US09456525B2

There are disclosed a digital signage including a display panel, a first support panel coupled to a rear surface of the display panel, the first support panel comprising a plurality of first grooves formed in one direction, a second support panel coupled to a rear surface of the first support panel, the second support panel comprising a plurality of second grooves formed in an orthogonal direction with respect to the first grooves, a driving circuit board provided in a rear surface of the second support panel to control driving of the display panel, and a case comprising the display panel arranged in one surface thereof and an inner space where the first support panel, the second support panel and the driving circuit board are mounted, wherein both ends of the first grooves are open toward the inner space of the case to induce air flow in the case, and both ends of the second grooves are in communication with the outside via a hole formed in the case to flow external air there through, such that the support structure of the display panel may be used in exhausting the heat generated in the display panel and the circuit board effectively.
US09456521B2

Examples are disclosed for operating, managing or controlling one or more network computing devices housed in a chassis capable of being mounting in a ceiling space or a floor space for a room. Operating, managing or controlling may include adjusting one or more fans to direct airflow either away or towards the room or powering a light emitting diode array attached with the chassis to provide lighting to the room. Examples are also disclosed for using an aggregator to operate, manage or control an array of network computing devices separately housed in chassis capable of being mounted in a ceiling space or floor space for one or more rooms.
US09456514B2

A phase shifting device, including: a housing; and at least one multipath phase shifter assembly in the housing, wherein the multipath phase shifter assembly includes at least two phase shifters disposed in parallel in a planar arrangement.
US09456510B2

An electrical junction box (10) has a main body-side connector (40) provided in a box body (12). An attachment body-side connector (76) is provided in an attachment body (14) that is separate from the box body (12) and is connected to the main body-side connector (40) by rotating the attachment body (14) on a rotating portion (72) provided at an end of the attachment body (14). The rotating portion (72) is supported by a support (30) on a side of the box body (12) opposite to the main body-side connector (40), and a positioning portion directly positions the main body-side connector (40) with respect to the upper case (20).
US09456508B2

Assemblies of structures such as electronic device assemblies may be connected using light-cured liquid adhesive such as ultraviolet-light-cured adhesive. Light sources such as ultraviolet-light light-emitting diodes may be mounted to a substrate such as a printed circuit board substrate. The substrate may be mounted to an assembly formed from a plurality of structures. The structures may be connected to each other to form an interior cavity within which the substrate and light-emitting diodes are contained. A connector may be included in the assembly. The connector may have input-output pins. Conductive paths may couple the input-output pins to the light-emitting diodes in the cavity. A tool may be used to apply signals to the light-emitting diodes to activate the light-emitting diodes. The light-emitting diodes produce light that cures the adhesive. The light-emitting diodes may be disabled by blowing a fuse after the adhesive has been cured.
US09456506B2

A mechanism is provided for packaging a multiple socket, one-hop symmetric multiprocessor topology. The mechanism connects each of a first plurality of processor modules to a first multiple-socket planar via a respective one of a first plurality of land grid array (LGA) connectors. The mechanism connects the first multiple-socket planar to a first side of a redistribution card via a second plurality of LGA connectors. The mechanism connects each of a second plurality of processor modules to a second multiple-socket planar via a respective one of a third plurality of LGA connectors. The mechanism connects the second multiple-socket planar to a second side of the redistribution card via a fourth plurality of LGA connectors.
US09456505B2

The present invention relates to a setup method for deciding component feeding apparatuses to be attached to each of mounting machines in a component mounting system. The setup method includes a first step of deciding component feeding apparatuses to be attached to each of the mounting machines based on substrate data defining components to be mounted by each of the mounting machines; a second step of determining whether or not there is within the components included in the substrate data a sole mounted component to be mounted by only one mounting machine among the multiple mounting machines; and a third step of deciding, when the determination is made that the sole mounted component exists, to attach component feeding apparatuses feeding the sole mounted component or an alternative component capable of replacing the sole mounted component onto at least one mounting machine other than the only one mounting machine.
US09456504B2

An electronic device includes wiring substrates stacked upon one another with a connection member arranged between adjacent wiring substrates, in which the connection member electrically connects the adjacent wiring substrates, and each wiring substrate includes a solder resist layer as a lowermost layer, electronic components mounted on the wiring substrates so that at least one of the electronic components is mounted on each wiring substrate, a first magnetic thin film covering a lower surface of the solder resist layer of an upper one of the adjacent wiring substrates, a first encapsulation resin formed on an upper surface of the uppermost wiring substrate and encapsulates the electronic component mounted on the uppermost wiring substrate, and a second magnetic thin film that entirely covers an upper surface of the first encapsulation resin and covers a lower surface of the solder resist layer on the lowermost wiring substrates.
US09456499B2

A structural body includes a first conductor having a first opening; a second conductor, having a second opening, which is opposite to at least a portion of the first conductor; a conductor via, passing through the first opening and the second opening, which is insulated from the first conductor and the second conductor; a first interconnect, provided in the inside of the first opening, of which one end thereof is connected to the conductor via and the other end thereof is formed as an open end and which is opposite to the second conductor; and a second interconnect, provided in the inside of the second opening, of which one end thereof is connected to the conductor via and the other end thereof is formed as an open end, and which is opposite to the first conductor.
US09456495B2

A norbornane-2-spiro-α-cycloalkanone-α′-spiro-2″-norbornane-5,5″,6,6″-tetracarboxylic dianhydride represented by the following general formula (1): wherein the formula (1), n represents an integer of 0 to 12, and R1s, R2, R3 each independently represents a hydrogen atom or the like.
US09456494B2

A multilayer wiring substrate includes a substrate main body and a plurality of wiring lines. The substrate main body includes first and second main surfaces. The plurality of wiring lines extend from the first main surface toward the second main surface side in the substrate main body. The substrate main body includes a plurality of insulator layers laminated on each other. The wiring lines each include via conductors separately provided in the plurality of insulator layers. In at least one of the plurality of wiring lines, a diameter of the via conductor provided in a first insulator layer defining the first main surface of the substrate main body is smaller than a diameter of the via conductor provided in at least one of the plurality of insulator layers other than the first insulator layer.
US09456475B2

An illumination control system includes a rectifying device, a damping device for inhibiting flickering, and a load circuit, wherein the illumination control system further comprises a recognizing control circuit connected between the rectifying device and the damping device, and wherein the recognizing control circuit includes a recognizing signal output module and a switch module, the recognizing signal output module generates a first control signal indicating that a dimmer is not connected upstream the rectifying device or the dimmer is connected upstream the rectifying device and reaches a predetermined dimming level and a second control signal indicating that the dimmer is connected upstream the rectifying device and does not reach the predetermined dimming level and at least one damping resistor of the damping device is short connected or is connected by means of the switch module according to the first control signal or the second control signal.
US09456472B2

The present invention provides a rigid raft formed of rigid composite material. The raft has an electrical system and/or a fluid system embedded therein. The raft further has a tank for containing liquid integrally formed therewith. The tank can be formed of the rigid composite material. The tank can be for a gas turbine engine.
US09456470B2

An apparatus and method for prohibiting a direct link setup in a wireless local area network (WLAN), the method comprising receiving a request from a station (STA) for establishing a link with the station (STA); and transmitting a first frame with a Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) prohibited indication to the station (STA) in response to the request. Another aspect comprises transmitting an association request within a Basic Service Set (BSS) for establishing a link with the station (STA); and receiving a beacon frame with an information element to prohibit the direct link setup of the station (STA). And, another aspect comprises receiving an association request from a station (STA) within the vicinity of an access point for establishing an association between the station (STA) and the access point (AP), and transmitting a Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) prohibited indication to the station (STA).
US09456456B2

Provided is a data transceiving method performed by a station (STA) in a wireless LAN system. The method comprises receiving a channel access information element from an access point, said channel access information element containing STA group information and channel access interval information, said STA determining whether the channel access interval specified by the channel access interval information is for the STA based on the STA group information; and transceiving data to/from said access point during the channel access interval if the channel access interval is for the STA.
US09456454B2

The invention allows flexible disabling/enabling of cross-carrier scheduling in carrier-aggregated wireless data transmission. In response to detecting a predetermined disabling indication of cross-carrier scheduling of received carrier aggregated wireless data transmission, the disabling indication targeting subframes allocated to uplink in a first component carrier transmitted from a cross-carrier scheduling cell and to downlink in a second component carrier transmitted from a cross-carrier scheduled cell: a downlink control region in the targeted subframes in the second component carrier is monitored for uplink/downlink grants; and in response to detecting an uplink/downlink grant, the detected uplink/downlink grant is utilized in uplink/downlink scheduling of the targeted subframe in the second component carrier.
US09456453B2

A wireless communication system is described for allocating limited network access according to priorities designated for requested transactions of wireless communications. The wireless network has a number of access links for transmitting transactions for wireless communications. A plurality of wireless communications devices requests transmission of transactions on the wireless network. A designated priority level is associated with each transaction. In response to the transaction requests, an access control manager in the wireless network schedules transmission of transactions when all of the plurality of access links are occupied, by authorizing a transmission of a transaction of higher priority than another transaction that is being transmitted, and discontinuing the transmission of the transaction of lower priority.
US09456450B2

In this invention, we disclose methods directed toward integrating an ad hoc cellular network into a fixed cellular network. The methods disclosed herein automate the creation and integration of these networks. In additional embodiments, we disclose methods for establishing a stand-alone, ad hoc cellular network. In either of these implementations, we integrate or establish an ad hoc cellular network using mobile ad hoc cellular base stations configured to transmit and receive over a variety of frequencies, protocols, and duplexing schemes. The methods flexibly and dynamically choose an access or backhaul configuration and radio characteristics to optimize network performance. Additional embodiments provide for enhancing an existing network's coverage as needed, establishing a local network in the event of a loss of backhaul coverage to the core network, and providing local wireless access service within the ad hoc cellular network.
US09456446B1

A first communication device determines that each second communication device in a plurality of second communication devices has respective data to be transmitted to the first communication device. The first communication device transmits a request to the plurality of second communication devices to transmit data to the first communication device simultaneously during a transmit opportunity period of the first communication device. The first communication device receives data transmitted simultaneously by the plurality of second communication devices during the transmit opportunity period of the first communication device.
US09456440B2

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, a method and device for providing control information for uplink transmission in a wireless communication system supporting uplink multi-antenna transmission. An uplink multi-antenna transmission scheduling method, according to one embodiment of the present invention, comprises the following steps: creating downlink control information (DCI) containing respective modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information for a first and a second transport block; transmitting said created downlink control information, which schedules uplink transmissions from one or more of first and second transport blocks through a downlink control channel; and receiving uplink transmission, scheduled according to the downlink control information, through an uplink data channel, wherein one transport block can be disabled, if MCS information for one transport block among of the first or the second transport blocks has a predetermined value.
US09456434B1

A method may include identifying a repeating frame structure for communication between a MIMO base station and one or more wireless devices, the frame structure including a plurality of slots, with each slot including an uplink portion and a downlink portion, and each uplink portion and downlink portion comprising a plurality of sub-slots, receiving, at the wireless base station, an identification of a first wireless device of the one or more wireless devices, assigning to the first wireless device, a sub-slot in an uplink portion of a static slot in the frame structure, communicating, to the first wireless device, information from which the first wireless device can identify the sub-slot, and communicating with the one or more wireless devices by associating data in the first sub-slot with the first wireless device.
US09456418B2

A multi-channel low power communication method and apparatus are provided. The multi-channel low power communication method may include transmitting request to send (RTS) to a receiver through a plurality of communication channels, receiving clear to send (CTS) from the receiver in response to the RTS, and transmitting a data packet through part or entire of at least one communication channel having received the CTS among the plurality of communication channels, wherein at least one of the RTS and the CTS comprises a multi-channel power save information field related to multi-channel power save.
US09456414B2

Provided is a terminal and an access point in an active mode for multi-user transmission opportunity (TXOP) power saving that may decrease power consumption by changing an operation state of the terminal from an awake state to a sleep state if there is no stream of data to be transmitted during a TXOP duration.
US09456408B2

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, by a station (STA) from an access point (AP), a frame including a device type indicator and comparing the device type indicator with a device type accepted by a basic service set (BSS) of the AP to produce a comparison. The method also includes determining whether to associate the STA with the AP in accordance with the comparison, associating the STA with the AP upon determining to associate the STA with the AP, and not associating the STA with the AP upon determining not to associate the STA with the AP.
US09456402B2

A communication system is provided. The system comprises a server arrangement; a plurality of mobile base stations coupled in communication with the server arrangement; and a plurality of mobile stations. A given mobile station from amongst the plurality of mobile stations is capable of communicating with two or more of the plurality of mobile base stations using radio communications. The server arrangement is operable to select, from amongst the two or more of the plurality of mobile base stations, a mobile base station to be used to route data to and/or from the given mobile station.
US09456401B2

A method of route prediction and device configuration for enhancing data transfer across a wireless network arrangement by using routing information to predict data transfer routes and configuring devices to switch between states to reduce data transference time and power consumption of a wireless network arrangement.
US09456397B2

It is provided an apparatus, comprising monitoring means adapted to monitor a state of a first network element of a first radio access network; detecting means adapted to detect if the state fulfills a condition; enabling means adapted to enable, if the state fulfills the condition, that a user equipment having interfaces for attaching to the first network element and for attaching to a second network element of a second radio access network different from the first radio access network, may attach to the second network element.
US09456396B2

The present document provides a terminal access method, system and a terminal. The method includes: a terminal downloading from an Internet server and storing a network cloud chart containing cell related information which includes a terminal common air interface configuration parameter of a cell, wherein the terminal common air interface configuration parameter and/or a cell broadcast message includes a first uplink pilot frequency for intelligent access; performing a random access procedure, wherein the first uplink pilot frequency is sent if the network cloud chart stored by the terminal includes the cell related information of the cell to be accessed and the cell related information is valid, otherwise a second uplink pilot frequency for non-intelligent access is sent; and performing a parameter configuration procedure, wherein terminal common air interface configuration corresponding to the terminal common air interface configuration parameter is not performed if the terminal sends the first uplink pilot frequency.
US09456391B2

A signal load onto a mobility management node MME is reduced by defining a case which does not require “Path Switch” when X2 handover processing is performed for a mobile station UE. A radio base station eNB#1 according to the present invention includes a handover processing unit 14 configured not to perform “Path Switch” when performing X2 handover processing for a mobile station to a radio base station eNB#2 having the same “Virtual eNB ID#1” as the radio base station eNB#1.
US09456386B2

Systems, methods and computer products for pooling of wireless collection bandwidth are provided. Exemplary embodiments include a bandwidth management method, in a wireless device, the method, including querying for additional wireless devices within a communication range of the wireless device, the wireless device and additional wireless devices being in communication with a network having downloadable content, initiating communication between the wireless device and the additional wireless devices, establishing an ad-hoc network among the combination of the wireless device and the additional devices, establishing communication between the combined wireless device and additional devices as the ad-hoc network, and the network having the downloadable content and requesting the downloadable content from the network to the wireless device, wherein the downloadable content is transferred over a bandwidth collectively pooled among individual bandwidths of the wireless device and the additional wireless devices.
US09456381B2

Disclosed is a wireless communication system and terminal for providing a wireless communication service, and more particularly, a method of selectively applying a PDCP function based on data characteristic transmitted through a radio bearer in an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (E-UMTS) evolved from a UMTS, Long Term Evolution (LTE) System or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system.
US09456374B2

The present invention provides a method of anonymously reporting minimization of drive test (MDT) measurements. According to the method, a mobility management entity (MME) obtains MDT data anonymity configuration which indicates whether MDT measurements are to be reported anonymously at a type allocation code (TAC) level; sends a TAC of a UE to a trace collection entity (TCE) if the MDT data anonymity configuration indicates MDT measurements are to be reported anonymously at the TAC level; sends an international mobile subscriber identification (IMSI) or an international mobile equipment identity and software version (IMEISV) of the UE to the TCE if the MDT data anonymity configuration indicates other information, e.g. Trace, is adopted for anonymously reporting MDT measurements. The present invention enables an MME to send different identities of a UE to the TCE according to different requirements for anonymity to implement anonymous reporting of MDT measurements.
US09456373B2

A cell search method is described comprising searching for a frequency at which a communication network operates a radio cell within a predetermined set of candidate frequencies; determining a frequency at which a communication network operates a radio cell within the set of candidate frequencies; excluding a sub-set with a predetermined size of frequencies around the determined frequency from the set of candidate frequencies to generate an updated set of candidate frequencies; and continuing to search for a further frequency at which a communication network operates a radio cell within the updated set of candidate frequencies.
US09456368B2

Technology for measuring link performance using multiple radio access networks (RANs) is described. Data packets of a flow can be received, at a mobile node via a first connection with the mobile node with a first RAN. An active measurement can be initiated when a Real-time Traffic Flow Measurement (RTFM) triggering condition occurs. A second connection can be formed with the mobile node with a second RAN. Selected packets of the flow can be received for the active measurement using the first RAN and using the second RAN. An RTFM execution event can be communicated to a virtual access network (VAN) to move the flow from the first RAN to the second RAN when the active measurement of the selected packets is received via the second RAN is greater than a selected threshold value.
US09456365B2

The present application discloses a virtualized wireless communication network and an establishing method thereof. The virtualized wireless communication network system includes a plurality of virtual nodes, the plurality of virtual nodes being divided into multiple virtual node cliques according to interference relations among the plurality of virtual nodes, wherein, each virtual node represents a wireless communication node; and a plurality of clique communication management modules that are one-to-one associated with the multiple virtual node cliques, wherein, each clique communication management module is configured to manage data exchange between an associated virtual node clique and other virtual node cliques, so as to emulate communication behavior of the wireless communication node. The present invention has many advantages such as high flexibility, good scalability, low cost and the like. Compared with a centralized virtualization solution, this solution can significantly reduce management data overhead and thus enhance the real-time behavior of the whole system.
US09456364B2

Adapting scanning of frequency channels of different or varying widths to collect wideband spectrum data is disclosed. Scanning methods and/or configurations are modified based upon the type and signal strength of the interferers present or expected in the spectrum. The system includes: selecting a portion for scanning, wherein the portion includes contiguous and non-contiguous segments, partitioning the selected portion into a first plurality of channels, where at least two of the plurality of channels have different widths, each of the first plurality of channels including contiguous or non-contiguous segments; during a first scan of the selected portion, scanning the selected portion of the radio frequency spectrum at least by scanning a first channel with a first width and scanning a second channel with a second width that is different than the first width; and based on the first scan, collecting data representing the selected portion of the radio frequency spectrum.
US09456360B2

A method that includes interference control at transmitters and interference mitigation at receivers in a wireless communication system is disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention exploit the interference sensitivity at neighboring terminals by taking into account the reciprocity of propagation radio channels in Time Division Duplexing systems (TDD). It can be applied to design the resource allocation for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmissions in a wireless communication system. The methods include the self-configuration of the transmit power, the transmit precoder and the receive filter, at each transmitter and receiver in a multi-cell network. Systems are also provided and configured for implementing the methods of the invention.
US09456355B2

The present invention discloses a signaling tracing method, apparatus and system. In embodiments of the present invention, the signaling tracing configuration information sent by an OAM device carries a user equipment identifier, and therefore, even in a scenario that an access network and a core network are managed by different OAM devices, the OAM device of the access network can also initiate signaling-based signaling tracing configuration, so that a base station can initiate signaling tracing for the user equipment.
US09456352B2

A method for receiving interference cancellation information of a mobile station (MS), which is performed by the MS, includes receiving a virtual radio network temporary identifier (V-RNTI) set including a plurality of V-RNTIs for cancellation of an interference signal from a serving base station, each of the plurality of V-RNTIs being associated with RNTIs of one or more MSs (hereinafter, referred to as “neighboring MSs) served by a neighboring base station, and receiving a downlink control channel for a first neighboring MS of the neighboring MSs using at least one V-RNTI of the V-RNTI set. The downlink control channel is a double CRC-downlink control channel with a first cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bit scrambled by an RNTI of the first neighboring MS and a second CRC bit scrambled by the at least one V-RNTI and is received in a specific subframe.
US09456345B2

Techniques are provided for authenticating a phone or other device for a user. A phone or other device is provided to the user. A personal identification number is provided to the user. The personal identification number is used to authenticate the phone or other device in the network for the user.
US09456343B1

A technique performs user authentication. The technique involves generating a first usage pattern from a first set of mobile device communications performed during a first period of time. The technique further involves generating a second usage pattern from a second set of mobile device communications performed during a second period of time. The technique further involves performing a comparison between the first and second usage patterns to determine whether a human provider of the first usage pattern and a human provider of the second usage pattern are the same person. Accordingly, a malicious person who steals a mobile device or operates a mock mobile device would nevertheless be identified as different from the legitimate user because the malicious person does not behave the same way as the legitimate user (e.g., does not have the same phone call behavior, does not have the same text messaging behavior, etc.).
US09456340B2

A method is provided for generating a broadcast packet at a first device including an address; transmitting the generated broadcast packet to a second device through a first protocol. The first device may communicate with the second device via the transmitted address through a second protocol different from the first protocol. Alternatively, an apparatus is provided to receive an unsolicited broadcast packet including an address through a wireless, close-by communication protocol; extract from the broadcast packet identification information about the remote device; and store the extracted identification information in association with the remote device. Alternatively, a computer-readable medium is provided storing instructions to receive a an unsolicited broadcast packet including an address through a first protocol; extract from the broadcast packet identification information, including the address and a service available at the remote device; and communicate with the remote device via a second protocol.
US09456339B1

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for surreptitiously installing, monitoring, and operating software on a remote computer controlled wireless communication device are described. One aspect includes a control system for communicating programming instructions and exchanging data with the remote computer controlled wireless communication device. The control system is configured to provide at least one element selected from the group consisting of: a computer implemented device controller; a module repository in electronic communication with the device controller; a control service in electronic communication with the device controller; an exfiltration data service in electronic communication with the device controller configured to receive, store, and manage data obtained surreptitiously from the remote computer controlled wireless communication device; and a listen-only recording service in electronic communication with the device controller.
US09456337B2

Methods and apparatus for wireless communication in a wireless communication network include maintaining a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) list and receiving an information request from a network, wherein the information request is associated with configuration parameters associated with the PLMN list. Aspects of the methods and apparatus configuring the UE based on the configuration parameters associated with the PLMN list. Aspects also include replying to the network that the UE is configured with the configuration parameters associated with the PLMN list.
US09456332B2

A method for performing device to device (D2D) communication in a wireless communication system and a user equipment for the method are disclosed. The method comprises the steps of determining at least one D2D communication group a of a plurality of D2D communication groups; and giving RNTI corresponding to the determined at least one D2D communication group a to a D2D transmitting user equipment i and a D2D receiving user equipment j of a D2D link (i, j).
US09456330B2

First user equipment transmits a first synchronization signal and a second synchronization signal that are assigned to the first user equipment for device-to-device (D2D) communication. The first synchronization signal indicates a timing reference for D2D communication and a combination of the first synchronization signal and the second synchronization signal indicate resources allocated to the first user equipment to transmit discovery information for D2D communication. First user equipment detects a first synchronization signal and a second synchronization signal that are assigned to second user equipment for D2D communication.
US09456325B2

The invention relates to the management of the wait for a notification of an acknowledgment of receipt M_AR, used by a first terminal T1 that has sent a multimedia message MM to a second terminal T2. Said management involves a method in which the terminal T1 measures a period of waiting for the notification of acknowledgment of receipt M_AR of the multimedia message MM sent to the terminal T2. If the waiting period exceeds a predetermined threshold, the terminal T generates a text message M_SMS for notifying the availability of the multimedia message MM, to be sent the terminal T2. The method provides the deletion of text messages M_SMS received by the terminal T2, when they are duplicates of the multimedia messages MM. The invention further claims a computer system and program for implementing the method. Said management is particularly useful in instant messaging.
US09456318B2

A service processing method and related devices are disclosed. The method includes: receiving, by a mobility management entity (MME), an access request message sent by a user equipment; obtaining, by the MME, indication information; and if the MME has been registered as a short message serving node and it is determined, according to the indication information, that the MME is no longer used as the short message serving node, sending, by the MME, a notification to a home subscriber server (HSS) so that the HSS cancels registration of the MME as the short message serving node.
US09456313B2

Methods and apparatus for transmitting data to terminal devices in a wireless telecommunications system. The data may be user-plane data associated with a repeating Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Services (MBMS) session to be transmitted using MBMS over a Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) in a network including at least one relay node supported by a donor base station. The scheme includes delivering the data from the base station to the relay node in advance of a scheduled transmission to terminal devices at a first time, and transmitting the data from the relay node to a terminal device at the first time. The relay node is further configured to store the data in a cache. The relay node may then retrieve the data from the cache in advance of a scheduled transmission to terminal devices at a second time, and transmit the retrieved data to a terminal device at the second time.
US09456312B2

Various embodiments monitor user mobility in a wireless communication network. In one embodiment, a set of temporally related call detail records associated with at least one user of a wireless communication network is analyzed. A set of base stations accessed during at least one call associated with the set of temporally related call detail records is identified based on the analysis of the records. At least one road segment of a road network within a threshold distance to each of the set of base stations is identified. A set of mobility information for the at least one user indicating that the at least one user traversed the at least one road segment is stored based on identifying the at least one road segment.
US09456300B2

A method of communication between a calling terminal (M1) and a called terminal (M2), which can be connected to each other through at least one mobile communication network (R1,R2), the called terminal (M2) being equipped with a system for detecting its geographic position, the method including the steps of: sending a connection message from the calling terminal (M1) to the called terminal (M2) through the at least one communication network (R1,R2); sending an answer message from the called terminal (M2) to the calling terminal (M1) through the at least one communication network (R1,R2), wherein the called terminal (M2) enters geographic position information (GPS2) into the answer message and sends the answer message to the calling terminal (M1).
US09456298B2

During an ongoing wireless telephone call communication session between a pair of mobile devices, a local device responds to its user's activation of a virtual or actual button or key, or its user's verbal command, by automatically sending an over the air message (e.g., a SMS or text message or other network communication message) to the remote device. The message requests location information of the remote device. Upon obtaining location information from the remote device, a location of the remote device is automatically displayed on the local device. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US09456295B2

A terminal status-based content receiving method and an apparatus that receives a differential content based on a change in a status of a terminal are provided. The content receiving apparatus includes a low-power short range communication unit, and a controller configured to determine a status of the terminal, to include status information of the terminal in an advertising packet so as to periodically broadcast the advertising packet through the low-power short range communication unit, and to receive content corresponding to the status of the terminal from an external device that scans the advertising packet.
US09456293B2

An embodiment method for communicating data within a lighting sensory network may include configuring a first plurality of lighting nodes to operate as sensor nodes, configuring a second plurality of lighting nodes to operate as listening nodes, generating, by a sensor node using an encryption key, a sensor message associated with sensor data and including at least a timestamp, calculating an interval for transmitting the sensor message, wherein the interval is randomized and exponentially increasing, determining whether to transmit the sensor message based on the calculated interval, transmitting the sensor message in response to determining to transmit the sensor message based on the calculated interval, receiving, by a listening node, the sensor message at a listening node, determining whether the received sensor message is useful based on the timestamp and a predefined age threshold, and performing a lighting action in response to determining the received sensor message is useful.
US09456278B2

A speaker device includes a signal processing section and a speaker array that includes a first speaker units group and a second speaker units group. The signal processing section performs a first signal process in which sound based on an audio signal of a first channel is set to output from the first speaker units group and a first virtual focus of the sound is set to an opposite side of the speaker array opposite to a sound output direction of the first speaker units group, and sound based on an audio signal of a second channel is set to output from the second speaker units group and a second virtual focus of the sound based on the audio signal of the second channel is set to an opposite side of the speaker array opposite to a sound output direction of the second speaker units group.
US09456277B2

Systems, methods, and apparatus to filter audio are disclosed. An example method includes determining that an orientation of a playback device is one of (a) a first orientation and (b) a second orientation, the playback device including a first speaker and a second speaker and configuring the first speaker and the second speaker. In the example, configuring the first and second speakers includes, when the determined orientation is the first orientation, configuring a first audio filter to be applied to a first audio signal for the first speaker and configuring a second audio filter to be applied to a second audio signal for the second speaker. However, when the determined orientation is the second orientation, configuring the first and second speakers includes configuring a third audio filter to be applied to the first audio signal and the second audio signal.
US09456276B1

An audio beamformer receives signals from microphones of an array and processes the signals to produce a directional audio signal that emphasizes sound from a selected direction. The beamformer is implemented using weights or other parameters that are calculated to account for effects upon the received audio signals by the surfaces upon which the microphones are positioned.
US09456273B2

An audio mixing method, apparatus and system, which can ensure sound quality after audio mixing and reduce consumption of computing resources. The method includes: receiving an audio stream of each site, and analyzing the audio stream of each site to obtain a sound characteristic value of a sound source object; selecting, according to a descending sequence of sound characteristic values of sound source objects, a predetermined number of sound source objects from the sound source objects to serve as main sound source objects; determining, according to a relationship between a target site and the sites where the main sound source objects are located, audio streams that require audio mixing for the target site; and performing audio mixing on the audio streams that require audio mixing for the target site and sending the audio streams after the audio mixing to the target site.
US09456272B2

The disclosure provides a button-press detection and filtering method, related circuit, and button-press detection chip for a external device. A button-press signal from a wire control apparatus is coupled to the button-press detection chip for the external device. The button-press detection chip for the external device can digitally sample the button-press signal through the filter circuit and outputs a digital logic signal corresponding to a button to an audio codec according to the sampling result. The audio codec can determine a pressed button according to the digital logic signal and performs a corresponding function. With the solutions of the disclosure, a noise interference signal in a button-press signal may be avoided and a pressed button may be accurately detected, without using a dedicated chip or complex software codes in a wire control apparatus and an electronic device.
US09456271B2

An audio signal outputting apparatus and method for adjusting an output gain of an audio signal are provided. The audio signal outputting apparatus includes: a pulse width modulation (PWM) unit which generates a carrier signal, compares a signal level of the carrier signal with a signal level of an audio signal, and generates a PWM signal based on a result of the comparison; a controller which, based to a level of the audio signal, controls the PWM unit to change a signal shape of the carrier signal to adjust a duration of a logic high level of the PWM signal; and a switching power unit which amplifies the PWM signal generated by the PWM unit and outputs the amplified PWM signal.
US09456266B2

The present invention relates to an ear simulator representing an average acoustic ear drum impedance of ears of a population of humans. Another aspect of the invention relates to an ear simulator assembly comprising an ear simulator representing average acoustic ear drum impedance and a detachable ear canal simulator to provide an ear simulator assembly representing an acoustic impedance of a human ear canal or average human canals of the population.
US09456263B1

