US09974218B2
A component supply device loaded with a component supply tape for exposing and supplying an electronic component from the component supply tape with respect to a component mounting device mounting the electronic component on a substrate includes a replenishing unit performing replenishment of a new component supply tape when a preceding component supply tape is exhausted and a sensor senses exhaustion of the preceding component supply tape while a confluent portion where a channel for the preceding component supply tape and a channel for the new component supply tape join with each other is formed between the sensor and the replenishing unit. A buckling prevention mechanism moves in response to an operation of the preceding component supply tape or the new component supply tape for preventing buckling when the new component supply tape is transported to the component supply device by the replenishing unit is arranged on the confluent portion.
US09974216B2
A supply head of a die supply apparatus is detachably held by a head holding unit of a head moving mechanism. The supply head held by the head holding unit is replaceable with a supply head having the same number of nozzles as the number of nozzles of a mounting head of a component mounting machine. A nozzle arrangement of the supply head of the die supply apparatus has the same arrangement as a nozzle arrangement of the mounting head of the component mounting machine.
US09974214B2
A cooled power conversion assembly comprising a first chamber, a second chamber at least partially separated from the first chamber, at least one first type device located in the first chamber, at least one second type device located in the second chamber, and cooling means comprising a first cooling element and a second cooling element. The first cooling element is adapted to transfer heat out of the first chamber, and the second cooling element is adapted to transfer heat out of the second chamber. The first cooling element is in direct contact with the at least one first type device, and the second cooling element is in a heat transfer connection with the at least one second type device through a gaseous cooling medium.
US09974212B2
An electronic equipment includes a refrigerant tank that contains a refrigerant, an electronic component, a through card electrically coupled to the electronic component, and a pouch of which one end side is in a close contact with the through card so as to seal the electronic component, wherein the electronic component is immersed in the refrigerant of the refrigerant tank in a state of being sealed in the pouch.
US09974195B2
An electrical junction box includes a circuit assembly including a circuit board and a conductive plate, a engaging component (terminal block), a frame including an installation portion to which the engaging component is installed. A first engaging portion (first bus bar) is formed on one end side of the circuit assembly, and a second engaging portion (second bus bar) is formed on another end side of the circuit assembly. The frame includes a first engaged portion (receiving portion) that is engaged with the first engaging portion and receives the one end side of the circuit assembly. The engaging component includes a second engaged portion (auxiliary receiving portion) that is engaged with the second engaging portion and receives the other end side of the circuit assembly.
US09974194B2
An electronic circuit board unit for an electronic module installed in a vehicle rear view device. The electronic circuit board unit has a base plate, at least one printed circuit board, and at least one plug connection for an electronic and physical connection between the printed circuit board and the base plate. The electronic circuit board has at least one first receiver for mounting an electronic consumer unit of the electronic module and being attachable or attached to the base plate or to one of the at least one printed circuit board. There is at least one second connector attachable or attached to the base plate or to the at least one printed circuit board for connecting at least one further electronic consumer unit of the electronic module to the driver circuit of the base plate. This configuration provides either n printed circuit boards and n+1 of electronic consumer units, with n being an integer number of 1 and above, or a plurality of printed circuit boards is provided, with each circuit board comprising at least one first receiver and at least one second connector.
US09974184B2
A printed board includes: a depression formed in at least one surface of a board; an open hole formed in the board so as to penetrate the board from a bottom portion of the depression; and a conductor formed over an edge of an opening portion of the open hole and an inner surface of the open hole.
US09974157B2
An electronic system includes a chassis. The chassis includes a first endwall, a second endwall, and a sidewall. The electronic system also includes at least one circuit card cartridge coupled to the chassis. The at least one circuit card cartridge is positioned between the first endwall and the second endwall. The at least one circuit card cartridge includes a printed circuit board including a first surface and at least one electronic component. The at least one electronic component is mounted on the first surface. The at least one circuit card cartridge further includes at least one heat transfer assembly coupled to the printed circuit board. The at least one heat transfer assembly is configured to contact the at least one electronic component and extend adjacent the printed circuit board across the first surface.
US09974154B2
A power supply device includes: an oscillation unit for outputting a high frequency signal; a modulation unit for outputting a pulsed high frequency signal; a level adjustment unit for adjusting and outputting a level of the pulsed high frequency signal; a power amplifier for amplifying a power outputted from the level adjustment unit; an output power detection unit for detecting an output power value from the power amplifier; and a control unit. The control unit corrects and outputs a level control signal for controlling the level of the pulsed high frequency signal based on a corresponding correction factor at each of elapsed times in an on state of the pulsed high frequency signal, and compares comparison values in a current pulse and a previous pulse to update the correction factor such that comparison result between the set power value and the output power value becomes smaller at each reflection coefficient.
US09974153B2
A method for controlling filament current of a computed tomography (CT) tube includes: detecting a present tube current of the CT tube and assigning the present tube current to a feedback value, calculating a difference between a set value of the tube current and the feedback value and assigning the difference to an error value, assigning a target upper bound value to a present filament current when the error value is greater than an first error threshold, and assigning a target lower bound value to the present filament current when the error value is less than a second error threshold, wherein the target upper bound value is greater than the target lower bound value, the first error threshold is greater than 0, and the second error threshold is less than 0.
US09974151B2
The present invention concerns a projection system for providing a distributed manifestation within an environment. The projection system includes a data generator for generating a plurality of data sets of associated state data and spatial coordinate data. The projection system also includes a projector in communication with the data generator for receiving the data sets. The projector is provided with a signal generating module for generating a plurality of electromagnetic signals, and a projecting module for projecting each of the electromagnetic signals towards a target location within the environment. The projection system also includes a plurality of receiving units distributed within the environment, each receiving unit having a receiver for receiving one of the electromagnetic signals when the receiving unit is positioned in the corresponding target location, each receiving unit being adapted to perform a change of state in response to the state data.
US09974149B2
An apparatus and method allow end users to interactively create complex lighting patterns by remote control. Applications include decorative lighting, landscape lighting, signage, or advertising platforms. A lighting control system is equipped with sensors that receive remote control signals from a variety of different sources, and route the control signals to modulate receptacles coupled to different lighting circuits, thereby independently controlling multiple light arrays to achieve separate light patterns, or to coordinate different lighting effects. The control signals independently energize localized groups of lamps to provide enhanced lighting effects, while using significantly less wire material. Interactive remote control is provided via a mobile computing device such as a smart phone running a customized program. In one embodiment, the remote control device communicates selections to a Bluetooth®-equipped speaker to produce sound-controlled lighting effects.
US09974138B2
Composite light sources and methods use a low-blue component light source emitting first substantially white light and a high-blue component light source emitting second substantially white light. The second substantially white light has a greater correlated color temperature than the first substantially white light. The first and second substantially white light combine to provide substantially intermediate warm-white light.
US09974135B1
An apparatus is disclosed that includes a segmented light-emitting diode (LED) chip having a plurality of LEDs that are separated by trenches formed on the segmented LED chip and arranged in a plurality of sections, each section including at least one first LED and at least one second LED; and a controller configured to: apply a forward bias to each of the first LEDs; apply a reverse bias to each of the second LEDs; and change a brightness of the first LEDs in any section based on a signal generated by the second LED in that section.
US09974132B2
Disclosed is a controller for controlling a string of N LEDs connected in series and each having a current bypass switch in parallel therewith and configured to be supplied from a current source connected in series with the string of LEDs and being supplied by a supply voltage, the controller comprising: a respective bypass switch controller for each bypass switch and configured to control the respective bypass switch such that the respective LED has an on-period and an off-period, according to a common duty cycle; a phase control unit configured to set a respective timing of each of the bypass switches such that the fraction of LEDs not bypassed corresponds to the duty cycle; and a duty cycle adjustor configured to adjust the duty cycle, in dependence on the supply voltage. Associated methods and circuits are also disclosed.
US09974122B2
An electronic device may include a display. The display may be an organic light-emitting diode display. The organic light-emitting diode display may have a substrate layer, a layer of organic light-emitting diode structures, and a layer of sealant. Vias may be formed in the substrate layer. The vias may be formed before completion of the display or after completion of the display. The vias may be filled with metal using electroplating or other metal deposition techniques. The vias may be connected to contacts on the rear surface of the display. The vias may be located in active regions of the display or inactive regions of the display. The display may include a top surface emission portion and a bottom surface emission portion.
US09974119B1
A self-contained incense burner shaped a hairdryer for safely holding, igniting and burning incense. The portable incense burner shaped a hairdryer is going to heat the incense with a certain temperature in order to help the user to direct the smoke flow in the exact direction of the nozzle using the fan thrust. The self-contained incense burner shaped a hairdryer has a small as pocket size and is portable without any wires to enhance the mobility of the users and the way of using incense.
US09974116B2
A method and a wireless transmit/receive unit perform a handoff to a target base station having enhanced capabilities. A dual mode manager triggers a capabilities query for information regarding enhanced capability of the target base station, wherein the enhanced capability includes transmission in accordance with a high speed data mode. A generator sends the query to a server connected to the Internet via a first base station not having enhanced capability. The dual mode manager receives from the server via the first base station information regarding the enhanced capability. A handoff to the target base station is initiated by the dual mode manager on a condition that the received information indicates that the target base station has enhanced capability. The dual mode manager deactivates a first mode of operation for communication with the first base station and activates the high speed data mode for communication with the target base station.
US09974115B2
A mobile device performs a method for policy-based routing. The method includes creating a first set of marking rules based on routing policy data provisioned in the mobile device, wherein each marking rule indicates labeling for packets, wherein the labeling is used in selecting one of a plurality of active network interfaces in the mobile device to route the packets over a set of access networks available to the mobile device. The method further includes creating a first set of routing tables corresponding to the labeling indicated by the first set of marking rules, wherein each routing table directs the mobile device to a different one of the active network interfaces of the plurality of active network interfaces.
US09974108B2
A method of identifying an external device that sent a message and then determining whether to process the message based in part on the identity of the external device that sent the message. The implanted device receives a message from the external device and identifies an external device ID in the received message. The external device ID identifies the external device that sent the message. The implanted device then compares the external device ID from the message to a stored list of approved external device IDs. The implanted device processes the message when the external device ID matches one or the approved external device IDs in the stored list of approved external device IDs. However, the message is disregarded when the external device ID does not match any of the approved external device IDs in the stored list of approved external device IDs.
US09974107B2
The present invention relates to radio communications between a terminal, a radio node and a core network in a radio communication system. A radio node, which can form a radio link to a terminal through a first radio interface by a first radio protocol and a second radio interface by a second radio protocol, may transmit, to the terminal, function structure type information about a mobility management-related function which can be performed through the first radio interface by the first radio protocol, form a radio link to the terminal through the second radio interface by the second radio protocol, establish a connection between the terminal and a core network by a non-access stratum (NAS) protocol if the terminal requests a connection between the terminal and the core network through the second radio interface, release the radio link, and perform the mobility management-related function through the second radio interface by communicating with the terminal.
US09974099B2
In embodiments, apparatuses, methods, and storage media may be described for monitoring channel quality of a radio link between a secondary evolved NodeB (SeNB) and a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network configured for dual connectivity. In embodiments, the UE may generate one or more indications of a channel quality of the SeNB-UE radio link and forward the indication to the SeNB. Based on the indication, the UE may receive a radio resource control (RRC) message from a master eNB (MeNB) related to the SeNB-UE radio link. Other embodiments may be claimed.
US09974092B2
A method and apparatus for avoiding in-device interference in a terminal equipped with multiple heterogeneous communication modules (e.g. Long Term Evolution (LTE), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Bluetooth, and Global Positioning System (GPS) modules) are provided. The method includes one of detecting and predicting interference caused by the second communication module to communication of the first communication module, transmitting an interference occurrence information message to a base station for controlling to avoid the interference, and controlling to avoid the interference by executing one of a handover and discontinuous reception according to a control command included in an interference occurrence information response message transmitted by the base station. The terminal provides the cell with the interference-related information, the cell configures the Discontinuous Reception (DRX) based on the interference-related information, and the terminal can reduce in-device interference through the controlled DRX operation, resulting in improvement of communication reliability of the communication modules.
US09974087B2
A method for controlling a cell state corresponding to whether to transmit a signal, on a subframe basis by an evolved Node B (eNB) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes determining a cell state of at least one subframe included in each of an N-th frame and an (N−1)-th frame, and at the start of the N-th frame, transmitting to a user equipment (UE), information about cell states of all subframes belonging to the N-th frame and information about cell states of all subframes belonging to the (N−1)-th frame.
US09974078B2
The present application relates to a method of allocating resources for transmission of pilot signals of a plurality of terminals of a cellular multiple-input and multiple-output system. The cellular MIMO system comprises a base station having a plurality of antennas and a logic which analyzes pilot signals received from a terminal at the plurality of antennas to obtain information about a radio channel property of the radio channel between the terminal and the plurality of antennas. According to the method, the base station determines whether the radio channel property between the terminal and the plurality of antennas is constant over a period of time. If the radio channel property is constant over a period of time, receiving parameters of the plurality of antennas are configured for nulling pilot signals from the terminal, and a resource, which is assigned to the terminal for a transmission of pilot signals, is assigned to another terminal.
US09974059B2
A solution for control information transmission applicable in a Licensed-Assisted Access scenario. A method at a first communications device operable in both a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum. The method starts by checking whether there is a granted resource on a licensed carrier of the licensed spectrum. If there is a granted resource on the licensed carrier, then control information is transmitted via the granted resource on the licensed carrier to a second communications device that is operable in both the licensed spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum; otherwise, it is checked whether there is a granted resource on an unlicensed carrier of the unlicensed spectrum. If there is a granted resource on the unlicensed carrier, then transmission of the control information to the second communications device is attempted via the granted resource on the unlicensed carrier. Correspondingly, there is also provided an apparatus for the control information transmission.
US09974050B2
Methods and systems described herein relate to broadcasting an advertisement event on a wireless channel. An example method includes generating, based on data, a data signal including one or more data packets, where each of the one or more data packets is a non-connectable and non-scannable data packet; generating an RF signal using an oscillator circuit; directly modulating the RF signal, based on the data signal, to generate a modulated RF signal; amplifying the modulated RF signal; broadcasting the amplified modulated RF signal on the wireless channel, where the amplified modulated RF signal is associated with the advertisement event.
US09974044B2
A digitally stored map can indicate the signal quality for each of the map's regions. A device can determine its location, speed, and direction using global positioning system (GPS) and other sensors. Based on this information, the mobile device can predict a field of locations within which the device will probably be located within a specified future time frame. Based on both the information indicating signal quality and the probable future field of locations, the device can estimate a moment at which the device will probably begin to suffer from low-quality or absent signal. Using this prediction, the device can proactively perform a variety of anticipatory remedial actions. For example, the device can begin allocating a greater portion of currently available wireless network communication bandwidth to the reception of data packets that represent content that is being streamed to the device, so that the device can proactively buffer those packets.
US09974040B1
While a peer-to-peer (P2P) wireless network that includes both i) a first communication device and ii) a second communication device is not formed, and prior to the first communication device and the second communication device performing a group owner (GO) negotiation in connection with forming the P2P wireless network, the first communication device performs a ranging exchange with the second communication device. After performing the ranging exchange with the second communication device, the first communication device performs a GO negotiation with the second communication device.
US09974032B2
A transmit power control rule for device-to-device (D2D) transmissions may not be necessary during periods in which no uplink transmissions are scheduled to be received by an enhanced Node B base station (eNB). When uplink transmissions are not scheduled to be received by the eNB, the eNB may send a transmit power control (TPC) command to a D2D capable user equipment (D2D UE) that instructs the D2D UE to perform a D2D transmission at a pre-defined transmit power level (e.g., maximum transmit power level). When uplink transmissions are scheduled to be received the eNB, the eNB may send a TPC command to the D2D UE that instructs the D2D UE to perform a D2D transmission at a transmit power level defined by a power control rule.
US09974023B2
Some demonstrative embodiments include apparatuses, devices, systems and methods of a wakeup packet response. For example, an apparatus may include circuitry configured to cause a first wireless device to transmit a frame comprising mapping information to map a plurality of Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCS) to a respective plurality of preamble lengths; generate a wakeup packet comprising a preamble having a preamble length of the plurality of preamble lengths corresponding to an MCS of a non-wakeup transmission from the first wireless device; and transmit the wakeup packet to a second wireless device.
US09974022B2
Disclosed are a method and apparatus for power saving mode-based operation in a wireless LAN. A method for power saving mode-based operation in a wireless LAN can comprise the steps of: an STA performing an initial configuration procedure for configuring a TIM-based power saving mode and an AP; the STA being converted from a doze state to an awake state, on the basis of a transmission period of a beacon frame, by operating in the TIM-based power saving mode on the basis of the initial configuration procedure, and thereby receiving a first downlink frame from the AP; the STA receiving from the AP operation mode configuration information indicating conversion from the TIM-based power saving mode to an active mode; and the STA receiving, on the basis of the active mode, a second downlink frame from the AP.
US09974020B1
A method for creating dynamic safe zones comprises determining, by a tracking device, the tracking device is outside a domicile, monitoring, by the tracking device, a location of the tracking device, in response to the location satisfying a condition, creating a safe zone for the tracking device, and while the tracking device is within the safe zone, reducing power consumption of the tracking device, wherein the method is performed using one or more computing devices.
US09974011B2
Disclosed are a network access method and a mobile communications terminal, said method comprising the following steps: obtaining the geographical location information of a mobile communications terminal; if the geographical location information of said mobile communications terminal is not the home geographical location information of the mobile communications terminal, then selecting, according to the geographical location information of said mobile communications terminal, a visited public land mobile network matching said geographical location information; adding said visited public land mobile network to an equivalent public land mobile network list; searching for a network according to the appended equivalent public land mobile network list, and if the visited public land mobile network is found, then executing a network registration operation for said mobile communications terminal.
US09974009B2
Provided is a network access method and the method includes the follows. Information of a user identification card pre-stored by the mobile terminal is obtained from a specified storage space, and all network types supported by the mobile terminal based on the pre-stored information of the user identification card are determined. Network identifiers (IDs) of public land mobile networks (PLMNs) of all the network types supported by the mobile terminal are determined and added to an equivalent home public land mobile network (EHPLMN) list. If it finds a target PLMN that matches a network ID in the EHPLMN list when the mobile terminal arrives at a place of visit from a designated location and begins to search for networks, a communications connection is established between the mobile terminal and the target PLMN.
US09974006B2
Various communication systems may benefit from coordination in interworking. For example, certain wireless communication systems may benefit from link setup level coordination, such as coordination between a first radio access technology base station and a terminal that is setting up a link to a second radio access technology. A method may include, for example, determining an allowed link setup level for a terminal. The method may also include communicating the allowed link setup level to the terminal.
US09973997B1
A data communication network to provide network access data sets for User Equipment (UE) selection of a wireless relay. The wireless relays transfer relay status data to a network control system. The network control system processes the relay status data to generate network access data sets for the wireless relays and transfers the individual network access data sets for delivery to the wireless relays. The wireless relays receive their individual network access data sets and wirelessly broadcast relay Long Term Evolution (LTE) System Information Blocks (SIBs) indicating their individual network access data sets. The wireless relays receive wireless UE attachments responsive to the relay LTE SIB broadcasts of the individual network access data sets.
US09973992B2
A method for radio access offloading is disclosed, wherein the method includes maintaining, in a user terminal pre-configuration information on integrated local area radio access offloading layers. In response to detecting an access point of an available offloading layer, the user terminal may activate a local area radio access offloading mode. The user terminal transmits, to the base station via the access point, an indication indicating that the offloading mode is activated, and receives, from the base station, a confirmation indicating that the activated offloading mode is accepted by the base station. The user terminal then decides, whether or not to switch to the available offloading layer, wherein if the user terminal decides to switch to the available offloading layer, offloading is performed via the access point.
US09973991B2
A method for switching of multi-carrier and device are provided. The method comprises: receiving a message sent from a source RAN node corresponding to a first link and comprising information of a second link; according to the information of the second link, establishing a connection between a target RAN node corresponding to the first link and an RAN node corresponding to the second link, so as to perform data transmission. The first link is a link in a first Radio Access Technology (RAT) network, and the second link is a link in a second RAT network. Embodiments of the present invention can ensure the continuity of the throughput of data transmission during switching under aggregation of multiple RAT carriers.
US09973990B2
A method and apparatus for transmitting a handover report message in a wireless communication system is provided. In a heterogeneous network (HetNet) intra long term evolution (LTE) failure case, an eNodeB (eNB) performs a handover procedure for a user equipment (UE) with a source eNB, and receives a radio link failure (RLF) indication message. The eNB transmits a handover report message to the source eNB, the handover report message including UE history information element (IE) of the UE.
US09973983B2
The communication management apparatus includes a reception index determination device configured to determine, with respect to respective neighboring cells of a serving cell of each terminal apparatus within a predetermined cell, and a reference signal reception index for the terminal apparatus according to location information of the terminal apparatus. The reference signal reception index is used for indicating signal reception situation of the terminal apparatus with respect to the neighboring cells.
US09973979B2
In a handover procedure between cells under different radio base stations (eNB), “RRC diversity” is implemented. A mobile communication method includes: a step A of transmitting, by a radio base station (eNB #1), “CoMP preparation” to a radio base station (eNB #10); a step B of transmitting, by the radio base station (eNB #10), setting information on a cell (#10) to the radio base station (eNB #1); a step C of conducting, by the radio base station (eNB #1), setting of the mobile station (UE) to perform CoMP transmission-reception; a step D of giving, by the mobile station (UE), the radio base station (eNB #1) notification that radio quality in the cell (#10) satisfies a predetermined condition; and a step E of instructing, by the radio base station (eNB #1), the radio base station (eNB #10) to start scheduling for the mobile station (UE).
US09973949B2
Apparatuses and methods are disclosed that may perform ranging operations between an initiator device and a responder device. The initiator device may request the responder device to perform a ranging operation. The responder device may transmit a first fine timing measurement (FTM) frame to the initiator device, may receive an acknowledgement (ACK) frame from the responder device, and may transmit a second FTM frame to the initiator device. The second FTM frame may include a time value and angle information. The time value may indicate a difference between a time of departure (TOD) of the first FTM frame and a time of arrival (TOA) of the ACK frame. The angle information may indicate a direction of the initiator device relative to the responder device. The initiator device may determine its position, relative to the responder device, based at least in part on the received time value and angle information.
US09973947B2
A wireless device includes an imaging unit having an optical axis which is identical to a radio wave direction of a directional antenna, a reference image is stored in a storage unit, a wireless communication device serving as a communication counterpart and an area around the wireless communication device are photographed at regular intervals, and a control unit compares images photographed at regular intervals with a reference image, calculates a degree of similarity through normalized cross-correlation which is hardly influenced by a change in brightness, calculates an index value indicating a state of a region serving as a monitoring target based on a degree of weighted similarity, detects an abnormality when the index value is a specific numerical value or less, and outputs alert information including the photographed image when a state in which the abnormality is detected is continued for a certain period of time.
US09973941B2
Systems and techniques for antenna optimization are described. Information such as statistics relating to conditions are collected, and evaluated against specified criteria in an iterative process. An antenna tilt decision is made based on the evaluation and validated to determine if it should be retained or repeated, or if the tilt should be returned to a previous state.
US09973940B1
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a guided wave launcher generates, in response to an output RF signal, a guided electromagnetic wave along a surface of a transmission medium, wherein the guided electromagnetic wave propagates along the surface of the transmission medium without requiring an electrical return path, and wherein the guided electromagnetic wave has a non-optical carrier frequency. A mismatch probe generates a mismatch signal based on the output RF signal, wherein the mismatch signal indicates an impedance mismatch of the guided wave launcher. A controller generates one or more control signals in response to the mismatch signal, wherein the one or more control signals adjust one or more adjustable circuit elements of an impedance matching circuit, wherein adjustment of the one or more adjustable circuit elements facilitates reducing the impedance mismatch of the guided wave launcher. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09973938B2
There is provided a communication system comprising: a first communication device that senses a communication environment surrounding the first communication device; a second communication device that acquires sensed data sensed by the first communication device; and a third communication device that determines availability of usage of a second communication service using a part or whole of a spectrum assigned to a first communication service based on the sensed data transmitted from the second communication device.
US09973924B2
The embodiments herein provide a method and system for creating a secure connection for a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless network including a UE, carrier aggregated with at least one first serving frequency served by a first eNB and at least one second serving frequency served by a second eNB. A unique non-repetitive security base key associated with the second eNB is generated using a freshness parameter and security key associated with the first eNB. The use of a different freshness parameter for each security base key derivation avoids key stream repetition. Further, a user plane encryption key is derived based on the generated unique non-repetitive security base key associated with the second eNB for encrypting data transfer over at least one data radio bearer.
US09973923B2
A method of wireless communication includes receiving activation parameters at a low power node and detecting a proximity of an active user equipment (UE) based at least in part on the activation parameters. The activation parameters are triggered from a node different from the low power node, such as an eNodeB. The low power node initiates an activation sequence after detecting the active UE.
US09973922B1
A computer system for establishing a user profile in an in-vehicle communications system based upon a mobile communication device in a motor vehicle includes a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer readable medium includes computer program code for retrieving user data from the mobile communication device, the user data including data associated with a particular user of the mobile communication device, parsing a user name from the user data by identifying possessive indicia in the user data and selecting the user name associated with the possessive indicia, transmitting the parsed user name for confirmation from the user, generating the user profile including the user name, storing the user profile in the non-transitory computer medium, and storing at least one user setting associated with the motor vehicle in the user profile.
US09973920B2
Systems and methods for performing actions associated with multiple communication profiles generated for a user of a mobile device are described. In some embodiments, a communication alias system generates multiple, distinct, communication profiles for the user of the mobile device, where a communication profile is a distinct profile associated with the user of the mobile device and includes a unique communication address to which communications are directed. The communication alias system may perform actions associated with providing information to the user of the mobile device via a selected communication profile for the user of the mobile device.
US09973916B2
In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides an evolved Node B (eNB) that includes a device-to-device (D2D) module configured to allocate at least one D2D discovery region including at least one periodic discovery zone, the at least one periodic discovery zone including a first plurality of resource blocks in frequency and a second plurality of subframes in time, the D2D module further configured to configure a User Equipment (UE) to utilize the at least one D2D discovery region for transmitting a discovery packet.
US09973912B1
As sensor technology becomes more pervasive in our daily lives, an issue which arises is how to efficiently deal with the large volume of data created by these sensors. Typically, a sensor is capable of capturing far more information than is necessary for use in any given application. However, different types and amounts of data may be needed for different applications and different levels of accuracy at different times. Therefore, it is desirable that sensors are able to continue to collect comprehensive amounts of data and to send it to a unit which is able to optimize the data storage and transmission in order to reduce both upstream and downstream burdens caused by large sensor data volumes. Disclosed herein are several examples of communications devices. Communications devices can be modular, as shown, and/or stackable, as shown. An advantage to modular/stackable systems is that they can be easily customized to specific demands.
US09973904B2
A computing platform may receive, from a plurality of computing systems, data identifying permissions of a plurality of users to access one or more resources of the plurality of computing systems. The computing platform may identify, from amongst the plurality of users, a plurality of groups of users. The computing platform may identify, from amongst the permissions, a plurality of sets of permissions. Each set of permissions may include permissions shared by each user of a group of users of the plurality of groups of users. The computing platform may generate a graphical depiction of the plurality of groups of users and the plurality of sets of permissions. The graphical depiction may graphically depict, for each group of the plurality of groups, one or more sets of permissions, of the plurality of sets of permissions, shared by each user of the group.
US09973895B2
After detecting an access-intent operation, an electronic device establishes a connection with a second electronic device using a communication protocol. The electronic devices exchange identifiers, and the second electronic device provides information specifying a preferred channel to use with a second communication protocol. Based at least in part on the preferred channel of the second electronic device and on communication contexts of the electronic devices, the electronic device selects a channel and transmits to the second electronic device information specifying the selected channel. The electronic device remotely accesses credential information based on the exchanged identifiers, and using the credential information, the electronic devices establish a secure connection via the selected channel using the second communication protocol. The electronic device determines a distance to the second electronic device using wireless ranging via the secure connection. When the electronic devices are proximate to each other, the electronic device can be unlocked.
US09973890B2
A tracking device can securely communicate with a secondary device by generating a hash value based on the identity of the tracking device. If the secondary device cannot resolve the hash value, the hash value can be provided to a tracking server, such as a cloud server, for resolving the hash value. Upon resolving the hash value, the tracking server can store a location of the tracking device in association with the identity of the tracking device. To preserve power, the secondary device can activate location-detection functionality (such as a GPS receive) only in response to the detection of movement of the tracking device, can obtain location information, and can de-activate the location-detection functionality upon providing the location information to the tracking server. The tracking server can associate one or both of a previous location and the current location information based on movement of the tracking device.
US09973881B2
Information is acquired from a geographically-distributed sensor network using a scalable wireless geocast protocol. Geographically distributed networks of unattended sensors are placed at desired locations to collect various types of information, such as, for example, environmental parameters, temperature, humidity, rainfall, heat signatures, video, audio, seismic activity, and/or wind conditions. To acquire information, a query is provided to the geographic area at which the sensors are located utilizing the geocast protocol. Delivery of the query is based on a physical location of a region in which a sensor network is located, the type of information being queried, and/or temporal conditions. Each sensor that receives a query determines if all requirements/conditions are satisfied. If so, the query is accepted and processed by the recipient sensor, and responded to accordingly. Responses to queries are provided via the geocast protocol.
US09973879B2
Methods, systems, and devices are described for managing wireless communications in a machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless Wide Area Network (WAN). A packet is decoded and demodulated by an M2M device that is received during a time slot of a physical layer forward link frame in the M2M wireless WAN. The packet is transmitted by a base station. The M2M device enters a sleep state before a physical layer acknowledgment (ACK) message is transmitted to the base station to indicate receipt of the packet.
US09973862B2
The invention is a multi-channel loudspeaker system that provides a compact loudspeaker configuration and filter design methodology that operates in the digital signal processing domain. Further, the loudspeaker system can be designed to include drivers of various physical dimensions and can achieve prescribed constant directivity over a large area in both the vertical and horizontal planes.
US09973858B2
Provided is an electro-acoustic conversion film that is suitably used for a digital speaker or the like, and that includes a polymer composite piezoelectric body formed by dispersing piezoelectric particles in a viscoelastic matrix formed of a polymer material having viscoelasticity at room temperature, and thin-film electrodes provided on both surfaces of the polymer composite piezoelectric body, and at least one of the thin-film electrodes is divided into a plurality of regions of which an area increases by 2n times (n is a natural number including 0). Thus, a digital speaker in which reverberation or crosstalk between segments is suppressed is obtained.
US09973853B2
The present invention is applicable to the field of audio collection and provides a fixed apparatus and an audio collection device. Multiple groups of simulated ear structures are disposed on the fixed apparatus, and the simulated ear structures have simulated ear canal openings used for placing audio collectors. The audio collectors may placed in simulated ear canal openings of the simulated ear structures of the fixed apparatus, so that collected audio signals have richer sources, higher quality, and higher stereoscopic sensation. The fixed apparatus may be used for audio recording in multiple orientations, so that smoothness, clearness, and comfort during sound field fusion and switching are ensured, more complete and richer sound field information is collected, the best sound field naturalness can be obtained, and a requirement for synchronization between a sound and an image in a VR panoramic video technology is met. In addition, a volume of the fixed apparatus is relatively small, and audio sound field restoration accuracy is further improved.
US09973852B1
Techniques are described herein that are capable of providing an updated acoustic response for a device based at least in part on a hinge angle. For instance, an angle of a hinge that is coupled between first and second members of a device may be determined. The angle is defined between first and second surfaces of the respective first and second members. A spectral signal has a frequency spectrum that includes multiple portions. An amplitude of each portion of the frequency spectrum is selectively modified to change an acoustic response of the device to an updated acoustic response based at least in part on the angle of the hinge. The acoustic response of the device is associated with a resonance chamber, which is defined by the first surface, the second surface, and a third surface.
