US09520533B2
A UV light emitting device and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed. The method includes forming a first super-lattice layer including AlxGa(1-x)N on a substrate, forming a sacrificial layer including AlzGa(1-z)N on the first super-lattice layer, partially removing the sacrificial layer, forming an epitaxial layer on the sacrificial layer, and separating the substrate from the epitaxial layer, wherein the sacrificial layer includes voids, the substrate is separated from the epitaxial layer at the sacrificial layer, and forming an epitaxial layer includes forming an n-type semiconductor layer including n-type AluGa(1-u)N (0
US09520525B1
An infrared photo-detector with multiple discrete regions of a first absorber material. These regions may have geometric shapes with sloped sidewalls. The detector also may include a second absorber region comprising a second absorber material that absorbs light of a shorter wavelength than the light absorbed by the multiple discrete absorber regions of the first absorber material. The geometric shapes may extend only through the first absorber material. Alternatively, the geometric shapes may extend partially into the second absorber region. The detector has a metal reflector coupled to the multiple discrete absorber regions. The detector also has a substrate containing the discrete absorber regions and the second absorber region. The substrate can further include geometric shaped features etched into the substrate, with those features formed on the side of the substrate opposite the side containing the discrete absorber regions and the second absorber region.
US09520522B2
A method of manufacturing a solar cell module comprising pressing a first silicone gel sheet provided on a sunlight receiving surface of a solar cell string and a second silicone gel sheet provided on an opposite side sunlight non-receiving surface of the solar cell string in vacuum to encapsulate the solar cell string with the first and second silicone gel sheets; disposing the sunlight receiving surface side of the first silicone gel sheet on one surface of a transparent light receiving panel and disposing butyl rubber in a picture frame-like shape along an outer peripheral portion of a panel where the first silicone gel sheet is not formed and laying the light receiving panel and the light non-receiving panel or back sheet over each other with the silicone gel sheet-encapsulated solar cell string on the inside, and pressing them at 100 to 150° C. in vacuum to press bond the light receiving surface panel and the light non-receiving surface panel or back sheet to each other through the butyl rubber.
US09520517B2
A solar cell including a non-amorphous semiconductor substrate of a first conductive type; at least a first semiconductor layer on the non-amorphous semiconductor substrate, the first semiconductor layer including a portion that is amorphous and a plurality of portions having crystal lumps, so that the plurality of portions having the crystal lumps are distributed in the first semiconductor layer; a first electrode on the semiconductor substrate; and a second electrode on the semiconductor substrate.
US09520512B2
Photovoltaic devices such as solar cells, hybrid solar cell-batteries, and other such devices may include an active layer disposed between two electrodes. The active layer may have perovskite material and other material such as mesoporous material, interfacial layers, thin-coat interfacial layers, and combinations thereof. The perovskite material may be photoactive. The active layer may include a titanate. The perovskite material may be disposed between two or more other materials in the photovoltaic device. Inclusion of these materials in various arrangements within an active layer of a photovoltaic device may improve device performance. Other materials may be included to further improve device performance, such as, for example: additional perovskites, and additional interfacial layers.
US09520506B2
A capacitor and method of forming a capacitor are presented. The capacitor includes a substrate having a capacitor region in which the capacitor is disposed. The capacitor includes first, second and third sub-capacitors (C1, C2 and C3). The C1 comprises a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitor which includes a gate on the substrate. The gate includes a gate electrode over a gate dielectric. A first C1 plate is served by the gate electrode, a second C1 plate is served by the substrate of the capacitor region and a C1 capacitor dielectric is served by the gate dielectric. The C2 includes a back-end-of-line (BEOL) vertical capacitor disposed in ILD layers with metal levels and via levels. A plurality of metal lines are disposed in the metal levels. The metal lines of a metal level are grouped in alternating first and second groups, the first group serves as first C2 plates and second group serves as second C2 plates and the dielectric layers between the first and second groups serve as C2 capacitor dielectrics. The C3 includes a first C3 plate served by the gate electrode, a second C3 plate served by second group lines in the first metal level of the ILD layers, and a C3 capacitor dielectric is served by the first via level dielectric below M1 and above the gate electrode. A first capacitor terminal is coupled to first capacitor plates of C1, C2 and C3 and a second capacitor terminal is coupled to second capacitor plates of C1, C2 and C3.
US09520501B2
The present invention is a semiconductor device comprising a semiconducting low doped vertical super-thin body (VSTB) formed on Dielectric Body Wall (such as STI-wall as isolating substrate) having the body connection to bulk semiconductor wafer on the bottom side, isolation on the top side, and the channel, gate dielectric, and gate electrode on opposite to STI side surface. The body is made self-aligned to STI hard mask edge allowing tight control of body thickness. Source and Drain are made by etching holes vertically in STI at STI side of the body and filling with high doped crystalline or poly-Si appropriately doped with any appropriate silicides/metal contacts or with Schottky barrier Source/Drain. Gate first or Gate last approaches can be implemented. Many devices can be fabricated in single active area with body isolation between the devices by iso-plugs combined with gate electrode isolation by iso-trenches. The body can be made as an isolated nano-plate or set nano-wire MOSFET's on the STI wall to form VSTB SOI devices.
US09520479B1
A low-temperature epitaxial method manufactures backside field stop layer of insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) first provides a first conductive type substrate and fabricates front-side elements and front metal layer on a front side of the IGBT. A second conductive type impurity layer is formed on a back side of the first conductive type substrate by low-temperature epitaxial process and a collector metal layer is formed on bottom face of the first conductive type substrate.
US09520478B2
Some embodiments include methods of forming diodes in which a first electrode is formed to have a pedestal extending upwardly from a base. At least one layer is deposited along an undulating topography that extends across the pedestal and base, and a second electrode is formed over the least one layer. The first electrode, at least one layer, and second electrode together form a structure that conducts current between the first and second electrodes when voltage of one polarity is applied to the structure, and that inhibits current flow between the first and second electrodes when voltage having a polarity opposite to said one polarity is applied to the structure. Some embodiments include diodes having a first electrode that contains two or more projections extending upwardly from a base, having at least one layer over the first electrode, and having a second electrode over the at least one layer.
US09520476B2
A semiconductor device (100A) includes a substrate (2), an oxide semiconductor layer (5) formed on the substrate (2), source and drain electrodes (6s, 6d) electrically connected to the oxide semiconductor layer (5), a first transparent electrode (7) electrically connected to the drain electrode (6d), a dielectric layer (8) formed on the source and drain electrodes (6s, 6d), and a second transparent electrode (9) formed on the dielectric layer (8). The upper and/or lower surface(s) of the first transparent electrode (7) contacts with a reducing insulating layer (8a) with the property of reducing an oxide semiconductor included in the oxide semiconductor layer (5). The second transparent electrode (9) overlaps at least partially with the first transparent electrode (7) via the dielectric layer (8). The oxide semiconductor layer (5) and the first transparent electrode (7) are formed out of the same oxide film.
US09520472B2
A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a substrate comprising a groove. A buffer layer is formed on a surface of the groove. The buffer layer comprising at least one material chosen from AIN, GaN or AlxGa1-xN, where x is between zero and one. An epitaxially grown semiconductor material is disposed over the buffer layer, at least a portion of the epitaxially grown semiconductor material having a cubic crystalline phase structure. Methods of forming the semiconductor devices are also taught.
US09520469B1
High Ge content SiGe fins are provided, as well as improved techniques for forming high Ge content SiGe fins. A high Ge content fin is formed by obtaining one or more low Ge content SiGe fins having a hard mask deposited thereon; forming a high Ge content SiGe fin around the one or more low Ge content SiGe fins by oxidizing one or more sidewalls of the one or more low Ge content SiGe fins to create one or more oxide shells on the one or more sidewalls; removing the one or more oxide shells; and selectively removing the one or more low Ge content SiGe fins to produce a high Ge content SiGe fin device. A Fin Field Effect Transistor (FinFET) is also provided, comprising an insulating layer; and at least one high Ge content fin formed on the insulating layer, wherein the at least one high Ge content fin has asymmetric recesses into the insulator layer.
US09520466B2
Semiconductor devices and methods of forming the same are provided. A template layer is formed on a substrate, the template layer having a recess therein. A plurality of nanowires is formed in the recess. A gate stack is formed over the substrate, the gate stack surrounding the plurality of nanowires.
US09520465B2
Disclosed is a technique capable of reducing loss at the time of switching in a diode. A diode disclosed in the present specification includes a cathode electrode, a cathode region made of a first conductivity type semiconductor, a drift region made of a low concentration first conductivity type semiconductor, an anode region made of a second conductivity type semiconductor, an anode electrode made of metal, a barrier region formed between the drift region and the anode region and made of a first conductivity type semiconductor having a concentration higher than that of the drift region, and a pillar region formed so as to connect the barrier region to the anode electrode and made of a first conductivity type semiconductor having a concentration higher than that of the barrier region. The pillar region and the anode are connected through a Schottky junction.
US09520453B2
An electroluminescent device and manufacturing method thereof are provided. The electroluminescence device comprises an array substrate (10). The array substrate (10) comprises a substrate (11); and a thin film transistor (12), a protection layer (13) and a connection electrode (14) provided in turn on the substrate (11). The protection layer (13) covers the thin film transistor (12); and the connection electrode (14) is provided on the protection layer (13). The protection layer (13) below the connection electrode (14) protrudes towards a side away from the substrate (11) to form a boss (131). The protection layer (13) comprises a via hole (132) provided at a position corresponding to a drain electrode (122) of the thin film transistor (12). The connection electrode (14) is connected with the drain electrode (122) of the thin film transistor (12) through the via hole (132). The electroluminescent device and manufacturing method thereof shorten the film formation time, reduce the etching difficulty and accordingly improves the production efficiency in the process of manufacturing the connection electrode while the reliability of electrical connection between a thin film transistor and a second electrode is improved.
US09520449B2
A photoelectric conversion device includes an organic photoelectric conversion film; a first electrode and a second electrode provided with the organic photoelectric conversion film in between; and a charge block layer provided between the second electrode and the organic photoelectric conversion film, in which the charge block layer includes a work function adjustment layer including a metal element on the second electrode side of the organic photoelectric conversion film, the metal element being adopted to adjust a work function, and a first diffusion suppression layer provided between the work function adjustment layer and the second electrode and suppressing diffusion of the metal element to the second electrode side.
US09520446B2
Some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a memory array comprising memory cells having vertical gate-all-around (GAA) selection transistors. In some embodiments, the memory array has a source region disposed within an upper surface of a semiconductor body, and a semiconductor pillar of semiconductor material extending outward from the upper surface of the semiconductor body and having a channel region and an overlying drain region. A gate region vertically overlies the source region at a position laterally separated from sidewalls of the channel region by a gate dielectric layer. A first metal contact couples the drain region to a data storage element that stores data. The vertical GAA selection transistors provide for good performance, while decreasing the size of the selection transistor relative to a planar MOSFET, so that the selection transistors do not negatively impact the size of the memory array.
US09520445B2
Various embodiments describe an integrated non-volatile component. The component may include a surface contact with associated mating contact wherein a ferroelectric layer is used as a conductive channel having variable conductivity and the surface contact and/or the associated mating contact are/is embodied as a rectifying contact and, as a result of an applied voltage between the surface contact and the associated mating contact, a non-volatile space charge zone forms in the surface contact terminal region and/or mating contact terminal region in the ferroelectric layer.
US09520442B2
An optoelectronic component can be used for mixing electromagnetic radiation having different wavelengths, in particular in the far field. The optoelectronic component includes a carrier. A first semiconductor chip has a first radiation exit surface for emitting electromagnetic radiation in a first spectral range is provided on the carrier and a second semiconductor chip as a second radiation exit surface for emitting electromagnetic radiation in a second spectral range is provided on the carrier. A diffusing layer is provided on the radiation exit surfaces of the semiconductor chips which face away from the carrier.
US09520441B2
A method for fabricating a back-illuminated imager which has a pinned back surface is disclosed. A first insulator layer is formed overlying a mechanical substrate. A conductive layer is deposited overlying the first insulator layer. A second insulator layer is formed overlying the conductive layer to form a first structure, an interface being formed between the conductive layer and the second insulator layer, the conductive layer causing band bending proximal to the interface such that the interface is electrically pinned. Hydrogen is implanted in a separate device wafer to form a bubble layer. A final insulator layer is formed overlying the device wafer to form a second structure. The first structure and the second structure are bonded to form a combined wafer. A portion of the combined wafer is removed underlying the bubble layer to expose a seed layer comprising the semiconductor material substantially overlying the second insulator layer.
US09520430B2
A solid state imaging apparatus includes an insulation structure formed of an insulation substance penetrating through at least a silicon layer at a light receiving surface side, the insulation structure having a forward tapered shape where a top diameter at an upper portion of the light receiving surface side of the silicon layer is greater than a bottom diameter at a bottom portion of the silicon layer. Also, there are provided a method of producing the solid state imaging apparatus and an electronic device including the solid state imaging apparatus.
US09520429B2
An image sensor includes a plurality of filters, an air spacer formed between the plurality of filters, and a protection layer including a first part formed on the plurality of filters and a second part formed on the air spacer. The second part of the protection layer may have a convex lens shape that protrudes over the plurality of filters.
US09520424B2
One or more techniques or systems for forming a black level correction (BLC) structure are provided herein. In some embodiments, the BLC structure comprises a first region, a second region above at least some of the first region, and a third region above at least some of the second region. For example, the first region comprises silicon and the third region comprises a passivation dielectric. In some embodiments, the second region comprises a first sub-region, a second sub-region above the first sub-region, and a third sub-region above the second sub-region. For example, the first sub-region comprises a metal-silicide, the second sub-region comprises a metal, and the third sub-region comprises a metal-oxide. In this manner, a BLC structure is provided, such that a surface of the BLC structure is flush, at least because the third region is flush, for example.
US09520423B2
An image sensor includes a substrate including a first surface and a second surface, a first device isolation layer disposed in the substrate and defining a plurality of pixels in the substrate, and having a lower surface adjacent the first surface of the substrate and an upper surface adjacent the second surface of the substrate. Each of the pixels includes a photoelectric conversion element, a floating diffusion region adjacent the first surface of the substrate, and a grid pattern on the second surface of the substrate. At least one of the grid patterns is not vertically aligned with the first device isolation layer.
US09520421B1
The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a LTPS TFT substrate and a LTPS TFT substrate. The method for manufacturing the LTPS TFT substrate of the present invention forms a thermally conductive electrical insulation layer having excellent properties of electrical insulation and thermal conductivity on a buffer layer to quickly absorb a great amount of heat during a RTA process to be transferred to an amorphous silicon layer in contact therewith so that the portion of the amorphous silicon at this site shows an increased efficiency of crystallization, whereby polycrystalline silicon has an increased grain size and reduced gain boundaries and thus the mobility of charge carriers of a corresponding TFT device is increased and the influence of the leakage current caused by grain boundary is reduced. The LTPS TFT substrate of the present invention includes a thermally conductive electrical insulation layer formed on a buffer layer at a location exactly under a polycrystalline silicon semiconductor layer and the grain size of the crystallization of the polycrystalline silicon is relatively large, the grain boundaries are reduced in number, the mobility of charge carriers of a TFT device is increased, and the electrical property of the TFT is improved.
US09520417B2
A method of manufacturing an alignment film is provided, and has steps of determining printing regions for an alignment agent, which including display portions and transfer portions; printing the alignment agent within the printing regions to form an alignment thin layer; and performing an alignment process to the alignment thin layer to form the alignment film. The unevenness on the edge of the alignment film is moved away from the display portions by expanding the printing regions for the alignment agent, so as to promote the imaging quality of the finished LCD.
US09520411B2
A display device includes a pixel portion including a plurality of pixels each including a first transistor, a second transistor, and a light-emitting element, in which a gate of the first transistor is electrically connected to a scan line, one of a source and a drain of the first transistor is electrically connected to a signal line, and the other of them is electrically connected to a gate of the second transistor; one of a source and a drain of the second transistor is electrically connected to a power supply line and the other of them is electrically connected to the light-emitting element, and the first transistor includes an oxide semiconductor layer. A period when the display device displays a still image includes a period in which output of a signal to all the scan lines in the pixel portion is stopped.