The microphone mask is a device that is adapted to be positioned adjacent a mouth of a user in order to communicate with a portable radio. Moreover, the microphone mask includes a speaker adjacent to the microphone such that the microphone mask is adapted to be positioned adjacent a user's ear in order to hear sound associated with use in communicating via a portable radio. The microphone mask includes a wire that plugs into a portable radio, or a cellular telephone, or other electronic device. The microphone mask is further defined with an inner surface that includes the microphone and the speaker therein. The outer surface includes a push button that controls use of the microphone. The microphone mask is further defined with a perimeter edge that is adapted to interface with skin surrounding the mouth of the user.
US09456260B2

Recursive optimization algorithms can be used to determine which idle photonic switching elements to configure in N×N switching fabrics to achieve crosstalk suppression. Different algorithms are used to achieve different levels of optimization. Embodiment full optimization techniques may configure all inactive cells to reduce crosstalk, and consequently may provide the best noise performance and highest power usage. Partial optimizations may configure fewer than all inactive cells to reduce crosstalk, and may provide sub-optimal noise performance at lower power usages. Differential partial optimization algorithms configure inactive cells in different stages of a photonic switching fabric. Fewer than all cells in a given stage may be configured by some algorithms.
US09456258B2

Disclosed are techniques to minimize the electricity consumption of battery powered devices during network communications and performance of other functions. Example techniques include efficiently discovering other mains powered and battery powered devices within communication range of the battery powered device. In another example, techniques enable a battery powered device to serve as a relay for one or more other battery powered devices. In another example, techniques ensure that transmissions to and/or from battery powered devices are delivered efficiently and with low latency. In yet another example, techniques determine whether and under what conditions a battery powered device should migrate from one network to another. In the event of migration, example techniques minimize battery consumption associated with the migration.
US09456253B2

A system, methods, and apparatus for Internet Protocol television streaming are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a request in a content delivery network from a client device to receive television programming from a particular television service provider among a plurality of television service providers. The method also includes allocating for the client device a remote access point in the content delivery network connected to a data feed from the television service provider and a portion of a controller connected to the remote access point configured to encrypt a data stream carrying encoded television service from the television service provider. The method further includes provisioning a secure communication channel between the allocated portion of the controller and a decryption processor connected to the client device and streaming the encrypted data stream carrying the television service from the particular television service provider to the client device via the secure communication channel.
US09456243B1

An analyzer analyzes portions of a logical data stream including data content received from a source. Based on analyzing the data content (e.g., data content formatted according to Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)) received from the source, the analyzer generates metadata associated with multiple analyzed portions of the logical data stream. The metadata supports manipulation of how the logical data stream is presented when at least a portion of the data content of the logical data stream is later presented to a receiver for play back in a mode different than the original content (e.g., play back includes fast forwarding, rewinding, and/or pausing.
US09456234B2

Disclosed is a broadcasting signal transmission device, a broadcasting signal reception device, and a method for transmitting/receiving a broadcasting signal using same. The method for receiving the broadcasting signal comprises the following steps: receiving the broadcasting signal, which includes a transmission frame, wherein the transmission frame includes a plurality of PLPs, which transmit components that constitute a broadcasting service, first signaling information and second signaling information, which include the signaling information of the plurality of PLPs, a first preamble signal, which has been signaled with a preamble format, and a second preamble signal, which has been signaled with pilot pattern information, wherein one of the plurality of PLPs is a base PLP, which includes a program number that corresponds to the broadcasting service and program map table information, which has been signaled with identifying information for each of the PLPs; demodulating the broadcasting signal based on the first and the second preamble signals; FEC decoding the demodulated broadcasting signal; and identifying a PLP group that includes the plurality of PLP from the FEC decoded broadcasting signal based on the first and the second signaling information, decoding at least one PLP of the identified PLP group, and providing the broadcasting service.
US09456233B2

An apparatus, method and data structure for generating at least one table in a broadcast environment, are provided. The apparatus includes a generator to generate an event information table (EIT) and an extended text table (ETT). The ETT has program guide information for an n-hour span and has a transmission interval. The ETT has a transmission interval and program description information according to the EIT. The transmission interval of the EIT is shorter than the transmission interval of the ETT.
US09456231B2

A method of a first electronic device for performing multimedia recording is provided. The method includes recording, by the first electronic device, a first multimedia stream, generating a first metadata associated with the first multimedia stream, receiving at least one second metadata associated with a second multimedia stream recorded by at least one second electronic device, and generating a final multimedia file based on an analysis of the first metadata and the at least one second metadata.
US09456222B2

There are provided method and apparatus for local illumination and color compensation without explicit signaling. An apparatus includes an encoder for encoding a picture by enabling at least one of color compensation and illumination compensation of at least one color component of a prediction for an image block of the picture without using explicit signaling. The method comprises at least the step of enabling the encoding of a picture described above in the apparatus, again without use of explicit signaling. In the description of an specific embodiment, this enabling of the color compensation and the illumination compensation is based on at least one of a group of pixels and a local signal block corresponding to the picture. Similar descriptions are provided for a method and apparatus for decoding the signal the encoded signal.
US09456213B2

A first frame associated with a video stream is in a prior sequence than a second frame of the video stream. Each of the first frame and the second frame has a plurality of groups, and each of the groups contains a plurality of macroblocks. A plurality of encoding procedures of the groups of the second frame are simultaneously performed to encode the second frame into a plurality of strings of data, and encoded data of the second frame is outputted by the encoder according to the strings of data. Since a plurality of groups of the macroblocks in the second frame are simultaneously encoded, the encoder has a high efficiency of encoding the video stream.
US09456210B2

Methods of encoding and decoding sign information for non-zero coefficients in a block of video with transform skipped. The methods include context-based coding of a flag that signals if all signs are the same in the block; using a finite state machine to determine contexts for coding of sign information, some of which may be context-based coded and some of which may be non-context-based coded; context-based coding of sign information wherein the context is based upon the signs of neighbouring coefficients; context-based coding of sign information, where the sign information is a prediction of the sign; and using a dedicated context to code signs with a sign flag indicating whether signs in a transform skipping block have been inverted to preserve a dominant sign bias.
US09456208B2

A method of content adaptive encoding video comprising segmenting video content into segments based on predefined classifications or models. Based on the segment classifications, each segment is encoded with a different encoder chosen from a plurality of encoders. Each encoder is associated with a model. The chosen encoder is particularly suited to encoding the unique subject matter of the segment. The coded bit-stream for each segment includes information regarding which encoder was used to encode that segment. A matching decoder of a plurality of decoders is chosen using the information in the coded bitstream to decode each segment using a decoder suited for the classification or model of the segment. If scenes exist which do not fall in a predefined classification, or where classification is more difficult based on the scene content, these scenes are segmented, coded and decoded using a generic coder and decoder.
US09456201B2

Various embodiments relating to a time-of-flight (TOF) depth camera including a vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array device are disclosed. In one embodiment, a TOF depth camera includes a heat sink having a mounting surface, an illumination module mounted to the mounting surface, and an image sensor mounted to the mounting surface. The illumination module includes a printed circuit board (PCB), a VCSEL array device configured to generate illumination light to illuminate an image environment, and a driver configured to deliver an operating current to the VCSEL array device. The VCSEL array device and the driver are mounted to the PCB. The image sensor is configured to detect at least a portion of illumination light reflected from the image environment.
US09456197B2

When there is no parallax data for a video image overall nor is there parallax data for a main imaging subject but there is image capture condition data (100 to 110), an image capture device detects a main imaging subject (114) and computes parallax from the detected position of the main imaging subject (116). The image capture device computes a relationship between the main imaging subject parallax and the main imaging subject distance (118), adjusts parallax using this relationship so as to be in a permissible range even when image capture is performed at the image capture shortest distance (120), and reproduces with the adjusted parallax (124). Reproduction can accordingly be made maintaining optimum parallax when image capture has been performed whatever the parallax during image capture.
US09456193B2

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for processing a light-field image. The method includes: acquiring a light-field image; acquiring an occlusion tag function of each unit image in the light-field image; determining a cost function for offset estimation of each unit image according to intensity change information and gradient change information that are of each unit image in the light-field image and the occlusion tag function of each unit image; acquiring an offset of each unit image in the light-field image by using the cost function; and reconstructing a high-resolution light field by using the offset of each unit image. An offset of each unit image in a light-field image may first be acquired according to optical flow change information of the light-field image, and then a high-resolution light field is reconstructed by using the offset of each unit image, so as to effectively improve spatial resolution.
US09456181B2

A technique smartly displays video feeds during an online meeting. The technique involves receiving, by processing circuitry, a plurality of video feeds during the online meeting. The technique further involves selecting, by the processing circuitry, a group of video feeds from the plurality of video feeds during the online meeting. The number of video feeds in the group of video feeds is less than the number of video feeds in the plurality of video feeds. Additionally, the number of video feeds in the group is at least two. The technique further involves outputting, by the processing circuitry, the group of video feeds to an online meeting participant during the online meeting. Such a technique enables the number of participants of the online meeting to be essentially unlimited, where only the video feeds deemed most significant (e.g., based on scoring) are shared during the online meeting.
US09456178B2

A system that incorporates the subject disclosure performs, for example, displaying a video image of a remote scene at a display surface, wherein the remote scene is remote from the display surface. Overlapping video images are obtained from different vantage points of a local scene observable from the display surface. A composite video image is generated of the local scene from the video images and forwarded to the remote location. A first audio signal is generated representing first sounds associated with a first region of the local scene without representing other sounds associated with a second region of the local scene. The first audio signal is forwarded to audio processing equipment at the remote location to present the first sounds at a first region of the remote scene at the remote location without presenting the first sounds at a second region of the remote scene. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09456174B2

An automated video editing system uses user inputs and metadata combined with machine learning technology to gradually improve editing techniques as more footage is edited. The system is designed to work primarily with a network of automated video recording systems that use cooperative tracking methods. The system is also designed to improve tracking algorithms used in cooperative tracking and to enable systems to begin using image recognition based tracking when the results of machine learning are utilized.
US09456166B2

A digital cable broadcast receiver and a method for automatically processing caption data of various standards and types, is disclosed. The digital broadcast receiver includes: a demultiplexer for dividing a received broadcast stream into video data, audio data, supplementary information; a controller for determining whether caption data included in the video data is digital caption data or analog caption data on the basis of caption information included in the supplementary information, and outputting a control signal according to a result of the determining; a digital caption decoder for extracting and decoding digital caption data from the video data according to the control signal; and an analog caption decoder for extracting and decoding analog caption data from the video data according to the control signal.
US09456160B2

Disclosed is an image sensor. The disclosed image sensor includes a pixel array including a plurality of unit pixels arranged in a matrix form having rows and columns, a binning sampling unit configured to output a binning sampling signal according to an average of signals from two or more unit pixels selected from among the unit pixels of each of the columns, and an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert the binning sampling signal to a digital signal. The selected unit pixels have different exposure times.
US09456159B1

The invention disclosure describes pixels arranged into CMOS image sensor arrays that may be back side illuminated and may operate in a global shutter mode. The image sensor pixels may also be front side illuminated. The pixel charge storage sites for the global shutter operation are formed by floating diffusions that are small and do not collect a significant number of stray charge, which contributes to the sensor's high shutter efficiency. The floating diffusions are reset by an active reset circuit that significantly reduces generation of kTC reset noise. The active reset circuit consists of an in-pixel inverting amplifier formed by a p-channel gain transistor with an n-channel transistor load, and a feedback reset transistor connected from the amplifier output to the amplifier input, which is the FD node. The active reset circuit does not utilize a significant portion of the pixel area and has low power consumption.
US09456157B2

An image sensor may include image sensor pixels formed on a substrate. Each pixel may have a photodiode, a floating diffusion node, and charge transfer gate. The pixel may include an n-type doped well region and a p-channel MOS source follower transistor formed within the n-well region. An n-channel MOS reset transistor may be coupled between the floating diffusion region and a bias voltage column line and may have a drain terminal that overlaps with the n-well region. If desired, the pixel may include a p-channel JFET source follower transistor formed within the floating diffusion region on the substrate and an n-channel MOSFET reset transistor coupled to the floating diffusion. The polarities of the doping in the substrate on which the pixels are formed may be reversed. The pixel may be formed without row select transistors to increase photodiode area and charge storage capacity.
US09456155B2

An image processing apparatus obtains a picked-up image which is output from an image pickup element which includes a microlens array for obtaining the picked-up image including ray directional information of an object image formed by a photographing optical system, generates a reconstruction image by reconstructing the obtained picked-up image on the basis of the ray directional information, and detects a defect pixel of the generated reconstruction image.
US09456154B2

An imaging apparatus including: a solid-state imaging device including pixels arranged in rows and columns, the device including: an OB pixel unit including rows of light-shielding pixels among the pixels; and a valid pixel unit including pixels allowing light from the subject to enter among the pixels; an exposure control unit which exposes the second pixel unit; a read line selecting unit which sequentially selects one or more pixel rows of the OB pixel unit, at different timings during exposure of the valid pixel unit, and causes each of pixels of the one or more pixel rows to output a pixel signal; and a dark charge measuring unit which measures the quantity of dark charge due to dark current of the device using current ones of pixel signals, each time pixel signals are output from the OB pixel unit through the selection by the read line selecting unit.
US09456141B2

In various embodiments, the present invention relates to methods, systems, architectures, algorithms, designs, and user interfaces for light-field based autofocus. In response to receiving a focusing request at a camera, a light-field autofocus system captures a light-field image. An image crop that contains a region of interest and a specified border is determined. A series of refocused images are generated for the image crop at different scene depths. A focus metric is calculated for each refocused image. The scene depth of the refocused image with the best focus metric is identified as the appropriate focus. The focus motor position for the appropriate focus is selected and the focus motor is automatically driven to the selected focus motor position.
US09456139B2

There is provided an imaging device including a posture change detection part which detects a posture change of an imaging device body, a deflection correction part which corrects deflection of a captured image generated by the posture change, a distortion correction part which corrects distortion of the captured image generated by the posture change, and a control part which makes the deflection be corrected in the deflection correction part based on the posture change detected in the posture change detection part, and makes the distortion be corrected in the distortion correction part based on posture change after limiting processing to the detected posture change.
US09456137B2

A device for acquiring two-dimensional images of a three-dimensional object including a housing having a receptacle for receiving the object. The receptacle has a floor and an interior sidewall. The sidewall has at least one sight window and a plurality of lights for illuminating the object. A rotatable turntable is positioned on the floor of the receptacle, and the object is positioned on the turntable. At least one camera having an iris is located within the housing and positioned so that the iris can obtain images of the object through the sight window, allowing the camera to obtain still images of the object as the object is rotated on the turntable. There is also provided methods for stitching the still images of the three-dimensional object into a two-dimensional image to facilitate optical character recognition and further data processing.
US09456132B2

A system may include an image sensor having a pixel array that receives light in an environment. The light received at the pixel array may be transmitted by an external device that encodes information using the wavelength, spatial patterning, temporal patterning, or other characteristics of the light. In response to receiving the light, the pixel array may generate electrical signals that are processed to decode the information in the light. The system may compare the decoded information to user preferences to determine if the information is relevant to a user. In response to determining that the information is relevant to the user, the system may display the information to the user, transmit a pulse including user preference information, or change an operating state of the image sensor.
US09456126B2

An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup unit configured to receive an incident light beam from regions of a pupil of an optical system different from each other to output a first image signal and a second image signal, and a calculation unit configured to calculate an evaluation value while relatively shifting the first and second image signals from pixels included in a predetermined range to calculate a defocus amount, and the calculation unit is configured to change a size of the predetermined range so that a center of a visual field range relative to a position of a target pixel does not vary depending on a shift amount between the first and second image signals.
US09456121B2

A focus adjusting process and apparatus are described which can optimize a balance between AF performance and appearance of moving image, regardless of a position or size of an enlarged area to be recorded in a moving image.
US09456120B2

A method improves focus height repeatability in a machine vision inspection system. A region of interest is defined within a field of view imaged by a camera portion, wherein an aligned edge feature in the region of interest may introduce a focus height sensitivity that varies depending on the aligned edge feature offset relative to the image pixels. A first set of focus-determining operations determines a focus height for the region of interest, and comprise at least one of: (a) operations that reduce the sensitivity of the focus height determination to the offset of the aligned edge feature relative to the image pixels; and (b) operations that adjust the offset of the aligned edge feature relative to the image pixels according to a predetermined offset repeatability criteria, such that the image data used in the focus height determination fulfills the offset repeatability criteria.
US09456115B2

An image obtaining apparatus has a swing-type optical system, an optical dome and a correction optical system. The swing-type optical system is configured to adjust a photographing direction based on a swinging operation. The correction optical system corrects transmitted light beams through the optical dome to parallel light beams parallel to the photographing direction.
US09456096B2

When installing a driver program on a terminal device of a user who joins a group to which an image forming apparatus supported by the driver program is assigned, a non-transitory recording medium for installation of the driver program causes a computer in the terminal device to display an operation screen including a first and a second operation element. When the first operation element is selected, the computer is caused to create a document box for the user and add membership information of the user to group management data managed by a predetermined server. When the second operation element is selected, the computer is caused to create the document box, identify an image forming apparatus assigned to a former group of the user with reference to the group management data, delete a document box from the identified image forming apparatus, and add the membership information to the group management data.
US09456092B2

An image communicating apparatus capable of transmitting/receiving image data via a high-speed digital line network determines whether a transmission destination device is busy. If it is determined that the transmission destination device is busy, the image communicating apparatus redials the transmission destination device a preset number of times. If it cannot be determined that the transmission destination device is busy and transmission has not ended normally, the image communicating apparatus redials the transmission destination device by limiting a redial count.
US09456091B2

A technique of directly and simply operating image data stored in an external storage device using a camera is provided. To accomplish this, an image processing device connectable to a network, comprises a connection unit configured to connect to an imaging device, an acquisition unit configured to acquire image data captured by the imaging device from an external device on the network, in accordance with a user operation on the imaging device, and a display control unit configured to display the image data acquired by the acquisition unit and image data stored in the imaging device in accordance with a display unit of the imaging device.
US09456088B2

A voice gateway receives packets transmitting voice data between two voice gateways, each received packet includes header data and voice media payload, means for establishing a voice trunk between the two voice gateways based on the header data of the received packets. The voice media payloads of the received packets are extracted and combined into a single packet, the single packet including for a voice call a dedicated channel data of the established voice trunk comprising an identifier of the respective voice call and the voice media payload of the respective voice call. A single set of header data is added to the single packet, the single set of header data includes base information for synchronizing the flow of data between the two voice gateways. The single packet is transmitted to the receiving voice gateway via the voice trunk.
US09456087B2

A telecommunication and multimedia management apparatus and method that supports voice and other media communications and that enables users to: (i) participate in multiple conversation modes, including live phone calls, conference calls, instant voice messaging or tactical communications; (ii) review the messages of conversations in either a live mode or a time-shifted mode and to seamlessly transition back and forth between the two modes; (iii) participate in multiple conversations either concurrently or simultaneously; (iv) archive the messages of conversations for later review or processing; and (v) persistently store media either created or received on the communication devices of users. The latter feature enables users to generate or review media when either disconnected from the network or network conditions are poor and to optimize the delivery of media over the network based on network conditions and the intention of the users participating in conversations.
US09456082B2

A computer program product includes computer readable program code for identifying a proposed call between a caller using a first communication device and a recipient using a second communication device, computer readable program code for determining probable topics of conversation of the proposed call, and computer readable program code for displaying the probable topics of conversation on either the first communication device, the second communication device or both the first and second communication devices before the proposed call is connected.
US09456080B2

Disclosed are a presence based telephony system and a call routing method thereof. The telephony system includes a presence server for managing presence of telephone service subscribers, and it routes the call dialed to the subscriber to one of the subscriber's wired/wireless telephone terminal or a VoIP terminal accessed through a VoIP gateway according to the subscriber's presence information established in the presence server. According to the present invention, the user uses a VoIP terminal connected to the Internet to receive calls generated to the previously subscribed wired/wireless telephone number without spatial restrictions. Also, the user can use the wired/wireless telephone service without an additional communication device if he has a VoIP terminal connected to the Internet when he buys no expensive telephone at the time of subscribing to a wired telephone service or a mobile telephone service.
US09456079B2

A device includes a communication unit configured to receive a call request from a calling user; and a control unit configured to control the communication unit to provide a response message including information about a current situation based on information about an application currently being executed to the calling user in response to a rejection regarding the call request.
US09456070B2

Systems and methods are presented for identifying individuals through facial recognition, voice recognition, or the like, recalling past recorded conversations with the identified individuals, and recording and inventorying conversations with the individuals with mobile devices. In some embodiments, a method is presented. The method may include identifying, at a device, an individual through facial recognition, voice recognition, or a unique RFID. The method may also include recording a conversation with the identified individual, and recalling past relevant recorded conversations based on the identification of the individual, and transmitting the recording of the conversation to a display system configured to display the recording of the event.
US09456069B2

Methods, systems, and key fob apparatuses for facilitating hands free mobile communications from within an automotive vehicle are provided. The apparatus includes a key fob with a housing and a SIM associated with the housing. The SIM is operative to identify a subscriber to a mobile telephone network when interfaced with the mobile telephone network. The apparatus may further include a key integrated with the key fob and operatively associated with the SIM. The key is operative to initiate the start of an engine of the automotive vehicle and interface the SIM with a mobile telephone, such as a GSM phone, integrated with the automotive vehicle. Thus, when the key is inserted into an ignition switch operatively associated with a SIM reader, the SIM identifies a subscriber to the mobile telephone network.
US09456062B2

A mobile terminal having an input device that performs inputting in a tactile manner is disclosed. A touch screen of a first region and touch buttons of a second region are implemented by a single touch sheet without having touch sensing units. Thus, manufacturing, assembling and handling can be facilitated.
US09456057B2

Host machines and other devices performing synchronized operations can be dispersed across multiple racks in a data center to provide additional buffer capacity and to reduce the likelihood of congestion. The level of dispersion can depend on factors such as the level of oversubscription, as it can be undesirable in a highly connected network to push excessive host traffic into the aggregation fabric. As oversubscription levels increase, the amount of dispersion can be reduced and two or more host machines can be clustered on a given rack, or otherwise connected through the same edge switch. By clustering a portion of the machines, some of the host traffic can be redirected by the respective edge switch without entering the aggregation fabric. When provisioning hosts for a customer, application, or synchronized operation, for example, the levels of clustering and dispersion can be balanced to minimize the likelihood for congestion throughout the network.
US09456056B2

Methods and systems for processing data requests in a client-server computing environment, such as the Web, are disclosed. A client device initially transmits a data request to a randomly selected first server device. The first server device may reject the data request if its request queue threshold is exceeded. The client device retransmits the data request, including the request queue threshold, to a randomly selected second server device. The second server device may reject the data request if the request queue threshold of the first server device is smaller than a request queue threshold of the second server device. The client device transmits the data request back to the first server device, including the request queue threshold of the second server device. The first server device processes the data request and adjusts its request queue threshold based on the request queue thresholds of the first and second server devices.
US09456046B2

A system and method which dynamically generate proxy connections in a communication system. A client computer system has a processor that is coupled by a communications path including at least one proxy connection to a first target server. An algorithm for dynamically generating proxy connections is stored in machine readable storage. The algorithm is implemented by the processor causing the client computer system to execute generating an additional one of the proxy connections in response to receiving a request and to generate a program identifier which identifies the additional proxy connection. The processor determines if the program identifier is a unique program identifier. If the program identifier is not unique, the processor changes the identifier to render it a modified program identifier so that it is unique and stores the program identifier or the modified program identifier to a configuration file at the client computer system.
US09456045B1

Embodiments relate to criteria-based data push. An aspect includes receiving, by a criteria request server, a data push request from a user, the data push request specifying criteria for particular data to be pushed and a user device to receive the particular data. Another aspect includes forwarding the data push request to an incoming data monitor. Another aspect includes monitoring, by the incoming data monitor, incoming data received from one or more content providers. Yet another aspect includes, based on detecting the particular data that is specified by the data push request in the incoming data by the incoming data monitor, pushing the particular data to the user device.
US09456044B2

Various embodiments described or referenced herein are directed to different devices, methods, systems, and computer products for providing information external to an organization in an information feed. A message may be received from an information service provider in accordance with a previously defined request. The defined request may include one or more parameters specifying requested data. The message may include data provided in accordance with the one or more parameters. The data in the message may be processed to create a data object. The data object may include at least a portion of the data provided in accordance with the one or more parameters. The data object may be stored in a database. The data object may then be provided for display on a display device in an information feed associated with the record.
US09456040B2

A communication system capable of enabling one or more communication devices to remotely execute one or more applications includes one or more communication devices that are coupled to a data connection. At least one of the one or more communication devices is operable to communicate a request to establish a communication session over the data connection. The system also includes one or more application servers that are coupled to the data connection. At least one of the one or more application servers is adapted to execute an application to establish the requested communication session with the at least one communication device. The at least one application server resides at a location remote from the at least one communication device. The at least one application server communicates a request for processing service to the at least one communication device. The request for processing service is communicated to the at least one communication device over the data connection.
US09456039B2

In an embodiment, a communication device (e.g., a current floor arbitrator of the session, a proxy device, etc.) records a floor arbitration history that tracks one or more floor grants and one or more floor denials that occur while a first device is performing a floor arbitration function for the communication session with the communication group, and transmits some or all of the floor arbitration history to a second device during the communication session. The second device (e.g., a new floor arbitrator for the session, a late or re-joining participant to the communication session, etc.) participates in the communication session based at least in part upon the received floor arbitration history (e.g., by factoring the received floor arbitration history into future floor-related decisions, by selectively requesting particular missed portions of the communication session, etc.).
US09456036B2

Embodiments include a method, system, and computer program product for allocating data to storage in a network. A data item accessed by a server in the network is identified. A controller classifies the identified data item based on at least one of: a frequency of access requests for the data item by the server and an access time associated with providing the data item to the server once the server requests the data item. A memory of a switch in the network is selected for storing the data item based on the classification of the data item. The controller causes the data item to be stored in the memory of the switch, from which the data item is accessed by the server upon request.
US09456035B2

A method begins by each of a group of write requesting modules of a dispersed storage network (DSN) generating one or more sets of write requests regarding one of a group of portions of related data, sending a group of the one or more sets of write requests to DSN memory, and sending binding information to a binding module. The method continues with the binding module processing remaining phases of the group of the one or more sets of write requests for writing the related data into the DSN memory as a single set of write requests and notifying the write requesting modules of status of the writing the related data into the DSN memory at completion of the processing of the remaining phases such that the related data is made accessible as a single piece of data when the processing of the remaining phases is successful.
US09456033B2

Initiating peer-to-peer tunnels between clients in a mobility domain. Client traffic in a mobility domain normally passes from the initiating client to an access node, and from the access node through a tunnel to a controller, and then through another tunnel from the controller to the destination access node, and the destination client. When initiated by the controller, the access nodes establish a peer-to-peer tunnel for suitable client traffic, bypassing the “slow” tunnels through the controller with a “fast” peer-to-peer tunnel. Traffic through this “fast” tunnel may be initiated once the tunnel is established, or traffic for the “fast” tunnel may be queued up until traffic has completed passing through the “slow” tunnel.
US09456011B1

Information processing techniques for managing data center configurations. In one example, a method comprises the following steps. A registry is maintained corresponding to at least one of products and services offered by a provider entity for use in providing a data center for a customer entity. A central interface is provided for presenting information maintained in the registry and for presenting one or more features operative to allow the customer entity to create and/or change a configuration of the data center. The central interface comprises one or more features for obtaining at least one of the data center products and services, one or more features for configuring the obtained one of the data center products and services, and one or more features for managing the configured one of the data center products and services. Accordingly, the customer obtains a customized data center configuration through the central interface and the registry.
US09456003B2

Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for decoupling hardware and software components of network security devices to provide security software as a service in a distributed computing environment. A computer system includes a processor that can execute computer-executable instructions to perform various operations. The processor can perform operations to provide security services to one or more customer platforms. The operations can include receiving a network security software component from a security service provider, and deploying the network security software component within a distributed computing environment so that the network security software component can be executed by a computing resource of the distributed computing environment to provide a security service to the customer platform(s). The network security software component includes a software component that has been decoupled from a hardware component of a network security device by the security service provider.
US09455990B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide an efficient and scalable scheme for role-based access control to resources. The resources are assigned a protection class. Resources in the same protection class share the same access control policy. Permissions granted to various roles are then defined based on privilege sets and protection classes. Accordingly, the permissions of a role can be dynamically determined at runtime. Furthermore, as new resources are added, they can be assigned to a pre-existing protection class. The new resource may thus automatically inherit the various permissions and roles attached to the protection class.
US09455983B2

A speaker-verification digital signature system is disclosed that provides greater confidence in communications having digital signatures because a signing party may be prompted to speak a text-phrase that may be different for each digital signature, thus making it difficult for anyone other than the legitimate signing party to provide a valid signature.
US09455977B1

A processing device comprises a processor coupled to a memory and is configured to obtain a credential associated with a particular access control interval, to insert information derived from the credential into one or more messages of a remote management interface protocol, to transmit the one or more messages to a managed device, and to remotely control the managed device responsive to a successful authentication based at least in part on the inserted information. The one or more messages of the remote management interface protocol are illustratively compliant with a designated Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) specification. The credential associated with the particular access control interval may be generated based at least in part on a corresponding intermediate value of a hash chain. For example, the credential may be generated based at least in part on a message authentication code and the corresponding intermediate value of a hash chain.
US09455976B2

A network-based appliance includes a mechanism to erase data on the appliance's local storage. The appliance's normal system reset operation is overridden to enable a local user to place the appliance into a safe mode during which remote erasure of the storage is permitted, provided that mode is entered within a first time period following initiation of a system reset. If the appliance is placed in the mode within the time period, it can then receive commands to wipe the local storage. Once the safe mode is entered by detecting one or more actions of a local user, preferably the appliance data itself is wiped by another person or entity that is remote from the device. Thus, physical (local) presence to the appliance is necessary to place the device in the safe mode, while non-physical (remote) presence with respect to the appliance enables actual wiping of the storage device.
US09455975B2

Systems and methods for managing credentials distribute the credentials to subsets of a set of collectively managed computing resources. The collectively managed computing resources may include one or more virtual machine instances. The credentials distributed to the computing resources may be used by the computing resources to perform one or more actions. Actions may include performing one or more functions in connection with configuration, management, and/or operation of the one or more resources, and/or access of other computing resources. The ability to use credentials may be changed based at least in part on the occurrence of one or more events.
US09455973B1