US09973846B2
A camera and a microphone array configuring a monitoring system are capable of receiving electric power from a PoE apparatus through a LAN cable. In a case where a first switching operation is performed on a microphone array side, an output terminal of an input switch is connected to an input terminal of a PoE electric power reception circuit side. An input terminal of an output switch is connected to an output terminal of a PoE electric power transmission circuit side. On a camera side, an output terminal of the input switch is connected to an input terminal of a PoE electric power receptor side. The microphone array receives electric power that is supplied from the PoE apparatus for operation and transmits the electric power towards the camera. The camera receives the supplied electric power from the PoE apparatus through the microphone array and the LAN cable for operation.
US09973845B2
An earbud includes a housing that includes a driver assembly positioned within the housing forming a front volume in front of the driver and a back volume behind the driver. An acoustic insert is positioned behind the driver assembly and attached to an interior surface of the housing such that it forms a bass channel that is routed from the back volume to a vent in the housing.
US09973827B2
Systems and methods are provided for customizing the display of interactive television overlays. A condition related to the display of an overlay on top of video for a television channel may be defined for each of a plurality of television channels. A default set of information types for an interactive television overlay (e.g., a FLIP overlay, a BROWSE overlay, etc.) may be defined for the plurality of television channels. When the overlay is displayed on top of video for a given television channel of the plurality of television channels, the overlay may include information of the default set of information types. One or more television channels of the plurality of television channels may be identified as channels for which the default set of information types does not apply (e.g., channels for which the overlay is not displayed or for which a custom set of information types is defined).
US09973823B1
A system and method for accessing past program guide data includes a program guide repository storing past program guide data and a controller receiving a request for past program guide data and communicating the past program guide data to a user device located separated from the controller.
US09973812B2
A multi-screen interaction method is provided that includes sending, by a source device, device parameters of the source device to a target device that accesses a local area network where the source device is located, and receiving device parameters of the target device that are sent by the target device; sending, by the source device, media information of media content to the target device; requesting, by the target device, the media content from a network server according to the media information and the device parameters of the target device; sending, by the network server according to the device parameters of the target device, media content corresponding to the device parameters of the target device to the target device; and finding, by the target device, a play state of the media content that is being played by the source device, and playing the media content according to the play state.
US09973811B2
An audio/video (A/V) hub includes a state-detection circuit coupled to at least one pin in a high-definition multimedia-interface input connector, which can electrically couple to an entertainment device. When electrically coupled to the entertainment device, the state-detection circuit establishes a ground loop between the electronic device and the entertainment device. A control circuit in the A/V hub detects whether there is electrical coupling with the entertainment device using the state-detection circuit. When the electrical coupling is detected, the control circuit provides a set of first control commands associated with different types of entertainment devices until, in response, content activity is detected via the input connector. Moreover, when the content activity is detected, the control circuit provides a set of second control commands associated with different providers of entertainment devices until a change in a state of the entertainment device is detected via the input connector and the state-detection circuit.
US09973809B2
An apparatus and method for providing information in conjunction with media content, including a receiver, wherein the receiver receives at least one of a transmission of media content and a broadcast of media content, wherein the media content includes at least one of broadcast media content and entertainment media content, and further wherein the receiver receives information regarding the media content, a processor for processing at least one of the received media content and the received information regarding the media content, a display device for visually displaying the information regarding the media content, and/or a speaker device for audibly announcing the information regarding the media content.
US09973807B2
Media device systems and methods are operable to generate mosaic video formats that are each configured to generate corresponding mosaic videos that present video content in video tiles. An exemplary embodiment receives a selection of one of a plurality of mosaic video templates, receives a specification of a video mosaic name, and generates a mosaic video format. The generated mosaic video format is identified by the specified video mosaic name, and comprises the video tile location information and video size information for each of the video tiles defined by the selected mosaic video template.
US09973805B1
An example implementation includes a computer-implemented method including generating at a user device a dynamic user-interactable graphical interface using a performance summary including viewer traffic statistics for a first show. The performance summary includes an inbound viewer rate and an outbound viewer rate for each of a plurality of discrete time intervals of the first show. The interface includes a graphical traffic meter that visually comparatively displays the inbound viewer rate and the outbound viewer rate corresponding to a selected time interval. The method further provides the interface for display via a display device associated with the user device, receives from an input device associated with the user device a user input selecting from the interface a time interval of the first show, and updates the meter to comparatively display the inbound viewer rate and the outbound viewer rate corresponding to the time interval selected by the user input.
US09973803B2
A video streaming service system may include a home media sever configured to send wireless network information to a dongle device when the dongle device is connected to the home media server and the dongle device configured to receive the wireless network information from the home media server and maintain the connection with a home network by configuring the received wireless network information.
US09973798B2
A technique for securely transferring content from a first device in a first layer to a second device in a second layer. In one embodiment, the first device is a device in a trusted domain and the second device is outside of the trusted domain. Transfer of protected content to another device may require authentication of the receiving device. A rights file which specifies the rights of the receiving device to use the protected content, according to its security level is also transferred. These rights may concern, e.g., the number of times the receiving device may transfer the protected content to other devices, the time period within which the receiving device may play the protected content, etc. The higher the security level of the receiving device, the more rights accorded thereto. A minimum security level requirement may be imposed in order for protected content to be transferred to a device.
US09973794B2
A system draws an inference about the audience being targeted by the buyer of an advertisement placement opportunity by correlating the order for the advertisement placement opportunity with characteristics of the audience associated with the television program in which the advertisement placement opportunity is embedded. Sellers of advertisement placement opportunities may use the inferred target audience information to appropriately price their advertising inventories and to fulfill orders more effectively.
US09973790B2
An adaptive multimedia system includes a display, an audio device, and an adaptive media controller configured to selectively communicate with a media source and selectively signal the media source to stream only a desired portion of a media stream.
US09973782B2
Techniques described herein are related to coding layer identifiers for operation points in video coding. In one example, a method of decoding video data is provided. The method comprises decoding syntax elements in a video parameter set (VPS) within a conforming bitstream indicating a first operation point having a first set of content. The method further comprises decoding, if present, syntax elements in the VPS within the conforming bitstream indicating hypothetical reference decoder (HRD) parameter information having a second set of content for the first operation point, wherein the conforming bitstream does not include syntax elements in the VPS that duplicate at least one of the first or second set of content for a second operation point, and wherein decoding syntax elements comprises decoding the syntax elements indicating the first operation point and the HRD parameter information only within conforming bitstreams.
US09973764B2
The present invention relates to a method and a device for transmitting and receiving advanced UHD broadcasting content in a digital broadcasting system. The method for transmitting and receiving advanced UHD broadcasting content, according to one embodiment of the present invention, comprises the steps of: encoding data of a base layer; encoding data of one or more enhancement layers; encoding broadcast network program metadata including information on an advanced UHD broadcast program transmitted through a broadcast network, and encoding IP network program metadata including information on an advanced UHD broadcast program transmitted through an IP network; packetizing the encoded data of the base layer and/or the data of a first enhancement layer into a broadcast packet; packetizing the encoded data of a second enhancement layer into an IP packet; transmitting the broadcast packet through the broadcast network; and transmitting the IP packet through the IP network.
US09973762B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and systems for ordering, communicating and applying pixel intra-prediction modes.
US09973761B2
A decoder includes an entropy decoder configured to derive a number of bins of the binarizations from the data stream using binary entropy decoding by selecting a context among different contexts and updating probability states associated with the different contexts, dependent on previously decoded portions of the data stream; a desymbolizer configured to debinarize the binarizations of the syntax elements to obtain integer values of the syntax elements; a reconstructor configured to reconstruct the video based on the integer values of the syntax elements using a quantization parameter, wherein the entropy decoder is configured to distinguish between 126 probability states and to initialize the probability states associated with the different contexts according to a linear equation of the quantization parameter, wherein the entropy decoder is configured to, for each of the different contexts, derive a slope and an offset of the linear equation from first and second four bit parts of a respective 8 bit initialization value.
US09973760B2
A length indicator associated with an encoded representation of a slice is parsed. The length indicator is indicative of a length of an extension field present in a slice header of the encoded representation. A decoder can then determine to ignore, during decoding of the encoded representation, any value of the extension field in the slice header where these values are identified based on the length indicator. As a consequence, an extension field can be added to slice headers and still enable legacy decoders to correctly decode the encoded representations.
US09973756B2
A video decoder decoding an encoded stream includes a parallel entropy decoding part to entropy decode the stream of blocks in block lines in parallel, a parallel QP prediction part to compute prediction values of the blocks in the block lines in parallel, and a parallel decoding processing part to generate decoded pixels of the blocks in the block lines in parallel, the decoded pixel being obtained utilizing data decoded by the parallel entropy decoding part and the prediction value. When performing computing processing in parallel per unit of N block lines, the processing is performed on a processing block in a (K−1)th block line preceding a processing block in a Kth block line by at least one block in a horizontal position to compute the prediction value of the processing block by referring to a block already processed corresponding to the processing block.
US09973755B2
An apparatus for providing improved data compression may include an encoder comprising a quantizer for encoding input data and a side model. The quantizer may be trained with respect to high priority data among the input data and may be configured to partially encode the input data by encoding the high priority data. The side model may be trained jointly with the training of the quantizer and is configured to model low priority data among the input data.
US09973752B2
Video analytics may be used to assist video encoding by selectively encoding only portions of a frame and using, instead, previously encoded portions. Previously encoded portions may be used when succeeding frames have a level of motion less than a threshold. In such case, all or part of succeeding frames may not be encoded, increasing bandwidth and speed in some embodiments.
US09973740B2
Disclosed is a method of encoding three-dimensional (3D) content. The method of encoding 3D content according to an embodiment may include setting a dependency between texture information and depth information of the 3D content, and generating a bitstream comprising the dependency.
US09973738B2
A generation unit generates adjustment information to adjust a first clock indicating a timing of illumination of a laser beam to scan on a screen, based on a scanning position to be scanned by the laser beam.On the basis of the adjustment information, adjustment unit adjusts the first clock to a second clock different from the first clock. Then, in synchronization with the second clock, the laser beam is allowed to illuminate as a pixel. This may be applicable to a projection apparatus for projecting an image on the screen, for example.
US09973737B1
Techniques and systems for providing miniaturized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are disclosed. The techniques and systems can include significant off-board processing support for the UAVs to enable the UAVs to be smaller, lighter, and less expensive than conventional UAVs. The techniques and systems can include routines to provide enhanced support for police during routine traffic stops. The techniques and systems can also include routines to locate objects or people including, for example, locating a lost child in a crowd or a lost vehicle in a parking lot. The miniaturized UAVs can provide enhances perception for the user to enable the user to over and around objects for improved visibility and safety, among other things.
US09973734B2
A vehicle circumference monitoring apparatus includes: an image acquisition section that acquires captured image data output from an imaging section that is provided in a vehicle and images a circumference of the vehicle; a state acquisition section that acquires vehicle state data output from a vehicle state detection section that is provided in the vehicle and detects at least a roll state of the vehicle; a setting section that sets a center of rotation to rotate a display image depending on the roll state if the display image is displayed on a display device based on the captured image data; an image adjustment section that rotates a display state of the display image about the center of rotation that is set depending on the roll state; and an output section that outputs the display image to the display device.
US09973729B2
A telecommunication device configured to enable a user to engage in a telecommunication device activity while participating in a video call is described herein. The telecommunication device concurrently displays user interfaces for the video call and the activity. The user interfaces may be displayed adjacent to each other, or one may be presented as an overlay in front of the other. The telecommunication device also informs a video call service that the video call user interface is not displayed in full-screen and, as a result, receives video call data at a reduced frame rate or reduced quality-of-service.
US09973727B2
Various technologies described herein pertain to creation of an output hyper-lapse video from an input video. Values indicative of overlaps between pairs of frames in the input video are computed. A value indicative of an overlap between a pair of frames can be computed based on a sparse set of points from each of the frames in the pair. Moreover, a subset of the frames from the input video are selected based on the values of the overlaps between the pairs of the frames in the input video and a target frame speed-up rate. Further, the output hyper-lapse video is generated based on the subset of the frames. The output hyper-lapse video can be generated without a remainder of the frames of the input video other than the subset of the frames.
US09973718B2
A solid-state imaging element including pixel signal read lines, and a pixel signal reading unit for reading pixel signals from a pixel unit via the pixel signal read line. The pixel unit includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix form, each pixel including a photoelectric conversion element. In the pixel unit, a shared pixel in which an output node is shared among a plurality of pixels is formed, and a pixel signal of each pixel in the shared pixel is capable of being selectively output from the shared output node to a corresponding one of the pixel signal read lines. The pixel signal reading unit sets a bias voltage for a load element which is connected to the pixel signal read line and in which current dependent on a bias voltage flows in the load element, to a voltage causing a current value to be higher than current upon a reference bias voltage when there is no difference between added charge amounts, when addition of pixel signals of the respective pixels in the shared pixel is driven.
US09973713B2
A multipoint audio processing method for processing audio streams originating from a plurality of audio clients is executed in a multipoint audio processing node. The method includes the steps of receiving control information on how to preselect audio streams from received audio streams, receiving audio streams from audio clients connected to the distributed multipoint audio processing node and generating evaluated audio streams by analyzing packets of the received audio streams in terms of at least one audio communication characteristic, and attaching an analysis result information of said analysis to said packets, in each audio stream. Audio streams are selected by deciding on whether or not any evaluated audio stream is to be transmitted further, based on the received control information and/or the analysis result information contained in said evaluated audio streams. Then selected audio streams are transmitted further while discarding evaluated audio streams decided not to be to be transmitted further, without mixing any transmitted audio streams. Corresponding steps may be executed by a central audio processing node. A system of audio clients distributed nodes and a central node and a software product are also disclosed.
US09973710B2
A sensor arrangement for a forage harvester. The sensor arrangement includes a frame, a CCD or CMOS camera mounted to the frame in a first position, and a time-of-flight camera mounted to the frame in a second position. The CCD or CMOS camera is mounted to the frame in the first position such that, when a filling wagon is located with respect to the forage harvester in a filling position, a first image of at least a portion of the filling wagon is capturable by the first camera. The time-of-flight camera is mounted to the frame in the second position such that, when the filling wagon is located with respect to the forage harvester in the filling position, a second image of a segment of the portion is capturable by the second camera.
US09973708B2
A sensor array including at least two image sensors situated one above the other in layers, including at least one organic semiconductor, and subdivided into pixels. The at least two image sensors are different in the size of their pixels.
US09973707B2
An image processing method is provided. The image processing method includes the following steps: detecting an input sequence of image frames captured using an image capturing device to generate a detection result; referring to the detection result to selectively perform frame interpolation on the input sequence of image frames to generate a to-be-encoded sequence of image frames; and encoding the to-be-encoded sequence of image frames to generate an encoded video signal.
US09973695B1
A first image sensor may generate images capturing a first portion of a capture field. The capture of images by the first image sensor may be characterized by a first rolling shutter direction. A second image sensor may generate images capturing a second portion of the capture field. The capture of images by the second image sensor may be characterized by a second rolling shutter direction. The first portion may be adjacent to the second portion. The first rolling shutter direction may be parallel to and the same as the second rolling shutter direction. A first image may be obtained from the first image sensor. A second image may be obtained from the second image sensor. A stitched image may be generated based on the first image and the second image.
US09973694B1
The disclosure includes a system and method for stitching images. The system includes a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the system to: receive a group of images captured at a particular time by a group of camera modules, the group of camera modules configured to form camera pairs with respective overlap fields of view; calibrate the group of images; generate pairs of disparity maps associated with the camera pairs, the generating including generating a corresponding pair of disparity maps for each camera pair from the camera pairs; apply morphed rendering to create morphed images from the group of images; and construct a left panoramic image and a right panoramic image from the morphed images.
US09973693B2
An image processing apparatus that is capable of generating a wide-angle composite image in which halation and black collapse are reduced without needing lots of memory quantity. An obtaining unit obtains images that are photographed with different exposure values while changing a photographing target area continuously. A detection unit detects an overlapped area where an object overlaps between adjacent images among the images obtained by the obtaining unit. A generation unit generates a composite area in which overlapped areas detected by the detection unit are overlapped so as not to exceed a predetermined count. A computation unit computes composition ratios of the images obtained by the obtaining unit based on the exposure values and signal values at the times when the images are photographed. A composition unit generates a wide-angle composite image by compositing images in the composite area with the composition ratios computed.
US09973688B2
A method for using a telescoping monopod apparatus to capture an image including synchronizing a photographic instrument with the telescoping monopod apparatus, attaching the photographic instrument to the telescoping monopod apparatus, determining that the photographic instrument is in an image-capturing mode, extracting, by the image-capturing mode, a humanoid feature, detecting that the humanoid feature comprises a cutoff, adjusting a position of the photographic instrument using the telescoping monopod apparatus, and capturing an adjusted image using the photographic instrument.
US09973681B2
A method of an electronic device for automatically focusing on a moving object is provided. The method includes generating, by a processor, at least one focal code based on information comprising depth information of the moving object obtained using at least one previous position of the moving object, focusing, by the processor, on at least one portion of the moving object based on the at least one focal code, and capturing, by a sensor, at least one image of the moving object comprising the at least one portion of the moving object.
US09973668B2
Camera system for a vehicle comprising an objective lens; a first printed circuit board provided with an image sensor for acquiring image information via the objective lens; and at least one additional printed circuit board adapted for providing a predetermined basic function for the camera system, wherein the first printed circuit board and each of the at least one additional printed circuit board comprises at least a connection unit, wherein the printed circuit boards are electrically connectable in a modular exchangeable manner, respectively, via the at least one connection unit for adapting the range of functions of the camera system according to the predetermined basic function.
US09973662B2
Particular embodiments detect a solid color frame, such as a black frame, that may include visible content other than the solid color in a portion of the frame. These frames may conventionally not be detected as a solid color frame because of the visible content in the portion of the frame. However, these solid color frames may be “functional” black or white frames, in that the solid color frames are performing the function of the solid color frame even though the frames include the visible content. The visible content may be content that may always be displayed on the screen even if the video content is transitioning to an advertisement. Particular embodiments use techniques to detect the functional solid color frames even when visible content appears in the solid color frames. Particular embodiments use color layout information and edge distribution information to detect solid color frames.
US09973658B2
A Customer Replaceable Unit Monitoring (CRUM) chip, an image forming apparatus, and a method of authenticating are provided. The apparatus includes a main body that includes a main controller controlling operations of the apparatus, a consumable unit mounted on the main body to communicate with the main controller, and a CRUM chip that is provided in the consumable unit and stores information regarding the consumable unit. The main controller and the CRUM chip transmit and receive signals that include data and integrity detection data between each other. The integrity detection data is generated by using previous integrity detection data.
US09973656B2
An image forming apparatus may include an image forming unit configured to form an image on a printing medium and a control unit configured to perform at least one of a user authentication operation, an image forming preparation operation, and an image forming operation according to distance information between a portable electronic device and the image forming apparatus.
US09973648B2
Digital media can be automatically transferred between a digital capture device or storage device and one or more other devices with little or no user intervention. Media can be selected for automatic transfer based on one or more media-content or media-context characteristics.
US09973643B2
The present invention manages a reset type and a reset condition state, the reset type indicating whether or not a screen reset operation is necessary when each synchronized setting value is synchronized. This information is confirmed when synchronization is performed, and necessary reset processing such as log-out processing is executed if necessary.
US09973641B2
A multi-function printer comprises: a printer engine unit having a function of switching the mode of the multi-function printer from a print mode to a power-saving mode based on predetermined conditions; a first to a third microphone arranged at intervals on the same plane; and a control section configured to determine the position of a sound source according to the difference between the moments sound sources are captured by the first to the third microphone and switch the mode of the multi-function printer from the power-saving mode to the print mode.
US09973640B2
A display device includes the following elements. An obtaining unit obtains a processing description and a processing state of each processing operation. A specifying unit specifies a processing state. A first display controller performs control so that a processing description of a processing operation belonging to the specified processing state is displayed in a first region. A second display controller performs control for each processing state so that an image reflecting the number of processing operations belonging to the corresponding processing state is displayed in a second region, and so that, if the number of processing operations belonging to a processing state that is not specified is changed, an image reflecting the changed number is redisplayed in a first mode and, if the number of processing operations belonging to a specified processing state is changed, an image reflecting the changed number is redisplayed in a second mode.
US09973635B1
A method performed in a radio device comprising a client of a service. In accordance with an embodiment, the method comprises sending, from the radio device to the service provider, a request requesting information about whether a telecommunications operator (telco), which the radio device is connected via, provides any offer for a subscription to the service; receiving a message comprising an indication that the telco provides such an offer and an address for contacting the telco regarding said offer; sending a message by means of the received address of the telco, regarding available offers; receiving a confirmation message comprising information about an available offer for a subscription to the service; receiving an indication that the available offer is accepted; and, to the service provider, sending a message indicating that the available offer has been accepted and should be activated.
US09973630B2
A system includes one or more computer systems configured to receive a plurality of information streams from a corresponding plurality of client systems that have a defined geographic position, analyze the information feeds, generate messages based on the analysis of the information feeds, generate positional information associated with the messages, and generate a set of informational depictions of the generated messages, with the informational depictions of the messages when rendered on a display device are rendered in juxtaposition with representations of the client systems according to the generated positional information.
US09973627B1
A computer-implemented method to select a user profile is disclosed. The method may include obtaining, from a first device, a communication attempt at a user device. The method may further include obtaining first device data associated with the communication attempt and with the first device. The method may also include comparing the first device data with multiple data elements of each of multiple user profiles associated with the user device. The method may further include selecting a user profile of the multiple user profiles that includes the data element that matches the first device data in response to the first device data matching a data element of the multiple data elements. The method may also include loading an audio profile for the selected user profile on the user device.
US09973622B2
A mobile device, comprising: a processor; and a memory including instructions that when executed by the processor cause it to perform the steps of: receiving a user selection to automatically enter an inactive mode in response to an action within the mobile device indicating the device is being used in a moving vehicle; receiving a communication from a wireless communication module; if the mobile device is not in inactive mode, providing a notification to the user that a communication has been received; if the mobile device is in inactive mode, transmitting an away message via the wireless module.
US09973621B2
Embodiments help to provide a cross-device security schema for an audio device and a master device to which it is tethered (e.g., a smartphone). An example security scheme provides flexible mechanisms for locking and unlocking the audio device and the device to which it is tethered. For instance, an example security scheme may include: (a) an unlock sync feature that unlocks the audio device and keeps the audio device unlocked whenever the master device is unlocked, (b) a separate audio device unlock process that unlocks the audio device only (without unlocking the master device, and (c) an on-head detection process that, in at least some scenarios, locks the audio device in response to a determination that the audio device is not being worn.
US09973619B2
A quiet zone can be implemented using a quiet zone transceiver. The quiet zone can have a predetermined perimeter created by the quiet zone transceiver. A smart mobile device can cause an initial alert setting of the smart mobile device to automatically change to a silent alert setting when the smart mobile device is moved into the quiet zone. Additionally, when the smart mobile device is moved out of the quiet zone, the initial alert setting can be restored. The smart mobile device can also be used as the quiet zone transceiver to create the quiet zone if the user of the smart mobile device wishes to create an area in which disturbances such as loud alert settings are limited.
US09973614B2
An electronic device is operated based on whether it detects vibration indicative of natural human tremors while the device is not enclosed in a small space. Human tremors are detected by sampling a motion signal and performing a discrete Fourier transformation on a plurality of sets of samples. For each sample, a mean magnitude is calculated for a first range of frequencies indicative of human tremors. A mean magnitude is also calculated for a second range of frequencies greater than the first range. If the difference between the mean magnitude of the first range and the mean magnitude of the second range, then human tremors are detected for the set of samples. Human tremors are detected for the device if a threshold number of sets of samples within a predetermined time period produce an output indicating detection.
US09973613B1
A computer-implemented process for organizing pins of a same social application based on proximity of others, the computer-implemented process comprising: detecting an account of a second user of the same social application on a mobile device by a first user of the same social application; measuring a proximity of the second user from a first user of the same social application using a proximity sensing technology; in response to first user and the second user being within a predetermined distance of each other, arranging items, also known as “pins” of the first user, the second user, or both, into a new arrangement according to predetermined criteria comprising common interests, differing interests and personal information of the second user; and performing a selected action from a predetermined set of actions including highlighting images and products that are in demand using the new arrangement.
US09973611B2
Devices and methods for improving user compliance with a pre-determined medication schedule including integrated software and hardware elements using wireless communication protocols to provide assistance to individuals who need to remember to administer one or more medications are provided.
US09973610B2
A mobile information communication apparatus includes a data processing device for sending plotting command/data to a display control device that controls the pixels of a display panel belonging to the mobile information communication apparatus. An interface device is provided which receives the plotting command/data generated by the data processing device and sends, based on plotting command/data, an external display signal to the external display device. The data processing device and the interface device are configured to send, from the interface device, a higher-resolution external display signal.
US09973609B2
A system for controlling the operation of a motorized wheel including a controller configured to control the operation of a motor for driving the motorized wheel, and a handheld device configured to receive inputs associated with the operation of the motor and to transmit instructions corresponding to the received inputs to the controller to control the operation of the motor via a wireless communication medium. The handheld device includes a main portion having a handgrip and a tail portion being biased toward the main portion to form an attachment mechanism by the main portion in cooperation with the tail portion, the attachment mechanism for attaching to a remote surface. The handheld device including a display for displaying information associated with the operation of the motorized wheel.
US09973594B2
A computing device includes a hardware network component, a hardware serial component, device drivers, a network driver, and a serial driver. The hardware network component connects the computing device to other computing devices. The hardware serial component connects the computing device to peripheral devices over a serial bus. Each device driver is for one of these peripheral devices or for a peripheral device connected to a serial bus of one of the other computing devices. The network driver is for the hardware network component, and the serial driver is for the hardware serial component. The serial, network, and device drivers interact to permit the computing device to communicate with the peripheral devices of the other computing devices over a network. The device drivers for the peripheral devices of the other computing devices are unaware that these peripheral devices are not connected to the serial bus of the computing device.
US09973589B2
Techniques for enabling a push notification from a website are described. In at least some embodiments, a push notification generally represents a way for a website to push information to a client device. For instance, a push notification may include content (e.g., text, images, video, audio, and so forth) that a website pushes to a client device. The content can be output via the client device, e.g., independently of an output of the website itself. According to one or more embodiments, a push notification channel is generated that enables notifications to be pushed from a website to a client device. Generally, a push notification channel represents a set of attributes and procedures that enable notifications to be securely and accurately pushed from a website to a client device.
US09973585B2
Notice and consent features are provided, to a user of a mobile device who opens a mobile app, relating to tracking technologies (“trackers”) present within the mobile app. The user may be provided with a list of one or more trackers present within the mobile app and, if a tracker is not essential to the functioning of the app, the user may disable the tracker. User selections relating to notice of the presence of trackers in a mobile app, and disabling trackers, are transmitted from the mobile device to a third-party server to provide a record of the user's consent regarding the presence of the tracker(s) in the mobile app. The types of notice and consent options provided to the user in connection with the presence of trackers in the mobile app may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction depending on the location of the mobile device when the user initiates the mobile app.
US09973584B2
A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for implementing a location-based records access system. An example of the method includes providing, in a browser sandbox environment executing on a processor, a client interface for interacting with a records server, receiving an indication of an occurrence of an event within the client interface, the indication comprising electronic data sufficient to identify a particular protocol handler application, executing the particular protocol handler application outside of the browser sandbox environment, wherein executing the particular protocol handler application results in execution of a listener, performing a call, by the client interface, to the listener to request a device identifier from the listener, receiving, by the client interface, the device identifier from the listener; and transmitting the device identifier to the records server.
US09973582B2
A method and database server for synchronizing contents of a local database with contents of a remote database. The method includes writing data transactions to a local transaction log file, assigning bin numbers to the data transactions, and determining if the assigned bin numbers have changed due to receipt of subsequent data transactions and if the bin numbers have changed, inserting the subsequent data transactions into a local sequence log file and assigning the subsequent data transactions a first sequence number. The method includes providing, to a remote replicator service, access to the first sequence number, the remote replicator service having access to a second sequence number, and if the first sequence number does not match the second sequence number, providing to the remote replicator service access to the subsequent data transactions, the remote replication service updating a remote database to include the subsequent data transactions.
US09973571B2
Various embodiments migrate a legacy application to a multi-tenant computing environment. In one embodiment, at least one virtualized computing container is instantiated on a host system in a multi-tenant computing environment. An instance of the legacy application is executed within the virtualized computing container. The legacy application having been initially configured to run on premise and serve one tenant at a time. The virtualized computing container securely isolates the executing instance of the legacy application from other executing instances of the legacy application. At least one request received from a first client is sent to the instance of the legacy application executing within the virtualized computing container. The virtualized computing container is quiesced based on at least one quiescing criterion having been satisfied by the instance of the legacy application.
US09973552B2
A peer collaboration method comprising: receiving commands from certain users to create project correspondence environment (PCE) objects each containing PCE metadata and PCE team members and related entities; generating, for each of the PCE objects, child PCE objects associated with respective related entities, associating each entity with the respective child PCE object as a PCE child member, and inheriting respective PCE metadata from the PCE object, each one of the child PCE objects additionally containing child PCE team members; documenting correspondence held between any of the child PCE team members within each respective child PCE object; providing each of the child PCE team members with an access to the documented correspondence within the child PCE object; documenting correspondence held between any of the PCE team members with each of the entities; and providing each of the PCE team members with an access to the documented correspondence in the PCE object.
US09973551B2
An example method is provided and includes detecting, during a virtual meeting session, a plurality of events associated with each of a plurality of endpoints connected to the virtual meeting session. Each of the endpoints may be associated with a user identifier. The method also includes determining a status value for each of the plurality of endpoints based analyzing one or more of the plurality of events against a metric. The method also includes storing information related to the plurality of events. An output representative of at least one portion of the virtual meeting session is generated based on the stored information. The output identifies a classification of attentiveness associated with a user identifier for the at least one portion of the virtual meeting session.
US09973544B2
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method including receiving, at a first carrier, a first query for a record of a called number associated with a request to connect an internet protocol call between a first device of the first carrier and a second device of a second carrier, where the first query includes an inter-carrier telephone number mapping apex domain, querying an internetwork packet exchange telephone number mapping equipment of a partner network for a pointer to a second telephone number mapping equipment of the second carrier according to the first query, querying the second telephone number mapping equipment for the record of the called number using the pointer to the second telephone number mapping equipment of the second carrier, and forwarding the record from the second telephone number mapping equipment to an internet protocol multimedia subsystem of the first carrier for routing the internet protocol call to the second carrier. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09973543B2
Methods and systems for switching between computing devices during an online meeting are described herein. A collaboration server may receive a token from a first computing device connected to an online meeting hosted by the collaboration server. The collaboration server may receive another token from a second computing device and determine whether the received tokens match. If so, the collaboration server may establish an association between the second computing device and the meeting participant attending the online meeting via the first computing device. The collaboration server may accept a request from the second computing device to join the online meeting thus allowing the meeting participant to continue the online meeting from the second computing device.
US09973541B2
A method and apparatus for providing lawful interception in an IMS network. A first node in an IMS network receives a message from a Lawful Intercept mediation system node instructing the first node to perform lawful interception on a target. The first node sends a subscribe request message towards a second node located in an IMS core network. The subscribe request message includes at least an identity of a service type to be monitored. The first node subsequently receives a notify message from the second node, the notify message including session information from which intercept related information can be derived. The first node then sends intercept related information towards the Lawful Intercept mediation system node.
