entity that may initiate performance of an action upon selection. A query suggestion entity representation may comprise various features and information associated with the search query.
US09305113B2
Apparatus, systems and methods for contextual query revision are disclosed. A current search query is received during a search session. The current search query includes one or more current search tokens. Potentially inaccurate search tokens are identified from the one or more current search tokens. A possible replacement token is identified based upon the potentially inaccurate search token. A group of related tokens is identified from query logs, and a modified search query is generated if the replacement token is not included in the related tokens.
US09305110B2
A method and apparatus for supporting social network analysis of terminal users in a communication network. Users being located relatively close to each other when making calls are more likely to be socially “connected” than users having mutually more remote locations. A partitioning unit (100) determines a representative geographical location for individual users based on traffic data and location data (102,104). User partitions are then made based on the users' representative geographical locations such that one particular user partition contains users having representative geographical locations within a limited geographical area. The user partition is then provided to a social network analysis function (106) for further analysis (108).
US09305109B2
A display of a source data model on a user interface component being associated with a target data model is provided. The source data model and the target data model comprise a collection of data types (class/object), each including a set of name and type attributes. For each source data type of the source data model, a matching target data type is determined among said target data types in the target data model. Said source data type is linked to said matching target data type. A display of said source data model using said link between a source data type and a target data type.
US09305104B2
Methods and systems of performing data mining may include receiving a plurality of web log records and a plurality of call log records; associating one or more web log records with a call log record, wherein the associated user for each of the associated one or more web log records and the call log record are the same; identifying one or more patterns among the web log records for the plurality of call log records, wherein each pattern comprises one or more web accesses, a time stamp at which each of the one or more web accesses is performed and the call topic for the call log record; identifying one or more web log records associated with a new call, and predicting a call topic for the new call based on at least one pattern and the one or more web log records.
US09305103B2
Methods and/or systems are provided that may be utilized to rank categories of an entity based at least in part on relevance.
US09305102B2
Embodiments include a computer-implemented method that includes receiving, from a user, a plurality of search queries, receiving, from the user, a plurality of search refinements associated with the plurality of search queries (the search refinements resulting in the display of a plurality of refined results to the user) mapping one of the plurality of search queries to one of the refined results, receiving, from the user, the one of the plurality of search queries mapped to one of the refined results, and, in response to receiving the one of the plurality of search queries mapped to one of the refined results, providing, for display to the user, refined content corresponding to the one of the refined results mapped to the one of the plurality of search queries received from the user.
US09305098B1
An advertiser budget is retrieved from a data store. A set of traffic sources associated with the advertiser budget are identified. An allocated budget for the set of traffic sources is generated by allocating at least part of the advertiser budget to the set of traffic sources. At least one advertisement is delivered via a traffic source of the set of traffic sources based at least in part on the allocated budget.
US09305096B2
Data may be bound to a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) template using a bind operation. Conversely, a URI may be matched against a URI template to result in data extracted from the URI. A URI may be matched against multiple URI templates using, for example, a template table to thereby generate an estimated best-match URI template for the URI, and potentially also return matched data extracted from the URI using the best-match URI template.
US09305095B2
A determination is made that each of at least two social network contacts involved in a social messaging interaction initiate a separate web search associated with the social messaging interaction. A separate set of web search results returned to each of the at least two social network contacts is captured in association with each initiated separate web search. A combined live search results view that includes each captured separate set of web search results is provided to each of the at least two social network contacts. The combined live search results view provides navigation to web content returned to other social network contacts.
US09305090B1
Disclosed are various embodiments for predictive page loading. A number of speculative search queries are provided to a server. Each speculative search query includes one of a plurality of suggested keywords. The number of speculative search queries is based on the number of suggested keywords. Responses corresponding to the speculative search queries are obtained. Each response includes a corresponding plurality of speculative search results. A portion of speculative search results from more than one of the responses is rendered in a hidden portion of a browser window. The portion of the speculative search results is rendered in a visible portion of the browser window in response to receiving a user instruction to execute a committed search query that includes a suggested keyword in one of the speculative queries.
US09305088B1
A system tracks a user's search related behavior and constructs a probability model, from the user's search related behavior, to estimate a probability that the user will select a certain type of search result. The system searches sources of information based on a search query received from the user to determine a set of search results and uses the estimated probabilities to select one or more search results from the set of search results.