US09520409B2
A three-dimensional nonvolatile memory device includes a first vertical channel layer and a second vertical channel layer extending from a substrate, a plurality of memory cells, first selection transistors and second selection transistors spaced apart from each other along the first vertical channel layer and the second vertical channel layer, a pad, a contact plug and a bit line in a stacked configuration over the first vertical channel layer, and a common source line formed over the second vertical channel layer.
US09520403B2
A semiconductor memory device includes: a plurality of first channel columns including a plurality of first channel layers that are arranged in a direction and offset by their centers; a plurality of second channel columns alternately arranged with the plurality of first channel columns and having a plurality of second channel layers that are arranged in the direction and offset by their centers; first insulating layers and first conductive layers alternately stacked to surround the first channel layers; second insulating layers and second conductive layers stacked to surround the second channel layers; and spacers placed between the first channel columns and the second channel columns and interposed between the first conductive layers and the second conductive layers.
US09520402B1
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards techniques to provide etch stops to the wordlines that form a staircase structure of a 3D memory array. In one embodiment, the apparatus may comprise a 3D memory array having wordlines disposed in a staircase structure. A wordline may include a silicide layer and a spacer disposed to abut the silicide layer around an end of the wordline. The silicide layer and the spacer may form an etch stop of the wordline for a wordline contact structure to electrically connect the wordline with the memory array in response to a deposition of the wordline contact structure on the etch stop. The etch stop may be configured to prevent a physical or electrical contact of the wordline contact structure with an adjacent wordline of the staircase structure, in order to avoid undesired short circuits. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US09520401B2
A semiconductor device includes a plurality of first signal lines crossing a plurality of second signal lines. At least one of the first signal lines has a first end to receive a first voltage and a second end to receive a second voltage. The first and second voltages are applied simultaneously to respective ones of the first and second ends. A difference between the first and second voltages causes joule heating in the at least one first signal line. The joule heating may correct one or more defects in the semiconductor device.
US09520387B2
A stacked package structure is provided. The stacked package structure includes a stacked package including a lower semiconductor package, an upper semiconductor package disposed on the lower semiconductor package and spaced a predetermined distance apart from the lower semiconductor package, an inter-package connecting portion electrically connecting the lower semiconductor package and the upper semiconductor package while supporting a space therebetween, and an insulation layer disposed at least outside the inter-package connecting portion and filling the space between the lower semiconductor package and the upper semiconductor package, and an electromagnetic shielding layer surrounding lateral and top surfaces of the stacked package.
US09520379B2
In some embodiments, the present invention relates to a method of integrated chip bonding. The method forms a conductive trace on a surface of a first work piece, and a conductive bump on a surface of a second work piece. The conductive bump has a recess. A reflow process is performed on a solder layer to electrically couple the conductive trace and the conductive bump. The solder layer fills a part of the recess during the reflow process. By filling the recess during the reflow process, electrical shorting between the conductive trace and an adjacent conductive is reduced.
US09520366B2
An electronic chip including an integrated circuit arranged a face of a substrate, and a protection device arranged partially facing the integrated circuit is provided. The protection device includes a capacitor having a first electrode and a second electrode between which a layer of phase change material is disposed changing locally from a first resistive state to a second resistive state different from the first state by penetration of a beam. The first state is an amorphous state wherein the capacitor has a first capacitance and/or a first resistance and the second state is a crystalline state wherein the capacitor has a second capacitance and/or a second resistance different from the first capacitance and first resistance. The protection device is electrically connected to the integrated circuit by at least one of the first or second electrodes so that the integrated circuit measures the resistance and/or capacitance of the capacitor.
US09520364B2
A method of making a semiconductor device can include providing a plurality of semiconductor die, wherein each semiconductor die comprises an active surface and a backside opposite the active surface. The method can include forming a build-up interconnect structure that extends over the active surface of each of the plurality of semiconductor die within the wafer, and forming a unique identifying mark for each of the plurality of semiconductor die as part of a layer within the build-up interconnect structure while simultaneously forming the layer of the build-up interconnect structure. The layer of the build-up interconnect structure can comprise both the unique identifying marks for each of the plurality of semiconductor die and functionality for the semiconductor device. Each unique identifying mark can convey a unique identity of its respective semiconductor die. The method can further include singulating the plurality of semiconductor die into a plurality of semiconductor devices.
US09520362B2
The present disclosure provides a method of fabricating a semiconductor device. The method includes forming a patterned dielectric layer having a plurality of first openings. The method includes forming a conductive liner layer over the patterned dielectric layer, the conductive liner layer partially filling the first openings. The method includes forming a trench mask layer over portions of the conductive liner layer outside the first openings, thereby forming a plurality of second openings, a subset of which are formed over the first openings. The method includes depositing a conductive material in the first openings to form a plurality of vias and in the second openings to form a plurality of metal lines. The method includes removing the trench mask layer.
US09520360B2
A method for fabricating a multilayer structure includes providing a mask on a device stack disposed on the substrate, the device stack comprising a first plurality of layers composed of a first layer type and a second layer type; directing first ions along a first direction forming a first non-zero angle of incidence with respect to a normal to a plane of the substrate, wherein a first sidewall is formed having a sidewall angle forming a first non-zero angle of inclination with respect to the normal, the first sidewall comprising a second plurality of layers from at least a portion of the first plurality of layers and composed of the first layer type and second layer type; and etching the second plurality of layers using a first selective etch wherein the first layer type is selectively etched with respect to the second layer type.
US09520352B2
A wiring board includes a first wiring layer, a first insulating layer, first via wirings, connection terminals and a protection layer. The first insulating layer is formed with through holes. The first via wirings are formed in the through holes. The connection terminals are electrically connected to the first wiring layer through the first via wirings. The connection terminals protrude upward from the first insulating layer. The protection layer is made of insulating resin which contains photosensitive resin as a main component. The protection layer is formed on an upper surface of the first insulating layer. The protection layer includes first and second protection layers. The first protection layer surrounds the connection terminals. The second protection layer is separated from the first protection layer. The second protection layer is thinner than the first protection layer.
US09520351B2
A packaging substrate and a package structure are provided. The packaging substrate includes a plurality of dielectric layers, two of which have a difference in thickness; and a plurality of circuit layers alternately stacked with the dielectric layers. Therefore, the package warpage encountered in the prior art is avoided.
US09520349B2
A semiconductor package is provided. In one configuration, the semiconductor package includes a substrate. A conductive trace is disposed on the substrate. A conductive pillar bump is disposed on the conductive trace, wherein the conductive bump is coupled to a die. In another configuration, a first conductive trace is disposed on the substrate, and a second conductive trace is disposed on the substrate. In the second configuration, a conductive pillar bump disposed on the second conductive trace, connecting to a conductive bump or a metal pad of the semiconductor die. A first conductive structure is disposed between the second conductive trace and the conductive pillar bump or between the second conductive trace and the substrate, and a die is disposed over the first conductive trace.
US09520343B1
A field-effect transistor (FET) structure for preventing from shorting is disclosed. The field-effect transistor (FET) structure is applying to a power discrete device, such as the MOSFET or IGBT. The field-effect transistor structure comprises a MOSFET chip and a metal clip. A silver layer (or silver string) is welded on the surface of the metal clip jointed with the source pad so that the silver paste may be not overflowed and permeated into the gate bus to achieve the effect of preventing from shorting.
US09520342B2
Various applications of interconnect substrates in power management systems are described.
US09520334B2
An integrated structure includes a support supporting at least one chip and a heat dissipating housing, attached to the chip. The housing is thermally conductive and has a thermal expansion compatible with the chip. The housing may further including closed cavities filled with a phase change material.
US09520332B2
An electronic device and methods of manufacture thereof. One or more methods may include providing a lid wafer having a cavity and a surface surrounding the cavity and a device wafer having a detector device and a reference device. In certain examples, a solder barrier layer of titanium material may be deposited onto the surface of the lid wafer. The solder barrier layer of titanium material may further be activated to function as a getter. In various examples, the lid wafer and the device wafer may be bonded together using solder, and the solder barrier layer of titanium material may prevent the solder from contacting the surface of the lid wafer.
US09520329B2
A fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) semiconductor structure includes: a first PFET, a second PFET, and a third PFET each having a different threshold voltage and each being over an n-well that is biased to a first voltage; and a first NFET, a second NFET, and a third NFET each having a different threshold voltage and each being over a p-type substrate that is biased to a second voltage. The second voltage is different than the first voltage.
US09520325B2
A method for producing a semiconductor device in accordance with various embodiments may include providing a semiconductor workpiece attached to a first carrier; dicing the semiconductor workpiece and the carrier so as to form at least one individual semiconductor chip; mounting the at least one semiconductor chip with a side facing away from the carrier, to an additional carrier.
US09520323B2
Embodiments of a microelectronic package including at least one trench via are provided, as are embodiments of a method for fabricating such a microelectronic package. In one embodiment, the method includes the step of depositing a dielectric layer over a first microelectronic device having a plurality of contact pads, which are covered by the dielectric layer. A trench via is formed in the dielectric layer to expose the plurality of contact pads therethrough. The trench via is formed to include opposing crenulated sidewalls having a plurality of recesses therein. The plurality of contact pads exposed through the trench via are then sputter etched. A plurality of interconnect lines is formed over the dielectric layer, each of which is electrically coupled to a different one of the plurality of contact pads.
US09520314B2
Methods and apparatus for bonding an electrostatic chuck to a component of a substrate support are provided herein. In some embodiments, an adhesive for bonding components of a substrate support may include a matrix of silicon-based polymeric material having a filler dispersed therein. The silicon based polymeric material may be a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) structure having a molecular weight with a low molecular weight (LMW) content Σ D3-D10 of less than about 500 ppm. In some embodiments, the filler may comprise between about 50 to about 70 percent by volume of the adhesive layer. In some embodiments, the filler may comprise particles of aluminum oxide (Al2O3), aluminum nitride (AlN), yttrium oxide (Y2O3), or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the filler may comprise particles having a diameter of about 10 nanometers to about 10 microns.
US09520310B2
A wafer container may be a front opening wafer container comprising a container portion and a door, one of the container portion and the door having a radially installed seal with a plurality of opposing lateral projections that deflect from a normal position in a direction away from an install direction when the seal is installed in a groove, the lateral projections resisting removal of the seal after the seal is seated in the groove. A core portion and a cantilevered finger member engages the other of the door and container portion when the door is seated in the container portion. Other lateral projections on the seal effectively seal the path between the seal and groove surfaces.
US09520309B2
A substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate includes a transfer device which has a drive motor and transfers a substrate, a peripheral device which has a drive motor and loads and unloads the substrate in substrate-transfer operation of the transfer device, and a control device which conducts drive control on the drive motor of the transfer device and drive control of the drive motor of the peripheral device.
US09520305B2
A power semiconductor device comprising a power semiconductor module and a heat sink; and a method for its manufacture. The module has a cooling plate, with an opening delimited by a lateral first surface thereof extending circumferentially around the opening. The cooling plate is arranged in the opening and has a lateral first surface which extends circumferentially around the cooling plate. The two first surfaces are at a respective angle of less than 90° with respect to a main surface of the cooling plate facing the power semiconductor components. The two first surfaces are pressed together, extending circumferentially along the first surface of the cooling plate and extending circumferentially along the first surface of the heat sink. The inventive power semiconductor device has good heat conduction from the power semiconductor components to the heat sink through which a liquid can flow, and which is reliably leaktight over the long term.
US09520303B2
Methods of selectively etching aluminum and aluminum layers from the surface of a substrate are described. The etch selectively removes aluminum materials relative to silicon-containing films such as silicon, polysilicon, silicon oxide, silicon carbon nitride, silicon oxycarbide and/or silicon nitride. The methods include exposing aluminum materials (e.g. aluminum) to remotely-excited chlorine (Cl2) in a substrate processing region. A remote plasma is used to excite the chlorine and a low electron temperature is maintained in the substrate processing region to achieve high etch selectivity. Aluminum oxidation may be broken through using a chlorine-containing precursor or a bromine-containing precursor excited in a plasma or using no plasma-excitation, respectively.
US09520297B2
A method of forming a semiconductor device includes sequentially forming a hard mask layer and a first sacrificial layer on a substrate, forming a first mandrel on the first sacrificial layer, forming a first spacer on both sidewalls of the first mandrel, removing the first mandrel, forming a second mandrel by etching the first sacrificial layer using the first spacer as an etch mask, forming a second spacer on both sidewalls of the second mandrel, removing the second mandrel, forming a hard mask pattern by patterning the hard mask layer using the second spacer as an etch mask, the hard mask pattern including first to ninth fin-type mask patterns extending to be parallel with each other in a first direction and sequentially spaced apart from each other in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, removing the third, fifth and seventh fin-type mask patterns, forming first to sixth active patterns by etching the substrate using the hard mask pattern as an etch mask, and forming a first gate electrode extending in the second direction to intersect the first to fourth active patterns and a second gate electrode extending in the second direction to intersect the third to sixth active patterns and spaced apart from the first gate electrode in the first direction without intersecting the first and second active patterns.
US09520293B2
A method for making a mechanically flexible silicon substrate is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a silicon substrate. The method further includes forming a first etch stop layer in the silicon substrate and forming a second etch stop layer in the silicon substrate. The method also includes forming one or more trenches over the first etch stop layer and the second etch stop layer. The method further includes removing the silicon substrate between the first etch stop layer and the second etch stop layer.
US09520288B2
It is an object to provide a thin film transistor having favorable electric characteristics and high reliability and a semiconductor device which includes the thin film transistor as a switching element. An In—Ga—Zn—O-based film having an incubation state that shows an electron diffraction pattern, which is different from a conventionally known amorphous state where a halo shape pattern appears and from a conventionally known crystal state where a spot appears clearly, is formed. The In—Ga—Zn—O-based film having an incubation state is used for a channel formation region of a channel etched thin film transistor.
US09520280B2
Mass analyzers and methods of ion detection for a mass analyzer are provided. An electrostatic field generator provides an electrostatic field causing ion packets to oscillate along a direction. A pulse transient signal is detected over a time duration that is significantly shorter than a period of the ion oscillation or using pulse detection electrodes having a width that is significantly smaller than a span of ion harmonic motion. A harmonic transient signal is also detected. Ion intensity with respect to mass-to-charge ratio is then identified based on the pulse transient signal and the harmonic transient signal.
US09520274B2
The invention relates to an ion implanter that comprises an enclosure ENV having arranged therein a substrate carrier PPS connected to a substrate power supply ALT via a high voltage electrical passage PET, the enclosure ENV being provided with pump means PP, PS, the enclosure ENV also having at least two cylindrical source bodies CS1, CS2 free from any obstacle and arranged facing the substrate carrier. This implanter is remarkable in that it includes at least one confinement coil BCI1-BCS1, BCI2-BCS2 per source body CS1, CS2.
US09520273B2
A tuner (43) includes a microwave transmission path (51), having a coaxial structure, configured to transmit a supplied microwave to a planar slot antenna (101); slugs (61a) and (61b made of a dielectric material and configured to be moved along the microwave transmission path (51); a slug driving unit (70) configured to move the slugs (61a) and (61b) along the microwave transmission path (51); and a control unit (80) configured to perform impedance matching by controlling positions of the slugs such that they are located at a matching position where a reflection coefficient is small, and configured to control, based on a state of the plasma, a matching track through which the slugs (61a) and (61b) reach the matching position.
US09520272B2
A microwave emission mechanism includes: a transmission path through which a microwave is transmitted; and an antenna section that emits into a chamber the microwave transmitted through the transmission path. The antenna section includes an antenna having a slot through which the microwave is emitted, a dielectric member through which the microwave emitted from the antenna is transmitted and a closed circuit in which a surface current and a displacement current flow. A surface wave is formed in a surface of the dielectric member. The closed circuit has at least: an inner wall of the slot; and the surface and an inner portion of the dielectric member. When a wavelength of the microwave is λ0, a length of the closed circuit is nλ0±δ, where n is a positive integer and δ is a fine-tuning component including 0.