US09973535B2
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for managing connected devices and associated network connections. In certain embodiments, trust, privacy, safety, and/or security of information communicated between connected devices may be established in part through use of security associations and/or shared group tokens. In some embodiments, these security associations may be used to form an explicit private network associated with the user. A user may add and/or manage devices included in the explicit private network through management of various security associations associated with the network's constituent devices.
US09973528B2
Methods and systems for a two-stage attribution of application layer DDoS attack are provided. In a first table just a hash index is maintained whereas the second stage table keeps the string parameter corresponding to the application layer attribute under attack. A linked list maintains a plurality of rows if there is hash collision in the first table. The second table is aged out and reported periodically with details of large strings.
US09973527B2
This disclosure is directed to a context-aware proactive threat management system. In general, a device may use internal activity data along with data about external activities (e.g., provided by remote resources) for threat assessment and mitigation. A device may comprise, for example, a hostile environment detection (HED) module to coordinate threat assessment and mitigation. The HED module may accumulate internal activity data (e.g., from security services in the device), and external activity data regarding a system environment and/or a physical environment from the remote resources. The HED module may then assess threats based on the activity data and determine automated and/or manual mitigation operations to respond to the threats. In one embodiment, visualization features may also be used to, for example, visualize threats to a user, visualize automatic/manual mitigation operations, request user confirmation regarding the performance of manual mitigation operations, etc.
US09973523B2
Embodiments presented herein describe a method for processing streams of data of one or more networked computer systems. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an ordered stream of normalized vectors corresponding to information security data obtained from one or more sensors monitoring a computer network is received. A neuro-linguistic model of the information security data is generated by clustering the ordered stream of vectors and assigning a letter to each cluster, outputting an ordered sequence of letters based on a mapping of the ordered stream of normalized vectors to the clusters, building a dictionary of words from of the ordered output of letters, outputting an ordered stream of words based on the ordered output of letters, and generating a plurality of phrases based on the ordered output of words.
US09973518B2
A message checking apparatus comprising one or more processors, the message checking apparatus includes: a uniform resource locator(URL) extracting unit to check, when a message is received, whether a URL is included in the message and extract the URL from the message; a communication unit to download an application using the URL; and an authorization/application program interface(API) verifying unit to check whether an authorization or API having a security risk is included in the application to be downloaded through the communication unit and then determine whether the URL is malicious based thereon.
US09973509B2
A permissions provisioning module includes a data adapter and a permissions calculator associated with a policy evaluator operable to evaluate an ABAC policy. The module is adapted to interact with a computer system including resources, metadata and an access control mechanism enforcing, in respect of each resource, an access control list associated with the resource. In operation, the data adapter receives metadata for said computer system and assigns values to attributes in the policy based on the metadata. The permissions calculator queries the policy evaluator on combinations of resources and principals of the system using the attribute values thus assigned, and returns permission data. The data adapter formats said permission data into ACLs, for deployment in the computer system.
US09973502B2
Methods and systems are disclosed herein for a media guidance application that provides advanced parental control features. As described herein, these advanced parental control features may allow parents to establish parental controls in a dynamic and individualized manner. Moreover, the media guidance application may relieve a first user (e.g., a parent) of the burden of continually monitoring the statistical analysis (e.g., a ratio) of the programming choices of a second user (e.g., a child) by establishing one or more threshold analyzes (e.g., a threshold ratio) that the media guidance application may automatically compare to the statistical analysis of the programming choices of the second user.
US09973497B2
A method for communicating with enterprise users of an enterprise mobile application on a mobile communication device includes providing the enterprise mobile application to a distribution platform server for downloading to memory of a plurality of mobile communication devices. Including in the enterprise mobile application instructions to connect to the application distribution platform server, and to cause a respective device identifier token to be downloaded to the memory of the mobile communication device, where the device identifier token is specific to that instantiation of the downloaded enterprise mobile application. Where an enterprise mobile application developer and/or provider uses the respective device identifier token to address a message to respective ones of a plurality of mobile communication devices at about the same time. A system and a non-transitory computer-readable medium for implementing the method are also disclosed.
US09973495B2
Disclosed are various embodiments relating to bootstrapping user authentication. A first security credential is received for a user account from a user. A first application is then authenticated with another computing device using the first security credential. After authenticating the first application, a bootstrap request is then sent to the other computing device for a second security credential to authenticate a second application without using the first security credential. The bootstrap request specifies a bootstrap session identifier. The second security credential is then received from the other computing device.
US09973493B2
An automatic electronic certification trading system, comprising: a trading device, a wireless mobile device, an electronic certification import device, an electronic certification server; wherein, the electronic certification server stores a multigroup electronic certification collection, and the electronic certification collection is imported to the trading device through the electronic certification import device or to the trading device by the electronic certification server through wireless network. Next, it is detected if the distance between the wireless mobile device and the trading device entering a set distance or not. If the wireless mobile device enters the set distance, the trading device chooses one or a plurality of electronic certifications from the electronic certification collection and delivers one or a plurality of electronic certifications to the wireless mobile device, so that the user of the wireless mobile device can deliver one or a plurality of electronic certifications of the wireless mobile device to the trading device or other same type of trading devices for identity recognition or/and trading certification.
US09973492B2
A mobile secure agent on a wireless device executes one or more authenticated data collection profiles provisioned by a private profile producer. Each data package can only be transmitted to a collector certificated by the same private profile producer. Update profiles are signed and provisioned through a tunnel initiated from the mobile secure agent. A Certificate Authority provides libraries, anchors, and certificates in a key management message module to each mobile secure agent which enables revocation and replacement of certificates. Data stored in this way on a wireless device may only be transmitted in encrypted form to an authenticated destination.
US09973490B2
Disclosed in the authentication and authorization of a client device to access a plurality of resources, requiring a user of a client device to enter only one set of login information. Authentication and authorization of a client device to access a plurality of resources after an initial set of login information is received by a networked computing environment. After the initial set of login information is received, a series of steps are performed that may be entirely transparent to the user of the client device.
US09973487B2
An authentication method for at least one of a plurality of devices connected to a HAN includes checking, with a first device among the plurality of devices, validity of a second device using a CRL including attribute information regarding the second device among the plurality of devices, and revoking, with the first device, the second device if a result of the checking is negative.
US09973476B2
Based on a hidden service address table stored in a memory, a virtual circuit related to a hidden service is mapped to a corresponding port-level channel based on the hidden service's address. Data associated with the hidden service is routed between the virtual circuit and the port-level channel. This enables binding of high level anonymity protocols to low level communication services of a network fabric and ensures that other nodes in the network fabric can leverage fabric-hosted hidden services without requiring updates to an existing anonymity protocol.
US09973474B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a cloud gateway system, a cloud hypervisor system, and methods for implementing same. The cloud gateway system extends the security, manageability, and quality of service membrane of a corporate enterprise network into cloud infrastructure provider networks, enabling cloud infrastructure to be interfaced as if it were on the enterprise network. The cloud hypervisor system provides an interface to cloud infrastructure provider management systems and infrastructure instances that enables existing enterprise systems management tools to manage cloud infrastructure substantially the same as they manage local virtual machines via common server hypervisor APIs.
US09973469B2
Techniques are described that enable MAC (L2) address authentication within an L2 switching network, such as a metro transport network. Moreover, when used in an EVPN, the techniques provide fine grain policy control over the L2 switching network so as to enable carrier networks to specify and control topologies for transporting packet-based communications. Access routers of the EVPN communicate with a L2 network address authentication device of the metro transport network and only advertise MAC addresses into the EVPN that have been validated. Moreover, the L2 network address authentication device may distribute MAC-level policies to control topologies and MAC learning within the EVPN and provide services such as per-MAC traffic quota limits.
US09973461B2
Systems and methods are provided for direct packet communications and store and forward packet communications including packets which have attributes which determine the lifetime of the packet contents and these lifetimes are optionally a function of the recipient. Example methods are given featuring the transmission of packets with limited lifetime, the storing and retransmission of packets to one or more recipients and confirmation of deletion of packet contents. It is also shown that cryptography may be employed to ensure that timed presentation of packet contents to recipients takes place and is authenticated by the sender.
US09973458B2
Provided is a mobile chatting system for allowing cartoon story-type chatting between chatting users of a mobile terminal on which a cartoon-type chatting application is installed and a mobile terminal on which the cartoon-type chatting application is not installed, which includes: a first mobile terminal on which a cartoon-type chatting application is installed; a second mobile terminal for allowing chatting in a cartoon story form through a web page; a chatting server for relaying chatting between the first and second mobile terminals; and a chatting web server for, when a chatting message is input from the second mobile terminal, displaying the message and the user of the second mobile terminal with a cartoon character on the chatting web page.
US09973451B2
In accordance with an embodiment, described herein is a system and method for providing administrative command progress status for use with a cloud computing environment. In accordance with an embodiment, a job manager service provides an application program interface which receives administrative commands to be processed within the cloud environment as jobs, wherein each instance of the administrative commands is associated with a unique job identifier. A command line interface allows a user to issue a command to be processed within the cloud environment as a job. During progress of a job associated with an annotated command, a status associated with the progress of the job is determined and provided to the command line interface. For example, the system can provide job progress status during these operations, to reassure the user that the operation is proceeding normally.
US09973449B2
A method for communication includes monitoring communication traffic in a wireless data network that serves wireless communication terminals. Control messages, relating to setting-up of voice calls over the wireless data network for the wireless communication terminals, are identified in the communication traffic. Precedence is given to the identified control messages, relative to other communication traffic that is not related to setting-up of voice calls. The communication traffic is controlled selectively in accordance with the precedence.
US09973444B2
When relaying a frame received at a MCLAG port to a bridge port, a MCLAG identifier adding unit adds a MCLAG identifier to the frame. When an encapsulated frame to which a MCLAG identifier has been added is received at the bridge port and the encapsulation of the frame, is performed by a peer device, a learning information control unit does not learn an encapsulation address contained in the encapsulated frame. More specifically, the learning information control unit learns a source customer address contained in the frame in association with the MCLAG identifier added to the frame to the address table, but does not learn a source encapsulation address.
US09973442B1
Techniques and solutions are provided for calculating reachability matrices for multi-stage networks using matrix operations. For example, link status information can be obtained for network devices of the multi-stage network. Using the link status information, binary link state matrices can be determined representing connectivity between the stages of the multi-stage network. Binary reachability matrices can then be calculated using the binary link state matrices. The binary reachability matrices can be used in deciding where to forward network packets for destination devices.
US09973441B2
The invention provides a method and system for routing broadcast messages by managing a plurality of observation tables in a wireless ad-hoc network having a plurality of nodes. The method includes receiving one or more broadcast messages from one or more second nodes at a first node and stores information received from the broadcast messages pertaining to the one or more second nodes in one or more observation tables at the first node. A maximum aposteriori probability of connectivity is then computed for the one or more second nodes based on the information in the one or more observation tables maintained at the first node utilizing Bayesian approach. Thereafter, the first node transmits broadcast messages to the one or more second nodes based on the maximum aposteriori probability of connectivity computed for the one or more second nodes from the first node.
US09973439B2
Processing infrastructure metadata information about a virtual resource of a virtual cloud is disclosed. Infrastructure metadata information is collected. The collected metadata information is about a virtual resource of a virtual cloud. A storage of infrastructure metadata information is updated. The updating of the storage of infrastructure metadata information is performed using the collected information.
US09973420B2
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving first overlay network traffic via a first input overlay tunnel at a multi-protocol virtual tunnel end point (VTEP) implemented in an accelerated network interface card (NIC) of a server. The method also includes routing the first overlay network traffic to a second overlay network tunnel which adheres to a second overlay network protocol in response to a determination that a destination of the first overlay network traffic is specified as the second overlay network tunnel. Moreover, the method includes receiving second overlay network traffic via the first input overlay tunnel at the multi-protocol VTEP. The method also includes bridging the second overlay network traffic to a first destination overlay network tunnel terminated at the multi-protocol VTEP in response to a determination that a destination of the second overlay network traffic is specified as the first destination overlay network tunnel.
US09973415B2
To perform protection switching between tunnels in a network, Y.1731-based APS messages are often sent from a management system to nodes at the tunnels' end-points. If the management system is located near one node (local node) and far away from the other node (remote node), the APS message, which operates at the Ethernet service layer, travels to the remote node slower than traffic over the tunnels. This slower transmission time may prevent the remote node from performing a switch within a desired timeframe. The disclosed embodiments include a 1:1 bidirectional VLAN-based protection arrangement that accomplishes a 50 millisecond switching time without using Y.1731-based APS messages. The embodiments accomplish this by sending a switching command from the management system to the local node and modifying a message already traveling from the local node to the remote node to include a switching message that causes the remote node to perform the switch.
US09973409B2
A device may identify an amount of data corresponding to a user device of a plurality of user devices associated with an account with a shared data amount. The amount of data may include an amount of data that is available for use by the user device and that is not available for use by other user devices of the plurality of user devices. The shared data amount may include an amount of data that is available for use by all of the plurality of user devices. The device may determine allocation information that identifies a portion of the amount of data available to the user device that is allocated for use in association with an application. The device may determine data usage information that identifies an amount of data used in association with the application. The device may determine data status information and may provide the data status information.
US09973408B2
A method and apparatus of measuring a packet throughput in a wireless communication system are provided. When determining a reference time for estimating packet throughput, a receiver determines the time that a data burst starts or ends in order to estimate the packet throughput considering a change in the data burst of the transmitter buffer. A measurement period is defined through the determined start time and end time of the data burst, and packet throughput is measured considering the total amount of the received data burst. The throughput of packet data may be estimated by each base station based on the same standard rule, so that the measured packet throughput values may be reliable, thus allowing the operator to make use of it as a parameter for MDT.
US09973397B2
Methods, apparatuses and systems for diagnosing network anomalies and allocating repair resources in a computer network receive network anomaly reports (NARs) from a group of customers. Each NAR specifies a network anomaly observed by a customer at a network endpoint. Each NAR is entered into a database and associated in the database with attributes including at least one customer attribute associated with the sender of that NAR or network attribute associated with the network anomaly specified in that NAR. A time period is detected during which the difference between an aggregate number of NARs received within that time period and a baseline number of NARs received during prior time periods of substantially identical duration exceeds a threshold. The attributes associated with the NARs received during the time period are analyzed to identify a network anomaly specified in those NARs. Repair resources are further preferentially allocated to the identified network anomaly.
US09973394B2
The present application provides techniques to interrelate a group of multiple entities. A master entity makes configuration decisions regarding the group of entities and communicates those decisions to the entities. When the master relinquishes the master role, the retiring master selects a new master to accede to the master role. The retiring master releases the master role and ensures that the new master becomes aware of its assignment to the master role. During the time between when the retiring master abdicates and when the new master accedes, the group of entities is temporarily permitted to have no master. The master changes the configuration of the group of entities in a similar way. Using the techniques described herein, a new master may eventually replace the retiring master, and a new configuration may eventually replace the old configuration, without the risk of duplicating or dropping the master role or a configuration change.
US09973390B2
Example methods, apparatuses, and systems are presented for discovery of how network devices are interconnected. A group of network devices may be discovered that are associated with each other may be determined. Using a system of the present disclosures, information is gathered from network devices using networking protocols and links are identified. Protocols suggest how two or more network devices are connected to each other. Every interface on the physical or virtual device may be associated with multiple types of links identified by various protocols. A weight is assigned to each link using a weight mapping table. Next a method to reduce the number of multiple links is applied. The reduction method uses the link associated with an interface with the lowest weight to map the network topology, in some embodiments.
US09973386B2
Communication network architectures, systems and methods for supporting a network of mobile nodes. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of this disclosure provide communication network architectures, systems, and methods for supporting a dynamically configurable communication network comprising a complex array of both static and moving communication nodes (e.g., the Internet of moving things).
US09973385B2
Remotely configuring an online computer system. A configuration file is generated at a management controller associated with a computer system in response to a request from a configuration utility associated with a user device, wherein the user device is located remotely from the computer system. The configuration file is sent from the management controller to the configuration utility via a network connection. A modified configuration file is received at the management controller from the configuration utility via the network connection, wherein the modified configuration file comprises system level changes to a configuration of the computer system. The system level changes from the modified configuration file are implemented at the computer system while an operating system associated with the computer system is online.
US09973379B1
Techniques are described for managing communications for a managed virtual computer network overlaid on a distinct substrate computer network, including for communications between computing nodes of the managed virtual computer network connected to the substrate network and other network nodes external to the substrate network. The managed virtual computer network may have multiple associated virtual network addresses, with each of the computing nodes being associated with at least one of the virtual network addresses, and with one or more external network nodes being integrated into the managed virtual computer network based at least in part by associating one or more other of the virtual network addresses with the external network nodes. The managing of the communications may further include using one or more translation manager modules that interconnect the substrate network with one or more external networks or other external connections via which the external network nodes are accessible.
US09973377B2
A method comprising identifying a physical ring in a physical layer of a network according to a logical ring in a logical layer of the network, wherein the logical ring is formed from a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of logical links, and wherein the physical ring is formed from at least the plurality of nodes interconnected by a first plurality of physical links, computing a plurality of cross cord paths across the physical ring, and mapping the logical ring onto the physical layer to provide dual physical link failure survivability by determining primary paths and secondary paths for the plurality of logical links over the physical ring and the plurality of cross cord paths such that a secondary path of a first of the plurality of logical links is non-overlapping with a primary path of a second of the plurality of logical links.
US09973373B2
An apparatus and a method for managing a Domain Name System (DNS) server address in a communication system are provided. In the method for operating a terminal, an attempt to change an address of a DNS server to a first address is detected. Whether the first address is included in an address list defined in advance is determined. When the first address is not included in the address list defined in advance, the change to the first address is stopped.
US09973367B2
Apparatuses, systems, ambient RF backscatter transceivers, and methods for communicating using MIMO and spread spectrum coding of backscattered ambient RF signals are described. An example system may include an ambient RF backscatter transceiver that include an antenna configured to receive a backscattered ambient radio frequency (RF) signal, and a receiver coupled to the antenna. The receiver may be configured to demodulate the backscattered ambient RF signal using one of multiple input, multiple output multiplexing demodulation or spread spectrum code demodulation to retrieve the first data. The backscattered ambient RF signal may be generated by backscattering an ambient RF signal at a first frequency. The ambient RF signal may be configured to provide other data at a second frequency.
US09973361B2
Method and apparatus for use within a wireless OFDM network that transmits a first packet type and a second packet type. The first packet type has a header field with two parts with each part comprising a different set of header bits. The two parts of the header field are transmitted using two OFDM symbols. The second packet type has a header field with four parts with the first and second parts comprising the same first set of header bits and the third and the fourth part comprising the same second set of header bits. The four parts of the header field are transmitted using four OFDM symbols. The second packet type provides more reliable transmission than the first packet type.
US09973359B2
Disclosed is a cognitive radio system, resource allocation apparatus thereof and method therefor. A resource allocation apparatus comprises: a transmission opportunity assessment device which is used to assess availabilities of transmission opportunities in radio resources of a primary communication system; a vector production device which is used to set a transmission opportunity selection vector for each secondary user in the cognitive radio system based on assessment results of the availabilities of transmission opportunities, wherein the transmission opportunity selection vector includes information for identifying multiple transmission opportunities assessed available; and a sending device which is used to distribute the transmission opportunity selection vector to the secondary user.
US09973355B1
The present invention is directed to communication systems and methods thereof. More specifically, an embodiment of the present invention includes a buffer that is coupled to a reference terminal. A shift register stores decision levels for post-cursor positions. A plurality of switches converts the decision levels to equalization currents during an equalization process. The equalization currents are converted to equalization voltage terms by one or more load resistors. The buffer is provided between the reference terminal and the one or more load resistors. There are other embodiments as well.
US09973353B2
Disclosed are a method and an apparatus for generating an STF signal usable in a wireless LAN system. The STF signal is included in a field used to improve AGC estimation of a MIMO transmission. The STF signal that is suggested, for example, can be used for an 80 MHz band and can be generated based on a sequence in which a predetermined M sequence is repeated. Also, the disclosed STF signal can be used for a 1× STF signal from the 1× STF signal and a 2× STF signal. The predetermined M sequence can be a binary sequence of which the length is 15 bits.
US09973351B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a data processing method, where, after being encapsulated according to an Ethernet protocol, a data processing command is sent to a cabinet by using an Ethernet switch, so that a storage controller in a storage engine can communicate with the cabinet by using the Ethernet switch, thereby effectively utilizing advantages such as ease of expansion and simple operation of the Ethernet switch.
US09973349B2
An encapsulation address of a first switching device is set so as to be different only in a mask bit in comparison with that of a second switching device. A learning information control unit of a third switching device does not learn the correspondence relation between a source customer address and a source encapsulation address in a first case and a second case. The first case corresponds to a case in which an encapsulated frame is received at an upper-link port and an encapsulation address corresponding to the source customer address is acquired from an address table. The second case corresponds to a case in which a difference between the source encapsulation address and the encapsulation address acquired from the address table lies only in the mask bit.
US09973341B2
Systems, methods, and apparatuses are described wherein a block chain or block chain network can be created and the mining of new blocks can be limited to certain actors holding a specific set of private keys and verified by the corresponding public keys accessible to consumers interested in validating the block chain. These keys are stored in software or on specific hardware devices designed to not reveal the private key. Only blocks mined using those keys are acceptable on the block chain. The signing of the blocks in the particular block chain is integrated in such a fashion as to be integral to the proof of work for the block chain.
US09973335B2
Examples are disclosed for exchanging a key between an input/output device for network device and a first processing element operating on the network device. Data having a destination associated with the first processing element may be received by the input/output device. The exchanged key may be used to encrypt the received data. The encrypted data may then be sent to a buffer maintained at least in part in a memory for the network device. The memory may be arranged to enable sharing of the buffer with at least a second processing element operating on the network device. Examples are also disclosed for the processing element to receive an indication of the storing of the encrypted data in the buffer. The processing element may then obtain the encrypted data from the buffer and decrypt the data using the exchanged key.
US09973332B2
An electronic apparatus including a PLL unit to an original clock signal, a pair of phase interpolators, a sampler, a phase detector, a control unit and a loop filter is provided. The phase interpolators receive the original clock signal and generate a reference clock signal and an auxiliary clock signal offset by 90 degrees having transition edges. The sampler samples an input data signal at each of the transition edge. The phase detector determines a phase difference of a data transition of the input data signal relative to the reference clock signal. The control unit superimposes an adjusting phase on phases of the reference clock signal and the auxiliary clock signal according to the phase difference. The phase detector determines that the phase difference is within a predetermined range. The loop filter superimposes a varying phase on the phases of the reference clock signal and the auxiliary clock signal accordly.
US09973331B1
Aspects of the disclosure provide a circuit that includes a clock synchronization circuit. The clock synchronization circuit is configured to determine a sub-cycle offset between a first clock signal and a second clock signal, and select rising/failing edges of the first clock signal and the second clock signal based on the sub-cycle offset for enabling communication between a first clock domain that is operative in response to the first clock signal and a second clock domain that is operative in response to the second clock signal.
US09973328B2
A receiver device implements enhanced data reception with edge-based clock and data recovery such as with a flash analog-to-digital converter architecture. In an example embodiment, the device implements a first phase adjustment control loop, with for example, a bang-bang phase detector, that detects data transitions for adjusting sampling at an optimal edge time with an edge sampler by adjusting a phase of an edge clock of the sampler. This loop may further adjust sampling in received data intervals for optimal data reception by adjusting the phase of a data clock of a data sampler such a flash ADC. The device may also implement a second phase adjustment control loop with, for example, a baud-rate phase detector, that detects data intervals for further adjusting sampling at an optimal data time with the data sampler.
US09973323B2
An electronic device and method for providing a communication service are provided. The method of operating an electronic device includes: receiving a first signal transmitted through a first band and a second signal transmitted through a second band; determining a communication mode of the electronic device for processing the first signal and the second signal based on device information or environment information of the electronic device; and processing the first signal and the second signal using at least one of a first modem or a second modem functionally connected to the electronic device based on the communication mode, wherein the processing of the first signal and the second signal includes: processing, when the communication mode is a first mode, the first signal in the first modem and the second signal in the second modem; and processing, when the communication mode is a second mode, the first signal and the second signal in the first modem.
US09973319B2
A method of sub-channel independent network allocation vector (NAV) management by a wireless station (STA) in a wideband wireless communications system is proposed. In the wideband system having multiple sub-bands, each NAV for a corresponding sub-band is independently managed. The protection duration for each NAV is independent for each sub-band and the threshold or update rule for NAV modification is also independent for each sub-band. The threshold or update rule for NAV modification may also be different when the NAV is generated or propagated by an OBSS STA. Furthermore, early termination of NAV is allowed if the NAV is set by an OBSS STA only.
US09973317B2
A mobile communication system performs communication of user data directly among a plurality of radio terminals without passing through a radio base station. The communication of user data directly performed among the plurality of radio terminals is performed by using apart of radio resources assigned to the mobile communication system. The plurality of radio terminals comprise: a transmission-side terminal that transmits the user data; and a reception-side terminal that receives the user data. The reception-side terminal transmits to a radio base station in a connected state where a radio connection is established with the reception-side terminal, a transmission acknowledgment signal indicating whether the user data transmitted from the transmission-side terminal has been received.
US09973313B2
A method and a system of setting up a reference signal in a radio communication system are disclosed. The radio communication system includes a serving cell and a neighboring cell, and a mobile terminal of the serving cell uses the same temporal frequency resource to receive a serving resource block from the serving cell and an interference resource block from the neighboring cell. The method includes setting up a user-specific reference signal in the interference resource block and puncturing at the same temporal frequency position as the temporal frequency position at which the user-specific reference signal is set up on the interference resource block of the serving resource block to prevent any signal from being transmitted at the punctured temporal frequency position. When the method and the system are used and the interference power between cells is measured, it is possible to effectively reduce feedback overhead in a coordinated beamforming.
US09973310B2
A method for transmitting an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) to a base station by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method includes receiving, from the base station, an uplink grant or a downlink grant, with an indicator indicating a transmission of the aperiodic SRS; and transmitting, to the base station, the aperiodic SRS in a first uplink subframe; wherein the first uplink subframe is a subframe firstly configured after a second uplink subframe for the aperiodic SRS, wherein, if the uplink grant is received, the second uplink subframe is a subframe in which an uplink data signal scheduled by the uplink grant is transmitted, wherein, if the downlink grant is received, the second uplink subframe is a subframe in which an uplink control signal corresponding to the downlink grant is transmitted.
US09973297B2
Systems, methods, and/or techniques for improving downlink spectrum efficiency may be disclosed. For example, a higher order modulation (HOM) transmission may be provided to a device. The higher order modulation transmission may be configured to be indicated by the network or a device. Additionally, multiple modulation and coding scheme (MCS) tables, transport block size (TBS) tables, and/or channel quality index (CQI) tables may be provided to support the higher order modulation transmission.
US09973296B2
An optical line terminal (OLT) comprising a processor configured to process a first power consumption data associated with a first optical network unit (ONU) for a plurality of wavelength channels in a multiple-wavelength passive optical network (PON), and select a first target wavelength channel from the plurality of wavelength channels based on the first power consumption data in order to reduce power consumption at the first ONU, and a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to transmit to the first ONU a tuning control message instructing the first ONU to tune to the first target wavelength channel.
US09973281B2
Optical signal receivers and methods are provided that include an optical resonator that allows an optical signal to enter and optical signal energy to accumulate at regions inside the optical resonator. A portion of optical signal energy is emitted from among various regions of the optical resonator, such that a combination of the emitted optical signal energy is disturbed when a phase transition occurs in the received optical signal. A detector aligned with the output detects the combined emitted optical signal energy and is configured to detect the disturbance and determine a characteristic of the phase transition in the received optical signal based upon the disturbance.
US09973275B2
Disclosed is a system and method for using visible light communication (“VLC”) to perform indoor position location. Through use of a system and method configured as set forth herein, the position of any appropriately marked person or item may be found indoors using data interconnected modules that communicate with one another via RF and visible light. A mobile receiver in the form of a tag or badge attached to the person or item to be tracked receives a VLC signal from a plurality of lighting modules, and transmits back to a processor the data it received so that the processor is able determine the tag's or badge's physical position with respect to the individual network modules.
US09973270B2
It is an object to provide a technique capable of using a single framer as a necessary framer and causing the framer to be shared among a plurality of transmission destinations and priorities when coping with a plurality of transmission destinations or priorities and a change in a bandwidth of a physical lane that is caused by a change in a modulation scheme or a change in the number of wavelengths.A multilane transmission device that allocates client signals based on a transmission destination or a priority, decides the number of virtual lanes necessary for transmission of the client signals allocated based on each transmission destination or each priority, allocates the client signals allocated based on each transmission destination or each priority to the virtual lanes whose number has been decided, and frames the client signals allocated to the virtual lanes as transport frames, multiplexes the virtual lanes into a physical lane, and transmits the framed transport frames by using the physical lane.
US09973261B1
Drone-based wireless communications systems are provided, as are methods carried-out by such wireless communications systems. In one embodiment, the wireless communications system includes a Satellite Signal Transformation (SST) unit and a plurality of aerial network drones, which can be deployed over a designated geographical area to form a multi-drone network thereover. During operation, the SST unit transmits a network source signal, which contains content extracted from a satellite signal. The multi-drone network receives the network source signal, disseminates drone relay signals containing the content through the multi-drone network, and broadcastings user device signals containing the content over the designated geographical area. In embodiments, the multi-drone network may broadcast multiple different types of user device signals for reception by various different types of user devices located within the designated geographical area, such as an area containing communication infrastructure disabled by a natural disaster, a hostile attack, or other catastrophic event.
US09973259B2
A data transmission method of a source node in a cooperative communication system includes: performing a beamforming to a relay node; transmitting data to the relay node; performing a beamforming to a destination node; and transmitting data to the destination node.
US09973250B2
A method and a user equipment (UE) for transmitting sounding reference signals via multiple antenna ports in a wireless communication system are discussed. The method according to one embodiment includes receiving a parameter via a higher layer; applying a code division multiplexing (CDM) scheme to the sounding reference signals using the parameter; applying a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) scheme to the sounding reference signals when the parameter is a first value; and transmitting the sounding reference signals via the multiple antenna ports.
US09973249B2
A method of operating a user equipment (UE). The method includes receiving a configuration message comprising a reporting type of channel state information (CSI). The method further includes calculating, in response to the configuration message, a CSI report comprising at least one precoding matrix indicator (PMI) associated with a codebook including a plurality of vectors, wherein each vector in the codebook represents a selection of a pair of antenna ports and a co-phasing between two antenna ports of the pair. The method further includes transmitting the CSI report on an uplink channel.
US09973239B2
The present invention provides a mobile device including: a power receiver for wirelessly coupling with a power transmitter to receive power wirelessly from the power transmitter; and a function that automatically initiates upon the power receiver wirelessly coupling with the power transmitter. Also provided is a transmitter apparatus including a power transmitter for wirelessly coupling with a power receiver in a mobile device to provide power wirelessly to the power receiver, wherein, upon the power receiver wirelessly coupling with the power transmitter, data is transferred between the power transmitter and the power receiver and a function of the mobile device automatically initiates. The mobile device and transmitter apparatus together form a system for operating the mobile device. Methods and computer-readable media storing executable application programs associated with the system are also provided.
US09973238B2
Disclosed herein are methods and systems for adjusting the power level of an external reader of an electronic device. The external reader transmits power to the electronic device with a radio frequency electromagnetic signal. The electronic device may rectify the radio frequency electromagnetic signal and create a rectified voltage. The rectified voltage may be positively correlated to the power level transmitted by the external device. The rectified power can be used to power a component of the electronic device, such as a component configured to measure either a voltage or power associated with the rectified voltage. The electronic device may communicate the measured voltage or power back to the external reader. Based on the communicated voltage or power, the external reader may adjust its power level of the transmitted power.
