US08732166B1
A strategy is described for delivering requested books to users along with customized bookmarks or other functional objects. An exemplary bookmark can include various informational items, including an informational item that describes the delivered book, an informational item that rates the desired book, an informational item that recommends one or more other books based on various factors, and an informational item that provides a call-to-action. The call-to-action encourages the user to access an electronic service to review the delivered book, purchase one or more additional books, or take some other action. The electronic service can provide accounting which identifies and registers user actions that are motivationally linked to the information imparted by the bookmarks.
US08732163B2
System, method, computer program product embodiments and combinations and sub-combinations thereof for tuning query execution performance in a database management system are described. In an aspect, query optimization in a database management system (DBMS) with memory I/O (input/output) awareness includes determining compensated physical I/O (PIO) values indicative of memory I/O operations, including an approximate cache occupancy level, of an executing query in a DBMS, and utilizing the compensated PIO values as feedback to a query optimizer of the DBMS for optimization of future query execution.
US08732161B2
Architecture and its implementation of an event-based media management system and method are disclosed. A generic model for events is used for developing architecture for media management, called Eventcentric Media Management (EMMa) system. The system focuses on event experiences and provides flexible functionality for media management. The system and method analyze cross-media files for features to extract atomic events and apply algorithms to cluster files including similar or related features. Thus, the EMMa system allows unified media indexing of multiple media types, better abstraction of the real world, use of context, media processing operations to compute and store features and tags, and a more intuitive support for multiple users. It provides environments for querying and browsing media related to events and authoring of multimedia presentations for sharing with other individuals.
US08732160B2
A method and a system are provided for exploring a large textual data set via interactive aggregation. In one example, the method includes receiving the large textual data set and an original query template, building an index for the query template, wherein the building the index comprises ordering the index a particular way to optimize query time, receiving one or more bindings for the original query template, computing an answer to the original query template using the index and the one or more bindings, and anticipating one or more future queries that a user may submit and that are related to the original query template.
US08732152B2
The present invention is directed to a search engine for a video recorder. One embodiment of the present invention operates in an environment that includes one or more set-top boxes connected to or integrated within one or more output devices. The set-top boxes are used to transfer shows from a broadcast input source to one or more types of storage devices and to play back the shows from the storage devices to the output devices, either in a delayed-live fashion or at a later time of the user's choosing. The set-top box displays a graphical user interface (GUI), which gives the user the ability to watch and/or record timeslot based programming, to order on-demand programming, and to playback previously recorded shows that reside on a local or remote storage device. A search engine is added to the GUI that lets the search for shows and receive results in an enhanced manner.
US08732148B2
A method, system, and apparatus for improving performance when retrieving data from one or more storage media. Files to be stored on the one or more storage media are classified into a ranking of different sets. Differences in retrieval value of different regions of the one or more storage media are exploited by selecting which files to store in which regions. For example, files that have a higher classification are stored in regions with faster retrieval values. The files can be classified based on frequency of access. Thus, files that are more frequently accessed are stored in regions that have a faster retrieval value. The files can be classified by another measure such as priority. For example, the classification for some or all of the files can be based on user-assigned priority. The classification may be based on events or data grouping.
US08732134B2
Example embodiments provide various techniques for collecting data associated with the performance of a storage system. In one method, an attribute associated with the storage system is detected and a data collection policy associated with the attribute is identified. Here, the data collection policy defines a type of data associated with the performance to be collected. With the data collection policy identified, the data are then collected based on the data collection policy.
US08732130B2
A virtualization switch connected to a host computer and a plurality of physical storage devices includes a plurality of communication line connection terminals and storage virtualizing unit allowing the host computer to recognize a storage area generated by combining some or all of storage areas of the plurality of physical storage devices as a virtual storage device, a plurality of copy process unit copying data in the storage area, and control unit controlling a copy process operation by assigning copy sessions based on instructions from the host computer to the plurality of copy process unit. When the number of copy process units is larger than number of copy sessions, the control unit performs control to distribute part of a copy process in the one or copy process units that are currently performing the copy process to the one or more copy process units that are not performing the copy process.
US08732129B2
Provided is a storage system including: a first interface connected to a host computer; a second interface connected to a manager terminal; a control unit connected to the first interface and the second interface and equipping a processor and a memory; and one or more disk drives in which data that is requested to read by the host computer is stored, in which the control unit detects an access from the host computer to the first interface and an access from the manager terminal to the second interface, and generates log data of operations according to the accesses. Accordingly, log data concerning every action and every operation of the storage system is maintained and stored.
US08732123B2
A system provided herein permits a communications network subscriber to establish a local contact database on at least one communications device. The local contact database can communicate with a global contact database to receive contact information updates for a group of subscribers stored within the local contact database. The contact information can include basic contact information, such as name, address, email address, and telephone number. The contact information can also include advanced contact information, such as registration and activity information for each communications device associated with the group of subscribers, location information, hotspot information, points of interest information, and social networking information. Methods are provided herein that permit subscribers to introduce each other and obtain contact information securely. Methods are also provided herein that permit subscribers to request further contact information after a communication session is terminated.
US08732121B1
A system for data backup and recovery. A backup storage in a form of a file or a directory is created on a storage media. The backup storage is “hidden” from the file system, form user processes, form an operating system and from a data storage driver. The backup file is visible to only backup/restore application. The data is backed up into the “hidden” backup storage. The files system, the user processes, the operating system and the data storage driver do not know about the backup file and the areas of the storage media occupied by the backup file. When a write request for writing a data block to the space within the storage media occupied by the files of the “hidden” backup is received the write request is redirected to a free space on the storage media.
US08732119B2
A conflict manager according to the present invention is provided for managing concurrent engineering. A common work area is provided and accessible by engineers who also maintain local work areas. The conflict manager immediately notifies users when a drawing file on the common work area is modified. The conflict manager further includes locking, versioning and conflict functionalities.
US08732118B1
Techniques are described for managing aggregation of data in a distributed manner, such as for a particular client based on specified configuration information. The described techniques may include receiving information about multi-stage data manipulation operations that are to be performed as part of the data aggregation, with each stage able to be performed in a distributed manner using multiple computing nodes—for example, a map-reduce architecture may be used, with a first stage involving the use of one or more specified map functions to be performed, and with at least a second stage involving the use of one or more specified reduce functions to be performed. In some situations, a particular set of input data may be used to generate the data for a multi-dimensional OLAP (“online analytical processing”) cube, such as for input data corresponding to a large quantity of transactions of one or more types.
US08732117B2
In an information processing apparatus, a first deletion unit deletes, from sets stored in a storage unit, sets having less than a threshold number of included elements and elements existing in only sets whose number is less than a threshold number of occurrences. A grouping unit generates a group of sets associated with each other in terms of commonality of elements out of the sets remaining in the storage unit. A second deletion unit deletes, with respect to each generated group, sets having less than the threshold number of included elements and elements existing in only sets whose number is less than the threshold number of occurrences, from the sets belonging to the group. An output unit outputs a list of elements included in the sets remaining in each group where there are no sets or elements that need to be deleted.
US08732108B2
A rules engine can be initialized as part of an object grid, wherein the rules engine is executable code executing using computer resources. The rules engine updates a business mapper. The rules engine receives a business rule definition to form a business rule. The rules engine determines business terms are present in the business rule. The rules engine converts the business terms to technical terms based on the business mapper, responsive to a determination that business terms are present. The rules engine determines that the business rule comprises a temporal rule. The rules engine receives rule criteria, wherein the rule criteria is at least one selected from the group consisting of frequency, delay and timing dependency, responsive to the determination that the business rule is a temporal rule. The rules engine stores the business rule to the rules engine. The rules engine publishes the business rule to a publish-subscribe topic.
US08732106B1
Non-transitory computer instructions to computer generate, manage, and analyze a safety instrumented model in software of safety instrumented system architecture for a safety instrumented system in a facility, with test plans. The safety instrumented system architecture comprises at least one instrumented protective function and the non-transitory computer instructions that use a software model in support of process safety lifecycle management.
US08732104B2
Embodiments of the invention can incorporate a method and interface to accomplish one or more of the following three processes: input, analysis, and output. With respect to input, the user(s) identifier(s), item(s) identifier(s), and user(s)-item(s) rating data 22 can be accepted through an interface 23 from an application 21. With respect to analysis, the method and interface can then take the actual user-item ratings 31 and process 32 the data to generate and store item predictor information 33. The predicted user-item ratings 41 and the actual user-item ratings 42 can then be outputted by, for example, passing these outputs to the application via an interface 44.
US08732099B2
Provided is an optimization control system in an attempt to improve searching accuracy of an optimal solution defining a behavior mode for a control subject. A plan storing element 120 is configured to obtain a current update result of a joint probability distribution p(u, x) on the basis of a current update result of a probability distribution p(x) from a state estimating element 110 and a current update result of the conditional probability distribution p(u|x) from a behavior searching element 200. The behavior searching element 200 is configured to determine the conditional probability distribution p(u|x) as a current basis for obtaining the current update result of the conditional probability distribution p(u|x) on the basis of the current update result of the probability distribution p(x) from the state estimating element 110 and a previous update result of the joint probability distribution p(u, x) from the plan storing element 120.
US08732089B1
Systems and methods are provided for authenticating a user. In one implementation, a computer-implemented method is provided. According to the method, transaction history information for each one of a set of users is maintained in a storage device. The method provides identifiers associated with items for display and receives, from one of the users, a selection of one or more of the identifiers. The method further authenticates the user as a function of the selection and a transaction history of the user.
US08732088B2
In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for integrating a private branch exchange (PBX)-equipped client and an on-demand database service. These mechanisms and methods for integrating a PBX-equipped client and an on-demand database service can enable embodiments with additional infrastructure at the client that is better equipped to leverage the on-demand database service. The ability of embodiments to provide such client side infrastructure can enable additional enhanced services in conjunction with telephone calls, etc.
US08732085B2
A proxy card used at an ATM, or at any vendor store, that has a legacy point of sale unit or at a store with the smart point of sale. In general, it can be used with any vendor and otherwise as any credit or debit card might be used. The point-of sale unit interacts with a multi-source processing system (MSPS) that, instead of servicing a single money source, interacts with more than one of a plurality of monetary sources that may be associated with the proxy card. The money transferred from credit or debit accounts of the user may be either transferred directly or indirectly via a proxy central account associated with the MSPS that a user maintains.
US08732076B2
Example embodiments describe a method and a system to control activities of a financial account. In example embodiments, a secondary account is linked to a primary account. Within the secondary account, a spending account and a savings account are established. A savings goal in the savings account of the secondary account that enables a portion of the savings account of the secondary account to be set aside is created. The savings goal includes a goal amount. An automatic purchase of a product associated with the savings goal upon the goal amount being met may be allowed.