US09520270B2
Techniques herein include methods for curing a layer of material (such as a resist) on a substrate to enable relatively greater heat reflow resistance. Increasing reflow resistance enables successful directed self-assembly of block copolymers. Techniques include receiving a substrate having a patterned photoresist layer and positioning this substrate in a processing chamber of a capacitively coupled plasma system. The patterned photoresist layer is treated with a flux of electrons by coupling negative polarity direct current power to a top electrode of the plasma processing system during plasma processing. The flux of electrons is accelerated from the top electrode with sufficient energy to pass through a plasma and its sheath, and strike the substrate such that the patterned photoresist layer changes in physical properties, which can include an increased glass-liquid transition temperature.
US09520263B2
The present invention pertains to an apparatus for generating a charged particle beam comprising a magnetic element for controlling the profile of the beam in a predetermined plane. A cathode can be provided for emitting charged particles and an anode for accelerating the charged particles along an axis of travel. The present invention also pertains to a method for generating a particle beam that has a uniform profile in a predetermined plane comprising inducing emission of charged particles from an emitter, accelerating those particles along and toward an axis of beam travel, generating a magnetic field with a component aligned with the axis of beam travel but different in the predetermined plane than at the emitter, and modifying the beam profile.
US09520260B2
A photo-emitter x-ray source is provided that includes a photocathode electron source, a laser light source, where the laser light source illuminates the photocathode electron source to emit electrons, and an X-ray target, where the emitted electrons are focused on the X-ray target, where the X-ray target emits X-rays. The photocathode electron source can include alkali halides (such as CsBr and CsI), semiconductors (such as GaAs, InP), and theses materials modified with rare Earth element (such as Eu) doping, electron beam bombardment, and X-ray irradiation, and has a form factor that includes planar, patterned, or optically patterned. The X-ray target includes a material such as tungsten, copper, rhodium or molybdenum. The laser light source is pulsed or configured by light modulators including acousto-optics, mode-locking, micro-mirror array, and liquid crystals, the photocathode electron source includes a nano-aperture or nano-particle arrays, where the nano-aperture is a C-aperture or a circular aperture.
US09520236B2
A multilayer ceramic electronic component includes a ceramic element body including internal electrodes and external electrodes electrically connected to respective internal electrodes. Each of the external electrodes includes a sintered metal layer including glass and metal and a conductive resin layer including resin and metal particles. In a cross section of the multilayer ceramic capacitor, at an interface between the sintered metal layer and the conductive resin layer, recesses having a shape in which a dimension of an inner portion is larger than a dimension of an inlet are present, and L1/L2 is about 0.2 or more and about 1.5 or less, where L1 is a length along the interface at which the glass of the sintered metal layer is exposed at the interface, and L2 is a length along the interface at which the metal of the sintered metal layer is exposed at the interface.
US09520234B2
A multilayer ceramic capacitor and manufacturing method therefor, in which the capacitor includes a ceramic body including dielectric layers and internal electrodes; electrode layers connected to the internal electrodes; and a conductive resin layer formed on the electrode layers and including a first conductor, a second conductor having a fiber shape, and a base resin.
US09520220B2
A device having a variable inductor includes an inductor having an inductance, a first conductor having a first grounding property, and a second conductor having a second grounding property. The device further includes a first single-mesh structure including a first grid. The first grid includes a first conducting wire electrically connected to the first conductor, and a second conducting wire electrically connected to the first conducting wire and the first conductor, wherein the first conducting wire, the second conducting wire and the first conductor are configured to form a first loop corresponding to the inductor for tuning the inductance. The first single-mesh structure further includes a second grid. The second grid includes a third conducting wire electrically connected to the first conducting wire and the second conductor, and a fourth conducting wire electrically connected to the third conducting wire and the second conductor, wherein the third conducting wire, the fourth conducting wire and the second conductor are configured to form a second loop corresponding to the inductor for tuning the inductance.
US09520214B2
There is provided an electric wire holder for holding electric wires connected to terminal fittings at end portions of the wires, the holder configured to attach to a shielding pipe to cover an edge of the shielding pipe into which the electric wires are inserted and from which the terminal fittings and a portion of the electric wires are drawn out to an outside of the shielding pipe, the holder comprising: a first holding piece configured to hold the portion of the electric wires that is drawn out from the shielding pipe and to fix a draw-out position of the terminal fittings.
US09520206B2
Disclosed herein are an anisotropic conductive film and a method for manufacturing the same. The anisotropic conductive film according to the present invention includes: an insulating resin; and a plurality of conductive graphenes dispersed into the insulating resin.
US09520181B1
One embodiment describes a JMRAM memory cell system. The system includes a phase hysteretic magnetic Josephson junction (PHMJJ) that stores one of a first binary state and a second binary state in response to a write current provided during a data write operation and to provide a superconducting phase based on the stored digital state. The system also includes a directional write element configured to provide a directional bias current during the data write operation to provide the superconducting phase of the PHMJJ in a predetermined direction corresponding to the first binary state. The system further includes at least one Josephson junction having a critical current that is based on the superconducting phase of the PHMJJ and being configured to provide an output corresponding to the stored digital state in response to a read current that is provided during a read operation.
US09520160B2
A memory module includes a plurality of semiconductor memory devices and a circuit board. The circuit board is electrically connected to the plurality of semiconductor memory devices, and a signal line is disposed in the outermost layer of the circuit board. An electrical reference for the signal line is provided in a layer of the circuit board that is not adjacent to the outermost layer. Accordingly, an impedance of the signal line may be increased, and signal integrity of a signal transmitted through the signal line may be improved.
US09520157B2
In one aspect, a portable handheld measurement device automatically stores measurement values in volatile memory in a limited replay storage mode that comprises a storage limitation that applies to the plurality of measurement values stored in the limited replay storage mode; receives a replay request; and, responsive to the replay request, presents at least some of the measurement values stored in the limited replay storage mode. In another aspect, a portable handheld measurement device automatically stores measurement values and associated contextual data according to a persistent storage mode; and automatically stores the measurement values according to a limited replay storage mode, wherein the limited replay storage mode comprises a storage limitation that is not present in the persistent storage mode.
US09520156B2
A content preview of a content item is generated by extracting one or more clips from the content item, each clip is identified using a clipping point, a clip duration, a starting point, which is identified using the clipping point, and an ending point, which is identified using the clip's starting point and clipping duration. By way of a non-limiting example, shot boundaries are identified within the content item, the clip's starting point is identified to be the shot boundary before and closest to the clip's clipping point, the clip's ending point is identified to be the shot boundary after and closest to the clip's starting point plus clip duration. In a case that multiple clips are generated for the content preview, the clips are multiplexed to form the content preview. In a case that the content item comprises different types of content, such as audio and video content, the audio and video content is extracted from the content item for each clip, and synchronized to form the clip.
US09520154B2
Disclosed herein is an image display apparatus including a storage unit storing a plurality of images, an input unit receiving a selection command for selecting one or more images from among the plurality of images, and a display unit displaying at least one image of the selected images in a first zone and at least one second image of the selected images in a second zone.
US09520147B2
A MR sensor is disclosed that has a free layer (FL) with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) which eliminates the need for an adjacent hard bias structure to stabilize free layer magnetization and minimizes shield-FL interactions. In a TMR embodiment, a seed layer, free layer, junction layer, reference layer, and pinning layer are sequentially formed on a bottom shield. After patterning, a conformal insulation layer is formed along the sensor sidewall. Thereafter, a top shield is formed on the insulation layer and includes side shields that are separated from the FL by a narrow read gap. The sensor is scalable to widths <50 nm when PMA is greater than the FL self-demag field. Effective bias field is rather insensitive to sensor aspect ratio which makes tall stripe and narrow width sensors a viable approach for high RA TMR configurations. Sensor sidewalls may extend into the seed layer or bottom shield.
US09520146B1
A method of forming a wrapped-around shielded perpendicular magnetic recording writer pole is disclosed. A structure comprising a leading shield layer and an intermediate layer disposed over the leading shield layer is provided, the intermediate layer comprising a pole material and a dielectric material. A trench is formed in the dielectric material. A non-magnetic layer in the trench is removed via an ion beam etching process. A seed layer is deposited in the trench and over the pole material. A magnetic material comprising a side shield layer is deposited on at least a portion of the seed layer.
US09520135B2
A method performed in an audio decoder for decoding M encoded audio channels representing N audio channels is disclosed. The method includes receiving a bitstream containing the M encoded audio channels and a set of spatial parameters, decoding the M encoded audio channels, and extracting the set of spatial parameters from the bitstream. The method also includes analyzing the M audio channels to detect a location of a transient, decorrelating the M audio channels, and deriving N audio channels from the M audio channels and the set of spatial parameters. A first decorrelation technique is applied to a first subset of each audio channel and a second decorrelation technique is applied to a second subset of each audio channel. The first decorrelation technique represents a first mode of operation of a decorrelator, and the second decorrelation technique represents a second mode of operation of the decorrelator.
US09520134B2
A system for processing compressed audio includes a signal enhancer module configured to generate one or more signal treatments. The one or more signal treatments may be generated by the signal enhancer module based on analysis of the incoming audio signal. Alternatively, or in addition, characteristics of the incoming audio signal may be provided to the signal enhancer module for use in generating the one or more signal treatments. The one or more signal treatments may be added to file audio signals.
US09520130B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for obtaining, for each of multiple words or sub-words, audio data corresponding to multiple users speaking the word or sub-word; training, for each of the multiple words or sub-words, a pre-computed hotword model for the word or sub-word based on the audio data for the word or sub-word; receiving a candidate hotword from a computing device; identifying one or more pre-computed hotword models that correspond to the candidate hotword; and providing the identified, pre-computed hotword models to the computing device.
US09520129B2
Provided is a speech recognition system, including: a first information processing device including a speech recognition processing unit for receiving data to be used for speech recognition transmitted via a network, carrying out speech recognition processing, and returning resultant data; and a second information processing device connected to the first information processing device via the network. The second information processing device performs conversion of the data into data having a format that disables a content thereof from being perceived by application of a mapping function on phoneme ID's associated with the content, and also enables the speech recognition processing unit to perform the speech recognition processing. Thereafter, the second information processing device transmits the data to be used for the speech recognition by the speech recognition processing unit and constructs resultant data returned from the first information processing device into a content of a valid and perceivable recognition result.
US09520128B2
Techniques related to implementing neural networks for speech recognition systems are discussed. Such techniques may include implementing frame skipping with approximated skip frames and/or distances on demand such that only those outputs needed by a speech decoder are provided via the neural network or approximation techniques.
US09520127B2
Providing a framework for merging automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems having a shared deep neural network (DNN) feature transformation is provided. A received utterance may be evaluated to generate a DNN-derived feature from the top hidden layer of a DNN. The top hidden layer output may then be utilized to generate a network including a bottleneck layer and an output layer. Weights representing a feature dimension reduction may then be extracted between the top hidden layer and the bottleneck layer. Scores may then be generated and combined to merge the ASR systems which share the DNN feature transformation.
US09520117B2
An optical electronic musical instrument device (“e-instrument”) that is configured to identify colors and output sounds that are associated with the identified color is disclosed. The e-instrument may detect colors using a color sensor and generate a color signal as a result. Additionally, the volume of the sound may be influenced by a motion signal generated by a motion sensor, wherein the lower or higher the motion signal's value corresponds to a lower or higher volume. The color and motion signals may be sent to one or more processors, either local or remote from the e-instrument, that generates or retrieves a sound signal based on the color and motion signals. The sound signal may then be transmitted to a speaker and the speaker outputs the sound signal accordingly. The sound signal may be any instrument, including a sound of a guitar, piano, drum, etc.
US09520114B2
An acoustic-drum tuning method, apparatus, and a system are disclosed which are configured to tune different regions of the drumhead membrane separately or the drumhead membrane in its entirety. Various embodiments of the acoustic-drum tuning assembly include a single adjustment feature to vary the drumhead tension uniformly around the drumhead's periphery and include multiple other adjustment features to vary the drumhead tension non-uniformly around the drumhead's periphery In some embodiments the tuning mechanism includes a semi flexible hoop or rim, for example a semi-rigid metal hoop, that restraints the drumhead membrane with respect to the drum. The restraining hoop may be pulled uniformly away from the drumhead to uniformly increase the tension in the drumhead membrane and/or may be pulled non-uniformly away from the drumhead to increase the tension in the drumhead membrane non-uniformly.
US09520113B2
A resonance control compression pad for the acoustic bass drum which in some embodiments may comprise: an elongate batter head contacting surface; an elongate resonance head contacting surface opposingly positioned to the elongate batter head contacting surface; and a plurality of baffles coupled to the elongate batter head contacting surface and to the elongate resonance head contacting surface. The elongate resonance head contacting surface may be configured to contact portions of a resonant head when the pad is positioned within a drum instrument, while the elongate batter head contacting surface may be configured to contact portions of a batter head when the pad is positioned within a drum instrument. The elongate resonance head contacting surface may exert pressure on the resonant head and the elongate batter head contacting surface may likewise exert pressure on the batter head, thereby providing resonance control to the drum instrument.
US09520112B1
An accordion includes a right hand play side, a left hand play side, a bellow provided between the right hand play side and the left hand play side, and four rows of buttons provided on at least one of the right hand play side and the left hand play side. The four rows of buttons include a first column to which first continuous four pitches are assigned, a second column, provided adjacent to the first column, to which second continuous four pitches are assigned, the second continuous four pitches being adjacent to the first continuous four pitches, and a third column, provided adjacent to the second column, to which third continuous four pitches are assigned, the third continuous four pitches being adjacent to the second continuous four pitches.
US09520110B1
The present invention is a novel variable tension string instrument that relies on a kinetic shape to actively alter the tension of a fixed length taut string. A mathematical model was derived that relates the two-dimensional kinetic shape equation to the string's physical and dynamic parameters. With this model, an automated instrument was designed and constructed to play frequencies within predicted and recognizable frequencies along with programmed melodies.
US09520101B2
One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for creating an image rendering filter that can be used to produce a desired view of an image. Monitor characteristics can be identified for a monitor that is displaying the image, and viewing characteristics of a viewer intending to view the image can also be identified. The monitor characteristics and the viewing characteristics can be used to create the image rendering filter, which may be applied to the input image the monitor, resulting in an “ideal” image for the particular viewer viewing the image on the particular monitor.
US09520100B2
In a network service system, first data is uploaded from a terminal of a member to a server and second data and the first data are viewable by members. The terminal includes a display, a detector configured to detect a screen change operation in a first direction and a screen change operation in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and a display controller configured to successively switch and display the first data on the display when the detector detects the screen change operation in the first direction, and successively switch and display the second data when the detector detects the screen change operation in the second direction.
US09520096B2
A liquid crystal display device includes: a light source section so configured that independently-controllable emission subsections are formed on a light-exit plane of a light-guide plate; a liquid crystal display panel modulating, based on an input picture signal, light exited from each of the emission subsections in the light source section; and a display controlling section having a partitioning-drive processing section generating, based on the input picture signal, an emission pattern signal representing a light emission pattern of the emission subsections in the light source section, and a partitioning-drive picture signal. The display controlling section performs, based on the partitioning-drive picture signal, display-drive on each pixel in the liquid crystal display panel, and performs, based on the emission pattern signal, light-emission drive through allowing one or more of first light sources and one or more of second light sources to emit concurrently so as to form the emission subsections.
US09520088B2
A display device includes a display panel including a pixel array including data lines, gate lines crossing the data lines, and pixels arranged in a matrix form, a source driver integrated circuit (IC) for supplying a data voltage to the data lines, a gate driver IC for supplying a gate pulse to the gate lines, and a first flexible film cable bonded to a substrate of the display panel. The first flexible film cable includes lines for transmitting gate timing control signals and gate driving powers received from a printed circuit board to the gate driver IC. The first flexible film cable has a thickness of about 20 μm to 100 μm.
US09520076B2
The present invention provides a method for adjusting white-balance, comprising the steps of: S1, entering a value of white-balance of a standard sample into a display panel; S2, controlling the display panel to display a test image having different grayscale value so as to attain a full grayscale value of the display panel; S3, determining whether the attained full grayscale value is within a specification, if yes, then proceeding into next step, and if no, then proceeding into step S4; and S4, recalculating the white-balance value based on a difference between the attained full grayscale value and the white-balance value of the standard sample, and reentering the calculated white-balance value into display panel, and returning to step S2. The white balance adjusting system incorporated with such white balance adjusting method can be readily and quickly implemented into the existing production line of liquid crystal display panel.