Secure storage and retrieval of data is provided with multiple data classes and data identifiers. Data values of a client are stored by receiving one or more authentication sets, at least one data value, an associated data class of the data value and a pseudo-random client value; calculating a data seed value based on the pseudo-random client value, a pseudo-random server value and the associated data class of the data value; generating a random data index value; generating a database index value based on the data seed value and the random data index value; storing the database index value; and providing the random data index value to the client. The client can be authenticated at the time of storage based on the one or more authentication sets. The authentication of the client and the storage of the data can be atomic such that only authenticated clients store the one or more data values. Techniques are also provided for the retrieval of stored data.
US09455967B2

Techniques to avoid polarization in a communication network include a network switch or device having a first interface to receive a data unit or packet, and a second interface via which the packet is transmitted from the network device. The network device includes a hash value generator configured to generate, using a depolarizer, a depolarized key from an initial key (where the initial key is based on contents of the packet and the depolarizer is unique to the network device), and to generate a hash value based on the depolarized key and the packet by using a hash function that is common to all network devices in the network. The hash value may be optionally modified to load balance egress traffic of the network device. The network device selects an egress link or port, such as by determining an index into an egress table based on the (modified) hash value.
US09455966B2

A data unit is received at a network device associated with a link aggregate group. An initial key is determined based on information included in the data unit. Another key is generated based on a first field of the initial key and a second field of the initial key. A hash function is applied to the other key to generate a hash value. A communication link in the link aggregate group is determined based on the hash value, and the data unit is transmitted over the communication link.
US09455963B1

An encryption key not accessible outside a data storage device can be used to encrypt data stored in that device. The received data may have been encrypted under an external key, such as a key associated with a customer of a data storage service. Upon receiving the data encrypted under the external key, the data can be decrypted using a copy of the external key and then re-encrypted, inside the data storage device, using the internal key. If the external key is to be rotated, the stored data does not need to be modified as the data can be decrypted using the internal key and then re-encrypted using the new external key in response to an authorized request for the data after the change to the new external key. Such an approach provides near instant key rotation while not having to re-encrypt data under the new key unless requested.
US09455961B2

System, method and apparatus for securely distributing content via an encrypted file wherein a Publisher Key (PK) associated with an authorized publisher enables presentation of the content by the authorized user via a Limited Capability Viewer (LCV), the LCV lacking the capability to forward, print, copy or otherwise disseminate the content to be presented. Various embodiments provided enhanced user authentication or authorization, VPN functions, collaboration techniques, automatic distribution of licenses, watermarking of documents, rules pertaining to content transfer between secure and insecure domains and combinations thereof.
US09455957B2

A method of implementing map sharing for a network switch appliance, the network switch appliance having a plurality of network ports and a plurality of instrument ports, the method includes: receiving a first input for creating a map for the network switch appliance, wherein the map comprises one or more packet processing rules, and wherein the act of receiving the first input is performed by a processing unit; receiving a second input for prescribing a map sharing privilege for the map; and storing the map and the map sharing privilege in association with the map in a non-transitory medium.
US09455952B2

The embodiment of the present document discloses a method for setting functional module names of a mobile terminal, which includes: setting the name of a mobile terminal; according to the set name of the mobile terminal, generating functional module names corresponding to functional modules in the mobile terminal. The embodiment of the present document further discloses a mobile terminal. The solution disclosed in the embodiment of the present document can be used to automatically modify the names of various functional modules in a mobile terminal by setting the name of the mobile terminal, thus reducing the user's operation steps and also improving the user experience.
US09455948B2

In one embodiment, the processing by a packet switching device of a received network-to-link-layer address resolution request message (e.g., Address Resolution Protocol [ARP] Request message, Neighbor Discovery Protocol [NDP] Neighbor Solicitation message) is dependent upon whether or not its target IP address corresponds to a network gateway packet switching device. When the target IP address of a received ARP Request/NDP Neighbor Solicitation message corresponds to a network gateway, then the packet switching device responds effectively on behalf of the network gateway, rather than forwarding the message to the network gateway. When the target IP address of a received ARP Request/NDP Neighbor Solicitation message does not correspond to a network gateway and the Media Access Control (MAC) address corresponding to the target IP address is known, then the packet switching device transforms then sends the broadcast or multicast frame into a unicast frame.
US09455944B2

A method and system for clarifying reply communications is provided. The method includes receiving an email comprising first data and generating a reply email including reply data associated with the email. Email reply check functionality is enabled and a first group of sentences comprising every sentence from the first data within the recent history section of the reply email is identified. A second group of sentences comprising every sentence from the reply data of the reply email is identified and the first group of sentences is validated with respect to the second group of sentences. Discrepancies between the first group of sentences with respect to the second group of sentences are determined and presented user via an alert based interface and a resulting modified reply email is generated.
US09455934B2

Systems, mechanisms, apparatuses, and methods are disclosed for forwarding Inter-Switch Connection (ISC) frames in a Network-to-Network Interconnect (NNI) topology, for example, via a network switch which includes a first physical switch port to receive a physical switch link from a second network switch; logic to implement a first logical ISC and a second logical ISC′ connection to the second network switch via the physical switch link; a second physical switch port to receive an interface connection from a third network switch; and switch forwarding logic to forward frames received at the first network switch to the second network switch via the logical ISC or logical ISC′ based on whether or not the physical switch link is part of an active topology upon which the network switch operates or is not part of the active topology upon which the network switch operates. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09455924B2

A system and method of operating equipment and services to allow enhanced global transport of IP packets is presented. A global virtual network with guaranteed capacity is used to transport said IP packets. A number of application-specific forwarding devices are deployed to detect and forward selected traffic types to the virtual network. The application-specific selective forwarding devices can be implemented based on the IP packets analysis, or by deploying enhanced control protocols like SIP/H.323.
US09455921B2

A device may manage end-to-end traffic across a network based on adjusting Quality of Service (QoS) parameters. The device may receive performance requirements for packets corresponding to different applications and QoS levels within segments across the network, and measure performance values along the segments across the network. The device may also identify the application data flows and their associated network locations failing to meet performance values across network segments, and detect an application data flow failing to meet end-to-end (E2E) performance requirements. The device may determine network location(s) to adjust the QoS parameters of the detected application data flow, and adjust its QoS parameters at the determined network location(s) to bring the detected application data flow into compliance with its E2E performance requirements, while maintaining E2E performances compliance of other application data flows.
US09455911B1

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to switches responding to master controllers before establishing a secure connection in an in-band controlled network. In order to do so, a computing device may receive a request packet from a transmitting device, the request packet originating from a controller computer. When the request packet enters a designated port on the computing device, the computing device may identify routing data from the received request packet, the routing data indicating a path to respond to the controller computer. The computing device may next populate a table using the identified routing data of the request packet. The computing device may send a response packet to the controller computer using the identified routing data in the populated table. From here, a connection may be established between the computing device and controller computer.
US09455903B2

In one embodiment, a Bloom filter is provided in a data packet signal functional to preferably encode the identifier of each nodal device and record the nodal hop count the signal traverses across in a computer network. The Bloom filter provided in a data packet signal has one or more fields. The recorded nodal path may updated en-route as the data packet traverses a nodal path in the computer network and/or the order of nodes traversed by the data packet in the computer network are encoded in the bloom filter.
US09455901B2

Some embodiments provide a set of one or more network controllers that communicates with a wide range of devices, ranging from switches to appliances such as firewalls, load balancers, etc. The set of network controllers communicates with such devices to connect them to its managed virtual networks. The set of network controllers can define each virtual network through software switches and/or software appliances. To extend the control beyond software network elements, some embodiments implement a database server on each dedicated hardware. The set of network controllers accesses the database server to send management data. The hardware then translates the management data to connect to a managed virtual network.
US09455897B2

A method of wireless communication includes communicating with a server through a first MPTP path using a first IP address; communicating with the server through a second MPTP path using a second IP address, the communication with the server through the second MPTP path being through a wireless node at the second IP address; and communicating with the wireless node through peer-to-peer communication.
US09455896B2

Computer communications that are to be recorded are visible to a network interface on a recording computer. The network interface receives the packets to be recorded. The network layer of the recording computer implements a subset of the normal IP module in the network layer. Instead of checking every IP packet, the IP module in the network layer assumes that most IP packets are correctly addressed, internally consistent and of the expected protocol type. The recording computer allocates the received packets to a recording session based upon the value of a field that is at a fixed position within the packet. Packets that are allocated to a session are recorded or associated with other packets that have been allocated to the same session.
US09455894B1

Techniques are described for selectively triggering fast reroute of traffic by enhancing a protocol used for monitoring operational status of a forwarding plane of a router. The forwarding plane of the router outputs periodic messages that, when received by a peer router, provide an indication that the forwarding plane is operational and able to forward packets. In addition, when constructing the periodic messages, the forwarding plane embeds an indication of a status of internal communication between the forwarding plane and a control plane of the router. In this way, the forwarding plane of the transmitting router provides an indication to the peer router that, although operational, the forwarding plane may be operating according to stale forwarding information.
US09455890B2

Techniques for deep path analysis of application delivery over a network are disclosed. In some embodiments, deep path analysis of application delivery over a network includes monitoring a network path between an agent and a destination; determining the network path between the agent and the destination; and generating a graphical visualization of the network path.
US09455883B1

Methods and apparatus for provisioning shared NFS storage in a cloud storage environment having a storage layer, a compute layer, a network layer connecting the storage layer and the computer layer, and a management layer coupled to the compute layer.
US09455881B2

A distributed computing system provides at least one service, and the service is provided by resources of the distributed computing system. Resources are represented by a topology graph including storage, application and database server nodes joined by edges indicative of relationships between nodes. Predefined parameters are monitored that are indicative of operating characteristics of the distributed computing system when providing the service. Values of the predefined parameters are compared with respective predetermined performance threshold values. The performance threshold values are determined based on a service level agreement (SLA). The SLA includes a service level objective (SLO). The performance threshold values are indicative of the respective operating characteristics prior to an event. Rules are provided for selecting a combination of application, storage and database server nodes to meet the SLO for each parameter of the parameter. Data associated with the set of rules are stored in the computing system.
US09455872B2

A method and apparatus of monitoring computer devices operating on a network is disclosed. One example method may include discovering and monitoring a plurality of network devices operating on a network. The method may include scanning the network to discover various network devices and determining a device type of each of the network devices. The method may also include determining attributes corresponding to each of the network devices, monitoring the attributes corresponding to each of the network devices and compiling a list of attribute information based on the monitoring operation and storing the list of attribute information in a memory. The device discovery and monitoring may be performed autonomously without user intervention allowing computer devices to be discovered and monitored as they are added to the network.
US09455871B1

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to, among other things, providing resource allocation advice, configuration recommendations, and/or migration advice regarding data storage, access, placement, and/or related web services. In some examples, a web service may utilize or otherwise control a client instance to control, access, or otherwise manage resources of a distributed system. Based at least in part on one or more resource usage checks and/or configuration checks, resource usage information and/or configuration information of an account utilizing a web service, and/or user preferences and/or settings, resource allocation advice, system configuration recommendations, and/or migration advice may be provided to a user of an account. Additionally, in some examples, one or more remediation operations may be performed automatically.
US09455863B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus for receiving an input signal, where the input signal includes a carrier signal modulated with a first modulation signal and a second modulation signal, and where the second modulation signal is a TM signal. Demodulating the first modulation signal from the input signal. Modulating an un-modulated carrier signal with the first modulation signal to generate a third signal, where the third signal includes the carrier signal modulated by the first modulation signal. And, removing the first modulation signal from the input signal by subtracting the third signal from the input signal to extract the TM signal from the input signal.
US09455852B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus for detecting a center frequency of an input signal, the input signal including a carrier signal modulated with a modulation signal. Detecting a frequency of a second signal. Determining a difference signal between the center frequency of the input signal and the frequency of the second signal. Modifying the frequency of the second signal based on the difference signal to provide the carrier signal. And, outputting the carrier signal.
US09455851B1

A method of encoding a data signal is disclosed. The method includes selecting a set of M ultrasonic frequencies, wherein each of the M ultrasonic frequencies differs from an adjacent frequency by at least a first frequency spacing, and wherein M is a positive integer. The method further includes forming a trellis matrix and encoding the data signal with the trellis matrix to form a set of Q of the M ultrasonic frequencies, wherein Q is a positive integer less than M, and wherein a minimum frequency separation between any pair of the Q frequencies of the set is greater than the first frequency spacing.
US09455849B2

Methods, devices and systems are disclosed where to generate a pulse a data line is actively driven to a first voltage followed by actively driving the data line to a second voltage.
US09455843B2

Methods, apparatus and computer program products are provided in order to facilitate improved emergency call handling procedures and, in particular, to provide improved emergency call handling procedures relative to a connection re-establishment procedure. Emergency calls may therefore be handled in an efficient and expeditious fashion, even in instances in which a connection re-establishment procedure is ongoing at the time of the initiation of the emergency call or in instances in which a connection re-establishment procedure is commenced during an emergency call.
US09455841B2

A method of controlling Group establishment for an IP multimedia communication service facilitated over a communications network, wherein an established Group comprises a set of member Users each of which possesses a User Equipment and, at Group establishment, members' User Equipments are sent an invitation to join the group by a server of said communications network. The method comprises, within said communications network, defining for each of a set of Users of said service, a Group membership policy defining Groups that the User does or does not wish to join. Prior to Group establishment, for each User selected for possible inclusion in the Group, the Group membership policy for that User is used to determine whether or not the User may wish to be included. Invitations are sent only to those users for which it is determined that they may wish to be included in the Group.
US09455838B2

A computing machine creates a temporary certificate authority (CA) hosted locally by the computing machine, creates a service certificate for a local service being hosted by the computing machine, and signs the service certificate using a private key of the temporary CA. The private key is stored locally on the computing machine. The computing machine removes signing authority of the temporary CA, and provides the service certificate to the local service.
US09455832B2

A portion of the signed message in an ECPVS is kept truly confidential by dividing the message being signed into at least three parts, wherein one portion is visible, another portion is recoverable by any entity and carries the necessary redundancy for verification, and at least one additional portion is kept confidential. The additional portion is kept confidential by encrypting such portion using a key generated from information specific to that verifying entity. In this way, any entity with access to the signer's public key can verify the signature by checking for a specific characteristic, such as a certain amount of redundancy in the one recovered portion, but cannot recover the confidential portion, only the specific entity can do so. Message recovery is also provided in an elliptic curve signature using a modification of the well analyzed ECDSA signing equation instead of, e.g. the Schnorr equation used in traditional PV signature schemes.
US09455827B2

According to an embodiment, a communication apparatus includes a cryptographic key storage, a transmitter, a receiver, and a sharing controller. The cryptographic key storage stores therein one or more cryptographic keys shared with an external device. The transmitter transmits specifying information that specifies at least one of the cryptographic keys to the external device. The receiver receives determination information that indicates a result of determination, which is made by the external device based on the specifying information, on whether the shared cryptographic key is consistent between the apparatus and the external device. When receiving the determination information indicating that the shared cryptographic key is inconsistent between the apparatus and the external device, the sharing controller deletes the cryptographic key specified by the specifying information from the cryptographic key storage.
US09455822B2

A transmitter for transmitting a transmission signal subjected to modulation after error correction coding and a receiver including a phase compensation unit for receiving the transmission signal and performing demodulation therefor while maintaining synchronization thereof and an error correction decoding unit for performing decoding processing for received data that has been subjected to the demodulation. The transmitter transmits a signal formed of a plurality of pilot sequences as a part of the transmission signal, and the receiver has a phase slip estimation processing function for estimating the phase slip by the phase compensation unit by using the plurality of pilot sequences, and for estimating a phase difference component by the error correction decoding unit, to thereby correct a phase of the received data.
US09455820B2

The present invention provides a method and system for optimizing user equipment performance by having faster resumption of services during co-existence of LTE Frequency division duplexing (FDD) and Time division duplexing (TDD) networks. The method includes determining whether the UE is able to acquire essential system information (SI) associated with a cell or frequency which is barred by the UE. Further, the method includes removing the barring restriction conditionally for that cell or frequency which is barred by the UE if the UE is able to acquire the essential system information associated with the cell frequency. Furthermore, the method includes, allowing the UE to camp on the cell or frequency whose essential SI has been acquired by the UE and resuming the service with the cell and frequency. Furthermore, it also includes the method to have seamless handover between TDD and FDD and vice versa.
US09455817B2

An apparatus is configured to perform a method for providing a wireless communication service to at least one User Equipment (UE) from among a plurality of UEs having links established with a distributed small Base Station (BS) in a Virtual Cell Network (VCN) system in which a plurality of virtual cells exist within one macro cell. The method includes selecting at least one UE to which a wireless communication service is to be provided in a virtual cell, calculating a feedback allocation amount for each of the selected at least one UE, by sharing path losses and user characteristics measured and determined on a UE basis by each of the plurality of virtual cells, and providing information about the calculated feedback allocation amount to the selected at least one UE.
US09455816B2

Directed inter-cell interference experienced by the downlink of a massive MIMO wireless communication network base station due to pilot contamination that occurs as a result of pilot signal reuse is significantly reduced by encoding signals to be transmitted over the downlink into robust signals. The robust signals along with corresponding beamforming vectors are transmitted over the downlink where the beamforming vectors are estimated by the base station using received fast fading pilot sequences. The encoding is performed by an interference cancellation algorithm whose use is proper when the communication network can be characterized as having one transmitter at each of its nodes (i.e., the base stations) and all the channel coefficients of the network are known by every node.
US09455815B2

Methods and apparatuses are provided for a user equipment (UE) to transmit at least two hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) bits. At least one transport block is received on each of at least two configured cells. At least two HARQ-ACK bits are generated based on a number of the at least two configured cells and transmission modes for each of the at least two configured cells. The at least two HARQ-ACK bits are transmitted on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). A transmission mode supports one transport block or up to two transport blocks.
US09455811B2

A user equipment (UE) for time division duplex (TDD) communication through a wireless communication channel has a receiver to receive a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) subframe configuration value, a CSI-RS configuration value, and a CSI-RS; and circuitry to determine a subframe index corresponding to a temporal position of a special subframe including the CSI-RS; determine a CSI-RS pattern of one or more orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM) resource elements carrying the CSI-RS, the pattern being from among a group of CSI-RS patterns that include OFDM resource elements in OFDM symbols corresponding to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) region of a legacy LTE wireless communication channel; control the receiver to receive the special subframe carrying the CSI-RS during the temporal position and at the one or more OFDM resource elements of the CSI-RS pattern; and measure the wireless communication channel based on the CSI-RS.
US09455801B2

The present invention relates to a method for transmitting control information regarding uplink multiple antenna transmission may comprise the steps of: transmitting DCI for scheduling the uplink transmission of a plurality of data blocks through a PDCCH; receiving the plurality of data blocks scheduled by the DCI; transmitting information which indicates positive acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement to each of the plurality of received data blocks through the PHICH; and receiving retransmission for the negative acknowledged data blocks. When the number of the negative-acknowledged data blocks is not equal to the number data blocks indicated in the PDCCH, a pre-coding matrix, which is for the number of transmission layers equivalent to that of layers corresponding to the negative-acknowledged data blocks, may be used for retransmission.
US09455792B1

In an embodiment, a method for calculating PIM associated with a DUT comprises obtaining a first measurement of PIM with the DUT connected to the measuring instrument, introducing a shift in a phase offset of PIM produced at the DUT in response to test signals generated by the measuring instrument, obtaining, upon introducing the shift, a second measurement of PIM with the DUT connected to the measuring instrument and calculating the PIM associated with the DUT based on the first measurement and the second measurement.
US09455786B2

An optical transceiver includes a positioning element, a fiber connecting segment, a base and a housing. The positioning element has a first positioning part. The fiber connecting segment tightly fits to the positioning element. The housing supports at least one optical transceiving element and is connected to the positioning element. The base has a second positioning part and is configured for supporting the positioning element and the fiber connecting segment. The first positioning part and the second positioning part define the position of the fiber connecting segment.
US09455785B2

Embodiments enable a network operator to use any (and a single) network management system (NMS) that it desires to manage a network having mixed fiber to the home optical network units (ONUs) and coaxial connected cable modems. For example, embodiments enable a cable company operator to use a DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) NMS (which the cable company already uses to manage its DOCSIS network) to manage such mixed network, by a simple addition of a DOCSIS Mediation Layer (DML) module between the NMS and the optical line terminal (OLT). On the other hand, embodiments enable a telephone company operator to use a standard EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network) OLT NMS with minor OLT and OAM (Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) protocol modifications to manage the same mixed network.
US09455775B2

A first base station receives a first message comprising one or more parameters indicating whether a wireless device supports configuration of a number of channel state information (CSI) processes. The first base station transmits at least one second message comprising configuration parameters of CSI reference signals. The first base station transmits, to a second base station after making a handover decision, at least one third message comprising at least one of the one or more parameters and the configuration parameters of the CSI reference signals.
US09455773B2

Provided is a method of transmitting and receiving a frame for a multi-user multiple-input and multiple-output (MU-MIMO) communication in an access point (AP), the method including transmitting, to each of a plurality of stations (STAs), an uplink multi-user request (UL MU request) frame requesting transmission of a data frame, and receiving, from each of the plurality of STAs, the data frame during an identical period of time based on an identical reception intensity, wherein the UL MU request frame includes at least one of information on a transmission time of the data frame and information on a reception intensity of the data frame in the AP.
US09455765B2

Communications connectors are provided that include a plurality of inputs that are arranged as differential pairs of inputs and a plurality of outputs that are arranged as differential pairs of outputs. A plurality of low frequency conductive paths are provided, each of which electrically connects a respective one of the inputs to a respective one of the outputs. These low frequency conductive paths are configured to pass signals having frequencies in a first frequency band while substantially attenuating signals having frequencies in a second frequency band that includes higher frequencies than the first frequency band. A plurality of second conductive paths are also provided. Each of the plurality of second conductive paths is electrically in parallel with at least a portion of a respective one of the low frequency conductive paths.
US09455763B2

A method of mitigating narrow band interference (NBI) in ultra wide band (UWB) systems operating around 10 GHz mitigates multiuser interference from IEEE 802.22 and WiMAX, wherein the multiuser interference interfers with both trained and blind UWB systems, with the trained UWB system using pilot symbol assisted modulation. The method passes a received UWB signal through a band pass filter (BPF), wherein the BPF is located at a UWB receiver and the UWB signal is a Hanning modulated pulse centered at 4 GHz frequency. The method further measures a plurality of test functions, determines a number of active users, notch filters NBI signals, based on the determined number of active users, passes the notch filtered signal through a quadratic programming algorithm, to perform joint decoding, estimates an arrival of a UWB payload, and demodulates the UWB payload, based on the estimated arrival of the UWB payload.
US09455761B2

A system for multi-rate digital self-interference cancellation including a signal component generation system coupled to a digital transmit signal of a communication system that generates a set of signal components from the digital transmit signal; a multi-rate adaptive filter that transforms the set of signal components into a digital self-interference cancellation signal, according to a transform configuration, to form an interference-reduced receive signal; and a transform adaptor that dynamically sets the transform configuration in response to changes in the interference-reduced receive signal.
US09455758B1

A low power long range transceiver is presented. The transceiver includes: an antenna configured to receive an RF signal; an analog front-end circuit configured to receive the RF signal from the antenna and pre-condition the RF signal by at least one of amplify the RF signal, shift frequency of the RF signal and filter the RF signal; and a demodulator configured to receive the preconditioned signal from the front-end circuit and an assertion trigger signal signifying an end of a predefined time period, where the demodulator, in response to the assertion trigger signal, outputs a data value for a given data bit in the RF signal. A controller is also configured to receive the assertion trigger signal and, in response to the assertion trigger signal, disables at least one component of the transceiver, thereby reducing power consumption.
US09455757B2

Circuits and methods for performing harmonic rejection mixing are provided. In some embodiments, the circuit comprises: a first amplifier that amplifies a received signal at a first gain; a second amplifier that amplifies the received signal at a fraction of the first gain; a mixer that receives a local oscillator signal having a first fundamental frequency and the first amplifier output, and outputs a first mixed signal; a second mixer that receives a second local oscillator signal having a fundamental frequency that is a multiple of the first fundamental frequency and the second amplifier output, and outputs a second mixed signal; and an output stage that receives the first and second mixed signals and outputs a sum of the first and second mixed signals.
US09455744B2

A decoder includes an entropy decoder configured to derive a number of bins of the binarizations from the data stream using binary entropy decoding by selecting a context among different contexts and updating probability states associated with the different contexts, dependent on previously decoded portions of the data stream; a desymbolizer configured to debinarize the binarizations of the syntax elements to obtain integer values of the syntax elements; a reconstructor configured to reconstruct the video based on the integer values of the syntax elements using a quantization parameter, wherein the entropy decoder is configured to distinguish between 126 probability states and to initialize the probability states associated with the different contexts according to a linear equation of the quantization parameter, wherein the entropy decoder is configured to, for each of the different contexts, derive a slope and an offset of the linear equation from first and second four bit parts of a respective 8 bit initialization value.
US09455730B1

A feedback module for preventing voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) runaway in a phase locked loop (PLL) circuit can include a first, a second, and a third input to receive a first output signal from a PLL circuit, a reference signal, and a first control signal. The feedback module may also include a feedback circuit to generate a second control signal, the second control signal being coupled to an input of the PLL circuit, wherein the feedback circuit generates the second control signal by comparing a number of cycles of the first output signal to a first threshold, and a number of cycles of the reference signal to a second threshold.
US09455720B2

The disclosure provides a universal oscillator. The oscillator includes an amplifier array. The amplifier array includes one or more amplifiers. A control logic unit is coupled to the amplifier array and activates the one or more amplifiers. A self-clock generating circuit is coupled to the control logic unit and generates a fixed clock. A counter receives the fixed clock from the self-clock generating circuit and provides a controlled clock to the control logic unit.
US09455713B1

A Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) is described with improved transmitter driver architecture. The transmitter driver architecture consumes significantly less power than other transmitter driver architectures as most of the circuits are driven by a low power supply. Furthermore, there is no need for level shifting even though the transmitter driver architecture is capable of supporting over as 1V of differential peak-to-peak voltage across the communication channel.
US09455694B2

A data transmission circuit includes a first data selection unit suitable for alternately outputting data of first and second input lines as first driving data in synchronization with a clock; a data delay unit suitable for generating first and second delay data by delaying the data of the first and second input lines in synchronization with the clock; a second data selection unit suitable for: alternately outputting the data of the first and second input lines as second driving data in synchronization with the clock during a first mode, and alternately outputting inverted first and second delay data, which are inverted from the first and second delay data, as the second driving data in synchronization with the clock during a second mode; a first driving unit suitable for driving an output line in response to the first driving data; and a second driving unit suitable for driving the output line in response to the second driving data.
US09455682B2

In an elastic wave filter device, an elastic wave filter element chip is mounted on a board. In the elastic wave filter element chip, a ladder filter including a plurality of series arm resonators and a plurality of parallel arm resonators are provided. In/on the board, a first inductor connected in parallel to the series arm resonator and a second inductor connected between the parallel arm resonators P1-P3 and a ground potential are provided. In/on the board, a shield electrode is located between the first inductor and the second inductor.
US09455679B2

Methods and systems are provided for volume interactions for connected playback devices. In one example, a playback device applies a state variable update associated with the playback device. The playback device may be one of a plurality of playback devices, and the state variable update may indicate a limited volume range associated with the playback device. The playback device renders audio content in synchrony with other playback devices in the plurality of playback devices. The playback device receives input data indicating a group volume adjustment for the plurality of playback device and adjusts a playback volume of the playback device based on the group volume adjustment and the limited volume range.
US09455677B2

A wireless audio control apparatus comprises a U-shaped outer shell having an outer surface, an inner surface and a plurality of side surfaces. A spring clip is attached to the inner surface of the outer shell. A speaker, a microphone and at least one control interface are located on the outer surface of the outer shell. A jack sealed behind a jack cover is located on at least one of the plurality of side surfaces of the outer shell. A wireless transceiver, an amplifier and a rechargeable battery are located inside the outer shell. The wireless audio control apparatus is configured to control the audio output from a wirelessly attached personal audio device while being removably affixed to a generally planar object worn by a user.
US09455676B2

An amplifier circuit outputs a control signal for controlling a control target circuit and receives input of a feedback signal from the control target circuit. The amplifier circuit and the control target circuit constitute a feedback loop that includes a plurality of poles. A semiconductor capacitive element is provided for phase compensation in the feedback loop. The amplifier circuit includes an output branch that includes a first transistor having a first current terminal from which the control signal is output and a second current terminal connected to a power supply potential, and a branch that is connected in parallel to the output branch and includes a cascode circuit. The cascode circuit includes a second transistor having third and fourth current terminals, and a third transistor having fifth and sixth current terminals. The fourth and fifth current terminals are connected to each other. The semiconductor capacitive element that obtains the Miller effect is connected between the control target circuit and the fourth and fifth current terminals.
US09455666B2

A circuit includes at least two LC voltage controlled oscillators (LCVCOs). Each LCVCO includes a switch to selectively turn on or off the LCVCO. One selected LCVCO of the at least two LCVCOs is configured to provide a differential LCVCO output. A converter coupled to the at least two LCVCOs is configured to receive the differential LCVCO output and provide an output signal with a full voltage swing.
US09455658B2

The invention relates to an on-load tap changer for switching among different winding taps of a step transformer without interruption. According to the invention, the selector contact unit (7) and the switching means (16, 17) for switching the load without interruption are jointly actuated without using an intermediate energy accumulator, by means of a threaded spindle (5) which is rotated by a drive motor (2) during a switching operation.
US09455651B2

A motor driver for driving a motor is disclosed. The motor driver has a first power bus, a first switching device coupled between the first power bus and a first terminal of the motor, a second power bus, a second switching device coupled between the second power bus and a second terminal of the motor, and an integrated braking chopper coupled between the first and second power buses. The integrated braking chopper is configured to dissipate an extra power generated by the motor.
US09455644B2

A controller including a switch, a first module, a second module, and a control module. The switch receives current from an inductor and bypasses a portion of the current from being received by a load. The switch is cycled between a first state and a second state at a frequency. The first module, for a first cycle of the switch, determines a first amount of time the switch is in the first state. The second module, based on the first amount of time, determines a second amount of time for a level of the current to decrease to a predetermined level. The second amount of time begins during the first cycle and when the switch transitions from the first state to the second state. The control module, based on the second amount of time and prior to the current decreasing to the predetermined level, changes the frequency of the switch.
US09455639B2