US08732062B2
A method of order allocation is disclosed. The method includes receiving an incoming order, establishing an inner market representing a first portion of an order book which may be defined as a function of an inner market parameter, designating the first portion of the order book as a priority and allocating the first portion of the received incoming order based on the priority, establishing an outer market that represents a second portion of the order book that includes the remainder of the order book not represented by the inner market of the order book, assigning the received incoming order to one of the inner or outer markets as a function of the inner market parameter, allocating a first portion of the incoming order to the inner market utilizing a first-in, first-out (FIFO) algorithm, and allocating a second portion, in excess of the first portion, of the incoming order to the outer market using a pro-rata algorithm.
US08732058B2
Systems and methods are provided for reducing or neutralizing a carbon footprint of a security using carbon credit. At least one security that is excluded from an investment fund may be determined. A carbon footprint of the at least one security may be calculated. A first amount of carbon credit necessary to neutralize the carbon footprint of the at least one security may be determined. A second amount of carbon credit may be purchased based on the act of calculating the first amount of carbon credit necessary to neutralize the carbon footprint. A financial instrument determined to have an at least partially neutralized carbon footprint may be generated by causing the at least one security and the second amount of carbon credit to be stored in a trust.
US08732042B2
Embodiments of the invention are related to systems and methods for analyzing transaction data for mobile merchant transactions, and generating a message based on the analysis. Transaction data for one or more transactions conducted at one or more mobile merchants is electronically received, the transaction data including a location for each of the one or more transactions. The transaction data is analyzed by a server computer which generates a message based on the analysis, the message being transmitted to a client device.
US08732041B2
Systems and methods for deciding whether to void a payment are provided. The method includes sending a signal to a web service provider to request information as to whether a payment has been reconciled, and receiving a first response from the web service provider. If the first response from the web service provider indicates that the payment has not been reconciled: performing a void process to void the payment, committing data related to the void process to an interface table, and receiving a second response from the web service provider. The second response includes status information of the payment replicated from a second interface table associated with the web service provider to the interface table. If the first response from the web service provider indicates that the payment has already been reconciled, deciding not to perform the void process.
US08732039B1
Methods and systems for allocating regional inventory to reduce out-of-stock costs are described. A method may include identifying a total number of units of an item to be stored in a plurality of regions and determining an order forecast for the item in each of the plurality of regions. The method may also include receiving a unit out-of-stock cost of the item in each of the plurality of regions and calculating an expected cost for each of the plurality of regions based, at least in part, on the total number of units of the item, each region's respective order forecast, and each region's respective unit out-of-stock cost. The method may further include allocating a portion of the total number of units of the item to each of the plurality of regions to reduce a sum of the expected costs.
US08732037B2
A method to facilitate network-based commerce includes determining a site that a user accesses, the site being one of multiple sites operated by a network-based commerce facility. A category list available for the site is retrieved, the category list identifying categories of offerings available via the site. The category list is communicated to the user. The site is a regional site, and the category list is a region-specific category list.
US08732031B2
Methods, devices, and systems for implementing lighting infrastructure application frameworks and networks and associated revenue models. In one embodiment, a computing device may receive a request from a first device to access data from a lighting infrastructure application framework, and the data from the lighting infrastructure application framework may include data from lighting node platform(s). In an embodiment, the computing device may perform authorizations related to providing access to data, as well as transmit responses to request for data. Costs and revenues associated with applications may also be performed bassed on usage of platforms, sensors, and controllers within a lighting infrastructure. In an embodiment, software, applications, and other instructions may be transmitted by a computing device in response to receiving requests. In another embodiment, a computing device may process received data (e.g., sensor data from lighting node platforms) to detect trends or events relevant to applications.
US08732026B2
A method for processing complex orders is disclosed. The method includes generating a customer portal view including a list of products and services associated with an account, a list of quotes associated with the account, a list of orders associated with the account, and a plurality of user-selectable options. The plurality of user-selectable options includes a move option to transfer a service profile by defaulting the existing services at an old location to a new location.
US08732003B2
The invention provides methods for managing print jobs. One such method includes (a) accumulating discrete print jobs electronically from respective customers, (b) aggregating the discrete print jobs into aggregate print jobs, each of the aggregate print jobs being printable at one time on units of an integral print medium, and (c) electronically distributing the aggregate print jobs to respective printers for printing.
US08731998B2
A computer implemented method and system for monitoring a business process of an executing business application. Runtime information of a business process element of the executing business application is received. The runtime information is then associated with design time information of the executing business application by a processor. Next, a representation of the business process associated with the business process element is generated to determine a problem in the business process of the executing business application.
US08731994B2
A technology analysis system automatically monitors information available from both publicly and privately distributed networks of information for details that are relevant to a technology hypothesis. The technology analysis system provides a technology radar that assists with determining how the technology hypothesis stands up against ongoing developments in technology. The technology analysis system also visualizes the technology hypothesis and its underlying precursor predictions using a web portal, dynamic document, or other visualization technique.
US08731993B2
An apparatus for compiling images within a respondent interface includes a survey datastore recording surveys including one or more test images. A rendering engine accesses the survey datastore and displays the one or more test images with controls for at least one respondent to provide feedback about the one or more test images during at least two modes of operation. A respondent feedback object instantiation engine detects respondent interaction with a touch screen displaying the one or more test images during first and second modes of operation, and records results of the respondent interaction in a feedback datastore by feedback types according to the first and second modes of operation.
US08731987B2
A technique that is usable with a well includes providing a model so predict measurements that are received by receivers due to transmissions by sources based on estimated positions of the receivers relative to the sources. The estimated positions each have at least two dimensions. At least some of the receivers and the sources are located in the well. On a computer, the estimated positions are automatically refined based on a comparison of the predicted measurements and actual measurements that are obtained by the receivers.
US08731986B2
A method is disclosed for co-ordinating the sending of electronic messages in such a way that a positive feedback loop is created. This is achieved by linking the messages to a form with inputs configured to facilitate submission of a greater multiple of additional addressee entries than with other known methods. Subsequent messages are optionally sent out by the submitters themselves to increase effectiveness of delivery. Financial and other incentives are proposed to motivate participants to provide inputs. The cascading chain reaction effect is modulated by the interposition of a central control server which formats the outgoing messages and extracts from them any addressees thought to have already been sent a particular periodic message, or which represent opt-outs. The control server may itself add extra addressee entries from stored databases to the outgoing messages of participants sent by them with their consent, further supporting the effect. A method of synthesizing messages with parallel meaning is included. A referendum method is also demonstrated where voters initiate the transmission of their opinions to multiple government, media or business leaders in a one click process. Capability is also provided for the participants to influence the questions themselves at issue by the referendum. Security methods are disclosed to ensure the integrity of the referendum count.
US08731983B2
Methods and systems are provided for analyzing the business rules, business metrics, and decision parameters for a firm or organization, processing a subset of such data to form output, and offering access to selective views of such output including evaluation and comparative data regarding execution of such business rules, information on corresponding business metrics or sets of business metrics, information on corresponding decision parameters or sets of decision parameters or scenarios, and other useful analytic information which can help a firm or organization evaluate and modify business policies based on said rules, metrics, and parameters. In addition to said rules, metrics and/or parameters, the data for the business rule analysis can include conventional historical data or hypothetical data based on simulations which the current system and method provide based on prescribed random and non-random algorithms. The simulated or hypothetical data enables users to conduct rule analysis based on historical data, simulated data, or hybrid models. In this manner, the methods and systems described in this invention provide for both an evaluation of a firm's current policies as well as an evaluation of policy modifications not actually executed but for which hypothetical data can be provided and analyzed.
US08731981B2
A method, system and program product are disclosed for filling job orders, the method comprising: creating electronically a respective commitment reservation for each of a plurality of workers, with each respective commitment reservation comprising a commitment for the respective worker to work on a prospective job not yet created, with the prospective job having one or more job parameters; receiving electronically a job order subsequent to the creation of one of the commitment reservations, the job order specifying a job with one or more job parameters; matching the job parameters of the job in the job order to the job parameters in one or more of the commitment reservations to obtain a reservation-job match; and, securing automatically based on the results of the matching step the job in the job order to one of the workers with a commitment reservation.
US08731980B2
Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing new pricing solutions to satisfy changes to a purchased ticket are described. A query for new travel includes information needed to determine a set of pricing solutions for issuing a new ticket that satisfies the new travel requirements using some value associated with an original, issued ticket. Valid fares corresponding to replacement itineraries are determined according to a determined reissue method that is valid for the replacement itineraries.
US08731979B2
The present invention is directed to a system and method which allows a prospective insured to make an informed decision on healthcare insurance or a specific health care management decision by using a current medical profile to assist in their selection. Based on past medical care, as obtained from payor data, a number of different plans, each having different providers, different deductibles, different maximums, different reimbursement policies, etc., a person can make an informed decision. When a family has different payors for different family members, a proper blend of payors can be more easily selected since the payors (or a single payor) has a medical profile of each family member and also has information on providers in the network, prescription policies, deductibles, maximums, etc.
US08731974B2
Pursuant to some embodiments, insurance systems, methods and devices are provided in which electric vehicle information, including electric vehicle charging information, may be received over a communications network. The electric vehicle charging information may be automatically associated with automobile insurance premium information. An integrated presentation of the electric vehicle charging information and the automobile insurance premium information may then be transmitted, over the communications network, for presentation to an owner of the electric vehicle.
US08731973B2
Overlaying images in automated insurance policy form generation includes electronically converting a first form in a first format to a second format to and in response to receiving a Web page request, electronically communicating the second form to be displayed within the Web browser instead of electronically communicating the first form in the first format to be displayed within the Web browser. In the case where the first format is Adobe® portable document format (PDF) and the second format is Joint Picture Expert Group (JPEG) format, this enables the user of the browser to overlay images on the forms within the Web page interface of the browser, while it appears to the user they are overlaying images on the original PDF versions of the forms. The final integrated PDF form is then generated from the data indicating the location of the overlay image on the underlying JPEG form. This process may also apply to insurance policy forms wherein the overlay image is a state specific stamp to be placed on the underlying form.
US08731969B1
A programmable rules-based interface between a patient and an electronic medical record EMR allows controlled patient access to the EMR allowing increased patient participation in the healthcare process.
US08731965B2
A computer implemented method and system is provided for managing health care and obtaining analytical insights using information related to health care in a collaborative environment. Health care users and health care providers access a medication management platform in the collaborative environment. The medication management platform comprises a medication management application and a research repository. The health care users and the health care providers interact and communicate with each other in the collaborative environment using collaborative tools provided on the medication management platform. The medication management application acquires health care information of the health care users' personal health records populated from health care information sources. The medication management application monitors and tracks the acquired health care information. The medication management application updates the de-identified research repository by consolidating the monitored and tracked health care information. The medication management application analyzes the consolidated health care information for obtaining the analytical insights.