US09520072B2
In one embodiment, a method for projecting images on a subject includes determining a pose and position of the subject, adjusting a three-dimensional model of an anatomical structure of the subject to match the determined pose and position, and projecting an image of the anatomical structure onto the subject in registration with the actual anatomical structure of the subject to illustrate the location of the structure on or within the subject.
US09520065B2
A navigation aid information display device of an aircraft and primary flight display for an aircraft are disclosed. In one aspect, the navigation aid information display system includes a display screen including at least one first display area configured to display a first altitude scale including graduations, the current altitude of the aircraft on the first scale, and set altitude value. The graduations of the first scale are distributed on an arc of a first disc including a first needle centered in the disc and the first needle is configured to indicate the current altitude on the first scale. The distribution of the graduations on the arc is nonlinear and symmetrical relative to a graduation corresponding to the set altitude value and defines extension graduations decreasing from the set altitude value.
US09520062B2
A portable computing device can be used to locate a vehicle in a parking structure. In particular, the portable computing device can communicate with a parking system that manages the parking structure and/or with a vehicle in order to locate the vehicle. Communications between the portable computing device, parking system and vehicle can be based on one or more wireless connections, such as Bluetooth and/or Bluetooth LE connections.
US09520058B2
Apparatus, systems and methods are described for outputting audible or visual indicators via a remote control for a controlled device. A remote control queries an associated controlled device for information. The controlled device generates a request for the remote control to activate an audio or visual indicator. The request is integrated with a response to the query that is transmitted to the remote control. The remote control outputs an audio or visual indicator responsive to the request.
US09520055B2
Method of communication between a first node and a second node of a home-automation installation, the method comprising the transmission of a first signal from a first transmitting part of the first node to a second receiving part of the second node, upon receipt of the first signal by the second node, transmission of a second signal from a second transmitting part of the second node to a first receiving part of the first node, the second signal comprising a signal confirming to the first node that the first signal has indeed been received and understood, and placing in the inactive state or maintaining in the active state the first receiving part as a function of an information cue contained in the second signal received by the first node.
US09520050B2
An apparatus for personal security is disclosed that includes a portable accessory formed to receive an alerting device. The alerting device fits within a compartment of the portable accessory, and the portable accessory includes a communication device. The apparatus includes an alerting device with an alerting element. The alerting device is interchangeable with a plurality of portable accessories. One or more activation elements are disposed on the portable accessory and formed to activate the alerting device wherein the alerting element sends an alert signal to the communication device in response to receiving an activation signal from the one or more activation elements. In one embodiment, the alerting device sends the alert signal to the communication device in response to receiving the activation signal. In another embodiment, the communication device notifies one or more predefined contacts that an alert signal was sent in response to receiving the alert signal.
US09520049B2
Systems and techniques are provided for learned overrides for home security. A sensor of a security system may be armed. A trip signal may be received indicating a tripping of the sensor. It may be determined that the trip signal can be automatically overridden based on matching an identity of the sensor and a state of the security system with a pattern in a model. The pattern may represent a state of the security system in which automatically overriding the trip signal from the sensor is permitted. The trip signal from the sensor may be automatically overridden without input from a user.
US09520047B2
A first terminal configured to operate in conjunction with a second terminal, the first terminal including: a sensor configured to obtain information corresponding to a motion of the first terminal; a communicator configured to receive information corresponding to a motion of the second terminal from the second terminal; and a controller configured to, in response to a distance between the first terminal and the second terminal being greater than or equal to a critical value, control the communicator to transmit a notification message to the second terminal based on the information corresponding to the motion of the first terminal and the information corresponding to the motion of the second terminal.
US09520043B1
A system includes an electronic device including a baseboard management controller (BMC), a power supply unit (PSU), and an external connector, wherein the BMC controls a serial communication bus, and the external connector includes AC voltage contacts and serial communication bus contacts. A power distribution unit (PDU) includes multiple outlets, a management entity, a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader, and a visual indicator. A power cable includes a first plug end for coupling to the external connector, a second plug end for coupling to one of the outlets, AC voltage wires extending end-to-end, a read/write RFID tag in the second plug end, and communication wires extending from the first plug end to the read/write RFID tag. Coupling the first plug end to the external connector connects the AC voltage and connects the serial communication bus such that the BMC is in serial communication with the read/write RFID tag.
US09520042B2
A smoke detector has enhanced audio and communications capabilities that allow audio content to be provided at each smoke detector location. This audio content may be music, intercom, doorbell actuation and radio programs. The smoke detector may also include a microphone for monitoring and two way communications between two or more smoke detectors, a intercom panel at a doorbell location, controlling lights in an area of the smoke detector with voice commands, and further providing for speakerphone answering and communications capabilities. Audio content and control may be provided to the smoke detector with a software program application running on a personal computer, tablet computer and a smart cell phone. A smoke detector may further be controlled with a Bluetooth or infrared handheld controller located in a area proximate to the smoke detector.
US09520040B2
The invention is an integrated system consisting of a network of two-dimensional sensors (such as cameras) and processors along with target detection, data fusion, tracking, and alerting algorithms to provide three-dimensional, real-time, high accuracy target tracks and alerts in a wide area of interest. The system uses both target kinematics (motion) and features (e.g., size, shape, color, behavior, etc.) to detect, track, display, and alert users to potential objects of interest.
US09520026B2
A game system that is capable of performing a game by employing an information card in place of a conventional paper-based system is provided.This game system includes: a plurality of gaming machines; a bill identifying device that is associated with each of the gaming machines, for identifying bills of different currencies and an amount of the bills, and outputting data representative of an identified result; a player tracking device that is integrated with each of the gaming machine, for converting data output from the bill identifying device to credit data for executing a game, based on a money exchange rate stored therein, and sending out the converted credit data to the gaming machine; a control device for inputting a money exchange rate from an outside, providing the input money exchange rate to the player tracking device, and updating the money exchange rate stored in the player tracking device; and an information card device that is integrated with the player tracking device, for causing an information card to store data equivalent to an amount of money to be awarded to a player according to a game result of the gaming machine, and sending out credit data for executing a game to the gaming machine.
US09520025B2
A gaming system is provided enabling real-time cash management to be performed, even while in the play of a game to be performed by employing game media rendering their items of recorded information readable. Having received a result of detection of game chips on a game betting board from a game betting device, a server device accumulates the result of the detection, and judges whether or not movement of game chips has occurred between a dealer and each player, in comparison with a past result. When movement of game chips has occurred between the dealer and such each player, data relevant to a game chip table, a player table, and a dealer table is updated so as to reflect a result of the movement.
US09520024B2
A method of operating a wagering game network the supports a plurality of award types. The method may include: detecting a player identifier associated with an award account; detecting, via at least one electronic input device, a physical item associated with a monetary value that establishes a credit balance; initiating the casino wagering game in response to an input indicating a wager covered by the credit balance; displaying, on an electronic display device, a result for the casino wagering game; presenting, on the electronic display device, an indication that awards of a first award type have been awarded to the award account based on the result; detecting, via at least one of the electronic input devices, a request to exchange some of the awards of the first award type for awards of a second award type, and wherein the awards of the second award type are exchangeable within the wagering game network for other awards of the plurality of award types; and submitting the request over a communications network.
US09520018B2
A wagering game system and its operations which can include analyzing electronic information associated with a first gaming effect and a second gaming effect provided for concurrent presentation via an output device, determining that the first gaming effect has a higher priority than the second gaming effect, and causing the first gaming effect to be presented via the output device before the second gaming effect is presented based on the higher priority. The operations can further include preventing, without user input, presentation of a first portion of the second amine effect via the output device while the first gaming effect is presented. The operations can further include electronically determining that a second portion of the second gaming effect is available for presentation after an ending point for the first gaming effect, and causing the second portion to be presented via the output device after the first gaming effect.
US09520007B2
A lockout system that includes a lock portion and a key portion that removably cooperate with one another to allow selective interference with a throw lever associated with operation of an electrical panel. The lock portion and key portion each include a guide arrangement and an electrical interface that cooperate with one another. The guide arrangements cooperate with one another to align the electrical interfaces of the respective key and lock portions. The lock portion includes a movable lock arm that selectively interferes with motion of the throw lever. The position of the lock arm relative to the throw lever can be manipulated when the electrical interfaces of the key portion and the lock portion are engaged with one another. Preferably, the lock and key interface includes an RFID protocol associated with authorizing respective key portions to communicate with respective lock portions.
US09520002B1
A method is disclosed that may include, in a creating phase: receiving an instruction to generate a virtual place-located anchor at a virtual location that is world-locked; receiving data items from a target data source; linking a subset of the data items to the virtual place-located anchor; and receiving a permission from a first user specifying a condition under which a second user may view one or more holograms of the subset of data items. In a viewing phase, first display data may be transmitted to cause a first display device to display the holograms to the first user at the virtual place-located anchor; and if the condition is satisfied, second display data may be transmitted to cause a second display device to display the holograms to the second user at the virtual place-located anchor.
US09519999B1
Methods and systems for providing a preloader animation for image viewers is provided. An example method includes receiving an image of an object, determining an edge gradient value for pixels of the image, and selecting pixels representative of the object that have a respective edge gradient value above a threshold. The example method also includes determining a model of the object including an approximate outline of the object and structures internal to the outline that are oriented based on the selected pixels being coupling points between the structures, and providing instructions to display the model in an incremental manner so as to render given structures of the model over time.
US09519996B2
A virtual view generating method and apparatus are provided that are used to resolve a technical problem existing in the prior art that there are holes in a virtual view, so as to improve quality of the virtual view. The method includes obtaining an original image and an original depth map of the original image; preprocessing the original depth map based on an adaptive filtering algorithm to obtain a processed depth map; generating a basic virtual view based on the original image and the processed depth map; and performing hierarchical hole filling on the basic virtual view based on a deconvolution algorithm to generate a virtual view.
US09519995B2
An information processing method transfers information from a start face to an end face with a minimum local distortion by maintaining one-to-one correspondence between the original information on the start face and the transferred information on the end face. The method includes an operation of mapping information taken from a three-dimensional surface onto a rectangular plane, or vice versa, by dividing the start face into a plurality of divisional start faces and preparing divisional end faces that just fill the end face, then deforming each divisional start face to just fit a corresponding one of the divisional end faces, so as to maintain lines and points defining each divisional end face as lines and points also on the end face and to ensure that a first area ratio between each divisional start face relative to the entire start face and a second area ratio between each divisional end face relative to the entire end face is substantially equal.
US09519982B2
A rasterizer and a method of performing rasterization in a graphics processing pipeline are disclosed. A rasterizer of a graphics processing pipeline tests larger patches of a render output to be generated against a primitive to be rasterized, to determine if the primitive covers (at least in part) any smaller patches of the render output that the larger patch encompasses. The larger patch is then sub-divided into any covered smaller patches, and the process repeated. The rasterizer also identifies when a given smaller patch of the render output is found to entirely pass the edge test for an edge of the primitive in question when the larger patch encompassing that smaller patch is tested, notes that event in state information associated with the primitive edge in question, and then uses that state information to skip the testing of the edge in question against the smaller patch of the render output.
US09519977B2
A system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, and a computer-implemented method for generating background for an image. A graphical interface module arranges an image in a display element. The arrangement of the image in the display element defines a space between the perimeters of image and the display element. A color detection module determines an estimate of a color of the image about the perimeter of the image. A background generator module determines a variation of color of the image about the perimeter of the image. The background generator module determines a background based at least on the estimate of the color and the variation of color. A display module provides the arrangement of the image in the display element with the background at least filling a portion of the space defined between the perimeters.
US09519971B2
A position and orientation measurement device includes a grayscale image input unit that inputs a grayscale image of an object, a distance image input unit that inputs a distance image of the object, an approximate position and orientation input unit that inputs an approximate position and orientation of the object with respect to the position and orientation measurement device, and a position and orientation calculator that updates the approximate position and orientation. The position and orientation calculator calculates a first position and orientation so that an object image on an image plane and a projection image of the three-dimensional shape model overlap each other, associates the three-dimensional shape model with the image features of the grayscale image and the distance image, and calculates a second position and orientation on the basis of a result of the association.
US09519969B1
A system and method for monitoring an individual in a dwelling so as to know when such individual falls or indicates the need of assistance. A plurality of 3D motion and sound sensors are located in the dwelling and provide data to a computerized monitoring system. The sensors are configured to recognize one or more biometric identifiers of the individual being monitored. When the monitoring system detects that the individual has fallen or gestured, a computerized communication system contacts the individual to determine the need to send assistance to help the individual. Where assistance is required the system automatics contacts the previously designated caregiver for the individual and can also contact emergency personnel.
US09519966B2
An automated content-based image retrieval method, a system and a computer program product for the classification of breast density from mammographic imagery. Raw digital mammogram images taken of patients are initially pre-processed to remove noise and enhance contrast, then subjected to pectoral muscle segmentation to produce region of interest (ROI) images. The ROI images are then decomposed using non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), where a non-negative sparsity constraint and reconstruction quality measures are imposed on the extracted and retained first few NMF factors. Based on the retained NMF factors, kernel matrix-based support vector machines classify the mammogram images binomially or multinomially to breast density categories. Methods of assessing and comparing the NMF-based breast classification method to principal component analysis or PCA-based methods are also described, and the NMF-based method is found to achieve higher classification accuracy and better handling of invariance in the digital mammogram images because of its parts-based factorization.
US09519952B2
An image processing apparatus includes a gradient calculation unit, a direction determining unit, a directional interpolation unit, and a blender unit. The gradient calculation unit processes an input image to generate gradient magnitudes and gradient angles associated with input pixels of the input image. The direction determining unit generates interpolation angles and directional confidence values according to the gradient magnitudes and gradient angles. The directional interpolation unit performs directional interpolation on the input image according to the interpolation angles, so as to generate a first image with an image resolution different from the input image. The blender receives the first image and a second image generated from interpolating the input image, and blends the first image and the second image according to the directional confidence values to generate an output image.
US09519945B2
A graphic division unit divides image data to be output into a plurality of divided regions, and an order determination unit determines a generation order of a plurality of the divided regions of the image data so as to cause a first generation order of the image data and a second generation order of the image data to be different from each other. A generation stop instruction unit causes generation of the image data until the image data combining the image data generated based on the first generation order with the image data generated based on the second generation order corresponds to the image data to be output.
US09519939B2
A smart switch applied to a smart home system is connected to a power supply and at least one electronic device. The smart switch includes a screen, a power detecting unit configured to detect real-time electrical information of the electronic device, a processor unit including a calculating module configured to calculate total electricity consumption of the electronic device and a control module configured to control the screen to display instantaneous electrical information and the total electricity consumption, and a communication unit configured to connect the smart switch to a gateway of the smart home system in wired or wireless manner, and send the electrical information and the total electricity consumption to the gateway. A smart home system is also provided.
US09519927B1
A system allows people to more easily find products matching their skin tone. A kiosk at a retail store or other location can assist customers in determining what products are right for them and then purchase them from the retailer. The kiosk can include a scanning device is used to scan one or more spots of a person's skin. For example, three different spots can be scanned. The scan determines a skin-tone identifier for the person's skin. This skin-tone identifier is used by a software program (e.g., executing on a tablet computer) to determine and output a listing of products that are appropriate for the person's skin tone.
US09519925B2
A method, medium, and system are provided to facilitate local or global exchange of goods and services through a decentralized network of peer-to-peer (P2P) nodes. In one aspect of the disclosure, the nodes may be maintained or operated by the participants in the marketplace system. In one aspect, the system may operate on both desktop and mobile devices. In one aspect, the system operates with decentralized data storage. In one aspect, the system operates with a decentralized system of incentives for participation of nodes. In one aspect, the system operates with decentralized communication. In one aspect, the system operates with a decentralized system to escrow payments between participants. In one aspect, the system operates with a decentralized system of load balancing. In one aspect, the system operates with a decentralized system by which certain listings can be prioritized in the network. In one aspect, the system operates with decentralized transaction processing. In one aspect, the system operates with a decentralized digital currency as the medium of exchange between participants.