A switched-mode power supply device is disclosed including an AC power supply, a transformer including a primary winding and a secondary winding, a switching element electrically connected to the primary winding, a secondary-side rectifying and smoothing circuit that generates an output voltage by rectifying and smoothing the pulse voltage, a load ratio detection circuit that detects if a load ratio is not greater than a load ratio threshold value during steady load, and outputs a drive switch signal based on the detection, and a drive circuit that, on the basis of the drive switch signal, causes the switching element to perform switching operation in one of a normal drive in which a speed of charging a gate voltage is faster and a soft drive in which the speed of charging the gate voltage is slower.
US09455638B2

A method for operating a resonant converter having an inverter circuit, the inverter circuit having a plurality of switches, includes: switching each of the switches of the plurality of switches at an actuation frequency and with a phase angle offset relative to one another, such that a voltage of an output of the inverter circuit has a duty factor; and determining the actuation frequency and the duty factor for a prescribable operating point and with a prescribable phase reserve of the resonant converter. A resonant converter and an x-ray generator having a resonant converter are described.
US09455617B2

A multifunctional voice coil motor is disclosed, the motor including a rotor including a bobbin and a plurality of magnets arranged at a periphery of the bobbin, a stator including a housing wrapping each magnet and a plurality of coil blocks each arranged at a position corresponding to that of each magnet, a base coupled to the housing, and an elastic member elastically supporting the rotor.
US09455612B2

A method of manufacturing a laminated core includes inserting permanent magnets 14 into magnet insertion holes 12, 12a of a core body 13; injecting a resin 18 into the holes 12, 12a from resin reservoir pots 17 in the die 15 (16) to fix the magnets 14; placing a dummy plate 19 between the die 15 having the pots 17 and the body 13, the plate 19 having gate holes 35, 35a guiding the resin 18 from the pots 17 into the holes 12, 12a, the hole 35 (35a) overlapping with both of a part of the hole 12 (12a) and a surface of the body 13; poring the resin 18 via the holes 35, 35a and curing the resin 18 in the holes 12, 12a; and separating the plate 19 from the body 13 to remove the resin 18 overflowed from the holes 12, 12a.
US09455608B2

A testing apparatus includes a crosshead and a head assembly. The head assembly includes a head cover having an interior volume. An electric actuator, controls and other electric components are located within the interior volume, wherein the motor, controls and other electric components generates heat when energized. A divider within the interior volume separates a first volume from a second volume. The first volume includes the heat generating electric motor, controls and electric components and the second volume contains substantially no heat generating components. The head assembly includes at least one fan within the second volume that draws cool air from outside the head cover and forces the cool air through the second volume and into the first volume to remove heat.
US09455607B2

A clutch including a drive shaft, drive side rotation body, driven shaft, driven side rotation body, clutch housing, and lock member is disclosed. During non-rotation of the drive side rotation body, when the driven side rotation body is rotated, the lock member is pushed by the driven side rotation body and moved outward in a radial direction thereby bringing the contact portion into contact with the inner circumferential surface of the clutch housing. During rotation of the drive side rotation body, the drive side rotation body pushes a drive side cam surface in the rotation direction, and the drive side cam surface acts to move the lock member inward in the radial direction and push the lock member against the driven side rotation body. Thus, the lock member is sandwiched between the drive side rotation body and the driven side rotation body thereby coupling the drive side rotation body and the driven side rotation body with the lock member to be integrally rotatable.
US09455602B2

A motor includes a stator having a ring type structure and including a plurality of teeth protruding toward an inner surface of the stator and coils wound around the teeth; and a rotor including a core with a plurality of permanent magnets circumferentially magnetized inside the stator around a rotation shaft and a non-magnetic member between the core and the rotation shaft, and the permanent magnet includes a protrusion protruding to the non-magnetic member. An area of the permanent magnet is increased by increasing a length of the permanent magnet so that a magnetic flux can be increased to increase a torque.
US09455592B2

An electronic apparatus includes a power receiving unit configured to wirelessly receive power from an external apparatus, a resonance unit configured to set at least one of a resonant frequency of the power receiving unit and a characteristic value of the electronic apparatus, the characteristic value indicating a resonance characteristic of the electronic apparatus, and a control unit configured to, before the electronic apparatus performs a predetermined operation, detect data indicating power for performing the predetermined operation, and control the resonance unit to set at least one of the resonant frequency of the power receiving unit and the characteristic value of the electronic apparatus based on the detected data, wherein the control unit is configured to perform the predetermined operation by using power received based on the at least one of the resonant frequency and the characteristic value of the electronic apparatus set by the resonance unit.
US09455581B2

A safety-critical smart battery management system with the capability of charging single battery cells and discharging battery pack, which comprises smart battery pack, a smart battery charging module and a smart battery discharging module. In the smart battery pack, many cells in a battery group are charged separately at a time. The smart battery discharging module is used to discharge the smart battery pack, so as to achieve the efficacy of a promoted charging efficiency, an increased overall energy source efficiency, and a prolonged battery lifetime. The mechanism has plugging and automatic electric disconnection. Whenever a safety issue or a not-in-use state presents, the smart battery discharging module may be automatically separated with a load. The cells may be avoided from a self-discharging, which successively causes fire catching and thus an explosion and adversely affects a lifetime of the cells, thereby promoting a safety and reliability of the battery system.
US09455575B2

A voltage source converter for high voltage DC power transmission is disclosed. According to one aspect, the voltage source converter is connectable between a DC network and another electrical network to interconnect the DC network and the other electrical network. The voltage source converter includes a converter unit configured to convert power flowing between the DC network and the other electrical network and at least one fault unit. One or more of the fault units includes at least one fault module having a voltage source that is operable, in the event of a short circuit in a DC network connected to the voltage source converter, to produce a voltage that acts to reduce current flowing through the voltage source converter and the short circuit.
US09455573B2

A mains power adaptor (1) incorporating a fuel cell (5) for providing alternative power to a low voltage portable device when no mains power is available. The adaptor (1) includes electrical pins (4) configured to connect with a mains power supply socket; a power converter circuit (7) having an input coupled to the electrical pins (4) for converting mains power to a lower voltage supply (8); an electrical output (2) of the lower voltage supply (8); and a fuel cell (5) switchably coupled to said electrical output. The adaptor (1) has a fluid connection port (12) for coupling a fluid fuel outlet of a fuel cartridge (not shown) to a fuel inlet of the fuel cell (5) and the fluid connection port (12) is disposed in a face (3) of the adaptor (1) from which the electrical pins (4) extend. A valve of the fuel cartridge is operable by engagement with the electrical pins (4) of the adaptor (1).
US09455564B2

A current and voltage module is provided that includes a housing having an opening extending at least partially therethrough in an axial direction. The housing is configured to receive a conductor within the opening. The module also includes a threaded metal insert extending radially through the housing and configured to align with a threaded opening defined in the conductor. The module further includes a fastening device configured to be inserted within the threaded metal insert and into the threaded opening to electrically couple the housing to the conductor. A voltage sensor is coupled to the threaded metal insert within the housing and is configured to sense an amount of voltage in the conductor. The module also includes a current sensor within the housing configured to sense an amount of current flowing in the conductor.
US09455554B2

The invention relates to a mounting rail for the interior construction of a switch cabinet housing, said mounting rail comprising a mounting section that has a clamping section at its first end and a support section at its second end opposite the first end, characterized in that the clamping section has a knee lever with a fastening side, via which the knee lever is detachably screwed to the first end of the mounting section and with a clamping side that includes an angle with the fastening side.
US09455550B2

A distributed feedback laser diode includes a substrate, an active layer located above and supported by the substrate, and a diffraction grating diffracting light generated in the active layer. The diffraction grating includes features and each feature includes dots. Each of the dots has a length less than 2.5 μm.
US09455540B2

This invention relates to a high-speed signal transmission device, which includes a first transmission device and a second transmission device. Said first transmission device has a first signal cable with a first plug connector and second plug connector on it both ends, said second transmission device has a second signal cable with a third plug connector and fourth plug connector on it both ends. Using a first socket connector and a third socket connector to connect said first plug connector and third plug connector, and using a second socket connector and a fourth socket connector to connect said second plug connector and fourth plug connector to connect first transmission device and a second transmission device electrically to get the signal transmission speed of USB 3.0 and to enhance the rate of signal transmission.
US09455521B2

A lever type connector includes: a male housing having a box shape in which one side is open and a bottom surface for receiving a male terminal; a plate inserted into the male housing for covering the male terminal; a female housing for insertion into the male housing; and a lever rotatably coupled with the female housing, when the plate support member supports the plate so that the plate which protrudes from an inner side wall of the male housing to be inserted into the male housing is not inserted up to the bottom surface of the male housing.
US09455514B2

A female terminal includes a conductive terminal body having a cylindrical portion to which a mating male terminal is to be inserted, and a cylindrical elastic contact member configured to apply a contact pressure to the male terminal when the male terminal is inserted into the terminal body. The elastic contact member comprises a plurality of contact portions which are partitioned by slits extending in an axial direction of the cylindrical portion and the plurality of contact portions are curved toward inside the cylindrical portion. A front end portion of the elastic contact member, to which the male terminal is to be inserted, is connected to the cylindrical portion while a rear end portion of the elastic contact member is made a free end.
US09455505B2

Connection device for connecting at least one electrical conductor to at least one spring-type terminal which is provided in a housing of the connection device and which comprises a mechanical drive, the mechanical drive being arranged or installed in the housing and comprising a blade which has a broad face and a narrow face for actuating the spring-type terminal, the broad face of the blade moving the spring-type terminal into an open position in which the electrical conductor can be inserted into an insertion opening of the spring-type terminal.
US09455501B2

An antenna, including a ground plane, a first radiating element mounted on the ground plane, a second radiating element mounted on the ground plane in spaced relation to the first radiating element, each one of the first and second radiating elements including a feed leg for feeding the radiating element, a ground leg for grounding the radiating element, an origami-like folded element having a first end and a second end, the first end being connected to the feed leg, the second end being capacitively coupled to the radiating element and a supplementary ground connection extending between the feed leg and the ground plane.
US09455499B2

A communication device including a ground element and an antenna element is provided. The antenna element includes a metal element. The metal element is disposed at or adjacent to an edge of the ground element. The metal element is substantially perpendicular to the ground element. The metal element has a projection on the ground element, and the whole projection is in the internal of the ground element. The antenna element has a first feeding point and a second feeding point. The first and second feeding points are away from each other. The first and second feeding points are substantially positioned at two ends of the metal element, respectively. The first feeding point is coupled through a first switch and a first matching circuit to a communication module. The second feeding point is coupled through a second switch and a second matching circuit to the communication module.
US09455493B2

A dual branch antenna is provided. The dual branch antenna may include a continuous conductive element divided into first and second branches. Each branch may be configured to form at least a portion of an antenna structure. Antenna structures thus formed may be configured to radiate in at least two different frequencies.
US09455487B2

An exemplary system for securing objects to a substrate with a non-penetrating securing device. The non-penetrating securing device is a non-destructive device that allows objects of a variety of sizes (large and small) to be securely mounted to or on fragile substrates.
US09455485B2

A non-reciprocal circuit element includes a ferrite to which a direct current magnetic field is applied by a permanent magnet, and first and second center electrodes arranged on the ferrite so as to intersect with and be insulated from each other. One end of the first center electrode is connected to a first port and the other is connected to a second port. One end of the second center electrode is connected to the second port and the other is connected to a ground port. A first capacitor and a resistor connected in parallel are connected between the first and second ports and a second capacitor is connected between the second and ground ports. An input/output terminal of at least one filter is connected between the first or second port and the resistor and the ground terminal thereof is connected to the second or first port.
US09455483B2

A gamma densitometer window comprises a plate of non-metallic, preferably gamma transparent, material. The window further comprises a metallic frame member fitted around the outer edge of the plate and adapted to pre-load the plate with a compressive stress that is sufficiently high such that the sum of the compressive stress, tensile stress and shear stress components generated in the plate under high-pressure conditions is always compressive. The window is fabricated by shrink fitting the metallic frame member around the outer edge of the plate at a shrink-fit temperature such that the metallic frame member applies a compressive stress to the plate at any temperature below the shrink-fit temperature.
US09455482B2

A self-recharging battery apparatus including a magnesium-air fuel cell component having external battery connector elements; a rechargeable battery; and a water-tight inner sleeve configured to and receiving the rechargeable battery and the inner sleeve being fixedly connected to an inner side of the magnesium-air fuel cell component and the rechargeable battery being electrically connected to the magnesium-air fuel cell component external battery connector elements.
US09455480B2

An assembled battery includes a plurality of secondary cells, a first arithmetic operator, a second arithmetic operator, and a discharger. The first arithmetic operator calculates a voltage change rate of each of the secondary cells during charging/discharging thereof. The second arithmetic operator determines a discharge condition for each of the secondary cells from the voltage change rate calculated in the first arithmetic operator and a state of charge of each of the secondary cells. The discharger performs discharging of each of the secondary cells on the basis of the discharge condition when the assembled battery is neither being charged nor being discharged. The second arithmetic operator determines the discharge condition of each of the secondary cells such that each of the secondary cells after the discharging has the same state of charge.
US09455475B2

An electrolyte composition including a lithium salt (A), an first anion (B1) represented by formula (1), and an organic solvent (C) are provided. When the electrolyte composition is applied in a lithium battery, good structural stability, high battery efficiency, and long charge-discharge cycle life of the lithium battery can be achieved.
US09455473B1

An electrolyte composition for a magnesium electrochemical cell includes a magnesium salt dissolved in an ionic liquid. The ionic liquid includes an organic cation and a first boron cluster anion. The magnesium salt has a magnesium cation and a second boron cluster anion. The magnesium electrochemical cell includes an anode that contains elemental magnesium when charged, a cathode suitable for magnesium insertion or deposition, and the aforementioned electrolyte composition that is in ionic communication with the anode, the cathode, or both.
US09455472B2

Lithium-ion electrochemical cells are provided that include a positive electrode that includes a lithium metal oxide or a lithium metal phosphate, a negative electrode capable of intercalating or alloying with lithium, and an electrolyte that includes an additive. The additive includes a multifunctional anion that has the formula, X—SO2—Rf—SO2—Y, wherein X and Y are, independently, either O— or RfSO2N—, Rf is a straight or branched fluoroalkyl moiety having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, and can, optionally, contain one or more in-chain heteroatoms, wherein Rf is a straight or branched chain or cyclic fluoroalkylene having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms and can, optionally, contain one or more in-chain heteroatoms, and wherein both Rf and Rf have a maximum of 20% non-fluorine substituents. The provided additives can improve the performance, hydrolytic stability, and thermal stability of the provided electrochemical cells.
US09455469B2

A magnesium-ion cell comprising (a) a cathode comprising a carbon or graphitic material as a cathode active material having a surface area to capture and store magnesium thereon, wherein the cathode forms a meso-porous structure having a pore size from 2 nm to 50 nm and a specific surface area greater than 50 m2/g; (b) an anode comprising an anode current collector alone or a combination of an anode current collector and an anode active material; (c) a porous separator disposed between the anode and the cathode; (d) electrolyte in ionic contact with the anode and the cathode; and (e) a magnesium ion source disposed in the anode to obtain an open circuit voltage (OCV) from 0.5 volts to 3.5 volts when the cell is made.
US09455467B2

Disclosed herein is a folding device to manufacture a stacked/folded type electrode assembly having unit cells sequentially stacked in a state in which a separation film is disposed between the respective unit cells, the folding device including a web supply unit to supply a web having plate-shaped unit cells arranged at a top of a separation film at predetermined intervals, a winding jig to rotate the unit cells while holding a first one of the unit cells of the web so that the unit cells are sequentially stacked in a state in which the separation film is disposed between the respective unit cells, and a rotary shaft compensation unit to compensate for the position of a rotary shaft of the winding jig in an advancing direction of the web (X-axis direction).
US09455459B2

Fuel supplies including multiple valve components and fuel cell systems having increased operational resistance to the insertion and/or removal of fuel supplies are disclosed. The increased operational resistance is provided by increased insertion or removal forces, multiple relative motions for insertion and/or removal, latches, actuators, ON/OFF switches, cognitive ability of the user, visual alignment, audio feedback, size of the user's hand, inter alia.
US09455456B2

An anode exhaust recycle turbocharger (100) has a turbocharger turbine (102) secured in fluid communication with a compressed oxidant stream within an oxidant inlet line (218) downstream from a compressed oxidant supply (104), and the anode exhaust recycle turbocharger (100) also includes a turbocharger compressor (106) mechanically linked to the turbocharger turbine (102) and secured in fluid communication with a flow of anode exhaust passing through an anode exhaust recycle loop (238) of the solid oxide fuel cell power plant (200). All or a portion of compressed oxidant within an oxidant inlet line (218) drives the turbocharger turbine (102) to thereby compress the anode exhaust stream in the recycle loop (238). A high-temperature, automotive-type turbocharger (100) replaces a recycle loop blower-compressor (52).
US09455441B2

In an aspect, a positive active material composition for a rechargeable lithium battery including a positive active material coated with a vanadium pentaoxide (V2O5) and an aqueous binder, a positive electrode including the same, and a rechargeable lithium battery including the positive electrode is disclosed.
US09455440B2

The present disclosure relates generally to an alkaline electrochemical cell, such as a battery, and in particular to an improved gelled anode suitable for use therein. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a gelled anode that improves anode discharge efficiency by adjusting physical properties such as apparent density.
US09455439B2

The invention is directed in a first aspect to electron-conducting porous compositions comprising an organic polymer matrix doped with nitrogen atoms and having elemental sulfur dispersed therein, particularly such compositions having an ordered framework structure. The invention is also directed to composites of such S/N-doped electron-conducting porous aromatic framework (PAF) compositions, or composites of an S/N-doped mesoporous carbon composition, which includes the S/N-doped composition in admixture with a binder, and optionally, conductive carbon. The invention is further directed to cathodes for a lithium-sulfur battery in which such composites are incorporated.
US09455436B2

Disclosed herein is a battery pack configured such that battery modules, each of which includes a plurality of battery cells or unit modules connected to each other in series, are connected to each other in series in a state in which the battery modules are in tight contact with each other or stacked adjacent to each other, the battery pack including a fuse connected in series in an electrical connection circuit between the battery modules and a circuit breaker mounted at an outside of at least one of the battery modules to perform electric conduction when the battery cells swell, the circuit breaker being electrically connected to the electrical connection circuit to break the fuse when electric conduction is performed due to swelling of the battery cells.
US09455434B2

A battery system having at least one contact element configured to provide a high level of mechanical stability. The battery system has a plurality of cells with cell poles, the electrical voltage of the cells configured to be tapped by the at least one contact element at the cell poles or at cell connectors that are connected to the cell poles in an electrically conductive manner. The contact element has a first contact element section and a second contact element section.
US09455432B2

A multi-layered battery separator for a lithium secondary battery includes a first layer of a dry processed membrane bonded to a second layer of a wet processed membrane. The first layer may be made of a polypropylene based resin. The second layer may be made of a polyethylene based resin. The separator may have more than two layers. The separator may have a ratio of MD/TD tensile strength in the range of about 1.5-3.0. The separator may have a thickness of about 35.0 microns or less. The separator may have a puncture strength of greater than about 630 gf. The separator may have a dielectric breakdown of at least about 2000V.
US09455431B2

A method is provided for fabricating a cyanometallate cathode battery. The method provides a cathode of AXM1YM2Z(CN)N.MH2O, where “A” is selected from a first group of metals, and where M1 and M2 are transition metals. The method provides an anode and a metal ion-permeable membrane separating the anode from the cathode. A third electrode is also provided including “B” metal ions selected from the first group of metals. Typically, the first group of metals includes alkali and alkaline metals. The method intercalates “B” metal ions from the third electrode to the anode, the cathode, or both the anode and cathode to form a completely fabricated battery. In one aspect, a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer including the “B” metal ions overlies a surface of the anode, the cathode, or both the anode and cathode. A cyanometallate cathode battery is also provided.
US09455429B2

Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries are provided. In one embodiment, the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator disposed between the positive and negative electrodes, a polymeric layer disposed between the separator and at least one of the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and an exterior member housing the positive electrode, the negative electrode, the separator, and the polymeric layer. The separator has a thickness of 5 μm to 20 μm and includes at least 90% by mass of polyethylene. The polymeric layer holds therein a non-aqueous electrolytic solution including 13% by mass to 25% by mass of an electrolyte salt. The battery has a maximum attained temperature not higher than 100° C. using a nail piercing safety test at the time of conducting the safety test.
US09455427B2

A battery having a plurality of voltage-generating cells in which a plate-shaped intermediate element having elastic ribs at least on one side thereof is arranged at least between adjacent voltage-generating cells.
US09455423B2

A battery includes an electrolyte disposed on a substantially planar substrate. The electrolyte has a first surface extending from the substrate and in contact with a cathode. The electrolyte has a second surface extending from the substrate and in contact with an anode. The second surface is opposite the first surface. The anode and the cathode are non-overlapping. The battery additionally includes a biocompatible protective layer that covers the electrolyte and at least portions of the anode and cathode. The battery can be disposed in an eye-mountable device or other device to power electronics in the device. The battery can be configured to be rechargeable.
US09455420B2

According to embodiments of the present invention, a full-color organic light-emitting device has high reliability. The organic light-emitting device is manufactured using a simple and inexpensive manufacturing process.
US09455410B2

The present invention provides a micromolecular electron transport material based on pyridine and triazole, which is represented by the formula I, and an organic light-emitting diode using the micromolecular electron transport material. The micromolecular electron transport material of the present invention can improve the capacity of electron injection, transmitting and hole-blocking, thus can gain high ET and reduce the driving voltage of device.
US09455409B2

An amine-based compound and an organic light-emitting device including the amine-based compound are provided.
US09455399B2

In a method of growing p-type nanowires, a nanowire growth solution of zinc nitrate (Zn(NO3)2), hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) and polyethylenemine (800 Mw PEI) is prepared. A dopant solution to the growth solution, the dopant solution including an equal molar ration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), glycolic acid (C2H4O3) and antimony acetate (Sb(CH3COO)3) in water is prepared. The dopant solution and the growth solution combine to generate a resulting solution that includes antimony to zinc in a ratio of between 0.2% molar to 2.0% molar, the resulting solution having a top surface. An ammonia solution is added to the resulting solution. A ZnO seed layer is applied to a substrate and the substrate is placed into the top surface of the resulting solution with the ZnO seed layer facing downwardly for a predetermined time until Sb-doped ZnO nanowires having a length of at least 5 μm have grown from the ZnO seed layer.
US09455396B2

A piezoelectric/electrostrictive element includes a substrate, an adhesive layer, a first conductive layer, an anchor portion and a second conductive layer. The substrate contains a ceramic as a main component. The substrate has a main surface. The adhesive layer is formed on the main surface of the substrate. The adhesive layer contains a metal oxide as a main component. The first conductive layer is formed on the adhesive layer. The anchor portion is formed on the adhesive layer. The anchor portion is embedded in the conductive layer. The anchor portion contains glass as a main component. The second conductive layer is disposed opposite to the first conductive layer with the substrate located in-between.
US09455394B2

A displacement member with a driving element that includes first and second side surfaces that extend in a first direction and top and bottom surfaces that extend in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The driving element is a piezoelectric element that expands and contracts in the second direction when a pulsed voltage is applied. Further, an elastic conversion element is provided that contains the driving element and includes a first portion that is disposed adjacent the top surface of the driving element and that includes a displacement portion that is displaced downwardly and upwardly in the first direction when the driving element expands and contracts in the second direction, respectively.
US09455383B2

A molded package, comprising: a molded resin having a recess for accommodating a light emitting element; a ceramic substrate disposed in a bottom of the recess, the ceramic substrate having one surface exposed from the bottom of the recess and the other surface exposed from a rear surface of the molded resin; and a lead disposed at a lower part of the molded resin, the light emitting element being mounted on the one surface of the ceramic substrate, the lead being in contact with at least one side surface of the ceramic substrate to hold the ceramic substrate.
US09455379B2

A carrier for an optoelectronic unit has a carrier material which includes polyethylene terephthalate which contains reflector particles and a further filler. Methods for the production of the optoelectronic unit and the carrier are also disclosed.
US09455378B2

A high-efficiency light emitting diode including: a semiconductor stack positioned on a support substrate, including a p-type compound semiconductor layer, an active layer, and an n-type compound semiconductor layer; an insulating layer disposed in an opening that divides the p-type compound semiconductor layer and active layer; a transparent electrode layer disposed on the insulating layer and the p-type compound semiconductor layer; a reflective insulating layer covering the transparent electrode layer, to reflect light from the active layer away from the support substrate; a p-electrode covering the reflective insulating layer; and an n-electrode is formed on top of the n-type compound semiconductor layer. The p-electrode is electrically connected to the transparent electrode layer through the insulating layer.
US09455377B2

A light emitting device includes a metal layer, a light emitting structure, an electrode disposed on a first upper portion of a second conductive type semiconductor layer, a current spreading portion disposed on a second upper portion of the second conductive type semiconductor layer, an adhesive layer disposed under a first conductive type semiconductor layer, an insulating layer disposed between the electrode and the adhesive layer, a passivation layer disposed on a side surface of the light emitting structure and on a at least one upper surface of the light emitting structure, and a reflective layer disposed between the metal layer and the first conductive type semiconductor layer.
US09455371B2

Disclosed is a light emitting device including a substrate, a first conductive semiconductor layer disposed on the substrate, an active layer disposed on the first conductive semiconductor layer, and a second conductive semiconductor layer disposed on the active layer, wherein the first conductive semiconductor layer comprises a first layer provided at the upper surface thereof with a notch, a second layer disposed on the first layer and a third layer disposed on the second layer, wherein the first conductive semiconductor layer further comprises a blocking layer between the first layer and the second layer and the blocking layer is disposed along the notch. The light emitting device can reduce leakage current by dislocation and improve resistance to static electricity.
US09455370B2

The present invention relates to a method for coating a solar panel to reduce the amount of light being received by the solar panel's photovoltaic cells and reduce their electrical output. The method comprises the step of coating the light-receiving area of said solar panel with a sufficient thickness of a coating composition which is adapted to reduce the amount of light reaching the photovoltaic cells such that the resulting electrical output of said solar panel is reduced to below a level which causes physiological injury. The invention also relates to a composition for coating the light-receiving area of a solar panel comprising: a binder and an opacifier, wherein the opacifier is included in a sufficient quantity such that a predetermined film thickness of said composition reduces light transmission therethrough such that the resulting electrical output of said solar panel is reduced to below the predetermined level.
US09455366B2

According to one embodiment, a photoconductive semiconductor switch includes a structure of nanopowder of a high band gap material, where the nanopowder is optically transparent, and where the nanopowder has a physical characteristic of formation from a sol-gel process. According to another embodiment, a method includes mixing a sol-gel precursor compound, a hydroxy benzene and an aldehyde in a solvent thereby creating a mixture, causing the mixture to gel thereby forming a wet gel, drying the wet gel to form a nanopowder, and applying a thermal treatment to form a SiC nanopowder.
US09455362B2

Methods for laser irradiation aluminum doping for monocrystalline silicon substrates are provided. According to one aspect of the disclosed subject matter, aluminum metal contacts are formed directly on a surface of a monocrystalline silicon substrate. The aluminum metal contact is selectively heated via laser irradiation, thereby causing the aluminum and a portion of the monocrystalline silicon substrate in proximity to the aluminum to reach a temperature sufficient to allow at least a portion of the silicon to dissolve in the aluminum. The aluminum and the portion of the monocrystalline silicon substrate in proximity to the aluminum is allowed to cool, thereby forming an aluminum-rich doped silicon layer on the monocrystalline silicon substrate.
US09455361B2

Use of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and/or pure mechanical polishing to separate sub-cells in a thin film solar cell. In one embodiment the CMP is only used to separate the active, thin film layer into sub-cells, with scribing still being used to achieve sub-cell separation in conductive layers above and below the active, thin film layer. Also, the active layer may be placed over a series of protrusions so that the CMP removes the active layer that is over the protrusion, while leaving intact the flat, planar portions of the active layer. In this way, the removed active layer, from over the protrusions then becomes the division between sub-cells in the active layer.
US09455360B2

Methods of fabricating metal wrap through solar cells and modules for thin silicon solar cells, including epitaxial silicon solar cells, are described. These metal wrap through solar cells have a planar back contact geometry for the base and emitter contacts. Fabrication of a metal wrap through solar cell may comprise: providing a photovoltaic device attached at the emitter side of the device to a solar glass by an encapsulant, the device including busbars on the device emitter; forming vias through the device base and emitter, the vias terminating in the busbars; depositing a conformal dielectric film over the surface of the vias and the back surface of the base; removing portions of the conformal dielectric film from the ends of the vias for exposing the busbars and from field areas of the base; and forming separate electrical contacts to the busbars and the field areas on the back surface of the solar cell. The solar cells may comprise epitaxially deposited silicon and may include an epitaxially deposited back surface field.
US09455353B2

A device with multiple encapsulated functional layers, includes a substrate, a first functional layer positioned above a top surface of the substrate, the functional layer including a first device portion, a first encapsulating layer encapsulating the first functional layer, a second functional layer positioned above the first encapsulating layer, the second functional layer including a second device portion, and a second encapsulating layer encapsulating the second functional layer.
US09455349B2

A transistor having high field-effect mobility is provided. A transistor having stable electrical characteristics is provided. A transistor having small current in an off state (in a non-conductive state) is provided. A semiconductor device including such a transistor is provided. A first electrode is formed over a substrate, a first insulating layer is formed adjacent to a side surface of the first electrode, and a second insulating layer is formed to cover the first insulating layer and be in contact with at least part of a surface of the first electrode. The surface of the first electrode is formed of a conductive material that does not easily transmit an impurity element. The second insulating layer is formed of an insulating material that does not easily transmit an impurity element. An oxide semiconductor layer is formed over the first electrode with a third insulating layer provided therebetween.
US09455348B2

A method and system is disclosed for providing access to the body of a FinFET device. In one embodiment, a FinFET device for characterization comprises an active fin comprising a source fin, a depletion fin, and a drain fin; a side fin extending from the depletion fin and coupled to a body contact for providing access for device characterization; and a gate electrode formed over the depletion fin and separated therefrom by a predetermined dielectric layer, wherein the gate electrode and the dielectric layer thereunder have a predetermined configuration to assure the source and drain fins are not shorted.
US09455341B2

A transistor includes a substrate and a buffer layer on the substrate, wherein the buffer layer comprises p-type dopants. The transistor further includes a channel layer on the buffer layer and a back-barrier layer between a first portion of the channel layer and a second portion of the channel layer. The back-barrier layer has a band gap discontinuity with the channel layer. The transistor further includes an active layer on the second portion of the channel layer, wherein the active layer has a band gap discontinuity with the second portion of the channel layer. The transistor further includes a two dimensional electron gas (2-DEG) in the channel layer adjacent an interface between the channel layer and the active layer.
US09455337B2