US09973237B2
A wireless charging method and apparatus are provided. A non-contact wireless local communication unit performs non-contact wireless local communication for wireless charging authentication through a non-contact wireless local communication antenna. A wireless power receiver receives supply power from a wireless power transmitter by using a resonator resonating on a resonance frequency equal to that of the wireless power transmitter after the wireless charging authentication. A charging controller performs wireless charging by using the supply power received by the wireless power receiver. One or more switches switch between a connection between the non-contact wireless local communication antenna and the non-contact wireless local communication unit, and a connection between the wireless power receiver and the charging controller.
US09973235B2
This invention discloses a signal receiving device for Ethernet and a control method thereof. The signal receiving device includes a gain control circuit, an alien near-end crosstalk canceller, a noise canceller, and a DFE. The gain control circuit adjusts an input signal of the signal receiving device according to a setting parameter. The alien near-end crosstalk canceller cancels an alien near-end crosstalk interference. The noise canceller uses a first filter to cancel noises. The DFE uses a second filter to cancel an inter-symbol interference of the input signal. The method includes steps of: temporarily stopping the gain control circuit from updating the setting parameter before a seed collision occurs, and temporarily stopping one of the noise canceller and the decision feedback canceller from updating the first filter coefficient of the first filter or the second filter coefficient of the second filter temporarily during the seed collision.
US09973228B2
Wireless wide area network (WWAN) antenna with integrated sensor and methods of using the same. In one embodiment, an antenna subsystem and proximity sensing subsystem share a grounded antenna component/parasitic element. The parasitic element can be used to broaden the operating band of the antenna feeding component and provide an input (via a capacitance change) to a proximity sensor. The parasitic element is, in one embodiment, coupled in parallel to the proximity sensor allowing for a reduction in noise due to increased isolation between the antenna subsystem and the sensing subsystem.
US09973225B1
A device includes one or more antennas configured to receive a first signal and a second signal from a second device. The first signal includes a non-precoded signal. The device further includes a receiver coupled to the one or more antennas. The receiver is configured to determine a first channel estimate based on the first signal and determine a second channel estimate based on the second signal. The receiver is also configured to determine an estimated distortion based at least in part on the first channel estimate and the second channel estimate. The receiver is further configured to perform a distortion reduction operation on the second signal based on the estimated distortion to generate a reduced-distortion signal.
US09973224B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide an interference cancellation apparatus and method. The method includes: receiving a radio frequency receive signal by using a main receive antenna; canceling a first-type self-interference component in the radio frequency receive signal according to a radio frequency reference signal, to generate a first processed signal; acquiring the reconstructed self-interference signal according to a self-interference channel parameter and the radio frequency reference signal; canceling a second-type self-interference component in the first processed signal according to the reconstructed self-interference signal to generate a second processed signal; performing down-conversion processing on the second processed signal to generate a third processed signal; performing analog to digital conversion on the third processed signal to generate a digital signal; and acquiring a digital baseband reference signal, and performing self-interference channel estimation according to the digital baseband reference signal and the digital signal to acquire the self-interference channel parameter.
US09973222B2
The disclosed embodiments relate to a communication device (200) that implements a subset of feature choices selected from a complete set of feature choices. An exemplary embodiment comprises at least one common hardware component (210) common to any subset of feature choices, and a base (102) that is adapted to accommodate installation of at least one optional hardware component (221) associated with at least one feature of the complete set of feature choices.
US09973210B1
A parallel decompression engine has separate hardware paths for sequence processing and repeated byte copying/placement. Literal byte extraction logic obtains literal bytes from a selected sequence. Literal byte write logic writes the obtained literal bytes into an uncompressed data set that is being generated. Offset and length extraction logic obtains the offset and length of repeated bytes from the selected sequence. In a separate hardware path, copying and placement logic uses the offset and length to find and copy the length of repeated bytes at the specified offset in the uncompressed data set, and place the copied repeated bytes back into the uncompressed data set adjacent to the literal bytes.
US09973208B2
A method and a device for arithmetic encoding of a current spectral coefficient using preceding spectral coefficients. The method comprises processing the preceding spectral coefficients, using the processed preceding spectral coefficients for determining a context class being one of at least two different context classes, using the determined context class and a mapping from the at least two different context classes to at least two different probability density functions for determining the probability density function, and arithmetic encoding the current spectral coefficient based on the determined probability density function wherein processing the preceding spectral coefficients comprises non-uniformly quantizing absolutes of the preceding spectral coefficients for use in determining of the context class.
US09973196B2
Apparatus for clock synchronization comprising a first phase locked loop (405) and a second phase locked loop (400). The first phase locked loop (405) is configured to receive a reference signal (Fcrystal) having a reference frequency, and operable to produce an output signal (Fout) having an output frequency that is a multiple of the reference frequency. The first phase locked loop (405) comprises a frequency divider (428) that controls the multiple in response to a control signal. The second phase locked loop (400) is configured to determine a phase error between the output signal (Fout) and an input signal (Fantenna), and to provide the control signal to the first phase locked loop (405). The second phase locked loop (400) comprises phase adjustment means (450), operable to adjust a phase difference between the input and output signal by varying the control signal for a duration.
US09973191B2
In an embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a clock tree circuit and logic circuitry that is clocked by the clocks received from the clock tree circuit. The logic circuit is powered by a first power supply voltage. The integrated circuit includes a voltage regulator that receives the first power supply voltage and generates a second power supply voltage having a magnitude that is lower than the magnitude of the first power supply voltage by a predetermined amount. The second power supply voltage may track the first power supply voltage over dynamic changes during use, either intentional changes to operating state or noise-induced changes. The second power supply voltage may be used to power at least a portion of the clock tree.
US09973190B2
A capacitive proximity and/or contact switch includes a cover plate having an upper side and an underside. The upper side provides a sensitive area of the switch and the cover plate, at least in the region of the sensitive area, is at least partially non-conductive. A conductive sensor face is disposed at a distance from the underside of the cover plate. The dielectric system of this capacitive proximity and/or contact switch is formed of the cover plate, at least one non-conductive element facing towards the sensor face and at least one conductive element between the cover plate and the non-conductive element.
US09973187B1
A power on reset circuit including an inverter powered by a first power domain, the inverter including a data input coupled to a power rail of a second power domain; logic circuitry coupled with an output of the inverter, the logic circuitry having a control signal output; and wherein, during a power up operation, the first power domain powers up before the second power domain powers up. Upon power up of the first power domain, the inverter can output a high signal to the logic circuitry and output a low signal to the logic circuitry in response to power up of the second power domain. The logic circuitry is further configured to output a first value for a control signal in response to the first power domain powering up and configured to output a second value for the control signal in response to the second power domain powering up.
US09973181B2
According to one embodiment, a synchronous semiconductor device is disclosed According to this embodiment, the synchronous semiconductor device includes a pulse width detection circuit to provide detection information responsive to a plurality of delay amounts being different from one another and at least one of a high pulse width and a low pulse width of a first clock signal. The detection information representing relationships in size between each of the plurality of delay amounts and the at least one of the high pulse width and the low pulse width of the first clock signal. A delay line control circuit coupled to the pulse width detection circuit and the delay line. The delay line control circuit configured to change a delay amount of the delay line by a step size determined responsive, at least in part, to the detection information.
US09973180B2
An output stage circuit comprises: a power inverter, coupled to a signal terminal; and a dynamic bias circuit, wherein the dynamic bias circuit connects between a system voltage terminal and the power inverter. The dynamic bias circuit comprises at least one Zener diode, which is configured to maintain a voltage difference between a gate terminal and a source terminal of at least one transistor of the power inverter within a first absolute value; which is configured to maintain a voltage difference between the gate terminal and a drain terminal of the at least one transistor within a second absolute value; and configured to maintain a voltage difference between the drain terminal and the source terminal of the at least one transistor within the second absolute value.
US09973178B1
In a clock frequency doubler, an input clock feeds into a digital programmable delay circuit, and an inverted input clock feeds into another digital programmable delay. The outputs of these digital programmable delay circuits are combined with the input clock and inverse clock through AND gates in order to generate clock pulses at both the rising and falling edge of the clock. These signals are combined using an OR gate to provide an output clock signal with a frequency that is double the frequency of the input clock signal. The values of the control bits for the digital programmable delay circuit are determined in a time-to-digital conversion (TDC) circuit that includes a Successive Approximation Register (SAR). For every cycle of the clock, the SAR circuit successively sets the programmable delay control bits and compares the delay circuit output with the input clock to determine the value of the control bits.
US09973174B2
A method and an apparatus for determining a stability factor of an adaptive filter is presented. The method includes: determining, according to first input signal that are input to an adaptive filter, a reference input matrix of the first input signal; determining a stability parameter of the first input signal according to the reference input matrix; and determining a stability factor of the adaptive filter according to the stability parameter. According to the method and apparatus for determining a stability factor of an adaptive filter provided in the embodiments of the present application, the stability factor of the adaptive filter can be adaptively obtained according to a stability feature of the first input signal, and the adaptive filter can reach a balance between a convergence speed and steady state error performance.
US09973163B1
Volume levels of content being presented via a device can be controlled. The device can receive or stream video or audio content. An audio manager component (AMC) can process the content to control the volume level of the content as it is presented on a presentation component based on a set point and/or upper and/or lower threshold volume levels. The set point can be set by a user. The AMC can map a high volume audio signal or a low volume audio signal to a defined volume range around the set point based on the upper and/or lower threshold volume levels. The AMC can analyze respective audio signals of the content, interpolate and determine respective adjusted volume levels of the respective audio signals, and adjust the respective volume levels to the respective adjusted volume levels based on the analysis results and the mapping.
US09973159B1
A multimode multiband wireless device includes a broadband RF power amplifier that receives RF signals and produces amplified RF signals in a cellular band in a broadband, and a coexist filter coupled to the input of the broadband RF power amplifier. The coexist filter can reject RF noise in a predetermined frequency range in the broadband adjacent to the cellular band.
US09973155B2
A power amplifier is described. The power amplifier including at least a first amplifier stage, and at least a first tunable matching network. The first tunable matching network is configured to couple between a first impedance and a second impedance. The first matching network including at least one first set of metal oxide semiconductor variable capacitor arrays.
US09973146B2
An amplifying circuit includes a reference voltage generating circuit, a common-mode voltage conversion circuit, a common-mode negative feedback circuit, and an amplifying sub-circuit. The reference voltage generating circuit generates a first reference voltage, a second reference voltage, and a reference common-mode voltage according to a post-stage common-mode voltage. The common-mode voltage conversion circuit converts the pre-stage output differential signal into a differential input signal according to the reference common-mode voltage. The common-mode negative feedback circuit generates a control voltage to quickly establish a common-mode negative feedback of the amplifying sub-circuit, wherein the first reference voltage and the second reference voltage are used to cancel a baseline signal of the pre-stage output differential signal. The amplifying circuit can eliminate the baseline signal, convert the common-mode voltage and quickly establish the common-mode negative feedback.
US09973138B2
A brushless motor includes: a motor including a stator around which a winding wire is wound and a rotor holding a permanent magnet; a motor control microcomputer; an inverter circuit in which a power element is incorporated and controls an amount of a voltage applied to the winding wire; a temperature detecting element which detects a temperature of the power element; and a current detecting element which detects a power supply current or a current of the winding wire. A first current limit value is defined by current limit value which is set such that a junction temperature of the power element does not exceed a predetermined value, the brushless motor sets a second current limit value which is higher than the first current limit value, and the brushless motor operates, based on the second current limit value only in a predetermined period after start-up of the brushless motor.
US09973136B2
A method for controlling a motor based on a variable current controller gain may include a temperature function current applying mode in which when a torque command for the motor is detected by an inverter, 3-phase current to be applied to the motor is output to the motor in consideration of a motor temperature of the motor as a function.
US09973133B2
A motor control device includes a detecting unit configured to detect rotation of a motor to be controlled and output a rotation detection value related to the rotation; a drive control unit configured to perform drive control to rotate the motor at a control target value increasing with time based on the rotation detection value; and an abnormality detection unit configured to perform an abnormality detection process for detecting an abnormality in the drive control based on the rotation detection value and a predetermined threshold. The drive control unit performs control to stop rotation of the motor when the abnormality is detected.
US09973124B2
A vehicle electrical system comprises a generator which provides electrical power to an electrical load. The generator includes two field coils. A first switch circuit is coupled with the first field coil and a second switch circuit is coupled with the second field coil. A control device, included in the electrical system, operates the first and second switch circuits to regulate the generator output voltage and, in the alternative, to further reconfigure and/or deactivate the switch circuits based on their operating states. The generator maybe further coupled with an electrical energy absorbing device and the control device maybe further configured to operate on a switch, coupled with the electrical energy absorbing device, in response to a shutdown condition, RPM, rate of change of RPM, and voltage transient.
US09973120B1
An electric machine assembly includes an electric machine having a stator configured to have a stator current and a controller configured to receive a torque command (T). The controller stores a modulation flag (Fm) and a six step active flag (FS), each having a respective status. The controller has a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which is recorded instructions for executing a method of controlling a six step pulse width modulation operation in the assembly. The controller is programmed to determine the respective status of a six step active flag (FS) based at least partially on the torque command (T) and the respective status of the modulation flag (Fm). The controller is configured to control at least one operating parameter of the electric machine based at least partially on the respective status of the six step active flag (FS).
US09973116B2
A power supply converter controller in an injection molding machine continuously operates a power supply converter in a continuous operation interval, operates the power supply converter in a step-up interval to increase a voltage of an electric storage unit up to a step-up voltage, and intermittently operates the power supply converter in an intermittent operation interval.
US09973114B2
A method and system for reducing rollback in a counterbalancing system as a holding brake is released is disclosed. A limited amount of movement of a drive shaft is present in the holding brake. A motor drive provides current to the motor with the holding brake set such that a torque is applied at the drive shaft. The current is controlled to generate torque in both directions. The limited amount of movement in the brake may be used to determine a direction and magnitude of torque required to support a mechanical load being applied to the motor. The motor drive then provides a current to generate the necessary torque required to support the load prior to releasing the holding brake.
US09973100B2
A synchronous rectifier applied to a power converter includes a power supply module, a control module, and a gate driving unit. The power supply module is used for generating a supply current according to an induced voltage generated from a secondary side of the power converter, wherein the supply current is used for establishing a supply voltage, and the induced voltage corresponds to a control signal of a power switch of a primary side of the power converter. The control module is coupled to the power supply module for turning on or turning off the power supply module according to the supply voltage. The gate driving unit is coupled to the power supply module for generating a gate control signal controlling turning-on and turning-off of a synchronous switch of the secondary side of the power converter, wherein the supply voltage is used for driving the gate driving unit.
US09973096B2
Circuits and devices are described that provide power to appliances and other devices via a power correction circuit and an LLC converter, which may for example include resonant series converters and flyback converters. The circuits and devices economize on board space, part size and power start up time by separately powering up the controller circuit portion prior to powering up the LLC converter.
US09973086B2
The low input voltage boost converter with peak inductor current control and offset compensated zero detection provide a boost converter scheme to harvest energy from sources with small output voltages. Some embodiments described herein includes a thermoelectric boost converter that combines an IPEAK control scheme with offset compensation and duty cycled comparators to enable energy harvesting from TEG inputs as low as 5 mV to 10 mV, and the peak inductor current is independent to first order of the input voltage and output voltage. A control circuit can be configured to sample the input voltage (VIN) and then generate a pulse with a duration inversely proportional to VIN so as to control the boost converter switches such that a substantially constant peak inductor current is generated.
US09973083B1
A predictive controller for an inductive DC-DC converter comprising a switchable inductor is described. The predictive controller includes a DC-DC controller configured to generate a plurality of switching phases to control the inductor current in the switchable inductor, the duration of the switching phases being determined from at least one of a reference inductor current value and a reference output voltage value. The predictive controller includes a supervisory controller coupled to the DC-DC controller and configured to set a reference inductor current value dependent on an expected change in load current and/or voltage of a load configured to be connected to the load terminal. The expected change in load current and/or voltage is determined from a predetermined load profile.
US09973082B1
A charge pump circuit in a high-side intelligent power switch includes a switching unit between an oscillating unit and a charge-up unit. When the high-side IPS serving as a load driving circuit is in a standby state, a MOSFET switches ON and the switching unit blocks the transmission of signals output from the oscillating unit to the charge-up unit. This prevents a power supply voltage, which can potentially fluctuate, from being applied to capacitors of the charge-up unit via body diodes of inverter circuits in the switching unit while the high-side IPS is in the standby state, thereby suitably protecting the capacitors.
US09973081B1
A switched-capacitor voltage divider is provided that functions to divide an input voltage only while a low-duty-cycle clock pulse signal is asserted. All the switches in the switched-capacitor voltage divider are idle during an off time for the low-duty-cycle clock pulse signal.
US09973075B2
A method and apparatus for performing adaptive input current control in an electronic device are provided, where the method may include the steps of: before limiting an input current of a regulator of the electronic device to a target current value, monitoring the input current of the regulator according to a reference current, and decreasing the reference current, to make the reference current change starting from one of a plurality of predetermined reference current values, wherein the input current is obtained from a power source; detecting an input voltage of the regulator to generate a detection signal, to selectively trigger limiting output power of the regulator; and at a time point when the reference current becomes smaller than the input current, limiting the input current of the regulator to the target current value with a latest reference current value of the reference current being utilized as the target current value.
US09973064B2
Method and station for the construction of a stator winding with rigid bars for a rotary electrical machine; an insulated wire of electrically conductor material and provided on the outside with an insulating layer is unwound from a coil. A final end of the insulated wire is bent in a “U” shape so as to create a bar having two legs connected to one another by a cusp. The insulated wire is transversely cut to separate the rigid bar from the remaining part of the wire; and the bar is inserted into a stator slot of a magnetic core of a stator. The electrical conductivity is measured between the core and the outer surface of the insulated wire by means of a first electrode electrically and permanently connected to the core of the insulated wire and a second electrode, which rubs against the outer surface of the insulated wire.
US09973058B2
A power generation unit for generating electric power within a rotating reference frame includes a generator and a gear assembly. The generator has a plurality of first generator parts disposed concentrically with and radially outward from a plurality of second generator parts. The gear assembly is rotatably attached to the second generator parts and configured to allow relative rotation between the first and second generator parts caused by a single rotating component. The generator and the gear assembly are axially disposed along a common rotational axis.
US09973051B2
According to the method for connecting motor wire of the present invention, wire as a first wire having folding part is connected to lead as a first lead or a second wire, each having connecting part, with connection terminal having crimping part. After folding part is folded one or more times, folding part and connecting part are crimped at crimping part.
US09973047B2
The invention relates to a rotating electric machine, such as a dynamometer. The rotor of the machine comprises a circular row of resultant magnetic poles of which the polarity forms an alternation of opposed poles. The resultant poles each include a pair of permanent magnets in a “V”, each equipped with a north pole N, a south pole S, and opposed faces, where the magnet poles are located. In each resultant pole the magnets are disposed so as to have faces having identical polarities, which faces are oriented radially outwardly, facing towards one another, thus forming therebetween an angle β between 90° and 110°, which makes it possible to increase the efficiency. The invention also relates to a turbomachine test stand equipped with a dynamometer enabling a recovery of electrical energy. The invention also relates to a hybrid motor vehicle propelled by the rotating electric machine.
US09973044B2
A motor stator includes a bobbin bracket, a modular mounting bracket, and a modular change box. The bobbin bracket includes a plurality of bobbins circularly disposed in a radial pattern. The modular mounting bracket is disposed on the bobbin bracket. The modular mounting bracket is formed with a first slide structure. The first slide structure is perpendicular to an axial direction of the bobbin bracket. A sensing circuit board is disposed in the modular change box. The modular change box is formed with a second slide structure. The second slide structure is perpendicular to the axial direction of the bobbin bracket and slidably connected into the first slide structure, so as to assemble the modular change box to the modular mounting bracket along a radial direction of the bobbin bracket.
US09973043B2
Disclosed is a contactless power supply device which supplies power in a contactless manner, and adopts a configuration including a power supply coil that generates an electromagnetic field and supplies power, a case that houses the power supply coil, a wire that dissolves at a temperature below a heat-resistant temperate of the case, a dissolution detection unit that detects dissolution of the wire, and a controller that performs control based on a detection result of the dissolution detection unit.
US09973038B2
A charging system may include a charging apparatus having a controller and a power transmitter. The controller may be configured to determine a device position relative to the controller based on at least one signal received from the device. The controller may also be configured to determine whether the device position is at an optimal position, and provide feedback indicative of the device position.
US09973036B2
According to one aspect, embodiments of the invention provide a system for monitoring a plurality of circuit branches coupled to an input line, the system comprising a communication bus, a controller having a primary clock with a first clock value and configured to sample voltage on the input line based on the first clock value, a plurality of sensor circuits, each sensor circuit having a secondary clock with a second clock value and configured to sample current in the at least one of the plurality of circuit branches based on the second clock value, and wherein the controller is further configured to initiate, via the communication bus, synchronization of at least one secondary clock and the primary clock, and to synchronize, via the communication bus, the at least one secondary clock and the primary clock to account for transmission latency in the communication bus.
US09973035B2
A power management device for vehicles includes a communication control section that performs interactive communication to selectively supply and receive the electric power with respect to the external power source device and a supplying/receiving control section that controls supplying/receiving of the electric power by the vehicle-mounted power storage device. When the condition that the supplying/receiving control section is in the great power state is satisfied, control of the supplying/receiving of the electric power is allowed. If the supplying/receiving control section is in the decreased state before the vehicle-mounted power storage device and the external power source device selectively supply and receive the electric power with respect to each other, the communication control section performs the interactive communication.
US09973030B2
Disclosed is a wireless charging device, including: an oscillating module, a rectifier voltage reduction module, a power management module, and a Bluetooth communications module, wherein the Bluetooth communications module communicates with a charging socket to acquire a charging communications protocol, the oscillating module receives a signal from the charging socket and oscillates to generate AC, the rectifier voltage reduction module rectifies and reduces the voltage of the AC and then outputs a DC reference voltage, and the power management module reduces the reference voltage and then outputs a charging voltage to charge a battery.
US09973029B2
A wireless power transmission apparatus includes a first antenna unit configured to perform wireless power transmission with another apparatus, a communication unit configured to include a second antenna unit which is different from the first antenna unit and perform communication for authentication in the wireless power transmission with the other apparatus using electric power received through the first antenna unit, a load configured to operate using the electric power received through the first antenna unit; and a transformation unit configured to be connected to the first antenna unit and perform impedance transformation. The transformation unit performs impedance transformation in accordance with electric power consumed by the communication unit during the communication for authentication performed by the communication unit and performs impedance transformation in accordance with electric power consumed by the load when the authentication is successfully performed.
US09973027B2
An information handling system includes a wireless charging receiver, which in turn includes first and second surfaces, a receiver coil, and an isolation marker. The wireless charging receiver is coupled to a back side of the information handling system. The receiver coil is located within the wireless charging receiver and disposed between the first and second surfaces, and receives a magnetic flux field from a transmission coil of a wireless charging pad. The isolation marker is in physical communication with the first surface and aligned with the receiver coil. The isolation marker enables a user to align the receiver coil with the transmission coil of the charging pad, and isolates the magnetic flux field in the receiver coil and away from the user and other components of the information handling system.
US09973023B2
The invention relates to wireless energy transfer systems wherein electromagnetic field is used to transfer energy over air. An apparatus of a wireless energy transfer system comprises an inductive energy transfer coil (43) comprising at least two adjacent wire turns, wherein said turns are arranged to be coupled to a battery (41) such that said turns vertically surround the battery (41) during inductive energy transfer. The invention further relates to a method for producing the apparatus and an electronic device comprising the apparatus.
US09973001B2
A zero sequence, fifth harmonic filter for reducing fifth harmonic distortion in a five-phase power distribution system includes five pairs of coils. Each coil has a first leg and a second leg and each pair of coils has a first coil and a second coil. The first leg of each of the first coils is connected to a corresponding phase of the power distribution system; one first leg to each of the five phases of the power distribution system. The first leg of each of the second coils is connected to a neutral of the power distribution system and the second leg of each of the first coils is connected to the second leg of a next second coil in a staggered fashion.
US09972998B2
Buck converters with self-protection against short circuit at the buck converter outputs and intrinsic soft start-up circuitry are disclosed. The methods and circuits disclosed are applicable for PFM and PWM modulated converters. The methods disclosed are also applicable for boost converters against shorts between boosted voltage and supply voltage.
US09972997B2
A switching device (28) comprising a primary switching block (30) including at least one semiconductor switch (34); and a switching control unit (32) to control the switching of the or each semiconductor switch (34). The switching device further includes a crowbar circuit (46) comprising a crowbar switch (56) switchable to selectively allow current to flow through the crowbar switch (56) in order to bypass the or each switching module; and a secondary switching block including a switching element (58) connected across a control electrode and a cathode of the crowbar switch (56). The switching element (58) is in communication with the switching control unit (32) to receive, in use, a control signal (66) generated by the switching control unit (32) when the primary switching block (30) is operating within predefined operating parameters.
US09972992B2
A protection circuit of a semiconductor device includes a high electron mobility transistor and a protection element. Between the drain and the gate of the high electron mobility transistor, the protection element includes: a thyristor; and a first resistor connected in series to the thyristor. Between the source and the gate of the high electron mobility transistor, the protection element includes: a second resistor and an interrupter that is connected in series to the second resistor. The interrupter interrupts a flow of a current between the drain and the gate when the thyristor is turned off, and the interrupter permits the current to flow between the drain and the gate when the thyristor is turned on.
US09972988B2
Multi-functional direct current ice melting automatic switching circuit and switching method thereof
A multi-functional automatic switching circuit for direct current ice melting and a switching method thereof are provided. The automatic switching circuit comprises at least one sub-switching circuit. The sub-switching circuit comprises a six-pulse current converter (R) with no saturable reactor, six reactors (L1a, L1b, L1c, L2a, L2b, and L2c), three three-phase knife switches (Sac1, Sac2, and Sac3), and five single-phase knife switches (SV1, SV2, SV3, SV4, and SV5). The sub-switching circuits in series connection or parallel connection, four direct current side switching knife switches (Sdc1, Sdc2, Sdc3, and Sdc4), an isolation knife switch (K), a breaker (QF) and a control and protection system (CP) may form an automatic switching circuit for six-pulse or twelve-pulse direct current ice melting. The automatic switching circuit with no saturable reactor reduces noise during operation, achieves mutually automatic switching among modes of reactor switching, ice melting and test, and may complete the through-flow test of the automatic switching circuit without switching in a power transmission line, thereby solving the problem of daily operation and maintenance.
US09972978B2
A spark plug and a method of manufacturing the same, where the spark plug has a metal shell, an insulator, a center electrode, a ground electrode, and a gasket located over a threaded portion of the shell and used to seal the spark plug against a cylinder head. Once the gasket is attached on the spark plug, it is shrunk to become a post-formed gasket with an inner diameter that prevents the post-formed gasket from slipping over a threaded portion of the metallic shell. This process may be carried out with a collet type machine that produces a post-formed gasket that is flat and has a substantially uniform thickness, which can improve the sealability of the gasket. This may be important when the spark plug is installed in a cylinder head made from a lost foam casting process or other process that creates a somewhat porous sealing surface.
US09972973B2
A semiconductor laser diode type of a buried-hetero structure (BH-LD) is disclosed. The LD provides a mesa, a first burying layer, and a second burying layer, where the burying layers are provided in respective sides of the mesa so as to expose a top of the mesa. The mesa includes a lower cladding layer, an active layer, and an upper cladding layer, where the cladding layers have conduction type opposite to each other and, combined with the burying layers, constitute a carrier confinement structure. The second burying layer has an even surface overlapping with an even surface of the first burying layer, and has a thickness in a portion of the even surface that is thinner than a thickness thereof in a portion except for the even surface.
US09972968B2
Methods of passivating at least one facet of a multilayer waveguide structure can include: cleaning, in a first chamber of a multi-chamber ultra-high vacuum (UHV) system, a first facet of the multilayer waveguide structure; transferring the cleaned multilayer waveguide structure from the first chamber to a second chamber of the multi-chamber UHV system; forming, in the second chamber, a first single crystalline passivation layer on the first facet; transferring the multilayer waveguide structure from the second chamber to a third chamber of the multi-chamber UHV system; and forming, in the third chamber, a first dielectric coating on the first single crystalline passivation layer, in which the methods are performed in an UHV environment of the multi-chamber UHV system without removing the multilayer waveguide structure from the UHV environment.
US09972966B2
The disclosure herein generally relates to a system (10) for converting an input light (12) into an output light beam (14) that has a spatial beam quality that is greater than that of the input light (12). The system (10) comprises an optical resonator having disposed therein a Raman crystal (20). The Raman crystal (20) is for receiving the input light (12) and the optical resonator is configured to resonate a Stokes light beam (22) generated from the input light (12) by at least one nonlinear interaction within the Raman crystal (20). The at least one nonlinear interaction comprises at least one Raman interaction. The Stokes light beam (22) has a spatial beam quality that is greater than that of the input light (12). The system (10) comprises a light extractor (18) arranged to generate the output light beam (14) by extracting at least some of the Stokes light beam (22) from the optical resonator.
US09972960B1
An active optical planar waveguide apparatus includes a planar core layer comprising an active laser ion; one or more cladding layers in optical contact with at least one surface of the planar core layer; a metallic binder layer chemically bonded to an outermost cladding layer of the one or more cladding layers; a metallic adhesion layers disposed on the metallic binder layer; a heatsink for dissipating heat from the planar waveguide; and a metallic thermal interface material (TIM) layer providing a metallurgical bond between the metallic adhesion layer and the heatsink.
US09972954B2
A protection member and conductive plate assembling structure of rail terminal includes a conductive plate having two assembling ends and a protection member connected with each assembling end. Two lateral sides of the assembling end are respectively formed with a locating section and a connected section. The protection member has an assembling passage for the assembling end to extend therein. A located section and an elastic connection section are respectively disposed on two sides of the assembling passage corresponding to the locating section and the connected section. The locating section and the located section are engaged with each other. Then the conductive plate is turned to make the connected section push and elastically deform the elastic connection section. Then the elastic connection section elastically restores to its home position to engage with the connected section, whereby the protection member and the conductive plate are securely connected.
US09972949B1
A DC connector that allows a user to insert a coaxial cable and secure it to the connector without the use of soldering. This allows a user to easily customize power cables without soldering, which is particularly desirable for musicians creating custom pedal boards.
US09972938B2
It is aimed to enable a plurality of housings to be stacked without enlarging a connector. A connector includes a housing (60) including a lock receiving portion (67) inside and a case (10) internally provided with accommodation areas (13) capable of accommodating a plurality of the housings (60) in parallel and including lock portions (21) on back surfaces (18) of the accommodation areas (13), and the lock portions (21) resiliently lock the lock receiving portions (67) of the respective housings (60) to restrict the separation of the housings (60) from the accommodation areas (13).
US09972921B2
It is aimed to provide a connector capable of dealing with a change in the number of poles without structurally changing a mating connector. Housings (11) for accommodating terminal fittings (12) electrically connectable to tab-like terminals (52) include a main housing (11M) having a locking structure (21) for locking a mating connector (52) and a plurality of types of sub-housings (11S) having different number of poles and selectively unitable with the main housing (11M). The main housing (11M) and the sub-housing (11S) are united by coupling side surfaces to each other. A tab insertion groove (25) into which the tab-like terminal (52) is to be inserted at the time of connection to the mating connector is formed in a coupling part of the united housings (11).
US09972919B2
According to embodiments of the present invention, an antenna apparatus and an electronic device having the same are provided with a circuit board comprising a plurality of layers; and a plurality of via-holes formed in the plurality of layers, wherein the plurality of via-holes in one layer are arranged in one direction (“horizontal direction”) and the plurality of via-holes respectively line up with a plurality of via-holes in another layer, thereby forming a grid-type radiation member. The antenna apparatus and the electronic device having the same according to the present invention can be realized through various different embodiments.