US09519924B2
Embodiments of the invention provide for using video analysis, such as augmented reality or the like to assist a group of users to utilize mobile devices for creating a collective network environment of users that identifies objects in which one or more users in a group of users may be interested, and notifies the one or more users of information associated with the object. A collective network comprises a group of users that each have a mobile device that contains or is otherwise operatively coupled to a data capture device. For example, the mobile device may be a mobile phone that is capable of taking video with a camera device. A user in the collective network may capture video on his mobile device, and an application can identify the object in the video and provide interested users in the collective network with information about the object.
US09519921B2
A fleet management system has a communication and positioning module associated with each fleet vehicle, and a back end monitoring and control system located at a fleet data center in communication with each vehicle. The system monitors each trip automatically and generates time stamps at the start of a trip, a pick up location, a drop off location, and return of the vehicle to a garage at the end of a trip. Vehicle status information is collected and stored along with time stamps. The information is used to generate billing and payroll accounts, and also in monitoring conditions of fleet vehicles and generating alerts as needed. Turn-by-turn route instructions are provided to each vehicle.
US09519917B2
A method and a system for context-based real-time advertising are provided. In example embodiments, a document content that is displayed to a user may be analyzed and keywords may be identified. Selected listings from a publication system may be received; the selected listings may be selected using the keywords. The system may detect user events associated with the keywords and, in response to the detection of the user events, display information related to the listings while maintaining the displaying of the document content.
US09519913B2
Embodiments of the invention are directed to methods and apparatuses for capturing a real-time video stream using a mobile computing device, determining, using a computing device processor, which images from the real-time video stream are associated with goods and businesses consistent with a predetermined social impact, and presenting on a display of the real-time video stream, one or more indicators, each indicator being associated with an image determined to be consistent with a predetermined social impact.
US09519911B2
The apparatus comprises at least one database for storing digital information associated with at least a first user and a second user, at least one links module for the first user and for the second user, at least one manipulations module and at least one display device for respectively displaying at least said linked digital information wherein said linked digital information associated with said first user is automatically updated on at least said display device of said second user when that information is manipulated, and wherein said linked digital information associated with said second user is automatically updated on at least said display device of said first user when that information is manipulated.
US09519904B2
A wireless (e.g., near field or RF) communication device, and methods of manufacturing and using the same are disclosed. The wireless communication device includes a receiver and/or transmitter, a substrate with an antenna thereon, an integrated circuit, and one or more protection lines. The antenna receives and/or transmits or broadcasts a wireless signal. The integrated circuit processes the wireless signal and/or information therefrom, and/or generates the wireless signal and/or information therefor. The integrated circuit has a first set of terminals electrically connected to the antenna. The protection line(s) are on a common or different substrate as the antenna. The protection line(s) sense or determine a continuity state of a package or container on which the communication device is placed or to which the communication device is fixed or adhered, and are electrically connected to a second set of terminals of the integrated circuit different from the first set of terminals.
US09519898B2
Systems and methods for conducting mobile transactions and/or actions on electronic wearable devices are disclosed. The electronic wearable device comprises a wearable and a base device. The wearable comprises connective hardware components and associated firmware and software for connecting the base device. The wearable comprises a dedicated communication component and at least one dedicated activatable component. The dedicated communication component establishes communication between the electronic wearable device and an application server. The at least one activatable component is operable to be activated for transactions and/or actions for at least one good or service.
US09519893B2
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for processing damaged items using image data lift are presented. In some embodiments, a computing platform may receive image data of a deposit item. Subsequently, the computing platform may determine whether a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) line of the deposit item is readable. If the MICR line is not readable, the computing platform may perform an image data lift on the image data to extract information from one or more visible fields of the deposit item. Then, the computing platform may identify a payor of the deposit item based on the extracted information and may determine whether the deposit item is an on-us item. If the deposit item is an on-us item, the computing platform may rebuild MICR information for the deposit item. Thereafter, the computing platform may process the deposit item for deposit based on the rebuilt MICR information.
US09519891B1
A system and method for recycling non-reusable refrigerant transport containers. At least one intact refrigerant transport container is received into a sealed chamber. The refrigerant transport container is punctured to release residual refrigerant, which is removed and compressed. The container is shredded and/or compacted. A refrigerant transport container deposit program is provided, comprising: encoding a deposit container prior to use; receiving the encoded spent container and releasing the imposed deposit; automatically removing residual refrigerant from the spent container; and recycling materials from the refrigerant transport container. A database storing a record relating to the encoded refrigerant transport containers may be employed for tracking.
US09519880B1
A system for analyzing the network traffic health of an inventory management system that includes an autonomous vehicle and a plurality of access points. The autonomous vehicle interacts with access points in an inventory management system, and network traffic information related to network connectivity between the autonomous vehicle and the access points is obtained. The autonomous vehicle or the access points transmit(s) the network traffic information to a computer system that can generate a graphical user interface that represents the network traffic information for the inventory management system. The network traffic information can include a variety of information about the interactions between autonomous vehicles and access points, such as roam time of the autonomous vehicles between access points as the autonomous vehicles navigate within the inventory management system.
US09519876B2
A method for providing maintenance to an asset is disclosed. In one embodiment, a database having asset information from a plurality of disparate sources is accessed. Asset information in the database is utilized to generate an asset report. The asset report is utilized to track an asset including its location and operation. Scheduling information regarding the asset is utilized such that the manufacturer can provide a scheduled/unscheduled maintenance program for the asset.
US09519867B1
Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for optimizing a user experience are provided. The method includes optimizing a user experience using clusters, user preferences, or a combination thereof. Clusters may be created based on, for example, user behaviors, or actions, exhibited by a user. User preferences may be established for each cluster in order to further customize the clusters. The clusters may be continuously monitored such that if changes are necessary they may be immediately applied such as a user exhibited different behavior and requiring association with a new cluster. This information, or clustering, may be utilized to predict user satisfaction such that more positive user experiences are encountered and negative user experiences are, to the extent possible, avoided, or at least lessened.
US09519866B2
A diagnosis support apparatus which provides information for supporting medical diagnosis obtains known medical information of a diagnosis target held in a database as “already-input” information, and has a selection unit that selects non-input information to be presented as medical information, other than the already-input information. A similar-case obtaining unit obtains, using the already-input information and the presentation non-input information, a case including the presentation non-input information from a case database, as a case similar to that of the diagnosis target, and a presentation unit presents the presentation non-input information and the similar case.
US09519865B2
Various embodiments include apparatus and methods to provide pipe analysis, annulus analysis, or one or more combinations of pipe analysis and annulus analysis with respect to one or more pipes in a wellbore. The analysis can include application of clustering and classification methods with respect to the status and the environment of the one or more pipes in the wellbore. In various embodiments, the clustering and classification can be used in characterizing borehole annular material including cement bond quality evaluation. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US09519864B1
Embodiments include processing a data structure representing a dependency matrix having columns representing respective first components and rows representing respective second components. Aspects include assigning each cell of the matrix a value indicative of the level of dependency or indicative of an unknown dependency of a pair of first and second components forming the cell and assigning each component of the first and second components an affiliation vector indicative of the strength of affiliation of the component to N predefined initial clusters of cells of the matrix. Aspects also include determining a probability model using the affiliations vectors parameters and estimating the parameters of the probability model for a plurality of different numbers of clusters starting from the initial number N of clusters. Aspects further include computing a score for the parameters of the probability model estimated and selecting the parameters of the probability model with the highest computed score.
US09519859B2
A deep structured semantic module (DSSM) is described herein which uses a model that is discriminatively trained based on click-through data, e.g., such that a conditional likelihood of clicked documents, given respective queries, is maximized, and a condition likelihood of non-clicked documents, given the queries, is reduced. In operation, after training is complete, the DSSM maps an input item into an output item expressed in a semantic space, using the trained model. To facilitate training and runtime operation, a dimensionality-reduction module (DRM) can reduce the dimensionality of the input item that is fed to the DSSM. A search engine may use the above-summarized functionality to convert a query and a plurality of documents into the common semantic space, and then determine the similarity between the query and documents in the semantic space. The search engine may then rank the documents based, at least in part, on the similarity measures.
US09519857B2
An apparatus includes a deformable structure in which a neural network comprising a plurality of deformation sensors, e.g. nanowire sensors, and distributed in-situ processing circuits. The circuits generate a signal characterizing features of the local deformation of the structure and/or a command signal corresponding to the detected deformation. The structure may be a wearable sleeve that conforms to deformations of a user's skin, part of an electronic device, such as a touch sensitive screen, or an object in itself. The apparatus can provide a user interface, wherein a command corresponding to a current shape of the structure is generated and acted upon by a integrated or remote device, or a device for monitoring a user's position or movement e.g. for replication by a robotic device. The apparatus may have machine learning capability to improve the matching of commands with determined shapes of the deformable structure.
US09519853B2
A wearable, non-visible identification device that provides reliable, tamper proof, friendly-force identification and intruder detection. The device is integrated as a part of the wearer's uniform and includes a user input surface for periodic entry of a unit- or user-defined pass code. A timeout capability prevents the device and its identification signal from being used if the pass code is not entered within the specified time period. The preferred embodiment uses non-visible optical identification signals for 1-way identification using standard tactical equipment, making the device useful in the field during operations or at temporary security control points away from established bases. Alternative embodiments use radio-frequency, visible and reflective identification signals. All embodiments use identification signaling methods which are effective at safe stand-off distances to minimize the threat to security personnel. The device also supports identification at tactical distances to support identification in the field. Very low cost and low power embodiments for use by security forces in developing nations are described. This invention provides a novel and improved means for defeat of the threat of adversaries or insurgents exploiting stolen or fake uniforms to attack friendly forces.
US09519852B2
A compact form factor integrated circuit card. In one embodiment, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card is disclosed. In one embodiment, the SIM card has overall dimensions optimized for a particular application; e.g., 12.30 mm (±0.10 mm)×8.80 mm (0.10 mm)×0.67 mm (+0.03/−0.07). In another embodiment, the SIM card has overall dimensions of 11.90 mm (±0.10 mm)×8.80 mm (±0.10 mm)×0.70 mm (maximum). Multiple complementary SIM card adapters and methods of use are also disclosed.
US09519846B2
A card reader may include a card passage; a pulling-out prevention member; and a turning mechanism structured to turn the pulling-out prevention member between the closing position and the open position. The pulling-out prevention member may include a card abutting part. The card abutting part may be formed with an abutting face structured to abut with a front end of the card having been inserted into the card reader when the pulling-out prevention member is located at the closing position. The abutting face may be set to be an inclined face which is inclined to the rear side as going to the second direction side when viewed in the width direction of the card in a case that the pulling-out prevention member is located at the closing position.
US09519841B2
An attached matter detector includes a light source configured to irradiate light toward a plate-like transparent member from one surface thereof, an imaging device configured to image reflection light by attached matter on a surface of the plate-like transparent member, a memory configured to previously store flare information obtained by the image device by turning on the light source in a state without having disturbance light and the attached matter on the surface of the plate-like transparent member, and a difference information-obtaining device configured to obtain difference information between a light-up image as an image obtained by the imaging device with the turned-on light source and a light-out image as an image obtained by the imaging device with the turned-off light source, wherein the attached matter on the surface of the plate-like transparent member is detected based on the difference information and the flare information stored in the memory.
US09519836B2
A method and/or computer program product assists in locating objects using a local physical device and one or more remote physical devices having image capture capability. A local physical device captures one or more reference images of an object, and shares identification metrics associated with one or more reference images of the object with one or more of the remote physical devices. One or more remote physical devices captures one or more images of an area in which the object may be located, and determines, using the identification metrics, whether any of the images captured includes the object. In response to a determination that any of the images captured includes the object, those images are stored and associated with the object. In response to the object being lost by a user, the local physical device reviews the stored images to determine a location of the lost object.
US09519823B2
In a technique for quantifying the spatial distribution of cells or sub-cellular structures, image data representing a spatial map of biomarkers is processed to obtain a set of coordinates. Each of the coordinates in the set denotes the location of a cell or sub-cellular structure represented by a biomarker or combination of biomarkers. The set of coordinates is processed into a two-dimensional symmetric (2N−1)×(2N−1) or 2N×2N matrix. The resulting matrix may be used for various purposes, such as assigning subjects clinical characteristics, and/or forming and/or testing scientific hypotheses for interventions, for example. Also described herein is an apparatus for performing the described technique.
US09519817B1
After capturing a barcode image, generate at least one sample line accordingly, acquire sample data of the at least one sample line, generate a first and a second reference lines, generate an upper bound and a lower bound according to the first and the second reference lines, generate a first curve by interpolating all sample points, generate a plurality of effective sample shapes of the first curve according to the upper bound and the lower bound, identify an internal point of each effective sample shape, generate a second curve by interpolating all internal points, and digitize the barcode image to binary data by comparing sample data with the second curve.
US09519813B2
A radio frequency identification (RFID) transceiver may be associated with an identification proximity to identify an RFID tag associated with a component. A control may determine proper inflation of component based on the RFID tag being identified.
US09519806B2
A domain-specific hardwired symbolic web server machine is described that processes information via the hardwired mapping of symbols from one or more domains onto other such domains, computing and communicating with improved security and reduced power consumption because it has no CPU, no Random Access Memory (RAM), no instruction registers, no Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), no operating system (OS) and no applications programming. The machine provides web services by recognizing legal requests such as HTTP GET request and responding with an HTML web page. In some embodiments, the machine has no unconstrained RAM into which malware may insert itself and needs no anti-virus software.
US09519802B2
The present disclosure includes a method comprising encrypting sensitive data, generating a token comprising a data identifier, tokenizing the encrypted sensitive data, and/or storing the encrypted sensitive data in association with the token to a token vault. Tokenizing may comprise mapping the encrypted sensitive data to the token. The method may further comprise storing the token to a cloud application, wherein the cloud application comprises a software application that functions within a cloud computing environment.
US09519798B2
Provided is a process of operating a zero-knowledge encrypted database, the process including: obtaining a request for data in a database stored by an untrusted computing system, wherein the database is stored in a graph that includes a plurality of connected nodes, each of the nodes including: an identifier, accessible to the untrusted computing system, that distinguishes the respective node from other nodes in the graph; and an encrypted collection of data stored in encrypted form, wherein: the untrusted computing system does not have access to an encryption key to decrypt the collections of data, the encrypted collections of data in at least some of the plurality of nodes each include a plurality of keys indicating subsets of records in the database accessible via other nodes in the graph and corresponding pointers to identifiers of the other nodes.
US09519796B1
A computer system according to certain aspects uses past ticket usage data indicating a probability that a respective entity would personally use a ticket issued to them based on a history of past ticket usage. A ticket controller can respond to ticket requests by determining whether a ticket should be issued to a requesting entity based on the past ticket usage data associated with the requesting entity's profile, and if so issue a ticket to the requesting entity in electronic form. The system can receive a ticket use notification and update the past ticket usage data associated with the requesting entity's profile based on the ticket use notification, where the updated past ticket usage data conveys whether the requesting entity presented the ticket themselves.
US09519789B2
Identifying security vulnerabilities related to inter-process communications by identifying within the instructions of a computer software application an object creation location configured to create an inter-process communications object, identifying within the instructions of the computer software application a location of an inter-process communications method, determining whether a path exists for an inter-process communications object created at the object creation location to propagate to the inter-process communications method, classifying with a classification selected from a plurality of predefined classifications, any of the inter-process communications object, the object creation location, and the location of the inter-process communications method, and reporting as a security vulnerability the classified inter-process communications object, object creation location, or location of the inter-process communications method if the path exists and if the classification is predefined to indicate that reporting is warranted.
US09519786B1
A client device includes a flash chip for storing firmware and a microcontroller for storing an image in read-only memory. The image corresponds to an accurate representation of firmware. When the client device is powered on but before the firmware is executed to boot the client device, the firmware stored on the flash chip is compared to the image. In the event that the firmware does not correspond to the image, the client device is not booted and the firmware is overwritten with the image. The client device may then be booted using the flashed firmware. To update the firmware, the client device may receive a new image from a server. The new image is stored in the read-only memory of the microcontroller. The firmware may then be re-flashed using the new image.
