US09308919B2
The invention relates to a driving assistance system including a prediction subsystem in a vehicle. According to a method aspect of the invention, the method comprises the steps of accepting a set of basic environment representations; allocating a set of basic confidence estimates; associating weights to the basic confidence estimates; calculating a weighted composite confidence estimate for a composite environment representation; and providing the weighted composite confidence estimate as input for an evaluation of a prediction based on the composite environment representation.
US09308913B2
An automatic parking system is disclosed. The automatic parking system includes: a monitoring device configured to monitor a parking space and a traveling path in a parking lot; an automatic drive unit configured to perform an automatic drive control for a vehicle in the parking lot to move from a current position to a predetermined target position in the parking lot based on a monitoring result of the monitoring device; and a contact determination unit configured to perform a contact determination between the vehicle in the automatic drive control and an obstacle, based on the monitoring result, or the like. In a case where the contact determination is performed by the contact determination unit, the automatic drive unit causes the vehicle to stop, and then, causes the vehicle to move to a removal position and to be parked using the automatic drive control.
US09308908B2
A method of down-shifting a transmission avoids output shaft oscillations by briefly increasing the torque capacity of an off-going element at the end of the inertia phase. The torque capacity of the off-going element is then reduced to zero when the measured transmission speed ratio begins to decrease. The method is suitable for downshifts that involve multiple off-going elements and multiple on-coming elements such as a shift from tenth gear to sixth gear in a ten speed transmission.
US09308906B2
An electrical parking brake system and method for a commercial vehicle includes a valve device, which connects a compressed-air supply with a spring brake cylinder without an intermediate connection of a hand brake valve. The valve device aerates the spring brake cylinder in a first switching state and deaerates the spring brake cylinder in a second switching state. The system further includes a pressure sensor, which measures a pressure on the compressed air supply side, and an electronic control unit for directly or indirectly controlling the valve device, acquiring a signal supplied by the pressure sensor, and acquiring an indicator signal for the presence of an individual in a cab of the vehicle. The valve device can only be transferred to its first switching state by the control unit if the pressure on the compressed air supply side exceeds a pressure threshold value and if the presence of an individual in a cab of the vehicle is indicated.
US09308898B2
A hand brake device for a vehicle includes an electric actuator for activating a brake and an operating element that can be moved between a brake position and release position. A control unit triggers the actuator according to the position of the operating element. A locking device for locking the operating element in the brake position is controlled by the control unit.
US09308884B2
A curtain airbag device where an airbag main body provided along a roof side rail is deployed in the form of a curtain inside the vehicle compartment by operation of an inflator. The airbag main body includes a first expansion part disposed at a position overlying a center pillar and supplied with gas by operation of the inflator during deployment; a second expansion part disposed to the rear of the first expansion part and supplied with gas from the first expansion part; and a gas communication part providing communication between the first expansion part and the second expansion part. The gas communication part is provided above a seatbelt interference region where the deployed airbag main body interferes with the seatbelt. When the vehicle is subjected to an external impact and the airbag main body expands, gas flows from the first expansion part to the second expansion part.
US09308874B2
A microphone device for an automobile has a microphone capsule for detecting ambient noise and a housing in which the microphone capsule is arranged. The microphone device is intended to have a small installation depth and to be capable of being easily installed in an automobile. An electrical connection interface which includes externally accessible connection contacts for making electrical contact with the microphone capsule located in the housing, is provided in the microphone device. The connection contacts are integrated into a mechanical plugging apparatus for plugging together with a complementary plugging part of an electronic device of the automobile. The connection interface of the microphone device is configured in a cableless fashion here in that the plugging apparatus is embodied as a part of the housing.
US09308864B2
Disclosed is a control method of a vehicle, including displaying a first image sequence including plural images captured by a first camera unit and a first control interface on a first display unit, and displaying a second image sequence including plural images captured by a second camera unit and a second control interface on a second display unit. Here, the first display unit and the second display unit may be located in directions facing each other, and arrangement of control objects included in the first control interface and arrangement of control objects included in the second control interface may be differently set.
US09308857B2
The present invention is directed to a steering apparatus for a vehicle having a including a light element providing indication and warning light signals to the user of the vehicle. The light element can be associated with a PCB mounted to the steering wheel grip for controlling the operation of the light element. The PCB may be thermally coupled to a heat exchange component such that heat from the light element is transferred from the PCB to the steering wheel grip.
US09308839B1
The mobile seat assembly for transporting a user includes a seat that may support a first user. A wheel is operationally coupled to the seat. The wheel may to roll along a support surface. A first handle is operationally coupled to the seat. The first handle may be gripped so the seat may be carried. A second handle is operationally coupled to the seat. The first handle may be gripped so the seat may be rolled along the support surface.
US09308837B2
A fitting for a vehicle seat includes a first fitting part and a second fitting part, which can be rotated relative to each other, bolts which, in the locked state, interact with a toothed ring on the first fitting part to lock the fitting, and a rotatably mounted eccentric, which acts on the bolts when changing from the unlocked state to the locked state by rotation in a closing direction. When in the locked state without any external torque, a first eccentric cam and a first locking cam are in contact with each other at a first contact point and there is a gap between the second eccentric cam and a second locking cam. Starting at a specific external torque, the second eccentric cam and the second locking cam are in contact with each other at a second contact point.
US09308830B2
An electric vehicle comprises: a battery installed under a floor panel; an electrical component unit installed above the floor panel and behind the battery; an electric power supply harness connecting the electrical component unit and the battery; and a motor driven by electric power from the battery. A mounting portion where the harness is mounted is provided on a bottom surface of the electrical component unit. The mounting portion faces an opening of the floor panel, and the mounting portion has a fixing portion on the front side thereof in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, the fixing portion allowing the harness to be fixed thereto in such a manner as to be routed toward the front of the vehicle. An inclined surface inclined downwardly toward the front of the vehicle is provided on the back side of the mounting portion in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
US09308827B2
A reachable range calculation apparatus for computing a range that a vehicle traveling on stored energy is able to reach, comprising: a storage part for storing beforehand information on a required amount of energy consumed when the vehicle moves, using each of a plurality of areas into which a map has been divided as a unit; an integration part for integrating, with respect to movement of the vehicle from a specified origin to a surrounding area, a required amount of energy on the basis of the required amount of energy stored in the storage part, each time the vehicle moves between areas; and a range determination part for determining, on the basis of a provided specified amount of energy and an integrated required amount of energy obtained by the integration part integrating energy-consumption amounts, a reachable range, which is a range of areas that the vehicle is able to reach using the specified amount of energy.
US09308825B2
A portable electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) kit or system includes a docking connector having a docking head engagable with the charging port of an electric vehicle and a barrel or handle fixed to the docking head and having a barrel electrical connector. An EVSE controller is embedded within the docking connector. An electric power cable has a first connector for engaging the barrel electrical connector and a second connector at an opposite end of the cable for connection to an electrical utility receptacle. The embedded EVSE controller enables the docking connector to function as an EVSE unit.
US09308819B2
A speed change control system includes a speed change control section for setting a speed change value of a stepless speed change device; a speed change operational tool for providing the speed change control section with a speed change command the stepless speed change device; a constant speed travel operational device for providing the speed change control section with a changing command for changing a constant speed mode speed change value which is a speed change value at the time of the constant speed mode, a shifting command for shifting to the constant speed mode and a departing command for departing from the constant speed mode; and a constant speed travel management section which causes the speed change control section to execute the constant speed mode with the constant speed mode speed change value, based on the shifting command from the constant speed travel operational device.
US09308815B2
A fuel cap lock comprising a base plate having a circular opening to accommodate the a diesel fuel tank fill pipe, two steel hinges mounted to vertical hinge supports welded to opposing sides base plate, a two strap hasp lock is hingedly mounted to the vertical hinge supports, wherein the hasp straps overlap, and lock together over a fuel tank's fuel cap, thus securing the cap and preventing its removal.
US09308810B1
An automotive vehicle is retrofitted with an electric motor attached to a drive wheel to convert the vehicle into an electric vehicle. The automotive vehicle has at least one axle mounted drive wheel and the electric motor is coaxially mounted on this axle to rotate the drive wheel. An accelerator mechanism is operably connected to the electric motor to be manipulated to increase and decrease the revolutions of the drive wheel when power is provided to electric motor by an energy storage device carried by the vehicle. My electric vehicle may include a control unit for operation of the vehicle in a first mode where the internal combustion engine provides power to the drive wheel and a second mode where the electric motor provides power to the drive wheel. My kit includes the electric motor, the accelerator mechanism, and the control unit with instructions for retrofitting a conventional automotive vehicle in accordance with my method.
US09308804B2
A method of attaching functional components to a roof element of a vehicle is provided. The method including the steps of: applying a curable material in a low-viscosity state which is molded in sections by a first mold surface, wherein a second mold surface is used for further shaping sections of the curable material, and wherein an opening remains accessible towards an environment through which the curable material is introduced.
US09308799B2
A climate control system for a vehicle having a plurality of modes includes an evaporator having a downstream face. The system also includes at least one blower that blows air across the evaporator. The air downstream of the blower has a pressure distribution defined generally along the downstream face. The pressure distribution along the downstream face is variable depending on which of the plurality of modes the climate control system is currently set.
US09308795B2
In a suspension support structure, an upper end of a piston rod of a damper is supported by a vehicle body. The suspension support structure is provided with a base body and a lid body which is press-fitted in the base body. The base body has a peripheral wall extending from a flange joined to the vehicle body, and a bottom formed at the lower end of the peripheral wall and through which the piston rod is inserted. An elastic body and the upper end of the piston rod are supported on the bottom. The lid-body is press-fitted to the inner surface of the peripheral wall such that the lid body covers at least the upper surface of the elastic body while facing the bottom of the base body. When the lid body is attached to the base body is contained below the upper end of the peripheral wall.
US09308794B2
A vehicle air spring with an elastomer material air-tight tensioned air spring bellows arranged between an air spring cover and rolling piston. The air spring bellows delimiting, with the air spring cover and the air spring rolling piston, a working chamber filled with compressed air. The air spring bellows rolling away under formation of a rolling fold on the air spring rolling piston and fastening to the air spring cover under formation of a second fold, and having an elastomer element provided as an anti-roughness bearing. The elastomer element is arranged between a first and second piston part of the air spring rolling piston, the second part arranged coaxially to the first. The rolling surface for the air spring bellows is provided on the first piston part and on which the air spring bellows is fastened by a clamping element. The second piston part is mountable on a vehicle chassis.
US09308793B2
A one-piece, multi-density, jounce bumper is provided. The multi-density jounce bumper incorporates the necessary soft or low entry rate or stiffness, which is necessary to provide adequate feel and ride control, as well as the necessary energy capacity to manage peak loads, during a high-intensity impact event, such as an encounter with a pothole or the like. The multi-density jounce bumper may be configured as a single unitary component having a body, which may include a tip end and a base end. The body may be composed of a resilient material, the resilient material having a density that transitions from a first density at the tip end to a second density at the base end. The body may increase or decrease in density, in g/cc, from tip end to base end, along the body.
US09308792B2
Generally disclosed is a traction bar with a telescoping slider and related methods of use. The traction bar restricts wheel hop and axle wrap in vehicles and the traction bars telescoping slider allows the vehicle's suspension to maintain a full range of motion.
US09308786B2
A tire inflation system including an axle housing and a sealing ring disposed on the axle housing. The sealing ring has a conduit formed therethrough. A hub is disposed on the axle housing and adjacent the sealing ring. A hub ring is disposed on the hub and adjacent the sealing ring. The hub ring has a conduit formed therethrough. An inner seal member and an outer seal member are disposed between sealing ring and the hub ring. The conduit formed through the hub ring is in fluid communication with the conduit formed through the sealing ring through an area between the inner seal member and the outer seal member.
US09308776B2
A heavy duty vehicle hubcap preferably made from a plastic material and having a sidewall, an end wall with a transparent window insert formed therein, and further including a radial mounting flange. The hubcap also includes an access port formed in the hubcap body sidewall and a vent plug removably positioned in liquid tight relation within the access port defined in the hubcap. Preferably, the hubcap is vented to permit passage of gas and vapor therethrough without permitting liquid to pass into the sealed region.
US09308774B2
The present invention relates to a security element composed of at least one light-transmitting substrate on which a substantially opaque, screened layer composed of grid elements is located. According to the present invention, within the substantially opaque, screened layer composed of grid elements, at least one thin, solid, substantially opaque line is arranged that exhibits the form of at least one alphanumeric character, a graphic or a pattern. Such lines have line widths of at least 0.1 mm to 5 mm, preferably of 0.2 mm to 0.7 mm, particularly preferably of about 0.5 mm. Instead of lines, also extensive regions without any gap may be used, such that the alphanumeric character, pattern or graphic formed is perceptible only in transmitted light, but not in reflected light. The security element thus displays, at least when viewed from the side of the substantially opaque, screened layer, in top view, a different appearance than when looked through.
US09308771B2
The embodiments herein disclose a compass for drawing arcs and circles without the need for accessing the center. The compass comprises a chassis fixed with a first guide wheel and a second guide wheel at two opposite ends. A protractor is fixed to the first guide wheel for setting an angle for the first guide wheel. An offset wheel is installed under the offset axis frame arranged perpendicular to the chassis next to the second guide wheel. A tool holder is mounted on the offset axis frame using a clip. A laser pointer is mounted on the offset axis frame for identifying a desired part of the arcs and circles. A balance wheel is attached to the balance base arranged perpendicular to the chassis for maintaining a stability of the compass. A marker is inserted in a tool holder for marking the arcs and circles.
US09308769B1
A tabbed note includes a note sheet or card having an opening and a binder clip. A binder clip is inserted through the opening and positioned to block the opening from a front view of the tabbed note. In an implementation, a bottom edge of the binder clip clips to a contact point on the card below the slit. A length of the card above the contact point is longer than a length of the handles of the binder clip.
US09308757B2
Disclosed is a print head adjustment device (1) for an inkjet printer. The print head adjustment device includes an adjustment adapter (4) and a print head (3) that has a printing side (6) extending on an X-Y plane. The adjustment adapter (4) includes a receiver (20) which is adjustable in the X-Y plane and in which a stationary end (9) of the print head (3) is accommodated. A movable end (8) of the print head (3) is mounted on the adjustment adapter (4) so as to be slidable in the X direction and rotatable about an axis of rotation that is perpendicular to the X-Y plane.
US09308748B2
A transporting apparatus includes a pair of transport rollers that transport a medium along a transport path that extends in a transport direction, a medium supporting section that supports the medium at a portion downstream of the pair of transport rollers in the transport direction, a supporting projection that supports the medium at a portion downstream of the medium supporting section in the transport direction, the medium being supported at an upstream portion in the transport direction by the medium supporting section, and a guide portion that is arranged at a position downstream of the medium supporting section in the transport direction and upstream of the supporting projection in the transport direction, the guide portion forming a concavity in the transport path with respect to the medium supporting section and the supporting projection.
US09308741B2
A printing apparatus includes: a print head for applying ink on a print medium; a print control unit configured to control the print head; a conveying unit; an obtaining unit configured to obtain information regarding a conveyance error of conveyance of the print medium in a conveying direction crossing a predetermined direction by the conveying unit with respect to each of a plurality of areas of the print medium that are in positions different from each other in the predetermined direction; and an adjusting unit configured to divide a predetermined area of the print medium in accordance with a conveyance error amount indicated by the information in each of the plurality of areas obtained by the obtaining unit into a plurality of correction areas, and to adjust the amount of ink to be applied onto each of the plurality of correction areas lining up in the predetermined direction.
US09308740B2
There is provided a printing method that is performed by using a first nozzle ejecting color ink that is used for printing an image on a medium, a second nozzle ejecting a process solution that is used for processing the surface of the medium. The printing method includes printing an image constituted by color dots on the medium by ejecting the color ink from the first nozzle so as to form the color dots on the medium and forming process dots in areas other than the image on the medium by ejecting the process solution from the second nozzle, transporting the medium in a direction opposite to a transport direction after the color dots and the process dots are formed on the medium, and coating the color dots and the process dots with the process solution after the medium is transported in the direction opposite to the transport direction.
US09308732B2
In one example, a sealable vent for an ink cartridge or other liquid container includes a recess having a sloping first wall and a removable cover covering the recess and sealing the vent.
US09308731B2
An apparatus for depositing nanocomposite material comprising a nanocomposite-ink factory and inkjet printer. The nanocomposite-ink factory producing nanocomposite-ink and the inkjet printer receiving the nanocomposite-ink. The inkjet printer having a printhead and a positioning mechanism. The printhead having one or more nozzles to dispense nanocomposite-ink droplets.
US09308727B2
A liquid ejecting head is provided. A lower electrode layer of the liquid ejecting head is divided into separate lower electrodes corresponding to respective pressure chamber spaces. An upper electrode layer is a continuous electrode. Each of the separate lower electrodes has (i) a wide portion whose width is smaller than the width of a pressure chamber space and (ii) a narrow portion whose width is smaller than the wide portion. The wide portion is positioned in a region that corresponds to the opening of the pressure chamber space and includes the center, when seen in the direction of the length of the pressure chamber space, of the pressure chamber space, and the narrow portion continuously extends from the wide portion to a region that corresponds to outside of the opening of the pressure chamber space in the direction of the length of the pressure chamber space.
US09308718B2
There is provided a method for appropriately coping with a case where a unique portion of a sheet is detected at the time of performing printing on a second surface of the sheet in both-side printing. If the unique portion position end mark is detected and it is determined that it is on the other side surface of the sheet, a length of the unique portion area is calculated. In addition, among images that are already printed by the printing onto the one side surface of the sheet, an image on the one side surface of the sheet corresponding to the calculated unique portion area is detected. Next, a group of the detected image on the one side surface and the image on the other side surface corresponding to the detected image are extracted as reprint data, which is stored in a predetermined memory.
US09308716B2
A method and a device for placing a flexible printing plate in its register position, by placing the printing plate on a carrier, detecting the position of at least two reference marks, the relative position of which is known, by means of a camera while the printing plate is placed on the carrier, and transporting the printing plate to the register position. Prior to detecting the position of the reference marks, at least one of the reference marks is defined by moving the camera until a point within the part of the image whose relative position is known falls within the part of the image detected by the camera, and the position of the reference mark is stored together with properties of the reference mark detected by the camera.
US09308714B2
A compliant material is formed between a base substrate and a support structure prior to performing a controlled spalling process. By positioning the compliant material between the base substrate and the support structure, the localized effects of surface perturbations (particles, wafer artifacts, etc.) on spalling mode fracture can be reduced. The method of the present disclosure thus leads to improved surface quality of the spalled material layer and the remaining base substrate. Moreover, the method of the present disclosure can reduce the density of cleaving artifacts.
US09308712B2
In case of manufacturing tear-off lids (28) out of lid rings (20′) with a tear-off foil (25) sealed on them and with a tear-off tab (29) the tear-off tab is fixed in a folded back position onto the tear-off foil of the lid by an adhesive patch (30). For this, the adhesive patch is applied onto the foil section in such a way that individual adhesive patches are separated out of an adhesive tape with a carrier tape and an adhesive material arranged thereon by a separating means. Such an adhesive patch is arranged on the foil section of each lid in a position where the folded back tear-off tab comes to lie. By this, a fixing of the tear-off tab can be reached in an economical and secure manner.
US09308710B2
Mechanism for controlling pressure during the adhesive thermal compression bonding provides benefits of higher production yield, improved adhesive bonding performance and quality. Springs and pneumatic pistons are utilized to provide improved pressure control during the adhesive thermal compression bonding process. All production parts have certain geometric tolerances and automatically accommodating these tolerances increases production yield by reducing waste of incompletely adhesive bonded parts. The gaps caused by the parts tolerance are closed in a controlled manner using the mechanism and the pressure is controlled for effective adhesive bonding.
US09308705B2
A carbon fiber composite material and a method for preparing the same are provided. The method includes providing a first carbon fiber layer and a second carbon fiber layer; binding a first surface of the first carbon fiber layer with the second carbon fiber layer to obtain a laminated article, wherein a resin containing carbon nanotubes is formed on the first surface or a second surface of the first carbon fiber layer and the carbon nanotubes have functional groups on the surface thereof; and shaping the laminated article.
US09308696B2
A retroreflective sheet structure (10) comprising a transparent layer (20) having a front light-receiving surface (30) and a rear retroreflecting surface (32). Light incident on the front surface (30) will pass through the layer (20), impinge on the rear retroreflective surface (32) and reflect back out through the front surface (30) in a predetermined direction. An identifying indicia (44) is chosen and then formed on the retroreflecting surface (32). This indicia (44) can be used for identification purposes, even years after an end product incorporating the reflective sheet structure (10) has been out in the field.
US09308693B2
Methods and apparatus for fabricating adhesive bonded joints while minimizing the voids and/or porosity found in the cured bondline. In accordance with various embodiments, the apparatus comprises an evacuation chamber combined with a pressure inducing device to produce bonded joints that are both void free and thoroughly compacted. The surfaces to be bonded are continuously evacuated throughout the bonding process (pre-mating, mating, debulking and cure). Continuous evacuation is provided via standard vacuum, while the induced pressure can be pneumatically or mechanically provided.
US09308692B2
A method and apparatus comprising a material delivery structure, a roller, a first guide, and a second guide. The material delivery structure may be configured to receive a plurality of lengths of material. The roller may be configured to move between a first position and a second position relative to the material delivery structure. The first guide may be on a first side of the material delivery structure. The first guide may be configured to guide a first number of lengths of material in the plurality of lengths of material to the roller. The second guide may be on a second side of the material delivery structure. The second guide may be configured to guide a second number of lengths of material in the plurality of lengths of material to the roller.
US09308680B2
A light emitting device that includes a light emitting diode and a multilayer encapsulant is disclosed. The multilayer encapsulant includes a first encapsulant in contact with the light emitting diode and a photopolymerizable composition in contact with the first encapsulant. The first encapsulant may be a silicone gel, silicone gum, silicone fluid, organosiloxane, polysiloxane, polyimide, polyphosphazene, sol-gel composition, or another photopolymerizable composition. The photopolymerizable compositions include a silicon-containing resin and a metal-containing catalyst, the silicon-containing resin comprising silicon-bonded hydrogen and aliphatic unsaturation. Actinic radiation having a wavelength of 700 nm or less can be applied to initiate hydrosilylation within the silicon-containing resins.
US09308662B2
A cutting and stripping apparatus has a controller and causes a strip die to be prepared with cutouts according to a pre-determined pattern, e.g., on a cutting table and positioned on a stripping station that has a removal tool to remove waste material. After a sheet of material is cut on the same or another cutting table, the sheet is positioned in the stripping station over the female strip die. The removal tool moves to programmed positions in the stripping station and removes pieces of waste material. The final stripped cut sheet is the brought to the out-stack.
US09308661B2
A device for singling out products that are grouped in blister packs or similar multiple packages includes a support structure for at least one multiple package to be singled out, with a bearing surface defining a reference plane. A holding device can be activated selectively in order to hold the at least one multiple package against the bearing surface. A cutting head includes a cutting unit, preferably an ultrasound unit, with a device for cutting the multiple package, and a control is operatively connected to the cutting head and to the holding device in order to control relative movement between the cutting unit and the multiple package in accordance with a cutting scheme which is predetermined or is defined in real time, and which depends on the configuration of the multiple package.
US09308660B2
A hand-held cutting tool is described which is used to readily cut or sever flexible pipe or tubing. The tool features one or more openings in the body of the tool sized to accommodate pipe or tubing to be cut. The tool is used to cut tubing by inserting the tubing into one of the apertures. A retractable blade is urged against the tubing and the tool then orbited about the tubing and/or the tubing rotated until the blade severs the tubing.
US09308642B2
A phase oscillating device for affecting movement of a limb or a primary body includes a sensor coupled to the primary body. A physical state of the primary body is measured using the sensor. A phase angle of the primary body is determined based on the physical state measurement. The physical state measurement includes position, velocity, or acceleration. The phase angle of the primary body is filtered using a sine function. An actuator is coupled to the primary body. The actuator is triggered based on the phase angle of the primary body to provide a force or torque to assist or resist movement of the primary body. A secondary body is coupled to the primary body. The secondary body is oscillated using the actuator, which is triggered in phase with a gait step. Alternatively, a fan is coupled to the primary body and actuator to provide the oscillating force.
US09308641B2
Magnetic tweezers have two jaws formed by thin magnetic films connected together via a hinge. The magnetic tweezers include a nanoparticle formed by a stack of thin magnetic films. A process for fabricating the magnetic tweezers by techniques used in the fabrication of microelectronic components is presented.
US09308639B2
A tool storage device includes a housing, a linkage unit, a biasing member and a locking member. The linkage unit includes a driving member, multiple storing members, and a linkage mechanism interconnecting the storing members and the driving member. The linkage unit is convertible between a retracted position, where the storing members are accommodated in the housing, and an opening position, where the storing members are driven by the driving member via the linkage mechanism to pivot so that ends of the storing members are away from the housing with different orientations. The biasing member biases the linkage unit toward the expanded position. The locking member is disposed for locking releasably the linkage unit in the retracted position.
US09308638B2
A power tool includes a main body portion and a grip portion. The main body portion includes a motor unit. The grip portion extends from the main body portion between a front end and a rear end of the main body portion. The main body portion further includes an auxiliary handle mounting structure disposed between the rear end of the main body portion and a rearmost end of a region where the grip portion meets the main body portion. An auxiliary handle member is coupled to the auxiliary handle mounting structure of the main body portion.
US09308628B2
An anti-slip fastener driver includes a body portion and a driving portion formed at one terminal end of the body portion. The driving portion includes at least one peripheral face. A contact face is formed at one distal end of the driving portion opposite to the body portion. The contact face is beveled and at an inner included angle less than 90 degrees to the peripheral face. The contact face is adapted to abut against a terminal section of a bottom surface of a socket formed in a fastener to increase the contact area between the socket and the anti-slip fastener driver for providing enough friction to turn the fastener.
US09308616B2
A method of refurbishing a surface of a component for an electronic device includes: abrading a surface to be refurbished with an abrasive to remove a coating on the surface and provide an abraded surface; optionally firstly cleaning the abraded surface by contacting with a glass cleaner to provide a firstly cleaned surface; optionally secondly cleaning the firstly cleaned surface by contacting the firstly cleaned surface with a grease remover to provide a secondly cleaned surface; optionally contacting the secondly cleaned surface with an activator to provide an activated surface; and disposing a coating resin on the abraded and optionally activated surface; and curing the coating resin to provide a coated surface to refurbish the surface of the electronic device.
US09308605B2
The object of the invention is a battery-operated welding and/or cutting device including a frame and at least one battery cell. The frame includes a cooling profile having an outer surface, which is in direct contact with the air surrounding the device. The cooling profile is provided to accommodate at least one battery cell, such that the cooling profile at least partly surrounds the battery cell in order to conduct heat from the battery cell to the cooling profile and, via the outer surface of the cooling profile, away from the device. The object of the invention is also a cooling profile.
US09308594B2
In order to detect a wire breakage as soon as possible, the wire electrical discharge machining apparatus includes a speed fluctuation compensator that generates a speed fluctuation suppression command that is a speed compensation value that suppresses fluctuation of the rotational speed of the tension motor on the basis of the rotational speed of the tension motor and a breakage detecting device that detects a breakage of the wire electrode on the basis of a comparison of a preset breakage detection threshold and a speed fluctuation suppression command output from the speed fluctuation compensator.
US09308592B2
A quill style drilling/milling end effector with high tool positioning accuracy, a pressure foot with fast response in force and displacement feedback, and with automatic mounting and dismounting, normality sensing, and through the tool coolant delivery.
US09308590B2
Apparatus, methods, and other embodiments associated with a key duplication machine are described. In one embodiment, an assembly for duplicating a master key includes an optical imaging device, a logic, a clamping assembly, and a cutting member. The optical imaging device is capable of capturing an optical image of at least a portion of the master key. The logic is capable of determining a key pattern of the master key from the optical image of the master key. The clamping assembly is capable of clamping a key blank and the cutting member is capable of cutting a key pattern into said key blank.
US09308582B2
Entity and methods for generating stable and chemically reactive metallic nanoparticles and stable metallic nano-probes. Polymeric coating molecules having at least one metal core binding motif and at least one chemically reactive functional moiety is stably bound to the surface of metallic nanoparticle via the metal core binding motif. A target specific probe molecule is covalently bound to the metallic nanoparticle via the chemically reactive functional moiety forming stable metallic nano-probe.
US09308580B2
A method of producing steel with reduced internal stress concentrations is disclosed. In an embodiment, hot steel is shaped by a rolling mill. The resultant steel product is bundled as soon as practicable and the bundle is allowed to cool. Vibration energy is applied to the bundle of steel product so that internal stress concentrations within the steel product are relieved. In an embodiment, a plurality of bundles are stored on a rack and the rack is vibrated, the vibrations being transmitted to the plurality of bundles so that undesired internal stress concentrations within the steel products are relieved. Alternatively, magnetics may be used to relieve the undesired internal stress concentrations within the steel products. Thus, improved steel is produced as well as improved steel that can be produced more rapidly than known techniques.
US09308571B2
An apparatus comprising a first substrate having a first surface, a second substrate having a second surface facing the first surface and an array of metallic raised features being in contact with the first surface to the second surface, a portion of the raised features having a mechanical bend or buckle plastic deformation produced therein via a compressive force. One or more of the metallic raised features has one or more surface singularities therein prior to the mechanical bend or the buckle plastic deformation produced by the compressive force.
US09308564B2
A system for forming a plurality of hot stamped steel parts for automotive applications includes a furnace with a stack of sealed chambers, each containing an individual heater, for simultaneously heating a plurality of blanks. Each chamber is removable from the furnace, so that if the heater contained therein malfunctions, the heater can be repaired while the other chambers continue to heat the blanks. Each chamber also comprises a shelf including a plurality of driven rollers for conveying the blanks through the furnace. A blank feeder also including a plurality of driven rollers extends continuously from the furnace to a hot forming apparatus. The hot forming apparatus includes a plurality of cavities for shaping one or more of the blanks into a plurality of the parts.
US09308557B2
A mobile infill reclamation system comprising a mobile platform configured to be readily moved from a first location to a second location in relatively close proximity to an existing synthetic turf surface, a support structure mounted on the mobile platform, multiple processing components supported by the support structure and configured and arranged to process used infill material from the existing synthetic turf surface, an infill intake supported by the support structure and configured and arranged to receive the used infill material, and an infill output supported by the support structure and configured and arranged to discharge infill material processed by the processing components.
US09308555B2
A screen panel for mining and quarrying industries adapted to be mounted on a screen deck includes a screening surface made up of materials such as herein described formed on a reinforcing. The screening surface has apertures of a predetermined shape for allowing materials of predetermined size to pass through the apertures and the reinforcing is an external reinforcing for efficiently screening material passing through the apertures.