US08731945B2
This invention maps possibly noisy digital input from any of a number of different hardware or software sources such as keyboards, automatic speech recognition systems, cell phones, smart phones or the web onto an interpretation consisting of an action and one or more physical objects, such as robots, machinery, vehicles, etc. or digital objects such as data files, tables and databases. Tables and lists of (i) homonyms and misrecognitions, (ii) thematic relation patterns, and (iii) lexicons are used to generate alternative forms of the input which are scored to determine the best interpretation of the noisy input. The actions may be executed internally or output to any device which contains a digital component such as, but not limited to, a computer, a robot, a cell phone, a smart phone or the web. This invention may be implemented on sequential and parallel compute engines and systems.
US08731940B2
A method of controlling a system which includes the steps of obtaining at least one signal representative of information communicated by a user via an input device in an environment of the user, wherein a signal from a first source is available in a perceptible form in the environment; estimating at least a point in time when a transition between information flowing from the first source and information flowing from the user is expected to occur; and timing the performance of a function by the system in relation to the estimated time.
US08731934B2
A system and method for the automated monitoring of inmate telephone calls as well as multi-modal search, retrieval and playback capabilities for said calls. A general term for such capabilities is multi-modal audio mining. The invention is designed to provide an efficient means for organizations such as correctional facilities to identify and monitor the contents of telephone conversations and to provide evidence of possible inappropriate conduct and/or criminal activity of inmates by analyzing monitored telephone conversations for events, including, but not limited to, the addition of third parties, the discussion of particular topics, and the mention of certain entities.
US08731924B2
An apparatus and a method are provided for building a spoken language understanding model. Labeled data may be obtained for a target application. A new classification model may be formed for use with the target application by using the labeled data for adaptation of an existing classification model. In some implementations, the existing classification model may be used to determine the most informative examples to label.
US08731922B2
A method of accessing a dial-up service is disclosed. An example method of providing access to a service includes receiving a first speech signal from a user to form a first utterance; recognizing the first utterance using speaker independent speaker recognition; requesting the user to enter a personal identification number; and when the personal identification number is valid, receiving a second speech signal to form a second utterance and providing access to the service.
US08731917B2
The present invention relates to a postfilter and a postfilter control to be associated with a postfilter for improving perceived quality of speech reconstructed at a speech decoder. The postfilter control comprises means for measuring stationarity of a speech signal reconstructed at a decoder, means for determining a coefficient to a postfilter control parameter based on the measured stationarity, and means for transmitting the determined coefficient to a postfilter, such that the postfilter can process the reconstructed speech signal by applying the determined coefficient to the postfilter control parameter to obtain an enhanced speech signal.
US08731901B2
Described within are systems and methods for transliterating and translating source non-Romanized language text strings from a plurality of electronic sources to Romanized target language text strings by converting the source non-Romanized language text strings to a standard document encoding format, splitting the source non-Romanized language text strings into smaller units, transforming the smaller units into entity profiles, processing the entities profiles with data from external databases, translating the entities in the entity profiles into a Romanized target language, and outputting the entities into a plurality of data formats for external systems.
US08731898B2
A node on a serial bus, preferably a device such as a personal computer (PC), can emulate other devices using virtual device drivers. A PC connected to a 1394 bus exposes its CROM on the bus which presents an image to other nodes on the 1394 bus and describes the functional units supported by the node. The CROM can be changed dynamically by adding unit directories to the CROM detailing peripherals connected to the PC. The PC can then be enumerated as the connected device by other PCs on the bus. The PC can emulate or morph itself into any desired device or even multiple devices at the same time. The invention also allows a PC to create devices that don't yet exist on the bus. The invention allows a user to create virtual device objects with device properties to have just in case a user plugs the particular device in to the PC.
US08731868B2
A method (200) for the characterization of vibrational and/or acoustic transfer path related data of a physical system (100) where vibration or acoustics may play a role. The method (200) has a step of receiving (210) input data for at least one input point of the physical system and/or response data for at least one response point of the physical system (100). The method (200) further has a step of receiving (220) at least one system response function between the at least one input point and the at least one response point indicative of the transfer of vibration and/or acoustic signals. The method (200) also has a step of applying (230) at least one parametric model characterising at least one load on the physical system as a function of the input data, where the parametric models are identified from the input data and/or response data and the physical system response functions.
US08731867B2
A system and method for measuring performance of an electronic product using a measurement control device that connects to a measuring machine and a display device. A component of the electronic product is determined according to a coordinate array, and a physical factor of the component to measured is determined according to performance specifications of the electronic product. A sensor corresponding to the physical factor of the component is selected from sensors of the measuring machine, and a physical factor of each the component is measured by the selected sensor. The system indicates whether the electronic product is workable or unworkable by comparing the physical factors of the components with the performance specifications of the components, and generates a measurement report for evaluating the performance of the electronic product according to the indication results.
US08731860B2
Systems, methods and non-transitory storage medium are disclosed herein for adjusting an output of a particle inspection system representative of a particle characteristic for a particle flowing in a flow-path of a particle processing system. More particularly, the output may be processed and a calibrated output of the particle characteristic generated. In other embodiments, one or more calibration particles are used. Thus, an output of a particle inspection system representative of a particle characteristic for one or more calibration particles flowing in a flow-path of a particle processing system may be compared relative to a standard and an action may be taken based on a result of the comparing the output to the standard.
US08731857B2
A test and measurement instrument converts digital data that represents an input signal into a series of frequency spectra and accumulates frequency spectra into a bitmap database in response to a gating signal. In some embodiments, the gating signal is generated when the instantaneous power of the input signal violates a power threshold.
US08731853B2
A method for fault location in series compensated power transmission lines using two-end unsynchronized voltage and current measurements in stations A and B. The method includes performing a subroutine I for determining whether the fault occurred in a line section LA between the station A and a SC&MOV and the distance dA to the fault from station A. Subroutine II determines whether the fault occurred in a line section LB between the station B and the SC&MOV and the distance dB to the fault from station B. The synchronization angle ejδA is determined in subroutine I, and the synchronization angle ejδB is determined in subroutine II. Then, the distance to fault dA or dB is determined. Finally, an equivalent impedance of compensating banks at fault stage ZSC1—phSUB—A and ZSC1—phSUB—B, and pre-fault stage ZSC1—pre is calculated in order to determine whether distance dA or dB is the final result.
US08731850B2
A method for detecting a leak in an intake tract of an internal combustion engine involves operating the engine at two operating points and comparing a deviation of measured mass flows from expected mass flows at the first and at the second operating points.
US08731843B2
Mapping oligomer sequences includes receiving a set of related oligomer sequences, applying one or more key patterns derived from a set of oligomer sequence relationships to obtain one or more keys that are consistent with the set of related oligomer sequences, modifying positions within these keys, and locating the one or more keys in an index configured to map a plurality of candidate and/or validated keys to their respective possible and/or validated locations in a reference.
US08731836B2
Ground-based measurements of agricultural metrics such as NDVI are used to calibrate wide-area aerial measurements of the same metrics. Calibrated wide-area data may then be used as an input to a field prescription processor.
US08731833B2
Technology is generally described for computing paths between geographical localities. In some examples, the technology can receive a request for a path between two or more geographical localities, and compute a path based at least on a popularity rating of intermediate geographical localities.
US08731831B2
Representation of linear features in a location content management system is disclosed. A linear feature is represented using a sequence of routing points that define a unique path when routed on a map through those points. A routing point consists of latitude, longitude, and optional stack position. Stack position defines an upper or lower level of a double-decker bridge or road. The data representing the linear feature is stored outside of a geographic database.
US08731828B2
Disclosed is a moving route processing device provided with: a route data creating unit for adding date and time information showing a current date and time to position information showing a current position to create route data with timestamp; a route data recorder for recording the route data with timestamp created by the route data creating unit; a communication processing unit for acquiring predetermined data from a database connected to a network; a route comparing unit for comparing the predetermined data acquired by the communication processing unit with the route data with timestamp recorded in the route data recorder; and a display processing unit for, when it is determined from the comparison by the route comparing unit that a close contact state existed, creating and displaying a message showing that a close contact state existed.
US08731821B2
Method and apparatus for determining relevant point of interest information based upon route of user
Methods, apparatus, and systems for determining the relevance of points of interest for a user are described. An application server receives information about a user's location, and velocity, as well as other user preferences, and adjusts a search space and filters points of interest identifying those that are relevant to the user. The relevance of the points of interest are based on the user's route, location and velocity.
US08731819B2
System, methods, apparatus and media for the geo-spatial capture and transcription of family trees, vital records, census records, land transfer records, cemetery records, and organizational membership records; for assigning deterministic and probabilistic relationships between people in geographic proximity; and for visualizing known, probable, and potential relationships in a geo-spatial context over time. Also disclosed are systems, methods, apparatus and media for organizing and analyzing genealogical information for searching and visualizing individuals and entities and their relationships to each other within a geo-spatial and temporal context. Further disclosed are systems, methods, apparatus and media for identifying a social networking site based on geo-spatial and temporal context data relating to individuals and entities and their relationships to each other.
US08731816B2
A method for classifying objects into obstacles and non-obstacles for a vehicle is described. The vehicle comprises a sensor for covering the surroundings that detects stationary and moving objects in a scene in front of a vehicle. Where required, the path of the motion of the objects is tracked. The method provides one or several observers, wherein one observer classifies an object according to predetermined features and contributes to an overall classification result when there are several observers. An observer detects the path of the motion of vehicles in the surroundings of at least one stationary object and classifies the stationary object in dependence thereon.
US08731811B2
Methods and systems are provided for completing and displaying a taxi clearance for an aircraft at an airport. One exemplary method involves receiving an input taxi clearance including a first taxi path of a plurality of taxi paths at the airport and a second taxi path of the plurality of taxi paths that succeeds the first taxi path in the input taxi clearance, and determining a plurality of possible taxi routes between the first taxi path and the second taxi path. The method continues by identifying an optimal taxi route from among the plurality of possible taxi routes, and graphically indicating that the taxi clearance for the aircraft includes the optimal taxi route between the first taxi path and the second taxi path.
US08731810B2
A particular method includes receiving aircraft state data associated with an aircraft at an air traffic control system. The aircraft state data includes a detected position of the aircraft, a velocity of the aircraft and an orientation of the aircraft. The method also includes predicting at least one future position of the aircraft based on the aircraft state data. The method further includes generating an alert in response to comparing the predicted future position to an air traffic navigation constraint assigned to the aircraft.