US09972911B1
The wide band frequency agile MIMO antenna is a 4-element, reconfigurable multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antenna system. Frequency agility in the design is achieved using varactor diodes tuned for various capacitance loadings. The MIMO antennas operate over a wide band, covering several well-known wireless standards between 1610-2710 MHz. The present design is simple in structure with low profile antenna elements. The design is prototyped on commercial plastic material with board dimensions 60×100×0.8 mm3 and is highly suitable to be used in frequency reconfigurable and cognitive radio based wireless handheld devices.
US09972910B2
A broadband antenna of an antenna system comprises a conductive plate comprising four slots. The slots are arranged in a rotation symmetrical manner in the plate. Each slot extends from a circumference of the plate towards a center of the plate. Each slot has an associated feed point located at its associated slot.The feed points associated with a pair of oppositely arranged slots are arranged to be fed with radio frequency signals, such that that a main radiation propagation direction of the antenna is along the rotational symmetry axis of the plate.The antenna design enables the achievement of flexibility in terms of isolation between the two polarizations. The antenna design may further enable a reduced size and weight. The antenna design also enables an antenna unit and an antenna array.
US09972904B2
The present disclosure provides an electronically tunable antenna based on orientation correction and adjustment and an electronically tunable antenna system. The main body of the electronically tunable antenna includes at least one electronically tunable antenna body. The electronically tunable antenna includes: an attitude sensing device fixed to the electronically tunable antenna body, the electronically tunable antenna is used for sensing horizontal orientation angle, mechanical tilt angle, latitude, longitude and height in real time; and an antenna control unit connected to the attitude sensing device, the antenna control unit is used for adjusting electrical downtilt angle of the electronically tunable antenna body and transmits to outside the horizontal orientation angle, mechanical tilt angle, latitude, longitude and height information sensed by the attitude sensing device.
US09972902B2
An antenna device includes: a ground upper layer substrate of a dielectric substrate forming a first ground part and a second ground part disposed at a predetermined distance from the first ground part; a ground lower layer substrate of a dielectric substrate forming a third ground part and a fourth ground part disposed at a predetermined distance from the third ground part; and an inner layer substrate of a dielectric substrate forming a fifth ground part. The ground upper layer substrate, inner layer substrate, and lower layer substrate are laminated. The first ground part and third ground part are electrically connected. The second ground part and fourth ground part are electrically connected. The antenna device further includes: a chip antenna disposed on the ground upper layer substrate, transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves; and an adjustment component electrically connecting the first ground part and second ground part, and adjusting antenna characteristics.
US09972897B1
A phased array antenna including a plurality of antenna element units mounted to a panel having a first side and a second side. Each antenna unit includes a step aperture integrated radiating (STAIR) antenna element mounted to the first side of the panel and having an outer cylindrical waveguide, a septum polarizer including a plurality of steps and a septum feed structure, and a right hand circularly polarized (RHCP) feed structure electrically coupled to the septum feed structure. Each antenna unit further includes a triplexer module mounted to the second side of the panel and being responsive to a plurality of linearly polarized signals to be transmitted by the STAIR element, where the triplexer module operates to combine the plurality of linearly polarized signals and provide the combined signal to the RHCP feed structure to be converted by the septum polarizer to a circularly polarized signal for transmission.
US09972895B2
An earpiece includes a housing, a first short range transceiver for far field communication disposed within the housing, and a second short range transceiver for near field communication disposed within the housing. The second short range transceiver for near field communications comprises an antenna formed from a plurality of coil turns. There is a battery disposed within the housing. The earpiece further includes a first generally planar printed circuit board disposed within the housing and a second generally planar printed circuit board disposed within the housing. There is a flexible connector between circuit boards. The battery is positioned between the first generally planar printed circuit board and the second generally planar printed circuit board. The antenna is mounted perpendicularly to the plurality of components mounted on the first generally planar printed circuit board to thereby reduce electromagnetic interference.
US09972893B2
Multi-band antennas include one or more duplexers configured to provide isolation of non-linearities generated along a downlink path of RF signals transmitted from the multi-band antenna from an uplink path of RF signals received by the multi-band antenna.
US09972892B2
An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas and transceiver circuitry such as millimeter wave transceiver circuitry. The antennas may be formed from metal traces on a printed circuit. The printed circuit may be a stacked printed circuit including multiple stacked substrates. Metal traces may form an array of patch antennas, Yagi antennas, and other antennas. Antenna signals associated with the antennas may pass through an inactive area in a display and through a dielectric-filled slot in a metal housing for the electronic device. Waveguide structures may be used to guide antenna signals within interior portions of the electronic device.
US09972885B2
A long-distance radio frequency electronic identification tire structure is provided. When the production of the tire is completed and an electronic tag reading device is used for identification, an RFID chip of an ultra high frequency electronic tag of a main tire body receives and sends an electromagnetic wave signal generated by a far-field copper film antenna and the electronic tag reading device. The frequency band and the bandwidth of the electromagnetic wave signal are adjusted by a frequency band/bandwidth adjustment portion, and first and second field effect adjustment grooves of first and second field effect adjustment portions are configured to adjust the field effect when a tire bead bundle and a steel belt layer reflect the electromagnetic wave signal, so that the electronic tag reading device can read the identification code of the ultra high frequency electronic tag at a wide angle and a long distance.
US09972877B2
A metamaterial-based phase shifting element utilizes a variable capacitor (varicap) to control the effective capacitance of a metamaterial structure in order to control the phase of a radio frequency output signal generated by the metamaterial structure. The metamaterial structure is configured to resonate at the same radio wave frequency as an incident input signal (radiation), whereby the metamaterial structure emits the output signal by way of controlled scattering the input signal. A variable capacitance applied on metamaterial structure by the varicap is adjustable by way of a control voltage, whereby the output phase is adjusted by way of adjusting the control voltage. The metamaterial structure is constructed using inexpensive metal film or PCB fabrication technology including an upper metal “island” structure, a lower metal backplane layer, and a dielectric layer sandwiched therebetween. The varicap is connected between the island structure and a base metal structure that surrounds the island structure.
US09972875B2
An alkaline storage battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode containing, as an active material, at least one of a metal capable of forming dendrites and a metal compound thereof, and an alkaline electrolyte solution, wherein a compound having a primary amino group and having no carboxyl group is contained in the alkaline electrolyte solution in an amount greater than or equal to 7% by volume.
US09972863B2
Provided herein are ionically conductive solid-state compositions that include ionically conductive inorganic particles in a matrix of an organic material. The resulting composite material has high ionic conductivity and mechanical properties that facilitate processing. In particular embodiments, the ionically conductive solid-state compositions are compliant and may be cast as films. In some embodiments of the present invention, solid-state electrolytes including the ionically conductive solid-state compositions are provided. In some embodiments of the present invention, electrodes including the ionically conductive solid-state compositions are provided. The present invention further includes embodiments that are directed to methods of manufacturing the ionically conductive solid-state compositions and batteries incorporating the ionically conductive solid-state compositions.
US09972860B2
A bipolar electrode includes a collector; a positive electrode active material layer disposed on one surface of the collector; and a negative electrode active material layer disposed on the other surface of the collector. The quotient of the volume resistance of the collector and that of the positive and negative electrode active material layers is between 10−3 and 104. The bipolar electrode further includes a current distribution relaxation layer having a volume resistivity lower than that of either the positive electrode active material layer or the negative electrode active material layer. At least one active material layer having a volume resistivity larger than that of the current distribution relaxation layer is disposed between the current distribution relaxation layer and the collector.
US09972859B2
The present disclosure relate to a method for preparing a cathode electrolyte for redox flow batteries including the steps of: forming a first cathode electrolyte by reducing vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) in an acidic solution in the presence of a specific reducing compound; forming a second cathode electrolyte by reducing vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) in an acidic solution in the presence of a linear or branched aliphatic alcohol having 2 to 10 carbon atoms; and mixing the first cathode electrolyte and the second cathode electrolyte, and to a redox flow battery including the cathode electrolyte obtained by the preparation method.
US09972857B2
The invention relates to a method of storing, transporting and supplying electrochemical energy, with storage and supply being physically separated.
US09972844B2
A negative electrode active material layer (243A) of a lithium-ion secondary battery (100A) contains natural graphite and artificial graphite as negative electrode active material particles. The negative electrode active material layer (243A) has a region (A1) facing the positive electrode active material layer (223) and regions (A2, A3) not facing the positive electrode active material layer (223). The region (A1) facing the positive electrode active material layer (223) contains the natural graphite in a larger proportion than the regions (A2, A3) not facing the positive electrode active material layer (223), and the regions (A2, A3) not facing the positive electrode active material layer (223) contain the artificial graphite in a larger proportion than the region (A1) facing the positive electrode active material layer (223).
US09972839B2
A negative active material, a method of preparing the same, and a lithium secondary battery including the negative electrode. The negative active material includes a plurality of titanium oxide nanotubes, wherein the Raman shift of the negative active material includes a characteristic peak located at a Raman shift between about 680 cm−1 and about 750 cm−1.
US09972834B2
The present disclosure relates to a cathode active material for a lithium secondary battery with improved rate characteristics in which a spinel surface structure is formed by fluorine coating on a surface of layered lithium nickel-manganese-cobalt cathode active material and a method for manufacturing the same, and according to the present disclosure, there is provided a lithium secondary battery with improved rate characteristics that may be charged to a capacity close to a full charge in a short time when compared to a related art and thus is suitable for high capacity of a secondary battery.
US09972832B2
An active material comprising silica-attached particles in the form of host particles of silicon or silicon compound having spherical silica nano-particles attached to surfaces thereof is suited for use in nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries. The spherical silica nano-particles have an average particle size of 5-1000 nm, a particle size distribution D90/D10 of up to 3, and an average circularity of 0.8-1. The active material has high fluidity and exhibits improved cycle performance when used in nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries.
US09972823B2
In a fusible link, a fuse element integrally formed with a metallic plate includes a battery coupling plate and two external coupling plates. The battery coupling plate is coupled to a battery terminal. The external coupling plates are coupled through fusible parts to connecting plates extending to both sides of the battery coupling plate. Three resin housings support the fuse element so as to expose the connecting plates among the housings adjacent to each other. The installation configuration of the fuse element can be selected depending on the space on the battery side, thereby achieving increased flexibility of and reduction in the space for the fusible link mounted on the battery.
US09972810B2
A method of manufacturing a mask assembly includes forming, via an electroforming process, a base material including at least one opening on an electrode plate; and reprocessing the at least one opening using a laser to form at least one reprocessed opening.
US09972801B2
An optoelectronic device having a layer comprising: poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene); polystyrene sulfonate; and a compound (A) having formula: wherein 0
US09972795B2
Described herein are molecules for use in organic light emitting diodes. Example molecules comprise at least one moiety A and at least one moiety D. Values and preferred values of the moieties A and D are described herein. The molecules comprise at least one atom selected from Si, Se, Ge, Sn, P, or As.
US09972786B2
Provided are an organic electroluminescence device that not only provides high efficiency but also has a long lifetime, and an aromatic amine derivative that realizes the device. The organic electroluminescence device includes an aromatic amine derivative, including at least one substituent A having dibenzofuran and at least one substituent B selected from groups each having dibenzofuran or carbazole, in a molecule thereof, in which the substituent A and the substituent B include groups different from each other, and the substituent A and the substituent B are bonded to the same nitrogen atom, or different nitrogen atoms, in the molecule. The molecules of the aromatic amine derivative hardly crystallize, which improves a yield in the production of the organic electroluminescence device. In the organic electroluminescence device, including an organic thin film layer formed of one or more layers including at least a light emitting layer, the organic thin film layer being interposed between a cathode and an anode, the aromatic amine derivative is contained in at least one layer, particularly a hole transport layer, in the organic thin film layer.
US09972781B2
Provided is a method of manufacturing a mask including preparing a support plate, forming a light blocking layer on the support plate, curing a predetermined region of the light blocking layer, and removing other region of the light blocking layer, excluding the predetermined region.
US09972775B2
Device and methods of forming a device are disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate and a first upper dielectric layer over first, second and third regions of the substrate. The first upper dielectric layer includes a first upper interconnect level with a plurality of metal lines in the first and second regions. A MRAM cell which includes a MTJ element sandwiched between top and bottom electrodes is formed in the second region. The bottom electrode is in direct contact with the metal line in the first upper interconnect level of the second region. A dielectric layer which includes a second upper interconnect level with a dual damascene interconnect in the first region and a damascene interconnect in the second region is provided over the first upper dielectric layer. The dual damascene interconnect in the first region is coupled to the metal line in the first region and the damascene interconnect in the second region is coupled to the MTJ element.
US09972771B2
MRAM devices and methods of forming the same are provided. One of the MRAM devices includes a dielectric layer, a resistance variable memory cell and a conductive layer. The dielectric layer is over a substrate and has an opening. The resistance variable memory cell is in the opening and includes a first electrode, a second electrode and a magnetic tunnel junction layer between the first electrode and the second electrode. The conductive layer fills a remaining portion of the opening and is electrically connected to one of the first electrode and the second electrode of the resistance variable memory cell.
US09972770B2
Magnetic memory cells, methods of fabrication, semiconductor device structures, and memory systems are disclosed. A magnetic cell core includes at least one magnetic region (e.g., a free region or a fixed region) configured to exhibit a vertical magnetic orientation, at least one oxide-based region, which may be a tunnel junction region or an oxide capping region, and at least one magnetic interface region, which may comprise or consist of iron (Fe). In some embodiments, the magnetic interface region is spaced from at least one oxide-based region by a magnetic region. The presence of the magnetic interface region enhances the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) strength of the magnetic cell core. In some embodiments, the PMA strength may be enhanced more than 50% compared to that of the same magnetic cell core structure lacking the magnetic interface region.
US09972767B2
The invention relates to a dielectric transducer structure comprising a body of elastomeric material that is provided with an electrode arrangement on each of two boundary surfaces lying oppositely to one another. At least one boundary surface comprises a corrugated area that comprises heights and depths. The aim of the invention is to improve the compliance to elastic deformations of the dielectric transducer structure. To this end, the heights and depths are arranged in both perpendicular directions of the boundary surface.
US09972748B2
A method for producing a thin-film semiconductor body is provided. A growth substrate is provided. A semiconductor layer with funnel-shaped and/or inverted pyramid-shaped recesses is epitaxially grown onto the growth substrate. The recesses are filled with a semiconductor material in such a way that pyramid-shaped outcoupling structures arise. A semiconductor layer sequence with an active layer is applied on the outcoupled structures. The active layer is suitable for generating electromagnetic radiation. A carrier is applied onto the semiconductor layer sequence. At least the semiconductor layer with the funnel-shaped and/or inverted pyramid-shaped recesses is detached, such that the pyramid-shaped outcoupling structures are configured as projections on a radiation exit face of the thin-film semiconductor.
US09972747B2
A coated quantum dot is provided wherein the quantum dot is characterized by having a solid state photoluminescence external quantum efficiency at a temperature of 90° C. or above that is at least 95% of the solid state photoluminescence external quantum efficiency of the semiconductor nanocrystal at 25° C. Products including quantum dots described herein are also disclosed.
US09972744B2
A light emitting element includes a first electrode, a second electrode overlapping the first electrode, and an emission layer between the first electrode and the second electrode. The emission layer includes a quantum well that includes a first layer and a second layer, each having a different band gap. The first layer includes magnesium, and the second layer includes zinc. The first layer and the second layer are amorphous.
US09972740B2
One embodiment of the present invention can provide a system for fabricating a photovoltaic structure. During fabrication, the system can deposit a first passivation layer on a first side of a Si base layer of the photovoltaic structure using a static chemical vapor deposition process. The static chemical vapor deposition process can be performed inside a first reaction chamber. The system can then transfer the photovoltaic structure from the first reaction chamber to a second reaction chamber without the photovoltaic structure leaving a common vacuum space comprising both reaction chambers, and deposit a second passivation layer on the first passivation layer using an inline chemical vapor deposition process. The inline chemical vapor deposition process can be performed inside the second reaction chamber.
US09972738B2
A solar cell and a method for manufacturing the same are discussed. The solar cell may include a substrate, an emitter layer positioned at a first surface of the substrate, a first anti-reflection layer that is positioned on a surface of the emitter layer and may include a plurality of first contact lines exposing a portion of the emitter layer, a first electrode that is electrically connected to the emitter layer exposed through the plurality of first contact lines and may include a plating layer directly contacting the emitter layer, and a second electrode positioned on a second surface of the substrate.
US09972730B2
A sensor device includes a first substrate of semiconductor material having opposing first and second surfaces, photodetectors configured to receive light impinging on the first surface, and first contact pads each exposed at both the first and second surfaces and electrically coupled to at least one of the photodetectors. A second substrate comprises opposing first and second surfaces, electrical circuits, a second contact pads each disposed at the first surface of the second substrate and electrically coupled to at least one of the electrical circuits, and a plurality of cooling channels formed as first trenches extending into the second surface of the second substrate but not reaching the first surface of the second substrate. The first substrate second surface is mounted to the second substrate first surface such that each of the first contact pads is electrically coupled to at least one of the second contact pads.
US09972728B2
A solar cell module includes an encapsulating member and a sealing layer for sealing a solar cell, and further includes a solar cell having a transparent conductive layer on its front surface. The solar cell includes a coating layer formed over the transparent conductive layer and having a plurality of openings, and a collecting electrode positioned in the openings of the coating layer and including a primary conductive layer containing copper. An undercoat layer is provided between the primary conductive layer of the collecting electrode and the transparent conductive layer. The coating layer and the undercoat layer are both composed of a resin.
US09972723B2
A sensing device, a method for fabrication thereof, and a method for operating the same are disclosed. The sensing device includes a flexible substrate, a first metallization layer, a piezoelectric thin film layer, a second metallization layer, and an insulating layer. The first metallization layer forms at least a source region and at least a drain region. The piezoelectric thin film layer provides a channel region permitting passage of charge carriers between the source region and the drain region. The second metallization layer forms at least a gate electrode and regulates flow of charge carriers through the piezoelectric thin film layer. When subjected to an external force, the flow of charge carriers is modulated in response to a strain in the piezoelectric thin film layer. The force is measured as a correlation between the applied force and the modulation of the flow of charge carriers.
US09972722B2
A method for producing a semiconductor device includes a first step of forming a fin-shaped semiconductor layer on a semiconductor substrate and forming a first insulating film around the fin-shaped semiconductor layer; a second step of forming a pillar-shaped semiconductor layer and a first dummy gate formed of a first polysilicon; a third step of forming a second dummy gate on side walls of the first dummy gate and the pillar-shaped semiconductor layer; a fourth step of forming a side wall formed of a fifth insulating film around the second dummy gate, forming a second diffusion layer in an upper portion of the fin-shaped semiconductor layer and a lower portion of the pillar-shaped semiconductor layer, and forming a metal-semiconductor compound on the second diffusion layer; a fifth step of forming a gate electrode and a gate line; and a sixth step of depositing a sixth insulating film, forming a third resist for forming a contact hole on the pillar-shaped semiconductor layer, etching the sixth insulating film to form a contact hole on the pillar-shaped semiconductor layer, removing the third resist, depositing a second gate insulating film, depositing a second metal, etching back the second metal, removing the second gate insulating film on the pillar-shaped semiconductor layer so as to form a metal side wall on a side wall of an upper portion of the pillar-shaped semiconductor layer, and depositing a third metal so as to form a contact that connects an upper portion of the metal side wall to an upper portion of the pillar-shaped semiconductor layer.
US09972720B2
A semiconductor device includes a substrate. A planar insulating layer is disposed on an upper surface of the substrate. A channel region is disposed above the planar insulating layer. A gate electrode is disposed on the channel region. The semiconductor device includes a source region and a drain region. Each of the source region and the drain region is disposed on the substrate and is connected to the channel region. The planar insulating layer has a length equal to or greater than a length of the channel region, and the planar insulating layer includes first and second insulating layers having different permittivities.
US09972716B2
Provided are semiconductor devices that include an active pattern on a substrate, first and second gate electrodes on the active pattern and arranged in a first direction relative to one another and a first source/drain region in a first trench that extends into the active pattern between the first and second gate electrodes. The first source/drain region includes a first epitaxial layer that is configured to fill the first trench and that includes at least one plane defect that originates at a top portion of the first epitaxial layer and extends towards a bottom portion of the first epitaxial layer.
US09972711B2
A metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) and a method of fabricating a MOSFET are described. The method includes depositing and patterning a dummy gate stack above an active channel layer formed on a base. The method also includes selectively etching the active channel layer leaving a remaining active channel layer, and epitaxially growing silicon doped active channel material adjacent to the remaining active channel layer.
US09972697B2
A method of fabricating a replacement gate stack for a semiconductor device includes the following steps after removal of a dummy gate: growing a high-k dielectric layer over the area vacated by the dummy gate; depositing a thin metal layer over the high-k dielectric layer; depositing a sacrificial layer over the thin metal layer; performing a first rapid thermal anneal; removing the sacrificial layer; and depositing a metal layer of low resistivity metal for gap fill.
US09972696B2
The present disclosure relates to an etchant, a method of making an etchant, an etching method and a method of fabricating a semiconductor device using the same. The etching method includes supplying an etchant on an etch-target layer to etch the etch-target layer in a wet etch manner. The etchant contains a basic compound and a sugar alcohol, and the basic compound contains ammonium hydroxide or tetraalkyl ammonium hydroxide. In the etchant, the sugar alcohol has 0.1 to 10 parts by weight for every 100 parts by weight of the basic compound.
US09972687B1
Layers of high quality VO2 and methods of fabricating the layers of VO2 are provided. The layers are composed of a plurality of connected crystalline VO2 domains having the same crystal structure and the same epitaxial orientation.
US09972683B2
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device is provided as follows. A strain relaxed buffer (SRB) layer is formed on a substrate. The SRB layer is formed of a first silicon germanium alloy (SiGe) layer which has a first atomic percent of germanium (Ge) atoms. A heterogeneous channel layer is formed on the SRB layer. The heterogeneous channel layer includes a silicon layer on a first region of the SRB layer and a second SiGe layer on a second region of the SRB layer. The second SiGe layer includes a second atomic percent of germanium greater than the first atomic percent of germanium atoms. The silicon layer is in contact with the second SiGe layer.
US09972679B2
To provide a semiconductor device having improved performances. A semiconductor substrate has, in the surface layer portion thereof, an n+ type semiconductor region for source and an n+ type semiconductor region for drain separated from each other. The semiconductor substrate has, on the main surface thereof between the n+ type semiconductor region for source and the n+ type semiconductor region for drain, a gate electrode via an insulating film as a gate insulating film. The semiconductor substrate has, in the main surface thereof between the channel formation region below the gate electrode and the n+ type semiconductor region for drain, a LOCOS oxide film and an STI insulating. Of the LOCOS oxide film and the STI insulating film, the LOCOS oxide film is located on the side of the channel formation region and the STI insulating film is on the side of the n+ type semiconductor region DR for drain.
US09972675B1
An RC-IGBT according to the invention includes a high electric field cell formed in a region surrounded by an IGBT cell or in a region surrounded by a diode cell, and an n+ diffusion layer formed at a position opposed to the high electric field cell, the position being on a second main surface of an n− type drift layer. The high electric field cell has a higher maximum electric field intensity generated when a voltage is applied between main terminals than maximum electric field intensities of the IGBT cell, the diode cell, and a withstand voltage holding structure. Additionally, a p+ type collector layer and the high electric field cell fail to overlap with each other in a direction vertical to a first main surface of the n− type drift layer in a plane view.
US09972672B1
A resistor structure is provided that contains curved resistor elements. The resistor structure is embedded within an interconnect dielectric material and the resistivity of an electrical conducting resistive material of the resistor structure can be tuned to a desired resistivity during the manufacturing of the resistor structure. Notably, an electrical conducting metallic structure having a concave outermost surface is provided in a dielectric material layer. A doped metallic insulator layer is formed on the concave outermost surface of the metallic structure. A controlled surface treatment process is then performed to an upper portion of the doped metallic insulator layer to convert the upper portion of the doped metallic insulator layer into an electrical conducting resistive material. An interconnect dielectric material can then be formed to embed the entirety of the remaining doped metallic insulator layer and the electrical conducting resistive material.
US09972654B2
An image sensor including a semiconductor layer. A light absorber layer couples with the semiconductor layer at a pixel of the image sensor and absorbs incident light to substantially prevent the incident light from entering the semiconductor layer. The light absorber layer heats a depletion region of the semiconductor layer in response to absorbing the incident light, creating electron/hole pairs. The light absorber layer may include one or more narrow bandgap materials.
US09972652B2
In various embodiments, a photodetector includes a semiconductor substrate and a plurality of pixel regions. Each of the plurality of pixel regions comprises an optically sensitive layer over the semiconductor substrate. A pixel circuit is formed for each of the plurality of pixel regions. Each pixel circuit includes a pinned photodiode, a charge store, and a read out circuit for each of the plurality pixel regions. The optically sensitive layer is in electrical communication with a portion of a silicon diode to form the pinned photodiode. A potential difference between two electrodes in communication with the optically sensitive layer associated with a pixel region exhibits a time-dependent bias; a biasing during a first film reset period being different from a biasing during a second integration period.
US09972648B2
An electro-optical device includes a substrate, a transistor over the substrate, a pixel electrode over the transistor, a source line between the transistor and the pixel electrode, a fixed potential line over the substrate, a first capacitive element comprising a first electrode electrically connected to the fixed potential line, a first capacitance film, and a second electrode, a second capacitive element comprising the second electrode, a second capacitance film, and a third electrode electrically connected to the fixed potential line, a third capacitive element comprising the fixed potential line, a third capacitance film, and a fourth electrode. The first capacitive element and the second capacitive element are provided between the transistor and the source line, and the third capacitive element is provided between the source line and the pixel electrode.
US09972644B2
The present invention provides a semiconductor device and a method of forming the same, and the semiconductor device including a substrate, an oxide semiconductor layer, two source/drain regions, a high-k dielectric layer and a bottom oxide layer. The oxide semiconductor layer is disposed on a first insulating layer disposed on the substrate. The source/drain regions are disposed on the oxide semiconductor layer. The high-k dielectric layer covers the oxide semiconductor layer and the source structure and the drain regions. The bottom oxide layer is disposed between the high-k dielectric layer and the source/drain regions, wherein the bottom oxide layer covers the source/drain regions and the oxide semiconductor layer.
US09972638B2
Three dimensional semiconductor memory devices and methods of fabricating the same are provided. According to the method, sacrificial layers and insulating layers are alternately and repeatedly stacked on a substrate, and a cutting region penetrating an uppermost sacrificial layer of the sacrificial layers is formed. The cutting region is filled with a non sacrificial layer. The insulating layers and the sacrificial layers are patterned to form a mold pattern. The mold pattern includes insulating patterns, sacrificial patterns, and the non sacrificial layer in the cutting region. The sacrificial patterns may be replaced with electrodes. The related semiconductor memory device is also provided.
US09972637B2
The present invention relates to a method for preparing vacuum tube flash memory structure, to form a vacuum channel in the flash memory, and using oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) composite materials as gate dielectric layer, wherein the nitride layer serves as a charge-trap layer to provide a blocking insulating between the gate electrode and the vacuum channel. The present structure exhibits superior program and erase speed as well as the retention time. It also provide with excellent gate controllability and negligible gate leakage current due to adoption ONO as the gate dielectric layer.
US09972634B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is provided including providing a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate comprising a semiconductor bulk substrate, a buried insulation layer formed on the semiconductor bulk substrate and a semiconductor layer formed on the buried insulation layer, forming a first transistor device on and in the SOI substrate in a logic area of the SOI substrate, removing the semiconductor layer and the buried insulation layer from a memory area of the SOI substrate, forming a dielectric layer on the exposed semiconductor bulk substrate, forming a floating gate layer on the first dielectric layer, forming an insulating layer on the floating gate layer and forming a control gate layer on the insulating layer, wherein an upper surface of the floating gate layer is substantially at the same height level as an upper surface of the semiconductor layer remaining in the logic area.
US09972630B2
A memory device including a silicon substrate having a planar upper surface in a memory cell area and an upwardly extending silicon fin in a logic device area. The silicon fin includes side surfaces extending up and terminating at a top surface. The logic device includes spaced apart source and drain regions with a channel region extending there between (along the top surface and the side surfaces), and a conductive logic gate disposed over the top surface and laterally adjacent to the side surfaces. The memory cell includes spaced apart source and drain regions with a second channel region extending there between, a conductive floating gate disposed over one portion of the second channel region, a conductive word line gate disposed over another portion of the second channel region, a conductive control gate disposed over the floating gate, and a conductive erase gate disposed over the source region.
US09972627B2
A semiconductor device that has a passing gate with a single gate electrode and a main gate with lower and upper gate electrodes mitigates gate induced drain leakage (GIDL). Additional elements that help mitigate GIDL include the upper gate electrode having a lower work function than the lower gate electrode, and the lower gate electrode being disposed below a storage node junction region while the upper gate electrode is disposed at a same level as the storage node junction region.
US09972615B1
A semiconductor device for ESD protection, includes a drain region, a first doped region, a second doped region and a source region. The drain region is disposed in a substrate at a first side of a gate and the drain region has a first conductivity type. The first doped region is disposed in a second doped well at a second side of the gate and has a second conductivity type. The source region is also disposed in the second doped well and has the first conductive type, and the source region surrounds the first doped region from a topview. The second doped region is disposed in the second doped well and has the second conductive type, and the second doped region is disposed between the gate and the source region, wherein a plurality of contacts is electrically connected to the second doped region.
US09972604B1
A female structure embedding a first metal pillar and a male structure embedding a second metal pillar. The female structure and the male structure can be locked in with each other, the embedded first metal pillar electrically coupled to the second metal pillar through a metal block. The metal block is electrically coupled to a bottom surface of the first metal pillar, and the metal block wraps peripheral surface of a top end of the second metal pillar. A first embodiment shows the metal block is formed by electroless deposition after matching the female structure to the male structure. A second embodiment shows the metal block is a solder joint.
US09972597B2
A method for bonding with a silver paste includes coating a semiconductor device or a substrate with the silver paste. The silver paste contains a plurality of silver particles and a plurality of bismuth particles. The method further includes disposing the semiconductor on the substrate and forming a bonding layer by heating the silver paste, wherein the semiconductor and the substrate are bonded to each other by the bonding layer.
US09972591B2
To improve reliability of a semiconductor device, in a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device, a semiconductor substrate having an insulating film in which an opening that exposes each of a plurality of electrode pads is formed is provided, and a flux member including conductive particles is arranged over each of the electrode pads. Thereafter, a solder ball is arranged over each of the electrode pads via the flux member, and is then heated via the flux member so that the solder ball is bonded to each of the electrode pads. The width of the opening of the insulating film is smaller than the width (diameter) of the solder ball.
US09972579B1
Disclosed herein is a composite magnetic sealing material includes a resin material and a filler blended in the resin material in a blend ratio of 50 vol. % or more and 85 vol. % or less. The filler includes a first magnetic filler containing Fe and 32 wt. % or more and 39 wt. % or less of a metal material composed mainly of Ni, the first magnetic filler having a first grain size distribution, and a second magnetic filler having a second grain size distribution different from the first grain size distribution.
US09972575B2
Methods of dicing semiconductor wafers, each wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits, are described. In an example, a method of dicing a semiconductor wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits involves forming a mask above the semiconductor wafer, the mask composed of a layer covering and protecting the integrated circuits. The mask is then patterned with a split laser beam laser scribing process, such as a split shaped laser beam laser scribing process, to provide a patterned mask with gaps, exposing regions of the semiconductor wafer between the integrated circuits. The semiconductor wafer is then plasma etched through the gaps in the patterned mask to singulate the integrated circuits.