US09308551B2
A surface treatment method for substrate includes: spraying liquid is provided, the spraying liquid includes silane coupling agent, leveling agent, isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, acetic acid and water; a substrate having a metallic coating disposed thereon is provided; the spraying liquid is sprayed on the metallic coating, and then spraying liquid is baked to form a transparent protecting layer on the metallic coating; and a painting layer is formed on the protecting layer. The housing formed by the surface treatment method is also provided.
US09308550B1
An applicator for applying a lotion, such as a sunscreen, to the skin includes a handle attached to an axle and a roller mounted to turn on the axle. The roller includes a housing having a central cavity holding the lotion and a number of holes extending between the central cavity and a cylindrical peripheral surface of the housing, which is covered with a porous elastomeric material through which the lotion is evenly applied to the skin. A cover is provided to minimize evaporation and contamination of the lotion during storage of the roller. The roller may be removed from the applicator for storage in a cover formed as a canister, or a clamshell cover may be closed over the roller in place on the applicator.
US09308545B2
A system and a method for pretreating an aluminum assembly includes selecting a blank having a thin film pretreatment layer and a lubricant coating applied to a surface. The blank is formed to a desired shape and an adhesive is applied to a selected portion of the surface. A cleaner is applied to the assembly to remove the thin film pretreatment layer and the lubricant coating from the surface except at the selected portion and a zirconium oxide conversion coating is applied to the assembly before painting.
US09308538B2
An electrostatic precipitation air cleaner to reduce ozone output is provided. The electrostatic precipitation air cleaner includes a housing with an air inlet and outlet. Located in the housing are an air mover for moving a stream of air along an airflow path between the inlet and the outlet, an ion emitter electrode positioned in the airflow path downstream of the inlet for ionizing particulates entrained in the stream of air, a collector electrode having an inlet downstream of the ion emitter electrode, and an intermediate element intermediate the ion emitter electrode and the collector electrode. The collector electrode is comprised of a plurality of collector plates spaced apart in a direction transverse to the airflow path. The plates are electrically biased to create and maintain an electric field in the space therebetween to precipitate ionized particulates entrained in the stream of air onto a confronting surfaces of the plates.
US09308534B2
The present invention relates to a jet mill combining a high speed grinding apparatus and a high speed grinding apparatus with a jet mill mounted thereon wherein in consideration of the properties of aluminum having a high degree of softness, pressurizing air is injected not through existing air nozzles, but through injection holes, and the number of injection holes and the approach angles toward air of the injection holes are optimized to maximize the particle collision of the grinding object, thereby manufacturing granules having particle sizes in the range between 100 μm and 1000 μm.
US09308525B2
Described herein are catalysts for activation of an R—H bond in a R—H substrate and related catalytic matrices, compositions, methods and systems.
US09308524B2
Embodiments of present inventions are directed to an advanced catalyst. The advanced catalyst includes a honeycomb structure with an at least one nano-particle on the honeycomb structure. The advanced catalyst used in diesel engines is a two-way catalyst. The advanced catalyst used in gas engines is a three-way catalyst. In both the two-way catalyst and the three-way catalyst, the at least one nano-particle includes nano-active material and nano-support. The nano-support is typically alumina. In the two-way catalyst, the nano-active material is platinum. In the three-way catalyst, the nano-active material is platinum, palladium, rhodium, or an alloy. The alloy is of platinum, palladium, and rhodium.
US09308522B2
A novel catalyst useful in the ethynylation of formaldehyde to butynediol is formed by precipitating copper and bismuth from a salt solution of such metals, utilizing an alkali metal hydroxide as the precipitating agent to deposit copper and bismuth hydroxide as a coating around a siliceous carrier particle.
US09308520B2
An organo-modified silica based material to be used for making a stationary phase for liquid chromatography comprising a part which is unmodified silica, and a part which is silica comprising organic groups bonded to the silica. A method for preparing an organo-modified silica based material comprising mixing in an aqueous medium a silica based material and an organosilane compound, and reacting the mixture. A stationary phase separation material prepared by functionalizing the organo-modified silica based material is also disclosed.
US09308517B1
A composite filtration media for removing broad spectrum toxic chemicals from streams of air comprised of a physical mixture of a zirconium hydroxide analog material and a basic gas removal material is taught in which the composite filtration media is prepared by blending the zirconium hydroxide analog material in powder form with the basic gas removal material in powder form before pressing into pellets, tablets, briquettes, or the like. Subsequent grinding of the pressed material can be employed to produce a powder form of the composite filtration media. Cross-reaction of the composite components is reduced, thus prolonging the service life of the filtration media. Effectiveness in removing ammonia and sulfur dioxide are demonstrated for various compositions of the composite filtration media in both dry and humid conditions, including after aging for three weeks in humid conditions.
US09308506B2
A mixing apparatus for mixing at least two components comprises a mixing chamber having a first component and at least one component chamber having a further component. The component chamber is connected to the mixing chamber by a feed line. A negative pressure device generates a negative pressure in the mixing chamber in the starting position. By activating the negative pressure device, the pressure is equalized, whereby the further component is transferred into the mixing chamber. A display apparatus is provided at the component chamber to display a pressure change in the component chamber. The display apparatus is preferably formed by elastic bellows provided at one end of the component chamber, which is disposed opposite of the end of the component chamber following the feed line.
US09308503B2
A method for separation of liquid mixtures with a polybenzoxazole (PBO) membrane from a self-cross-linked aromatic polyimide polymer membrane is provided.
US09308495B2
An exhaust purifier for purifying exhaust gas of an engine includes an injector that injects a reducing agent into a pipe through which exhaust gas flows and a guide member that guides the exhaust gas flowing through the pipe, and the guide member guides the exhaust gas toward one side of an injection area into which the reducing agent is injected, by covering an exhaust gas upstream side of the injection area.
US09308492B2
An air purification system for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system includes an ozone generating device that is used to introduce ozone into an air stream flowing through the ozone generating device. The ozone is used to remove contaminants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), from the air stream. The purification system includes sensors in various locations within the HVAC system to measure a concentration of constituents in the air. In some embodiments, the constituents may include ozone and VOCs, such as toluene, butene, and propanal. To control an amount of ozone generated, the purification system controls an amount of electrical power to the ozone generating device. To control a concentration of ozone generated, the purification system controls a flow rate of air through the ozone generating device.
US09308484B1
The environmental air filtration assembly includes a housing that may be coupled to the vehicle. The housing is exposed to ambient air. A filter is coupled to the housing. The filter removes pollutants from the ambient air. A processor is coupled to the housing. A motor is coupled to the housing and the processor. A fan is operationally coupled to the motor. The motor moves the fan so the fan urges the ambient air through the filter. A sensor is coupled to the housing. The sensor is operationally coupled to the processor. The sensor detects a speed of the vehicle. The sensor modifies a speed of the motor to correspond to the speed of the vehicle.
US09308477B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to a syringeless filter device compressor for compressing one or more syringeless filter devices. Such syringeless filter devices are typically compressed entirely by hand; however, this may be uncomfortable and/or dangerous for the operator. In embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising a holder for holding a plurality of syringeless filter devices in a two-dimensional array, and a compressor device. The compressor includes a pusher which can be moved by an actuator to compress the filtration devices held in the two-dimensional array. These features enable a compact compressor device for compressing syringeless filter devices, without the operator being in contact with the syringeless filter device during the compression process.
US09308473B2
A phase splitter (14) for splitting phases of liquids, the phase splitter (14) characterized by an elongate body (16) having a generally convexly curved liquid-facing face (28) when viewed in transverse cross-section along a longitudinal axis of the elongate body (16).
US09308458B2
A player participating in a network game moves a player character of the player by manipulating a video game apparatus of the player. As the player performs an autopilot operation, the video game apparatus moves the player character as an autopilot PC. A server apparatus manages the game which progresses according to the movement of each character, and transmits progress information of the game to the video game apparatus of each player participating in the network game. The movement of the autopilot PC is decided based on an action log recording the action of the player character responding to the manipulation of the player.
US09308457B2
To improve the operating characteristics of character manipulation on touchscreen panels while at the same time providing a compact display of the control areas on a game screen. When a first operation is accepted as input by allowing a player to select any single area among multiple unit areas with a touch gesture on a game screen, or when a second operation is accepted as input by allowing a player to select any two or more areas among multiple unit areas in a successive manner, the inventive game program directs a computer to execute a process that determines the actions that a player-operated character is directed to perform respectively in response to the first operation and the second operation.
US09308453B2
A server arrangement for controlling a video game viewable by game participants at a plurality of respective terminals. The server arrangement has a game engine to output graphical scenes collectively representing a virtual world with game characters, each graphical scene describing a portion of the virtual world. The server arrangement also has a shared-rendering engine for associating game participants with respective graphical scenes and for performing a shared-rendering operation on the graphical scenes to generate respective moving-image data streams, the shared-rendering operation being common for the game participants that are associated by the shared-rendering engine with the same graphical scene.
US09308449B2
A wagering game system and its operations are described herein. In embodiments, the operations can include detecting a request to present wagering game content via a web browser associated with a wagering game machine, wherein an identifier is associated with the request, wherein the identifier is stored in a setting associated with the wagering game machine via a first mode of the wagering game machine, and wherein the request is provided via a second mode of the wagering game machine different from the first mode. The operations further include generating a document associated with the identifier, wherein the wagering game content is included in the document. In some examples, the document is in a format presentable via the web browser. The operations further include providing the document for presentation via the web browser.
US09308448B2
Certain embodiments provide systems and methods for multi-tiered gaming data download. The system includes a gaming device for local play of a game. The gaming device includes a communication interface receiving and transmitting data to download a game for play at the gaming device. The system also includes a plurality of download servers communicating with the gaming device to provide game data for download to and play at the gaming device. The system further includes a middle tier server acting as a hub to communicate with the plurality of download servers to provide game data from one or more of the plurality of download servers. The middle tier server allocates download server resources and schedules a download of game data from one or more download servers to the gaming device based on resource constraints at the plurality of download servers and availability for download at the gaming device.
US09308446B1
A training program is configured to systematically drive neurological changes to overcome social cognitive deficits. Various games challenge the participant to observe gaze directions in facial images, match faces from different angles, reconstruct face sequence, memorize social details about sequentially presented faces, identify smiling faces, find faces whose expression matches the target, identify emotions implicitly expressed by facial expressions, match pairs of similar facial expressions, match pairs of emotion clips and emotion labels, reconstruct sequences of emotion clips, identify emotional prosodies of progressively shorter sentences, match sentences with tags that identify emotional prosodies with which they are expressed, identify social scenarios that best explain emotions expressed in video clips, answer questions about social interactions in multi-segmented stories, choose expressions and associated prosodies that best describe how a person would sound in given social scenarios, and/or understand and interpret gradually more complex social scenes.
US09308444B2
A method for simulating a graphical object. The method comprises monitoring approximate distance between a first graphical object and a second graphical object, the first graphical object having at least a first particle and the second graphical object having at least a second particle; detecting a collision (P220) between the first particle and the second particle; computing (P230) a first set of forces associated with the first and second particles due to the collision, wherein the first set of forces are computed within a first context in which X particle attributes associated with the first and second particles are considered; computing (P240) a second set of forces associated with the first and second particles due to the collision, wherein the second set of forces are computed within a second context in which Y particle attributes associated with the first and second particles are considered, wherein X
US09308442B2
Example apparatus and methods use a video game controller to edit videos down to clips. A game controller may include a variety of elements (e.g., thumb-sticks, buttons) configured to provide inputs. Inputs may be received simultaneously from multiple controller elements. The inputs may be used to simultaneously update terminal points for a clip being selected from a video. The controller elements may be thumb-sticks. In one embodiment, the associations between which thumb-stick will be used to control a starting frame and which thumb-stick will be used to control an ending frame may be user-configurable. Similarly, the elements on the controller that are used to provide the two simultaneous inputs may be user-configurable. The video from which the clip is being clipped may have been generated by a video game played on a video game console as controlled by the game controller that will also edit the clip.
US09308438B2
To provide a jigsaw puzzle that is manufactured easily and conveniently in a short time and allows reduction in production costs, and a method of manufacturing the same. A jigsaw puzzle obtained by stamping out a laminated sheet of a plurality of synthetic resin sheets with a stamping blade to be divided into a plurality of small pieces, wherein the laminated sheet is formed of: a soft sheet of a soft synthetic resin having a sheet shape formed by extrusion molding; and a hard sheet of a synthetic resin that is harder than the soft sheet and is bonded to the soft sheet.
US09308436B1
A card game for 2-7 players. The game consists of seven (7) “Rounds.” At the end of seven (7) “Rounds” the player with the lowest score wins. A “Round” is complete when a player sheds all cards from a “Hand.” A “Hand” is a card set dealt by the Dealer to each player at the beginning of each “Round.” Every player starts with a “Hand” consisting of seven (7) or fourteen (14) cards, dealt face down. The object of the game is to shed cards from your “Hand” by making “Books.” “Books” may contain two cards adding to seven (7) or four or more cards adding to a number that is a multiple of seven (7), such as 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, etc. Once the original “Hand” is dealt, the “Round” begins by dealing one card from the Dealer Deck, face up, to the first player on the dealers left.
US09308424B2
An apparatus for releasable attachment to a handle of a ball bat includes a base fixedly coupled to a proximal end of the handle of the bat, and at least one knob releasably coupled to the base. The base includes knob-engaging structure. The knob includes base-engaging structure to cooperate with the knob engaging structure to inhibit rotation of the knob with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bat.
US09308422B2
A golf club head includes a heel portion, a toe portion, a hosel, and a striking face. The striking face includes a plurality of scorelines each having an average depth no less than about 0.10 mm, a plurality of first micro-grooves each having an average depth no greater than about 0.010 mm, and a plurality of second micro-grooves overlaid on the first micro-grooves, each of the second micro-grooves having an average depth greater than the average depth of the first micro-grooves. Some embodiments can also have a plurality of textured surface treatment regions superimposed on the overlaid first and second micro-grooves so as to at least partially intersect the micro-grooves.
US09308420B2
A ball retrieving apparatus is formed with a tubular storage chamber on which is mounted a gateway mechanism at the lower end thereof. The gateway mechanism is formed of a cylindrical housing having a passageway therethrough for alignment with the tubular storage chamber engaged therewith. The housing incorporates a ring of spring-loaded detent balls that are biased to project into the passageway to restrict the effective diameter thereof. Balls being retrieved are pressed into the housing to retract the detent balls against the biasing force until the ball has passed the ring of detent balls. The biasing force on the detent balls will retain the collected balls within the tubular storage chamber until the chamber is emptied. The ball retrieving apparatus can be sized to receive any type of sports activity ball.
US09308412B2
An exercise machine for strengthening the foot and for treating plantar fasciitis includes a foot pad for receiving a patient's foot and a resistance member associated with the foot pad. As the patient pivots the foot pad on a pivot pin located near the heel section of the foot pad, a resistance is applied to the toe section of the foot pad thereby providing strengthening for the plantar fasciitis band of tissue.
US09308406B2
An automatic fire extinguishing system includes a canister having a central axis, an outlet port disposed on the canister, a dip tube disposed in the canister about the central axis and in partial fluid communication with the canister and coupled to the outlet port, a propellant gas mixture disposed within the canister; and a gaseous fire suppression agent disposed in the canister, wherein a diameter of the outlet port is sized relative to a pressure of the propellant gas mixture.
US09308396B2
The present invention is directed to a transfer resistant and long wear cosmetic composition having a unique gel-like texture with good pickup, payoff, and spreadability properties, as well as a silky smooth feel containing: (a) at least one polyamine; (b) at least one oil-soluble polar modified polymer; (c) water; (d) at least one volatile solvent; (e) at least one non-volatile solvent; (f) at least one water soluble surfactant; (f) at least one colorant; and (g) at least one oil absorbing powder.
US09308393B1
A device and method for preventing and treating bedsores on a lying patient. The device uses both a fan and a UV light source. The fan dries the skin while the UV light source aids in drying the patient as well as killing harmful pathogens. The device is adjustable so the air and UV light can be directed at various angles and from different heights, to a patient in different positions, prone, supine, and laying on side.
US09308392B2
A variety of methods, devices, systems and arrangements are implemented for stimulation of the peripheral nervous system. Consistent with one embodiment of the present invention, method is implemented in which light-responsive channels or pumps are engineered in a set of motor units that includes motor units of differing physical volumes. Optical stimuli are also provided to the light-responsive channels or pumps at an optical intensity that is a function of the size of motor units to be recruited. In certain implementations, the intensity of the optical stimuli is increased so as to recruit increasingly larger motor units.
US09308391B2
A self-contained, hand-held device for providing a dermatological treatment may include a device body configured to be handheld by a user, a radiation source including a beam source configured to generate an energy beam, an application end configured to be manually moved across the surface of the skin, a sensor configured to generate signals based on an interaction with the skin, and electronics configured to automatically identify a series of intrinsic skin features based on the sensor signals, and control at least one operational parameter of the radiation source based at least on the identification of such skin features.
US09308388B2
Ceramic footbath boots, ceramic materials for manufacturing the ceramic footbath boots and application of the ceramic materials to the manufacture of the ceramic footbath boots are disclosed herein. The ceramic footbath boots include a pair of boot-like footbath containers (1). The footbath containers (1) are made of the ceramic materials, and the internal walls of the footbath containers are provided with net-like lines and papillary groups (2) corresponding to the reflex point zone of feet. The ceramic materials can: emit far infrared rays with wave length of 4-14 microns and the emitting rate of more than 0.92 at normal temperature; release negative ions automatically and permanently; continuously produce weak static current matching the bioelectric current of human bodies; and release mineral matters and trace elements needed by human bodies into water. The ceramic materials are preferably tourmaline-containing silicates.
US09308353B2
A needle retraction apparatus comprising a body having a forwardly projecting needle, a needle retraction mechanism seated inside the body and biasing the needle rearwardly relative to the body, a slide member attachable to the body and having an opening communicating with a needle retraction cavity projecting away from the body, and an actuator rotatable relative to the slide member to reposition the slide member from a first position preventing needle retraction to a second position permitting needle retraction. An IV catheter introducer comprising the subject needle retraction apparatus is also disclosed.
US09308349B2
A catheter actuation handle apparatus is disclosed that is designed and configured for manipulating one or more distally-extending members to achieve translation, articulation and/or rotation of these members using the actuation handle.
US09308348B2
Devices and methods for the effective clearing of artificial tubes, for example, in-situ clearing of artificial tubes in a living being are covered in this disclosure. The devices and methods provide a controller comprising at least one actuator for generating repetitive motion, and a stem coupled to the at least one actuator. The stem includes at least one fluid source, a conduit member in fluidic communication with the fluid source, and a reciprocating member at least partially disposed within the conduit member and configured to accept the repetitive motion. The fluid source includes a deformable reservoir and/or a port.
US09308347B2
A turbulator for promoting mixing of fluids passing through a body lumen includes an elongate flow perturbing component and an elongate shape controlling component freely slidable within the flow perturbing component. The turbulator is adjustable from a low profile, lumen access configuration to a deployed configuration via sliding the shape controlling component within the flow perturbing component. Adjusting the turbulator within a body lumen of a patient induces turbulence within a flow of fluid passing through the body lumen to increase mixing of a treatment fluid with the body fluid by way of the induced turbulence.
US09308346B2
A device for crimping an collapsible device and loading the collapsible device into a delivery system, includes a crimping tool configured to radially crimp at least a portion of the collapsible device, a loading tool configured to load at least a portion of the collapsible device into a delivery system, and a housing that houses at least one of the crimping tool and loading tool, wherein the device is configured to crimp and load the collapsible device without requiring manual repositioning of the collapsible device. Methods of crimping an collapsible device and loading the collapsible device into a delivery system are also disclosed.
US09308336B2
A refillable atomizing assembly with a liquid reservoir for an electronic cigarette. The assembly includes a housing and a mouthpiece that is removably engaged to the housing. A liquid reservoir is disposed within the housing, and separated from the aerosol outlet by an outlet chamber. The liquid reservoir is refillable by removing the mouthpiece and dispensing the liquid into the outlet chamber. An atomizing chamber is adjacent to the reservoir and opposite of the outlet chamber. An aerosol conduit connects the atomizing chamber to the outlet chamber. An isolation member is disposed within the outlet chamber. A liquid passage through the isolation member allows the liquid placed into the outlet chamber to flow into the reservoir. A shield portion of the isolation member is located about the aerosol conduit to prevent liquid from entering. An aerosol vent through the shield portion enables the flow of the aerosol therethrough.
US09308335B2
An apparatus for use in conjunction with a metered dose inhaler which includes a novel valve system to aid in the delivery of aerosolized medicament to a subject. The apparatus also includes a novel rotational flow generator to aid in the useable delivery of said medication and avoid its loss either in the apparatus or by non-useful delivery to said subject.
US09308327B2
A substance delivery device (autoinjector) for use with a container (such as a syringe) containing the substance includes: a body arranged to house or hold the container; a plunger which is movable with respect to at least a portion of the body, the plunger being arranged to act upon the container so as to move the container with respect to the portion of the body; wherein the plunger is also arranged to expel at least a portion of the substance from the container; and wherein the device includes elements for adjusting the amount of substance to be expelled from the container. The device can also have elements for priming the container, and can accommodate containers of different size or shape.
US09308326B2
A needle-free transdermal transport device for transferring a substance across a surface of a biological body includes a reservoir for storing the substance, a nozzle in fluid communication with the reservoir and a controllable electromagnetic actuator in communication with the reservoir. The actuator, referred to as a Lorentz force actuator, includes a stationary magnet assembly and a moving coil assembly. The coil assembly moves a piston having an end portion positioned within the reservoir. The actuator receives an electrical input and generates in response a corresponding force acting on the piston and causing a needle-free transfer of the substance between the reservoir and the biological body. The magnitude, direction and duration of the force are dynamically controlled (e.g., servo-controlled) by the electrical input and can be altered during the course of an actuation cycle. Beneficially, the actuator can be moved in different directions according to the electrical input.
US09308324B2
Methods, systems, and devices are described for setting a dose of medicine and injecting the medicine. In one aspect, a method to dispense a medicine includes inserting a cartridge containing a medicine into a cartridge holder coupled to a housing of a medicine injection device, positioning a spine component of the device to make contact with the cartridge in the cartridge holder, selecting a dose of the medicine for injection, in which the selecting includes rotating an injection component of the device to a setting corresponding to the selected dose, and linearly advancing the injection component to rotate a drive gear coupled to the injection component to drive the spine component so as to push the end of the cartridge to dispense the medicine in the amount of the selected dose.
US09308322B2
There are disclosed devices and methods for protecting a user from a sharp tip of a medical needle. In an embodiment, a device includes a central body portion, a medical needle having a sharp tip, a pair of wings in attachment to the central body portion, and a mechanical fastener disposed on at least one of the wings, the mechanical fastener configured to selectively attach the wings together with the medical needle positioned between the wings so as to protect a user from the sharp tip of the medical needle. In another embodiment, a method includes withdrawing a sharp tip of a medical needle from a patient, closing a pair of wings with the medical needle positioned between the wings, and fastening the wings together with the medical needle positioned between the wings so as to protect a user from the sharp tip of the medical needle.
US09308317B2
Provided herein is a drug delivery device including: a reservoir for a product, said reservoir having a distally projecting end-piece defining an axial passageway for the transfer of the product, said end-piece having a distal portion, an adaptor having a collar engageable around said end-piece, and a securing structure for locking the axial movement of said collar with respect to said end-piece. The adaptor further comprises a foldable element capable of going from a folded configuration in which said foldable element substantially surrounds said distal portion of said end-piece, to an unfolded configuration, in which said foldable element leaves said distal portion uncovered. An adaptor for forming a drug delivery device is also provided.
US09308316B1
Various structures are used in a front-loading injector, for mounting the syringe to the injector and/or preventing leakage of spilled fluid from an external surface of a syringe into the vicinity of the drive ram. A conically-shaped structure on the rearward end of the syringe is specifically disclosed.
US09308306B2
An optical blood monitoring system and corresponding method avoid the need to obtain a precise intensity value of the light impinging upon the measured blood layer during the analysis. The system is operated to determine at least two optical measurements through blood layers of different thickness but otherwise substantially identical systems. Due to the equivalence of the systems, the two measurements can be compared so that the bulk extinction coefficient of the blood can be calculated based only on the known blood layer thicknesses and the two measurements. Reliable measurements of various blood parameters can thereby be determined without certain calibration steps.
US09308300B2
The present disclosure relates to prosthetic implants, components of prosthetic implants, and methods of fixating the components to one another and, especially fixation of the implants to bone.
US09308292B2
A composite osteoimplant. The osteoimplant includes a polymer and bone-derived particles. The composite is adapted and constructed to be formable during or immediately prior to implantation and to be set after final surgical placement.
US09308291B2
A medical pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet includes a urethane substrate, an interlayer adhesive layer, an olefin nonwoven fabric, and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer for pasting in order and has a moisture permeability amount of 2000 g/(m2·24 hours) or more, or the like. In the medical pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet, a thickness of the urethane substrate is a value within the range of from 1 to 10 μm, a thickness of the interlayer adhesive layer is a value within the range of from 5 to 30 μm, the olefin nonwoven fabric is constituted with a polypropylene-based thermoplastic elastomer and has a maximum point elongation percentage of a value of 200% or more in the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction, respectively, and a thickness of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer for pasting is a value within the range of from 5 to 45 μm.
US09308288B2
An air freshener includes a pair of wicks extending from a pair of reservoirs configured to contain different scents. A hood is sized and shaped to essentially cover only one of the at least two wicks and movable with respect to the wicks between a first scent position in which the hood essentially covers a second of the at least two wicks, a second scent position in which the hood essentially covers a first of the at least two wicks, and a plurality of combined scent positions in which the hood partially covers both of the at least two wicks.
US09308287B2
A fragrancing system for a motor vehicle, having a housing, in which a replaceable fragrance storage container is inserted, which has an opening for dispensing a fragrance which is covered by a closure mechanism which frees the opening for dispensing of the fragrance when actuated by an actuator. In a fragrancing system which is of simple construction and nevertheless operates reliably, the housing is provided with a cover, which for introduction of the fragrance storage container is mounted so as to be pivotable about an axis of rotation into a housing interior, wherein when the fragrance storage container is introduced it is locked by the cover.
US09308282B2
What is described are the compounds and the synthesis of [F-18]-labelled L-glutamic acid, [F-18]-labelled L-glutamate, their derivatives of the formula (I) and their use.
US09308281B2
Disclosed herein are compositions and methods for modulating the production of a protein in a target cell. The compositions and methods disclosed herein are capable of ameliorating diseases associated with protein or enzyme deficiencies.
US09308273B2
The invention conjugates that can be prepared by contacting a polymer comprising an acetal or ketal branching point with a pharmacologically active agent under conditions suitable to form a covalent attachment between the polymer and the pharmacologically active agent.
US09308270B2
The invention relates to pharmacy. It is an object of the present invention to produce nanomicellar structures containing EGCG and achieving a positive result consisting in increasing bioavailability in peroral administration. The object of this invention is achieved by a new pharmaceutical composition for peroral administration containing epigallocatechin-3-gallate as the active component and a target additive that is a block copolymer of oxyethylene and oxypropylene, in which the content of the hydrophobic block is less than 50% by mass and the hydrophilic block has a molecular weight of 2,250 daltons or more at a ratio of the block copolymer to the active component ranging from 1:1 to 10:1. The composition improves absorption of the active compound by the blood flow when delivered perorally.
US09308255B2
The present invention relates to the discovery that reduced levels of D-dopachrome tautomerase (D-DT) (also known as MIF-2) are associated with ischemia-reperfusion injury. Thus, the present invention relates to methods of administering D-DT and recombinant D-DT for the treatment of ischemia-reperfusion injury.
US09308250B2
A combined measles-malaria vaccine containing different attenuated recombinant measles-malaria vectors comprising a heterologous nucleic acid encoding several Plasmodium falciparum antigens is described. Preferably, it relates to viral vectors that comprise nucleic acids encoding the circumsporozoite (CS) protein of P. falciparum, the merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP-1) of P. falciparum, and its derivatives (p-42; p-83-30-38) in its glycosylated and secreted forms, and apical membrane antigen1 (AMA1) of P. falciparum, in its anchored or secreted form. The viral vector stems from an attenuated measles virus, based on a strain that is used as a vaccine and is efficient in delivering the gene of interest and that binds to and infects the relevant immune cells efficiently.
US09308249B2
The present invention relates to antigenic and vaccine compositions comprising Norovirus antigens and adjuvants, in particular, mixtures of monovalent VLPs and mixtures of multivalent VLPs, and to a process for the production of both monovalent and multivalent VLPs, the VLPs comprising capsid proteins from one or more Norovirus genogroups.
US09308247B2
The present invention relates to protecting against, treating, and detecting Fusobacteria infections. Compositions and methods derived from nucleic acid and protein sequences of a 40 kDa Adhesin protein are provided to protect against, treat, and detect Fusobacteria infections in a subject. In one aspect, vaccines capable of inducing an immune response to a 40 kDa Adhesin protein are used to protect against Fusobacteria infection. Also, nucleic acid molecules, proteins, immunogens, antibodies, and antisense molecules derived from the sequences of the 40 kDa Adhesin protein may be used to protect against, treat, and detect Fusobacteria infections in a subject.
US09308231B2
The present invention relates to an anti-inflammatory composition comprising a plant extract and a propolis extract.
US09308228B2
The use of probiotic bacteria in the manufacture of a composition for administration to a woman in at least the third trimester of pregnancy for prevention of gestational diabetes, normalizing plasma glucose concentration and/or increasing insulin sensitivity.
US09308204B2
Compounds of Formula (A) and (B) are described herein and the uses thereof for the treatment of diseases, conditions and/or disorders mediated by sodium-glucose transporter inhibitors (in particular, SGLT2 inhibitors).
US09308202B2
The invention relates to a transdermal therapeutic system for administering the active substance buprenorphine. Said system comprises at least one carboxylic acid that determines the solubility of buprenorphine in the matrix layer and that can likewise be absorbed. The transdermal therapeutic system according to the invention is used in the treatment of pain and is characterized by a considerably increased utilization of the active substance.
US09308198B2
This invention relates to methods for treating, preventing, or reversing brain disease or damage produced by chronic alcohol intake by administering a peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR) agonist.
US09308194B2
A compound of formula I, wherein the groups R1, R2, R3, X, m, and n are defined as in claim 1, which have valuable pharmacological properties, in particular bind to the GPR40 receptor and modulate its activity. The compounds are suitable for treatment and prevention of diseases which can be influenced by this receptor, such as metabolic diseases, in particular diabetes type 2. Furthermore, the invention relates to novel intermediates, useful for the synthesis of compounds of formula I.
US09308183B2
The present invention is directed to the use of a class of peptide compounds for treating diseases associated with hyperexcitability. The present invention is also directed to the use of a class of peptide compounds for treating diseases associated with dysfunction of an ion channel.