US09305086B2
Embodiments disclosed herein describe an apparatus, method and system for indexing online media content and services into numeric channel numbers and enabling a user device to access such content and services by entering the channel numbers. Embodiments may include a media and services tuner software module that resides on a user device and a directory server. The directory server may include a request module configured to receive a request including instructions to provide users access to content or services. Embodiments may also include a database module configured to determine a uniform resource locator for a server associated with the channel number within the received request.
US09305079B2
The subject invention provides for an advanced and robust system and method that facilitates detecting spam. The system and method include components as well as other operations which enhance or promote finding characteristics that are difficult for the spammer to avoid and finding characteristics in non-spam that are difficult for spammers to duplicate. Exemplary characteristics include analyzing character and/or number sequences, strings, and sub-strings, detecting various entropy levels of one or more character sequences, strings and/or sub-strings and analyzing message headers.
US09305077B2
Embodiments of the disclosure provide a method, system, and computer program product for managing a windowing operation. The method for grouping processing of a stream of tuples with each tuple containing one or more attributes can include receiving the stream of tuples to be processed by a plurality of processing elements operating on one or more computer processors. The method can also include processing, with a first processing method, a group of tuples from the stream of tuples into a grouping window. The method can also include processing, with a second processing method, a subgroup of tuples from the group of tuples into a subgrouping window. The second processing method can include identifying a sub-membership condition.
US09305058B2
There is provided a computer-implemented method of determining an execution ordering. An exemplary method comprises generating a directed graph based on a hierarchy. The hierarchy includes a plurality of pattern queries. The method also includes determining a minimum spanning tree of the directed graph. The method further includes determining an execution order of the pattern queries based on the minimum spanning tree.
US09305054B2
A system for extracting analogous queries is disclosed. The system includes a search query extracting module, a query pair extracting module, and an analogous query extracting module. The search query extracting module creates a per-user search query DB by reading search queries inputted by users from a search log DB that contains user device identifiers, search queries inputted from user devices, and information about time when the users request a search. The query pair extracting module creates a per-user query pair DB by extracting, from the per-user search query DB, permutations of different two search queries among search queries inputted by a specific user. The analogous query extracting module reads query pairs having a specific query in the per-user query pair DB, and creates analogous queries by extracting counterparts of a specific query from the query pairs. The analogous queries are provided in response to a search request for a specific query from the user device.
US09305046B2
Managing a multi-version database is provided. A logical record identifier to physical record row identifier indirection mapping table on a solid-state storage device is extended to include a plurality of delta blocks. A delta block within the plurality of delta blocks is maintained for each primary key in a plurality of primary keys associated with a data table on a magnetic hard disk storage device.
US09305029B1
A method of managing data communication network inventory is provided. The method comprises analyzing a plurality of separate data stores, the data stores comprising information about trouble tickets, change requests, and scheduled maintenance, where the analysis is conducted with reference to network inventory items. An integrated data store structured according to network inventory items is built, comprising trouble ticket information, change request information, and scheduled maintenance associated with the network inventory items, where the network inventory items comprise one or more port interfaces. A selection of a network inventory item is received. Filtered information is retrieved from the integrated data store summarizing the trouble ticket information, the change request information, and the scheduled maintenance related to the selected network inventory item. The filtered information is transmitted.
US09305027B2
This invention is directed to defining quick groups for easily associating keywords with an object (e.g., a media objection) accessible using an electronic device. The user of an electronic device may define several keywords that identify attributes of an object accessible using the electronic device. The user may associate keywords with an object to link the attribute of the keyword with the object (e.g., associate a keyword entitled “vacation” to vacation pictures). The user may assign a shortcut key to each of a subset of the keywords, referred to as quick groups, by which the user may rapidly associate the keyword to an object. In some embodiments, the electronic device may select the shortcut key of a quick group from the letters of the quick group to help the user remember the shortcut key.
US09305024B2
In one embodiment, an uploaded multimedia object comprising a photo image or video is subjected to computer vision algorithms to detect and isolate objects within the multimedia object, and the isolated object is searched against a photographic location database containing images of a plurality of locations. Upon detecting a matching object, the location information associated with the photograph in the database containing the matching object may be leveraged to improve the location determination of the client device uploading the multimedia object.