US08731803B2
An engine includes an intake manifold mixing an intake air flow and an exhaust gas recirculation flow to provide an intake charge flow. A method to estimate an intake charge temperature of the intake charge includes monitoring system conditions for the engine, determining an effect of the mixing upon a specific heat coefficient of the intake charge flow based upon the monitored system conditions, estimating the intake charge temperature based upon the effect of the mixing upon the specific heat coefficient of the intake charge flow and the monitored system conditions, and controlling the engine based upon the estimated intake charge temperature.
US08731801B2
A system, heated fuel injector, and controller for closed-loop temperature control of a heated fuel injector having simultaneous two-way data communication over a single-line data connection. The system includes a voltage source to output a heater enable signal and a variable current sink configured to draw a current value indicative of a temperature value related to the heated fuel injector. The heater signal and the current value are simultaneously present on the single-line data connection. The configuration reduces the effect of ground shift on the accuracy of determining a feedback signal from the heated fuel injector. The feedback signal is a temperature value related to the heated fuel injector and is indicated by a current value. Because the feedback signal is a current value, the feedback signal is generally immune from being influenced by ground shift between the controller and the heated fuel injector.
US08731795B2
A vehicle braking control system includes a vehicle brake associated with a wheel on the vehicle. A pedal activated by an operator of the vehicle controls application of the brake. An electronic control unit determines a grade mode of the vehicle and controls application of the brake independent of the operator activating the pedal while in an automatic braking mode. The electronic control unit sends a control signal to apply the brake in a manner to reduce brake fade while controlling a speed of the vehicle when the electronic control unit is in the automatic braking mode and the vehicle is in a downhill grade mode.
US08731779B2
A method for aligning a steer angle, which is determined continuously in a processor for controlling a steering system, with a second steer angle which is measured continuously by a sensor of the steering system, the steer angles varying over time in such a way as to deviate negatively and positively from a neutral value. A first time profile of the varying first steer angle is monitored continuously, and a second time profile of the varying second steer angle is monitored continuously. If no alignment of the first steer angle with the second steer angle has yet been carried out, the first steer angle is set to the present value of the second steer angle. If at least one alignment of the first steer angle with the second steer angle has already been carried out previously, and if a change of sign occurs in the first profile, the first steer angle is varied by a corrective value which is determined as a function of a hysteresis occurring in the second profile. The disclosure is particularly suitable for use in a control unit of an electric power steering system.
US08731777B2
A materials handling vehicle automatically implements steer maneuvers when objects enter one or more zones proximate the vehicle, wherein the zones are monitored by a controller associated with the vehicle. The controller tracks objects in the zones via sensor data obtained from at least one obstacle sensor located on the vehicle and via dead reckoning. The objects are tracked by the controller until they are no longer in an environment proximate the vehicle. Different zones result in different steer maneuvers being implemented by the controller.
US08731776B2
The processing means, which control the power assisted steering motor (8), determine and give consideration to a first steering angle signal (A) determined as a function of the calculation or measurement of the force or torque delivered by the power assisted steering motor (8) and possibly of the steering torque or force applied by the driver to the steering wheel (2), a second steering angle signal (B) determined as a function of the calculation of the measurement of the angular position of the power assisted steering motor (8), a third signal (C) of the “index” type, that is to say of the type emitted for certain angular positions of the steering system (21), a convergence signal (D) indicative of the convergence of the steering angle calculations, and a confirmation signal (E) confirming the calculation of the steering angle, the convergence signal (D) being produced thanks to the signal (C) of “index” type to indicate a confidence level on the estimated steering angle value. The invention can be applied to vehicles that have an automated steering function.
US08731775B2
[Object] An electric power steering apparatus capable of returning the steering wheel to a steering wheel neutral position even in case of failure of a steering angle sensor.[Solution] In performing a control action whereby the steering wheel is returned to a neutral position according to the steering angle and yaw rate, the gain of the yaw rate sensor (13) is amplified if a failure in the steering angle sensor (12) is detected, and the damping gain of a damping compensation unit (23) is reduced if failure in at least one of the sensors is detected. Thereby, the steering wheel (1) can return to the neutral position by producing a stronger returning force based on an amplified detection value even if the real yaw rate is small, and the damping component acting on the returning force can be reduced so that the self-aligning torque is enabled to return the steering wheel to the neutral position.
US08731764B2
A diagnostic tool for a vehicle, includes a signal translator communicating with the vehicle in at least one protocol, an input unit for inputting information, a processor controlling a software according to the input information from the input unit and communication with the vehicle from the signal translator, the processor controlling a reception of diagnostic data of the vehicle through the signal translator, an input and output unit receiving and transmitting audio and video signals controlled by the processor, a memory storing a software controlled by the processor, the memory storing audio and video information, and transferring the audio and video information through the input and output unit; and a display unit displaying information according to the received and processed audio and video signals stored in the memory.
US08731763B2
A method for controlling battery replacement based on distance data and a system thereof are provided. The method includes: reading current distance data of an electric vehicle, wherein the current distance data indicates the total distance that the electric vehicle has traveled; receiving related recharge information for the electric vehicle submitted by a user, wherein the related recharge information includes a distance account, and the distance account indicates that the user currently adopts a billing policy in which the user is credited with a fixed amount of distance in a fixed period of time; and determining whether to perform an operation of replacing a battery of the electric vehicle according to the distance data and the billing policy. By using the present invention, distance data of an electric vehicle and distance account information can be obtained, and by using the distance data and the distance account information battery replacement can be controlled conveniently, which ensures continuous electricity provided for the green operation of the electric vehicle.
US08731760B2
A vehicle driving system control apparatus includes a regeneration control section that performs a regeneration control when a vehicle is decelerated. In the regeneration control, the regeneration control section drives at least one of a first motor generator and a second motor generator with a power of an axle so as to charge a battery with an electric power generated with the at least one of the first motor generator and the second motor generator. The regeneration control section selects a mode of the regeneration control by controlling engagement and disengagement statuses of first to third clutches in correspondence with at least one of a target energy regeneration amount, a required brake torque and a vehicle speed.
US08731753B2
A powertrain includes an electric motor providing propulsion torque to a transmission input shaft, an internal combustion engine, and an engine disconnect clutch selectively providing torque transfer between the engine and the motor. A method to control a flying engine start in the powertrain includes monitoring an output torque request, determining the propulsion torque to the transmission input shaft based upon the output torque request, determining a compensation torque to be provided to the engine disconnect clutch for the flying engine start, and controlling the motor to provide a motor torque based upon a sum of the propulsion torque and the compensation torque.
US08731751B2
A hybrid controller for controlling a hybrid vehicle is set forth. The hybrid vehicle has an engine, an electric motor and an engine controller determining a crankshaft torque. The hybrid controller includes an optimization module determining an electric motor torque, determining an engine torque and communicating the engine torque from the hybrid controller to the engine controller. The hybrid controller also includes a motor control module controlling the electric motor based on the electric motor torque.
US08731745B2
A method of generating a test sequence diagram includes: linking a first action of the plurality of actions with a second action of the plurality of actions and generating a test sequence diagram which maintains the linking.
US08731706B2
A vacuum processing apparatus includes a plurality of vacuum containers; a vacuumized transfer unit connected with the vacuum containers and having a transfer chamber; a plurality of lock chambers connected to the vacuumized transfer unit; a vacuumized transferring section arranged in the transfer chamber to transfer the sample between each of the lock chambers and each of the processing chambers inside the plurality of vacuum containers; an atmospheric transfer container having a space through which the sample is transferred under the atmospheric pressure; an atmospheric transfer unit arranged in the atmospheric transfer container and adapted to transfer the sample from a cassette; and a controller operative on the basis of schedule information of a plurality of operations to adjust the operations, the information including times of stagnation of the plurality of samples and set therefor.
US08731704B2
A sewing device includes a material wrapped around a spool (the spool rotating around an axis), and a needle with a hole through which the material passes. A material feeding mechanism moves the needle and feeds the material in a feeding direction, thereby unraveling the material from the spool and stitching the material into a workpiece. A controller controls the material feeding mechanism to move the needle to a first rest position above a top surface of the workpiece. The first rest position is determined by the following formula: PR1=PW1+AT; wherein PR1 is the first rest position; PW1 is a first position of the top surface of the workpiece; and AT is an amount of material to be used in forming a second stitch in the workpiece after forming a first stitch in the workpiece.
US08731700B2
A build-to-order production process is determined in consideration of magnitude of demand. A lead time calculating section (122) calculates process-specific lead time proportional to the time at which the number of items required to produce the amount of demand for products which are periodically ordered is processed for each process of manufacturing a product and selects a process in the range in which the sum value after the calculated process-specific lead time is added to the travel time between the processes does not exceed the lead time permissible by the client as a build-to-order selection process.
US08731689B2
A programmable lighting control system integrates time-based, sensor-based, and manual control of lighting and other loads. The system includes one or more groups of controlled lighting areas, which may be, for example, floors of a building. Each group may have one or more lighting zones, which may be, for example, individual rooms or offices on a building floor. Each lighting zone includes occupancy and/or daylight sensors that may be wirelessly coupled to a gateway of the group. Each gateway is coupled to a network, such as, for example, a local area network (LAN). Control software, residing on a computer (e.g., a personal computer or a server) coupled to the network and accessible via the network, remotely communicates with and controls the lighting zones either individually, groupwise, or globally. Each lighting zone can also be locally controlled at the gateway and can function independently of the control software and the gateway.
US08731688B2
A processing apparatus, which contains a processor that executes a program includes a series of instructions, includes a log recording unit configured to record an operation log of the processing apparatus; a managing unit configured to control a recording operation performed by the log recording unit and read the operation log recorded in the log recording unit; an input unit configured to detect, from among the series of instructions of the executed program; a start instruction that starts a process for delivering a control instruction destined for the managing unit to the managing unit and deliver the control instruction to the managing unit in response to the start instruction; and an output unit configured to receive the operation log read by the managing unit.
US08731687B2
An MRI compatible electrode circuit construct is provided. The construct includes at least two filter components constructed from an electrode wire. One filter component may be a resonant LC filter at or near an electrode/wire interface that resolves the issue of insufficient attenuation by effectively blocking the RF induced current on the wire from exiting the wire through the electrode. The second filter component may include one or more non-resonant filter(s) positioned along the length of the electrode wire that resolve(s) the issue of excessive heating of the resonant LC filter by significantly attenuating the current induced on the wire before it reaches the resonant LC filter. The non-resonant filter(s) may also attenuate the RF current reflected from the resonant LC filter thereby resolving the issue of the strong reflected power from the resonant filter and the associated dielectric heating.