US09308178B2
Disclosed is a microcapsule including a core having an oxidizable active (OA), the outer part of said core being in a solid form, and a water insoluble coating obtained from an encapsulating agent (EA), with the coating surrounding said core. In particular, there is disclosed a microcapsule wherein the EA is water soluble or organic solvent, in particular ethanol, soluble, or a microcapsule wherein said EA is an agent, the water solubility of which is pH-dependent. In particular, the core does not consist in or comprise a metal oxide, and the coating does not comprise a disintegrant, in particular sodium starch glycolate. Also disclosed is a process for preparing the microcapsules.
US09308175B2
One aspect of the invention relates to a pharmaceutical dosage unit for sublingual, buccal, pulmonary or oral administration, said dosage unit having a weight of 20-500 mg and comprising 1-80 wt. % of a microgranulate that is distributed throughout a solid hydrophilic matrix; said microgranulate being characterized in that it: has a volume weighted average diameter of 5-100 m; contains at least 0.01 wt. %, preferably at least 0.1 wt. % of one or more water-insoluble pharmaceutically active substances; contains at least 10 wt. %, preferably at least 20 wt. % of an emulsifier component; and is capable of forming a micro-emulsion upon contact with saliva or water. The dosage units of the present invention achieve the inherent benefits of oral delivery while at the same time realizing a high transmucosal absorption rate of the cannabinoids contained therein. Other aspects of the present invention relate to the use of the aforementioned dosage units in the therapeutic or prophylactic treatment and to a process for the manufacture of said dosage units.
US09308170B2
Disclosed in certain embodiments is a controlled release oral dosage form comprising a therapeutically effective amount of a drug susceptible to abuse together with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable excipients; the dosage form further including a gelling agent in an effective amount to impart a viscosity unsuitable for administration selected from the group consisting of parenteral and nasal administration to a solubilized mixture formed when the dosage form is crushed and mixed with from about 0.5 to about 10 ml of an aqueous liquid; the dosage form providing a therapeutic effect for at least about 12 hours when orally administered to a human patient.
US09308168B2
This invention describes a partially absorbable, fiber-reinforced composite in the form of a ring, or a suture-like thread, with modified terminals for use as a controlled delivery system of at least one bioactive agent, wherein said composite comprising an absorbable fiber construct capable of providing time-dependent mechanical properties of a biostable elastomeric matrix containing an absorbable microparticulate ion-exchanger to modulate the release of the bioactive agent(s) for a desired period(s) of time at a specific biological site; this can be a vaginal canal, peritoneal cavity, scrotum, prostate gland, an ear loop or subcutaneous tissue. Such drug delivery systems can be used for the local administration of at least one bioactive agent, including those used as contraceptive, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and/or antiviral agents as well as for cancer treatment.
US09308167B2
The present invention is directed to formulations of genistein and methods for making and using the same. In particular embodiments, the formulations described herein include suspension formulations of nanoparticulate genistein.
US09308160B2
A wax-resin composite is made by melting thermoplastic hydrocarbon resin, optionally with an antioxidant. The melted thermoplastic hydrocarbon resin and waxes are blended at a temperature sufficient to melt the waxes. After blending and melting, the blended thermoplastic hydrocarbon resin and waxes are allowed to solidify. Solidification is followed by post-processing the wax-resin composite mixture to form slabs, pastilles, flakes or other forms. A method for producing a wax-resin composite comprises at least partially solvating a thermoplastic resin in a solvent to form a resin-solvent blend. This may be done at a heat of 80-85° C. A composition of molten wax is blended with the resin-solvent blend. The resin-solvent blend and a molten wax are blended to form a wax-resin blend. This is followed by removing the solvent from said wax-resin blend.
US09308155B2
The present invention concerns a photoprotective composition comprising at least one interferential screening agent screening UVA and/or UVB.
US09308151B2
Medicinal container bags are presented. Bags can include openers capable of sealing an opening of the bag. Disclosed bags further comprise electronic assemblies configured to detect opening or closing events as the openers move along the rims of the bag opening. The assemblies can compile usage data based on opener movement, and then provide the data to remote monitoring systems.
US09308150B2
A liquid agent container includes the container's main unit, a cap, an intermediate member, and an internal stopper. The cap is provided with a liquid agent discharging path and an air introducing path. The intermediate member has a tube projecting toward the interior of the main unit. Between a liquid agent introducing path and the liquid agent discharging path a hydrophilic filter is provided, and between an air supplying path communicating with the air introducing path and an air delivering path a filter is provided. The air delivering path communicates with the interior of the main unit via a check valve, with an annular valve having an inner circumferential surface in contact with an outer circumferential surface of the tube, to pass air only in a direction toward the interior of the main unit. The present invention can provide a liquid agent container including a check valve readily fabricated and ensuring preventing a liquid agent from flowing back.
US09308149B1
Referring to the invention, there is shown an assembled container for use in dispensing medicine, pharmaceutics, or similar-sized items. The multi-faceted two-part container is a novel truncated pyramidal shape and is an innovative solution to prior pill bottle designs, based on several factors: the container has better container stability over prior bottle shapes; it may be stacked at an angle in a user's home; a hinged lid opening creates easier user access; and the container shape yields greater internal volume (over prior container designs). Further, the container has a large labeling surface area, possesses angled surfaces that allow for easy viewing of redundant labeling medication information on the container by a user, and has container parts that can be manufactured, shipped and assembled in novel ways and at lower costs than traditional pill bottles.
US09308148B2
A method and device for increasing blood flow by applying positive pressure to extremities of a mammal and/or controlling the temperature of the mammal. The device includes one or more collapsible and pliant body elements capable of expanding and flexibly applying pressurized compression forces to the extremity of the mammal by attaching one or more pressure-applying gas plenums as close to the extremity as possibly. The flexible extremity device can be used independently or can be used in conjunction with thermal pads disposed to the one or more collapsible and pliant body elements. Alternatively, the one or more collapsible and pliant body elements can be manufactured into thermal pads.
US09308143B2
A wheelchair suspension includes a frame, a drive assembly pivot arm, a drive assembly, a front caster pivot arm, a front caster, and a spring and shock absorbing assembly. The drive assembly pivot arm is pivotally connected to the frame. The drive assembly includes a drive wheel and is mounted to the drive assembly pivot arm. The front caster pivot arm is pivotally mounted to the frame and coupled to the drive assembly pivot arm. The front caster is coupled to the at least one front caster pivot arm. The spring and shock absorbing assembly is pivotally connected to the drive assembly pivot arm at a first pivotal connection and pivotally connected to the front caster pivot arm at a second pivotal connection. The first and second pivotal connections are positioned such that a majority of the force applied by the spring and shock absorbing assembly is applied to the drive wheel when the suspension is on a flat, horizontal support surface.
US09308140B2
A paramedic chair carrier is provided comprising a main frame and a sliding frame slidably carried by the main frame so as to be slidable between an extended position and a retracted position relative to the main frame. A gas spring acts between the main frame and the sliding frame to bias the sliding frame toward the retracted position. A chair support hook on the sliding frame supports the paramedic chair and a chair handle latch is carried by the main frame for releasably retaining the handle of the paramedic chair. A locking latch system comprising a first lock component carried by the sliding frame and a second lock component carried by the main frame releasably locks the sliding frame in the retracted position.
US09308139B2
An individual packing product that makes it difficult to see an absorbent product disposed therein, not staining other individual packing products, and easy to put in a bag or pocket and carry. In the individual packing product, the absorbent product having an adhesive portion in a non-skin contact region is packed with a packing sheet. The absorbent product is fixed to the inner side of the packing sheet with the adhesive portion being disposed therebetween, the packing sheet is folded with the absorbent product being disposed therein, the packing sheet has a separable colored portion on the inner side thereof, and although the colored portion can be seen from the outside of the individual packing product, the absorbent product cannot be seen from the outside of the individual packing product.
US09308137B2
An array of personal care absorbent articles includes a menstrual absorbent article having a perimeter, a first transverse midline, a first minimum width line, and a menstrual absorbent layer having a menstrual absorbent shape, the perimeter defining a first article shape and a first article size. The array also includes an incontinence absorbent article having a perimeter, a second transverse midline a second minimum width line, and an incontinence absorbent layer having an incontinence absorbent shape, the perimeter defining a second article shape and a second article size, wherein the first article shape is substantially the same as the second article shape, and wherein the first article size is substantially the same as the second article size.
US09308134B2
A method of manufacturing a tampon comprises the steps of at least partially overlaying a web of base material with a web of absorbent material. The web of absorbent material is secured to the web of base material with a first securement. At least one of the web of base material and the web of absorbent material is folded after the first securement. The web of absorbent material is further secured to the web of base material with a second securement that is a stronger securement than the first securement. The web of absorbent material and the web of base material together define a web of cover material. The web of cover material is applied to an absorbent structure. The web of cover material and the absorbent structure is manipulated such that the web of cover material extends about a circumference of the absorbent structure to form a tampon.
US09308130B2
A stretch laminate includes a first layer including a skinned or skinless elastomer film, the first layer having a surface, and a second layer including a nonwoven material, the second layer having a basis weight of less than about 25 gsm and a surface that is attached to the surface of the first layer. The elastomer film has a strength of an engineering tensile strength, at an engineering strain rate of about 600/s, of at least one of about greater than about 14 MPa for a plain specimen or about greater than about 7 MPa for a notched specimen. A method of making the stretch laminate and an absorbent article having at least one region defined by the stretch laminate are also provided.
US09308128B2
An optical surgical probe includes a cannula; a light guide within the cannula, configured to receive a light beam from the light source, to guide the light beam to a distal end of the light guide, and to emit the light beam at the distal end of the light guide; and a multi-spot generator at a distal end of the cannula, the multi-spot generator having a faceted proximal surface with oblique facets, configured to receive the light beam emitted at the distal end of the light guide and to split the received light beam into multiple beam-components, and a distal surface through which the multiple beam-components exit the multi-spot generator, wherein the proximal surface of the multi-spot generator is micro-structured with a modulation length smaller than a wavelength of the light beam in order to reduce the reflectance of light back into the probe.
US09308125B2
The present technology relates to an apparatus for intraocular injection comprising a plate adapted for being brought into contact with an eye and a guide operable to guide a needle into the interior of an eye, characterized in that it comprises means for displacing a superficial layer (1) of the eye over an underlying layer (2) of the eye as the plate is brought into contact with the eye before the needle is guided into the interior of the eye.
US09308120B2
The present invention relates to methods for use in the selective disruption of lipid-rich cells by controlled cooling. The present invention further relates to a device for use in carrying out the methods for selective disruption of lipid-rich cells by controlled cooling.
US09308118B1
Various embodiments disclose a urine collection device. In one embodiment, a urine collection device includes a neck and a collection bag. The collection bag includes a main body disposed below the neck. The main body extends laterally away from the neck and is continuous with the neck. The urine collection device further includes a retention band that is disposed in an upper region of the neck. The retention band is formed from and circumscribes the upper region of the neck. The retention band includes a first fastening mechanism disposed on a first portion of the neck and a second fastening mechanism disposed on a second portion of the neck. The first fastening mechanism is configured to releasably mate with the second fastening mechanism when the first portion of the neck is overlapped with the second portion of the neck.
US09308114B2
The product improves nasal passage air flow. The product may be a strip that comprises a flexible resilient material, with at least a portion of the bottom surface comprising an adhesive surface on each end. The strip may serve to dilate a user's nasal passage when the first end of the strip is secured using the first adhesive bottom surface to be proximate to an alar facial groove of the user's nose, with the second end of the strip being puled up at a slight angle and laterally to achieve desired nasal passage expansion and thereafter being secured to the user's face. The size of the strip may be larger for additional benefits and have anti-glare and/or anti-reflective features.
US09308112B2
A trunk support device (100) is configurable to be worn by a person to reduce the muscle forces in the person's back during forward bending. The device (100), among other things, includes: a waist strap (102) which is configurable to be coupled to the person waist; a chest support (104) which is configurable to be coupled to the person's chest and capable of pushing against the person chest; and first and second torque generators (106) coupled to the chest support (104) and the waist strap (102) and capable of providing a resistance torque between them. In operation, when a person wearing the device (100) bends forward, at least one of the torque generators (106) imposes a torque between the chest support (104) and the waist strap (102), causing the chest support (104) to impose a force onto the person's chest backwardly and the waist strap (102) to impose a force onto the person's hip.
US09308110B2
A stent delivery system, a core assembly, and methods of operating the same are provided. The delivery system can comprise a catheter and the core assembly. The core assembly can comprise a constraining member, protruding member, a core member, and a stent extending along the core member. The tubular constraining member can be spaced apart from the core member and define a capture area. The protruding member can be disposed along the core member at least partially distal of the capture area. The stent can have a first portion disposed within the capture area and a second portion, distal to the first portion, extending across or over an outer surface of the protruding member so that the protruding member and the constraining member cooperate to inhibit expansion of the first portion of the stent.
US09308109B2
The stent graft delivery device includes a shaft on which the stent graft is placed on the distal side; a sheath which is slidable outside of the shaft; a handle which is provided on the proximal side of the shaft and the sheath; and an operation unit which is provided with a switch mechanism. When a rotating member is rotated, while in a state of pressing a switch member of the switch mechanism inward, the sheath moves backward and the shaft moves forward using the handle as a reference.
US09308107B2
A system for treating a body vessel may include a delivery device and a prosthesis retained on the delivery device. The prosthesis may include a main body and first and second legs each extending from the main body. The main body may include a lumen, and the first leg may include a lumen in fluid communication with the lumen of the main body. The second leg may include a tubular graft body and a stent attached to the graft body. The prosthesis may have a predeployment configuration in which the graft body of the second leg is inverted into and positioned within the lumen of the first leg, and the stent is positioned outside of the inverted graft body. The prosthesis may have a deployed configuration in which the second leg extends outward from the main body, and the stent is positioned within a lumen of the graft body.
US09308105B2
A system for endoluminally delivering and deploying a prosthesis includes a prosthesis comprising a self-expanding stent and a cover for retaining at least a portion of the self-expanding stent. The stent is biased into contact with an inner surface of the cover. The inner surface has a hardness that is equal to or greater than the hardness of the stent. Additional aspects of the invention are disclosed and include a method of manufacturing an endoluminal prosthesis delivery and deployment system.
US09308104B2
A stent removal device for removing or repositioning a stent from within a lumen is provided. The stent typically comprises at least one element arranged circumferentially about the stent. The stent removal device includes a tube positioned within the lumen proximate to the stent, wherein the tube is capable of receiving at least a portion of the stent. The stent removal device also includes a pusher positioned within the tube capable of engaging the stent and/or the element. The stent removal device further includes a hook positioned within the tube and including a hook member capable of engaging the element such that force applied to the hook causes the stent to purse string.
US09308101B2
A hybrid mechanical device comprising rigid-body joints, such as rotational and planar joints, and one or more continuum joints that operate based on constitutive properties of materials, such as, for example, flexure, extension and compression. Embodiments include a tripartite nucleus comprising a cap, core, and sled. The cap is rotatably connected to a first end plate and the sled is rotationally and translationally connected to a second end plate. The joint surfaces between the nucleus and end plates of the device provide up to six degrees of freedom. The constitutive properties of the core can further provide a “continuum” joint to complete the hybrid mechanical motion producing structure. In certain embodiments, the cap, core and sled comprise the same or substantially the same material. But, in other embodiments, the cap, core and sled comprise different materials.
US09308095B2
An orthopaedic knee prosthesis includes a femoral component which exhibits enhanced articular features, minimizes removal of healthy bone stock from the distal femur, and minimizes the impact of the prosthesis on adjacent soft tissues of the knee.
US09308093B1
A hip implant having two distinct bodies, a neck body and a bone fixation body. The neck body is formed from a solid metal and has an interface for connecting to a femoral ball. The bone fixation body has an elongated shape and is formed as a porous structure that is inserted into an intramedullary canal of a patient.
US09308092B2
The invention relates to a package for receiving an adapter sleeve for a hip endoprosthesis, the hip endoprosthesis comprising a ball head which has to be pushed onto the adapter sleeve with a defined pushing-on force. For simplification and secure fastening of the ball head on the adapter sleeve, it is proposed according to the invention that a device for the mounting of the ball head on the adapter sleeve is integrated in the package and this device comprises indicating elements which indicate that the defined pushing-on force has been reached when the ball head is pressed onto the adapter sleeve.
US09308089B2
An endoprosthesis is proved which includes an elongate housing having a drive secured through a threaded drive shaft to an extension shaft therein, the drive operable to cause the extension shaft to move axially with respect to the body, and the extension shaft and housing configured to be securable to a bone to act as a prosthetic replacement for removed bone. An operating system for the endoprosthesis is also provided.
US09308087B2
A sequentially deployed prosthetic cardiac valve includes a self-expanding frame having an atrial skirt, a ventricular skirt, and an annular region disposed therebetween. A first anterior tab is disposed on an anterior portion of the frame. A posterior tab is on a posterior portion of the self-expanding frame. The frame may be designed so that any portion may expand sequentially in any desired order. For example, a portion of the first anterior tab and a portion of the posterior tab may partially self-expand first. Next, the first anterior tab may fully self-expand before the posterior tab fully self-expands. The posterior tab may fully self-expand next followed by the ventricular skirt, or the ventricular skirt may self-expand next followed by full expansion of the posterior tab.
US09308082B2
An ocular stent for insertion in an anterior chamber of an eye is provided. The stent facilitates the restoration of the structure of an irideocorneal angle of the anterior chamber for treating structural changes from ocular aging. The stent includes an annular body sized to fit in the irideocorneal angle of the eye. The body includes: an anterior portion configured to contact a surface of a transition zone between a trabecular meshwork and a corneal endothelium of the eye; a posterior portion configured to contact a peripheral iris of the eye; and a central portion connecting the anterior portion and the posterior portion of the body. A method for stabilizing the iredeocorneal angle of the anterior chamber using a stent is also disclosed herein.
US09308081B2
Apparatus and methods for nipple and breast formation are described where devices precondition or expand a target nipple tissue to reduce the pressure exerted by the skin on an eventual implant. Generally, the apparatus comprises a mold having a contact surface which is curved in conformance with a breast upon which the mold is positionable, the contact surface having an adhesive for securement upon the breast, and the mold defining a cavity along the contact surface which conforms to a size of a nipple to be formed upon the breast and where the cavity further comprises the adhesive for securement to the nipple. A breast enlargement device comprises a cup larger than the target breast and further defines an inner surface which adheres to the breast when contacted.
US09308079B2
The endovascular prosthesis includes a first expandable framework and a first jacket for the first framework, the first framework and the first jacket forming a first channel when the first framework is in the expanded state. The first framework and the first jacket each have at least one opening, which openings are arranged substantially opposite one another and through which a sleeve is received, the sleeve having a first end and a second end, the perimeter of the first end being attached to the perimeter of the opening of the first jacket, while the second end extends inside the first channel.
US09308078B2
A medical device for regulating fluid flow within one or more lungs of a patient is disclosed. The medical device includes an elongate tubular member, a first extension, a second extension, and a valve member. The elongate tubular member includes a first plurality of channels extending between a proximal and distal ends. The first and second extensions defines a second and third plurality of channels, respectively, each extending from the distal end of the elongate tubular member and configured for placement in a first and second passageway of a lung. The valve member operably couples to the elongate tubular member and is configured to transition between a first position and a second position. The valve member prevents fluid flow to first set of the first plurality of channels in the first position and prevents fluid flow to second set of the first plurality of channels in the second position.
US09308068B2
An implant for the prevention or treatment of a hernia in the proximity of an organ stoma formed in an abdominal wall includes a porous structure having a surface intended to face the abdominal cavity covered by a first film of anti-adhesive material. The porous structure includes a first part intended to be in contact with a stoma organ and having a first thickness, and a second part having a second thickness greater than the first thickness, the first part including a surface intended to face the abdominal wall covered by a second film of anti-adhesive material.
US09308067B2
A urethral support sling implant for treatment of male urinary incontinence is produced in a biocompatible material and comprises a central part intended to form the area supporting the urethra, including an inferior base prolonged into two trans-obturator arms in the same plane and in opposition to each other. The inferior base is prolonged upwards by a section extending beyond the inferior base in the form of two pre-pubic arms. The prolonging arms are made of the same material as the central part, and the arms are produced in the same direction of knit. The pre-pubic arms are configured in a ‘V’ relative to each other, and each of the pre-pubic arms is configured in a ‘V’ relative to the subjacent trans-obturator arm.
US09308066B2
A removable vena cava filter (10) configured for reduced trauma and enhanced visualization of anchoring hook placement relative to the vessel wall is disclosed. The filter includes a plurality of struts (12a-d), each having an anchoring hook (26) and a stop member (24) proximate the anchoring hook. The stop members are configured to engage the vessel wall to prevent excessive penetration of the anchoring hooks into the vessel wall and to aid in the identification of anchoring hook placement relative to the vessel wall.
US09308064B2
Devices for collecting a fluid sample from the oral cavity, the device including a mouthpiece that includes a chamber, the chamber including front and rear inner walls; and means for collecting the fluid sample from the oral cavity; and methods of collecting and analyzing samples of fluid from the oral cavity, including the steps of placing the device in the oral cavity, collecting the fluid sample and conducting an analysis of the fluid sample.
US09308057B2
The invention relates to a device for ejecting a liquid or paste product, including a body (2) having a recess (11) for receiving a product to be ejected, characterized in that it includes a threaded rod (3), which is translatably movable so as to act on the product to be ejected, a bolt (5), which is mounted so as to engage with the threaded rod (3) in order to cause same to translatably move, and a lever (1) acting on the bolt (5) by means of a control means for causing the rotation thereof.
US09308040B2
Methods of treating a subject for a cardiac arrhythmia are provided. Aspects of the methods include thoracoscopically producing a cardiac Cox maze III set of lesions in cardiac tissue of the subject in a manner sufficient to treat the subject for the cardiac arrhythmia.
US09308024B2
Systems, methods, and apparatuses for debriding a tissue site, such as a wound, involve using solid CO2 particles and reduced pressure to cut and remove undesired tissue in a controlled manner. The system may urge the undesired tissue into a treatment cavity and then cut the undesired tissue with impinging CO2 particles. The CO2 particles sublime into a gas and present little or no mess. Other systems, methods, and apparatuses are presented.
US09308009B2
An ultrasonic surgical device comprises a detachable transducer module, a handle, and a shaft assembly. The shaft assembly includes an end effector having a harmonic blade. The transducer module is removably coupled with the shaft assembly to form an active assembly. The active assembly is removably coupled with the handle. The handle may include a resilient wall structure that deflects outwardly to receive the active assembly in a snap fit. The handle may include a pivoting latch feature to selectively retain the active assembly relative to the handle.
US09308005B2
Disclosed herein are methods, compositions and tools for repairing articular surfaces repair materials and for repairing an articular surface. The articular surface repairs are customizable or highly selectable by patient and geared toward providing optimal fit and function. The surgical tools are designed to be customizable or highly selectable by patient to increase the speed, accuracy and simplicity of performing total or partial arthroplasty.
US09308002B2
A device for accurately positioning the acetabular cup in a minimally invasive total hip arthroplasty (THA), comprising the steps of (a) placing the cup in roughly the correct position in the acetabulum using a acetabular component placement tool, (b) taking a first abduction reading and a first anteversion reading using a gyroscopic positioning unit aligned with the acetabular component placement tool, (c) taking an image of at least a portion of the cup using a radiography unit, (d) using the image to determine the actual orientation of the cup and required position of the cup to properly orient the acetabular component, (e) incrementally altering the position of the cup by using a striking tool, (f) taking new abduction and anteversion readings using the gyroscopic unit to determine the relative movement of the cup caused by the tapping, and (g) repeating any of the steps as necessary.
US09308001B2
The instant invention describes a surgical tool for providing cavitations, or void spots, within the interior of body regions. The surgical tool is constructed and arranged to penetrate almost all interior body regions in which formation of a cavity or void space is necessary for diagnostic or treatment purposes. The surgical tool comprises an insertable member receiving structure sized and shaped to receive one or more insertable devices. The interior lumen of the insertable member receiving structure allows the insertable device to slide and/or rotate relative to the insertable member receiving structure and vice versa. At least one insertable member is a cavity forming device which has a plurality of cavity forming members constructed and arranged with spring-like characteristics for traversing between a cavity forming position and a non-cavity forming position. Upon traversal back to the cavity forming position, the displacement members retain their cavity forming structural configurations.
US09307995B2
Described are devices, methods, and systems for achieving occlusion of vascular vessels. Further described are certain reduced or low profile procedures and devices for the percutaneous occlusion of the saphenous vein, such as in the treatment of a varicose vein condition caused by venous reflux. Devices and procedures can involve an endoluminal delivery device having an atraumatic distal end, that is advancable through a vascular vessel, and an occlusion device received on the endoluminal delivery device. The endoluminal delivery device can have one or more adaptations for releasably receiving the occlusion device. The occlusion device can include a sponge form material. The occlusion device can include a remodelable material or a synthetic material. The occlusion device can include an anchor.
US09307982B2
Systems, devices and methods to improve safety and efficiency in an operating room comprise providing a suture package that holds new suture needles and needle receptacles for storing used needles. The devices can be safely worn for the surgeon to self-dispense new suture needles in the near surgical field and to secure the used needles into a needle trap or a needle retainer located on his extremity, on his operative instruments or on the surgical drapes. The device may provide automated and/or simplified needle counting both during use and after removal from the surgical field. The device may be configured for ergonomic and efficient use so as to minimize the actions and motions of the surgeon to dispense and secure the needle.
US09307979B1
A surgical suture system, tissue restraint/suture capture and tissue anchor for tissue repair and reattachment of torn tissue to a tissue substrate, medical, veterinary or dental prosthesis or medical implant. The system includes a plurality of tissue restraints/suture captures which each include a central locking aperture sized and configured to receive a beaded suture member passed therethrough which minimizes longitudinal tensioning and/or restraining movement, the “GO” force, of a beaded suture member in the forwardly direction through the locking apertures for suture tightening and which maximizes “NO-GO” force to pull the suture in the reverse direction. Uniquely configured tissue anchors and other medically implantable devices securely receive one of the tissue restraints/suture captures for tensioning of a suture member between tissue and the tissue anchor.
US09307976B2
A wound retractor (320) comprises a distal ring (3) for insertion through a wound opening (6), a proximal ring (4) for location externally of the wound opening (6), a valve (10) mounted to the proximal ring (4), and a sleeve (2) for retracting laterally the sides of the wound opening (6). The wound retractor (320) also comprises a flexible release member (81) for releasing the distal ring (3) from a retracting configuration for removal of the distal ring (3) from the wound opening (6). A first end (301) of the release member (81) is attached to the valve housing (102), the release member (81) loops around the distal ring (3), and a second end (302) of the release member (81) is movable relative to the proximal ring (4) to release the distal ring (3) from the retracting configuration.
US09307972B2
Implants, instruments, and methods for performing surgical procedures on the spine, including one or more of creating an operative corridor to the spine, delivering implants to the spine, fusing one or more segments of the spine, and fixing one or more segments of the spine.
US09307970B2
A surgical instrument includes first and second members, with each member including a handle adjacent a first end of the member, a working portion having an inner surface and an outer surface and extending from a second, opposite end of the member, and a pivot portion located between the handle and the working portion. The first and second members are pivotally connected at the pivot portions about a pivot axis such that the handles are movable between an open position in which the handles are spaced apart and the working portions are adjacent one another and a closed position in which the handles have been brought together and the working portions are spaced apart.
US09307965B2
A staple cartridge assembly for use with a surgical stapler. The assembly has a cartridge body having a support portion with a plurality of staple cavities with openings. There is also a plurality of staples, wherein at least a portion of each the staple is removably stored within a the staple cavity. Each the staple is movable between an unfired position and a fired position, and is deformable between an unfired configuration and a fired configuration. The assembly also includes a compressible tissue thickness compensator configured to be captured within the staples. The compressible tissue thickness compensator at least partially covers the staple cavity openings. The compressed tissue thickness compensator is configured to assume different compressed heights within different the staples. The compressible tissue thickness compensator comprising a lyophilized foam having an anti-microbial agent embedded therein.
US09307964B2
An intra-body-cavity insertion instrument fastener includes an insertion section that is inserted into a body cavity and is held, partially exposed to outside of a human body, and a fastening section that fixes, to a predetermined position, a position of a predetermined point of an intra-body-cavity insertion instrument inserted into the body cavity from an insertion hole different from an insertion hole from which the insertion section is inserted into the body cavity. The fastening section is formed at a top end of the insertion section.
US09307955B2
A method and apparatus for measuring a Doppler signal by using volume data. In detail, the method and apparatus measure a Doppler signal by obtaining a sub volume by using a color component of volume data and locating a sample volume on a scan line of a cell whose corresponding sub volume is scanned.
US09307945B2
Medical equipment protection material including an adhesive layer, an absorbent layer, and a splatter shield.
US09307943B2
A method for determining an appropriateness of a calculated pulse rate is provided. In a pulse rate monitor, a pulse rate calculation part calculates the pulse rate of the test subject based on the result detected by a pulse wave sensor. Then, a pulse rate difference calculation part calculates a difference (pulse rate difference) between a reference pulse rate and a calculated pulse rate, and a deviation degree is determined based on the pulse rate difference. Also, a SN ratio calculation part calculates a SN ratio of a pulse wave signal detected by the pulse wave sensor, and a reliability of the calculation result in the pulse rate calculation part is determined based on the SN ratio. Then, a pulse rate appropriateness judgment part determines an appropriateness of the calculated pulse rate based on the pulse rate difference (deviation degree) and the SN ratio (reliability).
US09307934B2
There is provided a microneedle bio-sampling apparatus including: an bio-sampling body enabling a microneedle to be inserted into human skin; and a blocking unit installed in the bio-sampling body and preventing the microneedle from moving to the skin again to prevent repeated bio-sampling by the microneedle. Since the microneedle bio-sampling apparatus is configured to prevent repeated bio-sampling of a single-use microneedle, secondary infection to other part of a human body or a different person due to blood, human anatomy, or the like, that may remain in a microneedle after the microneedle is used once otherwise in case of repeated bio-sampling of a microneedle, can be prevented.
US09307922B2
A method is disclosed for displaying patient ECG data. The method includes receiving ECG data including an ECG waveform; receiving analyzed ECG data including arrhythmic events; generating an indicia of the detected arrhythmic event; and displaying the indicia of the detected arrhythmic event in relation to the ECG waveform at a position associated with a time of the detected arrhythmic event. A system for displaying patient ECG data is also disclosed.
US09307920B2
An arrhythmia classification system receives cardiac data from an implantable medical device, performs automatic adjudication of each cardiac arrhythmia episode indicated by the cardiac data, and generates episode data representative of information associated with the episode. The episode data include at least an episode classification resulting from the automatic adjudication of the episode and a confidence level in the episode classification. In one embodiment, the episode data further include key features rationalizing the automatic adjudication of the episode.
US09307919B2
An electrode interface system for providing a connection between at least one electrode and a maternal-fetal monitor, wherein the interface system converts electrical muscle activity captured by the electrode(s) into uterine activity data signals for use by the maternal-fetal monitor. The electrode interface system of the invention preferably includes a signal converter for processing the signals from the electrode(s) into signals similar to those produced by a tocodynometer.