US09305022B2
The present application is directed to systems and methods for associating a geographic location with an IP address. Generally, an IP address from which each of a plurality of users accesses a network is recorded. A geo tag is associated with each of the plurality of users and a subset of the plurality of users is identified, the subset including users associated with a first IP address. The subset of the plurality of users is clustered into a spatial cluster including users associated with geo tags located with a defined distance of a geo tag of at least one other user of the cluster. A geographic location associated with a geographic center of the cluster is then associated with the first IP address.
US09305019B2
A program storing computer-readable instructions therein for instructing a computer to perform analytical steps for associating user related data with a spatial hierarchy identifier, the program comprising a recording medium readable by the computer and the computer instructions stored on said recording medium instructing the computer to perform the processes including receiving user related data, determining the user that is associated with the user related data, determining the at least one location associated with the user, associating the at least one location with at least one first spatial hierarchy identifier, and associating the user related data with the at least one first spatial hierarchy identifier.
US09305018B2
A backup system that utilizes contextual and semantic concepts is described. The backup system provides for the ability to create a version changes log for listing and tracking all the changes in the different versions of the file. The version changes log creates a contextual description around the changes, deletions and additions. The semantic concept log is created from the version changes log to create a log of all of the semantic concepts associated with each change. A visualization builder then creates visualizations that can be used by the user to search for changes, deletions and additions whether in a text file or an image file.
US09305008B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for transferring electronic data. In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include the actions of identifying a data item to be chunked; determining the type of the data item; determining whether the type of the data item is one of a specified one or more types; if it is determined that the type of the data item is not one of the specified one or more types, performing a first chunking of the data item; and if it is determined that the type of the data item is one of the specified one or more types, performing a second chunking of the data item that is based on the particular content portions of the data item.
US09305007B1
A first computer system identifies deduplication metadata for files. The deduplication metadata includes block level information for the files. The first computer system determines relationships that are associated with the files based on the block level information and sends relationship data that describes the relationships that are associated with the files to a second computer system via a network.
US09305003B2
An online social network is provided in which members of the online social network control who may view their personal information and who may communicate with them. The members control who may view their personal information by setting a visibility preference. A member may not view another member's full personal profile if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the visibility preference of the other member. The members also control who may communicate with them by setting a contactability preference. A member may not communicate with another member if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the contactability preference of the other member.
US09304999B1
A technique performs virtual storage processor (VSP) load balancing. The technique involves receiving a VSP move command to load balance a particular VSP from a source physical storage processor to a destination physical storage processor. The technique further involves relinquishing, by the source physical storage processor, access to a set of VSP definitions that define the particular VSP. The technique further involves obtaining, by the destination physical storage processor, access to the set of VSP definitions that define the particular VSP, the particular VSP being load balanced from the source physical storage processor to the destination physical storage processor upon the destination physical storage processor obtaining access to the set of VSP definitions that define the particular VSP.
US09304994B2
Systems, methods, and computer readable media for media management provide a derived quantitative data of quality for video media files. The method embodiment comprises receiving a request for a video media file, identifying one or more video media files associated with the request, measuring at least one audio or visual quality associated with each video media file by analyzing at least one of: compression artifacts or grading for the each video media file, generating quantitative data based on the measured at least one audio or visual quality for the each video media file, and returning the quantitative data associated with the each video media file. Other features include the ability to compare, archive, filter, sort and select video media files based on the quantitative data.
US09304993B2
Searchable annotated formatted documents are produced by correlating documents stored as photographic or scanned graphic representations of an actual document (evidence, report, court order, etc.) with textual version of the same documents. A produced document will provide additional details in a data structure that supports citation annotation as well as other types of analysis of a document. The data structure also supports generation of citation reports and corpus reports. Methods of creating searchable annotated formatted documents including citation and corpus reports by correlating and correcting text files with photographic or scanned graphic of the original documents. Data structures for correlating and correcting text files with graphic images. Generation of citation reports, concordance reports, and corpus reports. Data structures for citation, concordance, and corpus reports generation. Multiple document data structures are used to create multiple citation documents and reports. Embodiments of citation reports and corpus reports contain correlated, comprehensive multiple citations.