US09519785B2
Methods and systems for generating and using a BIOS security display include determining whether a change in a BIOS user setting is associated with security of an information handling system. When the BIOS user setting is associated with security, a security level for the BIOS may be calculated based on weighted security values for BIOS user settings. Security levels for boot phases may also be individually calculated. The security levels may be displayed in the BIOS to the user when the BIOS user setting is changed.
US09519780B1
A computer-implemented method for identifying malware may include (1) determining, for multiple commands within bytecode associated with a malware program, whether each command constitutes an invocation command, (2) filtering, based on the determination, invocation commands from the bytecode, (3) adding, for each invocation command filtered from the bytecode, an opcode, a format code, and a function prototype to a collection of opcodes, format codes, and function prototypes, (4) generating a digital fingerprint of the collection including the opcode, the format code, and the function prototype for each invocation command filtered from the bytecode, and (5) performing, by a computer security system, a remedial action to protect a user in response to detecting the presence of a variant of the malware program by determining that the digital fingerprint matches a candidate instance of bytecode under evaluation. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09519776B2
The present invention is a computer security system and method in which the various algorithms not only do not search for or detect the presence of a steganographic or other hidden image in a data file or across data files, but also includes at least one or more combined approaches for altering and neutralizing any hidden messages without significantly detracting from the underlying integrity of the data file or files thus treated.
US09519773B2
In an embodiment, the present invention includes a processor having a decode unit and an execution unit. The decode unit is to decode control transfer instructions and the execution unit is to execute control transfer instructions, the control transfer instructions including a call instruction and a return instruction. The processor is to operate in a first mode in which the processor is to raise a fault if a next instruction to be executed immediately after the return instruction is not the call instruction.
US09519767B2
An apparatus and a method are provided for authenticating a combination code using a Quick Response (QR) code. The apparatus includes a QR code receiver that receives an image frame including a QR code; a QR code recognizer that recognizes the QR code within the image frame; a combination code generator that generates a combination code including the QR code; and a combination code transmitter that transmits the combination code to an authentication server.
US09519756B2
Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media are provided for managing policy and permissions profiles. Individuals or organizations are permitted to author profiles utilizing a profile template and publish such authored profiles for access and adoption by others. Users are able to import desired profiles and subsequently have those imported profiles applied each time he or she accesses an application or service to which the profile pertains. User interfaces from which users may view profiles associated with them, make alterations to settings of profiles associated with them, and/or select from a plurality of profiles for a particular application or service are also provided. Still further, recommendations may be provided to users for policy and permissions profiles based upon, for instance, crowd-sourcing, profiles adopted by social network connections of a user or other users that are “like” a user, prior profile selections made by the user, and/or prior user behavior.
US09519752B2
A system, method and apparatus for executing a sequence analysis pipeline on genetic sequence data includes an integrated circuit formed of a set of hardwired digital logic circuits that are interconnected by physical electrical interconnects. One of the physical electrical interconnects forms an input to the integrated circuit connected with an electronic data source for receiving reads of genomic data. The hardwired digital logic circuits are arranged as a set of processing engines, each processing engine being formed of a subset of the hardwired digital logic circuits to perform one or more steps in the sequence analysis pipeline on the reads of genomic data. Each subset of the hardwired digital logic circuits is formed in a wired configuration to perform the one or more steps in the sequence analysis pipeline.
US09519747B1
Methods and systems receive an integrated circuit design into a computerized device and perform an analysis of the integrated circuit design to identify characteristics of physical features of portions of the integrated circuit design. Such methods and systems determine whether to look up sensitivity of a timing value of a portion of the integrated circuit design to manufacturing process variables, voltage variables, and temperature variables (PVT variables) by: evaluating relationships between the characteristics of physical features of the portion of the integrated circuit design to generate an indicator value; and, based on whether the indicator value is within a table usage filter value range, either: calculating the sensitivity of the timing value to the PVT variables; or looking up a previously determined sensitivity of the timing value to the PVT variables from a look-up table.
US09519745B2
A method and apparatus for an assisted metal routing is disclosed. Embodiments may include: determining an initial block mask having a first inner vertex for forming a metal routing layer of an integrated circuit (IC); adding an assistant metal portion within the metal routing layer; and determining a modified block mask based on the assistant metal portion for forming the metal routing layer.
US09519740B2
Systems and techniques are described for optimizing a circuit design by using a numerical solver. The gates sizes are optimized by modeling a set of gate optimization problems and solving the set of gate optimization problems by using a numerical solver. Modeling each gate optimization problem can include selecting a portion of the circuit design that includes a driver gate that drives one or more inputs of each gate in a set of gates, and modeling a gate optimization problem for the portion of the circuit design based on circuit information for the portion of the circuit design. A differentiable objective function for delay can be created using numerical models for the delays in the circuit. In some embodiments, gradients of the differentiable objective function can be computed to enable the use of a conjugate-gradient-based numerical solver.
US09519732B1
Some embodiments correlate various manufacturing or design information or data with patterns used to represent electronic designs and provide pertinent pattern-based information to metrology, fabrication, or testing tools to enhance their performances of their intended functions. Some embodiments further utilize cross-design or cross-process analytics to perform various pattern-based analyses on electronic designs. Some embodiments perform squish analysis with a squish pattern library on an electronic design to represent the electronic design with squish patterns by performing pattern matching, pattern decomposition, and pattern classification process.
US09519727B2
In order to improve the efficiency of website optimization processes a novel pre-processing method at least includes: a) receiving website source code or web browser code from a website to be optimized; b) converting the website source code or web browser code into an electronic image; c) mapping web page elements corresponding to areas in the image; d) performing saliency analysis on the image; e) mapping the results of the saliency analysis to the web page elements; and f) selecting at least one web page for inclusion in a website optimization process based on the saliency analysis. A corresponding novel system is also disclosed.
US09519718B2
The present application provides web information detecting method and system. The method according to the present application comprises: pre-extracting keywords from a web page; storing a corresponding relationship between the extracted keywords and a URL of the web page in a database; obtaining a source file of a web page to be detected; searching the database for keywords that have the same URL as that of the web page to be detected; comparing the searched keywords to the source file information of the web page to be detected; and determining the existence of information of the web page to be detected according to a matching degree. The present application increases the accuracy of web information detection.
US09519713B2
A method is provided for searching for multimedia content items on the internet. According to the method, a search page of a search provider is loaded, search text is transmitted from the client to the search provider, an application is executed at the search provider to detect multimedia content items stored in servers and associated with the search text, a results page is transmitted from the search provider to the client. Additionally, each detected multimedia content item is associated with a predetermined type of content items, the results page is divided into multiple areas that are each associated with a corresponding type, and internet addresses of the detected multimedia contents are placed into each of the areas.
US09519711B2
Some embodiments comprise integrating information from a social network into a multi-tenant database system. A plurality of information from the social network is retrieved, using a processor and a network interface of a server computer in the multi-tenant database system, wherein the plurality of information is associated with a message transmitted using the social network. Metadata related to the transmitted message is generated, using the processor. A conversation object is generated, using the processor, based on the plurality of information associated with the transmitted message and the metadata related to the transmitted message. The conversation object is then stored in an entity in the multi-tenant database system, using the processor of the server computer.
US09519710B1
Systems and methods for classifying and ranking one or more keywords associated with a media work may be provided. In an embodiment, a system can recommend a set of media works in response to receiving information about a keyword associated with a media work. The system can recommend the set of media works based on aggregated classification information for a plurality of keywords associated with a plurality of media works, and aggregated rating information for the aggregated classification information. In an example, the aggregated rating information can represent the relevancy of a classification associated with at least one media work of the plurality of media works.
US09519704B2
A system and method are provided for real-time analysis of text. During a single sweep through the text, a detection tree is used to identify a sequence of characters in the text from a large dictionary of keywords. When a keyword is detected a rule tally database is updated. An intermediate score may be available during the sweep and a final score of the text may be available substantially immediately upon finishing the single sweep. A second text may be analyzed immediately using the same score buffer and rule tally database without updating the rule tally database.
US09519695B2
A system and computer-implemented method for automating data warehousing processes is provided. The system comprises a code generator configured to generate codes for Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) tools, wherein the codes facilitate the ETL tools in extracting, transforming and loading data read from data sources. The system further comprises a code reviewer configured to review and analyze the generated codes. Furthermore, the system comprises a data migration module configured to facilitate migrating the data read from the data sources to one or more data warehouses. Also, the system comprises a data generator configured to mask the data read from the data sources to generate processed data. In addition, the system comprises a Data Warehouse Quality Assurance module configured to facilitate testing the read and the processed data. The system further comprises a reporting module configured to provide status reports on the data warehousing processes.
US09519694B2
A recipe presentation device includes: a recipe storage unit storing recipes each including preparation elements of ingredients, intermediate ingredients, and a dish to be served; a receiving unit which receives a dish specified by a user; a search unit which searches the recipe storage unit for a first recipe which is a recipe for the dish; a similarity calculation unit which calculates similarities between the individual recipes for the dishes stored in the recipe storage unit and the first recipe; a selection unit which selects, according to the similarities, a second recipe which is a recipe similar to the first recipe among the recipes for the dishes; and a presentation unit which presents a dish corresponding to the selected second recipe.
US09519692B2
A timeline visualization system displays one or more groups of related events over a specified period of time within a timeline, where each group of related events is represented within the timeline as an event group. When a user interacts with the timeline, the event group expands and displays all the related events within the event group in a layer on top of the timeline. When a user interacts with the timeline a second time, the event group collapses, and the timeline (including the one or more event groups), is once again displayed.
US09519681B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to knowledge representation systems which include a knowledge base in which knowledge is represented in a structured, machine-readable format that encodes meaning.
US09519678B2
A network-based service may be provided for facilitating queries for a number of items, such as travel services. A user may submit a query including criteria for determining one or more relevant items. Based on the submitted query, the network-based service may present the user with information regarding the actions of other similar users of the network-based service, such as searches performed by the other users. Based on this information, the user may elect to supplement the current query to conform to the actions for other users. In some embodiments, actions by other users may be based at least in part on a category of the querying user. By presenting actions of similar users, a current user may be enabled to select the most relevant query terms for identifying a desired item.
US09519669B2
A document indexing and delivery system is disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention provide an agent-based delivery platform to supply financial document images in a variety of formats to fulfill requests from various clients of an image processing system at a financial institution. Workflows can be created using extensible markup language (XML) to direct the operation of the system. Software agents on the system can include a client agent, a delivery agent, an index agent, a format agent, an image agent, and/or a workflow agent. The workflow agent manages the execution of the workflow. Images and relevant data can be located using a master index residing in partitioned, high-speed databases.
US09519668B2
A hash table is created in parallel without requiring a lock or random accesses to memory. The hash table of a database system is logically partitioned and a separate thread is assigned to each partition of the hash table. As many separate threads as can fit their corresponding hash table partitions into the processor's cache are executed in parallel with other threads without a lock. Execution of a number of separate threads includes: scanning an input data table for a thread's partition and applying a hash function to each key, inserting data of keys that hash to the thread's partition into the thread's partition, and ignoring keys that do not hash to the thread's partition.
US09519663B2
Techniques for upgrading and migrating software systems include configuring a target database on a computing appliance that is communicably coupled with a distributed computing environment that includes a source database, the source database including a plurality of productive database tables and a plurality of non-productive database tables; determining a distribution of database tables to migrate to the target database, the distribution including at least a portion of the plurality of productive and non-productive database tables from the source database and at least one new database table of a database upgrade; migrating the distribution of database tables to the target database; and pointing a productive system of the distributed computing environment to the target database.
US09519661B2
A method and system for updating a background picture of a web search results page for different search queries. The method includes receiving a search query from a user and determining one or more text search results for the search query. The method also includes determining one or more images for the search query by at least one of extracting the one or more images from webpages associated with the one or more text search results, and extracting the one or more images from an image web search. Further, the method includes assembling the one or more images to create the background picture. Moreover, the method includes rendering the one or more text search results, for the search query, in the web search results page along with the background picture. The system includes one or more electronic devices, a communication interface, a memory, and a processor.
US09519658B2
Computer program products, methods, systems, apparatus, and computing entities are provided for determining the accuracy of map data. In one embodiment, map data and collected telematics data can be compared. The difference between the map data and the telematics data can be used to determine the accuracy of the map data.
US09519652B2
Technical effects of a method, an apparatus, and a system for operating a shared resource in an asynchronous multiprocessing system that are provided in the present invention are as follows: A processor in an asynchronous multiprocessing system implements an operation on a shared resource by locking a hardware resource lock, and the hardware resource lock is implemented by a register; in this way, a bus in the asynchronous multiprocessing system does not need to support a synchronization operation, and the processor also does not need to have a feature of supporting a synchronization operation, and is capable of implementing the operation on the shared resource only in a manner of accessing the register, which simplifies the operation on the shared resource by the processor in the asynchronous multiprocessing system, enlarges a selection range of the processor in the asynchronous multiprocessing system, and further improves flexibility of the asynchronous multiprocessing system.
US09519642B2
A system includes a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions translatable by the processor. The instructions when translated by the processor cause the system to determine an exemplar reference which identifies a managed object stored in a repository residing in an enterprise computing environment. The system can determine a translation group utilizing the exemplar reference. The managed object may represent a content item. The translation group may include the content item and the content item may be multilingual enabled. The system can determine an effective locale for a request for content received from a client device communicatively connected to a web server in the enterprise computing environment, determine a language that is appropriate for the effective locale, and respond to the request for content with the content item or a translation of the content item that is in the language appropriate for the effective locale.
US09519641B2
Methods are described for efficient and substantially instant recognition and translation of text in photographs. A user is able to select an area of interest for subsequent processing. Optical character recognition (OCR) may be performed on the wider area than that selected for determining the subject domain of the text. Translation to one or more target languages is performed. Manual corrections may be made at various stages of processing. Variations of translation are presented and made available for substitution of a word or expression in the target language. Translated text is made available for further uses or for immediate access.
US09519640B2
A see-through, near-eye, mixed reality display apparatus for providing translations of real world data for a user. A wearer's location and orientation with the apparatus is determined and input data for translation is selected using sensors of the apparatus. Input data can be audio or visual in nature, and selected by reference to the gaze of a wearer. The input data is translated for the user relative to user profile information bearing on accuracy of a translation and determining from the input data whether a linguistic translation, knowledge addition translation or context translation is useful.
US09519636B2
A system includes reception of text, extraction of a plurality of linguistic entities and associated linguistic entity categories based on the text; determination of one or more semantic objects of a semantic layer based on the linguistic entity categories, and generation of a query of the semantic layer based on the plurality of linguistic entities, the associated linguistic entity categories, and the one or more semantic objects. The extraction of the plurality of linguistic entities may include identification of the plurality of linguistic entities from a plurality of semantic object-independent linguistic entity categories and a plurality of semantic object-dependent linguistic entity categories, the plurality of semantic object-dependent linguistic entity categories may be associated with the semantic layer, each of the plurality of semantic object-dependent linguistic entity categories may be associated with a respective semantic object of the semantic layer and each entity of each semantic object-dependent linguistic entity category may be associated with a value of its respective semantic object.
US09519631B2
Resolving conflicting changes to structured data files. A method includes for a structured data file which has both a generic structure and dialects built on top of the generic structure, for which conflicting changes have been made, and where an original version of the structured data, a first version of the structured data and a second version of the structured data exist, determining a dialect of the structured data. The method further includes, based on the determined dialect performing at least one of merge or diff operations on the original version of the structured data, the first version of the structured data and the second version of the structured data.
US09519628B2
A method for generating a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message in XML during execution of a process in a SOA-based process engine apparatus and a corresponding process engine apparatus. The method includes: generating and storing an XML character string containing a fixed SOAP message skeleton; generating and storing an XML character string containing an instance-constant variable; generating an XML character string containing a dynamic variable; and concatenating the XML character string containing the fixed SOAP message skeleton and the XML character string containing the instance-constant variable as previously stored and the XML character string containing the dynamic variable by a character string concatenating operation to generate a SOAP message. A process engine apparatus including a message analyzer unit, a message pre-composer unit, a character string depository, and a message composer unit is also provided.