US09307913B2
A hemodynamic monitor including a processor incorporating software arranged to continuously analyze and process a blood pressure or arterial volume/plethysmographic signal obtained from the subject in order to derive a plurality of complementary parameters throughout the monitoring of the subject. The monitor also incorporates a display arranged to interact with the processor to display images representing the derived plurality of complementary parameters. The images include at least one image representing graphically at least one stress related hemodynamic parameter plotted against time and at least one image representing graphically at least one fluid responsiveness parameter plotted against time.
US09307912B2
A method of determining a temperature of a patient includes measuring a first temperature of the patient with a temperature device without contacting the patient with the device, and measuring a second temperature of the patient by contacting a measurement site of the patient with the device. The method also includes determining a temperature value indicative of a core temperature of the patient based on the first and second temperatures.
US09307910B2
An endoscope system includes: an endoscope with a unit to be inserted into a subject and captures an inside image of the subject by an imaging unit provided in the unit to generate an image signal; an optical apparatus including a measurement probe to be inserted into the subject through the unit; an endoscope unit that switches between observation light of a plurality of wavelengths and outputs the observation light to observe a target object from the unit; a probe unit that outputs measurement light to measure characteristics of the target object via the measurement probe; a light unit that receives return light via the measurement probe, the return light caused by reflection and/or scattering of the measurement light on the target object; and a switching unit that switches a wavelength band of the measurement light to a different wavelength band from the observation light outputted by the endoscope unit.
US09307904B2
An ophthalmic system for use in performing angular measurements in relation to a patient's eye. The ophthalmic system can include an optical angular measurement device that can provide angular indicia by, for example, projecting an image of an angular measurement reticle onto a patient's eye or by superimposing an image of an angular measurement reticle onto an image of the patient's eye. The ophthalmic system can include an optical refractive power measurement device for providing desired angular orientations for ocular implants or for incisions. The ophthalmic system can be used, for example, to align a toric intraocular lens to a desired angular orientation.
US09307903B2
An image processing apparatus obtains a plurality of moving images of a predetermined site of an eye, specifies a vascular region by using at least one moving image of the plurality of moving images, and measures the sizes of blood cell aggregates in a specific vascular branch in the specified vascular region for each moving image of the plurality of moving images.
US09307897B2
A speculum includes upper and lower members and a linear support member. The upper member includes an upper blade. The lower member includes a lower blade and a handle portion. The lower blade includes a support structure at a proximal end thereof which extends vertically on the right or left side of the lower blade, and a handle portion extending downwardly from the lower blade and defining a vertical track. The linear support member has a proximal end pivotally connected to the upper blade, a distal end, and an elongated body between the proximal and distal ends. The elongated body slidably engages the vertical track of the handle portion. The linear support member is formed with a hidden slot which slidably receives the support structure of the lower blade.
US09307896B2
A composite anoscope for ano-rectal diagnostic and surgery, wherein the anoscope (2) also comprises an internal component (1), to be inserted therein, and a suitably shorter external component (3), ending with a conic frustum mantle (18), wherein the anoscope (2) is to be inserted. The three components (1, 2, 3) are all conic frustum shaped hollow bodies having circular cross-section. The internal component (1), when inserted in the anoscope (2), forms therewith a single body having a compact and smooth external surface and an ogival tip. The external component (3) is provided close to its mouth with slotted wings (19, 20), to be fixed to the perianal skin for securing the whole composite anoscope during the diagnostic and surgical operations.
US09307894B2
The present invention concerns an endoscope for minimally invasive surgery, especially for use within a surgical robotic system, which comprises a main support device (4), which basically extends over the entire length of the endoscope from the outside to the interior of the body, and which comprises at its distal end at least one illumination unit (15, 16) and two imaging devices (12a, 13a, 14a, 12b, 13b, 14b; 12c), wherein each of the imaging devices (12a, 13a, 14a, 12b, 13b, 14b; 12c) is basically arranged in such a way that it can be rotated to the outside on the same level as the main support device (4), a trocar (1), by means of which the endoscope can enter the body, and an additional support device (3), which is provided at the trocar (1) and/or the main support device (4), wherein the additional support device (3) comprises at its distal end an additional imaging device (8, 9, 10, 11), which can be rotated from the additional support device (3) to the outside and wherein the additional imaging device (7, 8, 9, 10) comprises an additional illumination unit (10, 11) and at least an additional image sensor (8, 9), which comprises a monitoring area, which encompasses the two monitoring areas of the imaging devices (12a, 13a, 14a, 12b, 13b, 14b; 12c) of the main support device (4).
US09307893B2
Methods and apparatuses for space-optimized visualization catheters are provided. Some embodiments utilize complimentary metal-oxide-semi-conductor (“CMOS”) technology integrated into a CMOS camera train holder system that may be a stand-alone component for use with a visualization catheter, such as a baby endoscope, or may be fabricated/extruded as a part of the catheter itself. Some embodiments of apparatuses, methods, and equivalents thereto provide better direct visual feedback to the medical personnel performing the procedure while providing a similarly-sized outer diameter visualization catheter device having an increased space therein for additional lumens and equipment or by reducing the overall outer diameter of the visualization catheter.
US09307880B2
A surface treating implement, comprises a body including:— a container receiver; a nozzle assembly comprising a fluid conduit fluidly connected to the container receiver; a container mounted to the container receiver, containing a predetermined amount of a treating composition and having a dispensing opening in fluid communication with the fluid conduit; wherein the body is associated with a handle which includes at least a portion of an activation means for the implement, characterized in that the fluid conduit includes a valve, wherein the valve is operable by a container member attached to and/or extending from the container, adjacent the dispensing opening. The body of the implement includes a variety of brushing means.
US09307877B2
The toilet seat locking assembly provides a device for anchoring a toilet seat in place. The assembly uses a double nut locking system that combines a seating nut with a locking nut assembly to significantly reduce the tendency of a bolt holding a seat on the toilet from becoming loose. The seating nut includes an interior threaded section for receiving a bolt, at least one ramp extending from the seating nut with a pilot extending from the ramp so that the pilot extends from the seating nut into a locking nut. The pilot extending from the seating nut ramp is designed to break away due to engagement with the locking nut, upon turning of the seating nut beyond a limit. The locking nut includes a threaded section for receiving the bolt. The locking nut has at least one pilot receiving slot, one ramp receiving slot, and a handle section for conveniently tightening the device and securing the seating nut and locking nut together.
US09307868B2
The present invention relates to a bath seat. The bath seat has a top and a pair of centrally disposed and spaced-apart drainage holes in communication with the top. The top of the seat includes a channel extending between the drainage holes. The channel has an enlarged first end, an enlarged second end and a connecting portion connecting the ends of the channel together. Fluid entering into the channel is directed to the drainage holes and thereby drains from the seat.
US09307856B2
The machine (1) comprises a support structure (3), in which the following are provided: a refillable water reservoir (4); a boiler (6) provided with an electric heater (7, 8); a pump (9) for supplying a flow of water from the reservoir (4) to the boiler (6); a first electric connector (5) for connecting the machine (1) to an AC supply voltage source; a dispensing unit (35) which is connected to the boiler (6), for dispensing a flow of hot water and/or steam, and to which the following can be coupled: a dose-holder unit (36) for receiving a dose, pre-packaged or loose, of a substance for the preparation of a beverage; a unit (24) for controlling operation of the machine (1); and at least one operating device (25) which can be operated so as to activate preparation of a beverage. The support structure (2, 3) comprises a fixed part (2) and a movable part (3) which can be coupled and uncoupled to/from each other and are provided with respective cooperating means for providing electric and hydraulic connections (12, 16, 17; 13, 20, 21).When the movable part (3) is coupled to the fixed part (2), the machine (1) as a whole is capable of operating with water drawn from the reservoir (4) and using AC electric power.When the movable part (3) is uncoupled from the fixed part (2), this movable part (3) is capable of operating autonomously with water supplied to the boiler (6) via a water inlet means (32) and using DC electric power.
US09307845B2
A multi-function baby carrier is disclosed. The baby carrier is designed to be lightweight and portable, so as to support a baby safely and securely, with the capability of being held with a single hand, acting as a portable baby swing, and also providing a resistance-training weight for a user.
US09307844B2
A snap-fit joint for connecting frame members includes a male member having an insertion end, a top portion, and opposite sidewalls. A female member has a socket to receive the male member insertion end. The socket includes an upstanding wall that temporarily flexes outwardly. Co-acting surfaces of the upstanding socket wall and the male member sidewall include co-acting surfaces in temporarily contact during insertion of the male member into the female member socket to temporarily outwardly flex the upstanding socket wall and seat the male member. The socket wall terminates in a tab and the male member sidewall surface terminates in a recess. The male member is fully seated in the socket, and the co-acting surfaces are out of contact with each other, the upstanding socket wall returns to an unflexed condition, and the socket tab is received in sidewall to lock the male member within the socket.
US09307838B1
A fishing rod holder preferably includes a rod holder base, a rod holder pad and a suction cup. The rod holder base includes a tubular body, a pair of attachment flanges and a pair of retention flanges. A U-shaped slot is formed in the tubular body. Each attachment flange extends outward from the tubular body. The pair of retention flanges terminate a top of the tubular body to retain the rod holder pad. The rod holder pad includes a rod hole, which communicates with a rod slot. The rod holder pad is retained in the tubular body. A suction cup hole is formed through each attachment flange to receive a fastener. The pair of suction cup holes are spaced apart to match the hole pattern of the suction cup. The tubular body is secured to the suction cup with a pair of fasteners.
US09307834B2
A vertical frame for a display stand to store and display various articles is manufactured in the shape of a prefabricated block, and then is assembled in multiple stages. The vertical frame includes a body which is formed in a shape of a prefabricated block and is assembled to each other in multiple stages to support a shelf, a vertical length of the body being optionally adjusted by selection of a user; a body engaging member which protrudes upwardly from both sides or one side of a top surface of the body, and has an insertion groove of which one side is opened; a body engaging groove which is formed on a bottom surface of the body at a position corresponding to a formation position of the body engaging member, so as to guide the body engaging member and a body locking boss to an engaging position; and the body locking boss which protrudes from the body engaging groove and is fitted into the insertion groove when the bodies are assembled to each other in multiple stages.
US09307832B1
The free standing boat accessory telescopic pedestal device has a trapezoidal reinforced base with a pair of upwardly disposed spaced apart ears. A cylinder is downwardly and pivotally affixed to the ears and has a wing-nutted bolt disposed through the cylinder upwardly within the ears. Removal of the wing-nutted bolt allows the cylinder to pivot from an upward position to a position coplanar with the base. A larger tube is affixed upwardly to the cylinder. A smaller tube is slidably and rotatably disposed within the larger tube and is positioned therein via a twist lock. A platform is perpendicularly affixed atop the smaller tube and accepts accessories such as a GPS, a depth finder, a camera, a telescope, and the like.
US09307830B2
Systems, devices, and methods are described for acquiring, among other things, lesion information from a hair or fur-covered region of a biological subject.
US09307819B1
A dual opening system for a bag is provided. The system includes a flap operatively coupled to a bag, the bag having and inner volume, a releasable hinge extending the length of the flap, and a bottom hinge coupled between a bottom portion of the flap and a bottom portion of the bag. The system also includes a connecting device having a first member coupled to a top portion of the flap and a second member coupled to a top portion of the bag, wherein the first member and second member are moveable between an engaged position and disengaged position. The system also includes an opening device allowing the flap to open in a first opening type and a second opening type.
US09307814B2
A convertible handbag includes a body having front and rear sides and a bottom forming an interior compartment. The body has a bottom portion including the bottom, a top portion, and an intermediate portion connecting the top and bottom portions. The top portion is foldable into and out of the interior compartment to convert the body between a tote and a purse. Each side has a bottom pair of openings in the intermediate portion and a top pair of openings in the top portion. Front and rear continuous-loops of flexible material extend through both the top and bottom openings so that the continuous-loops can be pulled from the top pairs of openings to form loop handles extending from the top openings when the body is a tote and can be pulled from the bottom openings to form loop handles extending from the bottom openings when the body is a purse.
US09307807B2
A tie locking device includes a main body and a rotatable press cover. The main body includes a fixing section and at least one wall connected with the fixing section. The press cover has a pivoted end pivotally connected with a pivoted section of the main body. The pivoted end of the press cover and the pivoted section of the main body together define an inlet for a tie to enter the main body. A valve board is disposed on the main body and movable within the main body between a first position distal from the inlet and a second position proximal to the inlet. The valve board is formed with a toothed section. After the valve board is moved to the second position, the toothed section bites the tie and the press cover is pressed onto the main body to fix the valve board and the tie.
US09307802B2
Suspension systems for helmet assemblies provide enhanced stability and adjustability for installation in helmets across different platforms. A suspension system may include an upward stabilizing member extending from a support portion of the suspension system and a pivotally attached downward stabilizing member. The pivotal attachment between upward and downward stabilizing members allows the suspension to be appropriately incorporated into helmets that are subject to manufacturing and specification variability, while still providing flexibility for fit adjustments to the suspension system.
US09307800B2
This invention relates generally to the field of headgear, and, more particularly, to an apparatus for protecting the wearer from head injuries during sporting activities. The apparatus comprises at least a left side pad, a right side pad, a strap system, and optional front and rear cranial pads and chin pad. The pads are all manufactured from closed-cell, ethylene vinyl acetate foam using an injection molding process to create integrated safety features in a single, anti-microbial, safety pad.
US09307799B2
A hat, comprising a brim support defining an aperture, a brim cover attached to the brim support for movement in a direction toward and away from the aperture between a first position where the aperture is closed by the brim cover and a second position where the aperture is open, and a tightening strap operatively connected to the brim cover and being tensioned when the brim cover moves from said first position to said second position.
US09307792B2
A male underwear garment has a waistband, fabric material joined circumferentially to the waistband, contiguously forming a back panel and a front panel, a first and a second leg opening for a person's two legs, and a horizontally oriented and aligned fly comprising a horizontal linear opening in the front panel of a width positioned at a height on the front panel to be, when worn, substantially even with a user's genitalia, the fly comprising an added flap panel of at least the width of the horizontal linear opening, sewn over the horizontal linear opening on three edges of the added flap panel, top and both sides, left open at a bottom edge below the horizontal linear opening, such that access is upward into the garment.
US09307786B2
An automatic spring-roll shaping apparatus converts a spring-roll semiproduct into a spring-roll product, and includes a conveying belt disposed on a machine bed, and a rolling device. The rolling device includes a circular rotating tube rotatable between a shaping position, where the spring-roll semiproduct is rotated in a direction, and a release position, where the spring-roll semiproduct is released from the circular rotating tube so as to be moved by the conveying belt to pass past the circular rotating tube.
US09307776B2
The present invention relates to novel lipase polynucleotide sequences, their corresponding proteins as well as ways of manufacturing said sequences and said proteins and use of the proteins in the preparation of food compositions. The invention further relates to methods for releasing proteins from the exterior of a host cell as well as to a method for killing micro-organisms.
US09307775B2
A method of recombinantly producing a non-bovine pre-prochymosin, prochymosin or chymosin derived from ruminant species including deer species, buffalo species, antelope species, giraffe species, ovine species and caprine species; Camelidae species such as Camelus dromedarius; porcine species; or Equidae species. The recombinant enzymes are used in milk coagulating compositions in cheese manufacturing based on cow's milk and milk from any animal species which are used in cheese manufacturing including camel's milk.
US09307768B2
A synergistic antimicrobial composition containing flurochloridone and 3-Iodo-2-propynyl-butylcarbamate is provided. Also provided is a method of inhibiting the growth of or controlling the growth of microorganisms in a building material by adding such a synergistic antimicrobial composition. Also provided is a coating composition containing such a synergistic antimicrobial composition, and a dry film made from such a coating composition.
US09307766B2
The present invention provides compounds of formula (I) wherein G1 is oxygen; R1 is hydrogen; R2 is group (P) L is a bond, methylene or ethylene; one of A1 and A2 is S, SO or SO2 and the other is —C(R4)R4—; R3 is hydrogen or methyl; each R4 is independently hydrogen or methyl; Y2 and Y3 are independently CH or nitrogen, wherein Y2 and Y3 are not both nitrogen; X2 is C—X6 or nitrogen; X1, X3 and X6 are independently hydrogen, halogen or trihalomethyl, wherein at least two of X1, X3 and X6 are not hydrogen; X4 is trifluoromethyl, difluoromethyl or chlorodifluoromethyl. The invention also provides intermediates useful for the preparation of compounds of formula (I), as well as methods of controlling insects, acarines, nematodes or molluscs using the compounds of formula (I).
US09307762B2
Disclosed herein are herbicidal compositions comprising a synergistically herbicidal effective amount of (a) aminocyclopyrachlor, or an agriculturally acceptable salt or ester thereof, and (b) fluoroxypyr, or an agriculturally acceptable salt or ester thereof. Also disclosed herein are methods of controlling undesirable vegetation, which comprise applying to vegetation or an area adjacent the vegetation or applying to soil or water to prevent the emergence or growth of vegetation (a) aminocyclopyrachlor, or an agriculturally acceptable salt or ester thereof, and (b) fluoroxypyr, or an agriculturally acceptable salt or ester thereof, wherein (a) and (b) are each added in an amount sufficient to produce a synergistic herbicidal effect.
US09307756B2
Intelligent portable carrier device for supporting movement in product tracking and monitoring of regulated products, such as tissue and biologics. Embodiments of the invention use product identification technology, such as radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and readers, to uniquely identify the regulated products as they are added to or removed from the intelligent portable carrier device. Embodiments of the invention may also be configured to monitor and report temperature and other environmental conditions associated with the intelligent portable carrier device.
US09307754B1
A seafood handling tool is provided that comprises a tong-like configuration with a first arm member and a second arm member in pivotal relationship to one another. The arm members are connected to one another along their proximal ends via a clevis, which extends from the first arm member and supports the second arm member from a pin joint. The clevis offsets the first and second arm member, while the pin joint allows the arm members to pivot relative to one another to accept larger or smaller seafood between the arm members along the distal ends. The distal ends of the arm members include elongated tines that extend from the inner surfaces thereof and towards one another. The tines engage an article of seafood while the user grips the proximal ends of the arm members, thereby separating the seafood from the handler.
US09307749B1
In a reel and fishing line control, the combination with a fishing reel apparatus comprising, a rotary handle and a control shaft, three reel driving spur gears having different diameters, axially shiftable mechanism for selectively coupling the control shaft to the individual gears, and mechanism including a coupling selector proximate the reel apparatus.
US09307748B2
The present invention relates to the method for preventing the liquid in the filtering plug-in card form dripping and a plug-in-card type liquid purifying and filtering device. The said liquid purifying and filtering device comprises the water pump, filtering cylinder and filtering plug-in card. In particular, at the top of the said filtering cylinder is equipped with the disassembled filtering plug-in card retainer. When the filtering plug-in card is taken out, such disassembled filtering plug-in card retainer is utilized to place the said filtering plug-in card, thus enabling such filtering plug-in card to leave the liquid level inside the filtering cylinder. In addition, it can set the disassembled top cap retainer for the said filtering cylinder. When the said top cap is disassembled, the disassembled top cap retainer is used to place the said top cap. In the course of replacing the said filtering plug-in card in the present invention, the liquid attached to the filtering plug-in card and liquid attached to the underside of the top cap are refluxed into the filter cylinder or water body, thus effectively preventing the liquid from dripping during the replacement of the filtering plug-in card and enabling the process of replacing the filtering plug-in card to be clean, simple and convenient.
US09307747B2
An aviary is provided having a floor and a first aviary cage including a first outside surface enclosing a first inside area. The aviary further comprises a second aviary cage similar to the first aviary cage and including a second outside surface enclosing a second inside area. An aisle extends between the first aviary cage and the second aviary cage. A first perch extends from the first outside surface of the first aviary cage and into the aisle at a first vertical distance from the floor. A second perch extends from the second outside surface of the second aviary cage and into the aisle at a second vertical distance from the floor. The first and second vertical distances from the floor are not equal.
US09307743B2
Disclosed is a method and device for providing water to livestock during transport in a trailer that is being towed behind a vehicle. In the disclosed embodiments, each stall of the trailer is equipped with one or more transferable animal transport watering assemblies that allows each animal to have their own on-demand access to water. Each watering assembly is releasably mounted with a quick release bracket and quick-connect pressurized water supply, facilitating easy transfer of the watering assembly to an external mount point on the trailer so that the animals have continued access to the water supply when the trailer is parked.
US09307739B2
The present invention relates to a Spinacia oleracea seed designated 51-335 RZ, which exhibits late bolting, savoy mature leaves with an ovate shape, and resistance to downy mildew (Peronospora farinosa f.sp. spinaciae) races Pfs1 to Pfs13 and strain UA4410. The present invention also relates to a Spinacia oleracea plant produced by growing the 51-335 RZ seed. The invention further relates to methods for producing the spinach cultivar, represented by spinach variety 51-335 RZ.
US09307726B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV382815. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV382815, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV382815 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV382815 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV382815.
US09307722B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV950930. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV950930, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV950930 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV950930 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV950930.
US09307706B2
A system and method for providing irrigation management services is disclosed. The system may include a plurality of controllers, where each controller controls application of water by an irrigation system associated with the controller. A central computer that is remote from each of the controllers may be configured to implement an irrigation management plan that is individualized to each location and based, at least in part, upon one or more characteristics of the location as determined by an on-site visit. The irrigation manager may guarantee that the system will provide a return on investment within a predefined period of time. The system may also detect faults in the irrigation systems using water usage data from the controllers and diagnose the faults. A technician may be notified and dispatched to repair the faults.
US09307695B2
A cutter blade for a mower is driven to rotate about a vertical axis inside a housing. The cutter blade includes a blade body, a blade portion formed in the blade body and a wind generating portion formed in the blade body on its side opposite in a width direction thereof to the side where the blade portion is formed, the wind generating portion being formed by being raised and bent from the blade body over a predetermined area from an end in a longitudinal direction thereof. At an outer end portion of the wind generating portion in the longitudinal direction of the blade body, there is formed at least one recessed portion recessed more inwards than the remaining portion of the outer end portion.
US09313936B2
The present disclosure relates to an electronic control apparatus for a vehicle using a sloped structure, and a manufacturing method thereof, in which an appropriate space is maintained with a housing body in order to maintain thermal glue applied onto the PCB when assembling an electronic control apparatus in a sliding manner, and the PCB is assembled by making the PCB be in contact with an upper housing body along a sloped structure formed in a distal end housing at a point at which the slide type assembling is ended, so that the thermal glue may be uniformly applied onto the PCB and be maintained during a slide type manufacturing process.
US09313928B2
A method is provided for containing cold air in a corridor created on the side of a computer cabinet. The method includes providing a base mountable on the computer cabinet, and providing a panel fastened to the base and moveable with respect to the base, the panel being suitable for separating the cold air in the corridor below the panel from the hot air above the panel.
US09313922B2
A power electronics system includes a multipart housing having three housing elements of cuboid basic structure to define a central element with inlet and outlet ports for a cooling liquid, an upper and lower cover elements which are arranged on opposite connection surfaces of the central element. A plurality of power electronics switching devices is accommodated in the housing, and a condenser device having condenser connection elements is arranged in the central element of the housing> Further provided is a liquid cooling system having at least one first upper cooling chamber between the central element and the upper cover element, and at least two first and second lower cooling chambers between the central element and the lower cover element. The upper and lower cooling chambers are configured for circulation of the cooling liquid entering through the inlet port and exiting through the outlet port of the housing.
US09313908B2
The invention relates to a mobile identification indicator (1) for locking and unlocking a closure device of a motor vehicle, comprising an electronic unit (6) disposed inside a housing (2). According to the invention, the housing (2) has a defined outer surface (7) on which is applied a functional coating (10), wherein the functional coating (10) comprises an information layer (11) for individualizing the identification indicator (1).
US09313900B2
Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a double-sided printed circuit board (PCB) having a circuit pattern by printing a conductive paste. According to the method of the present invention, a circuit pattern that is precise and highly conductive can be formed, and a reduction in raw materials and the simplification of processes are made possible. Also, due to the printing of the conductive paste, short-circuit can be prevented even when a conductive layer is bent or exposed to heat or physical impact.
US09313896B2
A double-layered transparent conductive film includes: a first substrate; a first imprint adhesive layer formed on the first substrate, the first imprint adhesive layer defining a first mesh-shaped groove, the first mesh-shaped groove forming a first mesh; a first conductive layer including conductive material filled in the first mesh-shaped groove; a tackifier layer formed on the first imprint adhesive layer and the first conductive layer; a second substrate formed on the tackifier layer; a second imprint adhesive layer formed on the second substrate, the second imprint adhesive layer defining a second mesh-shaped groove, the second mesh-shaped groove forming a second mesh, wherein one of the first mesh and the second mesh is a regular mesh, the other is a random mesh; and a second conductive layer including conductive material filled in the second mesh-shaped groove. During the lamination, no alignment accuracy is needed, such that the production efficiency is greatly improved. A method of manufacturing the double-layered transparent conductive film is also provided.
US09313894B2
A wiring substrate includes a core, a first wiring layer formed on a first surface of the core, a second wiring layer formed on a second surface of the core, and an electronic component partially accommodated in the cavity and including a projected portion projected from the first opening of the core. A first insulating layer covers a side surface of the electronic component and the first surface of the core and fills a portion of the cavity. A second insulating layer covers the first insulating layer. A third insulating layer covers the second surface of the core. The remainder of the cavity that is not filled with the first insulating layer is filled with the third insulating layer.
US09313889B2
Provided is a display apparatus. The display apparatus includes a display panel, a flexible circuit film having a rear surface connected to the display panel, and a front surface opposite to the rear surface, the front surface having a chip mounted thereon, and a first lead bonding portion electrically connecting the chip to the display panel. The first lead bonding portion includes a first portion connected to the chip and overlying a portion of the flexible circuit film, a second portion passing through the flexible circuit film, and a third portion disposed between the flexible circuit film and the display panel on the rear surface of the flexible circuit film, where the third portion overlaps the first portion.
US09313885B2
Disclosed is a flexible flat cable including an incision section including a cutting line, a connection section including a conductive line exposure end portion, and a transition section to connect the incision section with the connection section. Plural conductive lines are arranged with a pitch interval of 0.5 mm to form one conductive line group, and plural conductive line groups are arranged with an interval of 1.0 mm, such that the cutting line is in a space having the interval of 1.0 mm between the conductive groups. The conductive lines are collected at an end portion side of the incision section in the transition section, and the connection section includes a linear section which the conductive lines extending from an end portion of the transition section extend while being spaced apart from each other with a pitch of 0.5 mm and a conductive line exposure part exposed to an outside.
US09313881B2
Improved Molded Laser Package (MLP) Packages which include a relief path for pressure and reduces the risk of shorting adjacent solder balls are provided. The MLP packages may include a gutter integrally connected to one or more through mold vias allowing a path to relieve pressure created when moisture gets entrapped in through mold vias, during the manufacturing process, while also reducing the risk of solder shorts between adjacent solder balls located in the through mold vias. Additionally, MLP packages which include gutters integrally connected to one or more through mold vias may enable tighter bump pitch and thinner packages. As a result, process margins and risks associated with surface mount technology (SMT) may be improved and provide more flexibility on inventory staging.
US09313877B2
A first interconnect substrate includes a first conductor pattern. A second interconnect substrate includes a second conductor pattern. At least a portion of the second conductor pattern is formed in a region opposite the first conductor pattern. At least either the first conductor pattern or the second conductor pattern has a repeated structure. The first conductor pattern and the second conductor pattern constitute at least a portion of an electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structure.
US09313875B2
Examples are disclosed for a conformal coating molded around power source circuitry, electrical components or at least portions of a display for a computing device. The conformal coating to include embedded microencapsulated thermal energy storage material to absorb heat generated by the electrical components.
US09313870B2
Systems and methods for arc handling in plasma processing operations are disclosed. The method includes providing current with a power supply to a plasma load at a first voltage polarity and energizing an energy storage device so when it is energized, the energy storage device applies a reverse polarity voltage that has a magnitude that is as least as great as the first voltage polarity. When an arc is detected, power is applied from the energy storage device to the plasma load with a reverse polarity voltage that has a polarity that is opposite of the first voltage polarity, the application of the reverse polarity voltage to the plasma load decreases a level of the current that is provided to the plasma load.
US09313864B2
Illumination control system 1 includes illumination apparatuses 10 and control apparatus 20 for controlling them. Each illumination apparatus 10 includes: communication unit 101 that performs wireless communication with control apparatus 20; and controller 102 that receives from control apparatus 20 instruction on operation and causes illumination apparatus 10 to perform the instructed operation. Control apparatus 20 includes: communication unit 201 that establishes connection to perform wireless communication with illumination apparatuses 10; display unit 202 that displays an icon representing target illumination apparatus 10; second controller 203 that transmits instruction on operation of target illumination apparatus 10 to enable a user to visually confirm target illumination apparatus 10; receiver 204 that receives from the user an identifier identifying a group of target illumination apparatus 10 in association with the icon; and registration unit 205 that registers group information indicating the identified group and connection information in association with each other.
US09313863B2
A device controls a lighting condition of smart objects. A networking framework is executed on the device and the smart objects. An RF signal is broadcast from the device to the smart objects. The signal requests the objects to transmit an ultrasound signal. Ultrasound signals from the objects are received in the device via microphones. A range and direction to each object may be determined based on reception times of the ultrasound signals. A map of the location of the objects is generated. The objects are controlled, via the networking framework, based on the map. A user interface overlay that shows the current lighting condition and location of objects using icons is presented on the device display. The icons are interactive controls for the objects, which may be interacted with for control of the corresponding object. The objects may be manually or automatically controlled to achieve a lighting condition.
US09313854B2
A system and method for operating one or more light emitting devices is disclosed. In one example, the intensity of light provided by the one or more light emitting devices is adjusted responsive to a temperature of the one or more light emitting device. The light is adjusted via modifying a current supplied to the one or more light emitting devices.
US09313852B2
The present invention concerns LED drivers and is in particular directed to signal overlay for feature addition to an existing LED driver. Specifically, the invention is directed to an apparatus (200) for operating a LED driver (100), to a method of operating a LED driver, to a computer program for operating a LED driver and to a LED driver unit. The apparatus (200) is capable of overlaying an overlay signal (digital or analogue) to a control signal (164) of the LED driver (100) in dependence of external control information (256). The control signal (164) is provided to the LED driver at a control signal inlet (105). By overlaying the overlay signal, the apparatus (200) modulates the control signal (164) and provides a modulated control signal (164) to the same control signal inlet (105).
US09313850B2
A dimming way without turning on/off is to change output voltage for LED or OLED lamp corresponding to dimming percentage without turn on and off LED or OLED lamp; The dimming control signal can come from a keyboard, a phase dimmer, a dimmer button or a computer; The dimming control signal can be sent to controller through PWM signal, phase dimmer or I2C; The output load can be LED lamp or OLED lamp.