US09972574B2
A mark forming method includes: exposing a wafer with a mask image to form first and second resist marks that have different shapes than one another based on a portion of the mask image; applying a polymer layer that contains a block copolymer to the wafer by spin-coating; forming self-assembled regions in the applied polymer layer; selectively removing a portion of the self-assembled regions; and forming first and second wafer marks on the wafer using the first and second resist marks. This makes it possible to form the marks when forming circuit patterns using self-assembly of a block copolymer.
US09972564B2
A fabrication method of a layer structure for mounting a semiconductor device is provided, which includes the steps of: providing a base material, wherein the base material has a conductive layer having a first surface having a plurality of first conductive elements and an opposite second surface having a plurality of second conductive elements, and a first encapsulant formed on the first surface of the conductive layer for encapsulating the first conductive elements; partially removing the conductive layer to form a circuit layer that electrically connects the first conductive elements and the second conductive elements; and forming a second encapsulant on a bottom surface of the first encapsulant for encapsulating the circuit layer and the second conductive elements, thus reducing the fabrication difficulty and increasing the product yield.
US09972562B2
A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor die having first and second opposite surfaces, a die pad having the first surface of the semiconductor die attached thereon, an electrically conductive ground pad at the second surface of the semiconductor die, a device package coupled with the semiconductor die with the ground pad lying between the semiconductor die and the package, and ground wiring or tracks for the semiconductor die between the second surface of the semiconductor die and the ground pad. A further ground connection may be provided between the ground pad at the second surface of the semiconductor die and the die pad having the semiconductor die attached thereon.
US09972558B1
The present disclosure is directed to a leadframe package having a side solder ball contact and methods of manufacturing the same. A plurality of solder balls are coupled to recesses in a leadframe before encapsulation and singulation. After singulation, a portion of each solder ball is exposed on sidewalls of the package. This ensures that the sidewalls of the leads are solder wettable, which allows for the formation of stronger joints when the package is coupled to a substrate. This increased adhesion reduces resistance at the joints and also mitigates the effects of expansion of the components in the package such that delamination is less likely to occur. As a result, packages with a side solder ball contact have increased life cycle expectancies.
US09972547B2
According to one embodiment, there is provided a measurement method. The method includes measuring an amount of overlay shift between a first layer and a second layer using a first overlay mark and a second overlay mark. The first layer is provided as a layer including the first overlay mark above a first substrate. The second layer is provided as a layer including the second overlay mark above the first overlay mark. The method includes acquiring a parameter related to asymmetry of a shape of the second overlay mark. The method includes obtaining an amount of correction with respect to a measured value of the amount of overlay shift based on the acquired parameter and the measured amount of overlay shift.
US09972545B2
A semiconductor device includes an n-type vertical field-effect transistor (FET) that includes: a first source/drain feature disposed in a substrate; a first vertical bar structure that includes a first sidewall and a second sidewall disposed over the substrate; a gate disposed along the first sidewall of the first vertical bar structure; a second vertical bar structure electrically coupled to the first vertical bar structure; and a second source/drain feature disposed over the first vertical bar structure; and a p-type FET that includes; a third source/drain feature disposed in the substrate; a third vertical bar structure that includes a third sidewall and a fourth sidewall disposed over the substrate; the gate disposed along the third sidewall of the third vertical bar structure; a fourth vertical bar structure electrically coupled to the third vertical bar structure; and a fourth source/drain feature disposed over the third vertical bar structure.
US09972543B2
Present embodiments provide for a complementary nanowire semiconductor device and fabrication method thereof. The fabrication method comprises providing a substrate, wherein the substrate has a NMOS active region, a PMOS active region and a shallow trench isolation (STI) region; forming a plurality of first hexagonal epitaxial wires on the NMOS active region and the PMOS active region by selective epitaxially growing a germanium (Ge) crystal material; selectively etching the substrate to suspend the pluralities of first hexagonal epitaxial wires on the substrate; forming a plurality of second hexagonal epitaxial wires on the NMOS active region by selective epitaxially growing a III-V semiconductor crystal material surrounding the pluralities of first hexagonal epitaxial wires on the NMOS active region; depositing a dielectric material on the pluralities of first hexagonal epitaxial wires and the pluralities of second hexagonal epitaxial wires, wherein the dielectric material covers the pluralities of first hexagonal epitaxial wires and the pluralities of second hexagonal epitaxial wires; and depositing a conducting material on the dielectric material for forming a gate electrode surrounding the pluralities of first hexagonal epitaxial wires and the pluralities of second hexagonal epitaxial wires, wherein the pluralities of first hexagonal epitaxial wires are a plurality of first nanowires and the pluralities of second hexagonal epitaxial wires are a plurality of second nanowires.
US09972534B1
A semiconductor device includes a through-substrate via structure, a first metal layer, an electronic component over the through-substrate via structure, a second metal layer and another electronic component below the through-substrate via structure. The through-substrate via structure includes a through hole penetrating from a first surface to an opposite second surface of a semiconductor substrate, and an acute angle is included between a sidewall of the through hole and the second surface on a side of the semiconductor substrate. The through-substrate via structure also includes a conductive layer that fills the through hole, and a semiconductor layer disposed in the through hole and interposed between the conductive layer and the semiconductor substrate.
US09972531B2
The semiconductor device has insulating films 40, 42 formed over a substrate 10; an interconnection 58 buried in at least a surface side of the insulating films 40, 42; insulating films 60, 62 formed on the insulating film 42 and including a hole-shaped via-hole 60 and a groove-shaped via-hole 66a having a pattern bent at a right angle; and buried conductors 70, 72a buried in the hole-shaped via-hole 60 and the groove-shaped via-hole 66a. A groove-shaped via-hole 66a is formed to have a width which is smaller than a width of the hole-shaped via-hole 66. Defective filling of the buried conductor and the cracking of the inter-layer insulating film can be prevented. Steps on the conductor plug can be reduced. Accordingly, defective contact with the upper interconnection layer and the problems taking place in forming films can be prevented.
US09972525B2
A method for preparing a trench isolation structure, which comprises the following steps of: providing a substrate; forming an oxide layer on the substrate; successively generating an oxidation barrier layer and an ethyl orthosilicate layer on the surface of the oxide layer; etching the oxidation barrier layer and the ethyl orthosilicate layer; corroding the substrate to form a trench by using the oxidation barrier layer and the ethyl orthosilicate layer as mask layers; removing the ethyl orthosilicate layer, and oxidizing a side wall of the trench by using the oxidation barrier layer as a barrier layer; filling the trench with a polysilicon and then etching back the polysilicon, and removing the polysilicon on the surface of the oxidation barrier layer; and removing the oxidation barrier layer and the oxide layer on the surface of the substrate.
US09972515B2
In a substrate processing apparatus, a temperature of an anti-static liquid having electrical resistivity which gradually decreases as a liquid temperature increases is adjusted by a temperature adjustment part and the electrical resistivity of the anti-static liquid is higher than the electrical resistivity of a processing liquid (SPM liquid). After that, a plurality of substrates are immersed in the anti-static liquid inside the anti-static liquid storage part and both main surfaces of each substrate entirely conic into contact with the anti-static liquid. This gradually removes static electricity from the substrate. Then, the SPM liquid is supplied onto an upper surface of the substrate to thereby perform an SPM process. In the SPM process, it is thereby possible to prevent a large amount of electric charges from sharply moving from the substrate to the SPM liquid and prevent any damage to the substrate.
US09972510B2
A substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a substrate is provided. The apparatus includes a cleaning bath in which a substrate holder holding a substrate is disposed in a vertical position, the substrate holder having a sealing member contacting a periphery of a surface of the substrate to seal a gap between the substrate and the substrate holder, and cleaning nozzles each configured to supply a jet of cleaning water to the substrate holder. The cleaning nozzles are disposed in the cleaning bath and arranged concentrically with a contact portion of the substrate surface contacting the sealing member and located at such positions that the jet of cleaning water impinges on the contact portion or its vicinity in an upper half of the substrate.
US09972506B2
In a method for fabricating semiconductor devices a leadframe pattern is formed from a flat tape of base metal. A plurality of additional metal layers is plated on the patterned tape of base metal. The surface of the metal layers is roughed. A plurality of sites for assembling semiconductor chips are created. The sites alternate with zones for connecting the leadframe pattern to molding compound runners A selected first set of leadframe areas are selectively planished creating flattened areas offsetting a second set of leadframe areas. A semiconductor chip is attached to each site.
US09972501B1
Techniques are disclosed for methods and apparatuses for performing continuous-flow plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD). Plasma gas, containing one or more component gases, is continuously flowed to a planar inductive coupled plasma source attached at an upper end of a cylindrical chamber. Plasma is separated from the ALD volume surrounding a wafer/substrate in the lower end of the chamber by a combination of a grounded metal plate and a ceramic plate. Each plate has a number of mutually aligned holes. The ceramic plate has holes with a diameter less than 2 Debye lengths and has a large aspect ratio. This prevents damaging plasma flux from entering the ALD volume into which a gaseous metal precursor is also pulsed. The self-limiting ALD reaction involving the heated substrate, the excited neutrals from the plasma gas, and the metal precursor produce an ultra-uniform, high quality film on the wafer. A batch configuration to simultaneously coat multiple wafers is also disclosed.
US09972496B2
An embodiment for realizing a power device with trench-gate structure integrated on a semiconductor substrate, and including etching the semiconductor substrate to make a first trench having first side walls and a first bottom; and further etching said semiconductor substrate to make a second trench inside the first trench, realized in a self-aligned way and below this first trench, the first trench and the second trench defining the trench-gate structure with a bird beak-like transition profile suitable for containing a gate region.
US09972494B1
A method of manufacturing a vertical field effect transistor includes an isotropic etch of a gate conductor to recess the gate and define the length of the transistor channel. A symmetric gate conductor geometry prior to the etch, in combination with the isotropic (i.e., lateral) etch, allows the effective vertical etch rate of the gate conductor to be independent of local pattern densities, resulting in a uniform channel length among plural transistors formed on a semiconductor substrate.
US09972493B2
A method of forming a memory device that includes forming a first insulation layer on a semiconductor substrate, forming a conductive material layer on the first insulation layer, forming an insulation block on the conductive material layer, forming an insulation spacer along a side surface of the insulation block and on the conductive material layer, etching the conductive material layer to form a block of the conductive material disposed directly under the insulation block and the insulation spacer, removing the insulation spacer, forming a second insulation layer having a first portion wrapping around an exposed upper edge of the block of the conductive material and a second portion disposed on a first portion of the first insulation layer over the substrate, and forming a conductive block insulated from the block of the conductive material by the second insulation layer and from the substrate by the first and second insulation layers.
US09972486B2
There is provided a method for forming a nitride film on a substrate to be processed by a thermal ALD which repeats: supplying a film forming raw material gas to the substrate to be processed while heating the substrate to be processed to a predetermined temperature; and supplying a nitriding gas to the substrate to be processed, the nitride film forming method comprises supplying a chlorine-containing gas to the substrate to be processed after the supplying the film forming raw material gas.
US09972480B2
An ion guide generates a radio frequency (RF) field to radially confine ions to an ion beam along a guide axis as the ions are transmitted through the ion guide. The effective potential of the RF field includes an alternating series of barriers and wells. Ions may be trapped in individual wells in mass-dependent order, with larger masses trapped closer to a guide exit than smaller masses. The RF field may be scanned so as to release the ions from the ion guide in mass-dependent order, with larger masses released before smaller masses. The operating conditions may be set such that ions over the entire mass range arrive at a desired downstream focal point simultaneously, for example at an accelerator of a time-of-flight analyzer.
US09972474B2
An electron microscope including a vacuum chamber for containing a specimen to be analyzed, an optics column, including an electron source and a final probe forming lens, for focusing electrons emitted from the electron source, a specimen stage positioned in the vacuum chamber under the probe forming lens for holding the specimen, and multiple x-ray detectors positioned within the vacuum chamber, at different takeoff angles with respect to the sample's x-ray emission position in the chamber. Takeoff angles are provided to improve the counting efficiency of the various sensors. Multiple detectors of different types may be supported within the vacuum chamber on a mechanical support system, which may be adjustable. A method includes operating the sensors to optimize the time required for accurate x-ray counting by gathering data at the multiple takeoff angles.
US09972461B2
A key structure with mechanical switch includes a keycap, a support plate board disposed under the keycap, a scissor unit, a receiving housing, a guiding outer cylinder, a rotating inner cylinder and an elastic element. The scissor unit guides the keycap up or down along a pressing direction. The receiving housing has a plurality of sectional boards and a plurality of sectional cutouts. The guiding outer cylinder is movably received in the receiving housing along the pressing direction, and abuts against a bottom surface of the keycap. The guiding outer cylinder has a plurality of positioning bumps and a plurality of lodging recesses. The rotating inner cylinder is received in the guiding outer cylinder and has a plurality of sliding bumps. The elastic element is located in the rotating inner cylinder to provide elasticity toward the keycap. The present disclosure also provides a mechanical switch.
US09972458B2
Disclosed is a draw in and out type circuit breaker. In the draw in and out type circuit breaker, at least one guide slot is provided in a slide plate, and thus, a clip moves to a test position, a connected position, or a disconnected position with being fitted into the at least one guide slot, thereby enabling a position of the clip to be easily controlled.
US09972457B2
Guide grooves are formed in a peripheral sidewall of a soft button, and a hard cap is separably connected to the button by fitting legs on the cap into these guide grooves. Furthermore, when a push-operation member on the cap is pushed, the legs are guided in the guide grooves, while the press stroke of the push-operation member is regulated by the bottom ends of the legs coming into contact with the top face of an inner flange on the case.
US09972456B2
The invention relates to a switching device, in particular an on-load tap changer, having a housing and at least one exchangeable switching module. The switching device (1), in particular on-load tap changer, comprises a housing (2); an exchangeable switching module (3, 3′, 3″); a fixed contact (20) arranged inside the housing (2); a guide rail (25) arranged inside the housing (2). The switching module (3, 3′, 3″) has a movable contact (10) that can be releasably connected to the fixed contact (20). The switching module (3, 3′, 3″) has a lower distribution plate (51) that is movably connected to the guide rail (25).
US09972453B2
A keyswitch mechanism having reduced key rattle and a keyboard having reduced key rattle. A rattle suppression mechanism may be formed on a portion of the scissor mechanism or on a portion of the keycap. The rattle suppression mechanism is configured to maintain force on the portion of the scissor mechanism abutting the keycap.
US09972448B2
The present invention relates to a supercapacitor electrode material in which a transition metal oxide and a carbon-based material are combined, and particularly, to a supercapacitor electrode material which increases) the capacitance of a capacitor by increasing a specific surface area through the process of making pores of a transition metal oxide and then applying the transition metal oxide having the increased specific surface area, and to a method for manufacturing the supercapacitor electrode material. According to the present invention, the supercapacitor electrode material is manufactured by mixing and reacting a layered titanium oxide with a spherical titanium oxide to obtain a porous titanium oxide, and combining the porous titanium oxide with a carbon-based material.
US09972437B2
A length in a first direction of an element body is smaller than a length in a second direction of the element body and smaller than a length in a third direction of the element body, the second direction being perpendicular to the first direction, the third direction being perpendicular to the first and second direction. A difference between a maximum thickness and a minimum thickness of a first electrode portion is smaller than a difference between a maximum thickness and a minimum thickness of a second electrode portion. A difference between a maximum thickness and a minimum thickness of a third electrode portion is smaller than a difference between a maximum thickness and a minimum thickness of a fourth electrode portion. The maximum thickness of the first electrode portion and the maximum thickness of the third electrode portion are larger than thicknesses of respective outer layer portions.
US09972435B2
Disclosed is a method for manufacturing an R-T-B based sintered magnet, which includes the steps of: preparing an R-T-B based sintered magnet material; and performing a heat treatment by heating the R-T-B based sintered magnet material at a temperature of 450° C. or higher and 470° C. or lower for 4 hours or more and 12 hours or less, wherein the R-T-B based sintered magnet material is represented by the formula of: uRwBxGayCuzAlqM (100−u−w−x−y−z−q) T, the content of RH is 5% or less by mass in the R-T-B based sintered magnet, 29.5≤u≤32.0, 0.86≤w≤0.93, 0.2≤x≤1.0, 0.3≤y≤1.0, 0.05≤z≤0.5, 0≤q≤0.1, and a relationship of p<0 is satisfied when p=[B]/10.811×14−[Fe]/55.847−[Co]/58.933.
US09972432B2
In a laminated coil component, patterned conductor portions of a first coil portion and patterned conductor portions of a second coil portion are provided on respective insulation layers adjacent in a lamination direction, and include portions that overlap with each other when viewed in plan view. The insulation layers on which the patterned conductor portions of the second coil portion are provided are laminated between the plurality of insulation layers on which the patterned conductor portions of the first coil portion are provided. A first outer electrode to which the first coil portion is electrically connected and a second outer electrode to which the second coil portion is electrically connected are provided on the same main surface of a multilayer body.
US09972431B2
A laminated coil component has an element body formed by laminating a plurality of ceramic layers, and a coil conductor disposed inside the element body. The coil conductor has coil pattern portions disposed on the plurality of the ceramic layers and including line portions and land portions disposed at ends of the line portions, and pattern connecting portions connecting the land portion to each other between the coil pattern portions arranged adjacently in a laminating direction of the ceramic layers. The land portions overlap with the line portions located on the opposite side of the pattern connecting portions in the laminating direction when viewed in the laminating direction such that the centers of the land portions do not overlap with the line portions located on the opposite side of the pattern connecting portions in the laminating direction when viewed in the laminating direction.
US09972429B2
A superconducting current pump arranged to cause a DC electrical current to flow through a superconducting circuit accommodated within a cryogenic enclosure of a cryostat comprises a rotor external to the cryogenic enclosure and a stator within the cryogenic enclosure, the rotor and stator separated by a gap through which passes a thermally insulating wall of the cryogenic enclosure, the rotor and the stator comprising at least in part a ferromagnetic material to concentrate magnetic flux in a magnetic circuit across the gap between the rotor and the stator and through the wall, so that movement of the rotor external to the cryogenic enclosure relative to the stator within the cryogenic enclosure induces a DC transport current to flow around the superconducting circuit within the cryogenic enclosure. There is no coupling between a drive motor external to the cryogenic enclosure and an internal rotor which may introduce a path for heat leakage into the cryostat, in turn increasing the heat load and thus increasing the cooling power required to maintain the cold components within the cryogenic enclosure at the low operating temperature required.
US09972417B2
An electrically conducting path including: an electrical wire; an exterior member made of rubber and enclosing a portion of the electrical wire; a waterproof member filling a gap between an opening part of an end portion of the exterior member and the electrical wire; and a molded resin member that is in intimate contact with and covers, in a liquid-tight state, an outer circumferential surface of the end portion of the exterior member, the waterproof member, and a section of the electrical wire that is exposed to an outside of the exterior member. Since the gap between the opening part of the end portion of the exterior member and the electrical wire is sealed in a liquid-tight state by the waterproof member and the molded resin member, it is possible to prevent water from entering the inside of the exterior member.
US09972412B2
A method for making an oil-in-water dispersion or water-in-oil dispersion is disclosed. The method comprises the step of mixing a hydrophilic medium, a hydrophobic composition and non-derivatized cellulose solution in an ionic liquid.
US09972411B2
An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrafine copper alloy being high in strength and conductivity and being also superior in elongation, a copper alloy stranded wire, a covered electric wire including the copper alloy wire or copper alloy stranded wire, and a terminal-fitted electric wire. A copper alloy wire used as a conductor, the copper alloy wire containing greater than or equal to 0.4% by mass and less than or equal to 1.5% by mass of Fe, greater than or equal to 0.1% by mass and less than or equal to 1.0% by mass of Ti, and the remainder including Cu and an impurity.
US09972408B2
A method of producing a nuclear fuel product is provided. The method includes the steps of providing a core comprising aluminum and low-enriched uranium; and sealing said core in a cladding. The low-enriched uranium has a proportion of U235 below 20 wt %. The core includes more than 80 wt % of a mixture of UAl3 phase and UAl4 phase, and the mixture has a weight fraction of UAl3 phase higher than or equal to 50%, or the core includes more than 50 wt % of UAl2 phase. The core has a low-enriched uranium loading higher than 3.0 gU/cm3. The core includes less than 10 wt % in total of one or several material(s) taken from the list consisting of aluminum phase and aluminum compounds other than UAl2 phase, than UAl3 phase, and than UAl4 phase. A corresponding nuclear fuel product is also provided.
US09972397B2
The present disclosure relate a method of operating a semiconductor memory device including at least two memory blocks sharing one block word line. The method including applying an erase voltage to a source line commonly coupled to the memory blocks, one of which is a selected memory block and applying a first voltage to the block word line and a third voltage to a global word line of an unselected memory block of the memory blocks when the erase voltage is applied to the source line, wherein the first voltage is higher than a turn-on voltage to turn on a pass transistor coupled to the block word line, and wherein the third voltage floats a local word line included in the unselected memory block according to a level of the first voltage.
US09972396B1
In solid-state memory, such as flash memory, a section of memory is typically erased prior to each time data is programmed therein. In contrast, systems and methods for programming a solid-state memory device with writes from different data sets without an intervening erase are disclosed. For example, the memory device may first erase a block and thereafter program the block with a first data set, with some cells in an erased state and other cells in a non-erased state. After programming the first data set into the block and without erasing the block, the memory device programs the block with a second data set that is at least partially different from the first data set. In this regard, some of the cells, which were in a non-erased state after programming with the first data set, are in an erased state after programming with the second data set.
US09972386B2
The present invention provides a resistive memory array arranged in a 3D stack comprising a plurality of resistivity switching memory elements laid out in an array in a first and second direction, and stacked in a third direction, a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes extending in the first direction, each first electrode and each second electrode being associated with the at least one resistivity switching memory element, and a plurality of transistor devices, each transistor device being electrically coupled to one of the resistivity switching memory elements, an inversion or accumulation channel of a transistor device being adapted for forming a switchable resistivity path in the third direction, between the electrically coupled resistivity switching memory element and the associated second electrode, wherein the memory array furthermore comprises at least one third electrode provided in a trench through the stack.
US09972381B1
An apparatus, system, and method for controlling data transfer to an output port of a serial data link interface in a semiconductor memory is disclosed. In one example, a flash memory device may have multiple serial data links, multiple memory banks and control input ports that enable the memory device to transfer the serial data to a serial data output port of the memory device. In another example, a flash memory device may have a single serial data link, a single memory bank, a serial data input port, a control input port for receiving output enable signals. The flash memory devices may be cascaded in a daisy-chain configuration using echo signal lines to serially communicate between memory devices.
US09972377B2
A refresh controller of a memory device may include a timing controller, a refresh counter and an address generator. The timing controller generates a counter refresh signal in response to receiving a refresh command provided from an external device, and generates a hammer refresh signal that is activated periodically. The refresh counter generates a counter refresh address signal in response to the counter refresh signal, such that the counter refresh address signal represents a row address, the refresh counter being configured sequentially change the counter refresh address signal. The address generator generates a hammer refresh address signal in response to the hammer refresh signal, the hammer refresh address signal representing an address of a row of the memory device that is physically adjacent to a row of the memory device corresponding to a hammer address that is accessed intensively.
US09972374B1
A ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) array includes (a) a first section of FeRAM cells sharing a first plate line and a word line; and (b) a second section of FeRAM cells sharing a second plate line and the word line, wherein the first plate line and the second plate line are electrically unconnected, and wherein only the first section of FeRAM cells or the second section of FeRAM cells, but not both, are selected for a read operation at any given time. In each section of the FeRAM cells, a plate line selection cell connects the corresponding plate line to a plate line selection line. Each FeRAM cell in each section is read or written over a pair of bit lines running in a direction transverse to the word line of the section, and the plate line selection line runs along a direction parallel to the bit lines.
US09972370B2
The present disclosure may provide a memory device including a page buffer and bit-lines coupled thereto with a less load of the bit-lines. In one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a memory device comprising: bit-lines, each bit-line having opposite first and second ends; plugs coupled respectively to the bit-lines, each plug disposed between and excluding the first and second ends; and a page buffer coupled to the plugs.
US09972368B2
Integrated circuits may include dual mode memory cells. Dual mode memory cells may be operated in a lookup-table mode or a memory mode. A dual mode memory cell may have configuration ports for supporting a configuration operation and user ports for supporting a user mode operation. When performing configuration operations in the memory mode, the configuration ports may be gated off to prevent existing user data from being accessed. Each column of memory cells may be arranged into groups. Each group of memory cells in a column may be connected to a respective local data line, which is connected to a global data line via a switch. The switch may be selectively activated to short the local data line to the global data line. Configured in this hierarchical data line architecture, leakage at the global data line can dramatically be reduced, and the memory cell read margin is improved.
US09972363B2
Apparatus include a data bus and a signal driver circuit having pluralities of first and second termination devices connected in parallel between a voltage node and an output node. Each of the termination devices is configured to be deactivated in response to control signals having a particular set of logic levels, and to be activated in response to control signals having a set of logic levels other than the particular set of logic levels. Activated second termination devices each exhibit respective resistances greater than a particular resistance of each activated first termination device. Methods include connecting a node of an apparatus to a first voltage node through a reference resistance, connecting the node to a second voltage node through a termination device, and comparing a resulting voltage level to a reference voltage different than half-way between voltage levels of the first and second voltage nodes.
US09972354B2
A head-disk assembly device, “mass spin-valve” or “gravitational rectifier” and method of producing gravitomagnetic induction utilizing Nano-features fabricated on the surface of a hard disk is presented. The Nano-features may include Nano-bumps and Nano-pits. The device includes a computer hard disk, a piezoelectric glide head and/or a GMR read head, a typical hard drive's electronics, wherein defects are fabricated on the said disk using a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) by depositing requisite number of nanobumps of specified height, and etching equal number of nanopits of specified depth a few mils or mm apart on a pre-decided radius. By spinning the said nano-features disk produce (1) an associated mechanical force utilizing a piezoelectric glide head and/or (2) an associated magnetic force utilizing a GMR read head for (a) general use in surface characterization work and (b) for producing power by the presence or the absence of matter on a spinning disk.
US09972344B2
A data storage device is disclosed comprising a first head actuated over a first disk surface, wherein the first head comprises a laser configured to heat the first disk surface while writing data to the first disk surface. A write power is applied to the laser and a first write operation is executed to write first data to the first disk surface during a first revolution of the first disk surface. A first transient decrease in an output power of the laser is detected during the first write operation, and when the first transient decrease in the output power of the laser is detected during the first write operation, a write-verify of the first data is executed during a second revolution of the first disk surface.
US09972343B1
Various embodiments describe a multi-step process for determining whether the keyword has been spoken. The first tier uses an onboard digital signal processor (DSP) to process converted audio signals. If the DSP analysis cannot confirm the keyword due to noise in the signal, a second tier of processing may use an applications processor (AP) and a more stringent audio filter to try to verify the keyword. If the AP analysis cannot confirm the keyword, a third tier of processing may use server side processor and an even more stringent audio filter to try to verify the keyword. Certain signal to noise ratios (SNRs) of the detected and converted audio signal are used to decide when and if to try the second and third tier of processing.
US09972340B2
In a computer system for navigating to a location in recorded content, a computer receives a descriptive term or phrase associated with a searchable tag. The searchable tag corresponds to a point-in-time at which a non-speech sound occurred during the recording of recorded content of a communication between a plurality of participants. The recorded content includes speech from one or more of the plurality of participants, the descriptive term includes an automatically generated phonetic translation of the non-speech sound, and the non-speech sound was transmitted to the plurality of participants during the recording. The computer navigates to a location in the recorded content corresponding to the point-in-time at which the non-speech sound occurred.
US09972333B2
In order to obtain coded data which does not strike viewers and listeners as being incongruous, when plural audio data are to be coded, a coding program groups the respective audio data into one audio data, codes the grouped audio data in sequence with a predetermined number of samples being treated as units, and sets delimitations corresponding to the delimitations of the plural audio data in the coded data at coding units of the coded data.
US09972331B2
A better compromise between a too high bitstream and decoding overhead on the one hand and flexibility of frame element positioning on the other hand is achieved by arranging that each of the sequence of frames of the bitstream has a sequence of N frame elements and, on the other hand, the bitstream has a configuration block having a field indicating the number of elements N and a type indication syntax portion indicating, for each element position of the sequence of N element positions, an element type out of a plurality of element types with, in the sequences of N frame elements of the frames, each frame element being of the element type indicated, by the type indication portion, for the respective element position at which the respective frame element is positioned within the sequence of N frame elements of the respective frame in the bitstream.
US09972328B2
A method performed by an audio decoder for reconstructing N audio channels from an audio signal containing M audio channels is disclosed. The method includes receiving a bitstream containing an encoded audio signal having M audio channels and a set of spatial parameters, the set of spatial parameters including an inter-channel intensity difference parameter and an inter-channel coherence parameter. The encoded audio bitstream is then decoded to obtain a decoded frequency domain representation of the M audio channels, and at least a portion of the frequency domain representation is decorrelated with an all-pass filter having a fractional delay. The all-pass filter is attenuated at locations of a transient. A matrixed version of the decorrelated signals are summed with a matrixed version of the decoded frequency domain representation to obtain N audio signals that collectively having N audio channels where M is less than N.
US09972327B2
There is provided mechanisms for frame loss concealment. A method is performed by a receiving entity. The method comprises adding, in association with constructing a substitution frame for a lost frame, a noise component to the substitution frame. The noise component has a frequency characteristic corresponding to a low-resolution spectral representation of a signal in a previously received frame.
US09972326B2
A method and an apparatus for allocating bits of an audio signal. The method includes dividing a frequency band of an audio signal into multiple sub-bands, and quantizing a sub-band normalization factor of each sub-band; classifying the multiple sub-bands into multiple groups, and acquiring a sum of intra-group sub-band normalization factors of each group; performing initial inter-group bit allocation to determine the initial number of bits of each group; performing secondary inter-group bit allocation to allocate coding bits of the audio signal to at least one group; and allocating the bits of the audio signal to sub-bands in the group. The present disclosure can, by means of grouping, ensure relatively stable allocation in a previous frame and a next frame and reduce an impact of global allocation on local discontinuity in a case of low and medium bit rates.
US09972325B2
In accordance with an embodiment, a method of encoding an audio/speech signal includes determining a mixed codebook vector based on an incoming audio/speech signal, where the mixed codebook vector includes a sum of a first codebook entry from a first codebook and a second codebook entry from a second codebook. The method further includes generating an encoded audio signal based on the determined mixed codebook vector, and transmitting a coded excitation index of the determined mixed codebook vector.
US09972324B2
A mobile device may receive user input for requesting personal information for a subject in proximity of a mobile device and based on the user input, selecting one of available functions. The functions may include a first function for obtaining personal information using a first identifier. The functions may also include a second function for obtaining the personal information using the first identifier. The mobile device may output the personal information as an image to a display or as speech to speaker.
US09972317B2
A method and system for facilitating centralized interaction with a user includes providing a recognized voice command to a plurality of application modules. A plurality of interpretations of the voice command are generated by at least one of the plurality of application modules. A centralized interface module visually renders the plurality of interpretations of the voice command on a centralized display. An indication of selection of an interpretation is received from the user.
US09972313B2
Techniques related to key phrase detection for applications such as wake on voice are discussed. Such techniques may include intermediate scoring of a state or states of a key phrase model and/or a backward transition or rejection loopback from a state of the key phrase model to a rejection model to reduce false accepts based on received utterances.
US09972311B2
Systems and methods are provided for optimizing language models for in-domain applications through an iterative, joint-modeling approach that expresses training material as alternative representations of higher-level tokens, such as named entities and carrier phrases. From a first language model, an in-domain training corpus may be represented as a set of alternative parses of tokens. Statistical information determined from these parsed representations may be used to produce a second (or updated) language model, which is further optimized for the domain. The second language model may be used to determine another alternative parsed representation of the corpus for a next iteration, and the statistical information determined from this representation may be used to produce a third (or further updated) language model. Through each iteration, a language model may be determined that is further optimized for the domain.