To provide a semiconductor device which occupies a small area and is highly integrated. A first conductive layer is formed; a first insulating layer is formed over the first conductive layer; a second conductive layer is formed over the first insulating layer using the same material as the first conductive layer; a third conductive layer is formed over the second conductive layer; a second insulating layer is formed over the third conductive layer; a resist mask is formed over the second insulating layer; etching is successively performed from the upper layer and an opening is formed in the first conductive layer and the diameter of the opening in the second conductive layer is increased in the same step; and a contact hole where an upper surface of the first conductive layer is exposed is formed by etching the first insulating layer.
US09455334B2

A method of forming a fin structure of a semiconductor device, such as a fin field effect transistor FinFET is provided. In an embodiment, trenches are formed in a substrate, and a liner is formed along sidewalls of the trenches, wherein a region between adjacent trenches define a fin. A dielectric material is formed in the trenches. Portions of the semiconductor material of the fin are replaced with a second semiconductor material and a third semiconductor material, the second semiconductor material having a different lattice constant than the substrate and the third semiconductor material having a different lattice constant than the second semiconductor material. Portions of the second semiconductor material are oxidized.
US09455328B1

A low-temperature oxide method is used for manufacturing backside field stop layer of IGBT and first fabricates front elements and front metal layer on a first face of a first conductive type substrate. A multiple-recesses structure is formed on a back side of the first conductive type substrate. Each of the recess in the multiple-recesses structure has first conductive type implanted patterns on exterior sides thereof and the multiple-recesses structure has a first conductive type implanted layer on bottom thereof. A plurality of first conductive type polysilicon layers are deposited into the multiple-recesses structure and respectively corresponding to the first conductive type implanted patterns. A second conductive type impurity layer is formed on the bottom of the first conductive type substrate and laser annealing is conducted to form backside field stop layer for IGBT.
US09455327B2

A Schottky gated transistor having reduced gate leakage current is disclosed. The Schottky gated transistor includes a substrate and a plurality of epitaxial layers disposed on the substrate. Further included is a gate contact having an interfacial layer disposed on a surface of the plurality of epitaxial layers and having a thickness that is between about 5 Angstroms (Å) and 40 Å. The interfacial layer can be made up of non-native materials in contrast to a native insulator such as silicon dioxide (SiO2) that is used as an insulating gate layer with silicon-based power transistors. The Schottky gated transistor further includes at least one metal layer disposed over the interfacial layer. A source contact and a drain contact are disposed on the surface of the plurality of epitaxial layers, wherein the source contact and the drain contact are spaced apart from the gate contact and each other.
US09455321B1

A method for fabricating semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: providing a substrate; forming an interfacial layer on the substrate; coating a monolayer containing fluorine on the interfacial layer; and forming a gate layer on the interfacial layer.
US09455319B2

A semiconductor device and an operating method of the same are disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a substrate, a source region, a drain region, a gate structure, a first lightly-doped region, and a first isolation region. The source region and the drain region are formed in the substrate. The gate structure is formed on the substrate and between the source region and the drain region. The first lightly-doped region is formed below the source region. The first isolation region is formed in the substrate and surrounding the source region, the drain region, and the first lightly-doped region. The source region and the drain region have a first-polarity, and the first lightly-doped region and the first isolation region have a second-polarity.
US09455315B2

A high-voltage nitride device which can avoid vertical breakdown and has a high breakdown voltage includes: a silicon substrate; a nitride epitaxial layer, prepared on the silicon substrate; a source electrode and a drain electrode, both of which are contacted with the nitride epitaxial layer; a gate electrode, prepared between the source electrode and the drain electrode; and, at least one spatial isolation area, formed in a region between the silicon substrate and the nitride epitaxial layer vertically and between the source electrode and the drain electrode horizontally.
US09455312B2

An integrated circuit with vias with different depths stopping on etch stop layers with different thicknesses. A method of simultaneously etching vias with different depths without causing etch damage to the material being contacted by the vias.
US09455298B2

A wafer-level packaging method of BSI image sensors includes the following steps: S1: providing a wafer package body comprising a silicon base, an interconnect layer, a hollow wall and a substrate; S2: cutting the wafer package body via laser in a first cutting process to separate the interconnect layer of adjacent BSI image sensors; and S3: cutting the wafer package body via a blade in a second cutting process to obtain independent BSI image sensors. As a result, damage of the interconnect layer and the substrate may be decreased to improve performance and reliability of the BSI image sensor.
US09455296B2

A solid-state imaging device in which a pixel circuit formed on the first surface side of a semiconductor substrate is shared by a plurality of light reception regions and second surface side of the semiconductor substrate is the light incident side of the light reception regions. The second surface side regions of the light reception regions are arranged at approximately even intervals and the first surface side regions of the light reception regions e are arranged at uneven intervals. Respective second surface side regions and first surface side regions are joined in the semiconductor substrate so that the light reception regions extend from the second surface side to the first surface side of the semiconductor substrate.
US09455286B2

A solid image-pickup device has a semiconductor substrate, which includes an image-pickup area having a plurality of light sensors arranged thereon. A transparent plate having the same shape and the same size as those of the semiconductor substrate when viewed as a plan view is bonded to the surface of the semiconductor substrate. Also, a through hole extends from the second side of the semiconductor device towards the first side. An electrically conductive material is located in the through hole. Additionally, the electrically conductive material is physically connected to at least a portion of a lower surface of a laminar layer portion comprising at least one conductive layer located at the first side of the semiconductor substrate and is electrically connected to the laminar layer portion.
US09455285B2

An image sensor may include an image pixel array with both image pixels to gather image data and phase detection pixels to gather phase information. The phase detection pixels may be arranged in pairs, with two adjacent pixels covered by a single microlens. The phase detection pixel pairs may be arranged in dashed lines, with image pixels interposed between each phase detection pixel pair. There may be only one image pixel interposed between each phase detection pixel pair. The phase detection pixels may all include color filter elements of the same color. The phase detection pixels may all include green color filter elements. The image pixels in the interrupted lines may include color filter elements that match the surrounding color pattern. The image pixels in the interrupted lines may all include color filter elements of the same color.
US09455262B2

A semiconductor memory cell includes a floating body region configured to be charged to a level indicative of a state of the memory cell; a first region in electrical contact with said floating body region; a second region in electrical contact with said floating body region and spaced apart from said first region; and a gate positioned between said first and second regions. The cell may be a multi-level cell. Arrays of memory cells are disclosed for making a memory device. Methods of operating memory cells are also provided.
US09455257B2

A connection unit is provided adjacently to the cell array unit and electrically connected to a peripheral circuit unit positioned downwardly of the cell array unit. The cell array unit has a configuration in which a variable resistance layer is provided at intersections of a plurality of word lines extending in a horizontal direction and a plurality of bit lines extending in a vertical direction. The connection unit includes a lower wiring line layer in which a base portion bundling a plurality of the word lines is formed, and a middle wiring line layer and upper wiring line layer formed upwardly thereof. The lower wiring line layer includes: a first penetrating electrode connecting the plurality of word lines and the peripheral circuit unit; and a second penetrating electrode connecting at least one of the middle wiring line layer and upper wiring line layer and the peripheral circuit unit.
US09455256B2

Inverters including two-dimensional (2D) material, methods of manufacturing the same, and logic devices including the inverters. An inverter may include a first transistor and a second transistor that are connected to each other, and the first and second transistor layers may include 2D materials. The first transistor may include a first graphene layer and a first 2D semiconductor layer contacting the first graphene layer, and the second transistor may include a second graphene layer and a second 2D semiconductor layer contacting the second graphene layer. The first 2D semiconductor layer may be a p-type semiconductor, and the second 2D semiconductor layer may be an n-type semiconductor. The first 2D semiconductor layer may be arranged at a lateral side of the second 2D semiconductor layer.
US09455253B2

A bidirectional switch formed in a substrate includes first and second main vertical thyristors in antiparallel connection. A third auxiliary vertical thyristor has a rear surface layer in common with the rear surface layer of the first thyristor. A peripheral region surrounds the thyristors and connects the rear surface layer to a layer of the same conductivity type of the third thyristor located on the other side of the substrate. A metallization connects the rear surfaces of the first and second thyristors. An insulating structure is located between the rear surface layer of the third thyristor and the metallization. The insulating structure extends under the periphery of the first thyristor. The insulating structure includes a region made of an insulating material and a complementary region made of a semiconductor material.
US09455247B2

A semiconductor device for protection from electrostatic discharge includes a number of modules for protection from electrostatic discharge. Each module includes a thyristor having terminals and a gate, and a diode coupled in antiparallel to the terminals of the thyristor. Each module is sized to share a saturation current with neighboring modules when an electrostatic discharge current is received. A resistive network couples modules between two terminals. A triggering circuit includes a common triggering output that is coupled to the gate of the thyristor of each module and a common buried semiconductor layer contacts each module.
US09455244B2

A semiconductor package includes a package substrate. A first semiconductor chip is mounted on the package substrate. The first semiconductor chip includes a first chip region and first chip pads formed on a top surface of the first chip region. A second semiconductor chip is mounted on the package substrate. The second semiconductor chip includes a second chip region and second chip pads formed on a top surface of the second chip region. A boundary region having a groove divides the first chip region and the second chip region. The first chip region, the second chip region and the boundary region share a semiconductor substrate of a one-body type.
US09455240B2

Reliability of a semiconductor device is improved. Each of a plurality of terminals formed on a chip mounting surface included in a wiring substrate has a shape in which a narrow width portion is arranged between adjacent wide width portions in plan view. Moreover, a center of a tip end surface of each of a plurality of protruding electrodes formed on a semiconductor chip mounted on the wiring substrate is arranged at a position where it overlaps the narrow width portion in plan view, and the plurality of terminals and the plurality of protruding electrodes are electrically connected to each other via a solder member.
US09455236B2

Integrated circuit (IC) packages and methods of forming the IC packages are provided. In an embodiment, IC dies are formed and are placed on a carrier to form a packaged semiconductor device. An encapsulant is formed over the IC dies and between the neighboring IC dies. The encapsulant and the IC dies are planarized to expose contacts on top surfaces of the IC dies, and redistribution layers (RDLs) are formed over the planarized encapsulant and the planarized IC dies. Openings are formed in a topmost dielectric layer of the RDLs to expose interconnects in the RDL, and a conductive seed layer is formed over the RDL and in the openings. Connectors of a first type and connectors of a second type are formed over the seed layer in the openings. The packaged semiconductor device is diced into individual IC packages.
US09455228B2

This is directed to self-shielded components and methods for making the same. A self-shielded component can include an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shield that contains circuitry within a shielded space defined by the EMI shield. Self-shielding can be achieved by interfacing a conformal shield layer to a ground layer disposed on or within a substrate of the self-shielded component. The combination of the conformal shield layer and the around layer can form a boundary of the shielded space that envelops circuitry requiring shielding. This enables the self-shielded component to be mounted to a circuit board without requiring a shield can or other processing to impart EMI shielding. In addition, the self-shielded components include the benefits of EMI shielding while simultaneously decreasing space requirements.
US09455225B2

To reinforce power supply wirings without sacrificing the interconnectivity of semiconductor devices. When three wirings are formed in parallel in the same wiring layer and the center wiring among them is shorter than the outer wirings, a projecting portion integrated into the outer wiring is formed utilizing a free space remaining on the extension of the center wiring. For example, when the outer wirings are used as power supply wirings, the power supply wirings can be reinforced by adding the projecting portion. At this time, because the projecting portion is arranged in the free space, the interconnectivity is not sacrificed.
US09455215B2

A semiconductor device includes a conductive portion having semiconductor elements provided on a substrate, a case housing the conductive portion, and a lead terminal integrated into the case to be directly connected to the semiconductor elements or an interconnection of the substrate. The lead terminal has a stress relief shape for reliving stress generated in the lead terminal.
US09455214B2

A wafer frontside-backside through silicon via and methods of manufacture are disclosed. The method includes forming a plurality of frontside metalized vias into a partial depth of a substrate. The method further includes forming a backside via in the substrate which exposes, from the backside, the plurality of frontside metalized vias. The method further includes forming a metal in the via in contact with the plurality of metalized frontside vias.
US09455211B2

A package includes a molding compound, a through-via penetrating through the molding compound, a device die molded in the molding compound, and a buffer layer on and contacting the molding compound. An opening is through the buffer layer to the through-via. The buffer layer has ripples in a plane parallel to an interface between the molding compound and the buffer layer and around a circumference of the opening. Other embodiments contemplate an additional package bonded to the package, and methods for forming the package.
US09455209B2

A circuit module includes: a wiring substrate including a mounting surface having first and second areas and a terminal surface on the other side of the mounting surface; a plurality of electronic components mounted on the first and second areas; a sealing layer that covers the plurality of electronic components, is formed of an insulation material, and includes a groove portion formed along a boundary between the first and second areas; a conductive shield including a first shield portion that covers an outer surface of the sealing layer and a second shield portion provided in the groove portion; and a conductive layer including a wiring portion that is provided on the mounting surface and electrically connects the terminal surface and the second shield portion, and a thickening portion that is provided in the wiring portion and partially thickens a connection area of the wiring portion with the second shield portion.
US09455194B1

A method for fabricating semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: providing a substrate having a first region and a second region defined thereon; forming a material layer on the substrate; forming a plurality of first mandrels on the material layer of the first region and the second region; forming first spacers adjacent to the first mandrels; forming a hard mask on the first region; trimming the first spacers on the second region; removing the first mandrels; using the first spacers to remove part of the material layer for forming a plurality of second mandrels; forming second spacers adjacent to the second mandrels; removing the second mandrels; and using the second spacers to remove part of the substrate for forming a plurality of fin-shaped structures.
US09455187B1

Methods for fabricating a backside device contact using a silicon-on-insulator substrate that includes a device layer, a buried insulator layer, and a handle wafer. A trench is formed that extends through the device layer or a trench isolation region in the device layer and that further extends partially through the buried insulator layer. A sacrificial material is deposited in the trench and, thereafter, at least one dielectric layer is formed on the device layer. An opening is formed in the at least one dielectric layer that communicates with the trench. After the opening is formed, the sacrificial material is removed from the trench with access through the opening. After the sacrificial material is removed from the trench, the trench is filled with a contact plug and the opening is filled with a contact coupled with the contact plug.
US09455181B2

A microelectronic unit can include a substrate having front and rear surfaces and active semiconductor devices therein, the substrate having a plurality of openings arranged in a symmetric or asymmetric distribution across an area of the rear surface, first and second conductive vias connected to first and second pads exposed at the front surface, pluralities of first and second conductive interconnects extending within respective ones of the openings, and first and second conductive contacts exposed for interconnection with an external element. The plurality of first conductive interconnects can be separated from the plurality of second conductive interconnects by at least one of the plurality of openings, the at least one opening at least partially filled with an insulating material. The distribution of the openings can include at least m openings spaced apart in a first direction and n openings spaced apart in a second direction transverse to the first direction.
US09455167B2

An accommodation cassette including: a plurality of rear accommodating grooves that are formed at least in the laterally central area of the inner surface of a rear wall connecting the rear edges of right and left side walls and extend laterally and parallel to each other at vertical spacings in such a manner as to be associated with right and left accommodating grooves.
US09455162B2

A method for making an interposer is provided. A conductive layer is formed by contacting a replicate such that a shape of a surface of the conductive layer conforms to a shape of the contacted portion of the replicate. The conductive layer is formed to have a base and a plurality of conductive posts projecting away from the base. Each conductive post is formed to have a post end opposite the base. A dielectric layer is formed to cover the base and to separate adjacent ones of the posts from each other. The posts are for forming vias. Conductive material is removed from the conductive layer to insulate at least one post from at least one other post.
US09455154B2

Methods for fabricating guide patterns and methods for fabricating integrated circuits using guide patterns are provided. In an embodiment, a method for fabricating a guide pattern includes forming a coating of a material with latent grafting sites and a photosensitive component configured to activate the latent grafting sites upon exposure over a substrate. The method exposes selected latent grafting sites in the coating to convert the selected latent grafting sites to active grafting sites. A grafting agent is bonded to the active grafting sites to form the guide pattern.
US09455150B2

The present disclosure relates to a method of forming a semiconductor. The method includes heating a substrate in a reaction chamber, supplying to the reaction chamber a first constituent including a metal borohydride wherein the metal borohydride includes at least one of: an alkaline earth metal, a transition metal, or a combination thereof; supplying to the reaction chamber a main-group hydride constituent; and depositing a metal compound on the substrate, wherein the metal compound comprises a) at least one of an alkaline earth metal a transition metal or a combination thereof, b) boron and c) optionally the main group alloying element.
US09455148B2

An insulating film (2) is formed on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate (1) that includes an active region and a termination region. The insulating film (2) in the active region is etched to form an opening (3). The insulating film (2) is used as a mask and an impurity is implanted into the semiconductor substrate (1) in a direction tilted by 20° or more from a direction normal to the main surface of the semiconductor substrate (1) while rotating the semiconductor substrate (1) to form a diffusion layer (7) in the active region. The diffusion layer (7) extends wider than the opening (3) up to below the insulating film (2) on the termination region side.
US09455145B2

A method and apparatus for forming a crystalline semiconductor layer on a substrate are provided. A semiconductor layer is formed by vapor deposition. A pulsed laser melt/recrystallization process is performed to convert the semiconductor layer to a crystalline layer. Laser, or other electromagnetic radiation, pulses are formed into a pulse train and uniformly distributed over a treatment zone, and successive neighboring treatment zones are exposed to the pulse train to progressively convert the deposited material to crystalline material.
US09455135B2

A method for fabricating semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: providing a substrate having at least a gate structure thereon and an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer around the gate structure; forming a hard mask on the gate structure and the ILD layer; forming a first patterned mask layer on the hard mask; using the first patterned mask layer to remove part of the hard mask for forming a patterned hard mask; and utilizing a gas to strip the first patterned mask layer while forming a protective layer on the patterned hard mask, wherein the gas is selected from the group consisting of N2 and O2.
US09455131B2

In some embodiments, a gas diffuser for use in a mass spectrometer is disclosed that can provide a controlled expansion of an ion-containing gas so as to reduce gas velocity for entry into subsequent stages of the mass spectrometer, e.g., a mass analyzer. In some embodiments, the controlled expansion of the gas is provided by flowing the gas through a channel whose cross-sectional area change, e.g. progressively increases, in the direction of the gas flow so as to provide controlled expansion of the gas.
US09455130B2

The present invention is directed, sample test plates that can be used in matrix assisted laser desorption ionization. These plates have an etched surface and a layer of MALDI matrix material. The invention also includes methods for making these sample test plates and to methods for using the plates in the MS imaging of cell and tissue samples.
US09455126B2

An arrangement for controlling a plasma processing system is provided. The arrangement includes an RF sensing mechanism for obtaining an RF voltage signal. The arrangement also includes a voltage probe coupled to the RF sensing mechanism to facilitate acquisition of the signal while reducing perturbation of RF power driving a plasma in the plasma processing system. The arrangement further includes a signal processing arrangement configured for receiving the signal, split the voltage signals into a plurality of channels, convert the signals into a plurality of direct current (DC) signals, convert the DC signals into digital signals and process the digital signal in a digital domain to generate a transfer function output. The arrangement moreover includes an ESC power supply subsystem configured to receive the transfer function output as a feedback signal to control the plasma processing system.
US09455123B2

A current regulation method of multiple beams includes acquiring a current density distribution; selecting at least one beam whose current density is equal to or more than a threshold; measuring a current value of the at least one beam respectively by varying a voltage applied to the Wehnelt electrode and acquiring a correlation between the voltage and the current value; moving a stage to a position where the at least one beam is allowed to enter a current detector each time writing of a stripe region is completed; measuring, after moving the stage, a current value of the at least one beam while beams of the multiple beams whose current density is less than the threshold are blocked; operating a target voltage value applied to the Wehnelt electrode to cause the current value measured to be a target current value; and applying the target voltage value to the Wehnelt electrode.
US09455120B2

A particle beam device and method for processing and/or for analyzing a sample are provided. A sample carrier is arranged at a first position, in which a sample surface is oriented parallel to a first beam axis of a first particle beam column. The sample carrier is rotatable from the first position into a second position, in which the sample surface is oriented perpendicular to a second beam axis of a second particle beam column. The first and second beam axes intersect at a coincidence point. In the first position a distance between the coincidence point and the first particle beam column is greater than a distance between the sample surface and the first particle beam column. In the second position a distance between the coincidence point and the second particle beam column is greater than a distance between the sample surface and the second particle beam column.
US09455119B2

A charged particle beam apparatus is provided with a controller configured to control other components and perform operations including: an irradiating operation to irradiate a first position of a sample with a charged particle beam while gradually changing a scan range of the charged particle beam to move from a first position; a first image acquiring operation to acquire an image of each portion where the charged particle beam moves; an indicator forming operation to form an indicator at a second position by the charged particle beam when the scan range of the charged particle beam reaches the second position; a second image acquiring operation to acquire an image of the second position in a state where the indicator is formed; and an adjusting operation to adjust relative position between the stage and the scan range of the charged particle beam.
US09455112B2

The invention relates to a cathode arrangement comprising: a thermionic cathode comprising an emission portion provided with an emission surface for emitting electrons, and a reservoir for holding a material, wherein the material, when heated, releases work function lowering particles that diffuse towards the emission portion and emanate at the emission surface at a first evaporation rate; a focusing electrode comprising a focusing surface for focusing the electrons emitted from the emission surface of the cathode; and an adjustable heat source configured for keeping the focusing surface at a temperature at which accumulation of work function lowering particles on the focusing surface is prevented.
US09455096B2

A key module and a keyboard having the key module are provided. The key module includes a base, a scissor-type unit and a keycap. The scissor-type unit has a first frame and a second frame. The first frame has a connection shaft rotatably pivotally connected to a shaft hole of the second frame. The shaft hole has a travel distance therein for the shaft to move within the shaft hole along a predetermined direction. The first and second frames respectively have a first side pivotally connected to a pivot connection unit of the key cap, and a second side slidably connected to a restricting unit of the base. Through the above-mentioned design, the first frame can rotate with respect to the second frame, so that the keycap can move up and down with respect to the base.
US09455095B2

An electric storage device includes at least first to third storage modules and storage-module busbars. The at least first to third storage modules each include a plurality of storage cells. The at least first to third storage modules are arranged next to each other. Storage-module terminals of the at least first to third storage modules are adjacent to each other. The storage-module terminals of the at least first to third storage modules are electrically connected to each other with the storage-module busbars. The storage-module busbars includes a long storage-module busbar and a short storage-module busbar. The long storage-module busbar is provided at a first side of the at least first to third storage modules. The short storage-module busbar is provided at a second side of the at least first to third storage modules. The long storage-module busbar is longer than the short storage-module busbar.
US09455078B2

A non-linear multi-pole magnetization pattern is used to magnetize flexible magnetizable sheets. The non-linear pattern is produced by a magnetizing mechanism having a set of angled magnets. Shifting of magnetic sheet positions in a stack is eliminated by randomizing the positions of the multiple magnetic poles in such manner that as the magnetic sheets are stacked, each sheet will have a multi-pole configuration different from the adjacent sheets below and above it on the stack.
US09455060B2

The present invention relates to a polythiophene-based conductive polymer composition having high conductivity, transparency, waterproof property and durability, and a polymer membrane prepared by using the same. In particular, the present invention relates to a polythiophene-based conductive polymer composition comprising an aqueous solution of a polythiophene-based conductive polymer, an alcohol-based organic solvent, an amide-based organic solvent or an aprotic highly-dipolar solvent, a melamine resin and a binder selected among a polyester, a polyurethane resin and an alkoxy silane in a predetermined mixed ratio. The membrane prepared using the same has a high conductivity of less than 1 kΩ/m2 and a high transparency of higher than 95%, thus being applicable to of an anti-static film, a film for touch panel, a film for higher or lower electrode, a film for inorganic EL and a film for display electrode.
US09455055B2

Devices and methods for electrochemical phase transfer utilize at least one electrode formed from either glassy carbon or a carbon and polymer composite. The device includes a device housing defining an inlet port (42), an outlet port (44) and an elongate fluid passageway (36) extending therebetween. A capture electrode (12) and a counter electrode are positioned within said housing such that the fluid passageway extends between the capture and counter electrodes.
US09455053B2

A method of providing an end-capped tubular ceramic composite for containing nuclear fuel (34) in a nuclear reactor involves the steps of providing a tubular ceramic composite (40), providing at least one end plug (14, 46, 48), applying (42) the at least one end plug material to the ends of the tubular ceramic composite, applying electrodes to the end plug and tubular ceramic composite and applying current in a plasma sintering means (10, 50) to provide a hermetically sealed tube (52). The invention also provides a sealed tube made by this method.
US09455052B2

In one embodiment, a fuel bundle for a liquid metal cooled reactor includes a channel, a nose assembly secured to a lower end of the channel, a plurality of fuel rods disposed within the channel, and an internal mixer disposed within the channel above the plurality of fuel rods. The internal mixer includes peripheral flow control members and interior flow control members. The peripheral flow control members are located near walls of the channel, and the interior flow control members are located towards a longitudinal center of the housing. At least one of the peripheral flow control members is configured to direct liquid metal flowing through the channel towards an interior of the channel, and at least one of the interior flow control members is configured to direct liquid metal flowing through the channel away from the interior of the channel.
US09455047B2

A memory device to correct a defect cell generated after packing is performed includes a memory cell array in which a plurality of memory cells are arranged, a repair circuit unit including a first storage unit to store defect cell information in the memory cell array, and a fuse circuit unit including a second storage unit that is programmed according to the defect cell information stored in the first storage unit. The first storage unit includes a volatile memory device, and the second storage unit includes a non-volatile memory device.
US09455046B2

Methods and apparatuses are described for performing adaptive analog-to-digital conversion and time-to-delay conversion by using signal prediction to adjust reference voltages of adjustable comparators.
US09455041B2

A method of protecting data of a flash memory is provided. The method includes detecting primary power applied to the flash memory, and applying secondary power converted from the primary power to the flash memory. The primary power is compared to first and second values, and a writing-protection pin of the flash memory is enabled when the detected primary power reaches a predetermined value.
US09455039B2

A charge pump system includes a plurality of pump units, a control circuit, and a detection circuit. The plurality of pump units are used for generating a pump output voltage. The control circuit is coupled to the plurality of pump units and is used for controlling each pump unit of the plurality of pump units. The detection circuit is coupled to the control circuit and the plurality of pump units and is used for detecting the pump output voltage. When the pump output voltage is greater than a predetermined value, the detection circuit generates and latches a control signal to enable the control circuit. After the control circuit is enabled, when the pump output voltage is detected to be smaller than the predetermined value, the detection circuit generates a first pump enable signal to the control circuit for enabling a first pump unit of the plurality of pump units.
US09455034B1

An operation for writing at least one datum in at least one memory cell of the electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory type comprises at least one step of erasing or of programming of the cell by a corresponding erasing or programming pulse. The correct or incorrect conducting of the writing operation is checked by an analysis of the form of the erasing or programming pulse during the corresponding erasing or programming step. The result of this analysis is representative of the writing operation being conducted correctly or incorrectly.
US09455019B2

One semiconductor device includes a command receiver receiving the command signal to generate a first internal command signal, and a latency control circuit activating a second internal chip select signal after elapse of first cycles of a clock signal since a first internal chip select signal is activated. The latency control circuit activates a second control signal when the chip select signal is maintained in an inactive state during second cycles of the clock signal that is larger than the first cycles. The command receiver is activated based on a first control signal. The first control signal is activated in response to the first internal chip select signal. The first control signal is deactivated in response to the second control signal.
US09455014B1

Aspects for adjusting resistive memory write driver strength based on write error rate (WER) are disclosed. In one aspect, a write driver strength control circuit is provided to adjust a write current provided to a resistive memory based on a WER of the resistive memory. The write driver strength control circuit includes a tracking circuit configured to determine the WER of the resistive memory based on write operations performed on resistive memory elements. The write driver strength control circuit includes a write current calculator circuit configured to compare the WER to a target WER that represents the desired yield performance level of the resistive memory. A write current adjust circuit in the write driver strength control circuit is configured to adjust the write current based on this comparison. The write driver strength control circuit adjusts the write current to perform write operations while reducing write errors associated with breakdown voltage.
US09455013B2

A method includes, at a resistive memory device, determining an average effective reference resistance level based on a first effective reference resistance and a second effective reference resistance. The first effective reference resistance is based on a first set of reference cells of the resistive memory device and the second effective reference resistance is based on a second set of reference cells of the resistive memory device. The method includes trimming a reference resistance at least partially based on the average effective reference resistance level. Trimming the reference resistance includes, in response to determining that the first effective reference resistance is not substantially equal to the average effective reference resistance level, modifying one or more states of one or more magnetic tunnel junction devices associated with the first effective reference resistance.
US09455011B2

Methods and systems to read a logic value stored in a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ)-based memory cell based on a pulsed read current, with time between pulses to permit the MTJ to relax towards the magnetization orientation between the pulses, which may reduce build-up of momentum within the MTJ, and which may reduce and/or eliminate inadvertent re-alignment of a magnetization orientation. A sequence of symmetric and/or non-symmetric pulses may be applied to a wordline (WL) to cause a pre-charged bit line (BL) capacitance to discharge a pulsed read current through the MTJ, resulting in a corresponding sequence of voltage changes on the BL. The BL voltage changes may be integrated over the sequence of read current pulses, and a stored logic value may be determined based on the integrated voltage changes. The pre-charged BL capacitance may also serve as the voltage integrator.
US09455010B1

In an approach for storing frames of a video, a computer divides a video into one or more frames. The computer identifies a frame type associated with an individual frame within the divided one or more frames, wherein the identified frame type includes one of the following: an I-frame, a B-frame, and a P-frame. The computer stores the individual frame within a corresponding storage location based on the associated identified frame type.
US09455005B2

A semiconductor device may include: a plurality of data pads; a plurality of data buffers each suitable for buffering a signal inputted through a first input node using a voltage inputted through a second input node, and outputting the buffered signal; and a calibration control unit suitable for generating a test signal in a calibration mode, adjusting the level of the test signal, receiving outputs of the plurality of data buffers while adjusting the level of the test signal, and adjusting offsets of the data buffers such that the logical values of the outputs of the data buffers transit when the test signal has a target level.
US09455003B2