US09313849B2
A system for dimming a solid state illumination source, such as a light emitting diode, including a low pass analog filter operative to extract a direct current (DC) voltage component from an incoming alternating current (AC) waveform. A microprocessor is structured to digitally filter the DC voltage resulting from the analog filter and extract dimming data associated with a dimming operation of the LED. The microprocessor includes monitoring capabilities operative to detect predetermined characteristics of the dimming data associated with the dimming operation. The predetermined characteristics are determinative of manual control of the dimming operation or non-manual activation of a dimming signal. The predetermined characteristics which are determinative of manual control may include, but not be limited to, speed of voltage change, direction of voltage change and amount of voltage change associated with the dimming signal delivered to the LED.
US09313847B2
LED light source comprising a string of LED loads (LED1-LED4) supplied by a rectified mains voltage. The number of LED loads carrying current is increased as the momentary amplitude of the rectified mains voltage increases, and is decreased as the momentary amplitude of the rectified mains voltage decreases. The order in which the LED loads start carrying a current and the order in which the LED loads stop carrying a current is reversed for each half period of the mains.
US09313842B2
A switch mode power supply controller provides power to a pair of light sources. The controller includes a low voltage programmable current source and adjusting elements for independently adjusting the current to the LED light sources. The controller also includes a first communication port for receiving a communication from an external device, such as a dimmer, or from another power supply controller; and a second communication port for sending a communication to a third power supply controller. These ports provide an upstream and downstream communication capability through a chain of controllers so that input from a device can be communicated upstream and downstream.
US09313840B2
A power distribution system includes controller of a switching power converter to control the switching power converter and determine one or more switching power converter control parameters. In at least one embodiment, the controller determines the one or more switching power converter control parameters using a resonant period factor from a reflected secondary-side voltage and an occurrence of an approximate zero voltage crossing of the secondary-side voltage during a resonant period of the secondary-side voltage. In at least one embodiment, the switching power converter control parameters include (i) an estimated time of a minimum value of the secondary-side voltage during the resonant period and (ii) an estimated time at which a current in the secondary-side of the transformer decayed to approximately zero.
US09313839B2
Light-emitting diode lighting device having multiple driving stages and line/load regulation control
An LED lighting device includes multiple luminescent devices driven by a rectified AC voltage. The multiple luminescent devices are turned on flexibly in a multi-stage driving scheme using multiple current controllers. The current settings of the two driving stages with the highest current level and the second highest current level are adjusted according to the variation in the rectified AC voltage VAC or according to the variation in the duty cycle of the luminance device due to the variation in the rectified AC voltage. The present invention can improve the line/load regulation of the LED lighting device when the rectified AC voltage somehow fluctuates between its upper bound and lower bound.
US09313834B2
An electrode joint having first and second complementary elements capable of being joined together to form the joint, wherein one of the threaded elements has at least one slot at least partially along its length; and wherein one of the threaded elements includes a source of a flowable adhesive in fluid communication with the slot.
US09313833B2
Apparatus for heating a sample includes a microchip; a microchannel flow channel in the microchip, the microchannel flow channel containing the sample; a microwave source that directs microwaves onto the sample for heating the sample; a wall section of the microchannel flow channel that receives the microwaves and enables the microwaves to pass through wall section of the microchannel flow channel, the wall section the microchannel flow channel being made of a material that is not appreciably heated by the microwaves; a carrier fluid within the microchannel flow channel for moving the sample in the microchannel flow channel, the carrier fluid being made of a material that is not appreciably heated by the microwaves; wherein the microwaves pass through wall section of the microchannel flow channel and heat the sample.
US09313827B2
An architecture for transporting radio samples, compressed samples or pre-processed radio samples in symbol form across a communication network, including a packet switched network such as Ethernet. Further, the conversion of the radio samples from streaming data to a packetized format can also be performed. Processing of radio samples can be performed in a centralized location, where the centralized location can service multiple radio heads that are located across a large geographical area. This centralized processing can be referred to as Cloud-RAN. The radio heads can also perform pre-processing to reduce effective data rates across the communication network. Further, one or more of the components of the communication network can perform timing synchronization utilizing, for example, Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and/or IEEE 1588.
US09313814B2
The present disclosure relates to computer-implemented systems and methods for wireless communication via proximity detection. The method may include determining, by a computer via a plurality of induction coils in a proximity transponder, a magnetic field emitted from a base station. The computer may include one or more processors, a radio transceiver, and the proximity transponder. The method may also include transmitting, by the proximity transponder to the base station in response to the magnetic field, identification information. Additionally, the method may include receiving, from the base station, a verification of the identification information. The method may also include establishing, by the radio transceiver based at least in part on the verification, a radio connection with the base station.
US09313801B2
There is proposed a mechanism by means of which resources for a data transmission between a user equipment and a base transceiver station are set. For this purpose, a resource dedicated to the user equipment (like an SR resource) is combined with at least one contention based resource allocated to a contention based transmission by the user equipment (like a CB-PUSCH resource). The at least one contention based resource to be combined is selected by executing a mapping according to a predetermined rule and based on an information indicating a specific resource element dedicated to the user equipment to at least one set of available contention based resources, and by determining an information identifying at least one resource element of the at least one contention based resource.
US09313796B2
Various example embodiments are disclosed herein. According to one example embodiment, a method may include determining, at a base station in a wireless network, an uplink channel quality for a mobile station, sending an acknowledgment/negative acknowledgment (ACK/NAK) aggregation indicator to the mobile station based on the determining, sending a plurality of data bursts to the mobile station, and receiving at least one aggregated ACK/NAK report from the mobile station.
US09313795B2
It is possible to provide a radio communication terminal device and a radio transmission method which can improve reception performance of a CQI and a reference signal. A phase table storage unit stores a phase table which correlates the amount of cyclic shift to complex coefficients {w1, w2} to be multiplied on the reference signal. A complex coefficient multiplication unit reads out a complex coefficient corresponding to the amount of cyclic shift indicated by resource allocation information, from the phase table storage unit and multiplies the read-out complex coefficient on the reference signal so as to change the phase relationship between the reference signals in a slot.
US09313793B2
A method and system to dynamically allocate a frequency based on a priority of quality of experience (QoE) is disclosed. A method to dynamically allocate a frequency may include: securing a predetermined frequency band and a bonus frequency band for a macrocell; allocating the predetermined frequency band and the bonus frequency band to a macro terminal located in the macrocell; allocating the bonus frequency band based on the priority of service in a subsequent time slot when a frequency band comprising the predetermined frequency band and the bonus frequency band is not allocated to the macro terminal.
US09313791B2
A device and method for dropping an air interface is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises communicating over a first air interface and a second air interface, determining an operational parameter based at least in part on a characteristic of the first air interface, and dropping the second air interface based at least in part on the operational parameter. A device and method for adding an air interface is also disclosed. In one embodiment, the system comprises a processor configured to drop one of a plurality of concurrently established air interfaces and to subsequently determine that at least one predetermined criteria is met before attempting to add the air interface.
US09313778B2
A frequency to be used in a cognitive wireless system is determined appropriately. A DB apparatus manages white spaces (WS) for each frequency, and calculates and reports, to a mobile terminal, WS vectors (distances from a mobile terminal location to an interference area in the four directions, north, south, east and west) for each frequency. The mobile terminal refers to the WS vectors and uses a frequency providing the longest available distance in a direction of movement. The available distance is calculated by interpolation (triangular interpolation, elliptical interpolation, rectangular interpolation) of WS boundaries using various methods. Desirably, the mobile terminal reports a direction of movement to the DB apparatus, and the DB apparatus reports the distance to an interference area only in the two directions near to the direction of movement. Furthermore, desirably, information indicating whether the interference areas in the two directions are the same area or different areas is added to the WS vectors, and the interpolation method employed by the mobile terminal is changed in accordance with this information.
US09313775B2
There is implemented a clipping technique that does not require a reception apparatus or a transmission apparatus to notify a transmission apparatus or a reception apparatus of information on clipping. A wireless transmission apparatus performs clipping processing not to transmit a spectrum of part of a frequency domain signal when transmitting data to a wireless reception apparatus and determines a frequency band to be subjected to the clipping processing using information other than information notified from the wireless reception apparatus and directly specifying a frequency band to be subjected to the clipping processing.
US09313774B2
To signal CSI-RS location indexes indicative of CSI-RS location positions in a resource block with high efficiency, a signaling method of CSI-RS is characterized by having the steps of locating a CSI-RS that is a reference signal for downlink channel estimation in resources for CSI-RS reserved to transmit the CSI-RS, generating a CSI-RS location index indicative of a location position of the CSI-RS located in the resources for CSI-RS, in the CSI-RS location index an index pattern varies corresponding to the number of CSI-RS ports so that an index pattern of the relatively low number of CSI-RS ports is a subset of an index pattern of the relatively high number of CSI-RS ports, and transmitting the generated CSI-RS location index to a mobile terminal apparatus.
US09313772B2
Methods and apparatus enabling a wireless network to optimize paging channel operation, based on mobile device context information. In one embodiment, the wireless network is a cellular network (e.g., LTE-Advanced), and both base stations and cellular user devices dynamically exchange and maintain a paging agreement. The paging agreement limits the paging channel operation, thereby minimizing unnecessary scanning and usage of irrelevant radio resources. Such paging mechanisms are limited to the air interface between the base station and the mobile device, and are compatible with existing legacy devices and network entities. Networks with appropriately enabled user devices may improve their resource utilization. Base stations may advantageously reclaim freed-up cellular resources to support other services.
US09313769B2
Paging load and/or registration load in a network is reduced by using different types of identifiers to specifying which nodes page an access terminal in the network. In some aspects, the network maintains a list that specifies that certain individual nodes (e.g., cells or sectors) are to page a given access terminal and/or that one or more zones (e.g., tracking areas) are to page the access terminal. In some aspects, an access terminal in a network may be configured to provide a forward-looking paging list to the network. The list provided by an access terminal may specify different types of node identifiers (e.g., individual node identifiers, subscriber groups, etc.). The network may then use the list to determine which nodes are to page a given access terminal such that when the access terminal moves to a different node, that node may already be configured to page the access terminal. In some aspect paging load and registration load are managed in a deployment that includes different types of access points. For example, access points of a first type (e.g., macro nodes) may provide service over relatively large coverage areas and access points of a second type (e.g., femto nodes) may provide service over smaller coverage areas and/or provide restricted service.
US09313762B2
A method and a device for cooperative location of a first node possessed by a first mobile body comprising several nodes able to transmit and/or receive a signal by wireless means, comprises a step of measurements of distances separating the first node from second nodes, each of the second nodes being possessed by one of the following entities chosen from among: the first mobile body, a remote fixed apparatus and a second mobile body both situated within transmission range of the said mobile body, at least two nodes from among all the second nodes used to perform the distance measurements being possessed by two entities of distinct types and/or by the second mobile body, a step making it possible to utilize the measurements so as to locate at least the first node at least in relation to some of the second nodes.
US09313753B2
The present invention relates to a method and a device for controlling the hand-over message transmission power of a mobile station in a mobile communication system. The present invention comprises the processes of: acquiring uplink data relating to a hand-over target base station; using the uplink data to determine the maximum transmission power of a hand-over ranging message; and transmitting a hand-over ranging message having a power level below the determined maximum transmission power to the hand-over target base station.
US09313747B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure describe method, apparatus, and system configurations that implement or otherwise use a codebook designed for antennas configured in a circular array. A method includes receiving, by user equipment (UE) from an enhanced node B (eNB) station of a wireless communication network, a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) for the UE to perform channel measurements of multiple antennas of the eNB station, wherein the multiple antennas are configured in one or more circular arrays, performing, by the UE, channel measurements of the multiple antennas of the eNB station using the received CSI-RS, and determining, by the UE, a code word based on the channel measurements, the code word being stored in a codebook designed for a circular antenna array. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US09313739B2
Systems, methods, and devices for wireless communications are disclosed. In one aspect, an apparatus for wireless communications includes a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit and receive packets. The apparatus further includes a wake up circuit configured to wirelessly receive packets. The apparatus is further configured to detect reception of a wake up signal via the receiver and execute a command based on the wake up signal. In another aspect, an apparatus is disclosed, which generates and transmits wake up signals.
US09313726B2
The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for searching for a network. The method includes: determining that a user equipment (UE) camping on a cell of a current public land mobile network (PLMN) is in an access barred state; determining that the UE cannot be successfully registered with the current PLMN; and performing a PLMN search. In the method and the apparatus for searching for a network according to embodiments of the present invention, if it is determined that the UE normally camping on the cell of the current PLMN is in the access barred state and cannot be successfully registered with the current PLMN, the PLMN search is performed, so that when the UE is in the access barred state, the UE can still perform the PLMN search, and can further select a new PLMN for access and execute a normal service, thereby improving user experience.
US09313725B2
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and a device for performing autonomously search for a cell in the wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving configuration information including frequency information; autonomously performing search for a cell in accordance with the frequency information; and transmitting a proximity indication about a detected cell when the cell is detected on a frequency identified by the frequency information.
US09313720B2
Cellular network may introduce a large number of limited access/limited range (“small”) base stations deployed by end-users such as home base nodes (HNBs) or Femtocells that provide access to access terminals (ATs) or user equipment (UE) to a core network. A selective discovery approach enables UE to discover and to use a small base station without wasting power to discover an alien base station or to search when not within range of any open small base station. Discovery can entail location-dependent determination (e.g., macro base station triangulation, global positioning system, local broadcast channel, etc.) of being within range of an open femtocell whose identity was manually learned, accessed via a distributed neighbor list, etc. The UE can advantageously tolerate small changes in location without having to relearn the identity of the femtocell. The type of access afforded is advantageously communicated to end user via a display indicator.
US09313703B2
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and a device for determining a target cell. The method includes: acquiring information about a candidate cell for a mobile terminal; and determining the candidate cell as a target cell for the mobile terminal if the candidate cell is a preferred cell determined according to cell statistic information, where the cell statistic information includes: specific information about a cell having served the mobile terminal and specific information about the mobile terminal in the cell having served the mobile terminal. According to the solutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention, a proper target cell may be determined for a mobile terminal, thereby avoiding a large number of handovers and reselections and saving network resources.
US09313702B2
Methods, apparatuses, a non-transitory computer-readable medium and system are provided for adaptation of mobility parameters based on user equipment measurement. A method may include determining at least one of measurement rate or measurement availability (413); and adapting at least one of an event triggering or a measurement filtering, depending on at least one of the measurement rate or the measurement availability (415). A method may further include adapting one or more mobility parameters based on measurement availability or measurement rate (415); and communicating the rules or adaptations to the rules to a user equipment (420). In some example embodiments, the methods are used for making handover decision or causing a report to be sent from a user equipment.
US09313694B2
A method of supporting communication using two or more heterogeneous radio access technologies (RAT) comprises: receiving a setup message providing instructions for access to a second base station in a second communication network supporting the second RAT from a first base station in a first communication network supporting a first RAT; and attempting to access the second base station. At this time, when the terminal successfully accesses the second base station, specific traffic type data are transmitted and received through the second base station, and data other than the specific traffic type can be transmitted and received through the first base station.
US09313691B2
A first wireless communication device including a physical layer device configured to generate a data packet having a mixed mode preamble. The mixed mode preamble includes a first portion to be transmitted omnidirectionally via a single stream, and a second portion to be transmitted in a beamformed manner. The mixed mode preamble includes a signal field corresponding to information about the data packet. The signal field includes a first sub-field that indicates a number of streams of the second portion and a second sub-field indicating, based on the first sub-field, whether to perform a beam change between the first portion and the second portion or whether to perform channel smoothing on the second portion. A transceiver is configured to transmit, from the first wireless communication device to a second wireless communication device, the data packet having the mixed mode preamble.
US09313684B2
A method for managing power consumption of a radio access network. The method includes: defining a cluster including at least two radio resource units of the radio access network; defining a parameter indicative of a performance of the cluster and of a power consumption of the cluster, the parameter being expressed as a function of traffic throughputs carried by the radio resource units of the cluster; calculating optimum traffic throughputs as values of the traffic throughputs carried by the radio resource units of the cluster which optimize the parameter; and distributing traffic amongst the radio resource units of the cluster such that the radio resource units of the cluster carry the calculated optimum traffic throughputs.
US09313682B2
To provide a test device and a test method which enable a tester to easily check the allocation of physical channels when testing a mobile communication terminal which performs communication using a time division duplex system and a code division multiple access system.An allocation status display control unit of a test device generates an allocation status display screen 46 indicating the correspondence of the physical channels to a time slot and a channelization code for each connection status on the basis of allocation setting information which is acquired and specified by a setting information acquisition unit. Therefore, the operator can easily check an allocation status for each connection status.
US09313664B2
The coexistence of a plurality of different wireless networks that concurrently operate in a common geographic region is optimized. A query is received from a wireless node requesting advice on specific portions of a radio frequency spectrum to use. A spectrum recommendation procedure is then run to generate advice on recommended portions of the radio frequency spectrum for the wireless node to use in order to minimize one or more of interference in the spectrum, or noise in the spectrum, or contention in the spectrum. A recommendation reply is then sent to the wireless node which includes information specifying the recommended portions of the radio frequency spectrum for the wireless node to use in order to minimize one or more of interference in the spectrum, or noise in the spectrum, or contention in the spectrum.
US09313660B2
A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may perform, for example, receiving an over-the-air programming message that includes programming data for use by the mobile communication device, decrypting the over-the-air programming message utilizing a first keyset to generate a decrypted over-the-air programming message, determining a schedule for providing messages from a secure device processor to a secure element of the mobile communication device where the secure device processor is separate from the secure element and in communication with the secure element, and providing the decrypted over-the-air programming message to the secure element according to the schedule. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09313656B1
Privacy centric feature analysis. A secure set of multiple mapped features is selected and provided to a mobile device. Each mapped feature maps a sharable feature to a matching criterion for an item of protected information and no combination of mapped features for a secure set are unique to an individual item of protected information. Privacy compliance instructions enable the mobile device to select a mapped feature from a received set of mapped features by identifying an item of protected information available to the mobile device which corresponds to a matching criterion found in the received set of mapped features. The sharable feature of the selected mapped feature is identified and sent to a privacy compliant destination. Advantageously, the analysis system protects the privacy of the mobile device user because it does not require the mobile device to relay protected information for the selection of customized content or relevant advertisements.
US09313648B2
In an LTE network, an MME processes network status information to transfer aggregated data to an ANDSF. The ANDSF processes a request from a wireless communication device that indicates device location and the aggregated data to generate an information response indicating a priority between the LTE network and a non-LTE network at the device location. The ANDSF transfers the information response for delivery to the wireless communication device. The wireless communication device processes the information response to select between the LTE network and a non-LTE network at the device location.
US09313646B2
A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may obtain presence information associated with a plurality of communication devices of a user, obtain operational capability information and usage profiles for the plurality of communication devices, obtain state information for each of the plurality of communication devices, and adjust a first device persona of a first communication device based on the presence information, the operational capability information, the usage profiles, and the state information. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09313645B2
A practical inter-carrier roaming solution by way of a roaming location protocol (RLP) router that provides consistent location support across heterogeneous wireless network standards. The RLP router maintains connectivity to each location server in a roaming ecosystem, alleviating the need for an expensive and impractical mesh network of location servers. When a home location server (H-LS) determines it cannot locate a subscriber device because the subscriber device is roaming, the H-LS sends an RLP request to the RLP router. The RLP router then routes the RLP request to a serving location server (S-LS), which subsequently returns location information for the roaming subscriber device. The RLP router maintains mobile switching center ID (MSCID) to location based services (LBS) mappings for routing RLP requests. The RLP router may also maintain rough MSC-level positioning data for each MSCID to enable the RLP router to resolve certain location fixes without utilizing an S-LS.
US09313642B2
A method for distributing user equipment context in an evolved packet system, including a plurality of user equipment, at least one eNodeB, a first mobility management entity and a second mobility management entity and one serving gateway connected to the first and second mobility management entity, the plurality of user equipment being connected via one of the eNodeBs to the second mobility management entity and to the serving gateway, wherein the user equipment context for the plurality of user equipment is each stored at the second mobility management entity, includes: a) transferring bulk user equipment context for the plurality of user equipment context, each having a mobility management entity code, to the first mobility management entity, b) reconfiguring the mobility management entity codes, c) storing the transferred user equipment context in the first mobility management entity, and d) transferring reconfigured mobility management entity codes to the at least one eNodeB.
US09313641B2
In a particular embodiment, a method includes receiving, by a first mobile device, a first discovery message via a network advertisement protocol common to a plurality of mobile devices. The first discovery message includes information specific to a mobile device cluster that is a subset of the plurality of mobile devices. The method further includes using the information to communicate with at least a second mobile device of the mobile device cluster using a second cluster protocol that is different than the network advertisement protocol.
US09313640B2
Systems and methods for accomplishing charging operations in telecommunications networks that include multiple charging and enforcement components may include configuring a first charging and enforcement component to receive user traffic, determine usage information associated with the received user traffic, send the associated usage information to a charging system component, and send the user traffic and the associated usage information to a second charging and enforcement component. The second charging and enforcement component may be configured to receive the user traffic and usage information, compute updated usage information, and send the updated usage information to the charging system component. The charging system may use this updated usage information to ensure that the subscriber accounts were billed correctly.
US09313637B2
Dynamically selecting and facilitating stored caller information to a communications recipient device with a communications event, based on communication recipient credentials (e.g. MDN, etc.), preferences outlined in a subscriber profile associated with a relevant calling device, and other variables, e.g., time of day, etc. A subscriber provisions subscriber preferences and subscriber information associated with users of a subscribing communications device in to a subscriber profile, for use during a communications event. Subscriber preferences place restrictive conditions on stored subscriber information that may be transmitted with a communications event initiated by a corresponding communications device. A content collection node dynamically selects customized caller information via a subscriber information content collection process. Customized caller information is transmitted to appropriate recipient devices with a corresponding communications event. In the event of a 911 communications event, customized caller information may be transmitted to emergency dispatch personnel via the legacy E2 query interface.
US09313629B2
A system for managing and filtering incoming messages to a mobile device is configured to receive incoming messages using multiple formats, such as e-mail, Short Messaging System (SMS) messages, Multimedia Message System (MMS) messages, or other electronic messaging formats. One or more message filters are used to consolidate and display high importance messages by the device in a single location. The message filters may be configured to select incoming messages based on factors such as the identity of the sender and the destination account. After receiving a new message, the system compares characteristics of the incoming message to the key characteristics defined by one or more of the filters. If an incoming message matches one of the filters, the system adds the matching message to a list of high importance messages. The system provides a separate user interface to display the high importance messages.
US09313617B2
It is inter alia disclosed methods, apparatuses, systems, computer programs and computer-readable mediums for identifying a point of interest, for providing a point of interest, and for receiving a point of interest. According to one aspect of the invention, a respective position-related information collected by at least one device at a plurality of time points is obtained. One or more of the collected position-related information is represented as respective position-related points in a one- or multidimensional space. At least one point of interest is identified by detecting at least one accumulation zone from the position-related points in the space.
US09313614B2
A method of estimating the position of a user device is provided. The user device is initially in electronic communication with a positioning system controller through a communication network. The method comprises determining that a user device meets one or more proximity criteria with respect to an offline region where electronic communication between the user device and the positioning system controller, through the communication network, is expected to meet one or more failure criteria. Responsive thereto and in advance of the user device entering the said offline region, the positioning system controller transmitting local positioning data to the user device, the local positioning data comprising data concerning electromagnetic signal sources in the said offline region. The user device subsequently estimates its position while it is within the offline region by measuring signal data from a plurality of electromagnetic signal sources and processing the measured signal data and the local positioning data. The method may be used by, for example, a smartphone to estimate its position.
US09313598B2
An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code The at least one memory and the computer program code is configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform determining a covariance matrix for at least one frequency band of a first and a second audio signal, non-negative factorizing the covariance matrix to determine at least one first weighting value and at least one second weighting value associated with the at least one frequency band; and determining a third audio signal associated with the at least one frequency band by combining the first weighting value and the first audio signal to the second weighting value and the second audio signal.
US09313593B2
Techniques for ranking representative segments in media data are provided. Media features of many different types may be extracted from the media data. A plurality of ranking scores may be assigned to a plurality of candidate representative segments. Each individual candidate representative segment in the plurality of candidate representative segments comprises at least one scene in one or more statistical patterns in media features of the media data based on one or more types of features extractable from the media data. Each individual ranking score in the plurality of ranking scores may be assigned to an individual candidate representative segment in the plurality of candidate representative segments. A representative segment to be played to an end user may be selected from the candidate representative segments, based on the plurality of ranking scores.
US09313586B2
Deactivatable hearing device, corresponding hearing system and method for operating a hearing system
The hearing system (1) comprises at least one hearing device which comprises an operability control unit (3) and, operationally connectable thereto, a storage unit (4) in which operability data (5) are stored. The operability control unit (3) is structured and configured to either disable or not disable the hearing device (2) from functioning as a hearing device in dependence of the operability data (5), and the hearing system comprises no means for modifying the operability data (5), more particularly comprises no means for modifying the operability data stored in the storage unit (4). The method for operating a hearing system (1) comprises providing a hearing system (1) comprising at least one hearing device (2) comprising an operability control unit (3) and, operationally connected thereto a storage unit (4) in which operability data (5) are stored, wherein the hearing system comprises no means for modifying the operability data. In dependence of the operability data (5), the method comprises either disabling the hearing device (2) by means of the operability control unit (3) from functioning as a hearing device, or not doing so.
US09313573B2
The present invention relates to a device, such as an audio communication device, for combining a plurality of microphone signals xn(k) into a single output signal y(k). The device comprises processing means configured to calculate control signals fn(k), and control means configured to select which microphone signal xn(k) or which combination of microphone signals xn(k) to use as output signal y(k) based on said control signals fn(k). To improve the selection, the device comprises linear prediction filters for calculating linear prediction residual signals en(k) from the plurality of microphone signals xn(k), and the processing means is configured to calculate the control signals fn(k) based on said linear prediction residual signals en(k).
US09313571B2
An electronic apparatus includes a storage to store an operating system, a controller to boot the electronic apparatus using the operating system stored in the storage, a speaker to output sound, a communication interface to receive sound data from an external apparatus, and a sound processor to process and output the received sound data through the speaker, and the communication interface, the sound processor, and the speaker operate even when the electronic apparatus is not booted.
US09313567B2
In an embodiment an apparatus includes a graphical display panel and a loudspeaker. The panel has a display layer for displaying images and defines a plurality of apertures penetrating through at least the display layer. The loudspeaker includes a diaphragm arranged substantially parallel to the display layer. Sound from the loudspeaker diaphragm is directed outside a host device through the apertures. The speaker may be an electret or a piezo-electric speaker for thinness. There may be apertures on an opposed side of the host device housing to achieve a dipole pattern which is directed and gives acoustic privacy to the user, or a rear acoustic cavity for a monopole pattern which more broadly disperses the sound. One illustrated embodiment is selectable between monopole and dipole. Size and total area of the holes determines acoustic resistance and so a method is described to determine those from physical parameters of the display panel.
US09313554B2
Methods, apparatuses, and software are described for implementing dynamic bandwidth load balancing in a data distribution network that provides a plurality of simultaneous video streams over a plurality of channels arranged as a plurality of bonded groups. Various factors may affect the assignment of bonded groups, from initial client device registration through subsequent video stream requests.
US09313551B2
Systems and methods described herein relate to an enhanced program guide for programs that are broadcast according to a defined schedule. Program titles included in the guide can be ordered based on a relevance rank or score, potentially with no other parameter employed in determining a position of a program title within the guide. Presentation of the guide can be independent of a time axis or dimension and a channel axis or dimension. Titles can be displayed in a manner that is independent of a start time or running length of the associated program.
US09313546B2
[Object] To enable a user to conveniently use broadcast of a data program that the user wishes to view under an environment where data broadcast and Internet-related broadcast coexist.[Solving Means] There is provided an information processing apparatus that acquires a startup document of data broadcast including instruction information that instructs to acquire an application information table related to an application for presenting a data program related to a television program, acquires the application information table based on the instruction information stored in the startup document, acquires the application based on the application information table, and executes the application to present the data program.
US09313537B2
Methods and systems are also provided herein for presenting an advertisement to a user who perceives a media asset to be in a lull, and refraining from presenting the advertisement to a different user who does not perceive the media asset to be in a lull. Control circuitry may determine that a first user perceives a segment of the media asset as a lull based on a first user profile. The control circuitry may determine whether or not the second user also perceives the segment of the media asset to be a lull based on a second user profile. In response to determining that the second user does not also perceive the segment of the media asset to be a lull, the control circuitry may cause the advertisement to be presented to the first user but not to the second user.
US09313533B2
Estimating ad inventory in an online video streaming system accurately handles interdependencies among targeted attributes. The estimating includes determining a probability distribution of samples taken from electronic data records of ad impressions in an interactive online video streaming service, among a population comprising each different combination of targeted attributes recorded for each of the samples. In addition, the estimating may include populating an electronic data structure with data relating the each different combination of the targeted attributes to corresponding forecasted number of available impressions in a defined time period, based on the probability distribution and a forecasted total number of available impressions in the time period. Then, estimating the ad inventory is based on the electronic data structure and targeting attributes for an ad campaign, optionally including summing forecasted impressions for combinations of the targeted attributes that include all of the defined set of targeted attributes.
US09313519B2
In one embodiment, a method for encoding or decoding video content is provided. The method includes determining a set of interpolation filters for use in interpolating sub-pel pixel values and a mapping between interpolation filters in the set of interpolation filters and different sizes of prediction units (PUs) of video content. A PU of video content is received and a size of the received PU is determined The method determines an interpolation filter in the set of interpolation filters based on a mapping between the interpolation filter and the size of the received PU to interpolate a sub-pel pixel value for use in a temporal prediction process for the PU.
US09313518B2
Provided are a method and apparatus for estimating a motion vector using a plurality of motion vector predictors, an encoder, a decoder, and a decoding method. The method includes calculating spatial similarities between the current block and the plurality of neighboring partitions around the current block, selecting at least one of the neighboring partitions based on the calculated spatial similarities, and estimating a motion vector of the selected partition as the motion vector of the current block.
US09313507B2
Provided are a method and a device for encoding a video by using a data unit of a hierarchical structure, and a method and a device for decoding the same. A video encoding device includes: a hierarchical encoder configured to encode a picture of a video based on a data unit of a hierarchical structure; and an entropy coder configured to determine a context model used for entropy coding of a symbol based on hierarchical information of a data unit to which the symbol of the encoded picture belongs, and to entropy encode the symbol using the determined context model.
US09313503B2
An apparatus for decoding an image including: an entropy decoder which obtains information that indicates an intra prediction mode applied to a current block to be decoded, from a bitstream; and an intra prediction performer which performs intra prediction on the current block according to the intra prediction mode indicated by the extracted information.
US09313492B2
A moving image encoding device includes a processor; and a memory which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to execute, obtaining a region motion vector that represents a motion of a region including a block in a first slice, in a case where an encoding object block is included in a block line in a second slice, the block line contacting with a boundary between the first slice and the second slice in an encoding object picture, the encoding object picture being divided into a plurality of slices each of which includes a plurality of blocks; obtaining a motion vector of the encoding object block by using the region motion vector as a first prediction vector of the encoding object block; obtaining a second prediction vector from a motion vector of one or more encoded blocks; and obtaining an encoding result.