US09972307B2
Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and computer-readable media for dialog modeling. The method includes receiving spoken dialogs annotated to indicate dialog acts and task/subtask information, parsing the spoken dialogs with a hierarchical, parse-based dialog model which operates incrementally from left to right and which only analyzes a preceding dialog context to generate parsed spoken dialogs, and constructing a functional task structure of the parsed spoken dialogs. The method can further either interpret user utterances with the functional task structure of the parsed spoken dialogs or plan system responses to user utterances with the functional task structure of the parsed spoken dialogs. The parse-based dialog model can be a shift-reduce model, a start-complete model, or a connection path model.
US09972301B2
A text-to-speech (TTS) computing includes a processor and a memory. The TTS computing device is configured to generate a machine pronunciation of a text data according to at least one phonetic rule, and provide the machine pronunciation to a user interface of the TTS computing device such that the machine pronunciation is audibly communicated to a user of the TTS computing device. The TTS computing device is also configured to receive a pronunciation correction of the machine pronunciation from the user via the user interface, and store the pronunciation correction in a TTS data source. The TTS computing device is further configured to assign the pronunciation correction provided by the user to a user profile that corresponds to the text data.
US09972300B2
A system and method are presented for outlier identification to remove poor alignments in speech synthesis. The quality of the output of a text-to-speech system directly depends on the accuracy of alignments of a speech utterance. The identification of mis-alignments and mis-pronunciations from automated alignments may be made based on fundamental frequency methods and group delay based outlier methods. The identification of these outliers allows for their removal, which improves the synthesis quality of the text-to-speech system.
US09972287B2
Systems and devices are arranged as tools for guitar maintenance and particular for removing bridge pins of an acoustic guitar and adjusting stream of pictures of guitars. Eight ‘clamshell’ arrangement of complementary half element form a clan particularly devised to couple with hardware used to mount strength of a guitar i.e. bridge pins. The coupling is such that it is easy to establish and easy to remove whereby superior control of the bridge pin removal is achieved. As bridge pins are removed from a bridge, the bridge pins remain captive with respect to the clamp device thus preventing them from being dropped and/or lost—a problem common in competing alternative systems known in the arts.
US09972283B2
The present disclosure relates to scanning driving circuit and flat display device. A pull-up maintaining module receives clock signals at the previous level, to charge a pull-up control signal node and pull up a pull-down control signal node; a control module receives pull-up control signals at the previous level and scanning driving signals at the previous level, and control the pull-up maintaining module; an output module connects to the pull-up maintaining module and the control module for outputting the scanning driving signals to scanning lines; the scanning lines transmits the scanning driving signals to pixel cells.
US09972280B2
A display control device includes an information discriminating unit that, upon receiving from one of a plurality of input operation devices identification information of the input operation device, identification information of an application, and input instruction information for the application, outputs the received input instruction information to the corresponding application, and a display processing unit that reflects a screen transition caused by application processing based on the input instruction information on a screen of a shared display device, and the display processing unit sends information regarding screen layout of the shared display device to each of the input operation devices at predetermined timing.
US09972268B2
The plurality of stages of circuit blocks of a driver circuit in a display device include a first transistor and a second transistor. The first transistor is connected at its gate with a first node and controls conductivity between a scanning signal line and a first clock signal line applied with a first clock signal. The first node is at an active potential when at least any one signal of signals output from one stage in each of a forward direction and a reverse direction is at the active potential. The second transistor is connected at its gate with the first node and controls conductivity between the first clock signal line and an input signal line of another stage of circuit block.
US09972267B2
An array substrate includes a display region and a non-display region around the display region. The display region comprises a plurality of rows of pixel units arranged sequentially along a first direction and a plurality of gate scanning lines corresponding to the plurality of rows of the pixel units, respectively, and the gate scanning lines extend along a second direction. Cascaded first shift register units are disposed at at least one edge of the non-display region parallel to the second direction, and each of the first shift register units is connected with a corresponding one of the plurality of gate scanning lines; and cascaded second shift register units are disposed at at least one edge of the non-display region parallel to the first direction, and each of the second shift register units is connected with a corresponding one of the plurality of gate scanning line.
US09972235B2
In a liquid crystal display device, in a first half of one horizontal scanning period, a first data line driver circuit outputs a corrected grayscale voltage obtained by correcting an input grayscale voltage corresponding to input display data to a plurality of data lines, and a second data line driver circuit is electrically disconnected from the plurality of data lines, and in a second half of one horizontal scanning period, the second data line driver circuit outputs an input grayscale voltage corresponding to the input display data to the plurality of data lines, and the first data line driver circuit is electrically disconnected from the plurality of data lines.
US09972231B1
An image forming apparatus 1 includes a visible image forming unit 50 that forms a visible image in the air, a screen image generation unit 102 that generates a screen image, and a controller 100 that causes the visible image forming unit 50 to generate the visible image representing the screen image generated by the screen image generation unit 102. When the visible image contains predetermined private information, the controller 100 causes the screen image generation unit 102 to generate a second screen image representing the private information and inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to a main screen of the screen image, so as to restrict a person other than an operator from viewing the private information, and causes the visible image forming unit 50 to form a visible image of the second screen image generated.
US09972217B2
A healthcare content authoring software platform incorporates a healthcare education content authoring assistant software with interactive suggestion interface to assist a healthcare education content author in creating computerized healthcare education contents. The interactive suggestion interface in the healthcare education content authoring assistant software provides at least one of a symptom selection interface, a symptom characterization and medial exam description entry interface, a pivotal concept definition interface, a results group configuration interface, a disease summary interface, a disease epidemiology interface, an etiology task exploration interface, and a tests diagnostics strategy and pitfalls interface, wherein one or more of these interfaces empower the healthcare education content author to create, update, and manage a plurality of diagnostic reasoning pathways that encourage students and healthcare industry trainees to nurture basic linear DDx reasoning skills, dynamic DDx reasoning skills, and other clinically-empirical reasoning skills in a simulated patient diagnostic environment with a virtual patient.
US09972216B2
A system for providing information to a user includes a haptic display including a plurality of sensors positioned thereon, a map positioned on the haptic display and including points of interest where each point of interest is positioned adjacent to or directly on at least one of the plurality of sensors, and a memory for storing a plurality of breadcrumb files where each of the plurality of breadcrumb files corresponds to at least one of the points of interest and contains information related to at least one of an environment, an object, an obstacle, a path or a location. The system includes a processor for determining which point of interest has been selected based on contact with at least one of the points of interest and an output device configured to provide the information contained in the breadcrumb file corresponding to the selected point of interest to the user.
US09972207B2
An information collection system includes a first communication device provided at a first vehicle including a processor configured to execute a process. The process includes receiving operations by a first input section, and wirelessly transmitting, by a first transmission section, specific information according to the operation received by the first input section. The information collection system further includes a second communication device provided at a second vehicle including a processor configured to execute a process. The process includes receiving, by a first reception section, the specific information transmitted by the first transmission section, and wirelessly transmitting, to a device that is different from the first communication device by a second transmission section, position information enabling identification of a position at which the specific information was received by the first reception section.
US09972205B2
A remote controlled mobile traffic control system which can be used in the place of a human flag person. A mobile platform with an adjustable traffic control indicator thereon is controlled by a remote control. The operator can move the platform and change the indication of the traffic control apparatus from a safe distance. The apparatus permits “flagging” of traffic in a moving traffic control zone arrangement, and operational safety is maximized. A traffic barrier arm is movable between deployed and retracted positions obstructing the path of oncoming traffic, for example by a remote controlled actuator or by remote controlled turning of the platform. A remote alarm unit accompanies to the work crew to alarm them of traffic entering the work zone without authorization or at unsafe speed. The apparatus can travel with a moving or changing work zone, either by human remote control or autonomous “follow me” functionality.
US09972203B2
A driving assistance method includes: a step of, by a driving assistance apparatus, calculating a power spectrum by a frequency analysis of an acceleration obtained by a three-dimensional accelerometer; a step of, by the driving assistance apparatus, obtaining information on an angle based on a magnitude of an inclination of a single regression line of the power spectrum in a predetermined frequency range; a step of obtaining a speed by the driving assistance apparatus; a step of, by the driving assistance apparatus, calculating a traffic jam sign index as a product of a value associated with a degree of variation in the angle and a value associated with the speed; and a step of, by the driving assistance apparatus, sensing a traffic jam sign based on a change in the traffic jam sign index within a predetermined time.
US09972192B2
An activity information measuring apparatus includes a detector that detects information corresponding to motion of a user. The activity information measuring apparatus analyzes the user's activity based on information detected by the detector, detects, based on the analysis results, a timing at which the user stopped sleeping and started moving, and makes an announcement to the user by operating an announcer in synchronization with the detected timing.
US09972189B1
Methods, systems and computer program products for providing alerts to an individual based on their radiation level are provided. Aspects include receiving, by a processor, a radiation level of the individual from a dosimeter. Aspects also include obtaining, by the processor, schedule information for the individual. Aspects further include creating, by the processor, an alert based on the radiation level and the schedule information, wherein the alert includes a reminder of a precautionary measure that the individual should take based on the radiation level.
US09972187B1
A method and a biomechanical parameter determination system (BPDS) for determining biomechanical parameters of one or more target objects in a region are provided. The BPDS dynamically receives first data including temperature data and/or motion data of target objects in the region from first sensors and dynamically receives second data including optical images, sound data, amplitude, and/or distance of the target objects in the region from second sensors, over a network. The BPDS filters the dynamically received first data and second data of the target objects and identifies one or more target objects using the temperature data and/or motion data of the target objects. The BPDS determines one or more biomechanical parameters including, for example, positions, acceleration, walking speed, fall, posture, etc., associated with each of the identified target objects in the region using the filtered first data and/or the filtered second data for emergency alerting and/or health assessment.
US09972184B2
The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for monitoring a vehicle operator and for monitoring the environment of a vehicle operator. In particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for determining a physical position of an operator within a vehicle and for determining environmental conditions surrounding the vehicle operator. The systems may include at least one of: an image sensor, an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a microphone or a combination or sub-combination thereof. The methods may determine a position and/or an orientation of a vehicle operator's head, arms, hands, legs, feet, etc., a combination thereof or a sub-combination thereof. The methods may generate a warning when a position of the vehicle operator is inappropriate, such as when the vehicle operator has not looked in front of the vehicle for an extended period of time when the vehicle is travelling forward, when the vehicle operator is looking at a cellular telephone, when the vehicle operator has been looking downward for an extended period of time, etc.
US09972162B2
There is disclosed an electronic gaming system (100) comprising one or more player interfaces (6, 7, 17), and a main video display screen (1). The system enables players to simultaneously play a plurality of reel-type games and to place bets on lines of the games. The system displays a plurality of display windows on the main display screen, each window being associated with a respective one of the simultaneously played games and displaying the reels of that game, each reel displaying reel indicia. The system is configured for any one of the games to enter a feature phase when a feature-triggering event occurs. At the start of the feature phase, all the display windows on the main screen, except the particular display window associated with the feature phase, reduce in size or disappear, while the size of the feature game's display window increases, and the other games are also suspended, until the feature phase is completed.
US09972161B2
A bonus display and gaming machine with a bonus display are disclosed. The bonus display includes a square video display arranged in a diamond pattern to display content such as a bonus wheel. Back illuminated inner and outer rings are mounted to cover at least portions of the video display and are back illuminated by, for example, light emitting diodes. To accommodate one or more pointers displayed on the video display the inner ring includes a cut-out to reveal each video pointer.
US09972159B2
An assembly for installation in a fuel dispensing environment having a forecourt controller and at least one fuel dispenser communicating via legacy cable. The assembly comprises a sniffer device connectable along the legacy cable such that a first communication side thereof is in electrical communication with the forecourt controller and a second communication side thereof is in electrical communication with the fuel dispenser. The sniffer device is operative to receive an incoming message at either the first communication side or the second communication side. The sniffer device also includes memory and a processor, the processor implementing instructions to interpret the incoming message. Based on an interpretation of the incoming message, the sniffer device is operative to determine an action to be taken regarding the incoming message.
US09972152B2
A system for controlling access to one or more enclosed areas comprises at least one access card reader and controller powered via a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) interface, each access card reader and controller being capable of controlling access through a particular entrance to a particular enclosed area and an access control server in communication with the at least one access card reader and controller, the access control server being capable of controlling the operation of the at least one access card reader and controller, and a signal converter disposed between the access card reader and the access control server. In a network mode of operation, the access control server is configured to perform authentication of a card identifier (ID) received from the at least one access card reader and controller and to signal the at least one access card reader and controller to unlock a door at the particular entrance to the particular enclosed area when the access control server has successfully authenticated the received card ID. In a standalone mode of operation, the at least one access card reader and controller is configured to perform local authentication of a received card ID independently of the access control server and to unlock a door at the particular entrance to the particular enclosed area when the at least one access card reader and controller has successfully authenticated the received card ID.
US09972150B2
Vehicular systems and related methods offer improved user control over activations of vehicular components. User intent to perform an action can be detected using one or more sensors. The user may be prompted by the vehicle to verify the intent by further user behavior. The intent may also be confirmed by requiring that a set of conditions be fulfilled before the action associated with the intent is performed. For example, a sensed gesture and specific position of a key fob may need to both be established before the vehicle performs the action associated with the intent.
US09972147B1
A smart badge of the present invention comprises a communication unit capable of performing wireless communication, an OTP (one-time password) storage unit configured to store therein OTP information for generating one-time password (OTP), a display unit configured to display information, an image storage unit configured to store therein at least two images to be displayed on the display unit, a personal information storage unit configured to store therein user's personal information, an input unit that is to be used for selecting an image to be displayed on the display unit, and a control unit configured to control the respective constitutional elements.
US09972146B1
A device includes a security controller to determine whether a wireless security device is authorized to access at least one resource protected by a secure access device based, at least in part, on identification signals that originate from the wireless security device. The security controller is configured to receive location information corresponding to the wireless security device from at least one wireless device. When the wireless security device is authorized to access at least one resource, the security controller is configured to direct the security access device to disable at least one security measure that restricts user access to the at least one resource based, at least in part, on the location information corresponding to the wireless security device.
US09972137B2
Various of the disclosed embodiments provide systems and methods for acquiring and applying a depth determination of an environment in e.g., various augmented reality applications. A user may passively or actively scan a device (e.g., a tablet device, a mobile phone device, etc.) about the environment acquiring depth data for various regions. The system may integrate these scans into an internal three-dimensional model. This model may then be used in conjunction with subsequent data acquisitions to determine a device's location and orientation within the environment with high fidelity. In some embodiments, these determinations may be accomplished in real-time or near-real-time. Using the high-fidelity orientation and position determination, various augmented reality applications may then be possible using the same device used to acquire the depth data or a new device.
US09972130B2
An apparatus and a method for implementing augmented reality by using a transparent display are provided. The method includes calculating a point-of-view of a user based on a face image captured by a front camera, detecting an image of an area depending on an angle of view identical to a viewing angle of the user based on the calculated point-of-view of the user, implementing the augmented reality by using the detected image, and outputting the implemented augmented reality to the transparent display.
US09972123B2
Systems and methods for generating a model of an object that includes the surface reflectance details of the object are disclosed. The surface reflectance properties of the object comprising at least separate components for the object diffuse data and the object specular data are received. A 3D model of the object is generated wherein the reflectance properties of the model are configured based on the reflectance properties of the object surface. The object diffuse data determines the color to be used in generating the model and the object specular data determines one of the attributes of the coating for the model or the material to be used for generating the model.
US09972120B2
A method of mapping a two-dimensional image to a three-dimensional surface includes capturing data for a two-dimensional image and a three-dimensional structure. A process determines coincident points between the 2D image and the 3D structure and maps points on the 2D image to the 3D structure by assigning relative two-coordinate points from the two dimensional image to relative three-coordinate points of the three-dimensional structure. The mapping creates a 3D surface and texturing and removes superfluous data from the created three-dimensional surface to clean the mapped resultant.
US09972111B2
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to optimizing image cropping. In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, an image and an indication of an area of interest within the image are obtained. Thereafter, an amount to scale the image is determined based on a size of a container into which the image is to be placed for display. The amount to scale the image is greater for containers of a smaller size to focus on the area of interest within the image than the amount to scale the image for containers of a larger size. The image can be scaled in accordance with the determined amount to scale the image, and thereafter cropped to fit within the boundaries of the container.
US09972110B2
Various implementations described herein are directed to a device having a display and a computer configured to receive data from one or more sensors. The data may include positional data and thermocline data. The computer may be configured to display a first image associated with a chart map of a body of water that identifies areas having a thermocline layer based on the positional data and the thermocline data.
US09972109B2
A computing device is provided. The computing device includes a memory, at least one processor coupled to the memory and an action undo module executable by the processor. The action undo module is configured to receive user input requesting a target session of one or more sessions be undone. Each session of the one or more sessions includes at least one identifier of at least one tile that is affected by a respective action. The target session includes an identifier of a target action having affected one or more tiles identified in a collateral session of the one or more sessions. The collateral session includes an identifier of a collateral action. In one embodiment, the target session is lower in the first stack than the collateral session and the action undo module is configured to undo the collateral action and undo the target action.
US09972103B2
Some event ordering requirements can be determined based on continuous event processing queries. Other event ordering requirements can be determined based on distribution flow types being used to distribute events from event streams to node executing the queries. Events from event streams can be ordered according to ordering semantics that are based on a combination of all of these event ordering requirements. Additionally, virtual computing nodes can be associated with constraints, and computing processors can be associated with capabilities. Virtual computing nodes for processing event streams can be assigned to execute on various computing processors based on both these constraints and capabilities. Additionally, for each of several events in an event stream, a ratio between a total latency and a communication latency can be for determined. Based on an average of these ratios, a quantity of reducing nodes that will be involved in a map-reduce operation can be selected.
US09972100B2
A vehicular imaging system includes an imaging device having a single imaging sensor capturing image data within a field of view. A control within the vehicle includes an image processor and receives image data captured by the single imaging sensor and receives vehicle data via a communication bus of the vehicle. Responsive at least in part to image processing of captured image data, the control detects converging road features along the road the vehicle is travelling and determines a point of intersection where the converging road features would converge. Responsive at least in part to image processing of captured image data, the control automatically corrects for misalignment of the imaging device mounted at the vehicle.
US09972099B2
An operation assistance device includes a processor that executes a procedure. The procedure includes acquiring an operation image captured at each unit of operation in a linking operation to link a plurality of devices together, identifying positions, in the acquired operation image, of connection portions respectively provided at the plurality of devices, based on marker information included in the operation image, and based on design information of the plurality of devices, the design information including position information and a linkage state of the connection portions, executing image analysis processing on the identified positions of the connection portions to determine state of each connections made at each of the units of operation, based on a result of comparing a design image generated based on the design information and the operation image, and outputting information indicating a determination result to a display section.
US09972095B2
An image measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: an imaging device that images a workpiece to acquire an image of this workpiece; and a processing device that performs measurement of the workpiece based on this image and outputs a measurement result. Moreover, the processing device, based on the above-described image, generates another image whose number-of-pixels is smaller than that of the image, sets a plurality of regions based on this another image, and calculates the above-described measurement result based on these plurality of regions.
US09972093B2
A method for automatically detecting a region of interest in a digital medical image, comprising over-segmenting the image into a plurality of superpixels through use of an over-segmentation algorithm; for each pair of neighboring superpixels in the plurality of superpixels, computing, through a machine learning algorithm, the probability of each pair being in one of three predetermined classes; for each superpixel in the plurality of superpixels, computing a probability of the superpixel being in the region of interest; generating an edge map from computing each pixel's value based on the computed superpixel probabilities; applying an extended Hough transform to the generated edge map to generate a Hough parameter counting space; determining the optimal quadrilateral in the Hough parameter counting space by excluding false positive edges; and designating the region of interest as being within the boundary of the determined optimal quadrilateral.
US09972087B2
A quantitative determination method of a biological substance in a sample stained with a staining reagent comprising fluorescent particles each encapsulating a fluorescent substance and binding to a biological substance recognizing site. The method comprises inputting a fluorescent image obtained by photographing the sample, extracting a predetermined region from the fluorescent image to calculate an integrated luminance of the predetermined region, and counting the number of fluorescent particles contained in the predetermined region from the integrated luminance and the average luminance per fluorescent particle. The average luminance per fluorescent particle is calculated from a correlation between the number of fluorescent particles counted from an image of the fluorescent particles visualized and the luminance derived from fluorescent light from the fluorescent particles and calculated from a fluorescent image of a region identical to the region taken in the image from which the number of fluorescent particles is counted.
US09972069B2
There is provided a system and method for evaluation of cardiac images, wherein enhanced evaluation of myocardial mechanical function is possible. The system and methods include methods for segmentation of cardiac images obtained via cMRI or other imaging modalities, wherein the segmentation allows for fusion of these images with images obtained from a different modality such as echocardiogram and/or LE-MRI. The fused images may then be used to provide a diagnosis or a recommendation for a procedure, such as implantation of a cardiac pacemaker. Moreover, follow-up evaluation may be done using only one imaging modality, such as echocardiogram, for example. The system and methods disclosed herein further provide additional post-processing, such as computation of mid-myocardial strain, which can further be useful in diagnosis and planning.
US09972060B2
A method and system generates and compares sub-fingerprints for videos. Sub-fingerprints of a video provide representations of characteristics of portions of video content of the video. Sub-fingerprints can be used to determine whether a video includes video content of another video effectively. The video can include other video content to visually appear different from the other video. When a sub-fingerprint of the video matches a fingerprint of the other video, the video includes video content of the other video. Motions of video content of the video can be tracked to identify regions of video frames that include image content that includes motion. Sub-images can created and used to create sub-fingerprints of the video.
US09972056B2
Computer-implemented pet adoption systems, methods and computer program products improve the process of matching up prospective adopters with available animals by optimizing the number of pet profiles displayed to prospective adopters per page, providing authorized personal with different selectable rules for setting the order in which the animal profiles are displayed to the prospective adopter in order to work toward specific adoption goals of the animal shelter, and using historical usage and user-profile data to gauge the probability of adoption between a prospective adopter and the available animals. The probabilistic analysis is used for the purpose of ranking or filtering the pool of pet profiles in order to remove pets of lower adoption-probability from consideration or present them lower down in the displayed order of the profiles.
US09972052B2
The invention is directed to a method and system for providing an interface including modular customizable elements for implementation by a system user. The method and system have particular application for financial accounts, such as credit card accounts. The interface may adapt in response to user behaviors. However, the user may also customize features of the interface. Thus, a behavioral monitoring and analysis system is provided for monitoring account holder spending behaviors and analyzing the spending behaviors. Account holder customization tools may be presented to the account holders through a user interface, the account holder customization tools allowing account holders to modify a user interface display of account related parameters by inputting parameters into a computing system. An experience customization engine may be implemented by a processor for receiving input from both the behavioral monitoring and analysis system and the account holder customization tools.
US09972046B2
A method and system of conducting a mobile transaction with a kiosk management system operating a plurality of kiosks for requested items is provided. A consumer may possess a portable device configured to communicate with the kiosk management system such that the kiosk management system may provide requested items to a selected kiosk from the plurality of kiosks. The portable device may operate a mobile application to display a list of available kiosks providing the requested items for the consumer to select a kiosk to reserve the requested items at. The consumer may then use the portable device to interact with the selected kiosk to retrieve the requested items reserved at the selected kiosk.
US09972033B2
A distribution apparatus includes a receiving unit and a distributing unit. The receiving unit receives an acquisition request for a first content. The distributing unit distributes the first content displayed with a second content and control information that causes a region of the second content that does not overlap the first content to be displayed in a selectable state and causes a region of the second content overlapping the first content to be displayed so as to overlap the first content in a non-selectable state, when the acquisition request is received by the receiving unit.
US09972029B2
Disclosed is a method and system for selecting targeted advertisements based on a user's personal points of reference. The personal points of reference identify user specific locations of interest based at least on geographic locations. In order to determine which advertisements are relevant to a user's personal point of reference, the advertisements served by an advertising server contain metadata appended therein. The ad metadata is correlated with locations, and provides geographical sensitivity to specific locations. Thus, advertisements are matched to points of reference based on geo-location data. When the advertising server is presented with a user's personal point of reference, the ad server compiles the point of reference's geo-location data against the ad metadata, and determines if there is a match. Upon a match being identified, the advertisement associated with the ad metadata is served to the user.
US09972023B1
An e-commerce system is provided that tracks purchase transaction across multiple client devices. The e-commerce system stores hop information describing when a customer is exposed to a product of a vendor through an affiliate who advertises the vendor's products. The e-commerce system determines from the stored hop information which affiliate or affiliates to compensate for the sale of a product. This allows the e-commerce system to determine, after the sale, whether additional affiliates need to be compensated for the sale of the product based on the hop information.
US09972017B2
Method for tracking procedures performed on personal protection equipment and actions of individuals
A method for tracking procedures performed on personal protection equipment (PPE) and actions of individuals includes the following steps. An article of PPE configured with a smart tag is provided to an individual prior to performance of a task. After the individual performs the task, the article of PPE is processed. Information is retrieved from the smart tag during at least one of: before, during and after processing the article of PPE. After the performance of the task, the individual's data is read and the individual enters into a designated area.
US09972004B1
In some examples, by communicating with a mobile payment service, a user of a mobile device may settle his or her bill with a business using the mobile device. The business may be configured with a beacon to determine when the user's mobile device is near the business and a point-of-sale device to manage user orders and communicate with the mobile payment service. In response to a request by the mobile device, the mobile payment service may debit a user account associated with the mobile device for items purchased at the business. In turn, the mobile payment service may pay the business for the items purchased at the business. In some examples, the bill may be divided among a plurality of users corresponding to a plurality of mobile devices. And, portions of the bill may be provided to individual mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices.
US09971989B2
Inventory handlers can include one or more gripping elements connected with a gripping assembly. The gripping element or elements can be subjected to shear force when in contact with inventory items such that the anisotropically adhesive surface engages an inventory item with an adhesive force. Inventory systems can employ robotic inventory handlers as described to lift and displace inventory items using the adhesive force.
US09971985B2
Disclosed are a method and a system of a train based community, according to one embodiment. In one embodiment, a method includes forming a train track adjacent to a set of homes in a residential community, placing a boarding location in a property boundary of each one of the set of homes in the residential community, and routing the train track to a merchant in the residential community. A shopping cart is autonomously routed from at least one boarding location of the property boundary to the merchant based on a request of an occupier of a home associated with the property boundary.
US09971983B2
In a method of observing users of communication devices, a central computer system recognizes a first user associated with a first communication device and a second user associated with a second communication device. The central computer system observes a communication between the first communication device and the second communication device, wherein at least a portion of the communication is an audible communication. The central computer system relays the communication between the first communication device and the second communication device. The central computer system identifies features of the communication and makes the features available for decision making purposes.
US09971975B2
An optimized method, system, and apparatus for determining optimal DQS delay for DDR memory interfaces are disclosed. The method performs data eye training in a two dimensional space with time delay value as x-axis and reference voltage (Vref) as y-axis to determine a rectangular data eye within an overall data eye with Vref margin.
US09971965B2
One embodiment of the invention provides a system for mapping a neural network onto a neurosynaptic substrate. The system comprises a metadata analysis unit for analyzing metadata information associated with one or more portions of an adjacency matrix representation of the neural network, and a mapping unit for mapping the one or more portions of the matrix representation onto the neurosynaptic substrate based on the metadata information.
US09971962B2
The present disclosure includes a method and system for applying ink markings on a food product in such a manner to form a permanent marking thereon. The markings include text and graphics, and can include an advertisement, freshness information, traceability data, or other types of relevant information, or any combination thereof. The method preferably forms the markings on the food product while the product moves through a predetermined region of a food processing system. Preferably, the ink marking assembly is located above the food products to be marked and the products are marked while passing thereunder. The performance or characteristics of the marking device may be adjusted in response to selected characteristics of the food product, environmental conditions, processing conditions, compliance requirements, and the like, in order to optimize the marking process.
US09971954B2
In order to produce an image processing filter by utilizing genetic programming, a taught parameter acquiring unit acquires a taught parameter indicating a feature shape in an input image before processing. A data processing unit creates an output image by processing the input image with an image processing filter, and subsequently a feature extracting unit extracts a detected parameter indicating a feature shape in the output image. An automatic configuring unit evaluates the image processing filter by calculating cosine similarity between the taught parameter and the detected parameter.
US09971951B2
Method and apparatus for generating superpixel clusters A method and an apparatus (20) for generating a superpixel cluster for an image are described. A clustering unit (23) generates (10) an initial superpixel cluster based on an initial cluster center. The clustering unit (23) further generates (12) one or more further superpixel clusters based on one or more further cluster centers. A determining unit (24) determines (11) the one or more further cluster centers from the initial superpixel cluster. A merger (25) then merges (13) the initial superpixel cluster and the one or more further superpixel clusters to obtain the superpixel cluster for the image.
US09971943B2
A vehicle 1 towing a trailer 4 is fitted with three video cameras 5, 6, 7 fitted to the rear of the vehicle and on each door mirror. A view from any camera can be presented to the driver on a display 11. A predicted trailer path, calculated in a computing unit 10, is also presented to the driver on the display 11 as guide lines overlaid on the camera view. The computing unit 10 is also configured to calculate a hitch angle by tracking the position of a trailer-mounted marker in the camera view.
US09971937B1
Exemplary embodiments for a biometric camera system for a mobile device, comprise: a near infrared (NIR) light source on the mobile device that flashes a user of the mobile device with near infrared light during image capture; a biometric camera located on the mobile device offset from the NIR light source, the biometric camera comprising: an extended depth of field (EDOF) imaging lens; a bandpass filter located adjacent to the EDOF imaging lens to reject ambient light during image capture; and an imaging sensor located adjacent the bandpass filter that converts an optical image of an object into an electronic signal for image processing; and a processor configured to receive video images of an iris of a user from the image sensor, and attempt to match the video images of the iris with previously registered images stored in an iris database, wherein if a match is found, the user is authenticated.
US09971935B1
Currency bills are transported past an image scanner to one or more output receptacles. Each of the bills is imaged to produce image data from which a visually readable image of each bill can be reproduced. The serial number, denomination, and/or secondary identifiers of a bill is attempted to be extracted and/or determined from the image data associated with the bill. The serial number of the bill has an integer number, X, of characters. One or more of the X characters of the serial number of the currency bill is not extracted with a predetermined confidence. In response to failing to extract all of the X characters of the serial number of the bill with the predetermined confidence, a serial number field in an electronic record associated with the bill is populated with a serial number snippet image. The electronic record is stored in a non-transitory memory.
US09971934B2
A method for partially occluded object detection includes obtaining a response map for a detection window of an input image, the response map based on a trained model and including a root layer and a parts layer. The method includes determining visibility flags for each root cell of the root layer and each part of the parts layer. The visibility flag is one of visible or occluded. The method includes determining an occlusion penalty for each root cell with a visibility flag of occluded and for each part with a visibility flag of occluded. The occlusion penalty is based on a location of the root cell or the part with respect to the detection window. The method determines a detection score for the detection window based on the visibility flags and the occlusion penalties and generates an estimated visibility map for object detection based on the detection score.
US09971932B2
This invention regards a method of key-fingerprint visualization that is unique, reproducible, and nearly impossible to forge which aims to improve the usability of crypto-systems by creating a visual representation of the key-fingerprint as a face. First, the cryptographic identification (either PKI or fingerprint) is converted into a standardized format. Then, the standardized cryptographic identification information is segmented into smaller parts. Each of the parts is pragmatically translated to facial features. Thus, an image of a face is produced from the original cryptographic identification information.
US09971931B2
Apparatus, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for segmentation, processing (e.g., preprocessing and/or postprocessing), and/or feature extraction from tissue images such as, for example, images of nuclei and/or cytoplasm. Tissue images processed by various embodiments described herein may be generated by Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining, immunofluorescence (IF) detection, immunohistochemistry (IHC), similar and/or related staining processes, and/or other processes. Predictive features described herein may be provided for use in, for example, one or more predictive models for treating, diagnosing, and/or predicting the occurrence (e.g., recurrence) of one or more medical conditions such as, for example, cancer or other types of disease.