A driver includes a driving block suitable for driving a data transferred through a first signal line to a second signal line, a first precharge unit suitable for precharging the second signal line with a first driving power during a first precharge operation; and a second precharge unit suitable for precharging the second signal line with a second driving power which is different from the first driving power during a second precharge operation performed subsequent to the first precharge operation.
US09455002B2

An amplifying circuit includes a first sense amplifying unit suitable for sensing and amplifying data on input/output lines, a second sense amplifying unit suitable for sensing and amplifying the data on the input/output lines or an output signal of the first sense amplifying unit, and a control unit suitable for activating the first sense amplifying unit during an initial operation period of an active operation and inactivating the first sense amplifying unit after the initial operation period, wherein the second sense amplifying unit performs a sensing and amplifying operation, based on the output signal of the first sense amplifying unit during the initial operation period, and based on the data on the input/output lines after the initial operation period.
US09454997B2

Disclosed is an array of nonvolatile memory cells includes five memory cells per unit cell. Also disclosed is an array of vertically stacked tiers of nonvolatile memory cells that includes five memory cells occupying a continuous horizontal area of 4F2 within an individual of the tiers. Also disclosed is an array of nonvolatile memory cells comprising a plurality of unit cells which individually comprise three elevational regions of programmable material, the three elevational regions comprising the programmable material of at least three different memory cells of the unit cell. Also disclosed is an array of vertically stacked tiers of nonvolatile memory cells that includes a continuous volume having a combination of a plurality of vertically oriented memory cells and a plurality of horizontally oriented memory cells. Other embodiments and aspects are disclosed.
US09454995B2

An information storage medium is disclosed. The information storage medium includes one container file, wherein the container file includes a data box including in which a plurality of component files forming content are arranged; and a meta box including information on locations in the content and in the data box with respect to the plurality of component files and characteristic information on of the plurality of component files, and the plurality of component files are arranged in the data box according to the characteristic information.
US09454983B2

An aspect of the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing hexagonal ferrite powder, which comprises preparing a hexagonal ferrite precursor-containing water-based solution by stirring and mixing a reaction solution which comprises an iron salt, an alkaline earth metal salt, and a base in a reaction tank, and removing the hexagonal ferrite precursor-containing water-based solution that has been prepared from the reaction tank and continuously feeding the hexagonal ferrite precursor-containing water-based solution into a reaction flow passage while conducting heating and pressurizing to converting the hexagonal ferrite precursor to hexagonal ferrite, wherein the preparation of the hexagonal ferrite precursor-containing water-based solution comprises a continual feed period during which feeding of the iron salt, the alkaline earth metal salt, and the base into a reaction tank which comprises a prereaction solution in which an iron salt and a base are not both present is continuously or intermittently continued, during the continual feed period, at least a base is fed over a feed passage separate from feeding of the iron salt and the alkaline earth metal salt, and an amount of at least one from among the iron salt, the alkaline earth metal salt, and the base that is fed per unit time during the continual feed period is controlled and/or acid is added to the reaction solution in the reaction tank so that a pH of the reaction solution within the reaction tank during the continual feed period falls within a range relative to a pHbefore, a pH of the prereaction solution, of pHbefore−2≦pH≦pHbefore+2.
US09454972B2

This invention introduces audio/speech encoding apparatus audio/speech decoding apparatus, audio/speech encoding method and audio/speech decoding method to efficiently encode the quantization parameters of split multi-rate lattice vector quantization. In this invention, the position of the sub-vector whose codebook indication consumes the most bits is firstly located, and then the value of the codebook is estimated based on the total number of bits available and the bits usage information for other sub-vectors. The difference value is calculated between the actual value and estimated value. Finally, instead of transmitting the codebook indication which consumes the most bits, the position of the sub-vector whose codebook indication consumes the most bits and the difference value between the actual value and the estimated value are transmitted. By applying of the invented method, bits can be saved by the codebook indications.
US09454965B2

Techniques are disclosed for facilitating the process of proofreading draft transcripts of spoken audio streams. In general, proofreading of a draft transcript is facilitated by playing back the corresponding spoken audio stream with an emphasis on those regions in the audio stream that are highly relevant or likely to have been transcribed incorrectly. Regions may be emphasized by, for example, playing them back more slowly than regions that are of low relevance and likely to have been transcribed correctly. Emphasizing those regions of the audio stream that are most important to transcribe correctly and those regions that are most likely to have been transcribed incorrectly increases the likelihood that the proofreader will accurately correct any errors in those regions, thereby improving the overall accuracy of the transcript.
US09454959B2

Speech recognition systems often process speech by employing models and analyzing audio data. An embodiment of the method and corresponding system described herein allow for passive monitoring of, for example, conversation between user(s) to determine context to use to prime model(s) for later speech recognition requests submitted to the speech recognition system. The embodiment improves the results of the speech recognition system by updating speech recognition model(s) with contextual information of the conversation. This increases the probability that the speech recognition system interprets the conversation to contextually relevant information.
US09454954B2

Wide bandwidth piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (pMUTs), pMUT arrays and systems having wide bandwidth pMUT arrays are described herein. For example, a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) includes a piezoelectric membrane disposed on a substrate. A reference electrode is coupled to the membrane. First and second drive/sense electrodes are coupled to the membrane to drive or sense a first and second mode of vibration in the membrane.
US09454947B1

A guitar includes a body and a detachable neck configured to be removably secured on the body. The neck has a proximal end that defines a predetermined geometry and the body has a recess that defines a corresponding predetermined geometry configured to receive the proximal end of the neck. A captive bolt assembly includes a fastener disposed within an opening formed through the proximal end of the neck and a nut that is affixed on the fastener such that the fastener rotates freely within the opening but does not translate relative to the neck. An adjustable bridge assembly includes a base disposed within a recess formed in the body and a bridge that is movably disposed on the base. The bridge may be positioned at a plurality of locations on the base to provide a plurality of different chord lengths of the guitar.
US09454943B2

According to various embodiments, a computing system may be provided. The computing system may include: a circuit configured to operate at a plurality of operation frequencies; a graphics output configured to output image data for display; a rate determiner configured to determine a frame rate of the graphics output; and a frequency setter configured to set an operation frequency of the circuit based on the determined frame rate.
US09454937B2

A timing controller capable of adjusting luminance of a maximum gradation according to an amount of white of image data to thus enhance picture quality and reduce power consumption of a liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal display device having the same, and a driving method thereof are provided. The timing controller includes: a gamma adjusting unit for receiving image data and a plurality of driving signals input from the outside, generating a gate control signal and a data control signal according to the plurality of driving signals, adjusting luminance according to an amount of white in the image data, and generating a corresponding gamma control signal.
US09454934B2

A stage circuit includes first and second supply units. The first supply unit outputs a scan signal to a first output terminal. The second supply unit outputs an emission control signal to a second output terminal. The second supply unit includes a first transistor and a second transistor. The first transistor is between a first power source and the second output terminal, and has a gate electrode coupled to a first node. The second transistor is between the second output terminal and a second power source, and has a gate electrode coupled to a second node. Third and fourth transistors are coupled in series between the first power source and first node. A gate electrode of the third transistor is coupled to the third input terminal, and a gate electrode of the fourth transistor is coupled to the sixth input terminal.
US09454933B2

A light emitting device that achieves long life, and which is capable of performing high duty drive, by suppressing initial light emitting element deterioration is provided. Reverse bias application to an EL element (109) is performed one row at a time by forming a reverse bias electric power source line (112) and a reverse bias TFT (108). Reverse bias application can therefore be performed in synchronous with operations for write-in of an image signal, light emission, erasure, and the like. Reverse bias application therefore becomes possible while maintaining a duty equivalent to that of a conventional driving method.
US09454929B2

A pixel circuit having a function of compensating for characteristic variation of an electro-optical element and threshold voltage variation of a transistor is formed from a reduced number of component elements. An input signal is sampled from a signal line so as to be held in a holding capacitor. The threshold voltage of the drive transistor is imparted to the holding capacitor in order to cancel an influence of the threshold voltage.
US09454928B2

A pixel circuit having a function of compensating for characteristic variation of an electro-optical element and threshold voltage variation of a transistor is formed from a reduced number of component elements. An input signal is sampled from a signal line so as to be held in a holding capacitor. The threshold voltage of the drive transistor is imparted to the holding capacitor in order to cancel an influence of the threshold voltage.
US09454924B2

It is an object to provide a specific driving method for reduction in power consumption in displaying a 3D image with field sequential driving. A driving method of a liquid crystal display device is a method in which a stereoscopic image can be perceived with a liquid crystal display device switching an image for a left eye and an image for a right eye to display the image for the left eye or the image for the right eye, and a pair of glasses having a switching means with which the image for the right eye and the image for the left eye are switched in synchronization with display of the image for the left eye or the image for the right eye in order that the left or right eye of a viewer may selectively perceive the image for the left eye or the image for the right eye; the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye are perceived by the left eye or right eye in a mixed color by switching light which is emitted from a backlight portion and which corresponds to a plurality of colors, within a predetermined period, and the light which is emitted from the backlight portion are continuously emitted in accordance with an image signal of each of a plurality of colors which forms the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye.
US09454923B2

A semiconductor device with short overhead time. The semiconductor device includes a first wiring supplied with a power supply potential, a second wiring, a switch for controlling electrical connection between the first wiring and the second wiring, a load electrically connected to the second wiring, a transistor whose source and drain are electrically connected to the second wiring, and a power management unit having functions of controlling the conduction state of the switch and controlling a gate potential of the transistor. A channel formation region of the transistor is included in an oxide semiconductor film.
US09454911B2

There is provided a flight control test simulator system and method. The system has a flight control assembly with at least one actuator and with a flight controller configured to actuate the at least one actuator. The system further has an aerodynamic load simulator coupled to the flight control assembly and configured to adjustably induce a simulated continuous aerodynamic load on the flight control assembly. The aerodynamic load simulator has a continuously adjustable spring rate constant assembly configured to adjust the spring rate constant of the induced simulated continuous aerodynamic load over a range of predetermined flight profiles.
US09454907B2

The invention is directed toward a system and method for placing, activating, and testing sensors. The system comprises one or more server computers, one or more communication hubs, one or more unmanned aerial vehicles, and one or more sensors. The method comprises the steps of receiving geographic sensor placement locations, receiving sensor parameters, determining the geographic location of sensors, respectively sending location query signals to the unmanned aerial vehicles, respectively receiving location reply signals from the unmanned aerial vehicles, and calculating a geographic flight path for the unmanned aerial vehicles. The method also comprises calculating mission objectives and the energy needs of the unmanned aerial vehicles to complete the mission objectives. The method then determines the most efficient combination of unmanned aerial vehicles to complete the mission objectives and assigns the tasks to the unmanned aerial vehicles. The unmanned aerial vehicles place, activate, and test the sensors.
US09454905B2

A method includes, a first computer determining a stopping distance information for a first vehicle; broadcasting the stopping distance information for the first vehicle to at least one other vehicle; a second computer, in the at least one other vehicle, receiving the stopping distance information for the first vehicle determines a first distance between the at least one other vehicle and the first vehicle; and the second computer determining a proper distance for the at least one other vehicle based on the received stopping distance information of the first vehicle.
US09454900B2

A radio wave receiver includes a receiver controller that performs a signal capturing action in regular or irregular intervals to capture data transmitted on radio waves from a remote terminal in synchronization with the signal capturing action. The receiver controller includes a correctness determination unit and a capturing frequency setting unit. The correctness determination unit calculates an error rate or a correctness rate of the data captured by the receiver controller to determine the correctness of the captured data. The capturing frequency setting unit sets a capturing frequency indicating the number of times the signal capturing action is performed during a certain period in accordance with the correctness of the captured data.
US09454897B2

An RV wireless remote control system comprising an HMI including a GUI coupled to an HMI RF transceiver and an HMI dock connector. The HMI RF transceiver receives RV device status signals over an RF fieldbus and the HMI dock connector receives RV device status signals over an RV localbus. The HMI generates control signals in response to the status signals and/or operator input signals. The HMI transmits the control signals to the RV devices over the RF fieldbus via the HMI RF transceiver or over the RV localbus via the HMI dock connector when the HMI dock connector is connected to the RV localbus. The HMI is configured for real time distributive control of the RV devices such that the RV localbus and the RF fieldbus operate in both directions enabling closed-loop control between the HMI and the RV devices.
US09454894B2

The present invention is directed towards a method for collecting information pertaining to an audio notification system comprising a plurality of audio devices and a database, wherein each of the plurality of audio devices comprises a loudspeaker and a microphone, the method comprising: sequentially for each of the plurality of audio devices: emitting, by means of the loudspeaker of a currently emitting audio device, an audible test sound; monitoring, by means of microphones of the audio devices in the system, for the audible test sound; and for each monitoring audio device, if the audible test sound is detected by the monitoring audio device, storing, in the database, information pertaining to the currently emitting audio device and information pertaining to the monitoring audio device detecting the audible test sound.
US09454888B2

Systems, apparatuses and methods for detecting internal cell faults using online and real-time sensing techniques, and providing an accurate and reliable early warning for the incoming failure of battery cells hours or days prior to failure. A system is configured to perform real-time and direct measurement of battery cell parameters of temperature, voltage, and AC impedance through online sensing. These parameters may be simultaneously processed using advanced probabilistic and/or fuzzy logic-based algorithms to provide an early warning for the incoming failure of battery cells in a battery pack. This technology may safeguard the LIB battery packs while allowing them to operate at or near 100% capacity in both transportation and stationary applications.
US09454884B1

In an approach to tracking at least one target subject in a camera network, a search is started to find a target subject on a camera within a camera network. Features are extracted from the target subject and search queries are initiated in other nearby cameras within the camera network. Search queries attempt to detect target subjects and present the finds in a ranked order. Application of aggregate searches in multiple cameras and prior search results are used to improve matching results in the camera network; propagate a search of the target subject to discover the full pathway in the camera network; and project future occurrences of the target subject in subsequent cameras in the camera network.
US09454876B2

Provided is a gaming machine capable of enhancing entertainment characteristics of the gaming machine. On the gaming machine 1, a game outcome is that after undergoing a process in which trigger symbols whose number is one short of a number of a combination of symbols which triggers a bonus game are rearranged, the plurality of symbols are finally rearranged, an operation of cancelling predictive presentation effects is deactivated until the predictive presentation effects have been finished.
US09454867B2

An automatic food and beverage vending machine includes: a case; an ordering and billing system; an electronic control system; and an output system; wherein the output system comprises a food provider and a food outlet, the food provider is mounted in a food storage area of the case; the food provider comprises a tray holder, a food box transporter, and a sliding device; the tray holder and the food box transporter are mounted on the sliding device; the sliding device comprises an up-down sliding mechanism, a left-right sliding mechanism, and a front-rear sliding mechanism; the food outlet is provided on a door of the case. The machine provides a small volume, a small land occupation space, convenience of moving, a short time before obtaining the food, a proper food temperature for eating immediately, and a quick manner of dining for people in a hurry.
US09454864B2

A stack of valuable media for separation within deposit module are inserted into a feeder module. A force sensor regularly receives force readings as the stack of notes are depleted and a pressure paddle is regularly adjusted to maintain a constant and optimal amount of force on the stack of notes using the force readings.
US09454863B2

Provided is a banknote processing device capable of efficient pay-in processing for large quantities of banknotes. The banknote processing device includes a pay-in port into which banknotes are inserted, a conveyance section that conveys banknotes from the pay-in port, a pay-in port opening-closing member capable of opening and closing the pay-in port by moving, and a controller that controls the banknote conveyance of the conveyance section and controls opening and closing operation of the pay-in port opening-closing member, wherein the controller pauses count processing and opens the pay-in port opening-closing member in cases in which a count processing stoppage event arises during count processing of banknotes inserted into the pay-in port.
US09454859B2

The invention comprises a personal tracking system that identifies an individual, tracks achievements and/or failures of the individual, reports the achievements and/or failures to an authority within an authority system, and provides rewards for the achievements and/or provides punishments for the failures. In one example, the identification system is a personal identification bracelet used as part of an ignition interlock breathalyzer system. Generally, any information associated with the personal identification device and/or the peripheral tracking/monitoring device is maintained in a secure format warranting true information, which is usable in a legal setting, in a training program, or as part of a reward/punishment system.
US09454858B2

Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for spoofing bone conduction signals. According to one aspect, a device can compare a first unique body signature associated with a first user to a second unique body signature associated with a second user to determine a first unique effect of a first body of the first user on a signal and a second unique effect of a second body of the second user on the signal. The device can generate an authentication signal based upon the first unique effect and the second unique effect to include signal characteristics that, after propagating through the first body of the first user, are representative of the second unique body signature. The device can transmit the authentication signal through the first body of the first user to an authentication device that authenticates the first user on behalf of the second user.
US09454855B2

Methods, systems, devices and computer program products for planning for failures of vehicular components are provided herein. A method includes obtaining a first set of data of maintenance events recorded for multiple vehicular components across multiple vehicles in a fleet; obtaining a second set of data of maintenance work orders performed on the vehicular components; obtaining a third set of data of measurements taken in connection with the vehicular components; analyzing (i) the first set of data and (ii) the second set of data to identify component failure events associated with the multiple vehicular components; determining failure indicators for each of the vehicular components in each of the vehicles in the fleet based on the second set of data, the third set of data, and the identified component failure events; and outputting the indicators in multiple visualized forms, each representing one of multiple levels of granularity.
US09454851B2

An image processing device may include a disparity map estimator, which may perform an iterative technique to improve the efficiency of generating disparity map. The disparity map estimator performs disparity map refinement using varying size aggregation windows during the first iterations. The disparity map estimator uses larger size aggregation windows during the initial iterations to perform disparity map refinement. Further, the disparity map estimator may use joint bilateral up-sampling during the second (or last) iterations. Using a combination of varying size aggregation windows during the initial iterations and a joint bilateral up-sampling during the second iterations may reduce the computational complexity and memory requirements. In one embodiment, the combination of using varying size aggregation windows and joint bilateral up-sampling to refine the disparity map may reduce the high resolution of the images to a level acceptable for real-time processing and may further reduce the number of incorrect matches.
US09454850B2

A method of changing into a screen of an Augmented Reality (AR) service in a mobile communication terminal including a camera is provided. The method of changing into a screen of an AR service in a mobile communication terminal includes displaying a prior screen different from an AR service screen, detecting a predetermined event to change display of the prior screen to the AR service screen, driving the camera if the predetermined event has been detected, capturing an image using the camera, and displaying the AR service screen rendered based on the image captured by the camera.
US09454849B2

A system for generating a virtual gaming environment based on features identified within a real-world environment, and adapting the virtual gaming environment over time as the features identified within the real-world environment change is described. Utilizing the technology described, a person wearing a head-mounted display device (HMD) may walk around a real-world environment and play a virtual game that is adapted to that real-world environment. For example, the HMD may identify environmental features within a real-world environment such as five grassy areas and two cars, and then spawn virtual monsters based on the location and type of the environmental features identified. The location and type of the environmental features identified may vary depending on the particular real-world environment in which the HMD exists and therefore each virtual game may look different depending on the particular real-world environment.
US09454836B2

In an object display device, a pattern extraction unit extracts a region where an object is easily visually recognized when the object is overlaid and displayed in an image in real space, from the image in real space, based on information about the size and color of the object and information about the color of the image in real space that are acquired by an image analysis unit, and a display position correction unit corrects the display position of the object to this region. This facilitates visual recognition of the object and enhances various effects, such as informativeness, brought about by the displaying of the object in the image in real space.
US09454833B2

A method for creating a graphical representation of data is performed at an electronic device having one or more processors and memory. The device receives a finite set of data points and calculates a respective conical distribution for each respective data point centered on the respective data point and based on a respective data value. Each conical distribution comprises a set of locations and a unique distribution value corresponding to each location. The device determines that a first data value of a first data point is less than a distribution value for a second data point. The distribution value has a location that corresponds to the first data point. Based on that determination, the device calculates an inverse conical distribution in a region around the first data point. The device combines the conical distributions and inverse conical distributions to display a data visualization that includes each of the data points.
US09454820B1

A process creates a depth map of a scene. The process is performed at a computing device having one or more processors, and memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors. For each of a plurality of distinct subsets of illuminators of a camera system, the process receives a captured image of a first scene taken by a 2-dimensional array of image sensors of the camera system while the respective subset of illuminators are emitting light and the illuminators not in the respective subset are not emitting light. The image sensors are partitioned into a plurality of pixels. For each pixel, the process uses the captured images to form a respective vector of light intensity at the pixel and estimates a depth in the first scene at the respective pixel by looking up the respective vector in a respective lookup table.
US09454819B1

A method for static and moving object detection employing a motion computation method based on spatio-temporal tensor formulation, a foreground and background modeling method, and a multi-cue appearance comparison method. The invention operates in the presence of shadows, illumination changes, dynamic background, and both stopped and removed objects.
US09454797B2

Methods and apparatus for manipulating digital images. A warping module is described that enables the manipulation of a surface by selectively deforming portions of the surface while maintaining local rigidity. The user may position multiple control points on a surface to constrain deformation. The user may specify multiple properties (e.g., translation, rotation, depth, and scale) at each control point. A mesh may be overlaid on the surface. The warping module may perform an initialization in which the properties are propagated other vertices in the mesh to generate an initial deformed mesh. The warping module may then perform an iterative optimization operation on the deformed mesh to improve the deformation while retaining local rigidity. Thus, instead of moving every pixel in the surface, the warping module moves or adjusts coordinates of the vertices of the mesh. The surface is then deformed according to the deformed mesh.
US09454783B2

A method and apparatus for system and method that enables e-commerce on a mobile handset device is provided.
US09454782B2

Apparatuses, methods, and non-transitory computer readable medium that provide recommendations include determining personality traits of a sender and a recipient by applying a five-factor model to a plurality of datasets. Further, the method comprises associating a personality-product score with each of a plurality of products based on the personality traits and performing a need analysis on the user data to determine desired products from amongst the plurality of products. Further, the method comprises determining a multidimensional collaborative matrix by aggregating the personality traits, the personality-product score, the desired products, and product psychographic portfolio. Further, the method comprises determining an affinity score for at least one of the sender and the recipient towards each of the plurality of products based on the multidimensional collaborative matrix and recommending at least one product from amongst the plurality of products to the sender based on the affinity score.
US09454775B2

In a method of displaying video data using an embedded media player page, frame dimensional data for a first video file is received from a database 106. The database 106 includes frame dimensional data indexed therein for a plurality of video files. The plurality of video files includes the first video file, and the plurality of video files is retrievable from at least one video server 104 through a communications network 114. A media player is launched within the embedded media player page. A video display area of the media player is sized based upon the received frame dimensional data. The video data from the first video file is displayed within the video display area.
US09454770B2

One embodiment of the invention provides a method of publishing campaign metadata from a database to a plurality of channel systems, the method includes: querying the database to select campaign metadata ready for publishing to a target channel system; selecting the target channel system from a plurality of channel systems based on an target indicating attribute of the campaign metadata; determining whether the target channel system has a SOAP enabled webservice API or whether the target channel system only accepts HTTP posts; if the target channel system has a SOAP enabled webservice API, packaging the campaign metadata as an XML message object; if the target channel system only accepts HTTP posts, packaging the campaign metadata as an HTML request; and transferring the packaged campaign metadata to the target channel system.
US09454767B2

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for implementing a RELATED command with a predictive query interface including means for generating indices from a dataset of columns and rows, the indices representing probabilistic relationships between the rows and the columns of the dataset; storing the indices within a database of a host organization; exposing the database of the host organization via a request interface; receiving, at the request interface, a query for the database specifying a RELATED command term and a specified column as a parameter for the RELATED command term; querying the database using the RELATED command term and passing the specified column to generate a predictive record set; and returning the predictive record set responsive to the query, the predictive record set having a plurality of elements therein, each of the returned elements including a column identifier and a confidence indicator for the specified column passed with the RELATED command term, wherein the confidence indicator indicates whether a latent relationship exists between the specified column passed with the RELATED command and the column identifier returned for the respective element. Other related embodiments are further disclosed.
US09454765B1

Disclosed are various embodiments for determining the effects of modifying a network page based at least upon the implicit behaviors of users. An executable network page is generated to record the implicit behaviors of users. A position density map is then generated from the recorded implicit behavior to identify the content on the network page that has a high or low level of user interaction. The position density map is then analyzed to determine if the content on the network page needs to be revised. Subsequent A/B tests relating to revisions made to the network page may be run to ascertain the effect of changing the network page using the position density map.
US09454762B2

In a system for delivering information to and displaying information on a networked device of a user, a microprocessor is coupled to a database and a memory device. The microprocessor runs a software application for delivering an applet application to the networked device and managing the delivery of the applet application. The applet application provides for the display of information on the networked device by an applet. The database stores a first set of information relating to the user, and the memory device includes a second set of information for comparison to the first set of information, and a third set of information for display by the applet. The microprocessor compares the first set of information to the second set of information to determine whether to transmit the third set of information to the networked device for display by the applet.
US09454757B2

Techniques for Point-Of-Sale (POS) direct support of Self Checkout (SCO) are provided. A checkout station is configured with software to support two different interfaces and workflows: one interface and workflow supporting SCO on the checkout station and the other interface and the other workflow supporting assisted checkout operation. The checkout station can be dynamically switched between the two modes of operation, such that the checkout station is usable within an enterprise for both cashier assisted operations for customers and for self-service checkout operations performed by customers without assistance.
US09454755B2

The invention proposes an off-line divisible e-cash scheme where a user can withdraw a divisible coin of monetary value nL (n being for example equal to 2) that he can parceled and spend anonymously and unlinkably. The invention allows to protect the anonymity of honest users and to revoke anonymity only in case of cheat for protocols based on a tree structure without using a trusted third party.
US09454752B2

A transponder-reader payment system includes a fob including a transponder, and a RFID reader for interrogating the transponder. In exemplary operation, the fob identifying information may be presented to the RFID reader for completion of a transaction request. The transaction request may be provided to a fob issuer system which retrieves a value for satisfying the transaction request from a fob associated transaction data file. The issuer system may deplete the transaction data file in accordance with the transaction request and replenish the data file in accordance with fob user or fob issuer defined reload protocol.
US09454750B2

Techniques for estimating, in real time, the likelihood that any particular member of a social network service is a third degree connection of another member are described. Consistent with some embodiments, various member profile attributes of a member are used as a sort of proxy for determining the likelihood or probability that the member is a third degree connection of another member. For example, in some instances, the number of first-degree connections a member has is used to derive a probability score indicating the likelihood that the member is a third-degree connection of another member, such as a person performing a people-search. Once derived, the probability score for each member may be used in various applications, such as a people-search engine, to boost or increase a ranking score assigned to each search result and used to order the search results when presented to the user who has performed the search.
US09454737B2

A process definition entered into a user interface that is coupled with an instant messaging client application can be identified. The process definition can represent an ad hoc business process. The process definition can utilize entities defined in a contact of the instant messaging (IM) client application. The process definition can execute. Upon reaching a terminating condition defined within the process definition, results of executing the process definition can be presented via the user interface.
US09454736B2

A system and method for managing a queue may receive a selection of an image, symbol, or avatar from a user. The user may be associated with the selected image, which may provide an anonymous connection to the user. The selected image may be used to display a status of the queue and to summon the user to receive a service. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09454734B2

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to wiring components in a component based application and provide a method, system and computer program product for heuristically assembling components in a component based application. In one embodiment, a data processing system configured to assemble component based applications can include a component aggregation application including an application builder configured to assemble components into a component based application. The system further can include a property broker coupled to the component aggregation application and configured to apply a wiring scheme to selected components in a component based application. Finally, a collaborative heuristic integration matching engine (CHIME) can be coupled to the property broker and a data store of behaviorally derived data, the CHIME including program enabled to suggest components for assembly in a component based application based upon behaviorally derived data in the data store.
US09454732B1

Some examples include receiving data from a source external to an adaptive machine learning platform that includes at least one machine learning component. Some implementations may execute a machine learning component to generate a machine learning component output. The machine learning component output may be generated at least in part based on the received data. A command may be generated based at least in part on the machine learning component output, and the command may be communicated to an action plugin. The action plugin manager may be used to configure one or more parameters of an action representing an automated workflow to be executed by the action plugin in response to receiving the command.
US09454731B1

A system correlates intellectual property analyzes, for example, patent claim charts, with respect to analyzed intellectual property and a target product or other intellectual property. Analyzes are stored to enable searching and/or creating reports over multiple analyzes. Units of the analysis are associated with a context, inherited, e.g., from the intellectual property document's assignment to a relative role within organizational hierarchy; and associated with a context derived from the analysis itself. The analysis and respective documents and/or targets of the analysis can be searched/retrieved/analyzed from the hierarchical analysis, the context analysis, and/or the content of the analysis. This obviates the need to store each analysis as a separate document. The target or annotations may be visually represented by an item such as a thumbnail or hyperlink, and the system automatically associates the item with the appropriate application program.
US09454727B2

Disclosed are method(s), system(s), and computer program product(s) for implementing expert assessment of a product. Some embodiments are directed at improved methods, systems, and computer program product form implementing expert assessment of product fixes/patches or upgrade. In some embodiments, the method or the system identifies or receives information regarding a client system on which the product runs and a reasoning rule for the expert assessment; analyzes the received or identified information based upon the reasoning rule; and determines the expert assessment based on the result of the act of analyzing the information. In some embodiments, the method or the system further comprises optimizing the expert assessment based on other information; determining whether the determination of the expert assessment is deterministic; and determining whether or not there exists a conflict in the expert assessment.
US09454725B2

According to an aspect, passage justification scoring includes creating a multi-layered neural network from domain knowledge and training the multi-layered neural network with labeled data and unlabeled data. A further aspect includes inputting at least one of an existing passage justification component and raw input data for a question and passage to the multi-layered neural network, extracting concepts determined to have passage justification with respect to a candidate answer contained in a respective passage, and creating a passage justification model from the extracted concepts and from passage justification ground truth.
US09454719B2

A print control apparatus includes a reconfigurable circuit that generates print data by reconfiguring a circuit configuration thereof respectively in response to a multiple image processes and performing the image processes on image data successively, and a reduction image generator that performs control to reconfigure the circuit configuration of the reconfigurable circuit in response to the image process, and generates a reduction image from the image data by performing part of the image processes on the image data using software, in response to command information including a generation method of the reduction image, in parallel with the image process performed by the reconfigurable circuit.
US09454718B2