US09313478B2
A stereoscopic display panel, a display panel and a driving method thereof are provided. A pixel array of the pixel array substrate includes a first scan line, a second scan line, a first data line, a first pixel electrode, a second pixel electrode, a first active device and a second active device. The first data line is electrically connected to the first pixel electrode disposed at the left side of the first data line through the first active device. The first data line is electrically connected to the second pixel electrode disposed at the right side of the first data line through the second active device. The first scan line electrically connected to the first active device and the second scan line electrically connected to the second active device are disposed at the same side of the first active device and the second active device.
US09313476B2
A pixel cell includes a latch having an input terminal and an output terminal. The latch is coupled to provide a latched output signal at the output terminal responsive to the input terminal. A first precharge circuit is coupled to precharge the input terminal of the latch to a first level during a reset of the pixel cell. A single photon avalanche photodiode (SPAD) is coupled to provide a SPAD signal to the input terminal of the latch in response to a detection of a photon incident on the SPAD.
US09313475B2
Various implementations provide techniques to prevent excessive parallax, depth, or disparity from being passed through to a viewer. In one particular implementation, it is determined that a depth indicator for an object in a stereoscopic image pair of a video sequence is outside of a target range. One or more images of the stereoscopic image pair is modified so that the depth indicator for the object is within the target range. In other implementations, a depth transition between the object and another portion of the video sequence is smoothed. In further implementations, the stereoscopic image pair is replaced with a 2D image pair that includes the object. In yet further implementations, a resulting video sequence includes (i) one or more stereoscopic image pairs having non-zero disparity and for which the depth indicator is within the target range for the entire image pair, and (ii) one or more 2D image pairs.
US09313474B1
Methods and apparatus for stereoscopic image encoding and decoding are described. Left and right eye images are encoded following an entropy reduction operation being applied to one of the eye images when there is a difference between the left and right images of an image pair. Information about regions of negative parallax within the entropy reduced image of an image pair is encoded along with the images. Upon decoding a sharpening filter is applied to the image in an image pair which was subjected to the entropy reduction operation. In addition edge enhancement filtering is performed on the regions of the recovered entropy reduced image which are identified in the encoded image data as regions of negative parallax. Interleaving of left and right eye images at the input of the encoder combined with entropy reduction allows for efficient encoding, storage, and transmission of 3D images.
US09313473B2
An image synthesizing method according to the present invention includes generating a depth image in a current picture by searching depth information using a plurality of color images obtained at different view points, performing filtering on the depth image using a 3-dimensional (3D) joint bilateral filter, and generating a synthesized image using the plurality of color images and the filtered depth image, wherein the 3D joint bilateral filter performs filtering on the generated depth image using color image information for at least one of previous pictures, the current picture, and subsequent pictures, and the color image information includes information on a boundary of an object in the color images and color information of the color images. According to the present invention, image processing performance may be enhanced.
US09313468B2
A video display device includes a light source, a rotating substrate, a light detection unit, a light valve, and a control section. The light detection unit detects intensity of first color light emitted from the wheel in a second period included in a first period and in a third period which is included in the first period and does not overlap with the second period, where the first period is a period equal to time during which light continuously enters a first region. The control section controls at least one of the wheel and the light valve based on the intensity of the first color light detected in the light detection unit.
US09313459B2
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an encoder having a controller adapted to receive a digital video stream with metadata, retrieve from at least a portion of the metadata a native video format, configure encoding of at least a portion of the digital video stream according to the retrieved native video format, generate from at least the portion of the digital video stream an encoded video stream conforming to a moving picture experts group format and the native video format, and submit the encoded video stream to an acquisition server for multicast distribution. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09313458B2
Methods and apparatus for control of data and content protection mechanisms across a network using a download delivery paradigm. In one embodiment, conditional access (CA), digital rights management (DRM), and trusted domain (TD) security policies are delivered, configured and enforced with respect to consumer premises equipment (CPE) within a cable television network. A trusted domain is established within the user's premises within which content access, distribution, and reproduction can be controlled remotely by the network operator. The content may be distributed to secure or non-secure “output” domains consistent with the security policies enforced by secure CA, DRM, and TD clients running within the trusted domain. Legacy and retail CPE models are also supported. A network security architecture comprising an authentication proxy (AP), provisioning system (MPS), and conditional access system (CAS) is also disclosed, which can interface with a trusted authority (TA) for cryptographic element management and CPE/user device authentication.
US09313454B2
Methods and systems may involve determining a user attention level based on video stream data associated with a first participant in an always-on video conferencing session. The video stream data may be modified based on the user attention level to obtain modified video stream data that is automatically adjusted for privacy. In addition, the modified video stream data may be transmitted to one or more other participants in the video conferencing session.
US09313451B2
A method and an apparatus for obtaining image data for video communication in an electronic device are provided. In an embodiment, a method and an apparatus for providing a video communication function that simultaneously uses image data obtained via a plurality of cameras. In the method, first image data is obtained using a first camera. Second image data is obtained using a second camera. The first image data is merged with the second image data. The merged image data is transmitted to a second electronic device. Other embodiments are possible.
US09313450B2
A remote operation system includes a user terminal and a mediation server. The mediation server is configured to execute a registration procedure to start a remote operation of the user terminal from a support terminal. The user terminal includes a telephone function unit, and is configured to allow transmitting, from the user terminal to the mediation server, registration data regarding the remote operation on a condition that the telephone function unit is performing a telephone call.
US09313449B2
Techniques are disclosed for exchanging information between devices. Each device is configured to execute a web browser application. One of the devices is referred to as a streamer device, and the other a receiver device. The receiver device includes a camera for receiving images displayed by the streamer device. A user of the streamer device can orient the display of the streamer towards the camera of the receiver device. The receiver device uses the camera to observe images displayed by any streamer devices that are present within the field of view of the camera. The receiver device, via the camera, analyzes each video frame displayed by the streamer device for a pattern. If the pattern is detected and matches a predefined pattern, the receiver device can retrieve information associated with the pattern, and display that information in the web browser.
US09313436B2
An analog-digital converter includes: a first comparator configured to make a comparison between a pixel voltage and a first reference voltage, the pixel voltage being a signal voltage outputted from a pixel including an photoelectric conversion element, the pixel voltage corresponding to electric charge generated by the photoelectric conversion element; a second comparator configured to make a comparison between the pixel voltage and a second reference voltage; and a voltage follower configured to connect an input terminal for the first reference voltage of the first comparator and an input terminal for the second reference voltage of the second comparator through a switch.
US09313430B2
Since the great number of elements constituting a unit pixel having an amplification function would hinder reduction of pixel size, unit pixel n,m arranged in a matrix form is comprised of a photodiode, a transfer switch for transferring charges stored in the photodiode, a floating diffusion for storing charges transferred by the transfer switch, a reset switch for resetting the floating diffusion, and an amplifying transistor for outputting a signal in accordance with the potential of the floating diffusion to a vertical signal line, and by affording vertical selection pulse φVn to the drain of the reset switch to control a reset potential thereof, pixels are selected in units of rows.
US09313425B2
An image pickup device may include: an image capturing unit; a reference signal generation unit; a comparison unit that compares analog signals to the reference signal and ends the comparison process at a timing at which the reference signal satisfies a predetermined condition with respect to the analog signals; a clock generation unit; a latch unit that retains the low-order phase signal as a latch signal at a timing related to the end of the comparison process; a count unit that counts a signal related to one of the low-order phase signals and generates a high-order digital signal; a detection unit that generates a low-order digital signal by sequentially comparing logic states of a plurality of bits of the latch signal retained by the corresponding latch unit and encoding the latch signal; and an arithmetic unit that performs an arithmetic process.
US09313422B2
Provided is a video processing device with which it is possible to efficaciously carry out a process of superpositioning a monitor character signal in a video signal which is inputted from a camera and outputting same separately from the video signal. The video processing device comprises: a character signal emitter which generates a character signal on the basis of the monitor data; and a character superposition unit which superpositions the character signal which is generated by the character signal emitter upon the least significant bits of the color difference signal of the video signal which is inputted from the camera. With respect to downconverting the video signal whereupon the character signal has been superpositioned, only a downsampling process on the least significant bits of the color difference signal is carried out, and an interpolation filter process is not carried out.
US09313411B2
An electronic zoom and distortion correction processing unit (104) performs electronic zooming and distortion correction of a distorted image by re-mapping the pixels of the distorted image. In accordance with a specified electronic zoom factor (S1), a re-mapping control unit (110) controls re-mapping by the electronic zoom and distortion correction processing unit (104) such that the correction factor (S4) of the distortion correction processing is changed in addition to the electronic zoom factor of the electronic zoom processing. By this means, the correction factor (S4) is changed in accordance with the specified electronic zoom factor (S1), and distorted images can be appropriately corrected while preventing denaturing of the images.
US09313408B2
Discussed is a mobile device that displays an image in consideration of a relationship among a plurality of captured images in a window mode. The mobile device includes a storage unit configure to store an image, a display unit configured to display the image, a sensor unit configured to detect a touch input to the display unit, and a controller configured to display an image in any one selected from between a navigation mode to display a plurality of thumbnail images and a window mode to display at least one image selected from among the plurality of thumbnail image, wherein the controller captures a first image and a second image having an upper and lower position relationship or a left and right position relationship to the first image from a first source, and captures a third image from a second source.
US09313403B2
A frame memory stores a plurality of captured images. An image selection unit selects a reference image, which is a standard for composition, from images other than an image which is captured earliest and an image which is captured latest among the plurality of images stored in the frame memory and selects images to be combined with the reference image from a group of images which are captured earlier and later than the reference image among the plurality of images. A composition processing unit composes the images to be combined selected by the image selection unit with the reference image selected by the image selection unit to generate a composite image.
US09313400B2
The disclosure relates to a linking-up photographing system and a control method of linked-up cameras thereof including the following steps. A first image is acquired via a first camera. A second image is acquired via a second camera and presents a field of view (FOV) which partially overlaps a FOV of the first image at least. A control look-up table is established according to the first image and the second image. A designating command specifying a region of interest (ROI) in the first image is received. A FOV of the second camera is adjusted according to the ROI and the control look-up table, and then the second camera photographs a view specified by the ROI, so as to obtain a third image. In this way, the second camera can link up and cooperate with the first camera easily.
US09313396B2
An imaging device includes an imaging unit configured to generate a moving-image signal by capturing an image of a subject formed by an imaging optical system, a focus adjustment information acquisition unit configured to acquire focus adjustment information related to human subjective focus adjustment, and a focus adjustment determination unit configured to determine behavior of the focus adjustment of the imaging unit using the focus adjustment information obtained by the focus adjustment information acquisition unit.
US09313393B2
A method includes sampling a first intensity of light with a first array of photo detectors of a digital camera. A second intensity of light is sampled with a second array of photo detectors of the digital camera. A first channel processor coupled to the first array of photo detectors generates a first image using first array data which is representative of the first intensity of light sampled by the first array of photo detectors. A second channel processor coupled to the second array of photo detectors generates a second image using second array data which is representative of the second intensity of light sampled by the second array of photo detectors. The first array of photo detectors, the second array of photo detectors, the first channel processor, and the second channel processor are integrated on or in a semiconductor substrate.
US09313387B2
The camera module according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention includes a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) mounted with an image sensor, a housing mounted therein with camera constituent parts and configured to protect the image sensor, an actuator arranged on the housing, and an electronic circuit pattern layer integrally formed on a surface of the housing to conductively connect the actuator to the PCB.
US09313381B2
A display apparatus which provides user interaction includes a display main body having a display screen, a camera module mounted on the display main body and configured to image a user to perform the user interaction, and a camera door configured to slidably move between a first location in which light is blocked to be incident to the camera module and a second location in which light is permitted to be incident to the camera module.
US09313380B2
An imaging device includes a communication part that transmits an image data to an external display device, an outer barrel in which at least one lens is disposed, an imaging element, an image taking button, a power button, and a zoom switch, in which a circumferential surface part is provided at the outer barrel, in which the image taking button is disposed on a left side of the circumferential surface part, in which the power button is disposed at an upper side of the circumferential surface part, and in which the zoom switch is disposed at the circumferential surface part.
US09313376B1
Disclosed herein are systems and methods to control the power consumption of a battery powered platform comprising at least one depth camera. The battery powered platform may adjust the consumption of one or more systems of the depth camera, or other systems on the battery powered platform to alter the power consumption of the battery powered platform.
US09313364B2
An image processing apparatus having a reconfigurable circuit in which a circuit configuration is partially performable, and a method for controlling the same are provided. Circuit configuration information for configuring the reconfigurable circuit is stored in advance, pieces of stored circuit configuration information that correspond to functions necessary for executing a job are specified, and the necessary functions are partially reconfigured in the reconfigurable circuit by configuring partial reconfiguration units of the reconfigurable circuit using the specified pieces of circuit configuration information. If the reconfiguring is successful, the job is executed using the reconfigurable circuit, whereas if the reconfiguring fails, reconfiguring is re-executed.
US09313360B2
Certain methods and systems are described for encoding data in an image. According to an example, a set of metamers under a first set of conditions may be determined that vary under a second set of conditions. These may be used to generate a set of color mappings for a sampled color value, each color mapping being used for a different data value in the data. As such the data values may be detectable when the image is observed under the second set of conditions but not detectable when the image is observed under the first set of conditions.
US09313340B1
In testing a computerized analysis of communication data, a uniform random time interval is generated to provide an incremental value of time for each communication, between a plurality of communication devices via one or more intermediate transmission devices. For each communication, the identifier for the communication device originating that communication, the identifier for the communication device receiving that communication, and the identifiers for the intermediate transmission devices associated with the originating communication device and the receiving communication device are determined. A communication data set including the time value, the determined communication devices, and the determined intermediate transmission devices of each communication is produced and applied to the computerized analysis of communication data. One or more errors are determined in the computerized analysis based on processing of the communication data set.
US09313336B2
Systems, methods and apparatus for capturing at least one audio signal using a plurality of microphones that generate a plurality of representations of the at least one audio signal. In some embodiments, the plurality of microphones are disposed in a multiple-microphone setting so that the at least one audio signal is captured by at least two of the plurality of microphones. In some embodiments, at least one of the plurality of microphones is a microphone of a mobile device. The plurality of representations of the at least one audio signal may be processed to obtain a processed representation of the at least one audio signal.
US09313335B2
A system having one or more processors and a memory, receives both speech data from first and second participants of a session. The system outputs the speech of the first participant. The system outputs the speech of the second participant in accordance with an adjustment of the speech of a participant of the session when the speech of the second participant temporally overlaps less than a first predetermined threshold amount of a terminal portion of the speech of the first participant. The system drops the speech of the second participant when the speech of the second participant temporally overlaps more than the first predetermined threshold amount of the terminal portion of the speech of the first participant. Optionally, the system adjusts the speech of a participant of the session by delaying output of the speech of the second participant.
US09313328B2
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to computing devices and systems, as well as software, computer programs, applications, and user interfaces, and more particularly, to processing active calls and stored calls in a communication network for packetized and/or synchronous communications, and to generating notifications relating to active calls and stored calls. Other embodiments relate to creating and implementing bypass rules that allow a party to bypass a set of default prompts to a the party's communication device while enabling the caller device to access functions of a call processing system.
US09313327B2
A method and apparatus for managing contact information includes an electronic device detecting 302 a pair of communications by the electronic device related to a contact and parsing 304 at least one of the communications in the pair of communications to determine a time duration for a record for the contact. The method further includes the electronic device setting 306 a time duration element for the record based on the time duration to cause deletion of the record when the time duration has elapsed.
US09313320B2
Methods, systems and devices for implementing different modes or persona of a wireless communication device that allow the wireless communication device to function as multiple devices corresponding to conditions and circumstances that may be defined by an enterprise. Operating modes or persona may be defined by a set of operating characteristics that may include user permissions, device functionality, capabilities enabled, and user restrictions that may be selected by the enterprise. Automatic switching between modes/persona may be controlled through triggers based on any of location, proximity, time, and context of the wireless communication device. Automatic switching of mode control capabilities may also controlled through such triggers, enabling an enterprise to limit the ability of users to override the automatic mode/persona implemented in response to an enterprise-defined trigger.
US09313316B2
A device and method for filtering messages is provided. The device comprises: a processor; a memory storing messages, at least a subset of the messages designated as unread messages; and a touchscreen including a display. A sliding touch input is detected at the touchscreen, the sliding touch input including a change in direction, the sliding touch input terminating in a static touch input proximal an edge of the touchscreen. In response to detecting the static touch input, a list of the unread messages is provided at the display.
US09313315B2
Disclosed are a mobile terminal and a method of controlling the same. The mobile terminal according to the present invention includes a Near Field Communication (NFC) module and a controller configured to set up a first communication link with at least one first terminal, placed within a specific distance, by using the NFC module, activate a first operation mode based on data obtained through the first communication link, and execute at least one function included in the activated first operation mode. In accordance with the present invention, the mobile terminal can be easily set so that it is operated in a specific operation mode based on data obtained through a communication link using the NFC module.
US09313313B2
A method and system for securing portable electronic devices as well as access to data on the portable electronic device is described.The method consists of a proximity alarm that alarms if the physical device is carried away from the user mobile phone, or from some fixed stations.The method consists of separating the keys from the storage device where the data is stored by storing them on a FOB.When access to data is requested, the key is reconstituted in real-time by wirelessly obtaining data from the FOB and from the user, and the data is decrypted.The system provides for secure transmission of keys in real-time, and provides safeguards in case of breach of security.
US09313297B2
In particular embodiments, a method includes determining a data flow rate of the active connections at a proxy, comparing the data flow rate to a first pre-determined threshold value, and, when the data flow rate exceeds the first pre-determined threshold value, creating one or more new processing threads associated with the proxy.
US09313296B1
A hosted mobile management service is provided for enabling a user to access a centralized account through a user interface on a terminal in order to manage the user's media information, such as digital music and photos. Any modifications made by user through the user interface are transparently sent to the user's mobile device where a module receives such modification information and interacts with the mobile device to reconcile such modifications.
US09313290B2
A method of implementing data transfer from a mobile device is described. The method comprises: (i) receiving positional information from the mobile device; (ii) receiving directional information from the mobile device; and (iii) receiving data from the mobile device. The method further comprises: (iv) ascertaining a receiving device based on the received directional information; and (v) providing the data received from the mobile device to the ascertained receiving device.
US09313288B2
A system for notification of a change to content of a document may include a processor and a module operable on the processor for allowing a user to dynamically select a variable amount of content of the document for which a notification of a change to the selected variable amount of content is desired. The system may also include a module operable on the processor for detecting a change to the selected variable amount of content being made by another user. The system may additionally include a module operable on the processor for creating the notification of the change to the selected variable amount of content. The system may further include a module operable on the processor for transmitting the notification of the change to the selected variable amount of content in response to the change to the selected variable amount of content of the document being saved by the other user.
US09313273B2
The present invention is a method, system and apparatus for flexible image sharing. In a system for flexibly distributing imagery in an image sharing session, an image cache can be disposed between an application sharing host and a plurality of application sharing viewers. Additionally, a multipoint communications server can be disposed between the image cache and the application sharing viewers and can be communicatively linked to the application sharing host. Importantly, a pull-based subscription model can be implemented in an image cache server hosting the image cache. In particular, the model can have a configuration for registering respective ones of the application sharing viewers to receive notifications of available updated imagery.
US09313272B2
An information processor receives a changed content check request on information managed by a user of a different system from a user terminal and a first condition is stored, the first condition being included in the check request and specifying a check target. A second condition specifying a changed content to be retrieved from among changed contents on the information managed by the user of the different system is received from the user terminal. An information-changed content check request is transmitted in which the stored first condition is specified to a converter that performs protocol conversion. A changed content check result is acquired from the converter and stored, the result being returned to the converter by the user terminal of the different system. The stored check result is checked against the second condition, and the check result that matches the second condition is returned to the user terminal.
US09313268B2
The present invention relates to nodes and methods for use in connection with a peer-to-peer network for sharing of data content. A priority mechanism is introduced by means of which a serving peer may select which requesting peers to serve based on their need for data content in terms of the degree of urgency. A requesting peer may include an urgency indicator in a request for data content, which for instance may be the amount of buffered data available for playback in a video buffer. The serving peer may then extract the urgency indicator from the request and apply a priority mechanism which uses the urgency indicator to select which peers to upload data content to.
US09313267B2
A computer system and computer program product implementing a method in a Customer Information Control System (CICS) Application configured to process information residing on remote systems and display such information on a local system, using a same program residing on both the remote system(s) and the local system. The method includes, for example, sending programming functions of a local system with a request for information to a remote system. The method further includes processing the programming functions of the local system with the request for information on the remote system to obtain updated information from the remote system. The updated information is sent to the local system for display.
US09313241B2
An intermediate relay device includes a corresponding information adder that adds, after receiving an outgoing message, an address assigned to the relay device to a list included in the outgoing message, and an outgoing message transmitter that specifies the address of a transmission destination and transmits the outgoing message to which the address has been added. The intermediate relay device further includes a return message transmitter that transmits, after receiving a return message, the return message based on a predetermined address corresponding to a device located at a prior stage to the intermediate relay device in a relay route for the outgoing message among addresses in the list included in the received return message.
US09313240B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for transmitting a content data set to a computing device for displaying content to a non-author user, receiving user input from the non-author user, the user input corresponding to the content, and, in response to receiving the user input, transmitting first data and second data to the computing device for display to the non-author user, the first data comprising a number of contacts associated with an author user, the author user having authored the content, the second data being a sub-set of the first data and comprising a number of contacts associated with the non-author user.
US09313238B2
Systems and methods for forwarding data packets to facilitate an IP telephony communication make use of a media relay to accomplish the forwarding actions. The media relay is configured receive setup signaling indicating a first acceptable originating IP address for received data packets. The media relay also allows the acceptable originating IP address to change once after the initial call setup has occurred. Also, if a REINVITE action occurs during a call, the media relay will allow the acceptable originating IP address to change once after the REINVITE signaling has been completed.
US09313237B2
Methods, apparatus and communication systems for allocating and managing voice channels are provided. After receiving first voice data, a voice server can search for a voice channel corresponding to a first user of the first voice data. When successfully finding the first voice channel corresponding to the first user, the voice server can write the first voice data to the first voice channel. When successfully allocating a second voice channel that is currently already-timed-out to the first user, the voice server can write the first voice data to the second voice channel, and mark the second voice channel as assigned to the first user. Utilizing efficiency of the voice channels is therefore improved and deploying of hardware resources can be reduced.
US09313227B2
A system and method for prevention of data leakage, the system comprising: a server configured to receive and transmit user activity commands; a protection module configured to validate and reconstruct commands received from the server and to transmit the validated reconstructed commands, the protection module further configured to create a security image associated with a specific user; and a secured transmission module configured to transmit the security image to the server while ensuring that the security image is sent securely to the associated user, wherein the server is further configured to receive the security image via the secured transmission module and to present the security image to the associated user.
US09313219B1
A repackaged mobile app that has been unpacked and repackaged back is detected based on similarity of app labels of a target mobile app being evaluated and a reference mobile app. The similarity of the sound of the app label of the target mobile app to the sound of the app label of the reference mobile app may be determined. The similarity of the appearance of the app label of the target mobile app to the appearance of the app label of the reference mobile app may also be determined. The target mobile app may be deemed to be a repackaged mobile app when the app labels of the target and reference mobile apps are deemed to be similar (which may include being the same) but the target and reference mobile apps have different identifiers.
US09313215B2
Systems, apparatuses and methods for preventing requests to access a system's resources from having a negative impact on higher priority data processing operations being performed by the system. The invention is directed to preventing the number of calls made by a merchant's applications through an application programming interface (API) for access to the lower priority services of a merchant service provider from having a negative impact on the ability of the service provider to perform the processing necessary to support higher priority services. The invention provides a user interface that may be used by a merchant or the service provider to configure the operation of a “throttle” that is designed to generate an alert when the number of calls by a merchant application for access to a specific service provider function or application exceeds a value or limit, where exceeding the value or limit may indicate a malfunction of the merchant's application or an attack by a malicious agent.
US09313207B2
One or more techniques for access validation are provided. Access validation may be performed automatically or in real-time. Access validation may be at the resource level or at a sub-resource level. Techniques provided herein may be applied in a large variety of situations and industries, e.g. compliance management or inventory. Access validation reports may be generated in real-time or may link to indications of access validation in real-time. Five outcomes or options are provided, including affirmative, negative, stronger negative with larger implication, undetermined, and negative, however with temporarily granted access. A field for allowing entry of justification for access to a particular resource is provided. Reminders to validate privileges are provided. A continuous access validation process is provided. A technique for extending the hierarchy and corresponding workflow that is generated thereof is provided.
US09313204B2
Techniques are described to incrementally change the availability of a feature of a software service to clients over a network based on a configuration setting indicating the proportion of the clients that is eligible to receive the feature. In an implementation, a client rank is generated for a client on the network based on a client identification that identifies the client and a feature identification that identifies the feature. The feature may then be made available to the clients via the network if a comparison of the client rank with the configuration setting indicates that the client is eligible to access the feature.
US09313196B2
A system and method for providing a user with secure access to devices operatively connected to a network comprising at least one processing device that has access to a database. The database maintains information for each user of the system, such as the user's login credentials and access level or permissions, along with information corresponding to each network device, such as, for example, the device's login credentials, IP address, and port settings. The processing device authenticates each user and then provides each user with access to the network devices as defined by the data maintained in the database corresponding to the respective user and the network devices.
US09313186B2
Computer implemented method, system and computer usable program code for monitoring a transaction that crosses an enterprise boundary in a composite application. A computer implemented method for monitoring a transaction that crosses an enterprise boundary in a composite application includes a provider enterprise of the transaction receiving a request to provide monitoring data regarding the transaction to a requester enterprise of the transaction. The received request includes a correlation token identifying the monitoring data to be provided and the requester enterprise as being authorized to receive the monitoring data. The transaction monitoring data is then provided to the requester enterprise. The provided transaction monitoring data may be analyzed by the requester enterprise to provide analysis results regarding transaction delivery performance.
US09313185B1
A computer-implemented method for authenticating devices may include (1) identifying a request from a device for a credentialing service to issue a credential to the device, the request including an application identifier encrypted with a first encryption key, the first encryption key having been derived by the device based on a token provisioned to the device by a vendor of the device, (2) transmitting the request to the credentialing service, (3) receiving, from the credentialing service, the credential encrypted using a second encryption key, the second encryption key having been derived by the device based on the token, and (4) providing the encrypted credential to the device. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09313183B2
A method for performing policy-based configuration of Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) for a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is provided. According to one embodiment, a policy page through which a policy, including multiple VPN settings for establishing a VPN connection, may be viewed and configured is displayed via a user interface of a source network device. The VPN settings include a type of IPSec tunnel to be established between the source network device and a peer network device. A selection regarding the type of IPSec tunnel to be used for the VPN connection is received via the user interface. The source network device requests the VPN connection be established between the source network device and the peer network device in accordance with the policy by sending a notification request to the peer network device. The notification requests includes parameter values associated with the VPN settings.
US09313170B1
Identity protection and management for electronic communication is described, including receiving a request to provide data from a first address to a second address, the request including an attribute associated with the second address, determining a risk value of the second address based on the attribute associated with the second address and a risk score, based on the risk value of the second address generating a third address that is associated with the first address, and providing the data and the third address to the second address without providing the first address to the second address.
US09313162B2
Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems for providing a third party app through an email user interface are provided. That is, an email user interface may provide access to an email comprising email content (e.g., a message regarding meeting for dinner at the Emerald Tavern). The email content may be analyzed to identify an entity referenced by the email content (e.g., an Emerald Tavern entity). A user intent to accomplish a task may be determined based upon the entity. An action that may be performed to accomplish the task, and a third party app capable of performing the action may be presented through the email user interface (e.g., a restaurant reservation app capable of a reservation task). Responsive to selection of the third party app, the third party app may be executed within the email user interface without transitioning a user away from the immersive email experience.
US09313160B1
Systems and methods for implementing a card-based user interface for thread-based communications on mobile devices are described. In some embodiments, in response to activation of an application, a mobile device receives data that represents a set of threaded conversations, where the data includes a representation header for each threaded conversation in the set of threaded conversations. The mobile device then displays a list of the representation headers for the set of threaded conversations. In response to an activation of the representation header corresponding to a particular threaded conversation in the set of the threaded conversations, the mobile device displays in a first expanded card, text associated with a most recent message in the particular threaded conversation, and in a collapsed card, a representation of previously read messages in the particular threaded conversation. Other embodiments are also described.
US09313158B2
A system and method are disclosed for registering a email sender for the purpose of sending an email message to an email receiver including receiving a challenge message wherein the challenge message includes a machine answerable question; processing the challenge message to determine that it is a challenge message sent for the purpose of authorizing delivery of the email message; analyzing the question to determine a valid response to the challenge message; and sending the valid response that includes the answer wherein a nontrivial amount of resources are required to send the valid response.
US09313157B2
An electronic messaging system and method with reduced traceability. Separate displays are provided at a recipient user device for separately displaying via the user device header information of an electronic message and message content including a media component. The header information is displayed in a message list via a first display. The message content including a media component is displayed via a second display. The display of the message content occurs via the second display without displaying the header information. Methods, systems, and computer readable media with separation of the display of media component and header information in various implementations may provide for reduced traceability of an electronic message.
US09313153B2
A system for dynamic message routing on a topic between publishing nodes and subscribing nodes includes a plurality of message queues, at least one topic/node table, a subscribing module, a publishing module, and other modules to send messages between one or more publisher and one or more subscribers. Methods include: a method for publishing a message on a topic, a method for forwarding a message on a topic, a method for subscribing to messages on a topic, a method for automatically removing subscribers, a method for direct publishing of messages, and methods for optimizing message transmission between nodes.
US09313152B1
A real-time messaging platform and method are disclosed which suggests messages and accounts from the real-time messaging platform.
US09313151B1
Automated reply messages such as “out-of-office” messages or “away” messages are messages that have been programmed for delivery on behalf of a user upon the receipt of another message intended for the user. An automated reply message typically includes relevant information regarding the user, such as supplemental contact information for the user, a duration of his or her unavailability, and an agent or other contact who may be reached on his or her behalf while he or she is unavailable. The information contained therein may be harvested and utilized for any means, including to protect the user against fraudulent attempted actions on his or her behalf that are not authorized by the user or an agent identified in the reply message.
US09313150B2
Systems and methods for generating interruptions are provided. A method for generating interruptions, comprises generating a message for one or more recipients, detecting that a computing device is being used for a presentation, concluding, using a processor, that the one or more recipients are in an audience for the presentation, and after concluding that the one or more recipients are in the audience, interrupting the presentation with the message.