US09971927B2
In one aspect, a method for registering a fingerprint profile on a mobile device includes detecting, at a fingerprint detection module having a rectangular shape, a contact from a finger associated with a swipe motion. The method includes responsive to the detected contact at the fingerprint detection module having a rectangular shape, capturing an image of the finger during the swipe motion. The method includes storing the image of the finger captured during the swipe motion as a registered fingerprint profile of an authorized user.
US09971921B2
The present disclosure provides a fingerprint image sensor and a method for optical wireless communications using the same. The fingerprint image sensor includes: a backlight plate; an image sensor unit, disposed above the backlight plate; and a protection layer, disposed above the image sensor substrate; wherein the fingerprint image sensor is configured to operate at least in a transmitting mode and a receiving mode, where in the transmitting mode, the backlight plate is turned on and configured to emit lights with different optical characteristics representing coded information, and in the receiving mode, the backlight plate is turned off and the image sensor unit senses external lights and convert the external lights to electric signals. The present disclosure further provides methods for transmitting and receiving information using the fingerprint image sensor. Accordingly, the fingerprint image sensor can work as a transceiver to realize optical wireless communications.
US09971919B1
Systems and methods for adaptively optimizing RFID-based POS performance are described. In various aspects, one or more processors and one or more image sensors are configured to aggregate images, where the images are captured by the image sensor(s) and where the image sensor(s) are associated with an RFID reader. A first density value and a second density value may be determined based on the image(s), where each of the first density value and the second density value is associated with a respective a first or second set of individuals, or a first or second set of products, located within a respective first and second POS lane. The second POS lane is positioned adjacent to the first POS lane. The first density value and the second density value are used to update a reader parameter associated with the RFID reader to optimize the RFID reader.
US09971917B2
A high speed tabletop and industrial printer is disclosed with integrated high speed RFID encoding and verification at the same time. The industrial printer simultaneously prints on and electronically encodes/verifies RFID labels, tags, and/or stickers attached to a continuous web. The industrial printer comprises a lighted sensor array for indexing the printing to the RFID tags; and a cutter powered from the industrial printer for cutting the web that the RFID tags are disposed on. The industrial printer comprises two RFID reader/writers that are individually controlled. Specifically, one of the RFID reader/writers comprises the ability to electronically encode the RFID tags while the web is moving; and the second RFID reader/writer uses an additional RFID module and antenna on the printer for verifying the data encoded to the RFID tags. Further, the printer also comprises a quick release cover with thumbscrews that allow for easy removal.
US09971910B2
A system and method for operating multiple security domains on one circuit card assembly, using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with an embedded security domain separation gate providing the MAC between multiple soft-core CPUs also embedded in the FPGA. In one embodiment, the FPGA is segregated into two or more security domains with no data paths between soft-core CPUs in each security domain except through the security domain separation gate. The security domain separation gate applies rules to any information to be transmitted between the security domains to avoid transmission of malicious content and to avoid transmission of information of a certain classification level or type to a security domain at a lower classification level or type.
US09971909B2
A processor capable of secure execution. The processor contains an execution unit and secure partition logic that secures a partition in memory. The processor also contains cryptographic logic coupled to the execution unit that encrypts and decrypts secure data and code.
US09971905B2
One embodiment is a system for implementing context-aware access control of data in a relational database system. The system includes a memory having computer readable instructions and one or more processors for executing the computer readable instructions. According to the computer readable instructions, a request is received to access one or more tables of a database. Further according to the computer readable instructions, a context-aware access control, defined for at least a portion of the one or more tables, is identified. It is verified that the context-aware access control is satisfied. Access to the at least a portion of the one or more tables is permitted, responsive to verifying that the context-aware access control is satisfied.
US09971901B2
A content management apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention associates content information on content with group information on a user participation group in a posting management service that approves control for the content, and stores the associated information. The apparatus then acquires group information on the user participation group from the posting management service, upon receipt of a content control request. The apparatus determines whether or not the requested control is to be approved, based on the acquired group information and the group information stored in association with the content information on the content. This configuration allows the content management apparatus for managing the content to control access authorization according to setting of the group in the posting management service.
US09971896B2
Source code of a plurality of web pages including script code is statically analyzed. A page including a potential vulnerability is identified based on the static analysis. A page not including a potential vulnerability is identified based on the static analysis. The web page including the potential vulnerability is dynamically analyzed using a set of test payloads. The page not including the potential vulnerability is dynamically analyzed using a subset of the set of test payloads, the subset including fewer test payloads than the set of test payloads.
US09971892B2
The present invention provides a method for scanning information to be scanned in a computer device, the information to be scanned needing multiple scans, and the method comprising the steps of: a. determining a delay duration from the end of a scan for the information to be scanned to the start of a next scan according to current performance information about the CPU of the computer device; and b. scanning the information to be scanned according to the delay duration. According to the solution of the present invention, by determining a delay duration from the end of a scan for the information to be scanned to the start of a next scan according to current performance information about the CPU of a computer device, and scanning according to the delay duration, problems such as slow running due to high occupancy ratio of CPU resources during scanning can be avoided.
US09971891B2
Methods, systems, and media for detecting covert malware are provided. In accordance with some embodiments, a method for detecting covert malware in a computing environment is provided, the method comprising: receiving a first set of user actions; generating a second set of user actions based on the first set of user actions and a model of user activity; conveying the second set of user actions to an application inside the computing environment; determining whether state information of the application matches an expected state after the second set of user actions is conveyed to the application; and determining whether covert malware is present in the computing environment based at least in part on the determination.
US09971889B2
Devices and nodes associated with a vehicle may communicate using a higher-level, common messaging protocol over an ad-hoc network to publish and subscribe to services, even though different nodes may utilize different types of links and channels. The network includes a rules node that is fixedly connected to the vehicle and that stores a set of rules. Given a possible publisher, subscriber, and/or a service, a node action is allowed or denied based on the set of rules. The rules may be generated or updated based on priorities, security levels, and/or characteristics of publishers, subscribers, their respective users, and/or services; a current dynamic condition; and/or user input. The rules node and at least one other node may be transported by the vehicle, and both transported nodes and nodes external to the vehicle may use the common messaging protocol to join the ad-hoc network, discover other nodes, authenticate, and publish/consume services.
US09971888B2
A system and method for protecting against the unauthorized use of operating system level commands is disclosed. The system includes a computer module including: a processor configured for performing data operations; a memory unit configured to store instructions executable by the processor; and an operating system module for supporting basic functions of the computer module, such as scheduling tasks, executing applications, and controlling peripherals. A virtual keyboard is connected to the computer module for creating one or more events or sequences of events recognizable by the operating system module. A system level command filter module is provided for filtering system level commands from the one or more recognizable events or sequences of events.
US09971887B2
A method for determining a password strength is provided. The method may include receiving a user-entered password. The method may also include identifying a keyboard layout type associated with a keyboard utilized to enter the received user-entered password. The method may further include mapping each character within a plurality of characters in the received user-entered password to a corresponding location on a grid associated with the identified keyboard layout type. The method may also include determining a coordinate sequence associated with the received user-entered password based on the mapped plurality of characters. The method may further include applying a pattern recognition algorithm to the determined coordinate sequence. The method may also include determining a password strength based on the applied pattern recognition algorithm.
US09971878B2
The disclosed computer-implemented method for handling fraudulent uses of brands may include (1) enabling a subscriber of a brand-protection service to select an action to perform when a fraudulent use of a brand is detected in Internet traffic that is transmitted via any of a plurality of Internet-traffic chokepoints that are managed by the brand-protection service, (2) monitoring, at each of the plurality of Internet-traffic chokepoints, Internet traffic for fraudulent uses of brands, (3) detecting, while monitoring the Internet traffic, the fraudulent use of the brand, and (4) performing the action in response to detecting the fraudulent use of the brand. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09971876B2
An electronic device, a system and a method for diet management based on image analysis are provided. The system includes a computer and a database. The computer comprises a processor for performing the following operations: capturing at least one diet image via an image capture device; pre-processing the at least one diet image so as to obtain at least one diet region from the at least one diet image and obtain at least one detailed food segment from the diet region; extracting at least one diet image feature from the at least one detailed food segment; determining a diet type of the at least one detailed food segment based on the at least one diet image feature; and providing a personal diet characteristic analysis based on the diet type and an area of the at least one detailed food segment.
US09971875B2
An automated medication dispensing system is disclosed. The system includes a memory configured to store identifying information for at least one item. The identifying information includes an indicator associated with at least one specific feature of the at least one item. The system also includes a processor configured to dispense the at least one item to a user, an output module configured to display the identifying information for the at least one item, and an input device configured to receive, from the user, input indicating that the user has verified that the dispensed item has the same identifying information as the identifying information displayed by the output module. Handheld devices, bedside administration systems, methods, and machine-readable mediums are also disclosed.
US09971874B2
A method including obtaining a first motion signal segment sensed by a motion sensor worn on a user's wrist or forearm; detecting the user performed a first action based on the first motion signal segment; obtaining a second motion signal segment sensed by the motion sensor, wherein the second motion signal segment was sensed by the motion sensor after the first motion signal segment; detecting the user performed a second action based on the second motion signal segment and in response to the detection of the first action; determining that a first medication was taken by the user based on the detection of the second action; and, in response to the determination that the first medication was taken by the user, causing presentation of an indication to the user or transmitting an indication to an external device that the first medication was taken by the user.
US09971872B2
A computer program product for managing diagnostic information is disclosed. The computer program product may include creating a data space in volatile memory. The data space may be configured to collect a selected diagnostic information. The selected diagnostic information may include a first diagnostic information from a first source and a second diagnostic information from a second source. The computer program product may include collecting in the data space the selected diagnostic information. The computer program product may include releasing from the data space at least a portion of the selected diagnostic information in response to a triggering event.
US09971871B2
A system and method for providing updates to medical devices is disclosed. In one example, the medical devices are configured to pull update files in response to the reception of an update message from a server. Once the update files are downloaded by a medical device, the update files can be installed. While the medical device pulls the update files, the medical device can continue with its normal operation. If desired, a user can select which medical devices should be updated, based on any desired factors, such as the physical location of the device, the model of the device, the type of device, and the way the device is being used.
US09971853B2
Example systems and methods for virtual visualization of a three-dimensional (3D) model of an object in a two-dimensional (2D) environment. The method may include superimposing a first 3D model of an object onto the 2D environment, and replacing the first 3D model of the object with a second 3D model of an object. Further, the method may include superimposing a smart 3D model of an object onto the 2D environment. Additionally, the method may include a code or mark to identify images of the 2D environment to which 3D models of objects have been superimposed.
US09971849B2
An aspect of this invention is a method that includes receiving input data from an application. The input data includes information descriptive of at least one field. The method further includes processing the input data to form an array composed of legal data for the at least one field. The array is formed by merging a result of processing syntactic constraints and a result of processing semantic constraints. The method further includes outputting the array to the application. A system for performing the method is also described, as is a computer program product that can be used to execute the method.
US09971842B2
A system and method for deriving income from URL based context queries. A URL based user context query is received over a network from a user, wherein the user context comprises at least one user context criteria. A query is formulated based on the context criteria so as to search for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data, topical data and context query bid data that is available via the network and relates to the context so as to identify entries in a context query bid database that relate to user context criteria. A dynamic webpage is generated having content relating to the query and advertisements associated with the selected bid are inserted into the webpage. The dynamic webpage is transmitted to the user. The advertiser associated with the selected bid is charged a fee when a user interface event relating to the dynamic webpage occurs.
US09971820B2
A distributed database system (or federated database system) comprises a constituent database management system (DMBS), an accelerator system and a single interface. The accelerator system creates a data container in accordance with structural features identified by the accelerator system and stores data in the data container. The constituent database system supplements incomplete metadata associated with the data container to create complete metadata descriptive of the namespace and structure of the data container created by the accelerator system.
US09971809B1
The disclosed computer-implemented method for searching unstructured documents for structured data may include (1) receiving a request to search unstructured documents for a document that contains data (e.g., sensitive data) from a structured dataset, (2) generating a secure search index (e.g., a Bloom filter) for searching the unstructured documents for the sensitive data, (3) extracting a first token and a second token from an unstructured document, (4) generating a hashed key from the first token and the second token, (5) querying the secure search index to determine whether the second hashed key is contained in the secure search index, and (6) responding, upon determining that the second hashed key is contained in the secure search index, to the request with information about the unstructured document. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09971807B2
A multi-process interactive system is described. The system includes numerous processes running on a processing device. The processes include separable program execution contexts of application programs, such that each application program comprises at least one process. The system translates events of each process into data capsules. A data capsule includes an application-independent representation of event data of an event and state information of the process originating the content of the data capsule. The system transfers the data messages into pools or repositories. Each process operates as a recognizing process, where the recognizing process recognizes in the pools data capsules comprising content that corresponds to an interactive function of the recognizing process and/or an identification of the recognizing process. The recognizing process retrieves recognized data capsules from the pools and executes processing appropriate to contents of the recognized data capsules.
US09971806B2
It is provided a method and system for supporting imperative graphic queries on a relational database, the method comprising: parsing an imperative graphic query into operations of execution plans; translating operations of execution plans which are supported by the relational database into common table expression queries; and executing the translated common table expression queries on the relational database.
US09971790B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for generating descriptive text for images. In one aspect, a method includes identifying a set of seed descriptors for an image in a document that is hosted on a website. For each seed descriptor, structure information is generated that specifies a structure of the document with respect to the image and the seed descriptor. One or more templates are generated for each seed descriptor using the structure information for the seed descriptor. Each template can include image location information, document structure information, image feature information, and a generative rule that generates descriptive text for other images in other documents. Descriptive text for other images is generated using the templates and the other documents. The descriptive text is associated with the images.
US09971785B1
A method for performing distributed data replication from a source cluster of nodes to a destination cluster of nodes includes electing a master file management instance and slave file management instances for the source cluster of nodes, identifying a set of files to be replicated, assigning the identified set of files to the master file management instance and the slave file management instances, processing the identified set of files by the master file management instance and the slave file management instances and performing replication on the processed set of files by file replication instances corresponding to the master and slave file management instances at the source cluster of nodes.
US09971782B2
Techniques for managing big data include tagging of documents and subsequent retrieval using per-subject dictionaries having entries with some entries specially designated as entities. An entity indicates that the term in the entry has special meaning, e.g., brands (trademarks/service marks), trade names, geographic identifiers or other classes of terms. A dictionary may include a non-entity entry for a term and one or more entity entries, for different entity types. The entries may also include subject-determining-power scores. The subject-determining-power scores provide an indication of the descriptive power of the term with respect to the subject of the dictionary containing the term. The same term may have entries in multiple dictionaries with different subject-determining-power scores in each of the dictionaries. The entity distinctions for a term can then be used in tagging documents and processing retrieval requests.
US09971779B2
In a system automatically processing data from a first computing device for use on a second computing device, a registry file including a plurality of filename parameters is read. Each filename parameter identifies a matching filename pattern, an extract script indicator, and a read file indicator. The extract script indicator indicates an extract script for a file having a filename that matches the matching filename pattern. The read file indicator indicates how to read the file having the filename that matches the matching filename pattern. One parameter of the plurality of filename parameters is selected by matching a filename of a source file to the matching filename pattern of the one parameter. The associated extract script is selected and used to read data from the source file using the associated read file indicator and the read data is output to a different file and in a different format.
US09971778B2
Techniques are described herein that are capable of translating programming language patterns into database schema patterns. Examples of a programming language pattern include but are not limited to a source code pattern, an intermediate language code pattern, metadata associated with a source code pattern, metadata associated with an intermediate language code pattern, or any combination thereof. The programming language patterns may define objects that are included in an object model. Database schema patterns that define a database are automatically (e.g., inferentially) created based on respective programming language patterns that define objects of an object model. The programming language patterns are automatically mapped to the respective database schema patterns.
US09971774B2
Methods and systems for searching for media items using a voice-based digital assistant are described. Natural language text strings corresponding to search queries are provided. The search queries include query terms. The text strings may correspond to speech inputs input by a user into an electronic device. At least one information source is searched to identify at least one parameter associated with at least one of the query terms. The parameters include at least one of a time parameter, a date parameter, or a geo-code parameter. The parameters are compared to tags of media items to identify matches. In some implementations, media items whose tags match the parameter are presented to the user.
US09971771B2
The present invention provides a method and system for identifying, retrieving and presenting electronic documents responsive to user queries. The three distinct inventive concepts are relevancy ranking of responsive documents based on component query technique; cross-lingual searching; and search expansion using analytics of initial results to derive and generate a modified query. Each of these inventions enhances document search and retrieval systems and the three solutions may be used separately or in any combination. The three inventions apply in layers above an underlying search system, controlling the submission of requests to the underlying system in support of received search requests, typically originating with an end user.Invention (I) involves use of either of two general types of enhanced OR operator that may be offered by the underlying search system. Processing of the content domain informs automated generation of elaborated queries using these operators for submitting to such an underlying system so as to yield improved relevance ranking.Invention (II) introduces a cross-lingual search-term suggestion capability driven by the structured data being searched, requiring no dictionaries or thesauri and no rule-based or statistical language modeling.Invention (III) introduces a semantic-expansion capability specifically utilizing the availability of language independent fields in the data being searched with natural language query terms. This invention is enhanced by incorporating the preceding two inventions.
US09971766B2
A method, system, and computer program product provide a conversation agent to process natural language queries expressed by a user and perform commands according to the derived intention of the user. A natural language processing (NLP) engine derives intent using conditional random fields to identify a domain and at least one task embodied in the query. The NLP may further identify one or more subdomains, and one or more entities related to the identified command. A template system creates a data structure for information relevant to the derived intent and passes a template to a services manager for interfacing with one or more services capable of accomplishing the task. A dialog manager may elicit more entities from the user if required by the services manager and otherwise engage in conversation with the user. In one embodiment, the conversational agent allows a user to engage in multiple conversations simultaneously.
US09971765B2
Techniques for improved speech recognition disclosed herein include applying a statistical language model to a free-text input utterance to obtain a plurality of candidate word sequences for automatic speech recognition of the input utterance, each of the plurality of candidate word sequences having a corresponding initial score generated by the statistical language model. For one or more of the plurality of candidate word sequences, each of the one or more candidate word sequences may be analyzed to generate one or more hypotheses for a semantic class of at least one token in the respective candidate word sequence. The initial scores generated by the statistical language model for at least the one or more candidate word sequences may be revised based at least in part on the one or more hypotheses for the semantic class of the at least one token in each of the one or more candidate word sequences.
US09971764B2
A method for identifying concepts in a plurality of interactions includes: filtering, on a processor, the interactions based on intervals; creating, on the processor, a plurality of sentences from the filtered interactions; computing, on the processor, a saliency of each the sentences; pruning away, on the processor, sentences with low saliency for generating a set of informative sentences; clustering, on the processor, the sentences of the set of informative sentences for generating a plurality of sentence clusters, each of the clusters corresponding to a concept of the concepts; computing, on the processor, a saliency of each of the clusters; and naming, on the processor, each of the clusters.
US09971762B2
There is provided a system and a method for detecting meaningless lexical units in a text message, the method comprising: performing a syntax analysis of the text message and determining at least one lexical unit as a first potential meaningless lexical unit; determining a control sum of the first potential meaningless lexical unit; matching using a first parameter, the first potential meaningless lexical unit with lexical units from a plurality of lexical units from a lexical units database, wherein matching using the first parameter comprises matching a control sum of the first potential meaningless lexical unit with control sums of meaningless lexical units from the lexical units database; determining the first potential meaningless lexical unit is a meaningless lexical unit if the lexical units database includes at least one meaningless lexical unit with a control sum corresponding to the control sum of the first potential meaningless lexical unit.
US09971758B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for natural language processing. One of the methods includes receiving a first voice input from a user device; generating a first recognition output; receiving a user selection of one or more terms in the first recognition output; receiving a second voice input spelling a correction of the user selection; determining a corrected recognition output for the selected portion; and providing a second recognition output that merges the first recognition output and the corrected recognition output.
US09971757B2
The present disclosure relates to a syntax parsing apparatus based on syntax preprocessing and a method thereof. In specific, the present disclosure parses syntaxes that can be parsed by rules and patterns without ambiguity by syntax parsing preprocessing, draws all possible syntax parsing results by applying syntax rules based on a result of syntax parsing preprocessing in which ambiguity is partially resolved, and resolves structural ambiguity by applying a statistic syntax parsing model learned from a syntax tree attachment learning corpus so as to reduce ambiguity in rule-based syntax parsing and to resolve ambiguity by a statistics-based scheme so that parsing correctness and processing efficiency in a syntax parsing method can be enhanced.
US09971751B1
Multiple versions of a service can be supported by taking advantage of the fact that version information can be included in any received request. Multiple templates may be stored, with each template being associated with a particular version of the service. There may also be multiple templates associated with each version of a service for various response types. Using the version information, an appropriate template can be determined up front to be used for the response. An instance of the template can be filled in using appropriate data sources, as may be specified using metadata in the template itself. Once the instance of the template is filled, the response can be finalized and sent.
US09971737B2
A first food ingredient may be received. The first food ingredient may comprise a first plurality of chemical constituents. A plurality of candidate food ingredient substitutes may be received. Each candidate food ingredient substitute may comprise a second plurality of chemical constituents. For each of the plurality of candidate food ingredient substitutes, a quantity of the second plurality of chemical constituents that match the first plurality of chemical constituents may be determined. One or more food ingredient substitutes may be identified based on at least the quantity of the second plurality of chemical constituents that match the first plurality of chemical constituents.
US09971736B2
Embodiments include performing sparse matrix-matrix multiplication. Aspects include receiving a first matrix and a second matrix, providing a pseudo-space for the first and second matrices, and defining pseudo-space segments and assigning the pseudo-space segments to certain processes. Aspects also include assigning matrix elements of the first and second matrix to pseudo-space segments using a midpoint method thereby assigning the matrix elements to processes associated with the pseudo-space segments, assigning a result matrix element of a result matrix to a pseudo-space segment using a midpoint method thereby assigning the result matrix element to a further process associated with the pseudo-space segment and transmitting matrix elements of the first and second matrix required to establish a result matrix element to the further process which processes the result matrix element. Aspects further include performing a multiplication procedure by the further process based on the received matrix elements of the first and second matrix.
US09971735B2
A system for retrieving stored data includes memory and a processor. The memory stores a first matrix, A, having dimensions n×d, a first sparse matrix, R, and a second sparse matrix, S. The processor receives an input value, k, corresponding to a selected rank to generate a second matrix, AR, by multiplying the first matrix, A, by the first sparse matrix, R. The second matrix, AT, has dimensions n×t. The processor generates a third matrix, SA, by multiplying the second sparse matrix, S, by the first matrix, A. The third matrix, SA, has dimensions t′×n, and the processor generates a fourth matrix, (SAR)−, by calculating a Moore-Penrose pseudo-inverse of a matrix, (SAR), and approximating the first matrix, A by generating a fifth matrix, Ã, the fifth matrix defined as AR×(SAR)−×SA.
US09971733B1
A multichip package having a main die coupled to one or more daughter dies is provided. The main die may include embedded universal interface blocks (UIB) each of which can be used to interface with a corresponding daughter die to support high bandwidth parallel or serial communications. Each UIB may include an integrated processor subsystem and associated pattern sequencing logic to perform interface initialization and margining operations. Each UIB may perform simultaneous accesses to a daughter die across one or more channels. Each UIB may also include multiple phase-locked loop circuits for providing different clock signals to different portions of the UIB and a 2× clock phase generation logic. Each UIB may include multiple IO modules, each of which may optionally include its own duty cycle correction circuit. Each IO module may include buffer circuits, each of which may have a de-emphasis control logic for adjusting buffer drive strength.
US09971729B2
A power conversion device is configured to convert power-over-Ethernet (PoE) power to universal serial bus (USB) power to yield a USB charging port. The conversion device can conform to a number of modular and/or portable form factors, allowing existing Ethernet data ports to be easily converted to USB charging ports. Embodiments include a modular conversion device configured to mount in a window of an existing wall plate as a replacement for an unused Ethernet data port, and a portable conversion device that can be plugged into an existing Ethernet data port. The conversion device receives PoE power from the Ethernet network, converts the PoE power to an appropriate USB standard, and delivers the power to an integrated USB charging port.
US09971728B2
A connection system includes a flippable cable connector (7) for connecting wires in a cable (5) to a complementary host connector located at a host device (4), the cable connector having a set of cable terminals and a set of duplicate cable terminals corresponding to the set of cable terminals, and configured to be located symmetrically to the set of cable terminals, so that the connector has 180° rotational symmetry. A particular cable terminal (9) is connected to a particular wire (11) in the cable but the corresponding duplicate cable terminal (12) is not connected to it. The cable connector is connectable to the host connector such that either the set of cable terminals or the set of duplicate cable terminals is connected to host terminals of the host connector. The system includes means (18) for determining an orientation of the cable connector relative to the host connector.
US09971727B2
A universal I/O interposer system for processing an I/O signal transmitted between an I/O field device and a controller, the system includes a base connected between the field device and the controller and a number of connector halves attached to the base. An interposer circuit carrier includes a corresponding connector half and includes a signal processing circuit for processing an I/O signal being transmitted between an I/O field device and a controller. An interposer circuit carrier can be changed without disconnecting the base from the field device or controller.
US09971721B2
A method for controlling performance of an electronic device is provided. The method includes sensing user input, predicting user input speed, and controlling at least one processing unit of the electronic device based on a predicted user input speed and performance assignment information. Here, the performance assignment information includes control information mapped respectively with user input speeds for controlling the at least one processing unit of the electronic device.
US09971714B2
Many devices may comprise interfaces, such as serial interfaces, over which configuration and/or enablement/disablement of device features may be provided to the device. Connecting a computer to individual devices for manual configuration may be cumbersome and/or time consuming. Accordingly, as provided herein, a device interfacing component (e.g., a microcontroller integrated into an interface cable) is configured to couple to a target device. The device interfacing component may receive data streams from the target device, and may match strings, within the data streams, to expressions. If a string matches an expression (e.g., “F5 for IP setup”), then a corresponding scripted response may be executed to send a response instruction (F5, wait 10 seconds, enter key, “192,168.0.1”) to the target device. In this way, the device interfacing component may provide automated configuration for the target device and/or may be daisy chained with other device interfacing components for configuration of other target devices.
US09971712B2
A method for operating an electronic device is provided. In the method, an electronic cover is connected. Configuration information of the electronic cover is obtained. A User Interface (UI) corresponding to the configuration information is set. Various other embodiments are also possible.
US09971710B2
Embodiments are directed to optimizing data transfers between heterogeneous memory arenas. In one scenario, a computer system receives an indication that a data chunk is to be transferred from a first memory arena to a third memory arena, and then determines that for the data chunk to be transferred from the first memory arena to the third arena, the data chunk is to be transferred from the first memory arena to a second memory arena, and from the second memory arena to the third memory arena. The computer system divides the data chunk into smaller data portions and copies a first data portion from the first memory arena to the second memory arena. The computer system then copies the first data portion from the second memory arena to the third memory arena and copies a second data portion from the first memory arena to the second memory arena in parallel.
US09971708B2
Described is a method and apparatus for application migration between a dockable device and a docking station in a seamless manner. The dockable device includes a processor and the docking station includes a high-performance processor. The method includes determining a docking state of a dockable device while at least an application is running. Application migration from the dockable device to a docking station is initiated when the dockable device is moving to a docked state. Application migration from the docking station to the dockable device is initiated when the dockable device is moving to an undocked state. The application continues to run during the application migration from the dockable device to the docking station or during the application migration from the docking station to the dockable device.
US09971705B2
Embodiments of apparatuses and methods including virtual address memory range registers are disclosed. In one embodiment, a processor includes a memory interface, address translation hardware, and virtual memory address comparison hardware. The memory interface is to access a system memory using a physical memory address. The address translation hardware is to support translation of a virtual memory address to the physical memory address. The virtual memory address is used by software to access a virtual memory location in the virtual memory address space of the processor. The virtual memory address comparison hardware is to determine whether the virtual memory address is within a virtual memory address range.
US09971704B2
Methods, apparatus and design structures are provided for improving resource utilization by data compression accelerators. An exemplary apparatus for compressing data comprises a plurality of hardware data compression accelerators and a hash table shared by the plurality of hardware data compression accelerators. Each of the plurality of hardware data compression accelerators optionally comprises a first-in-first-out buffer that stores one or more input phrases. The hash table optionally records a location in the first-in-first-out buffers where a previous instance of an input phrase is stored. The plurality of hardware data compression accelerators can simultaneously access the hash table. For example, the hash table optionally comprises a plurality of input ports for simultaneous access of the hash table by the plurality of hardware data compression accelerators. A design structure for a data compression accelerator system is also disclosed.
US09971703B2
Technologies for persistent memory pointer access include a computing device having a persistent memory including one or more nonvolatile regions. The computing device may load a persistent memory pointer having a static region identifier, a segment identifier, and an offset from the persistent memory. The computing device may map the static region identifier to a dynamic region identifier and determine a virtual memory address of the persistent memory pointer target based on the dynamic region identifier, the segment identifier, and the offset. The computing device may load an in-storage representation of a persistent-export pointer from the persistent memory, map the in-storage representation to a runtime representation, and determine a target address of a persistent external data object based on the runtime representation. The computing device may include a compiler to generate output code including persistent memory pointer and/or persistent-export pointer accesses. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09971700B2
A processing device includes a cache implementing a set of at least three cache slices. Each cache slice is to store a corresponding set of cache lines. The cache further includes cache control logic coupled to the set of at least three cache slices. The cache control logic is to map addresses of an address space to the cache such that each address within the address space maps to a corresponding strict subset of two or more cache slices of the set of cache slices.
US09971698B2
A method includes, in a computing system in which one or more workloads access memory pages in a memory, defining multiple memory-page lists, and specifying for each memory-page list a respective different scanning period. Access frequencies, with which the memory pages are accessed, are estimated continually by periodically checking the memory pages on each memory-page list in accordance with the scanning period specified for that memory-page list, and re-assigning the memory pages to the memory-page lists based on the estimated access frequencies. One or more of the memory pages are evicted from the memory based on a history of assignments of the memory pages to the memory-page lists.
US09971694B1
In an embodiment, a processor may implement an access map-pattern match (AMPM)-based prefetch circuit with features designed to improve prefetching accuracy and/or reduce power consumption. In an embodiment, the prefetch circuit may be configured to detect that pointer reads are occurring (e.g. “pointer chasing.”) The prefetch circuit may be configured to increase the frequency at which prefetch requests are generated for an access map in which pointer read activity is detected, compared to the frequency at which the prefetch requests would be generated in the pointer read activity is not generated. In an embodiment, the prefetch circuit may also detect access maps that are store-only, and may reduce the frequency of prefetches for store only access maps as compared to the frequency of load-only or load/store maps.
US09971674B2
A computer-implemented method, computer program product, and system is provided for testing software. In an implementation, a method may include executing at least one test group during testing of a software application in a multi-platform testing environment. The method may also include detecting an error in the software application based upon, at least in part, execution of the at least one test group. The method may further include resolving the error during execution of the at least one test group in the multi-platform testing environment.
US09971672B2
Techniques for using emulation to disassociate verification from stimulus in functional test are described. In one approach, a computer stores first data representing an initial state of an application and second data representing the same initial state of a model application, wherein the model application models expected behavior of the application. The computer selects actions for the application to perform and causes both the application and the model application to perform the actions. The computer updates the first and second data to represent the state of both the application and the model application after performing the actions. The computer then compares the first and second data to determine whether both refer to the same state. In response to a determination that the first data and the second data do not refer to the same state, the computer stores data indicating a test failure.