US09519611B2
Methods and hardware data structures are provided for tracking ordered transactions in a multi-transactional hardware design using a counter and an indexed table. The data structure includes a counter that keeps track of the number of in-flight transactions; a table that keeps track of the age of each of the in-flight transactions using the counter; and control logic that verifies a transaction response has been received in the correct order (e.g. corresponds to the oldest in-flight transaction) based on the age information in the table.
US09519607B2
In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a system may include a chassis, one or more chassis management controllers housed in the chassis, and a switch management controller. The chassis may be configured to receive a plurality of modular information handling systems. The one or more chassis management controllers may be configured to receive a storage management command, encapsulate the storage management command in a first datagram, and communicate the first datagram to a switch management controller housed in the chassis. The switch management controller may be configured to extract the storage management command from the first datagram, identify a storage controller associated with the storage management command, and communicate an input/output control request to the storage controller based on the storage management command.
US09519606B2
A network switch, based on the PCI Express protocol, is disclosed. The switch is in communication with a processor, local memory and includes a plurality of non-transparent bridges and, optionally transparent bridges, leading to PCI Express endpoints. By configuring the non-transparent bridges appropriately, the network switch can facilitate simultaneous communication between any two sets of servers without needing to store any data in the local memory or FIFO resources of the switch. For example, the network switch may configure the non-transparent bridges so as to have access to the physical memory of every server attached to it. It can then move data from the memory of any server to the memory of any other server.
US09519603B2
To accommodate multiple masters over bus architectures supporting a single master device, a mechanism is provided for an inactive master device to trigger an IRQ signal over a shared, single line IRQ bus. A current master then polls the other inactive master devices over a shared data bus to ascertain which inactive master device is asserting the IRQ signal. Upon identifying the asserting inactive master device, the current master device grants control of the data bus to the new master device, thereby making the inactive master the new active master device.
US09519596B2
A method for controlling access of a processor to a resource, wherein the processor has an instruction set including a virtualization extension, may include executing a resource access instruction by the processor using the virtualization extension, whereby the resource access instruction conveys a virtual address (VA) and a virtual machine identifier. The method may also include translating the virtual address to a physical address based on the virtual machine identifier, and looking-up an access control rule table using the physical address as a search key. Each entry of the rule table includes a virtual machine identifier. The method further includes controlling access to the resource based on the output of the rule table and a match between the virtual machine identifier returned by the table and the virtual machine identifier conveyed in the resource access instruction.
US09519593B2
A method for increasing storage space in a system containing a block data storage device, a memory, and a processor is provided. Generally, the processor is configured by the memory to tag metadata of a data block of the block storage device indicating the block as free, used, or semifree. The free tag indicates the data block is available to the system for storing data when needed, the used tag indicates the data block contains application data, and the semifree tag indicates the data block contains cache data and is available to the system for storing application data type if no blocks marked with the free tag are available to the system.
US09519574B2
A computing device includes a primary content storage machine configured to selectively store one or more content portions of a digital content item, such as game portions of a video game. The computing device is configured to determine a size of a dynamically changing content access window including one or more content portions usable to provide an above-threshold user experience, such as uninterrupted game play, based on a current access position of the digital content item or video game and historical user-specific play patterns or game play consumption rates of different users. The computing device is configured to dynamically load the primary content storage machine with the content portions or game portions corresponding to the content access window and dynamically unload the content or game portions outside of the content access window from the primary content storage machine.
US09519561B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide tools and facilities for instrumentation of application programs, including application programs that execute on mobile-electronics devices, including web browsers. The application-program and mobile-electronics-device environment is a superset of the web-analytics problem domain and provides many new opportunities and challenges for instrumentation-based data collection and data analysis. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide configuration-controlled embedded instrumentation that allows fine-granularity control of instrumentation operation by remote data-collection servers.
US09519560B2
A system is disclosed for detecting if a remote device is associated with a power supply. The system may have a controller having machine readable, non-transitory executable code running thereon for varying a characteristic of a signal being applied to the power supply. The controller further may be configured to compare a measurement obtained from a measurement subsystem relating to a measured signal present at the remote device. The controller may also be configured to make a comparison between the signal being applied to the power supply and the measured signal obtained at the remote device, and to determine whether the remote device is electrically associated with the power supply.
US09519555B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to synchronously replicating data in a distributed computing environment. To achieve synchronous replication both an eventual consistency approach and a strong consistency approach are contemplated. Received data may be written to a log of a primary data store for eventual committal. The data may then be annotated with a record, such as a unique identifier, which facilitates the replay of the data at a secondary data store. Upon receiving an acknowledgment that the secondary data store has written the data to a log, the primary data store may commit the data and communicate an acknowledgment of success back to the client. In a strong consistency approach, the primary data store may wait to send an acknowledgement of success to the client until it receives an acknowledgment that the secondary has not only written, but also committed, the data.
US09519540B2
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for satisfying storage requests while destaging cached data. A monitor module samples a destage rate for a nonvolatile solid-state cache, a total cache write rate for the cache, and a dirtied data rate. The dirtied data rate comprises a rate at which write operations increase an amount of dirty data in the cache. A target module determines a target cache write rate for the cache based on the destage rate, the total cache write rate, and the dirtied data rate to target a destage write ratio. The destage write ratio comprises a predetermined ratio between the dirtied data rate and the destage rate. A rate enforcement module enforces the target cache write rate such that the total cache write rate satisfies the target cache write rate.
US09519536B2
Systems and methods for generating a visual indicator based on receiving a report of a transaction processing error, the error comprising an informality in a software instruction code executed during a first attempt to process a transaction. The systems may be configured to determine a preconfigured time period for correcting the software instruction code causing the transaction processing error and compare it to the actual time it took to correct the software instruction code to determine whether the processing error was corrected within the preconfigured time period. The system and method may then generate and communicate a visual indicator based on determining whether the error was corrected within preconfigured time period.
US09519535B1
An approach for two stage log normalization is provided. The approach retrieves a message format and a plurality of parameters from one or more log files. The approach determines a classification for one or more first sequence files, wherein the one or more first sequence files includes the message format from the one or more log files. The approach determines a classification of error for the one or more first sequence files. The approach determines whether there is a high confidence in the classification of error for the one or more first sequence files. The approach determines whether there is an improvement in confidence in the classification of error from one or more second sequence files, wherein the one or more second sequence files includes the message format and the plurality of parameters from the one or more log files.
US09519525B2
Various embodiments provide a commenting system for multiple users to provide and share comments to shared content items. For example, users can share a web link to a collection of content items, such as documents, spreadsheets, photos, and any other media, with other users stored in an online content management system. To enable such functionality, the online content management system can expose an application programming interface to enable third-party service providers to develop and attach a comment interface to content items. Accordingly, such a commenting system can provide a comment interface for concurrent display alongside a respective content item in which users can provide comments to shared content items or to use as notes for their personal content items.
US09519524B2
A method of providing lock-based access to nodes in a concurrent linked list includes providing a plurality of striped lock objects. Each striped lock object is configured to lock at least one of the nodes in the concurrent linked list. An index is computed based on a value stored in a first node to be accessed in the concurrent linked list. A first one of the striped lock objects is identified based on the computed index. The first striped lock object is acquired, thereby locking and providing protected access to the first node.
US09519523B2
In an illustrative embodiment of a method for managing a resource pool for deadlock avoidance, a computer receives a request from a thread for a connection from the resource pool, and determines whether the thread currently has at least one connection from the resource pool. Responsive to a determination that the thread currently has at least one connection from the resource pool, a new concurrent connection from one of a reserved partition of the resource pool is allocated and the connection is returned to the thread.
US09519520B2
Platforms, systems, software, and methods for deploying and maintaining distributed computing, networking and storage comprising a configuration of dedicated service meshes. The invention further comprising a module for dynamically managing physical nodes; a module for dynamically managing nodes on physical nodes; a module for dynamically managing services/workers on nodes; a module for governing communication within the system and with the system; a plurality of communication endpoints; a plurality of services, wherein each service is associated with one or more endpoints, wherein services communicate by message exchange via their endpoints; a module for grouping nodes into clusters; a module for grouping endpoints into meshes such that all member services of a mesh can be addressed as a whole or as pertinent subsets thereof; and a module for dynamically effecting topology changes.
US09519518B2
The present invention is directed towards systems and methods deploying a virtual server on a subset of devices in a cluster of devices. A first device of a cluster of devices intermediary between at least one client and at least one server, may identify a first virtual server to establish on one or more devices of the cluster. The first device may associate, to the identified virtual server, a group comprising a subset of devices in the cluster of devices. The cluster may establish the first virtual server on each device in the group responsive to associating the group to the first virtual server. Each virtual server on each device of the group may be assigned a same internet protocol address.
US09519517B2
Systems and methods for data center control are provided that identify parameters of one or more data centers, where each data center includes a plurality of devices. The systems and methods receive a command to execute an application, and identify a selected data center from the one or more data centers as a location to run the application based at least in part on an evaluation of the parameters.
US09519515B2
A usage allocation of a hardware resource to each of a number of workloads over time is determined using a demand model. The usage allocation of the resource includes a current and past actual usage allocation of the resource, a future projected usage allocation of the resource, and current and past actual usage of the resource. A capacity allocation of the resource is determined using a capacity model. The capacity allocation of the resource includes a current and past capacity and a future projected capacity of the resource. Whether a gap exists between the usage allocation and the capacity allocation is determined using a mapping model. Where the gap exists between the usage allocation of the resource and the capacity allocation of the resource, a user is presented with options determined using the mapping model and selectable by the user to implement a remediation strategy to close the gap.
US09519513B2
Methods and apparatus to automatically configure monitoring of a virtual machine are disclosed. An example method includes identifying a virtual machine in an application definition, automatically installing an agent on the virtual machine when the virtual machine is identified as having a designated configuration, automatically identifying, via the agent, a resource associated with the virtual machine and, based on the resource, applying a monitoring policy to the virtual machine to be executed by the agent.
US09519509B2
A system and method can support transaction processing in a middleware environment. A processor, such as a remote method invocation stub in the middleware environment, can be associated with a transaction, wherein the transaction is from a first cluster. Then, the processor can handle a transactional request that is associated with the transaction, wherein the transactional request is to be sent to the first cluster. Furthermore, the processor can route the transactional request to a said cluster member in the first cluster, which is an existing participant of the transaction.
US09519492B2
Systems and methods for accessing functional interface properties for data objects through a value map. The value map may or may not be visible at the client interface.
US09519487B2
A system-on-chip (SoC) includes a slave intellectual property (IP) block, a master IP block, and an update control unit. The slave IP block is configured to perform first processing on first data based on first control information stored in a first storage unit. The master IP block is configured to perform second processing on second data in response to receiving a first processing result obtained by performing the first processing on the first data. Performing the second processing is based on second control information stored in a second storage unit. The update control unit is configured to determine an update time of the first control information or an update time of the second control information in response to performing the first processing and performing the second processing.
US09519481B2
Branch sequences for branch prediction performance test are generated by performing the following steps: (i) generating a branch node graph, by a branch node graph generator machine logic set, based, at least in part, upon a set of branch traces of a workload or benchmark code; (ii) generating a first assembly pattern file, for use with a first instruction set architecture (ISA)/microarchitecture set, by an assembly pattern generator machine logic set, based, at least in part, upon the branch node graph so as to mimic the control-flow pattern of the workload or benchmark code; and (iii) running the assembly pattern file on the first ISA/microarchitecture set to obtain first execution results.
US09519479B2
Techniques for increasing vector processing utilization and efficiency through use of unmasked lanes of predicated vector instructions for executing non-conflicting instructions are provided. In one aspect, a method of vector lane predication for a processor is provided which includes the steps of: fetching predicated vector instructions from a memory; decoding the predicated vector instructions; determining if a mask value of the predicated vector instructions is available and, if the mask value of the predicated vector instructions is not available, predicting the mask value of the predicated vector instructions; and dispatching the predicated vector instructions to only masked vector lanes.
US09519466B2
A system and method for facilitating adjusting computer code running in computing environments where writing of executable memory is restricted. An example method includes using a virtual machine to generate a first executable image from software code, and employing the first executable image to selectively modify the virtual machine and the first executable image, resulting in an updated virtual machine and a second executable image. The second executable image represents an updated version of the first executable image. To transform dynamic code, such as natively produced computer code, into one or more executable images for running on constrained devices, embodiments may leverage existing dynamic code generators (e.g., within Java HotSpot Performance Engine, also simply called HotSpot), selectively modifying them to generate different, i.e., updated code that is usable on subsequent runs of the associated software application, thereby effectively enabling modification of executable code used to run the software.
US09519465B2
A computer implemented method and system to generate final code for execution in a runtime environment, the method including creation, via a compiler, of intermediate code from destination source code, wherein the destination source code has been compiled from original source code which includes at least one jump instruction, by omitting the at least one jump instruction, the destination source code existing in a destination programming language and the original source code in a source programming language, loading the intermediate code into an intermediate code manipulation unit, and creation, via the intermediate code manipulation unit, of the final code from the intermediate code, wherein the creation comprises an insertion of at least one jump statement into the final code, and wherein the inserted at least one jump statement is functionally equivalent to the at least one omitted jump instruction.
US09519464B2
The disclosure generally relates to code recommendation. In one embodiment, code snippets may be extracted using an invocation-centered code slicing process and then grouped according to the method usages. For each method usage, a representative code snippet may be selected and stored in the knowledge base in association with metadata. In operation, the programming context may be obtained and used to query the knowledge base to retrieve one or more code snippets for recommendation. In one embodiment, the recommended code snippets may be ranked to improve the utility and user friendliness, and the metadata may be used to provide variation points and possibly other auxiliary information to improve the operation efficiency and user experience.
US09519463B1
Flowchart generation method and tool is provided with an easy-to-use graphical user interface. The graphical user interface of the tool enables a user to select a programming language which the test program was written in, and a test station which the test program was developed for. Upon these selections, a parser will point to the configuration files appropriate for the selected language and test station. The configuration files contain rules and definitions of the chosen programming language and test station, so that the parsing of the test program language can begin. Utilizing the data created from the parsing process, the tool points to other configuration files, referred to as a flowcharting configuration file, that each contain information on how to present the parsed data in a flow chart.
US09519460B1
A single-instruction multiple-data (SIMD) multiplier-accumulator apparatus and method. A multiplier block with two 16-bit by 32-bit multiplier circuits transform a selectable number of input multipliers and multiplicands into a selected number of products. Each multiplier circuit comprises an array of full adders that generates and sums partial products using carry-save addition. An accumulator block, with additional data width to help prevent overflow, adds the products to a selectable number of input addends and outputs a number of results. Embodiments perform one to four multiplications together, depending on the number of bits (eight, 16, 24, or 32) selected for the input operands. Embodiments output 20-bit, 40-bit, or 80-bit multiply-accumulate results at rates of at least 1.1 GHz. Embodiments support signed inputs, negated multiplication products, and Q-format data. A hybrid sign extension management approach improves performance for 80-bit outputs.
US09519449B2
Electronic systems, such as printing systems, often use components that have integral memory. The integral memory can be used to store information about the component. In some printing systems this memory includes a portion that stores a value indicative of a print yield. Disclosed is a method and system for allowing the memory to have data indicative of an increased print yield.
US09519424B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a touch-control method, which is used for distinguishing a normal operation from a misoperation. The method provided by the embodiments of the present invention includes: receiving a touch instruction of a user; determining a user touch area corresponding to the touch instruction; determining whether a user observation area has an overlapping portion with the user touch area; and if the user observation area has an overlapping portion with the user touch area, responding to the touch instruction of the user. In the touch method provided by the embodiments of the present invention, a normal operation can be distinguished from a misoperation. The embodiments of the present invention further provide a related touch-control apparatus and terminal device.
US09519419B2
Skinnable touch device grip pattern techniques are described herein. A touch-aware skin may be configured to substantially cover the outer surfaces of a computing device. The touch-aware skin may include a plurality of skin sensors configured to detect interaction with the skin at defined locations. The computing device may include one or more modules operable to obtain input from the plurality of skin sensors and decode the input to determine grips patterns that indicate how the computing device is being held by a user. Various functionality provided by the computing device may be selectively enabled and/or adapted based on a determined grip pattern such that the provided functionality may change to match the grip pattern.