US08731678B2
A system and/or method for treating auditory dysfunction by somatosensory system stimulation. The system and/or method comprises a probe and a device to stimulate the probe. The probe has a stimulation portion implanted in communication with a predetermined peripheral nerve site. The stimulation portion of the probe may be implanted in contact with a peripheral nerve dorsal root ganglia, cranial nerve or dermatome area, for example C2 dermatome area or a trigeminal dermatome area. The stimulation portion may be a laminotomy, paddle, surgical, or multiple electrode lead. The device to stimulate the probe may be implanted subcutaneously or transcutaneously.
US08731677B2
Various system embodiments comprise a neural stimulator, a pulse generator, and a controller. The neural stimulator is adapted to generate a neural stimulation signal. The pulse generator is adapted to generate a pacing signal to provide myocardium pacing. The controller is adapted to control the neural stimulator and the pulse generator to provide a cardioprotective conditioning therapy. The conditioning therapy includes neural stimulation to elicit a parasympathetic response and myocardium pacing. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein.
US08731675B2
A method comprises conveying a pulsed waveform between an electrode and a stimulation site of a spinal cord, thereby evoking the antidromic propagation of action potentials along a first sensory neural fiber creating a therapeutic effect in the tissue region, evoking the orthodromic propagation of action potentials along the first sensory neural fiber potentially creating paresthesia corresponding to the tissue region, and evoking the antidromic propagation of action potentials along a second sensory neural fiber potentially creating a side-effect in another tissue region. The method further comprises conveying electrical energy between an electrode and a blocking site rostral to the stimulation site, thereby blocking the action potentials propagated along the first sensory neural fiber and reducing the paresthesia, and conveying electrical energy between an electrode and a blocking site caudal to the stimulation site, thereby blocking the action potentials propagated along the second sensory neural fiber and reducing the side-effect.
US08731665B1
Systems and methods are provided for detecting the orientation and/or movement of a patient having an implantable cardiac stimulation device and evaluating whether a change in the patient's cardiac activity can be at least in part due to a change in the patient's orientation. In one particular embodiment, signals from an orientation sensor and/or a pressure sensor are evaluated to determine static positional orientation of the patient and determine based on the static orientation whether the patient's cardiac activity is abnormal.
US08731662B2
Embodiments of the invention provide methods for the detection and treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) and related conditions. One embodiment provides a method comprising measuring electrical activity of the heart using electrodes arranged on the heart surface to define an area for detecting aberrant electrical activity (AEA) and then using the measured electrical activity (MEA) to detect foci of AEA causing AF. A pacing signal may then be sent to the foci to prevent AF onset. Atrial wall motion characteristics (WMC) may be sensed using an accelerometer placed on the heart and used with MEA to detect AF. The WMC may be used to monitor effectiveness of the pacing signal in preventing AF and/or returning the heart to normal sinus rhythm (NSR). Also, upon AF detection, a cardioversion signal may be sent to the atria using the electrodes to depolorize an atrial area causing AF and return the heart to NSR.
US08731656B2
Techniques for detecting a value of a sensed patient parameter, and automatically delivering therapy to a patient according to therapy information previously associated with the detected value, are described. In exemplary embodiments, a medical device receives a therapy adjustment from the patient. In response to the adjustment, the medical device associates a sensed value of a patient parameter with therapy information determined based on the adjustment. Whenever the parameter value is subsequently detected, the medical device delivers therapy according to the associated therapy information. In this manner, the medical device may “learn” to automatically adjust therapy in the manner desired by the patient as the sensed parameter of the patient changes. Exemplary patient parameters that may be sensed for performance of the described techniques include posture, activity, heart rate, electromyography (EMG), an electroencephalogram (EEG), an electrocardiogram (ECG), temperature, respiration rate, and pH.
US08731653B2
In a method of monitoring pulmonary edema in a human being, an electrical current is injected between a first electrode located in or around a heart and a housing of a medical device implanted in a chest region. A voltage potential is measured between a second electrode in a superior vena cava and a third electrode in the superior vena cava, where the voltage potential is created by the electrical current. Pulmonary edema is assessed based on an impedance value calculated from the electrical current and the voltage potential and a stored edema threshold impedance value.
US08731640B2
A fluid path system includes a vial containing a pharmaceutical product therein. A dissolution fluid path is also included in the fluid path system, the dissolution fluid path having an output end in fluid communication with the vial and an input end attached to a pressure vessel containing a dissolution medium. A delivery fluid path is also included in the system having a first end hermetically attached to the vial to transport therefrom a mixture of dissolved pharmaceutical product and dissolution medium and a second end connected to a receiving vessel to receive the mixture. A dissolution fluid path valve is positioned between the pressure vessel and the dissolution fluid path to control flow of the dissolution medium, and a delivery fluid path valve is also included in the fluid path system to control flow of the mixture from the delivery fluid path to the receiving vessel.
US08731637B2
Provided is an intra-subject medical system which includes a body-insertable device and a physical quantity generator. The body-insertable device is to be introduced into a subject, is covered by a capsule-shaped exterior member, and includes a physical quantity detecting member which has a directivity to detect a predetermined physical quantity; at least one functional member which has a necessary function for examining or treating inside the subject; and a switch control unit which controls an on/off state or operation mode of the at least one functional member when the physical quantity detecting member detects a physical quantity. The physical quantity generator has a physical quantity emitting unit which emits a temporary physical quantity inside the subject; and a physical quantity direction changing unit which changes an emission direction of the physical quantity.
US08731633B2
A device (1) is described for positioning electrodes on a user's scalp. It comprises a housing (3), for example a headpiece of a headphones device, which can be put around a user's head. An elastic element (11) and a plurality of electrodes are positioned, so that once the housing (3) is put around the user's head, the elastic element (11) at least partly follows the curvature of the user's head. The stress in the elastic element (11) due to stretching thereof caused by putting the housing around the user's head causes the elastic element (11) to exert pressure on at least some of the plurality of electrodes towards the scalp. Hereby, effective contact of the plurality of electrodes to the scalp is facilitated.
US08731626B2
In some embodiments, a mobile media device enclosure can include: (a) an enclosure having an interior, an exterior, a top side, a bottom side, a right side, and a left side, the interior configured to form a cavity, the cavity is sized to retain a mobile media device therein; (b) a vertical boundary, the vertical boundary having a substantially vertical orientation and configured to substantially bisect the mobile media device enclosure from the top side to the bottom side; and (c) a horizontal boundary, the horizontal boundary having a substantially horizontal orientation and configured to substantially bisect the mobile media device enclosure from the left side to the right side. The vertical boundary and the horizontal boundary are further configured to substantially divide the mobile media device enclosure into four sections. Each of the four sections is elastically coupled to two other sections of the four sections. Other embodiments and related methods are also disclosed herein.
US08731623B2
The present invention relates to a wireless access system, and more particularly, to a method of transmitting/receiving a paging message by minimizing power consumption of a mobile station. A method of performing paging for a mobile station in idle mode comprises receiving a deregistration command message including a paging cycle, a paging offset and a paging group identifier and if moving away into a different cell area, performing a location update with a target base station of the different cell area. Preferably, the location update is performed only if moving away into an initially different cell area but is not performed if moving into another different cell area.
US08731614B2
A method and device for providing an application for an external accessory in a wireless terminal, by which related applications corresponding to a type of an external accessory connected to a wireless terminal can be displayed. Instead of sifting through applications or searching for the appropriate ones for the external accessory, the invention causes them to be displayed. To this end, the device includes a display unit for displaying related applications for an external accessory connected to the wireless terminal and a controller for sensing a type of the external accessory connected to the wireless terminal and extracting and displaying related applications for the external accessory.
US08731609B2
A mobile device, such as a cellular telephone includes a voice interface that includes one part that may not be specific to a particular carrier, and a second part that provides an interface to services that are specific to a carrier or to service or information providers that are not necessarily available with all carriers. A voice command interface provides easy access to the carrier services. The set of carrier services is optionally extendible by the carrier.
US08731595B2
Systems and methods for transmission power management for a mobile device supporting simultaneous transmission on multiple air interfaces are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises determining a transmission power level for each air interface, comparing the transmission power levels to a threshold power level, and adjusting at least one of the transmission power levels based on said comparison.
US08731594B2
According to one embodiment of the invention, wireless spectrum and battery power conservation is achieved through an adaptable multicast group communication scheme. This involves a method for controlling the multicast transmission rate based on a first operation of receiving information from a multicast receiving device that is a member of a multicast group. Based on this information and potentially other information from other member devices, the modulation and coding rate for the multicast group is altered.
US08731592B2
Disclosed is a mobile communication system for providing a number of User Equipment (UEs) positioned in a plurality of cells with Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) using CDMA technology. A Radio Network Controller (RNC) transmits a MBMS availability message to each of the plurality of cells under management regarding at least one MBMS which is available in a corresponding cell in order to support the mobility of the UE which receives the MBMS. The UE decides whether it can receive a desired MBMS in the current cell, after receiving the MBMS availability message, and requests the desired MBMS or reselects another cell. The continuity of MBMS reception is improved while UEs using the MBMS are moving and the overhead of RRC connection setup for unnecessary MBMS request is reduced.
US08731585B2
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for obtaining location information from a location source. A geographic reference point is determined based on accuracy of the location information. The geographic reference point is incorporated into a location result.
US08731582B2
In one embodiment of a method for generating targeted content, an indication of a geographic position is received from a mobile electronic device. An instance of targeted content is generated based upon the geographic position of the mobile electronic device.
US08731561B2
An area detection apparatus includes an acquirer configured to acquire received power values in a plurality of areas from neighboring base stations, an identifier configured to identify an area including a handover point for a mobile station on the basis of the received power values, a calculator configured to calculate communication qualities of the neighboring base stations in the area including the handover point, and a determiner configured to determine whether or not the area including the handover point is an area incapable of communication with the neighboring base stations with a predetermined communication quality on the basis of the communication qualities of the neighboring base stations.
US08731559B2
The present invention discloses a method for processing handover capability and a base station, wherein the method includes: before the Radio network Resource Control Re-establishment (RRC) is initiated in User Equipment (UE), a target base station of a target cell of the UE obtains Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) handover capability of the serving cell from the serving base station; when the RRC connection is in reestablishment, the target base station of the target cell processes the RRC connection reestablishment according to the obtained CSG handover capability. The present invention enables the behavior in UE and in the network keep in alignment after the UE finishes RRC connection reestablishment in the target cell while before it receives the first RRC connection reconfiguration message which is transmitted by the target cell.
US08731556B2
A wireless telephone device, a hand-off method in a wireless telephone device and a communication system are provided to enable the occurrence suppression of instant disconnection in a MAHHO as much as possible. A wireless telephone device (1) includes a communication unit (11) for selecting one of a plurality of frequencies to carry out wireless communication with a base station, a control unit (12) for switching a frequency used by the communication unit (11) to control the communication unit (11) and a speaker for outputting a communication voice in accordance with a voice signal received by the communication unit (11). When the communication unit (11) receives a command to carry out a complement processing for a hand-off candidate frequency during a telephone call, the control unit (12) makes the speaker output a pseudo voice and carries out the complement processing of switching the present frequency in use to the hand-off candidate frequency.