A printer includes a first receiver, a second receiver, a specifying unit, and a printing unit. The first receiver receives, from any of at least one print instruction information holding device that holds print instruction information giving instructions to print, specific print instruction information associated with a first identifier and instructing the printer to print. The second receiver receives, from a print settings information holding device that holds print settings information indicating settings for printing, specific print settings information associated with a second identifier and indicating settings for printing by the printer. The specifying unit, on the basis of the first identifier and the second identifier, specifies the specific print settings information as print settings information corresponding to the specific print instruction information. The printing unit uses the specific print settings information to conduct printing based on the specific print instruction information.
US09454715B2

Methods and systems for transparently extending a multi-function device onto a mobile communications device. The mobile communications device and the multi-function device can be securely connected utilizing a random code displayed on a user interface of the MFD. An extensibility application associated with the MFD can be transparently combined with an execution environment of the mobile communications device to offer a number of services. A hardware and software resource of the MFD and the mobile communications device can be combined to perform composite operations involving data from both devices. The connection can expire after a period of inactivity and require physical proximity to be established to prevent unwanted access to the MFD. Such an approach establishes a shared extensibility framework for the multifunction device and the mobile communications device as a single execution environment.
US09454708B2

A recognition dictionary creation apparatus photographs a commodity by an image capturing section to capture the image of the commodity; measures a distance from the image capturing section to the commodity photographed by the image capturing section; generates a quasi-commodity-image in a state in which the commodity is imaginarily moved away from the image capturing section to a given registration distance longer than the measurement distance based on the image of the commodity photographed by the image capturing section; extracts an appearance feature amount of the commodity from the generated quasi-commodity-image; and registers, in a recognition dictionary in association with the registration distance data, the extracted appearance feature amount as the feature amount data of the photographed commodity at the registration distance to create the recognition dictionary.
US09454707B1

A tire code reader scans an automobile tire to capture an image of the tire code molded on the tire sidewall and associates it with the vehicle identification number (VIN) read by a bar code scanner also on the reader. Both tire code and VIN are uploaded to a control server and then to a cloud-based server that is programmed with optical character recognition software for reading the tire code and for accessing databases for information about that tire, such as re-call information, and the make, model and year of the automobile. The cloud-based server transmits a report back to the control server for printing a full report by a printer and to the tire code reader for display of the tire code.
US09454694B2

One embodiment provides a method, including: accepting, in an overlay input application, one or more ink strokes provided to an input field overlay area; wherein the input field overlay area is located on top of an underlying application display; and providing, in the input field overlay area, an at least partially opaque background. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09454690B2

A biometric scanner having a sensor and an array of conductive strands is disclosed. The sensor has at least one sensor electrode, and that sensor electrode may be a capacitance sensor, an electric field sensor, or an electroluminescent sensor. The array may have an electrical insulating material between adjacent ones of the conductive strands. The array serves to protect the sensor, and conduct through the array information about the electrical characteristics of a biometric object.
US09454680B1

A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag IC stores an identifier and a check code. The IC determines whether the stored identifier is corrupted by comparing it to the check code. If the stored identifier does not correspond to the check code then the IC may terminate operation or indicate an error. The IC may also reconstruct the correct identifier from the check code.
US09454674B2

Provided is a method and apparatus to detect and control flow of data shared in a terminal. A method to control data sharing may include accessing a program that shares a type of data with a terminal, displaying the accessed program on a screen organized by the type of data; and controlling the data to be shared with the accessed program in response to a control signal input on the screen.
US09454673B1

A method implements searchable encryption of cloud stored data by appending tokenized keywords to an encrypted file destined for a cloud storage service. In some embodiments, the tokenized keywords are appended to the header of the encrypted file. Searching of cloud-stored encrypted files using the native search capability of the cloud storage service is then possible by performing the search using the tokenized keywords. In alternate embodiments of the present invention, a method enables searching of cloud stored encrypted file using a cloud search appliance.
US09454671B2

Providing analytics information from a cloud service includes maintaining an analytics database that is separate from data and servers accessed by users of the cloud service, selectively pushing information from the cloud service to the analytics database, where data and servers accessed by users of the cloud service are inaccessible for direct access by the analytics database, and allowing users limited access to the analytics database, where users of the analytics information that are accessing the analytics database are restricted from accessing data and servers of the cloud service. The analytics database may include a first database of adapted database records and a second database of dynamic logs of service related events. The adapted database records may be initially formed using the data and servers accessed by users of the cloud service prior to being pushed to the analytics database.
US09454670B2

Systems and computer program products may provide a virtual system with direct access to one or more sectors of a resource of a computer system. The system and computer program products may include providing, by a computer system to a virtual system, first access control data associated with a regular computer file that corresponds to a resource on the computer system. The system and computer program products may additionally include receiving, at the computer system, a direct read from or direct write to one or more sectors of the resource represented by the regular computer file from the virtual system. The system and computer program products may further include hiding, at the computer system, a hidden computer file from the virtual system. The system and computer program products may additionally include routing, at the computer system, the direct read from or direct write to the hidden computer file on the computer system.
US09454669B2

A method of creating content within a secure processing environment can include detecting a wiki identifier, indicating a phrase, within a parent document. The parent document can be associated with an author attribute. The method also can include searching for documents corresponding to the author attribute and that have a name corresponding to the phrase indicated by the wiki identifier. If one or more of documents are identified, a source anchor within the parent document can be created and a universal resource locator for the identified document can be associated with the source anchor.
US09454664B2

An arrangement for providing privacy settings for determining whether location information for a subscriber can be provided to a requesting party is described. The privacy settings are at least partially based on presence information for the subscriber. A gateway mobile location center (GMLC) selectively provides the location information regarding subscribers on request, in accordance with the privacy settings.
US09454651B1

A token contains licensing information for software stored on another computer. The token connects to the computer wirelessly, and transmits the licensing information, preferably automatically. While the token is connected to the computer, at least one factor in a multi-factor authentication scheme is satisfied for licensed use of the software. When the token disconnects from the computer either at will, or by exceeding the range of the wireless connection, the software on the computer becomes unlicensed and then can no longer execute.
US09454639B1

Electronic label processor compares bioinformatic values to determine pharmaco-genomic mutation associated with host. Label display indicates pharmaco-genomic mutation, which is network-accessible for modified medical message. Bioinformatic values are determined preferably at different times.
US09454634B1

Disclosed are mechanisms for implementing an IC package layout design with an integrated circuit package design estimator. These mechanisms determine an estimated number of layers for an integrated circuit (IC) package design including one or more IC die designs, determine whether the estimated number of layers suffice to accommodate routing demands for the IC package layout design, determine a power layer and/or a ground layer based in part or in whole upon one or more factors, and generate an output for the IC package layout design based using at least the estimated number of layers and the power layer and/or the ground layer. These mechanisms use input including connectivity information, thermal effects, and/or IC placement information to determine estimates for the total number of layers, layer stack-up, power and ground plane assignment, and via libraries to guide IC package layout design.
US09454627B1

Systems and methods optimize hardware description generated from a graphical model automatically. The system may include an optimizer. The optimizer may add a serializer component and a deserializer component to the model. The serializer component may receive parallel data and may produce serial data. The serializer may introduce one or more idle cycles into the serial data being produced. The deserializer component may receive serial data and may produce parallel data. The serializer and deserializer components may receive and generate control signals. The control signals may include a valid signal for indicating valid data elements of the serial and parallel data, and a start the start signal for indicating the beginning of a new frame or cycle when constructing parallel data from serial data.
US09454613B2

The present application provides method of searching information. The method comprises: performing a searching request based on a searching request including one or more query words from a user terminal and initially ranking all the searched items; evaluating the position click ratio of each ranking position with respect to the query words; calculating a compensation factor of respective ranking position by dividing the evaluated position clicks ratio of each ranking position by the evaluated position clicks ratio of the first ranking positions; obtaining a ranking score of each initially ranked item by dividing the item clicks ratio of each initially ranked item by the compensation factor corresponding to the ranking positions of the initially ranked item; and re-ranking all the initially ranked items in descending order based on the ranking scores and then returning the re-ranked items to the user terminal.
US09454611B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for providing knowledge panels with search results. In one aspect, a method includes obtaining search results that are responsive to a received query. A factual entity referenced by the query is identified. Content is identified for display in a knowledge panel for the factual entity. The content includes at least one content item obtained from a first resource and at least one second content item obtained from a second resource different than the first resource. Data is provided that causes the identified search results and the knowledge panel to be presented on a search results page. The knowledge panel presents the identified content in a knowledge panel area that is along side at least a portion of the search results.
US09454609B2

A search system architecture is disclosed. The search system architecture includes a search server, which in turn includes a search services module and a search engine adapter. The search services module and the search engine adapter are communicatively coupled to one another. The search services module is configured to communicate with a user interface. The search engine adapter is configured to communicate with a search engine.
US09454601B2

A system and method are provided for enabling a user to search for documents that the user has previously viewed on its local machine. The system includes three main components: the desktop integration module, the index module, and the graphical user interface module. The desktop integration module is an application which monitors documents with which the user interacts for predetermined events, and obtains content data and metadata from the monitored documents. The index module indexes the content data and metadata received from the desktop integration module. The graphical user interface module then permits a user to utilize the desktop integration module and index module by allowing a user to search for a document.
US09454594B2

Dynamic sourcing, in which a data request that is associated with a query is received and a parameter of data needed for satisfaction of the query is identified. Parameter information defining data available in at least one cube stored in a cache is accessed and the parameter is compared with the parameter information. Based on comparison results, it is determined whether one or more cubes in the cache include sufficient data to satisfy the query. In response to a determination that one or more cubes include sufficient data to satisfy the query, a response to the data request is generated by executing the query against the one or more cubes. In response to a determination that the cubes do not include sufficient data to satisfy the query, a response to the data request is generated by executing at least a portion of the query against a database system.
US09454592B2

Provided are techniques for managing, importing, and exporting teamspace templates and teamspaces in content repositories. A file is created using a teamspace template and associated metadata at a first content repository. The file is exported from the first content repository to a second content repository, wherein the file can be used to create a teamspace instance at the second content repository.
US09454589B2

Providing messages for Java message service (JMS) is disclosed. A described method includes determining timestamp information associated with a first Java™ message service (JMS) message. The timestamp information represents a time when the JMS message is either generated or received by a processing device. The method also includes determining destination information associated with the JMS message. The method further includes converting the JMS message into a first key-value data pair having a key data and a value data. The key data includes the timestamp information and the value data includes the destination information of the first JMS message.
US09454588B2

Techniques are disclosed for implementing custom object-in-memory formats in a data grid network appliance. The techniques include maintaining a record of format definitions on a client device of the data grid and a corresponding record of format definitions on a server device of the data grid. Each format definition may indicate one or more attributes of an object class and data types and byte ranges of the attributes. The client device may serialize one or more objects for storage in the data grid based on respective format definitions associated with the one or more objects and retrieved from the record of format definitions maintained on the client device. Further, the server device may perform one or more data grid operations using format definitions retrieved from the record of format definitions maintained on the server device.
US09454585B2

A computer implemented method for searching data in a plurality of data sources is described. At a host system, a request to search a local data source is received. The request is associated with a user account of the local data source. The request is processed to determine one or more third party data sources associated with the user account. Local search parameters associated with the local data source and third party search parameters associated with the one or more third party data sources are dynamically assembled. The local search parameters and the third party search parameters are transmitted to a client device for display. A host system comprising a processor and memory storing instructions for implementing the method is also described.
US09454584B1

Techniques described herein relate to generating new assessment items and updating existing assessment items. Input data may be received corresponding to the addition, removal, or modification of assessment components within assessment items, and may cause immediate generation and validation of corresponding markup language data blocks, thereby allowing for interactive construction and automated encoding of assessment items. Additional techniques described herein relate to determining compatible scoring types for assessment items and generating and embedding markup language data blocks corresponding to assessment item scoring data.
US09454576B1

The APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR AN EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING AUTOMATOR (hereinafter “EOA”) implement efficient and scalable monitoring, regulation, and allocation of computational processing, data, labor, and/or the like resources within an enterprise. The EOA may facilitate the dissemination and integration of information associated with employee status updates, including the hiring of job candidates, promotions, demotions, and/or the like. The EOA may be configured to automatically update enterprise database systems as needed or desired to reflect employee status changes and/or to transfer employee data from one place to another, such as from a human resources application database where the employee status change may be first entered to a wide variety of other enterprise systems, such as those associated with information technology, facilities, payroll, benefits, legal, marketing, and/or other enterprise departments. The EOA may further be configured to automatically generate a variety of reports based on employee status updates.
US09454573B1

A method and system for executing database queries in parallel using a shared metadata store. The metadata store may reside on a master node, and the master node may distribute this metadata with query plans to worker nodes. The worker nodes may request additional metadata from the master node when necessary.
US09454570B2

A database query is intercepted by a query analyzer before it reaches a database. The query analyzer then tracks where the query accesses the database and how long the operation takes to complete. A statistical model is then constructed during runtime based on this tracking information to create an updated index schema for the database. The database index structure is then updated with the new schema to reduce query access times.
US09454568B2

A method and apparatus for acquiring hot content are disclosed. The method includes: acquiring N search requests and N search responses corresponding to the N search requests; analyzing the N search requests and the N search responses to obtain N initial hot content datum; calculating a weight of each initial hot content data and selecting M middle hot content datum from the N initial hot content datum according to the weight of each initial hot content data, and M is a natural number and no greater than N; performing repetition elimination on the M middle hot content datum; and selecting hot content from the M middle hot content datum after the repetition elimination. The apparatus includes acquiring module, analyzing module, selecting module, repetition eliminating module and processing module. According to the disclosure, the hot content can be acquired automatically without extra editing, thereby improving the efficiency of acquiring hot content and saving the human cost.
US09454567B2

A querying method for a database of graph data encoded as triples being stored on storage servers. The method including dividing a query into a plurality of result criteria triple patterns which query results match, each triple pattern element being either: a single value triple pattern element; or a variable value triple pattern element specifying an ID of a variable. The method includes forming one or more sub-queries each having triple patterns having the same single value triple pattern element or specifying the same ID of a variable as a variable value triple pattern element, issuing each formed sub-query to each of the servers, and receiving triples satisfying a sub-query as results from the servers and using the sub-query results in as a response to the query.
US09454563B2

A fact checking system is able to verify the correctness of information and/or characterize information by comparing the information with one or more sources. The fact checking system automatically monitors, processes, fact checks information and indicates a status of the information. Fact checking results are able to be validated by re-fact checking the fact check results.
US09454560B2

An optimistic, latch-free index traversal (“OLFIT”) concurrency control scheme is disclosed for an index structure for managing a database system. In each node of an index tree, the OLFIT scheme maintains a latch, a version number, and a link to the next node at the same level of the index tree. Index traversal involves consistent node read operations starting from the root. To ensure the consistency of node read operations without latching, every node update operation first obtains a latch and increments the version number after update of the node contents. Every node read operation begins with reading the version number into a register and ends with verifying if the current version number is consistent with the register-stored version number. If they are the same, the read operation is consistent. Otherwise, the node read is retried until the verification succeeds. The concurrency control scheme of the present invention is applicable to many index structures such as the B+-tree and the CSB+-tree.
US09454559B1

A method includes, in a master data management system, identifying a profile including a plurality of master data attributes and receiving a persistent modification request for the profile. The persistent modification request affects one or more of the master data attributes. The method further includes, for each affected attribute, either: (i) identifying a preexisting master record associated with preexisting ownership information; or (ii) determining that no preexisting master record exists. The method further includes, for each affected attribute: (i) responsive to determining that no preexisting master record exists, adding a new master data attribute and associated new ownership information to the profile, based on the persistent modification request; (ii) responsive to identifying the preexisting master record, selectively permitting or denying the persistent modification request; and (iii) responsive to permitting the persistent modification request, updating the preexisting master record, based on the persistent modification request.
US09454555B2

Managing user bookmark information includes receiving a bookmark-related action request and determining a type of action associated with the bookmark-related action request and user information associated with the bookmark-related action request. In the event that the type of action corresponds to an add bookmark action, managing user bookmark information further includes generating a bookmark data record, the bookmark data record comprising the user information and information to be bookmarked; determining, using the user information, bookmark database information associated with a bookmark database to which the bookmark data record is to be stored, the bookmark database being one of a plurality of bookmark databases; generating index information based on the user information and the bookmark database information; storing the index information in an index database that is separate from the plurality of bookmark databases; and storing the bookmark data record in the bookmark database.
US09454550B2

A Database method for a B+ tree based on a PRAM. The database method divides each node into two areas, area 1 and area 2. A key value is inserted/retrieved/deleted for the each node. Inserting the key value requires firstly inserting a new key value to area 2 if area 2 in the node is not in a full state. Retrieving the key value requires identifying whether the node is a leaf node. If the node is a leaf node, the key value is retrieved from area 1 and area 2 sequentially. Deleting the key value requires merging area 1 and area 2 in the node, and deleting the key value in the merged node. The method enhances durability and data processing capability.
US09454548B1

A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for managing data. In some embodiments, this includes an initial instruction for a file stored in a first storage system, determining that the initial instruction is not supported by the first storage system, identifying a combination of instructions to the first storage system after determining that the initial instruction is not supported by the first storage system, wherein the combination of instructions is based on the initial instruction, performing the identified combination of instructions on the file stored in the first storage system, and storing results of the performed identified combination of instructions.
US09454546B2

A method for filtering scanned objects displayed on a reader is provided. The reader may scan one or more transponders, and obtain, from a database, an image for each scanned transponder. Each transponder may be associated with an object (e.g., an item of retail inventory). The obtained image for each object may be presented on an interface, and a selection of an object category may be received using the obtained images. A determination may be made as to which objects are associated with the selected object category. A display screen may display data associated with only the objects associated with the selected object category.
US09454541B2

In a cloud computing device for synchronizing digital content with a client device, a first hash value and a second hash value in a media file are received from the client device, the media file comprising a plurality group of pictures (GOP) blocks and searching for payloads and headers based on the first hash value and the second hash value. Based on the searching step, edited portions of the media file are identified. For each edited portion, payload data is requested from the client device based on the first hash value and header data based on the second hash value. The payload data and the header data received from the client device are then stored.
US09454536B1

Moving previous version data required to be restored beyond a continuous data protection window, if required, to facilitate efficient reclamation and reallocation of storage allocated to a continuous data protection journaling process is disclosed. In some embodiments, storage is allocated when possible in an allocation group that enables a continuous data protection or other backup process to perform a series of successive write operations without requiring that a write head be moved inefficiently to many arbitrary points on the storage media.
US09454533B2

Systems and methods for reducing metadata in a write-anywhere storage system are disclosed herein. The system includes a plurality of clients coupled with a plurality of storage nodes, each storage node having a plurality of primary storage devices coupled thereto. A memory management unit including cache memory is included in the client. The memory management unit serves as a cache for data produced by the clients before the data is stored in the primary storage. The cache includes an extent cache, an extent index, a commit cache and a commit index. The movement of data and metadata is by an interval tree. Methods for reducing data in the interval tree increase data storage and data retrieval performance of the system.
US09454530B2

Techniques are described for determining relationships between user activities and determining search results and content recommendations based on the relationships. A plays-related-to-searches application may determine a relationship score between plays of a media title and searches of a query by determining a distance between a projection of the search onto the space of the users and a projection of plays of the media title onto the space of the users. A plays-after-searches application may determine a score for plays of the streaming media title given the search by multiplying a number of times plays of the media title occur after the query is entered by the number of times any play occurs, and dividing by a product of the number of times plays of the media title occur after any query is entered and the number of times plays of any media title occur after the query is entered.
US09454529B2

A computer-readable medium including computer-readable information thereon including instructions that provides a method for refining a search, the method comprising displaying results elements with attributes associated therewith. The search being adapted to be modified on a basis of an identification of the most relevant attributes. A computer system and an graphical interface for providing same is also hereby provided.
US09454525B2

A method of extracting information from text within a natural language understanding system can include processing a text input through at least one statistical model for each of a plurality of features to be extracted from the text input. For each feature, at least one value can be determined, at least in part, using the statistical model associated with the feature. One value for each feature can be combined to create a complex information target. The complex information target can be output.
US09454524B1

A quality metric of a multimedia summary of a multimedia content item is determined based, in part, on semantic similarities of the summary and content item, rather than just on word frequencies. This is accomplished in some embodiments by identifying a semantic meaning of the summary and multimedia content item using vector analysis. The vectors of the summary and the vectors of the multimedia content item are compared to determine semantic similarity. In other examples, the quality metric of the multimedia summary is determined based on, in part, a coherence between an image portion of a summary and a text portion of the summary for determining a quality metric of a multimedia summary.
US09454517B2

An object of the present invention is to provide a device, a method, and a computer-readable recording medium, all of which reduce the processing load when a document is opened, and improve the operability for editing a document. A smartphone includes a touch-screen display and a controller. The controller displays a virtual keyboard and a document area which displayed an editing document inputted via the virtual keyboard, on the touch-screen display. The controller maintains displaying of the virtual keyboard while switching the editing document over from a first document to the second document, in a case in which a touch operation to switch the editing document over from the first document to the second document is performed.
US09454514B2

A mechanism for local language numeral conversion in dynamic numeric computing is disclosed. A method of embodiments of the invention includes receiving a string array of numeric data in a local language, wherein the numeric data used in dynamic calculations performed by the application, converting characters of the string array of numeric data from local language characters to corresponding English digits in an American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format by utilizing a number conversion matrix, and providing the English digits in the ASCII format to a processing function of the application for use with the dynamic calculations of the application.
US09454512B2

A method of generating a correlation function, a method of tracking a signal, and a signal tracking apparatus are provided. The method of generating a correlation function involves receiving a CBOC(6,1,1/11) signal, interpreting a subcarrier pulse period of the CBOC(6,1,1/11) signal as a subcarrier pulse period of BOCsin(6,1), combining partial correlation functions constituting an autocorrelation function of CBOC(6,1,1/11) to generate a correlation function, and weighted-combining the correlation function to generate an unambiguous correlation function.
US09454511B2

The present embodiments include methods of time-frequency analyzing signals. Some embodiments provide methods of processing signals comprising: receiving a communication signal; adaptively partitioning the signal in a time domain into a plurality of windows of the signal; transforming each of the windows of the signal producing respective expansions in a frequency domain and obtaining respective samples of the windows of signal in the frequency domain; and mapping the samples in the frequency domain back into the time domain.
US09454503B1

An apparatus for selectively connecting a decoupling capacitor in parallel with a load on a power bus during a hot swap power up. In an aspect, an apparatus includes a capacitive coupling connected to a hot swap control circuit and that capacitively couples first and second power conductors when the output of the hot swap control circuit indicates a monitored load has attained a voltage threshold.
US09454491B2

Systems and methods for accessing a unified translation lookaside buffer (TLB) are disclosed. A method includes receiving an indicator of a level one translation lookaside buffer (L1TLB) miss corresponding to a request for a virtual address to physical address translation, searching a cache that includes virtual addresses and page sizes that correspond to translation table entries (TTEs) that have been evicted from the L1TLB, where a page size is identified, and searching a second level TLB and identifying a physical address that is contained in the second level TLB. Access is provided to the identified physical address.
US09454490B2

An instruction is provided to perform invalidation of an instruction specified range of segment table entries or region table entries. The instruction can be implemented by software emulation, hardware, firmware or some combination thereof.
US09454489B2

When a request is made to retrieve a guest physical page from memory and a page fault occurs, a guest virtual page address that corresponds to the guest physical page is identified along with addresses for guest virtual pages that are near the guest virtual page in the virtual address space. Each identified guest virtual page address is translated into a corresponding guest physical page address and the corresponding guest physical pages are loaded into memory.
US09454485B2

Sharing local cache from a failover node, including: determining, by a managing compute node, whether a first compute node and a second compute node each have a local cache, where the second compute node is a mirrored copy of the first compute node; responsive to determining that the first compute node and the second compute node each have a local cache, combining, by the managing compute node, local cache on the first compute node and local cache on the second compute node into unified logical cache; receiving, by the managing compute node, a memory access request; and sending, by the managing compute node, the memory access request to an appropriate local cache in the unified logical cache.
US09454480B2

In various embodiments, the present disclosure provides a system comprising a first plurality of processing cores, ones of the first plurality of processing cores coupled to a respective core interface module among a first plurality of core interface modules, the first plurality of core interface modules configured to be coupled to form in a first ring network of processing cores; a second plurality of processing cores, ones of the second plurality of processing cores coupled to a respective core interface module among a second plurality of core interface modules, the second plurality of core interface modules configured to be coupled to form a second ring network of processing cores; a first global interface module to form an interface between the first ring network and a third ring network; and a second global interface module to form an interface between the second ring network and the third ring network.
US09454477B2

A system and method for efficiently performing user storage virtualization for data stored in a storage system including a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A data storage subsystem supports multiple mapping tables. Records within a mapping table are arranged in multiple levels. Each level stores pairs of a key value and a pointer value. The levels are sorted by time. New records are inserted in a created newest (youngest) level. No edits are performed in-place. All levels other than the youngest may be read only. The system may further include an overlay table which identifies those keys within the mapping table that are invalid.
US09454476B2

A system and method for efficiently performing user storage virtualization for data stored in a storage system including a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A data storage subsystem supports multiple mapping tables. Records within a mapping table are arranged in multiple levels. Each level stores pairs of a key value and a pointer value. The levels are sorted by time. New records are inserted in a created newest (youngest) level. No edits are performed in-place. All levels other than the youngest may be read only. The system may further include an overlay table which identifies those keys within the mapping table that are invalid.
US09454473B2

Embodiments relate to granular management of data storage blocks in a data storage system. In one aspect, status values are employed to track “used”, “free”, and “claimed free” storage blocks. A storage block having stored data is identified as used, a storage block available to store data is identified as free, and a storage block having previously stored data removed that has not been reclaimed is identified as claimed free. These values are maintained on a map to track each data block within the data storage system. One or more used blocks are de-allocated, which includes changing the status value of each used block to claimed free Available claimed free data blocks are prioritized for data block allocation over available free data blocks for efficient storage, including enabling efficient reclamation of data blocks and minimizing data movement needed for reclamation-oriented de-fragmentation.
US09454471B2

An electronic counter is provided having a sequence of memory cells and increment logic. Each memory cell of the sequence is non-volatile and supports a one state and a zero state. The one state can also be referred to as a ‘programmed state’, the zero state as an ‘erased state’. The counter is configured to represent at least part of a current counting-state of the counter as a pattern of one and zero states in the memory cells of the sequence of memory cells, and increment logic configured to advance the pattern of one and zero states to a next pattern to represent an increment of the counter.
US09454464B2

An application development center system is described. A method may comprise receiving an application at a server computing device; accessing test data from one or more data sources; testing the application within a development environment resident on the server computing device utilizing the test data; and presenting test results on a user interface accessible by a client computing device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09454463B2

A computer system comprising a display, one or more computer readable medium storing a computer application comprising computer executable code for creating a graphical user interface, one or more processors receiving and executing the computer executable code to provide the graphical user interface on the display, the computer readable medium also storing a testing application comprising computer executable code for activating the graphical user interface, the testing application defining a command execution server embedded into the computer application, and a command client external to the computer application. Upon execution by the one or more processors, the command execution server receives a command for the graphical user interface, enables the execution of the command by the computer application by generating a graphical user interface event in the graphical user interface of the computer application, and sends an acknowledgement to the command client responsive to the completed execution of the command.
US09454462B2

The invention relates to monitoring processor characteristic information of a processor using run-time-instrumentation. An aspect of the invention includes executing an instruction stream on the processor and detecting a run-time instrumentation sample point of the executing instruction stream on the processor. A reporting group is stored in a run-time instrumentation program buffer based on the run-time instrumentation sample point. The reporting group includes processor characteristic information associated with the processor.
US09454460B2

Methods, systems, and media for providing determinism in multithreaded programs are provided. In some embodiments, methods for providing determinism in multithreaded programs are provided, the methods comprising: instrumenting a program with: a proxy that: receives inputs to the program; and determines whether a schedule corresponding to a set of input constraints satisfied by the inputs has been memoized; and a replayer that: if it is determined that a schedule corresponding to a set of input constraints satisfied by the inputs has been memoized, processes the inputs by the program according to the schedule.
US09454452B2

An information processing apparatus includes a monitoring device including a first communication unit and a first processor. The first communication unit is configured to perform first communication using a first protocol and perform second communication using a second protocol different from the first protocol. The first processor is configured to conduct the first communication via the first communication unit to obtain first data and conduct first determination to determine whether the first data is obtained through the first communication. The first processor is configured to conduct, when it is determined that the first data is not obtained through the first communication, the second communication via the first communication unit to obtain the first data and conduct second determination to determine whether the first data is obtained through the second communication. The first processor is configured to output information on the basis of a determination result of the second determination.
US09454451B2

An apparatus and method are provided for opportunistically performing scrubbing operations on a memory device. The apparatus is used for accessing the memory device in response to access requests issued by at least one requesting device and comprises interface circuitry that is configured to access the memory device in response to the access requests. The apparatus also comprises activity monitoring circuitry which generates memory access activity data that results from memory access activity between the interface circuitry and the memory device. Scrubbing circuitry is also included and is configured to issue scrubbing access requests to perform the scrubbing operations, the scrubbing access requests being issued in response to the memory access activity data indicating a trigger condition. The above apparatus allows scrubbing access requests to be issued taking into account actual memory access activity between the interface circuitry and the memory device, thereby allowing the access requests to be issued opportunistically in such a way that the performance cost/system power consumption necessary to achieve a particular reliability can be reduced compared to known techniques.
US09454450B2

A first network connection is identified between a first software component and a second software component. First data is received from the first software component identifying an amount of data sent over the first network connection. Second data is also received, from the second software component, that identifies the amount of data sent over the first network connection. Further, a particular transaction fragment involving the first and second software components over the first network connection is determined from the received first and second data. In some aspects, the particular transaction fragment can be used in the analysis of a transaction including the particular transaction fragment.
US09454449B2

Analyzing one or more physical infrastructure elements of a data center by generating a plurality of outputs from a stochastic process for a set of inputs to the stochastic process. The inputs comprise one or more inputs of certainty and one or more inputs of uncertainty. A statistical output analysis of the outputs is utilized to generate one or more threshold reaching projections for each of the physical infrastructure elements of the data center.
US09454447B2

A method of injecting hardware faults into execution of an application in a distributed computing system comprising hardware components including linked nodes, the method comprising: loading an enhanced software stack allowing faults to be injected by deactivating or degrading hardware components as a result of fault triggers; running a fault-trigger daemon on each of the nodes; providing the fault trigger for a degradation or deactivation using one of the daemons to trigger a layer of the software stack controlling a hardware component to inject a fault into the hardware component; and continuing execution of the application with the injected fault.
US09454420B1