US09519414B2
Technologies are generally described for providing whiteboard records accessibility to users interacting with a whiteboard. A whiteboard may enable two or more users to interact with the whiteboard concurrently. The whiteboard may identify the users interacting with the whiteboard and may identify permission settings associated with the users. Based on the identification of the users and detected permission settings, the whiteboard may activate a whiteboard records accessibility mode to provide access to whiteboard records. In a public mode, any user may interact with the whiteboard, and the whiteboard may provide access to a public records data store. In a private mode, the whiteboard may provide access to a separate private records data store associated with an authenticated user interacting with the whiteboard. When two users interact with the whiteboard concurrently, the whiteboard may separate the whiteboard records such that each user can access records corresponding to the detected permission settings.
US09519389B2
A display device with a touch panel includes: a plurality of scanning signal lines, which are aligned in a rectangular display region and in parallel with a side of the rectangular display region, to which an active potential as a potential for making a pixel transistor conductive is applied; drive pulse output circuits which sequentially apply the active potential to the scanning signal lines in the display region; a clock signal output circuit which applies a first clock signal as a clock signal for the drive pulse output circuits to a first clock signal line and stops the application of the first clock signal to the first clock signal line for a stop period during which the sequential application of the active potential is stopped in the middle thereof; and a touch panel control unit which detects contact with a display surface during the stop period.
US09519388B2
A touch sensor includes a controller to detect a touch on a screen. The controller includes a voltage analyzer and a calculator. The voltage analyzer measures an output voltage of a sensing electrode of a touch sensor. The calculator calculates a capacitance between the sensing electrode and a driving electrode. The calculator calculates the capacitance based on a voltage matrix and the output voltage for one or more time periods. The voltage matrix is based on a code matrix of a plurality of code matrices.
US09519381B2
A touch screen panel for display apparatus is provided, which includes a substrate; an electrode forming part including a plurality of first electrode serials and a plurality of second electrode serials arranged to cross over the plurality of first electrode serials; a routing wire forming part including a plurality of first routing wires connected to the plurality of first electrode serials, respectively and a plurality of second routing wires connected to the plurality of second electrode serials, respectively; a plurality of first insulation patterns formed at a cross region of the first and second electrode serials to insulate the first electrode serial from the second electrode serial; and at least one buffer pattern to be positioned at least one side of each of the first insulation patterns, and be spaced at a predetermined distance from the first insulation pattern.
US09519376B2
A method in an electronic device includes displaying an image on a screen, detecting a swiping of a finger through a sensor, and selecting at least a portion of the image based on the swiping of the finger. An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a memory configured to store one or more pieces of fingerprint information, a screen configured to display an image, and at least one processor configured to detect a swiping of a finger through a sensor, and select at least a portion of the image based on the swiping of the finger. Other various embodiments are also disclosed.
US09519372B2
The present disclosure relates to the field of display technology, and provides a gate driving circuit, a gate line driving method and a display apparatus capable of solving the technical problem of display defects caused by the interrupt of the scan signal in the touch screen technology with time division driving. The gate driving circuit comprises multiple shift register units connected in series, and further comprises a shift delay module and a repeat output module, wherein the shift delay module is connected in series between the jth stage of shift register unit and the (j+1)th stage of shift register unit which are adjacent to each other; the shift delay module is connected to the output terminal of the jth stage of shift register unit and the input terminal of the (j+1)th stage of shift register unit, and the shift delay module is also connected to the repeat output module; the repeat output module is connected to the output terminal of the (j−n+1)th stage of shift register unit and a clock control terminal. Embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to display manufacture.
US09519364B2
A touch screen sensing device includes a touch screen including touch sensors formed at crossings of Tx lines and Rx lines, a Tx driving circuit supplying a driving pulse to each of the Tx lines N times, and an Rx driving circuit which samples a signal voltage of the touch sensors received through the Rx lines and converts the sampled signal voltage into digital data. The Rx driving circuit includes a differential amplifier differentially amplifying signals received through the Rx lines, a low pass filter removing a radio frequency noise from an output of the differential amplifier, an amplifier amplifying an output of the low pass filter, and an integrator accumulating signal voltages which are successively output from the amplifier.
US09519358B2
A pen-shaped coordinate indicator is provided, which is capable of preventing erroneous detection of the pressing force (writing pressure) and widening the detection range of the pressing force. The indicator includes a core body that forms a pen tip; a columnar first magnetic body having one end in contact with the core body and having another end opposing a columnar second magnetic body; and an elastic body provided between the first and second magnetic bodies. The elastic body is composed of a main body and at least one projection provided thereon, wherein the projection has a smaller resistance to the pressing force applied to the core body than the main body. When the pressing force is applied, initially the projection is mainly deformed, and thereafter the main body is mainly deformed to thereby change a distance between the first and second magnetic bodies according to the pressing force device.
US09519349B2
A mechanical interface device having a number of three-dimensional tactile actuators is mounted to the touchscreen of an electronic device having a monitor, wherein a controller coupled to the touchscreen and to the monitor is operative to cause the monitor to display graphic images and/or text in response to engagement with or movement along the surface of the touchscreen by the three-dimensional tactile actuators.
US09519343B2
An information processing apparatus includes a communication unit, a storage, and a controller. The storage is configured to store rule information indicating a rule for calculating points of a user in accordance with a type of an operation by the user. The controller is configured to calculate, based on a detected operation of a first user and the rule information, points of the first user in accordance with a type of the detected operation, to control the storage to store first point information indicating the calculated points, and to control the communication unit to perform one of transmission of the stored first point information to another information processing apparatus and reception of second point information from the other information processing apparatus, the second point information indicating points of a second user and being stored in the other information processing apparatus.
US09519340B2
A mobile terminal including a main body configured to be worn on a user's wrist; a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with a glasses-type terminal worn by the user, said glasses-type terminal including a camera configured to capture an image including operational data for operating an external apparatus; and a controller configured to receive including the operational data from the glasses-type terminal, store the operational data in a memory associated with the mobile terminal, and transmit a control signal to the external apparatus to control the external apparatus according to the stored operational data.
US09519334B2
Methods and articles of manufacture for hosting a safety critical application on an uncontrolled data processing device are provided. Various combinations of installation, functional, host integrity, coexistence, interoperability, power management, and environment checks are performed at various times to determine if the safety critical application operates properly on the device. The operation of the SCA on the UDPD may be controlled accordingly.
US09519328B2
Methods for performing power management of InfiniBand (IB) switches and apparatus and software configured to implement the methods. Power management datagrams (MADs) are used to inform IB switches that host servers connected to the IB switch's ports are to transition to a reduced-power or offline state or have returned to a normal operating state. A subnet management agent (SMA) on the IB switch receives the power MADs from the host servers and tracks each server's operating state. In response to power down MADs, the SMA coordinates power reduction of the switch's ports and other switch circuitry. For switches with multi-port IB interfaces, a multi-port interface is caused to enter a reduced-power state when all of its ports are connected to host servers that are idle or offline. Additionally, when all of a switch's ports are connected to idle or offline servers the SMA may put the switch's core switch logic into a reduced-power state. Power MADs are also used to inform upstream IB switches when a switch is to transition to a reduced power state or has returned to a normal operating state.
US09519326B2
A power management controller for controlling start and stop of a plurality of power supplies is disclosed. Each of the power supplies belongs to one of N rails, in which (N+1) states including a first state where all of the rails are turned off and a (k+1)th state (k=1, 2, . . . N) where a first rail to a kth rail are turned on are specified. The power management controller includes a task list memory, a head address register file, a state indicator, and an event management unit.
US09519305B2
Techniques described herein generally relate to multi-core processors including two or more processor cores. Example embodiments may set forth devices, methods, and computer programs related to calculating a clock rate for one or more of the processor cores in the multi-core processor. One example method may include determining a first estimated workload for a first processor core and a second estimated workload for a second processor core within a scheduling interval in a periodic scheduling environment. In addition, a first clock rate for the first processor core may be calculated based on one or more of the first estimated workload, a maximum clock rate supported by the multi-core processor and/or the scheduling interval. Similarly, a second clock rate for the second processor core may also be calculated based on one or more of the second estimated workload, the maximum clock rate, and/or the scheduling interval.
US09519298B2
Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to methods, apparatuses and systems involving a multi junction semiconductor circuit. According to an example embodiment, an apparatus includes a multi junction semiconductor circuit including a first current path and a second current path, each current path having respective first and second common voltage nodes to provide an output that is proportional to absolute temperature. The first current path includes a first p-n junction exhibiting a first current density. The second current path includes a second p-n junction exhibiting a second current density that is proportionally different than the first current density, and a resistor connected between the second p-n junction and the second common voltage node. Further, the apparatus includes a current-tap path connected to a node between the resistor and the second p-n junction, the current-tap path diverts a portion of current that flows through the resistor away from the second p-n junction.
US09519297B1
A system and method for controlling a building system includes a supply temperature sensor upstream of a thermal load, a return temperature sensor downstream of the thermal load, and a controller. The controller is configured to calculate an actual thermal energy difference from the supply and return temperature sensors. The controller is configured to control a flow rate of a pump such that the measured thermal energy difference is equal to a desired thermal energy difference for the system, and the measured thermal energy difference is constant for a time interval. A system and method for controlling a building system includes determining a desired thermal energy difference for a load, measuring a supply and return temperature of the load, and reducing the system flow rate such that a valve controlling the load flow rate is at an at partially open condition when the return temperature of the load is the desired return temperature.
US09519290B2
A method and apparatus for associating passenger docking locations with destinations are disclosed. Associating passenger docking locations with destinations may include an autonomous vehicle identifying transportation network information representing a vehicle transportation network, including a primary destination, wherein identifying the transportation network information includes identifying the transportation network information such that the transportation network information includes docking location information representing a plurality of docking locations, wherein each docking location corresponds with a respective location in the vehicle transportation network, and such that at least one docking location from the plurality of docking locations is associated with the primary destination. The autonomous vehicle may determine a target docking location from the plurality of docking locations for the primary destination based on the transportation network information, identify a route from an origin to the target docking location, and travel from the origin to the target docking location using the route.
US09519278B2
A method performed by a control unit in an array of multiple self-addressable control units arranged in at least two dimensions involves obtaining information to be used to determine a self-address, determining a self-address value based upon the information, storing the determined self-address value, based upon the self-address value, specifying first data to be provided to a next self-addressable control unit in a first group of self-addressable control units for a first dimension of the array, providing the first data to the next self-addressable control unit in the first group, based upon the self-address value, specifying second data to be provided to a different self-addressable control unit in a second group of self-addressable control units for a second dimension of the array different from the first dimension of the array, and providing the second data to the different self-addressable control unit in the second group.
US09519273B2
An electronic timepiece has a display device that displays display information, a drive mechanism that drives the display device, a crown that can perform a rotary operation, and a control device that corrects the display information displayed on the display device by the rotary operation of the crown. The control device has a single correction mode and a continuous correction mode which are selected by the rotary operation of the crown. In the single correction mode, a single correction signal is output to the drive mechanism so that the display device is corrected as much as a single correction quantity. In the continuous correction mode, a continuous correction signal is output to the drive mechanism so that the display device is corrected as much as a continuous correction quantity. The continuous correction quantity is set depending on types of the display information to be corrected in the continuous correction mode.
US09519270B2
Timepiece power reserve indicator for the display of the power reserve indication of a plurality of energy accumulators each including one indicator cooperating with one accumulator input of a differential mechanism comprised in the power reserve indicator, and wherein one output of the differential mechanism cooperates with a mechanism for the display of the total power reserve of the plurality of energy accumulators, and at least two of the inputs are coaxial.
US09519258B1
An image forming unit includes an image carrying body, a plate-shaped cleaning member, and a powder of a fatty acid metal salt. The image carrying body is configured to be rotatable and carries an image formed on a surface thereof with a toner. The plate-shaped cleaning member includes a tip portion which is pressed against the surface and which scrapes a material adhering onto the surface in response to rotation of the image carrying body. The powder of the fatty acid metal salt is applied to at least one of the tip portion and the surface.
US09519257B2
A cleaning device includes a cleaner, a casing, and an exit seal. The cleaner is configured to remove toner from a cleaning target. The casing accommodates the cleaner. The exit seal is attached to the casing and has a free end contacting the cleaning target at a position downward from the cleaner in a direction of movement of the cleaning target and an attached end attached to the casing. A space is disposed between a surface of the cleaning target and an opposite face of the exit seal opposite the cleaning target. The space includes an opening at a lateral end of the exit seal. The exit seal contacts the cleaning target from a trailing direction of the exit seal and seals the opening at at least an attached end side of the exit seal.
US09519256B2
An image forming apparatus includes a measurement unit configured to measure a density of an image that an image forming unit forms, an acquisition unit configured to acquire an image processing parameter serving as a correction value used to correct the measured density of the image, a generation unit configured to generate a cleaning patch image using the acquired image processing parameter, and a cleaning patch image forming unit configured to form the cleaning patch image generated by the generation unit on an image bearing member, wherein the cleaning patch image is formed during an interval after a first image is formed by the image forming unit on the image bearing member but before a second image having a printing instruction issued subsequent to a printing instruction issued for the first image is formed by the image forming unit on the image bearing member.
US09519252B2
In a fixing device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a projection portion projected in a direction opposite to a direction biased by the biasing member, from a body part of the biasing member, is provided in a biasing member configured to push a thermosensitive member which receives heat from a heater, toward the heater, so that a crack in the heater at the time of an abnormal temperature rise is prevented.
US09519251B2
A fixing device includes an endless belt rotatable in a predetermined direction of rotation and a nip formation pad disposed opposite an inner circumferential surface of the endless belt. A slide sheet is sandwiched between the nip formation pad and the endless belt and is a twill fabric containing a lubricant. The slide sheet includes a first sheet contacting the nip formation pad and including a first gutter defined by a first twill line in a first direction angled relative to the direction of rotation of the endless belt and a second sheet layered on the first sheet and contacting the endless belt. The second sheet includes a second gutter defined by a second twill line in a second direction angled relative to the direction of rotation of the endless belt.
US09519249B2
A fixing device includes a cylindrical heat roller; a plurality of heaters disposed inside the heat roller, extending along a longitudinal axis of the heat roller; and a heat adjuster, disposed among the plurality of heaters, to adjust heat from one to another of the plurality of heaters. An image forming apparatus includes an image forming section to form an image on a recording medium; and the fixing device as described above, to fix the image onto the recording medium.
US09519247B2
The fixing device includes an abutting member and an urging member. The abutting member is provided on a sheet conveyance path between a fixing roller pair and a conveying roller pair. The abutting member abuts a surface of a sheet having passed or passing through a separation plate, and the surface faces a heating roller side. The urging member urges the abutting member such that the aforementioned sheet is pressed by the abutting member to a side separated from the separation plate.
US09519243B2
A replaceable unit for an electrophotographic image forming device according to one example embodiment includes a housing having a reservoir for storing toner. A rotatable shaft is positioned within the reservoir and has an axis of rotation. A first magnet and a second magnet are connected to the shaft and rotatable around the axis of rotation in response to rotation of the shaft. The first magnet and the second magnet are detectable by a magnetic sensor when the replaceable unit is installed in the image forming device. A polarity of the first magnet is oriented opposite a polarity of the second magnet relative to the shaft. An amount of angular offset between the first magnet and the second magnet varies depending on an amount of toner in the reservoir.
US09519240B1
Provided is a developing device including a rotating member that faces a formation target member on which a toner image is formed, is rotated around a rotation shaft extruded from an end portion, and includes a holding portion having an outer circumference on which a toner is held, an accommodation member that accommodates the toner, includes a wall at which a notch is formed, and in which the rotating member is disposed in a state where the rotation shaft is extruded outwardly from an inner surface of the wall through the notch, and a fixation member that is fixed on both sides of an inner surface of the wall with interposing the notch.
US09519237B2
An electrostatic latent image developing toner includes toner particles. Each toner particle includes a toner core containing a binder resin, a shell layer coating a surface of the toner core, and needle-like inorganic particulates. Each shell layer contains a thermosetting resin, and the inorganic particulates are present within the shell layer. The inorganic particulates have: an aspect ratio of 1.25 or more and 2.5 or less; and an average major diameter and an average minor diameter of 300 nm or less.