US08731555B2
A user equipment transmits information for a radio base station using either of radio resources associated with individual multi-beams, which may be formed by the radio base station, and the radio base station performs reception processing of the radio resources for the individual multi-beams.
US08731553B2
Provided is a cooperative communication technology of a target terminal and a cooperative terminal. In an environment in which interference exists between cells, cooperation between terminals may be performed in order to improve quality of signals that are received from a base station.
US08731551B2
Problems caused by interaction between paging optimization and synchronizing CSG information are mitigated by setting a network indication indicating, for example, that a subscriber is no longer a member of a CSG, but the network has not yet received confirmation that an access terminal associated with the subscriber has been informed of this. A timer-based scheme may be employed for removing a CSG ID from the subscriber information for a subscriber once it is determined that the subscriber is no longer a member of the CSG. In addition, a temporary member of a CSG may determine whether it is still a member of a CSG upon expiration of a CSG timer. Also, the frequency with which an access terminal registers may be changed based on various criteria. Furthermore, an allowed CSG list may be selectively included in a page message depending on the destination of the page message.
US08731548B2
In a cellular communication network, a user equipment can adapt the intensity (or measurement activity) with which it attempts to identify a new neighbor cell, based on a comparison of the quality of the already identified neighbor cells with the quality of a reference cell. This intensity is lower provided that the downlink received signal level (e.g. in terms of CPICH Ec/No or/and SCH Ec/No) from an appropriate selection of neighbor cells (cells belonging to active or candidate set) is not weaker than the reference (e.g. serving) cell by a certain threshold. On the other hand the UE shall identify a new cell with higher intensity provided the downlink received signal level (e.g. in terms of CPICH Ec/No or/and SCH Ec/No) from said selection of neighbor cells is weaker than the reference cell by a certain threshold.
US08731544B2
A method for intercepting calls from a remote or mobile device for customer self-support detects when users or subscribers dial one or more predetermined numbers. If the number corresponds to one of the predetermined numbers (such as a customer support number), the phone may intercept the call and display a list of potential solutions to the subscriber's problems. Various other features and embodiments art disclosed.
US08731542B2
Systems and methods for dynamic adjustment of keep-alive message intervals in a mobile network are disclosed. One embodiment of maintaining an IP connection between a mobile terminal and a network node over a network includes, detecting a rate with which the client-slide request are made from the mobile terminal, detecting a rate with which the client-slide request are made from the mobile terminal, sending, by the network node, keep-alive messages to the mobile terminal in an absence of network traffic through the IP connection between the mobile terminal and the network node, and/or further optimizing the time intervals between the keep-alive messages based on a cost to send the keep-alive messages in the network.
US08731541B2
The femto cell base station is a femto cell base station that connects a UE (User Equipment) to a core network side and includes storing means and control means. The storing means retains subscriber information of the UE visiting an area under control of the femto cell base station. The control means deletes the subscriber information of the UE, that is removed from the control of the femto cell base station, from the storing means.
US08731539B2
The disclosure discloses a method, a system and a mobile terminal for configuring access point and application information. The method includes: a sending-party mobile terminal sends a configuration short message containing the access point and application information in a current network to a receiving-party mobile terminal in the same network; the receiving-party mobile terminal receives the configuration short message sent by the sending-party mobile terminal, extracts the access point and application information from the configuration short message, and performs a local configuration according to the extracted access point and application information. By adopting the disclosure, the defects in the existing way of configuring the access point and application information can be complemented; and after the mobile terminal joins in the network, whether the Over-The-Air-Programming (OTAP) is supported by the server or not, it is possible to set the access point and application information required by the current network for the mobile terminal conveniently and quickly, so as to perform services such as the multimedia messaging service and the Internet accessing service normally.
US08731534B2
A mobile terminal and a method for displaying an image in the mobile terminal. The method includes registering a counterparty's image in a counterparty's phone number information, extracting an image containing the counterparty's image based on the registered image, and displaying the registered image and the extracted image. At least one image from the registered image and the extracted image may be selected and displayed, wherein the at least one selected image may be displayed by sequentially changing the displayed image according to a rule. The mobile terminal and the method enable the mobile terminal to display various images associated with a counterparty, thus providing user satisfaction and eliminating an inconvenience of requiring the user to change an image.
US08731533B2
The invention provides methods and apparatuses covering subscriber initiated handoff to improve call quality, change networks, record a quality event, or for other purposes. The subscriber initiated handoff is primarily designed to be used in conjunction with a wireless network.
US08731523B1
A push notification delivery system includes a server system including a processor, a network interface, and memory storing program instructions having code segments for receiving a received push notification, code segments for determining at least one of a favorable push time and a favorable message format based upon a database of received push information developed from a plurality of prior sent push notifications, and code segments for pushing the message to the destination in accordance with the at least one of a favorable push time and a favorable message format. A method for delivering push notifications includes receiving a received push notification including a message and a destination, sending a sent push notification derived from the received push notification to the destination in accordance with at least one favorable condition, receiving received push information related to the sent push notification, and storing the received push information in a database.
US08731519B2
System(s) and method(s) are provided for extension of mobile operation to a device. An extension interface comprises a client component within a mobile that is linked to a client component within the device. Extension of mobile operation is secured via delivery of credentials associated with the mobile to the device. Delivery of credentials is temporary and typically spans the period during which mobile operation is extended to the device. Mobile's application(s) and content(s) can be conveyed to the device for utilization therein. An emulation component that can reside at least in part on the client component within the device can emulate mobile operation. Client component within the mobile can include at least in part (i) a component that downloads drivers for communication with, and utilization of, the device to which mobile operation is extended, and (ii) a component that can scan for wireless-capable devices to extend mobile service thereto.
US08731518B2
A cellular telephone, system and method are provided which are capable of transferring a portion of or an entire telephone directory consisting of a plurality of telephone numbers to another cellular telephone via a remote central station. The remote central station receives the telephone directory and stores the same in memory for either temporary or permanent storage. The telephone directory can then be transferred from the remote central station to the same or another cellular telephone for storing the telephone directory within a memory of the cellular telephone. An individual, a company, or other entity, utilizing the remote central station, in order to store and transfer a telephone directory from a cellular telephone to the same cellular telephone or to at least another cellular telephone, pays a fee to at least one operator of the remote central station for providing and/or performing the receiving, storing and transferring services.
US08731514B2
Methods for use in a mobile device configured to communicate in a wireless network is described. The mobile device detects whether a a temperature condition exists. When the temperature condition exists, the mobile device presents a visual indication which indicates that the mobile device is in an emergency communication state. The mobile device further operates to prohibit user-initiated communication requests for non-emergency telephone calls via the wireless network, but allows a user-initiated communication request for an emergency telephone call via the wireless network. When the temperature condition fails to exist, the mobile device operates to allow user-initiated communication requests for emergency and non-emergency telephone calls via the wireless network.
US08731503B2
A method is disclosed that includes measuring, under control of one or more processors of a mobile device, performance of a radio frequency reception parameter for radio frequency reception for the mobile device. The mobile device includes one or more antennas over which the radio frequency reception occurs and the one or more processors. The method includes causing movement of the mobile device to improve the performance of the radio frequency reception parameter. A mobile device includes one or more antennas over which radio frequency reception occurs, one or more processors, and one or more memories including computer program code. The mobile device performs at least the following: measuring, under control of the one or more processors, performance of a radio frequency reception parameter, and causing movement of the mobile device to improve the performance of the a radio frequency reception parameter. Program products are also disclosed.
US08731500B2
A gain control circuit adjusts the signal level of a received signal responsive to the bandwidth a received signal and/or the delay spread of the channel in which the signal has propagated. The bandwidth and delay spread are evaluated to estimate the amount of signal variation that is expected due to fast fading. Adjustments to the signal level are then made to avoid clipping while at the same time ensuring that the dynamic range of a receiver component is efficiently utilized.
US08731495B2
An embodiment of the invention is a system for signal processing in preparation for wireless transmission, the wireless transmission being from a portable wireless communication device and including use of a power amplifier having nonlinear characteristics. The system includes memory for storing digitally-indexed information. The digitally-indexed information models nonlinear characteristics of the power amplifier, and the digitally-indexed information is stored prior to processing of a first signal that reflects information to be communicated. The system further includes first logic, configured to accept the first signal and to retrieve, based on the first signal, a portion of the digitally-indexed information stored in the memory, and second logic, configured to generate a second signal based on the portion of the digitally-accessed information and on the first signal. The second signal pre-compensates for the nonlinear characteristics of the power amplifier, and the second signal is for wireless transmission based on the second signal.
US08731487B2
The present disclosure discloses a device for four-frequency transceiving of a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), comprising a Power Amplifier (PA), a radio frequency transceiving chip, a baseband control chip, an antenna switch, a GSM low frequency filter and a GSM high frequency filter. The antenna switch receives a control signal transmitted from the baseband control chip, and the antenna switch connects to a corresponding line according to the control signal, and transmits signals between the antenna and the connected line; the GSM low frequency filter receives the signals of a first frequency band or a second frequency band which are transmitted by the antenna switch, and passes the signals of the first frequency band or the second frequency band; the GSM high frequency filter receives the signals of a third frequency band or a fourth frequency band which are transmitted by the antenna switch, and passes the signals of the third frequency band and the fourth frequency band. The present disclosure also discloses an equipment for four-frequency transceiving of GSM. By adopting the device and the equipment disclosed by the present disclosure, lines can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced.
US08731486B2
Provided is a high-frequency module that can prevent a transmission signal from reaching a reception circuit and that can achieve high mounting density. A first duplexer for a first frequency band is mounted on a circuit substrate, and a second transmission filter and a second reception filter that constitute a second duplexer for a second frequency band are embedded in the circuit substrate. The second transmission filter and the second reception filter are embedded in the circuit substrate in locations that overlap at least a part of a projection region that is formed by projecting the first duplexer in a thickness direction of the circuit substrate. The first frequency band and the second frequency band are separated from each other by at least a prescribed frequency range.
US08731485B2
RF switching devices are provided that alternatively couple an antenna to either a transmitter amplifier or a receiver amplifier. An exemplary RF switching device comprises two valves, one for a receiver transmission line between the antenna and the receiver amplifier, the other for a transmitter transmission line between the antenna and the power amplifier. Each valve is switchably coupled between ground and its transmission line. When coupled to ground, current flowing through the valve increases the impedance of the transmission line thereby attenuating signals on the transmission line. When decoupled from ground, the impedance of the transmission line is essentially unaffected. The pair of valves is controlled such that when one valve is on the other valve is off, and vice versa, so that the antenna is either receiving signals from the power amplifier or the receiver amplifier is receiving signals from the antenna.