US09313145B2
Particular embodiments may enable setup and signaling of co-routed and non co-routed label switched paths (LSPs) of a bidirectional packet traffic engineering (TE) tunnel in an unambiguous manner with respect to provisioning of the LSPs/tunnel. A head-end node may set up the bidirectional packet TE tunnel by computing a forward (and possibly a reverse) direction LSP, and then signal the bidirectional TE tunnel utilizing, e.g., extensions to an associated Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) signaling method. The extensions to the associated RSVP signaling method include a plurality of additional Association Types of an Extended Association object carried in a RSVP Path message transmitted by the head-end node to the tail-end node over the forward direction LSP, wherein the additional Association Types explicitly identify the provisioning of the forward and reverse direction LSPs as co-routed or non co-routed.
US09313140B2
While transmitting a first Ethernet frame from the first buffer onto an Ethernet link, a first Ethernet device may stop transmitting the first frame prior to completing transmission of the frame. The first Ethernet device may then transmit a second frame from a second buffer onto the Ethernet link. The first Ethernet device may resume transmission of the first frame from the first buffer onto the Ethernet link. A second Ethernet device may receive, via the Ethernet link, a first portion of a first Ethernet frame and store the first portion of the first Ethernet frame in a first buffer. The second Ethernet device may then receive, via the Ethernet link, a second Ethernet frame and store the second Ethernet frame in a second buffer. The second Ethernet device may then receive, via the Ethernet link, a second portion of the first Ethernet frame and append it to the contents of the first buffer.
US09313134B2
Leveraging hardware accelerators for scalable distributed stream processing in a network environment
An example method for leveraging hardware accelerators for scalable distributed stream processing in a network environment is provided and includes allocating a plurality of hardware accelerators to a corresponding plurality of bolts of a distributed stream in a network, facilitating a handshake between the hardware accelerators and the corresponding bolts to allow the hardware accelerators to execute respective processing logic according to the corresponding bolts, and performing elastic allocation of hardware accelerators and load balancing of stream processing in the network. The distributed stream comprises a topology of at least one spout and the plurality of bolts. In specific embodiments, the allocating includes receiving capability information from the bolts and the hardware accelerators, and mapping the hardware accelerators to the bolts based on the capability information. In some embodiments, facilitating the handshake includes executing a shadow process to interface between the hardware accelerator and the distributed stream.
US09313132B1
Systems and methods are provided herein for implementing an OAM co-processor that is connected to a switching device. The ingress engine may determine whether the received input data comprises OAM information, and the ingress engine may selectively process or forward the input data to the switching device. If the ingress engine determines that the input data does comprise OAM information, the ingress engine may intercept the input data and process it at the OAM co-processor. This may cause OAM information to be processed utilizing the latest known OAM technology, rather than the potentially dated OAM processing technology of the switching device.
US09313131B2
A filter in a DOCSIS bridge performs IP Filtering of incoming Ethernet packets in hardware. The filter includes a parser circuit which, in hardware, parses each of the incoming Ethernet packets and then utilizes the parsed information in combination with a content-addressable memory (CAM) that stores filtering information, to filter and route the incoming Ethernet packets. Detailed statistical data may also be generated to provide information on the type of filtering being performed by the DOCSIS bridge.
US09313124B2
A network switch includes a plurality of ports, a parser coupled to the plurality of ports, and a processor coupled to the ports and configured to process a received packet via one of the ports. The received packet includes a first header field, a second header field, and a destination header field, each of the first, second, and destination header fields including a TTL field. The parser is configured to decide a valid bit for each of the first header field, the second header field and the destination header field, based on an availability for each of the first header field, the second header field and the destination header field. The processor is configured to execute an instruction to cause, based on the valid bits of the first and second header fields, content of a select one of the first or second header field's TTL field to be copied to the destination header field.
US09313123B2
Described herein are systems and methods for improving networked communication systems by transforming IP addresses. In particular, an intermediary device disposed in a network between a plurality of clients and a plurality of servers can receive a request for a service offered at a specified domain name. The appliance can also receive a DNS-resolved primary address for a server associated with the domain name, and transform the primary address to a secondary address for the server. The address transformation can be done by the intermediary to prevent service interruption between a client and server due, for example, to server maintenance.
US09313117B2
The method and system to computes an LFA next hop as a backup for a primary path next hop that enables an administrator to control LFA selection for a given destination node using a tag and a weight. The method includes checking whether an interface of a next candidate node has a tag with a tag value matching a tag value of a primary SPF path for the destination node. The method further includes checking whether the destination node has any LFA, checking whether a stored tag differs from the tag value of the primary SPF path, and checking whether the interface of the next candidate node is preferred based on a comparison of a weight values, and replacing a stored LFA for the destination node with the next candidate node. Where conditions are met a stored LFA is replaced with the next candidate node.
US09313112B2
A method and a test device for determining communication characteristics of a metal cable suitable for use in a communication system are provided. The method comprises transmitting a wideband test signal on the metal cable; receiving a reflected signal as a result of the wideband test signal; and determining an interval of the reflected signal to be analyzed, the interval corresponding to a part of the cable length. The method further comprises approximating the reflected signal within the interval by a regression model; and determining characteristics of the metal cable based on the regression model.
US09313091B1
Automatic remediation is provided to a serviced system. Selected system information associated with the serviced system is received. A set of one or more symptoms is generated using the selected system information. A knowledge repository is searched using the set of symptoms to identify a root cause. A remediation package corresponding to the root cause is obtained and, if permitted, the remediation package is caused to be performed on the serviced system.
US09313090B2
The embodiments of the present invention provide a tunnel fault detection method and a traffic engineering (TE) node. The method includes: receiving, by a traffic engineering TE node, a link fault report packet; determining, by the node, a faulty link in which a fault occurs according to the link fault report packet; detecting, by the node, whether one or more tunnels which use the node as an ingress node and pass through the faulty link exist; and identifying the tunnels as faulty tunnels if the one or more tunnels which use the node as the ingress node and pass through the faulty link exist. In the embodiments of the present invention, the TE node can detect all faulty tunnels at a time, and it is not necessary to wait until the fault notification based on each tunnel is received and then the faulty tunnel is identified one by one.
US09313087B2
A system includes a plurality of servers and a border server. The border server receives a request for a transaction that can be accomplished by performing tasks, identifies a first task of the tasks, identifies an initial server of the servers to perform the first task by consulting, based on a type of the first task, routing data stored in memory of the border server, and requests that the initial server perform the first task. Each of the servers will, in response to receiving a task from the border server, perform the received task using related data stored exclusively on the server, determine whether the received task requires an additional task, identify a next server to perform the additional task by consulting routing data stored in memory of the server, and request that the next server perform the additional task.
US09313086B2
A System and method for creation and transport of flows. The method includes transmitting an ADDFLOW request to a receiver to add the flow to the wireless network. The method also includes receiving a response message indicating that the flow will be added to the wireless network and delivering the flow to the wireless network. A given flow may be uniquely identified by the concatenation of a flow ID and a flow address. The flow address will always be either the transmitter's or receiver's MAC address. This method could be extended to compress any bit sequences that take on only a limited set of values.
US09313081B2
The present invention relates to a system and method for sharing and controlling various contents in a voice call. A contents sharing system includes a soft switch and a contents share server. The soft switch receives a voice call from a VoIP terminal to set establishment and cancellation on a voice call session, receives a contents sharing request call, and transmits the same to the contents share server. The contents share server in cooperation with the soft switch receives the contents request call and processes establishment and cancellation on a data session for contents sharing between the callers. Accordingly, improved calling is provided by sharing various contents between the callers in a voice calling and thereby overcoming the problem of communication only available for voice.
US09313074B2
A method and system for detecting FSS by a peak threshold, and a receiver include: a peak search module configured to perform peak search on a set of inputted CIR average values to obtain a set of CIR peaks; a threshold generation module configured to search for a maximum value from the obtained set of CIR peaks, obtain an FSS search threshold according to the maximum value and a preset threshold, and provide the FSS search threshold to an FSS detection module; and the FSS detection module configured to utilize the FSS search threshold to detect an FFT windowing position of a receiving antenna. The technical solutions according to the disclosure improve the protection capability from exceptions for FSS detection while reducing the detection complexity of FSS.
US09313070B2
Techniques are presented herein for detecting burst noise in a received orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) transmission. An OFDM transmission is received that includes pilots transmitted at different instances of time but on the same subcarrier during a predetermined time interval such that there are a plurality of different pairs of pilots that are on the same subcarriers during the predetermined time interval. For each possible pair of pilots, an equalized pilot is generated using received values for first and second pilots of the pair. A signal-to-noise ratio is computed for each equalized pilot. A determination is made as to which pilots, if any, are affected by burst noise by comparing the signal-to-noise ratio among the plurality of equalized pilots. Pilots determined to be affected by burst noise are removed from a channel response computation.
US09313067B2
Systems and methods are provided for transceiving information via alternate bandwidths using a shared baseband processor. The transmission method selects clock sampling frequencies, for example a first clock frequency (l×F1), or a second clock frequency (k×F1), where k>l. Digital information is processed using the selected clock sampling frequency and a baseband signal is generated. Regardless of the clock sampling frequency selected, the baseband signal may have the same number of subcarrier frequencies. The baseband signal is converted into a radio frequency (RF) signal having a data rate responsive to a selected clock frequency, and transmitted. More explicitly, a first baseband signal is generated having a first data rate in response to selecting the first clock frequency. A second baseband signal having a second data rate greater than the first data rate, may be generated in response to selecting the second clock frequency.
US09313051B2
Provided is a cyclic shift sequence generation method which can prevent coming of an interference wave into a desired wave detection window even if a cyclic shift sequence has a high mutual correlation in different bandwidths, thereby improving a channel estimation accuracy in a base station. In this method, a cyclic shift sequence number to be allocated to a cell is decided in advance. Moreover, when the cyclic shift amount between cyclic shift sequences allocated in cells is Δ1 and the cyclic shift amount of the cyclic shift sequences allocated between the cells is Δ2, Δ1 and Δ2 are made different when generating a cyclic shift sequence.
US09313048B2
A sense of location is provided for distributed virtual switch components into the service provisioning scheme to reduce latency observed in conducting policy evaluations across a network in a hybrid cloud environment. A management application in a first virtual network subscribes to virtual network services provided by a second virtual network. A first message is sent to the second virtual network, the first message comprising information configured to start a virtual switch in the second virtual network that switches network traffic for one or more virtual machines in the second virtual network that are configured to extend services provided by the first virtual network into the second virtual network. A second message is sent to the second virtual network, the second message comprising information configured to start a virtual service node in the second virtual network that provides network traffic services for the one or more virtual machines.
US09313047B2
Handling network data packets classified as being high throughput and low latency with a network traffic management device is disclosed. Packets are received from a network and classified as high throughput or low latency based on packet characteristics or other factors. Low latency classified packets are generally processed immediately, such as upon receipt, while the low latency packet processing is strategically interrupted to enable processing coalesced high throughput classified packets in an optimized manner. The determination to cease processing low latency packets in favor of high throughput packets may be based on a number of factors, including whether a threshold number of high throughput classified packets are received or based on periodically polling a high throughput packet memory storage location.
US09313037B2
Embodiments of the present invention relates to the field of communications, which complements a data forwarding method of a backup incoming interface under protocol independent multicast dual join in a PIM protocol, facilitates implementation of compatibility in various manufacturers, and reduces a restriction of a network topology on the application of the PIM protocol. The method includes: when a main incoming interface is up, forwarding, by a router, multicast data received from a backup incoming interface to the main incoming interface in a join state; and when the main incoming interface is down, before selecting a new main incoming interface and/or backup incoming interface, forwarding, by the router, the multicast data received from the backup incoming interface to all interfaces in a join state or to all other interfaces in a join state except the backup incoming interface.
US09313031B2
Techniques for authenticating the identity of a caller in a telephone call are disclosed. The device generating the call implements encrypting caller identification information and initiating the telephone call, said initiating comprising providing a voice carrier signal including the caller identification information; and simultaneously providing a data carrier signal including the encrypted caller identification information. The receiving device implements receiving the telephone call; decrypting the encrypted caller identification information at the recipient device; and verifying the identity of at least an unknown caller at the recipient device by at least one of verifying the authenticity of a certificate used to encrypt the caller identification information; and comparing the decrypted caller identification information with the caller identification information from the voice carrier signal. A telephony device implementing such an authentication technique is also disclosed.
US09313026B2
The invention relates to the technical field of information, and disclosed in the present invention are a key negotiation method and apparatus according to the SM2 key exchange protocol. The method is implemented as follows: two negotiation parties both calculate a parameter W according to the minimum positive integer value in the permissible values of X which enable an inequality n≦2X to hold, and perform key negotiation with the opposite negotiation party according to the parameter W. Compared with a method for calculating the parameter W through calculating log 2 (n) logarithmic value firstly and then rounding up the logarithmic value, the method disclosed by the invention has the advantages that the calculated amount is effectively reduced, and the implementation complexity of an algorithm is reduced, thereby greatly improving the implementation efficiency of the key negotiation process based on the SM2 key exchange protocol, and then optimizing the engineering implementation of the SM2 key exchange protocol.
US09313020B2
A handshaking process for time-reversal wireless communication is provided. A first device receives a handshake signal transmitted from a second device through multiple propagation paths, the handshake signal including a preamble and a training sequence, in which the training sequence includes a sequence of symbols known to the first and second devices. A synchronization index is determined based on the preamble, and the training sequence in the handshake signal is identified based on the synchronization index. A channel response signal is determined based on the received training sequence, and a signature waveform that is a time-reversed signal of the channel response signal is generated. A transmission signal is generated based on transmit data and the signature waveform, in which the transmit data are data configured to be transmitted to the second device.
US09313016B2
A receiver circuit etc. which can receive a high-speed signal is provided without providing a PLL circuit etc. A first receiver circuit for capturing an input signal at a plurality of capture timings determined based on a capture clock signal, includes a delay circuit configured to delay the input signal by a set delay time, and output the delayed input signal, a data latch circuit configured to capture the input signal delayed by the delay circuit at each capture timing, a data test circuit configured to test a latch signal captured by the data latch circuit, and a data test result register configured so that a test result value is set therein. The data test circuit compares the latch signal captured by the latch circuit at each capture timing with an expected value, and outputs the result of the comparison.
US09312996B2
Methods and apparatuses are provided for transmitting and receiving information. A User Equipment (UE) identifies a sequence based on a Zadoff-Chu sequence and ejα, where a cyclic shift value α is defined per cell. The UE identifies information for an orthogonal sequence. The UE generates a signal by using the information, the sequence and the orthogonal sequence. The UE transmits the signal in a Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbol to a Node B.
US09312995B2
A uniform feedback format mandates that mandates that DPS CSI, JT CSI, and CQI are reported irrespective of which transmission scheme was previously used to perform transmissions. The DPS CSI, JT CSI, and CQI are then used to select a transmission scheme from a group of candidate transmission schemes. The selected transmission scheme can be a CoMP transmission scheme.
US09312991B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for recovering from packet loss in an end-to-end network connection having at least one wireless segment. A packet on a wireless segment of an end-to-end network connection is processed by determining whether the packet comprises one or more of a lost packet and a malformed packet; and generating a modified packet for an application associated with the packet to replace one or more of the lost packet and the malformed packet if the application is substantially tolerant to one or more of lost and malformed data. The modified packet comprises, for example, a non-original packet and/or a corrected packet. Link layer information or information from a deep packet inspection can be used to determine whether the packet comprises a lost packet or a malformed packet.
US09312989B2
A method is provided in one example and includes receiving a loss report usable to determine a plurality of missing packets at a first receiver; determining one or more retransmission packets for retransmission based on a forward error correction (FEC) scheme and the plurality of missing packets at the first receiver, where the one or more retransmission packets are determined to allow the first receiver to recover at least one of the missing source packets in the one or more source packets using the FEC scheme; and sending the one or more retransmission packets to the first receiver, the one or more retransmission packets allowing the first receiver to recover at least one of the missing source packets in the one or more source packets that it is missing using the forward error correction scheme after receiving the one or more retransmission packets.
US09312986B2
A method and apparatus for transmitting a signal for a network having at least four nodes comprising two transmitters, a relay, and a receiver that are connected together by non-orthogonal links implementing a spatially-distributed network code. The method includes each transmitter delivering a code word per block of K information bits and transmitting the code words during N time slots; iterative joint detection/decoding in the relay to separate respective streams and determine, per stream, a vector representative of the received code word; jointly coding two vectors derived from the two streams to determine redundancy information representative of two code words transmitted during N time slots; transmitting, by the relay, redundancy information during N time slots; and sequencing in the relay such that the redundancy information transmitted during the N time slots corresponds to the code words transmitted during the preceding N time slots.
US09312985B2
Disclosed is a device, a computer implemented method, and an apparatus for rate selection in a millimeter-wave communication system. The method includes performing antenna training on at least one antenna of the millimeter-wave communication system; conducting a rate search to select a modulation coding scheme (MCS) among a plurality of MCSs based upon an antenna configuration provided by the antenna training; engaging a rate lock on the selected MCS in response to determining that a reliable radio link has been found among the plurality of MCSs, wherein the selected MCS defines a constellation configuration and a code rate for transmitting millimeter-wave signals; and performing re-training of the antenna upon an event including any one of: failing to find a MCS which supports the reliable radio link, and determining a drop in reliability of the radio link.
US09312984B2
To reduce overhead of CSI feedback without decreasing throughput in applying CoMP transmission, a radio communication method of the invention is characterized in that a radio base station apparatus determines so that content of CSI to transmit to a serving cell to perform CoMP transmission as feedback is different from content of CSI to transmit to a coordinated cell as feedback, and notifies a user terminal of the content of CSI, and that the user terminal generates feedback information based on the content of CSI notified from the radio base station apparatus, and transmits the feedback information to radio base station apparatuses of cells that perform Coordinated Multi-Point transmission.
US09312980B1
We disclose a communication system in which a cluster of network nodes is interconnected using an optical interconnect and an electrical switch engine. A bidirectional communication channel between any two of the network nodes can be set up using two bidirectional optical links established through the optical interconnect and one bidirectional electrical link configured to connect the ends of the two bidirectional optical links through the switch engine. The optical interconnect has a structure that enables the communication system to be (re)configurable for a desired level of oversubscription. Some embodiments of the communication system can advantageously be used in a data-center network.
US09312978B2
Embodiments disclosed herein reduce interference at pilot symbols and also enable good interference measurements by using a combination pilot tones and null tones along with null tones. In this type of system, the receivers estimate the channel state information without any strong interference from the neighboring transmitters, and at the same time it can also measure either the individual interference channel states or the interference covariances from the silent periods. It uses these measurements thus obtained to calculate the post processing SINR, and then compute and report the wideband and subband CQIs to the transmitter. The groups of transmitters are reused in geographically separated region using a frequency reuse structure. In a preferred implementation, pilot signal is precoded using a multi-antenna precoder. The precoder may be same for pilot and data.
US09312976B2
In some examples, a method of TDMA-based self-adaptive channel-switching is described. The method may include determining multiple switching thresholds, each corresponding to a respective one of multiple communication devices within a coverage area of a wireless access point (AP). Each of the switching thresholds may be based at least on a first received signal strength indication (RSSI). The first RSSI may indicate a received signal strength at the respective one of the communication devices substantially in the absence of interference. The method may also include determining that a current RSSI at a particular one of the communication devices is less than a corresponding one of the switching thresholds. The method may also include coordinating a transition by the wireless AP and the communication devices from a carrier sense multiple access CSMA mode to a hybrid CSMA-TDMA mode.
US09312969B2
A web-based method of combining time coded audio files, having the following steps: (a) a local operator using a web-based interface displayed on a local computer system to access a library of audio files stored on a remote system; (b) the local operator using the web-based interface to select a plurality of the audio files from the library; (c) the local operator using the web-based interface to request the remote system to combine the selected audio files into a single combined audio segment comprising the selected audio files commencing play at audio cue markers; (d) the remote system generating the single combined audio segment by combining the plurality of selected audio files; and (e) the local operator using the web-based interface to download or stream the single combined audio segment.
US09312962B2
An optical modulator includes a splitter, phase modulators, amplitude modulators, intensity modulators, and a combiner. The splitter is configured to receive light, and split the light into portions of the light. Each of the phase modulators is configured to receive a corresponding one of the portions of the light, and modulate a phase of the portion of the light to provide a phase-modulated signal. Each of the amplitude modulators is configured to receive a corresponding one of the phase-modulated signals, and modulate an amplitude of the phase-modulated signal to provide an amplitude-modulated signal. Each of the intensity modulators is configured to receive a corresponding one of the amplitude-modulated signals, and modulate an intensity of the amplitude-modulated signals to provide an intensity-modulated signal. The combiner is configured to receive the intensity-modulated signals, combine the intensity-modulated signals into a combined signal, and output the combined signal.
US09312941B2
Base stations may include a plurality of antenna ports adapted to communicatively couple to respective remote antenna units. A base station simulcast controller module may be coupled with each antenna port, and may be adapted to transmit downlink transmissions over a plurality of remote antenna units, with two or more of the remote antenna units simulcasting downlink transmissions as a simulcasting group. In response to one or more obtained network traffic parameters, the base station simulcast controller module may modify the simulcasting group to include at least one different remote antenna unit. Methods operational on base station may include transmitting downlink transmissions over a plurality of remote antenna units, where two or more of the remote antenna units form a simulcasting group. The simulcasting group can be modified to include at least one different remote antenna unit in response to one or more obtained network traffic parameters.
US09312933B2
A mobile wireless device may dynamically alter a downlink MIMO function by switching it on and off, or switching between different downlink MIMO configurations, such as 2×MIMO and 4×MIMO. Still further, a mobile device having greater than two antennas may dynamically select a subset of the antennas to be used to receive a MIMO transmission, and further, enable a mobile device to request a subset of antennas at a base station to be used for the MIMO transmission. This dynamic control of the MIMO mode or configuration may be achieved by using implicit signaling, by way of an enlarged code word set in CQI feedback transmissions, or by using explicit signaling, by way of E-DPCCH orders. In this way, a MIMO-capable mobile device may dynamically be configured for downlink MIMO transmissions as the conditions demand, enabling MIMO to be switched off when its use might otherwise cause performance to suffer.
US09312928B2
A radio communications system includes a radio base station, an intermediate station to receive data from the radio base station and relay the received data; and another radio base station adjacent to the radio base station. The radio base station transmits data that is the same as the data to be relayed by the intermediate station, in synchronization with the relaying by the intermediate station and by using a radio resource that the intermediate station uses in the relaying of the received data.
US09312910B1
A multi-channel transceiver includes a phase-locked loop circuit, a first transmitting channel and a second transmitting channel. The phase-locked loop circuit generates a first clock signal set and a second clock signal set with different frequencies. The first transmitting channel includes a first phase adjusting circuit and a first transmitter. The first phase adjusting circuit receives the first clock signal set and generates a first spread spectrum clock signal with a first SSCG profile. According to the first spread spectrum clock signal, the first transmitter generates a first serial data. The second transmitting channel includes a second phase adjusting circuit and a second transmitter. The second phase adjusting circuit receives the second clock signal set and generates a second spread spectrum clock signal with a second SSCG profile. According to the second spread spectrum clock signal, the second transmitter generates a second serial data.
US09312906B2
A method including bending an electronic apparatus housing member, where the housing member is a substantially rigid one-piece member, where the bending comprises a bending jig bending the housing member from a first shape to a second shape, where the bending elastically bends the housing member to form an electronic component path of insertion into the housing member through a front aperture of the housing member, where a shape of the front aperture is changed by the bending; inserting an electronic component assembly as a singular module into the housing member through the path; and allowing the housing member to resiliently deflect back to the first shape, where the housing member substantially closes the path.
US09312901B2
There are provided an interface setup apparatus and method capable of easily setting up an interface in a mobile terminal. A controller transmits, to a server, identification information extracted from a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card inserted into the mobile terminal upon power-on of the mobile terminal, in response, downloads a binary received from the server and corresponding to the identification information, and sets up the interface of the mobile terminal based on the binary.
US09312892B2
The present invention discloses a digital pre-distortion circuit capable of compensating an analog circuit for its non-linear characteristic. An embodiment of said digital pre-distortion circuit comprises: a pre-distortion training circuit and a pre-distortion circuit. Said pre-distortion training circuit is operable to process a digital feedback signal according to a Cholesky Decomposition related algorithm and thereby generate a plurality of coefficients in which the digital feedback signal is derived from an output signal of the analog circuit and the output signal of the analog circuit is derived from an original digital signal; and said pre-distortion circuit is operable to process the original digital signal according to the plurality of coefficients under a compensation mode and thereby generate a digital pre-distortion signal whose non-linear characteristic is able to compensate the non-linear characteristic of the analog circuit.
US09312874B1
In an embodiment, a system includes an ADC and a compression circuit associated with the ADC. The ADC may be configured to generate samples of an analog signal. The compression circuit may be configured to compress the samples for transmission to a receiving circuit that processes the signal based on the compressed samples. By transmitting compressed samples, the power consumed for transmitting the data to the receiving circuit may be reduced as compared to transmitting the uncompressed samples. The receiving circuit may also be coupled to a DAC and may be configured to transmit compressed samples to be applied to an actuator. A decompression circuit associated with the DAC may be configured to decompress the samples.
US09312871B2
A gas cell includes an internal space in which metal atoms and a buffer gas are sealed. The buffer gas includes a gas mixture including nitrogen gas and argon gas. The mole fraction of the argon gas in the gas mixture is equal to or greater than 15% and equal to or less than 40%.
US09312869B2
Systems and methods for a wafer scale atomic clock are provided. In at least one embodiment, a wafer scale device comprises a first substrate; a cell layer joined to the first substrate, the cell layer comprising a plurality of hermetically isolated cells, wherein separate measurements are produced for each cell in the plurality of hermetically isolated cells; and a second substrate joined to the cell layer, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate comprise electronics to control the separate measurements, wherein the separate measurements are combined into a single measurement.
US09312856B2
A method for 3D voltage type TSV signal transmission, comprising transmitting a full swing signal of data with a first voltage through TSVs for each one of a plurality of slave devices to determine a transmission time required for data transmission to a master device. Then, full swing signal is sensed by the master device for reduce the first voltage to be a small swing signal with lower voltage. Logic “0” signals or logic “1” signals with the lower voltage are transmitted through the TSVs by the plurality of slave devices. It is sharing charge and balancing voltage level to a mean value for the logic “1” signals or the logic “0” signals by the master device.
US09312854B2
A circuit for switching-on and/or switching-off an electrical load comprises an electrically conductive operator control element, an electrically operated lighting element that is looped-in between the operator control element and a live pole of an AC voltage source in such a way that current flows through the lighting element, as a result of which the lighting element emits light, when the operator control element is operated, an opto-electrical transducer is optically coupled to the lighting element, is shielded from ambient light and converts light emitted by the lighting element into electrical energy, and a switch that is electrically coupled to the opto-electrical transducer and connects the electrical load to a supply voltage (UV) or disconnects the electrical load from the said supply voltage, with the switch connecting the electrical load to the supply voltage when it is supplied with electrical energy by the opto-electrical transducer.
US09312850B2
An integrated circuit with a testable power-on-reset (POR) circuit includes a voltage divider, an inverter, a level-shifter, a buffer and a flip-flop. The voltage divider receives a first supply voltage and generates a second supply voltage. The POR circuit receives the second supply voltage and generates a POR voltage signal when the second supply voltage exceeds a POR de-assertion threshold. The level-shifter receives the POR voltage signal and an inverted POR voltage signal from the inverter circuit and generates a level-shifted POR voltage signal at a voltage level of the first supply voltage. The buffer receives the level-shifted POR voltage signal and outputs a delayed level-shifted POR voltage signal. The flip-flop receives the first supply voltage as data input, the delayed level-shifted POR voltage signal as clock input, the level-shifted POR voltage signal as reset input, and outputs a voltage-monitor signal at the voltage level of the first supply voltage.
US09312849B2
A switching circuit includes a first input stage having an input for receiving a first input signal, an output, and a power terminal for receiving an increasing analog current, a second input stage having an input for receiving a second input signal, an output, and a power terminal for receiving a decreasing analog current, and an output node coupled to the outputs of the first input stage and the second input stage for providing a switched output signal. An output stage is coupled between the first and second input stages and the output node. The first and second input stages are operational amplifiers.
US09312845B2
In aspects of the invention, a semiconductor device can include one level shift circuit that outputs a low-side input signal as a high-side signal upon raising a signal level, a pulse modulation circuit that operates in a low-side region, generates a data symbol constituted by or more bits and representing a set signal or a reset signal, where bit is defined as a combination of codes forming a pair. The pulse generation circuit can output the generated data symbol as an input signal of the level shift circuit. Also included can be a pulse demodulation circuit that operates in a high-side region, demodulates the data symbol outputted from the level shift circuit and generates a level-shifted set signal or reset signal; and a control circuit that controls conduction/non-conduction of the high-potential-side switching element on the basis of the level-shifted set signal or reset signal outputted from the pulse demodulation circuit.
US09312834B1
An integrated circuit having reduced power consumption includes a clock-gating cell, a transistor and a flip-flop. The clock-gating cell receives a dynamic enable signal, generates a latched-enable signal and gates a clock signal provided to the flip-flop. The flip-flop includes first and second latches. The transistor receives an inverted latched-enable signal from the clock-gating cell and switches ON or OFF based on the logic state of the inverted latched-enable signal. The transistor provides a voltage signal to the flip-flop circuit based on the state of the flip-flop in order to control the state of the flip-flop, which reduces power consumption of the integrated circuit.
US09312828B2
The present document relates to multi-stage amplifiers, such as linear regulators or linear voltage regulators (e.g. low-dropout regulators) configured to provide a constant output voltage subject to load transients. A multi-stage amplifier is described, having a differential amplification stage which comprises a differential transistor pair. The differential amplification stage is configured to provide a stage output voltage at a stage output node of the differential transistor pair, based on a first input voltage at a first stage input node and a second input voltage at a second stage input node. The differential transistor pair also comprises a reference node. The differential amplification stage further comprises an active load comprising a first diode transistor coupled to the reference node and a first mirror transistor coupled to the stage output node.
US09312806B2
The present invention relates to electrical test apparatuses for photovoltaic modules and methods of testing photovoltaic modules.
US09312805B2
In a concentrated solar photoelectric system, at least one controllable radiation attenuation element (e.g., an array of controllable pixels or segments) is arranged to selectively attenuate transmission of radiation to a photoelectric element (e.g., a solar panel). Liquid crystals may provide attenuation utility without necessity for mechanical actuation. Attenuation may be controlled responsive to at least one sensor to maintain each portion of the photoelectric element at or below a maximum power conversion point. Non-planar attenuators and/or lenses may be provided. One or more thermal exchange fluid channels may be in thermal communication with the thermoelectric element.
US09312804B2
A solar concentrator calibration tool that compensates for inconsistencies in the fabrication, assembly and installation of a solar collector system, permits the solar collector to perform optimally. The calibration tool provides feedback information to a supervisory control processor, allowing the processor to compare the expected position of the sun to the “actual” position found by the calibration tool. The processor then generates a calibration signal, thereafter used by the collector's movement control mechanism, to compensate the tracking of the solar collector to accurately follow the movement of the sun, unconstrained by the effects of the construction inconsistencies.