The various implementations described herein include systems, methods and/or devices that may enhance the reliability with which data can be stored in and read from a memory. The method includes, in response to one or more host read commands, reading data from a set of memory cells in a flash memory array in accordance with a first reading threshold voltage and performing an error correction process on the read data to produce error correction information. The method further includes determining, based on the error correction information, whether to adjust the first reading threshold voltage, and upon determining to adjust the first reading threshold voltage, setting the value of the first reading threshold voltage to a value greater or less than a current value of the first reading threshold voltage. In some implementations, the method further includes initiating a recalibration of the first reading threshold voltage when a predefined condition occurs.
US09454419B2

A method and a system are provided for partitioning a system data bus. The method can include partitioning off a portion of a system data bus that includes one or more faulty bits to form a partitioned data bus. Further, the method includes transferring data over the partitioned data bus to compensate for data loss due to the one or more faulty bits in the system data bus.
US09454402B2

Exemplary embodiments display different types of performance-related data on an information display having a range of units for one type of measured data. Aspects of exemplary embodiment include presenting, by at least one software component executed by a processor, a rate of resource consumption in a visual indicator; and using the visual indicator as a pointer on the information display to a current unit of the measured data.
US09454392B2

A computing device executing a virtual machine and a hypervisor that manages the virtual machine receives a data packet that is addressed to the virtual machine. The computing device writes the data packet to a buffer in a shared memory. The computing device maps the buffer to a memory of a virtual appliance that is hosted by the hypervisor to enable the virtual appliance to operate on the data packet without making a copy of the data packet. The computing device provides the data packet to the virtual machine after the virtual appliance has operated on the data packet.
US09454382B2

A method, apparatus and computer-implemented method, the method comprising: receiving a statechart comprising a complex feature; and replacing the complex feature with a transformed feature, thereby transforming the statechart to a second statechart, wherein replacing the complex feature comprises: creating an auxiliary variable or a default state; changing a value of the auxiliary variable at the beginning of the transformed feature and changing the value of the auxiliary variable again at its end; and taking a transition from the default state, such that the transition occurs in accordance with the value of the auxiliary variable.
US09454380B2

In some embodiments, a PPM interface may be provided with functionality to facilitate to an OS RAS services for one or more hardware components, regardless of a particular platform hardware configuration, as long as the platform hardware and OS are in conformance with the PPM interface.
US09454376B2

Provided is a processor with a multi-pipeline fetch structure or a multi-cycle cache structure, including: an integer core which reads instruction transmitted from a lower block, executes an operation corresponding to the instruction, and transmits an instruction address to the lower block; an instruction buffer which stores instruction data which are requested by the integer core by using the instruction address and transmits the instruction data in response to the request of the integer core; and an instruction cache which stores a portion of data of a program memory and transmit the data to the instruction buffer in response to the request of the instruction buffer.
US09454375B2

Systems and methods for predicting execution paths of at least one target program of a plurality of programs that are run in parallel are described. In one method, execution flows of programs are generated. In addition, the programs are executed to obtain debug logs from the programs. Further, communication messages transmitted between the execution flows are identified from the debug logs. A deduction that at least one conditional branch was taken in at least one given execution flow of the first execution flows by the target program is made based on the communication messages. Based on the deduction, at least one conditional branch that was not taken is removed from the given execution flow. In addition, modified execution flows that were modified in accordance with the removal are output to indicate predicted execution paths of the target program.
US09454372B2

Embodiments relate to thread context restoration. One aspect is a multithreading computer system including a configuration with a core configurable between a single thread (ST) mode and a multithreading (MT) mode. The ST mode addresses a primary thread and the MT mode addresses the primary thread and one or more secondary threads on shared resources of the core. A multithreading facility is configured to control utilization of the configuration to perform a method including disabling one or more secondary threads based on switching from MT mode to ST mode. A thread context of secondary threads is made unavailable to programs. Based on a last-set program-specified maximum thread-id indicating MT, the thread context is obtained by a) executing a set MT instruction to resume the MT mode, and b) based on being in the resumed MT mode, accessing the thread context.
US09454347B2

A method of analyzing an incomplete software program may include receiving high-level software code of a software program that includes multiple functions. The multiple functions may include at least one incomplete function and at least one complete function. The method may further include compiling at least a portion of the high-level software code to generate low-level software code by compiling the complete function and passing over the incomplete function. The method may further include modifying the low-level software code to account for a call to the incomplete function in the low-level software code and symbolically executing the low-level software code.
US09454346B2

Generating a pool of random numbers for use by computer applications. Vibration sensors are placed throughout a machine and collect entropy data from the measurements of the vibration sensors. The data is then filtered and sent via secure connection to a second machine to be added to the second machine's entropy pool. Applications needing a random number may acquire a number from the pool. A method, computer program product and system to generate the pool are provided.
US09454340B2

A method of dynamically changing content in a head unit mirroring a mobile terminal by dynamically changing content displayed in the mobile terminal, and a mobile terminal for the same, the method including receiving state information indicating a current state of a vehicle equipped with the head unit from the head unit, determining the content to be displayed in the head unit based on the state information and transmitting the determined content to the head unit.
US09454325B2

While a computer system is in operational state, a network interface controller (NIC) in the computer system may be operable to copy select data to a secondary storage device. The secondary storage device is accessible by the NIC while the computer system is in an offline state or not operational. The NIC may be operable to provide remote accessibility to the copy of the select data stored in the secondary storage device over a network while the computer system is in the offline state and the NIC is supplied with electrical power and active. While the computer system is in the operational state and whenever a change is made to the select data, the NIC is operable to replace the copy of the select data stored in the secondary storage device with an updated copy of the select data based on the change.
US09454322B2

A state machine engine includes a storage element, such as a (e.g., match) results memory. The storage element is configured to receive a result of an analysis of data. The storage element is also configured to store the result in a particular portion of the storage element based on a characteristic of the result. The storage element is additionally configured to store a result indicator corresponding to the result. Other state machine engines and methods are also disclosed.
US09454310B2

The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods for command queuing. A number of embodiments include receiving a queued command request at a memory system from a host, sending a command response from the memory system to the host that indicates the memory system is ready to receive a command in a command queue of the memory system, and receiving, in response to sending the command response, a command descriptor block for the command at the memory system from the host.
US09454303B2

In general, this disclosure describes novel techniques for controlling video content on a computing device, such as a mobile computing device. For example, a computing device may execute a media application that provides a video output to a presence-sensitive screen of the computing device. During execution of the media application, the presence-sensitive screen may receive a gesture touch input that has motion with respect to the presence-sensitive screen. The computing device may then rewind or fast forward the video output based at least in part on the gesture touch input. The computing device may display, during the rewinding or fast forwarding of the video output, a plurality of frames of the video output concurrently on the presence-sensitive screen in lateral motion corresponding to the rewinding or fast forwarding.
US09454284B2

A web server for supporting a collaborative animation production service. The web server includes a user interface (UI) unit to provide a UI to receive direction data for each scene required for animation production in parallel to users connected to the web server, and a generating unit to combine the direction data input to the UI for each scene and generate an animation corresponding to the combined direction data. A plurality of users thereby collaborate to produce an animation in real time, making it possible to shorten the production time of the animation and produce a high quality animation.
US09454282B2

Disclosed are various embodiments that facilitate sending input commands to an application over a network that may have variable latency characteristics. An input command may be obtained from a client over a network. The obtained input command is then provided to the application that is executed in a hosted environment. When a delay is determined to be necessary based at least in part on latency characteristic, the input command is provided to the application after the delay.
US09454260B2

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a system and method for enabling multi-display input. According to one embodiment, the presence of an object is detected within a display area of a first display panel or a second display panel via at least one optical sensor coupled to a processor. Positional data of the object is received from the optical sensor, and a control operation associated with either the first display or second display panel is determined based on the positional data received from the optical sensor.
US09454254B2

A wet ink texture engine and associated method. The wet ink texture engine may run in the context of any application on any device, service, or general endpoint capable of receiving ink input. For example, the wet ink texture engine may be used in the context of a note application that receives input in the form of writing or drawing. The wet ink texture engine reduces, minimizes, or eliminates lag between receiving the input and displaying the input to improve inking experience for the user.
US09454253B2

A smartphone includes: a cover layer; a display module, and comprises a component configured to cause the LCD panel to perform a display function; a pressure electrode which is located under the display module; and a shielding member which is located under the pressure electrode. At least a portion of a touch sensor which senses touch in a capacitive manner is located in the display module.
US09454252B2

In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a touch sensor that includes a mesh of conductive material configured to extend across a display. The mesh includes multiple first lines and multiple second lines of conductive material. The first lines are substantially parallel to each other, and the second lines are substantially parallel to each other. The display includes multiple pixels that each include sub-pixels. Each of the pixels has a first pixel pitch (PPx) along a first axis and a second pixel pitch (PPy) along a second axis that is substantially perpendicular to the first axis. Each of the sub-pixels has a first sub-pixel pitch (SPPx) along the first axis, and each of the sub-pixels has a complex shape that has an average sub-pixel dimension (SPDy,AVG) along the second axis. The first lines are configured to extend across the display at a first angle relative to the first axis.
US09454246B2

A multi-functional pen apparatus and a method for using the multi-functional pen are provided. The method includes switching an operation mode of the multi-functional pen to a pen mode according to a predetermined key input; receiving pen data in the switched pen mode; and transmitting the pen data to a portable terminal, wherein the portable terminal transmits a call based on the transmitted pen data.
US09454238B2

There is provided a keyboard module including a plurality of keyboard keys, an optical finger mouse and a transmission interface. The keyboard keys are configured to trigger a digital signal. The optical finger mouse is configured to detect a physiological characteristic and a displacement. The transmission interface is configured to send the digital signal, the physiological characteristic and the displacement to a display device. There is further provided a display system.
US09454233B2

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process is provided. The process includes switching, in a case where at least one of an attitude sensing result and an acceleration sensing result relating to a portable information terminal, the portable information terminal including a touch panel, satisfies a predetermined switching condition, data of interest to a corresponding piece of data among plural pieces of data; and performing, on the data of interest, in a case where at least one of the attitude sensing result and the acceleration sensing result relating to the portable information terminal satisfies a predetermined performing condition, processing corresponding to the performing condition.
US09454223B2

Provided is an apparatus and method for controlling a portable terminal. The apparatus includes a contact sensing unit which senses an area of an external surface of the portable terminal contacted by a user as the user holds the portable terminal, a recognizing unit which recognizes a function mode of the portable terminal based on information about the contacted area sensed by the contact sensing unit, and a control unit which changes the portable terminal to a function mode recognized by the recognizing unit. Since a function mode of the portable terminal is controlled according to the way a user holds the portable terminal, convenience of changing a function mode of the portable terminal is provided through a single manipulation.
US09454218B2

An apparatus and method is described herein for providing an early wake scheme before spawning a new thread. An early wake indication may be provided an amount of time, which may include an amount of time to perform a demotion from a current power state to a lower power state that is closer to an active power state, before a new thread is to be spawned and executed on a processing element (e.g., core or thread). Upon encountering the spawn of the new thread, such as a helper thread, the processing element may further transition from the lower power state to an active power state. The new thread may be executed on the processing element without incurring the latency associated with execution of the new thread waiting for the demotion from the current power state to an active power state after the spawn of the new thread.
US09454209B2

A network-centric, power management system and method is disclosed for monitoring and controlling device nodes attached to a network. The monitoring and controlling includes collecting and processing information available on the network about the device nodes and using the collected information to manage power on the device nodes.
US09454207B2

A computer-implemented computer shut-down method includes identifying that a computing device has been moved from an open configuration in which input and output mechanisms on the computing device are accessible to a user, to a closed configuration in which at least some of the input and output mechanisms are inaccessible to a user; starting a shut-down timer in response to identifying that the computing device has been moved from the open configuration to the closed configuration; waiting a predefined time period, as established by the shut-down timer, and determining from the shut-down timer that the computing device can be transitioned from an active state into a sleep state in which power consuming components of the computing device are powered down; and transitioning the computing device from the active state to the sleep state upon determining that the computing device can be transitioned.
US09454206B2

Improved power management techniques for computer-readable storage devices are described. In one embodiment, for example, an apparatus may comprise a plurality of logical storage devices and a controller to manage operations of the plurality of logical storage devices, the controller comprising a configuration component to configure a global power consumption threshold defining an overall power consumption budget for the plurality of logical storage devices, a tracking component to maintain a global power consumption tally comprising an estimated total power consumption level for the plurality of logical storage devices, and an arbitration component to resolve an operation request based on the global power consumption threshold and the global power consumption tally. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09454203B2

An information handling system is powered by a battery. In response to determining that a remaining amount of power within the battery has fallen below a first threshold, power consumption of the information handling system is reduced by reducing at least one non-critical operation of the information handling system, while maintaining at least one critical operation of the information handling system. After reducing the at least one non-critical operation, it is increased in response to determining that the remaining amount of power within the battery has risen above a second threshold.
US09454196B2

In some embodiments, a system may include at least one voltage controller. At least one of the voltage controllers may assess, during use, an occurrence of a predetermined condition. In some embodiments, the system may include an at least first capacitor. The at least first capacitor may be coupled to at least one of the voltage controllers such that at least one of the voltage controllers engages the at least first capacitor to supply additional current when the predetermined condition occurs. When the increase in current is no longer required the at least first capacitor may be disengaged. The at least first capacitor may be charged when disengaged until a predetermined capacity.
US09454194B2

A heat dissipating module includes a heat dissipating member and an air flow guiding mechanism. The air flow guiding mechanism includes a base, an air guiding plate and a stopping structure. The base is disposed on a side of the heat dissipating member, and the air guiding plate is pivoted to the base. The stopping structure is disposed on the base. A side of the stopping structure abuts against the air guiding plate, so as to allow the air guiding plate to rotate in a first direction and to stop the air guiding plate from rotating in a second direction opposite to the first direction.
US09454193B2

A flash drive that can utilize space behind a mobile device is disclosed. In some embodiments, a body of the flash drive has three portions, a front portion, a back portion, and an intermediate portion that runs from the front portion to the back portion. A mobile device connector extends from a first end of the front portion, and a second connector extends from a second end of the back portion. The intermediate portion is configured to cause, when the mobile device connector is connected to the mobile device, the second connector and part of the back portion of the body to be located behind and, in some embodiments, adjacent to the back of the mobile device. This can enable part of the body to fit in a gap that can form between the back of the mobile device and a user's palm when the user holds the mobile device.
US09454192B2

A computing system can include a processor; memory accessible by the processor; a drive bay chassis that includes opposing side walls that define a width of a drive bay; a drive accessible by the processor and disposed in the drive bay; a biasing mechanism operatively coupled to the drive bay chassis; a movable bracket biased by the biasing mechanism where the bracket includes at least one extension, a first orientation with respect to the drive bay chassis that orients the bracket in a latchable state of the at least one extension with respect to the drive in the drive bay and a second orientation with respect to the drive bay chassis that orients the bracket in an unlatchable state of the at least one extension with respect to the drive in the drive bay. Various other apparatuses, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed.
US09454184B2

A detachable electronic device includes a tablet computer and a peripheral apparatus where the tablet computer is detachably disposed. The detachable electronic device may include a connection apparatus disposed in the peripheral apparatus, the connection apparatus to which the tablet computer is detachably mounted; wherein the connection apparatus may include a base rotatably disposed in the peripheral apparatus; a male connector disposed in the base; a supporting member disposed below the male connector and elastically supporting the male connector upwardly; and a pair of hooks disposed at opposite sides of the male connector in the base, and wherein the tablet computer may include a female connector disposed in a side surface of the tablet computer and to be connected to the male connector; and a pair of push-push latches disposed to be coupled to the pair of hooks at opposite sides of the female connector.
US09454178B2

An electronic device includes a display for displaying data stored on said electronic device; input means; sensing means for sensing the three-dimensional position of the input means relative to said device; and control means for controlling the data displayed on said display in dependence on the three-dimensional position of the input means relative to said device. The input means includes a source of electromagnetic radiation for directing an infrared conical beam onto the display. The sensing means can sense the elliptical eccentricity of the electromagnetic radiation incident on the display to determine the angle at which it strikes the display, and can sense the area of the electromagnetic radiation incident on the display to determine the distance of the input means from the display.
US09454172B2

There is provided a voltage control circuit that is applicable to a LED device, a power supply or the like. The voltage control circuit includes: a voltage dividing unit dividing a supply voltage into a first voltage and a second voltage different from each other; a shunt regulator adjusting the first voltage according to the second voltage; and an output circuit unit outputting the voltage regulated by the shunt regulator.
US09454170B2

Circuits and methods to improve dynamic load transient performance of circuits supplying high current and having parasitic resistances are disclosed. These circuits comprise e.g. LDOs, amplifiers or buffers. The circuits and methods are characterized by including parasitic resistances, caused by bond wires, metallization of pass devices, and substrate routings, in a loop for fast transient response. Furthermore the circuits comprise a stabilization circuit within said loop and a separate pad for said loop.
US09454168B2

In an LDO regulator, two feedback loops are created. The first feedback loop includes a high power PNP bipolar power transistor connected in series between the input voltage Vin terminal and the output voltage Vout terminal. The first feedback loop includes a first error amplifier that controls a drive transistor to drive the base of the power transistor such that Vout matches a set voltage Vset. This first feedback loop circuitry uses an operating voltage (the upper rail voltage) that is regulated by a second feedback loop and is approximately 300 mV greater than Vout. As a result, the control circuitry will be powered by a low ripple supply to improve output PSRR. Further, the power transistor is connected such that any noise in the input voltage is a common mode voltage across the base-emitter of the transistor.
US09454158B2

A device that includes a flow controller system that comprises one or more sensors, a flow measurement sensor that comprises one or more sensors. The flow measurement sensor is configured to generate a signal based on determine the difference between the flow as measured by the flow controller system and the flow measurement system in real time.
US09454144B2

A tool path display apparatus includes a display unit for displaying at least two of a program path, a command path and an actual path so that the paths can be compared with each other. The tool path display apparatus further includes a tool vector display unit for displaying tool vectors representative of tool postures corresponding to these paths so that the tool vectors can be compared with each other. Each tool vector is displayed as a line segment connecting a tool tip point and a reference point distant from the tool tip point toward a tool base end side by a predetermined distance.
US09454143B2

A method and system is provided for determining and optimizing electric transfer capacities of electric power system facilities. A processor receives and stores information that is used to compute the quantity of electric power that can flow through one or more electric power facilities. A capability datastore and an external factors datastore communicate with the processor and with each other. The capability datastore computes and stores the electrical transfer capability as a function time duration and at any given point in time while the external factors datastore determines a plurality of variables which affect the electrical transfer capabilities. A resource manager, connected to the processor, allocates resources by optimizing and correlating the electrical transfer capabilities with the plurality of variables, to generate an electrical transfer capacity rating for the one or more electric power facilities as a function of time duration and at any given point in time.
US09454141B2

Systems are described that provide monitoring for control, measurement and verification of demand side management resources. Control units deployed among customer or utility premises can monitor capacity as real or reactive power that is consumed, generated or stored by resources and, in some cases, selectively alter the load consumed or energy delivered by some or all of such resources derived from load capacity and dispatch models. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US09454113B2

An image forming apparatus includes a sheet feed unit which feeds a sheet to an image forming unit forming an image on the sheet, a re-transport roller which reverses the sheet with a toner image fixed on the sheet and re-transports the sheet to the image forming unit, and a control unit which controls a sheet feed operation of the sheet feed unit for feeding the sheet. As the temperature of the re-transport roller sensed by the temperature sensing unit is decreased, the control unit retards the timing at which the sheet feed unit starts the sheet feed operation when a duplex image formation in which the image is formed on both sides of the sheet is performed after a one-side image formation is completed.
US09454107B2

A novel image forming apparatus includes a photoreceptor to bear an electrostatic latent image on a surface thereof, a developing device to develop the electrostatic latent image into a toner image, an intermediate transfer member onto which the electrostatic latent image is transferred, a primary transfer member to apply a primary transfer bias to the intermediate transfer member to transfer the toner image thereto, a secondary transfer member supplied with a secondary transfer bias to transfer the toner image from the intermediate transfer member onto a recording medium, and a transfer bias power source to selectively apply to the secondary transfer member one of a secondary transfer bias consisting of a direct current (DC) voltage in a DC transfer mode and a secondary transfer bias consisting of a superimposed bias in which an alternating voltage is superimposed on a DC voltage.
US09454106B2

An image forming apparatus is provided in which, during a continuous sheet passing, in the case where a between-sheets time is short, none of a cleaning mode and a drive OFF mode is performed; in the case where the between-sheets time is of a medium length of time, the cleaning mode is performed but the drive OFF mode is not performed; and in the case where the between-sheets time is long, both the cleaning mode and the drive OFF mode are performed. As a result, degradation of an image bearer due to the cleaning bias is alleviated, decreased productivity due to the cleaning mode is alleviated, a problem is alleviated in which a back surface of a recording medium gets dirty due to toner adhered to a transfer rotation body, and another problem is alleviated in which the service life of a driven member is shortened.
US09454104B1

A developing device includes a developing sleeve and a regulation portion. The developing sleeve includes a magnetism generating portion to which magnetic poles are attached. The developing sleeve holds a developer on an outer circumferential surface. The regulation portion includes a magnetic plate. A first segment connecting a peak position of the magnetic pole disposed at a position facing the magnetic plate and an axial center of the developing sleeve has an angle, with respect to a second segment connecting the magnetic plate and the axial center, equal to or less than 7 degrees on a downstream side in a rotation direction of the developing sleeve and equal to or less than 6 degrees on an upstream side in the rotation direction. An angle of a half value width of the magnetic pole is equal to or greater than 41 degrees to equal to or less than 52 degrees.
US09454102B2

A developing cartridge is provided. The developing cartridge includes a first frame and a second frame and a layer thickness regulating member. The first frame and the second frame include a first welding surface formed at a periphery of the developer accommodating part correspondingly to a developer accommodating part; and a second welding surface extending continuously from the first welding surface correspondingly to a roller support part. The first welding surface extends in a direction orthogonal to an overlapping direction of the first frame and the second frame. The second welding surface extends to be inclined toward a side of the first frame in the overlapping direction as extending toward the developing roller. The layer thickness regulating member is provided to cover the second welding surface from a side of the second frame in the overlapping direction.
US09454096B2

A magnetic toner contains magnetic toner particles containing a binder resin and a magnetic body, and inorganic fine particles present on the surface of the magnetic toner particles, wherein the inorganic fine particles present on the surface of the magnetic toner particles contain metal oxide fine particles, the metal oxide fine particles containing silica fine particles, and optionally containing titania fine particles and alumina fine particles, and a content of the silica fine particles being at least 85 mass % with respect to a total mass of the silica fine particles, the titania fine particles and the alumina fine particles, when a coverage ratio A (%) is a coverage ratio of the magnetic toner particles' surface by the inorganic fine particles and a coverage ratio B (%) is a coverage ratio of the magnetic toner particles' surface by the inorganic fine particles that are fixed to the magnetic toner particles' surface, the magnetic toner has a coverage ratio A and a coverage ratio B/coverage ratio A in prescribed ranges, wherein the magnetic toner has a dielectric constant ∈′ and a dielectric loss tangent in prescribed ranges.
US09454086B2

A method of programmable photolithography includes positioning (910) a programmable photomask in proximity to a photoresist layer on a sample. The programmable photomask is illuminated (920) with a plurality of different wavelengths of light simultaneously to expose the photoresist layer in a predetermined pattern. The programmable photomask is separated (930) from the photoresist layer and the photoresist layer is developed (940) to create the predetermined pattern in the photoresist layer.
US09454085B2

An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a spatial light modulator which varies an intensity distribution in a pupil surface. The modulator includes an array of mirrors that reflect impinging projection light into directions that depend on control signals applied to the mirrors. A prism, which directs the projection light towards the spatial light modulator, has a double pass surface on which the projection light impinges twice, namely a first time when leaving the prism and before it is reflected by the mirrors, and a second time when entering the prism and after it has been reflected by the mirrors. A pupil perturbation suppressing mechanism is provided that reduces reflections of projection light when it impinges the first time on the double pass surface, and/or prevents that light portions being a result of such reflections contribute to the intensity distribution in the pupil surface.
US09454082B2

Anionic surfactants have a formula: RfSO2N(H)—CH2CH(CH3)OH; or RfSO2N(H)—CH2CH2O)xH, where x is an integer from 2-6. Rf is a fluoroalkyl group having 3 to 8 carbon atoms. Neutral surfactants having a formula: (a) Rf—SO2N[CH2CH(CH3)OH]2; (b) RfSO2N[CH2CH(CH3)OH][(CH2CH2O)nH], where n is an integer from 1-6; (c) RfSO2N(R)[(CH2CH2O)pH], where p is an integer from 2-6, and R is an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; or (d) RfSO2N[(CH2CH2O)qH][(CH2CH2O)mH], where q is an integer from 1-6 and m is an integer from 3-6. Rf is a fluoroalkyl group having 3 to 8 carbon atoms.
US09454081B2

Disclosed is a method and apparatus for mitigation of photoresist line pattern collapse in a photolithography process by applying a gap-fill material treatment after the post-development line pattern rinse step. The gap-fill material dries into a solid layer filling the inter-line spaces of the line pattern, thereby preventing line pattern collapse due to capillary forces during the post-rinse line pattern drying step. Once dried, the gap-fill material is depolymerized, volatilized, and removed from the line pattern by heating, illumination with ultraviolet light, by application of a catalyst chemistry, or by plasma etching.
US09454071B2

A projection screen includes a substrate and an optical microstructure. The substrate has a projection area for projecting an image onto the projection area. The projection area includes a plurality of arrayed optical regions. Each of the optical regions includes a first and second optical sub-region with optical characteristics of reflective scattering/transmissive scattering/specular reflection and simple transmission, wherein an area of the second optical sub-region is larger than that of the first optical sub-region. The optical microstructure is arranged on the substrate for guiding the light of the image to a specific direction. The above-mentioned projection screen with two or more optical characteristics, for example, can be at the same time as the front projection screen and the rear projection screen, or allows the user to watch background image behind the projection screen. A projection system including the above-mentioned projection screen is also disclosed.
US09454066B2

A multi-lens system can be configured to be selectively attachable to a mobile electronic device having a user-facing onboard camera lens and an outward-facing onboard camera lens. The multi-lens system can attach to the mobile electronic device in at least a first position and a second position. The first lens component in the first position is configured to be in optical alignment with the user-facing onboard camera lens and simultaneously the second lens component is configured to be in optical alignment with the outward-facing onboard camera lens. The first lens component in the second position is configured to be in optical alignment with the outward-facing onboard camera lens and simultaneously the second lens component is configured to be in optical alignment with the user-facing onboard camera lens. A portable attachment accessory can be configured to be selectively attachable to a lens system that is configured to receive a portion of a mobile electronic device.
US09454057B2

An electrophoretic display (EPD) including a plurality of first electrodes, a plurality of second electrodes, and a plurality of pixel units is provided. The first electrodes are arranged in parallel and configured to receive a plurality of first electrode driving signals. The second electrodes are arranged in parallel and disposed perpendicular to the first electrodes, and the second electrodes are configured to receive a plurality of second electrode scanning signals. The pixel units are respectively arranged between the first electrodes and the second electrodes as an array. Each pixel unit includes a first capacitor and a second capacitor. The first terminal of the first capacitor is coupled to the corresponding first electrode. The first terminal of the second capacitor is coupled to the second terminal of the first capacitor, and the second terminal of the second capacitor is coupled to the corresponding second electrode.
US09454052B2

Disclosed are an in-cell touch liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatus having a pixel electrode top structure and a method of manufacturing the same. The in-cell touch LCD apparatus is implemented in the pixel electrode top structure, thereby preventing color mixing between red, green, and blue pixels. The method of manufacturing the in-cell touch LCD apparatus decreases the number of masks necessary to manufacture a TFT array substrate, thereby reducing a manufacturing time and the manufacturing cost.
US09454040B2

A liquid crystal display is provided, including a first insulating substrate; a second insulating substrate facing the first insulating substrate; a pixel electrode disposed on the first insulating substrate; a common electrode disposed on the first insulating substrate or the second insulating substrate; a first alignment layer disposed on the first insulating substrate; a second alignment layer disposed on the second insulating substrate; and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first insulating substrate and the second insulating substrate, in which at least one of the first alignment layer and the second alignment layer include a main chain and a plurality of side chains which are connected to the main chain, and at least one of the plurality of side chains includes a reactive mesogen including a vertical expression group and at least two photoreactor groups connected to the vertical expression group.
US09454032B2

In order to prevent light leakage between adjacent pixels or prevent color mixture, a liquid crystal display device includes: a TFT substrate having a pixel in which a pixel electrode and a TFT are formed; a counter substrate in which a color filter is formed corresponding to the pixel, a black matrix is formed between each of the color filters, and an overcoat film is formed so as to cover the color filter; and a liquid crystal sandwiched between the TFT substrate to the counter substrate. When seen from a direction perpendicular to the main surface of the counter substrate, an insertion material with a refractive index different from the refractive index of the overcoat film is formed in the layer of the overcoat film at a position corresponding to the black matrix. The refractive index of the insertion material is different from the refractive index of the liquid crystal.
US09454027B2

A liquid crystal display (LCD) comprises a light source configured to provide a first light having a first wavelength, a first wavelength conversion layer configured to convert the first light into a second light having a second wavelength longer than the first wavelength, and a first optical shutter which overlaps the first wavelength conversion layer, is configured to adjust transmittance of the first light or the second light, and comprises liquid crystal molecules and dichromatic dye.
US09454023B2

A semiconductor electro-optical phase shifter may include a substrate, an optical waveguide segment (12) formed on the substrate, and first and second zones of opposite conductivity types configured to form a first bipolar junction perpendicular to the substrate. The phase shifter may also include a dynamic control structure configured to reverse bias the first junction and a static control structure configured to direct a quiescent current in the second zone, parallel to the first junction.
US09454021B2

The present invention provides a contact lens manufactured at least partially from an intelligent polymer, the lens having a relaxed state which, upon application of a first stimulus forms a first corrective shape and which, upon application of a second stimulus, forms a second corrective shape, wherein the corrective effect provided by the lens in the relaxed state is intermediate to the corrective visual effects provided by the first and second corrective shapes.
US09454020B2

The present invention is directed to a method for designing a soft contact lens with semi-customized back surface including determining axial radius topography data for a plurality of eyes of a specific population; calculating an apical radius and a conic constant distribution from the axial radius data; determining apical radius and conic constant values for an individual subject; selecting a subset of base curves from a base curve library based on the individual subject's apical radius and conic constant values; and selecting a final base curve from the subset of base curves that fits the individual subject's needs based on one or more selection criteria.