US08731483B2
A method for an antenna system including a transmitting phase array antenna including a transmitting antenna subarray including a number of antenna elements transmitting on a first frequency and a receiving phase array antenna including a receiving antenna subarray including a number of antenna elements. The transmitting antenna subarray antenna is positioned at a distance relative the receiving antenna subarray antenna and the coupling between two antenna subarrays are decided and used for controlling the transmitting subarray antenna to transmit in such a way that there will be nulling of the energy in the receiving antenna subarray antenna with respect to the transmitting antenna subarray.
US08731479B2
A method of operating a mobile electronic device includes connecting, by an electronic device, to a network and transmitting, by the electronic device, at least one communication to the network. The method also includes identifying, by a processor of the electronic device, at least one communication parameter of the at least one communication and determining, by the processor of the electronic device, a first disconnect time as which to disconnect from the network based on the at least one communication parameter identified by the processor. The method further includes disconnecting from the network at the first disconnect time.
US08731475B1
A first communication device receives a communication from a second communication device. The communication could be part of the signaling used to establish a call to the second communication device or an audio signal that the second communication device conveys after its user has answered the call and started speaking. Based on the communication from the second communication device, the first communication device provides a user-discernible indication regarding the environment in which the second communication device is being used, such as an indication that the second communication device is being used with a speakerphone. If the second communication device is being used in a vehicle, the first communication device may also provide a user-discernible indication regarding the operational status of the vehicle, such as whether the vehicle is in motion and/or the number of occupants in the vehicle.
US08731462B2
An apparatus and method for measuring radio relay channel are provided capable of easily measuring a radio relay channel on each radio link among a base station (BS), a relay station (RS) and a mobile station (MS) and providing a reliable result of measuring the characteristics of radio relay channel by controlling transmission/reception timing based on variation in operation time among the BS, the RS and the MS.
US08731459B2
A wireless communication system and in particular a wireless communication system for digital audio players that provides for increased functionality, such as communication, interaction and synchronization between a computing platform and various mobile, portable or fixed digital audio players, as well as providing a communication link between the various digital audio players themselves. The computing platform may act, for example, through a wireless network or wireless communication platform, to control the digital audio players; to act as a cache of digital audio data for the digital audio players; as well as provide a gateway to the Internet to enable the digital audio players to access additional digital audio content and other information.
US08731450B2
In a fixing device for thermally fixing a developer image transferred onto a recording sheet, a nip plate is disposed on an inner surface of a tubular flexible fusing member which is flexibly deformable in such a manner that permits the fusing member to slide along the nip plate, and configured to be heated by a heating element disposed inside the fusing member. The fusing member is nipped between the nip plate and a backup member to form a nip portion between the fusing member and the backup member. The nip plate is bent to form a recessed portion which opens on the inner surface of the fusing member and holds a lubricant.
US08731445B2
The developing unit includes a developing section, a developer container, and a partition wall. The developing section includes a developer-bearing member, a supplying member, and a conveying member. The developer container is positioned adjacent to the developing section and configured to contain the developer. The partition wall is positioned adjacent to the conveying member and configured to separate the developing section and the developer container. The partition wall has a supply port, and a return port. A downstream end of the conveying member in a developer conveying direction is extended axially outward with respect to the supplying member. The return port faces the downstream end of the conveying member.
US08731433B2
An image forming apparatus includes: a main body frame placed on a placement surface; an image forming unit provided at an upper portion in the main body frame and forms an image on a recording medium; and an accommodation unit provided at a lower portion in the main body frame and accommodates the recording medium to be fed to the image forming unit, wherein the main body frame includes an upper frame that supports the image forming unit, and a lower frame that has a rigidity lower than the rigidity of the upper frame, supports the upper frame from below, and supports the accommodation unit, the upper and lower frames are covered with a cover member, and a combining unit is provided between the upper frame and the cover member, and combines the cover member with the upper frame without being restricted by the lower frame.
US08731430B2
In a configuration in which a carriage jumps at an end of a screw without using a sensor for detecting a position, when a load for moving the carriage in a longitudinal direction is increased, the carriage jumps at an unintended position of a charging wire. An urging member is regulated not to be displaceable greater than a difference between a concave portion and a convex portion of the screw when the regulation member is at a regulation position, and is displaceable greater than the difference between the concave portion and the convex portion of the screw when the regulation member is at a retreat position.
US08731425B2
An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a conveyance belt which conveys a recording sheet via a position opposing the image carrier, a belt cleaner which removes adhered matters on the conveyance belt, a driving unit which drives the image carrier and the conveyance belt, a bias applying unit which applies a cleaning bias to the belt cleaner, and a controller which controls the driving unit and the bias applying unit such that when the image carrier is driven at a first speed, the cleaning bias is applied to the belt cleaner, and when the image carrier is driven at a second speed slower than the first speed, the cleaning bias is not applied to the belt cleaner.
US08731421B2
In a method or apparatus to optimize transfer of a developer fluid having toner embedded in a carrier fluid in an electrophoretic printing apparatus, charge images of print images are generated on an intermediate image carrier. The print images are inked into toner images by means of a developer station with the developer fluid. The toner images are transfer printed onto a printing substrate in a transfer printing zone by a transfer unit. The toner embedded in the carrier fluid is thus transported from the developer station to the intermediate image carrier in a first transport path segment and from the transfer unit to the printing substrate in a second transport path segment. A temperature acting on the carrier fluid in the first transport path segment is above a melting point of the carrier fluid, and a temperature acting on the carrier fluid in the second transport path segment is below the melting point of the carrier fluid.
US08731420B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a transferer to apply a constant-current controlled bias to a transfer medium to form a transfer electric field, a constant-current source configured to apply an electrical current to the transferer, an electrical characteristic detector, an environment detector, a first corrector, a second corrector, and a third corrector. The electrical characteristic detector detects an electrical characteristic value corresponding to a resistance in a current path from the constant-current source to the transferer. The environment detector detects an environmental condition inside the image forming apparatus. The first corrector corrects the electrical current based on the electrical characteristic detection and a predetermined threshold. The second corrector corrects the electrical current based on the environment detection. The third corrector sets the threshold based on the environment detection.
US08731419B2
An image forming apparatus including an image carrier; an intermediate transfer member having a first portion and a second portion that has a higher glossiness than that of the first portion; a primary transfer member; a light source to emit light to the intermediate transfer member side; a detector to detect intensity of reflected light emitted from the light source and then reflected from the intermediate transfer member and a density adjustment pattern formed on the intermediate transfer member; a processor including a light-emission intensity adjuster to adjust light-emission intensity from the light source based on detected intensity of light reflected from the second portion of the intermediate transfer member; and an image forming condition controller to control image forming conditions for forming a toner image based on the detected intensity of the light reflected from the density adjustment pattern formed on the intermediate transfer member.
US08731418B2
An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable belt, a detection unit configured to detect, at a detecting position, an object on the belt, a cartridge that is attachable to and detachable from a main body of the apparatus independently of the belt, and an openable and closable member that is openable and closable relative to the body to attach and detach the cartridge to and from the body. When the detection unit is at the detecting position, at least a part of the detection unit is located in a space used for attachment and detachment of the cartridge, and, when the detection unit is at a retracted position, which is outside of a space used for attachment and detachment of the cartridge, at least a part of the detection unit is located in a space that is formed by opening the openable and closable member relative to the body.
US08731417B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier; a latent-image forming unit configured to form a latent image on the image carrier; a developing unit configured to develop the latent image on the image carrier with a developer applied onto a developer carrier; a temperature detector configured to detect an internal temperature or an ambient temperature of the developing unit, the internal temperature and ambient temperature varying depending on a temperature of the developer carrier; and a control unit configured to control restriction on number of pages on which image formation is allowed to be performed continuously and cancellation of the restriction, based on the temperature detected by the temperature detector.
US08731415B2
A capacitive sensor for sensing amount of waste toner in a waste toner box of an imaging apparatus includes a capacitor that has a pair of separated plates disposed within the interior of the waste toner box. The capacitance of the capacitor changes with the amount of toner in between the plates of the capacitor. A sensor circuitry is connected to the plates of the waste toner box that measure the capacitance of the capacitor as a voltage value. This voltage value is provided to a controller that determines a relative change in the capacitance value by determining a change in capacitance of the capacitor with respect to a number of pages printed by the imaging apparatus. The controller then determines the state of the waste toner box based on this relative change in capacitance.
US08731414B2
The present invention relates to an optical receiver (1) for receiving alternating-light data signals and for storing electrical energy obtained from extraneous light, having a photodiode (2) for receiving light, which comprises extraneous light and an alternating-light data signal component with a higher frequency in comparison to the extraneous light, and for converting the light into a photocurrent (IP) which comprises a data signal current (IN) and an extraneous light current (IF) said receiver additionally comprises a coupling unit (3) for coupling in and separating the data signal current generated by the optical alternating-light data signal component from the extraneous light current generated by the extraneous light, an amplifying unit (4) for amplifying the data signal current and an energy storage unit (5) which is charged by the extraneous light current (IF) and which includes a circuit for increasing voltage, wherein the energy charged in the energy storage unit (5) is used for at least partially supplying the energy for the optical receiver (1) and/or for at least partially supplying the energy for a measurement arrangement (16) comprising the optical receiver (1).
US08731411B2
A polarization fluctuation compensation device, when WDM light received by, for example, an optical reception device includes a polarization scrambled optical signal and a non-polarization scrambled optical signal, collects information related to whether optical signals having respective wavelengths are polarization scrambled, obtains a target value of control parameters which are different from each other, according to the speed of polarization fluctuations in the non-polarization scrambled optical signal based on the collected information, and performs reception processing of the non-polarization scrambled optical signal by using a control parameter set as the target value. As a result, an influence of fast polarization fluctuations generated resulting from an interaction between optical signals having respective wavelengths can be reliably compensated for, thereby enabling to realize excellent reception characteristics.
US08731407B2
According to one embodiment, an optically coupled insulating device includes an optical transmitter and an optical receiver. The optical transmitter includes an analog-to-digital converter, an encoder, a transmitting controller, and an electrooptical transducer. The encoder is configured to generate a transmitting signal by superimposing an output of the analog-to-digital converter onto a signal based on a clock signal. The transmitting signal is encoded to have an average duty ratio of more than zero and less than one. The transmitting controller is configured to output one of the transmitting signal and the output of the analog-to-digital converter depending on an input level of the analog signal. The electrooptical transducer is configured to convert an output of the transmitting controller into an optical signal. The optical receiver includes an optoelectrical transducer, a decoder, and a receiving controller.