US09312801B2
A brushless electrical machine has at least one phase winding which produces torque to drive a load. The control system for the machine is able to vary the flux and current supplied to a phase so as to vary the torque output as a function of the rotor position. The energization is reduced at particular angles to produce a dip in the torque profile, thus ensuring that, if the drive stalls, it does so at a predetermined position, for example where the losses in the drive are minimized.
US09312800B2
A system and method for controlling an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) are presented. In an exemplary implementation, phase current ripple estimation techniques are utilized for variable frequency switching pulse-width modulation control of the IPMSM. In one implementation, the method includes controlling a three-phase inverter based on an initial switching frequency to generate a three-phase alternating current (AC) voltage for the IPMSM. Transformed voltages are determined in a rotating reference frame based on the three-phase AC voltage in the stationary reference frame. Current ripples are determined in the rotating reference frame based on the transformed voltages. Phase current ripples are determined in the stationary reference frame based on the current ripples in the rotating reference frame. A modified switching frequency for the three-phase inverter is determined based on the initial switching frequency and the phase current ripples. The three-phase inverter is then controlled based on the modified switching frequency.
US09312797B2
A motor driving circuit has a supply line connected to a DC power source, an inverter whose input side is connected to the supply line and whose output side is connected to a motor, a power switch inserted in the supply line for switching the supply line between conducting and cut-off states, a voltage detector for detecting a voltage between the direct-current power source and the power switch, and an insulation resistance detector for first detecting, based on a result of detection by the voltage detector with the power switch in the cut-off state, an insulation resistance on the preceding-stage side of the power switch and subsequently detecting, based on a result of detection by the voltage detector with the power switch in the conducting state, an insulation resistance on the succeeding-stage side of the power switch.
US09312787B2
An inverter includes an inverter unit including at least one inverter arm having at least one high side switch and at least one low side switch connected to each other in series between a ground and an input power terminal providing input power having a preset voltage level, and switching the input power to output AC power; and a high voltage gate driving circuit unit including at least one high voltage gate driving unit having a plurality of high voltage gate drivers connected in series between an input terminal of an instruction signal requesting a switching control of the inverter unit and an output terminal of a control signal controlling switching of the inverter unit, such that switching of the high side switch is controlled, and voltage generated at the time of switching the high side switch is divided and applied to the plurality of high voltage gate drivers.
US09312785B2
In one embodiment, a synchronous rectification circuit can include: (i) a sampling circuit configured to sample a voltage across first and second power terminals of a synchronous rectifier, and to generate a first sampling voltage; (ii) an enable controlling circuit configured to delay the first sampling voltage, and to generate a second sampling voltage, and to activate a ramp voltage when the first sampling voltage is higher than the second sampling voltage; (iii) the enable controlling circuit being configured to generate an enable controlling signal in response to a comparison of the ramp voltage against a reference voltage that represents a predetermined light load condition; and (iv) a driving circuit configured to activate a driving signal to turn on the synchronous rectifier when the enable controlling signal and a synchronous rectification open signal are active.
US09312782B2
In a power converter, a plurality of AC busbars are electrically connected to an AC load. An insulating support surrounds at least part of a stacked converter unit of semiconductor modules and refrigerant paths. The set of busbars are fixedly mounted on the insulating support. A terminal holder has a mount surface on which one end of each of the plurality of AC busbars is mounted as a terminal. A current sensor has a through-hole and measures a current flowing through at least part of at least one of the plurality of AC busbars. The current sensor is attached to the terminal holder with the at least part of the at least one of the plurality of AC busbars being fitted in the through-hole of the current sensor.
US09312781B2
A control method is disclosed that involves controlling zero-crossing operation of bridge arms in a UPS, wherein the UPS has a rectifying bridge with first and second switching transistors, a midline bridge arm with third and fourth switching transitors, and an inverter bridge arm with fifth and sixth switching transitors. The midline and rectifying bridge arms are controlled to cross zero synchronously. The inverter bridge arm is controlled to be disconnected during a period before a zero-crossing point of the rectifying bridge arm to a period after the zero-crossing point of the rectifying bridge arm. The periods before and after the zero-crossing point of the rectifying bridge arm are time differences between the zero-crossing points of the inverter bridge arm and the rectifying bridge arm. The influence of asynchronous zero-crossing between the PFC circuit and the inverter circuit on the UPS performance indices may be reduced by using the present control method.
US09312779B2
A power converter, control apparatus and methods are presented for driving a permanent magnet motor or other load through a sine wave filter and a transformer, in which inverter output current is controlled using a current-frequency relationship to convert a desired frequency or speed value to a current setpoint, and the inverter output current is regulated to the current setpoint using a control algorithm with a bandwidth below the resonant frequency of the sine wave filter.
US09312778B2
A power supply device includes a full-bridge circuit including first to fourth switches switching power input from a power input unit, the first and second switches and the third and fourth switches being connected to both terminals of the power input unit in parallel; a resonance unit connected between a first connection node between the first and second switches and a second connection node between the third and fourth switches; a transformer including primary and secondary windings connected to the resonance unit in series; a rectifying circuit rectifying and outputting voltage transferred from the secondary winding; a sensing unit obtaining at least one of output current and output voltage output from the rectifying circuit; and a controlling unit controlling the first to third switches or the second to fourth switches, based on the at least one of the output current and the output voltage obtained by the sensing unit.
US09312770B2
There is provided a power converter that is operated by using a power supply of one system and effectively using a current flowing in a load. A charging operation that supplies a charging current and the like to a load 13 and a discharging operation that outputs a discharging current from the load 13 are performed by switching each semiconductor switch of a full-bridge circuit 12. A control section 15 controls all semiconductor switches of the full-bridge circuit 12 to be in an OFF state while switching the charging operation and the discharging operation, makes an inertia current generated by energy accumulated in inductors 27 and 28 flow from a circulation diode of the semiconductor switch that is in OFF-state to a first connection point of the full-bridge circuit 12, and supplies the inertia current to a control power supply section 14 or a DC fan 16 by the reverse flow prevention diode 18.
US09312765B2
In one embodiment, a circuit comprises a sense circuit configured to sense an increase in an output voltage of a switching regulator under a light load condition. A pulse generating circuit generates a control signal to switch on and off a voltage input to the switching regulator. The pulse generating circuit reduces in a binary manner a switching frequency of the control signal under the light load condition as the sensed output voltage increases. As the output voltage rises, a clock signal is divided by two to remove every second pulse and applied to the pulse generating circuit. Further increases in the output voltage cause divisions of the clock frequency by four to remove 3 of 4 pulses so that only every fourth pulse remains. With output voltage increases, the frequency is divided by eight to remove 7 of 8 pulses so that every eighth pulse remains, and so forth.
US09312763B2
The present invention is applicable to the field of direct current conversion, and provides a DC-DC converter. In the present invention, a DC-DC converter including a triangular wave generation module and a switch control module is adopted. The triangular wave generation module generates a triangular wave signal according to voltages at both ends of an energy storage inductor L1, and the switch control module outputs a control level according to its internally generated clock signal and the triangular wave signal to control a switching operation of a PMOS power tube and an NMOS power tube according to a preset switching frequency.
US09312762B2
A switching transistor is configured such that its on resistance RON is switchable between at least two values RON1 and RON2. When the switching transistor is switched from off to on, a control circuit sets the on resistance of the switching transistor to the first value RON1 for a first period immediately after the switching of the switching transistor. Subsequently, for a second period until the switching transistor is turned off, the control circuit sets the on resistance of the switching transistor to the second value RON2 that is smaller than the first value RON1.
US09312761B2
A switching power supply in an integrated circuit, an integrated circuit comprising a switching power supply, and a method of assembling a switching power supply in an integrated circuit are disclosed. In one embodiment, the invention provides a three-dimensional switching power supply in an integrated circuit comprising a device layer. The switching power supply comprises three distinct strata arranged in series with the device layer, the three distinct strata including a switching layer including switching circuits, a capacitor layer including banks of capacitors, and an inductor layer including inductors. This switching power supply further comprises a multitude of connectors electrically and mechanically connecting together the device layer, the switching layer, the capacitor layer, and the inductor layer. The switching circuits, the capacitors and the inductors form a switching power supply for supplying power to the device layer.
US09312755B2
Exemplary embodiments are directed to systems, devices, methods, and computer-readable media for reducing static and dynamic power consumption of a charge pump. In one embodiment, a device may include a plurality of switches, each switch of the plurality having a gate coupled to a dedicated driver of a plurality of drivers. The device may further include at least one clamp switch coupled to at least one driver of the plurality of drivers and configured to adjust a rail voltage of the at least one driver if an input voltage is greater than a threshold voltage. In another embodiment, the device may include a plurality of multiplexers, each multiplexer of the plurality of multiplexers coupled to a portion of an associated switch of the plurality of switches and configured to disable the portion of the associated switch if a clock frequency of the charge pump is below a threshold frequency.
US09312752B2
An electronics apparatus having a housing, an inverting device, a first circuit board connected to the inverting device via at least one line, and a second circuit board connected via a first galvanic connection to the first circuit board and connected via a second galvanic connection to at least component, and having a first filter situated on the first circuit board and upstream from the first galvanic connection, the first filter having a first discharge connection to the housing, and having a second filter situated on the second circuit board and downstream from the first galvanic connection, the second filter having a second discharge connection to the housing, and having a third filter situated on the second circuit board and upstream from the second galvanic connection, the third filter having a third discharge connection to the housing. A method for producing an electronics apparatus is also described.
US09312750B2
A high-frequency ac-dc power converter takes an input ac signal and converts it to an output dc signal. The converter has at least two front-end rectifier diodes arranged as a full wave rectifier of the input ac signal. A first inductor positioned at the output of the full wave rectifier. An output capacitor is connected across a load for the converter. There are at least one additional inductor and one additional capacitor. A switching circuit selectively forms different (LC) resonant circuits with the inductors and capacitors during a cycle of the input ac signal to form a dc-dc power converter.
US09312747B1
A fast startup circuit delivers current to a number of loads, comprising a P-channel current mirror circuit that provides current to an N-channel current mirror circuit that distributes current to a plurality of circuit networks. A first capacitor and a second capacitor are charged to two different voltages when the circuit is disabled and the two voltages are equalized when the circuit is enabled creating an initial operational starting point that has a steady state operating voltage that is the same as that during continuous operations. Thus there is no waiting for the fast startup circuit to start from an off condition and build up exponentially to a steady state operational level.
US09312726B2
A UPS module configured to be arranged between at least one AC line and a communications system comprising at least one load comprises a power system, a diagnostic system, and a communications module. The power system comprising a battery module, an inverter module, and a transformer module and is operatively connected between the AC line and the at least one load. The diagnostic system generates battery diagnostic information, inverter diagnostic, utility diagnostic information, and transformer diagnostic information. The communications module transfers diagnostic information between the diagnostic system and the communications system.
US09312724B2
A solar panel is disclosed that can be daisy-chained with other solar panels. The solar panel automatically generates output alternative current (AC) power that is in parallel with input AC power coming into the solar panel when the solar panel senses the input AC power so that the solar panel operates as a slave in this state. The solar panel automatically generates standalone AC output power when the solar panel fails to detect input AC power coming into the solar panel where the solar panel operates as a master in this state. The solar panel generates the standalone output AC power without any reliance on input AC power generated by a utility grid and/or other AC power sources external to the solar panel.
US09312721B2
An electrical combination. The electrical combination comprises a battery pack configured to be interfaced with a hand held power tool, a control component, and a semiconducting switch. The transfer of power from the battery pack to the hand held power tool is controlled by the control component and the switch based on one of a battery pack state of charge and a respective state of charge of one of a plurality of battery cells. A discharge current of the battery pack is regulated based on the switch being controlled into one of a first state and a second state by the control component to selectively enable the transfer power from the plurality of battery cells to the hand held power tool.
US09312717B2
Frequent charging/discharging to an electric energy storage element is suppressed for energy saving and longer lifetime. A transmission-line-side power converter device converts power from a transmission line, and supplies DC power to a feeder line connected to an electric energy storage element. An output current controller connected with a line voltage detector detects the feeder line voltage, and a charging rate detector detects a charging rate of the electric energy storage element. A control table sets charging/discharging start voltages and current saturated voltages based on the detected line voltage and charging rate. The output current controller controls the electric energy storage element to discharge at a high line voltage as the charging rate increase, to suppress charging the electric energy storage element at the low line voltage, and makes discharging difficult at the low line voltage to facilitate charging at the low line voltage as the charging rate decreases.
US09312713B2
In a method for operating a portable electronic device a recharge process for recharging a rechargeable energy storage of the portable electronic device is detected. A heater is activated for heating a sensitive layer of a chemical sensor contained in the portable electronic device subject to the detection of the recharge process.
US09312706B2
Charging devices, modular adapters, and circuits are provided. One charging device including a body including a rechargeable energy storage device and a housing. The housing includes at least one first coupling portion. The charging device further includes a modular adapter including a second coupling portion configured to be mated to the first coupling portion of the housing. When mated to the housing, the modular adapter is configured to be electrically connected to the rechargeable energy storage device. When the modular adapter is mated to the housing, the body and the modular adapter form a single integrated and substantially rigid structure.
US09312703B2
According to the charge control method of the present invention, as an electric storage means, a group of capacitors is used that include 2n (where n is an integer of 2 or more) electric double layer capacitors, from first to 2n-th electric double layer capacitors, having an equal electrostatic capacity, and that is configured such that adjacent electric double layer capacitors are connected either in series or in parallel by a switch and the 2n-th electric double layer capacitor and the first electric double layer capacitor are connected in parallel by a switch. Among the 2n capacitors Ci constituting the electric storage unit 21, adjacent capacitors are sequentially switched from a series connection to a parallel connection, or the 2n-th capacitor C2n and the first capacitor C1 are switched to a parallel connection state, whereby variations in the inter-terminal voltages of the capacitors are suppressed.
US09312699B2
A system includes at least one generator coupled to an island grid, at least one energy storage unit and at least one converter coupled to the at least one energy storage unit and configured to be coupled to the island grid. The system further includes a control circuit configured to cause the at least one converter to transfer power between the at least one energy storage unit and the grid responsive to a change in a load on the island grid to maintain operation of the at least one generator at a predetermined operating point. The at least one generator may include a control system configured to match generator output to the load and the control circuit may be configured to maintain the control system of the at least one generator within a predetermined dynamic response capability limit responsive to the change in the load.
US09312696B2
It is presented a method executed in a transmission system, the transmission system comprising an AC grid, a DC grid and at least two AC/DC converters connected between the AC grid and DC grid. The method comprises the steps of: obtaining set points for each one of the at least two AC/DC converters, each set point comprising a magnitude and direction of power through the respective AC/DC converter during normal operation generating, based on the set points, a virtual AC grid, the virtual AC grid corresponding to AC behavior of the DC grid, as viewed from each AC side of the at least two AC/DC converters; and controlling the at least two AC/DC converters to mimic a behavior in accordance with the virtual AC grid. A corresponding transmission system is also presented.
US09312692B2
An energy supply network has an n-phase electrical machine where n≧1 and a controllable first energy reservoir which serves to control and supply electrical energy to the electrical machine. The first energy reservoir has n parallel energy supply branches that each have at least two energy reservoir modules, connected in series, that each encompass at least one electrical energy reservoir cell having an associated controllable coupling unit and are connected on the one hand to a reference bus, and on the other hand to a respective phase of the electrical machine. As a function of control signals, the coupling units either bypass the respectively associated energy reservoir cells or switch the respectively associated energy reservoir cells into the energy supply branch.
US09312687B2
The present invention discloses a control device and method for over current or short circuit protection of electronic cigarette. The control device includes an input module, a power module, a heating element, a switch control module, a comparator, and a FET; the FET is used to detect an operating voltage generated by an operating current following through the internal resistance of the FET, and the operating voltage is transmitted to the comparator; the comparator compares a reference voltage with the operating voltage, and output a potential signal to the switch control module, the switch control module turns off the FET or maintains it turning on corresponding to the potential signal, further the FET powers off or powers on the heating element. Therefore the circuit of electronic cigarette is protected in over current or short circuit condition.
US09312685B2
A hybrid industrial vehicle (1) has as a main configuration: an engine (2); a cargo handling generator motor (3) used for cargo handling; a cargo handling apparatus (4) that can be driven by power received from both the engine (2) and the cargo handling generator motor (3); and a hybrid control system (8). The hybrid control system (8) suppresses an output of the cargo handling generator motor (3) according to a temperature of the cargo handling generator motor (3) during powering of the cargo handling generator motor (3), and suppresses a regeneration amount of the cargo handling generator motor (3) according to the temperature of the cargo handling generator motor (3) during regeneration of the cargo handling generator motor (3).
US09312681B2
A power cord having a circuit interrupter such as a leakage current detection interrupter (LCDI) or arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI), with a detection signal conductor wire in addition to the current carrying wires between the source and the load, and a temperature controlled switch coupled to the detection signal conductor wire on the load side. The temperature controlled switch is affixed to a device under measurement which is associated with the load, and changes its open or closed state when the device overheats. This in turn changes the state of the current flowing in the detection signal conductor wire. In response thereto, the circuit interrupter, which is coupled to the detection signal conductor wire on the source end, interrupts the power supply to the load.
US09312676B2
The present invention relates to a cable sealing and retaining device capable of sealingly guiding and retaining a cable through an opening of the cable sealing and retaining device. The present invention provides an improved cable sealing and retaining device which allows a simple releasable fixation of a cable to the cable sealing and retaining device while the cable is sealingly guided through an opening provided with the cable sealing and retaining device. The cable sealing and retaining device (40;60) comprises a sealing part (11) providing a passageway with an inner seal (14) through which a cable (2) is sealingly guidable, and an outer seal (15) arranged on an outer circumference of the sealing part (11). The cable sealing and retaining device (40; 60) comprises a fixation part (12) for retaining the sealing part (11) in longitudinal direction of the passageway; and a sleeve portion (47; 67) forming an opening (41; 61) for receiving the fixation part (12) and the sealing part (11) of the cable sealing and retaining device (40; 60). The sleeve portion (47; 67) provides a sealing section (42; 62) for co-operating with the outer seal (15) to perform a sealing therebetween. The cable sealing and retaining device (40; 60) is characterized by the fixation part (12) which provides fixation means (24) on its outer circumferential surface to fix the fixation part (12) to the sleeve portion (47; 67).
US09312675B2
The invention is relative to a junction box auxiliary securing structure having an auxiliary securing plate mounted in the junction box, and a switch base mounted securely on the auxiliary securing plate. The auxiliary securing plate extends from outside to inside, and oppositely defines long slots, short slots at two sides thereof, respectively, and a central opening formed at a center thereof. The four corners of the central opening have securing tongues slantly extending therefrom and toward a center of the auxiliary securing plate. Two sides of the switch base have a plurality of first fixing holes and a plurality of second fixing holes, respectively. The first fixing holes are corresponding to the long slots of the auxiliary securing plate, and the second fixing holes are corresponding to the short slots of the auxiliary securing plate.
US09312670B1
A cable conduit electrical box including a base having at least one opening for receiving a cable conduit, a cover removably attachable to the base, and an adapter removably positioned on the base or the cover for sealing the at least one opening around the cable conduit. A gasket may be positioned between the base and the cover and a gasket may surround the cable conduit.
US09312669B2
A resistor for suppressing magnetizing inrush current includes a container made of an insulating material and at least one resistive element housed in the container, the resistive element being connected to two bushings provided at the container, the outer surface of the container being coated with a conductive paint, and the paint being connected to the ground, thereby being able to be located between a cable and a switch, and being able to fix the outer surface thereof to a ground voltage level so that human contact safety is not impaired.
US09312660B2
An optical power beam transmission systems, with a directional light transmitter and receiver. The transmitter contains an amplifying laser medium, and this together with a retroreflector in the receiver, forms a laser resonator. When lasing sets in, the receiver can extract optical power through an output coupler and convert it to electrical power. The gain medium may be a disc having a thickness substantially smaller than its lateral dimensions. The laser resonator is operated as a stable resonator to ensure safe operation. This is achieved by use of an adaptive optical element, for reducing the diameter of the energy beam impinging on the gain medium, thereby increasing the overlap between the energy beam and the gain medium. As the transmitter-receiver distance is changed, such as by movement of the receiver, the adaptive optical element focal length changes to ensure that the cavity remains within its stability zone.
US09312656B2
Disclosed are a pulse laser generator and an optical fiber sensor system using the same. The optical fiber sensor system includes a main optical coupler that receives pulse laser light generated from a pulse laser generator from a first input terminal, branches the light to first and second output terminals to output, and outputs, through a third output terminal, light input reversely from the first and second output terminals, a reference optical fiber that is connected to the first output terminal, a multi-point sensing optical fiber unit that is connected to the second output terminal, and in which optical fibers are connected in series or in parallel corresponding to a plurality of sensing points, an optical detection unit that is connected to the third output terminal, and a diagnosis processing unit that detects a change of the physical quantity for the sensing points from signals from the optical detection unit.
US09312654B2
An optical amplification component 1 includes a heat dissipation plate 10 and an amplification optical fiber 20 arranged on the heat dissipation plate 10. The amplification optical fiber 20 includes a first section SC1 extending from a reference position RP between a first end E1 and a second end E2 of the amplification optical fiber 20 up to a position at which a fiber portion 20A extending from the reference position RP toward the end E1 and a fiber portion 20B extending from the reference position RP toward the end E2 are aligned in one direction, and a second section SC2 where the fiber portions 20A and 20B aligned in one direction are wound in a spiral outside the first section SC1. The circumferences of one and the other end parts of the amplification optical fiber 20 are separated from side surfaces of the fiber portions wound in a spiral.
US09312640B2
An assembly is disclosed herein, including a connector and a carrier for carrying the connector. The connector includes a plurality of terminals having terminal contacts, a first shield at least partially surrounding at least one first terminal and having a first shield contact and a second shield at least partially surrounding at least one second terminal and having a second shield contact. The carrier includes a plurality of signal conductors, e.g. being a circuit board or a connector body. The carrier also includes a plurality of, advantageously substantially identical, contact sites. The terminal contacts are contacted to a number of the contact sites of the carrier, and the first and second shield contacts are arranged adjacent each other so that they together fit and are contacted to one contact site of the carrier.
US09312636B2
A power distribution assembly including a seating tray and a device coupled to the seating tray and at least partially fixed relative to the seating tray. The device defines a first channel and a second channel. The device has a mechanical advantage system in communication with the first and second channels. The power distribution assembly includes a housing selectively coupled to the seating tray and an extension affixed to the housing and movably disposed in the second channel of the device. The extension engages the mechanical advantage system. A power distribution assembly includes an actuator movably disposed in the first channel of the device. The actuator engages the mechanical advantage system. The actuator is movable in a first direction to actuate the mechanical advantage system and translate movement of the actuator to movement of the extension with the housing moving toward the seating tray during the movement of the extension.
US09312635B2
A lock arm formed on a second housing fit into a first housing including a lock unit, includes an elastically deformable lock arm body, first and second legs connecting the lock arm body to the second housing with a gap therebetween, a lock portion to be locked to the lock unit, and an extension obliquely extending from the lock arm body, wherein when the extension is pushed towards the lock arm body, the lock arm body is deformed, then, the extension makes contact with the lock arm body, and then, the lock arm body is deformed with the first and second legs acting as fulcrums and further with an abutment point acting as a working point to thereby allow the lock portion to be released from the lock unit, the extension and the lock arm body making contact with each other at the abutment point.
US09312632B2
A magnetic connector system (100) having a cable-end connector (110) and a printed circuit board connector (115). The cable-end connector has a ferro-magnetic strike plate (155). The printed circuit board connector has plugs or bosses (120A, 120B) which mate with corresponding sockets in the cable-end connector and are configured to properly align or orient the connectors. The plugs may include electrical contacts (120A1, 120A2, 120B1) which mate with corresponding electrical contacts in the cable-end connector. The printed circuit board connector has a magnet assembly (122) which is inserted or installed into a receiving area, and secured by retainers, after the printed circuit board connector has been wave- or reflow-soldered to a printed circuit board. The magnet assembly and the strike plate hold the cable-end connector and the printed circuit board connector together.
US09312630B2
The disclosure is directed to a coil spring locking connector offering multiple groove geometries to allow multiple connection positions along the direction of insertion. A connector with an external spring access opening is formed through the housing wall surface. The opening allows access to the coil spring to allow removal of the spring from the connector prior to removal of the connector from a locked position to prevent potential damage to connector components.
US09312628B2
The invention relates to a plug comprising a plurality of contact elements located in a plug housing and strain relief elements (200, 200′) arranged on the housing (110, 310), wherein both contact elements and strain relief elements can be fixed to a printed circuit board (10) using SMT technology. The invention is characterized in that the strain relief elements (200, 200′) are sheet metal elements that can be fixed to parts of the plug housing and are bent essentially at a right angle on the side facing the printed circuit board (10), thereby forming a bearing surface (220, 220′) for SMT attach.
US09312620B2
The present invention discloses a flexible flat cable connector fixing structure. The flexible flat cable connector fixing structure comprises a flexible flat cable and a first connector. The flexible flat cable comprises a wrapping portion positioned on one end of the flexible flat cable. The first connector is connected to an end of the flexible flat cable, and the first connector comprises: contacts, a first slot, and a first circuit board. The first slot comprises passageways for placing the contacts. The first circuit board is fixed with a back of the first slot, and the first circuit board comprises conducting portions, for being conductively fixed with the contacts, and conducting parts, positioned on a front of the first circuit board, for being electrically connected to the flexible flat cable. The wrapping portion wraps the first circuit board to fix the flexible flat cable on the first connector.
US09312617B2
A board-to-board connector comprising a first connector having a first terminal and a first housing that includes a first fitting guide part formed on both ends in the long side direction, and a second connector having a second terminal that contacts to the first terminal and a second housing that includes a second fitting guide part that fits with the first fitting guide part, includes a switch that closes a detection circuit that electrically detects a complete fit of the first connector and the second connector. In one embodiment, each switch has the ability to mutually contact, and one side of the switch is a first reinforcing bracket, and the other side is a second reinforcing bracket.
US09312614B2
An electrical connector for an anode has a terminal for an electric cable, at least two magnet devices for attracting the connector onto a metal structure, a plate electrically connecting the magnet devices to one another and to the terminal, and a deformable member connecting the magnet devices. When the connector connects an anode to a surface, the magnet forces draw the magnet devices against the surface in order to make up the connection. The deformable member allows relative movement of the magnet devices, permitting them to align themselves in an optimum configuration to maximize the surface area of the magnet devices that are in contact with the metal structure, providing a large electrical conduit between the connector and the cable connected to the terminal, and allowing for more reliable electrical connection between the anode and the structure.
US09312591B2
A dielectric wave guide (DWG) has a longitudinal dielectric core member. The core member has a first dielectric constant value. A cladding surrounds the dielectric core member and has a second dielectric constant value that is lower than the first dielectric constant. A portion of the DWG is configured as a corner having a radius. A conductive layer formed on an outer radius of the corner.
US09312584B2
An emergency starting system and an emergency starting method of a fuel cell hybrid vehicle perform an emergency start when a DC power converter for starting fails. The emergency starting system includes: a fuel cell and a super capacitor connected through a main bus terminal in parallel; a driving inverter connected to the main bus terminal; a driving motor connected to the driving inverter; a balance-of-plant configured to activate the fuel cell; a starting DC power converter configured to drive the balance-of-plant; and a starting controller configured to control the super capacitor at the time of a start. The starting controller includes a super capacitor relay, an initial charging relay, and an initial charging resistor, the initial charging relay includes a plurality of relays, and the initial charging resistor includes a plurality of resistors.
US09312581B2
The invention relates to a method for recycling lithium batteries and more particularly batteries of the Li-ion type and the electrodes of such batteries.This method for recycling lithium battery electrodes and/or lithium batteries comprises the following steps: a) grinding of said electrodes and/or of said batteries, b) dissolving the organic and/or polymeric components of said electrodes and/or of said batteries in an organic solvent, c) separating the undissolved metals present in the suspension obtained in step b), d) filtering the suspension obtained in step c) through a filter press, e) recovering the solid mass retained on the filter press in step d), and suspending this solid mass in water, f) recovering the material that sedimented or coagulated in step e), resuspending this sedimented material in water and adjusting the pH of the suspension obtained to a pH below 5, preferably below 4, g) filtering the suspension obtained in step f) on a filter press, and h) separating, on the one hand, the iron by precipitation of iron phosphates, and on the other hand the lithium by precipitation of a lithium salt.The method of the invention finds application in the field of recycling of used batteries, in particular.
US09312574B2
Disclosed is a battery module including an LED element on a PCB. More particularly, the battery module including at least two battery cells includes a protective circuit board installed at a side surface of the battery module and electrically connected to the battery module, at least one LED element installed on the protective circuit board and displaying changes in operating states of the battery cells, a cover plate provided with a window for light transmission of the LED element and installed at a side surface of the battery module so as to surround the protective circuit board, and a light-transmissive LED cover installed at an inner side of the cover plate to correspond to the window of the cover plate in order to emit light emitted from the LED element.
US09312571B2
A traction battery thermal plate assembly may include a structure having edge portions defining a cavity and configured to support a battery cell array. A flexible bladder may be disposed within the cavity between the structure and array. The flexible bladder may be configured to be filled with a fluid such that the bladder contacts the array to transfer heat between the array and fluid. The assembly may include a frame sized to receive the flexible bladder and configured to support the flexible bladder. An inlet port may be in fluid communication with the flexible bladder and a pump, and may be configured to deliver fluid to the flexible bladder at a pump output rate. The flexible bladder may include ribs defining channels therebetween. The channels may be configured to direct fluid flow along the at least one surface of the battery cell array.
US09312569B2
An additive for lead-acid battery including sulfonated polyacrylic acid aimed at extending the battery life by preventing the sulfation of the negative electrode, and a lead-acid battery using the additive.
US09312568B2
A lithium secondary battery 10 of the present invention is a secondary battery provided with a positive electrode 30 having a positive electrode active material layer 34 on a positive electrode collector 32, and a negative electrode 50 having a negative electrode active material layer 54 on a negative electrode collector 52. The positive electrode active material layer 34 contains a positive electrode active material capable of reversibly storing and releasing lithium ions. The negative electrode active material layer 54 contains a negative electrode active material made up of lamellar graphite that is bent so as to have an average number of bends f per particle of 0
US09312563B2
Provided is a method for manufacturing a secondary battery that can ensure a favorable charging state. A method for manufacturing a secondary battery according to an embodiment of the invention is a method for manufacturing a secondary battery where a wound body having a positive electrode sheet, a separator and a negative electrode sheet wound in a layered state in a housing, which includes a first step of accommodating the wound body into the housing; and a second step of hot-pressing the wound body through the housing from outside of the housing, the wound body being accommodated in the housing. The method preferably includes a third step of performing initial charging, confining a part substantially the same as a part where the wound body is hot-pressed through the housing in the second step.