US08731389B2
This invention provides an electro-mechanical auto-focus function for a smaller-diameter lens type that nests, and is removably mounted, within the mounting space and thread arrangement of a larger-diameter lens base of a vision camera assembly housing. In an illustrative embodiment, the camera assembly includes a threaded base having a first diameter, which illustratively defines a C-mount base. A motor-driven gear-reduction drive assembly is mounted internally, and includes teeth that engage corresponding teeth on the outer diameter of a cylindrical focus gear, which has an internal lead screw. The focus gear is freely rotatable, and removably captured, within the threaded C-mount base in a nested, coaxial relationship. The internal lead screw of the focus gear threadingly engages the external threads of a coaxial lens holder. This converts the drive gear rotation into linear/axial lens holder motion. The lens holder includes anti-rotation stops, which allow its linear/axial movement but restrain any rotational motion.
US08731387B2
Systems, apparatus, methods, etc. for stabilizing mobile devices. Various embodiments provide stabilizers which comprise a counter weight lever, a counter weight, and a handle. A yaw axis defined by a pivot point which can extend through a side of the mobile device. Moreover, the lever couples to the mobile device near its proximal end and to the counter weight at its distal end. Furthermore, the handle pivots about the mobile device at a point on the yaw axis of the mobile device. Additionally, the handle and the mobile device are biased toward each other along the yaw axis. In some embodiments the stabilizer includes a bi-conical joint or a tapered edge joint which defines the pivot point. Some stabilizers include a hinge pin to which the counter weight lever and mobile device are coupled. Furthermore, the handle can be biased toward the pivot point along the pitch and/or roll axes.
US08731379B1
Systems and methods for performing recordings with a network recording device when a user's equipment fails are provided. The network recording device may determine that a user's equipment has failed in any suitable manner. In response to determining that the user's equipment has failed, the network recording device may perform recordings that were originally scheduled or selected to be performed with the user's equipment. The network recording device may identify which recordings to perform by communicating with the user's equipment. In some embodiments, the user's equipment may anticipate a failure, or fail while maintaining a communications link with the network recording device. In such embodiments, the user's equipment may direct the network recording device to perform certain recordings. The network recording device may provide recordings to the user's equipment as on-demand offerings, or may transfer the recordings to the user's equipment.
US08731378B2
A system, method, and apparatus for playback of multiple video elementary streams is presented herein. A host processor modifies the video elementary streams to allow a transport demultiplexer to distinguish among the plurality of the video elementary streams.
US08731373B2
Methods and systems are described for providing editing tools that allow a user to manipulate media provided by a media content source. Media editing tools may include content analysis tools capable of extracting information from the media content itself, and may include segment identification and editing tools. Editing tools may be created by a user, and stored or shared with other users. Users may be able to specify and customize a set of storage space requirements that impose constraints on the type, quantity and content of stored assets. Automatic storage management tools provide tools with which stored and to-be-stored assets may be transformed in order to maintain satisfaction of storage preferences and requirements.
US08731370B2
A video stream from a first source and an audio stream from a second source are received at a multimedia processing device such as a set-top box for play back. A first offset time is determined based upon user input, whereby playback of the video stream relative to playback of the audio stream is adjusted to facilitate synchronization of the audio and video stream.
US08731360B2
The invention relates to a photonic crystal magneto-optical circulator, which comprises first dielectric material columns in an air background, wherein the first dielectric material columns are arranged in the form of two-dimensional square lattice. The photonic crystal magneto-optical circulator also comprises a “T-shaped” or a “cross-shaped” photonic crystal waveguide, a second dielectric material column, four same magneto-optical material columns and at least three same third dielectric material columns, wherein the “T-shaped” or a “cross-shaped” photonic crystal waveguide comprises a horizontal photonic crystal waveguide and a vertical photonic crystal waveguide which are intercrossed; the second dielectric material column is arranged at a cross-connected position of the horizontal photonic crystal waveguide and the vertical photonic crystal waveguide and has the function of light guiding; the four same magneto-optical material columns are uniformly arranged on the periphery of the second dielectric material column; and at least three same third dielectric material columns.
US08731357B2
An optical fiber includes a core section and a cladding section. A k value expressed by k=4Aeff/(πMFD2) is 1.08 or larger, Aeff being an effective area and MFD being a mode field diameter, at a wavelength of 1550 nm, a chromatic dispersion is in a range from +19.0 ps/nm/km to +21.9 ps/nm/km, and MFD is in a range from 10.3 μm to 13.0 μm. The inequality, r1
US08731353B2
A production method for a headline sonar cable (20, 120) that exhibits a high breaking-strength and lighter weight than a conventional steel headline sonar cable. Producing the headline sonar cable (20, 120) is characterized by the steps of: a. providing an elongatable internally-located conductive structure (34, 134) that is adapted for data signal transmission; and b. braiding a strength-member jacket layer (52) of polymeric material around the structure (34, 134) while ensuring that the structure (34, 134) is slack when surrounded by the jacket layer (52).
US08731352B2
Fiber optic assemblies include subunit cables wrapped in binders. The assemblies have small cross sections and low bend radii while maintaining acceptable attenuation losses. SZ stranding of the subunit cables allows ease of access to the individual cables during installation.
US08731347B2
An opto-electronic system includes a substrate, an opto-electronic chip mounted on the substrate, a frame, and a lens device retained in the frame. A frame mounting portion of the frame is in contact with an upper surface of the opto-electronic chip. A lens mounting portion of the frame is spaced above the frame mounting portion. A lower surface of the lens device is in contact with the lens mounting portion. The spacing of the lens mounting portion and frame mounting portion determines the spacing between the upper surface of the opto-electronic chip and the lower surface of the lens device.
US08731337B2
Methods and systems for denoising and artifact removal in image upscaling are disclosed. In one embodiment, a low frequency band image intermediate is obtained from an input image. An upsampled image intermediate is obtained from the input image by upsampling. A result image is estimated, based at least in part on the upsampled image intermediate, the low frequency band image intermediate, and the input image. The input image is of a smaller scale than the result image. The estimating the result image further includes eliminating from the result image noise that is present in the input image.
US08731336B2
The present invention provides a method of correcting alignment of an image. The method includes identifying an image of a document, and detecting a plurality of lines within the image. The method also includes classifying at least a subset of the plurality of lines as either horizontal or vertical lines, and determining whether a variance exists within a subset of the plurality of lines. Furthermore, the method includes applying a corrective transformation to adjust the image, where the variance within the subset of the plurality of lines is at least partially reduced as compared to the variance prior to the application of the corrective transformation.
US08731335B2
A method and apparatus for correcting a rotation of a video frame are described. According to a method, an amount of the rotation of the video frame with respect to a reference is determined. The rotation of the video frame is corrected based at least in part on the detected amount of the rotation of the video frame.
US08731333B2
An inspection apparatus determines information indicative of structure that may be hidden behind an obscuring boundary, such as a wall. A processor collects measurements of properties characterizing the hidden structure and measurements of location of the apparatus. The collected data are mapped to produce an image of intensity in the characteristic measurements. Each intensity value in the image reflects a measure of density, of material type, or of some other specific information by which hidden structure can be discerned. The intensity changes indicating the hidden structure are displayed to a user via color-coded pixels or the like.
US08731317B2
Local descriptors are extracted from an image. An image vector is generated having vector elements indicative of parameters of mixture model components of a mixture model representing the extracted local descriptors. The image vector is compressed using a vector quantization algorithm to generate a compressed image vector. Optionally, the compressing comprises splitting the image vector into a plurality of sub-vectors each including at least two vector elements, compressing each sub-vector independently using the vector quantization algorithm, and concatenating the compressed sub-vectors to generate the compressed image vector. Optionally, each sub-vector includes only vector elements indicative of parameters of a single mixture model component, and any sparse sub-vector whose vector elements are indicative of parameters of a mixture model component that does not represent any of the extracted local descriptors is not compressed.
US08731307B2
There is provided an information processing apparatus including: a characteristic amount extracting unit extracting a plurality of characteristic amounts, which are information expressing characteristics of a video, from the video; a labeling unit associating the extracted characteristic amounts with a person or a background; a matching degree judging unit judging a degree of matching between the associated characteristic amounts and the characteristic amounts of at least one other video; a comparing unit comparing the plurality of characteristic amounts of one scene in the video from which the characteristic amounts have been extracted and the plurality of characteristic amounts of one scene in the at least one other video; and a relationship inferring unit inferring a relationship between the one scene in the video and the one scene in the at least one other video based on a comparison result of the comparing unit.
US08731302B2
There is provided a moving image extracting apparatus including a movement detecting unit which detects movement of an imaging apparatus at the time when imaging a moving image based on the moving image imaged by the imaging apparatus, an object detecting unit which detects an object from the moving image, a salient object selecting unit which selects an object detected by the object detecting unit over a period of predetermined length or longer as a salient object within a segment in which movement of the imaging apparatus is detected by the movement detecting unit, and an extracting unit which extracts a segment including the salient object selected by the salient object selecting unit from the moving image.
US08731299B2
Techniques to manage a whiteboard for multimedia conference events are described. An apparatus may comprise a whiteboard manager component operative to manage whiteboard recording, image processing and reproduction operations for a multimedia conference event. The whiteboard manager component may comprise an image quantizer module operative to receive an image of a writing surface with pen strokes, and quantize each pixel of the image into a predetermined number of colors, an attribute extractor module communicatively coupled to the image quantizer module, the image quantizer module operative to extract stroke attribute information for the pen strokes from the quantized pixels, and a whiteboard interface module communicatively coupled to the attribute extractor module, the whiteboard interface module operative to send the stroke attribute information to a meeting console for rendering as digital pen strokes on a digital writing surface. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08731297B1
Systems and methods for removing border objects from a page of digital image are presented. More particularly, in removing border objects from a page of a digital image, the following are performed. In the first place, a digital image having at least one page of content is obtained. A content area of content on the page is determined. Border objects in the region between the page margin and the content area are then located. For each located border object, the following two steps are performed. The located border object is evaluated according to a set of border criteria, and the located border object is removed if the evaluation of the border object indicates that the border object is to be removed. Thereafter, the updated digital image is stored in a content store.
US08731295B2
Disclosed is a method for identifying lawn grass which includes capturing an image of the terrain in front of a mower, segmenting the image into neighborhoods, calculating at least two image statistics for each of the neighborhoods, generating a binary representation of each image statistic. The binary representation of each image statistic is generated by comparing the calculated image statistic values to predetermined image statistic values for grass. The method further includes weighting each of the binary representations of each image statistic, and summing corresponding neighborhoods for all image statistics. A binary threshold is applied to each of the summed neighborhoods to generate a binary map representing grass containing areas and non-grass containing areas.
US08731291B2
A method for determining an estimated clutter level of an input digital image based on an inequality index. The inequality index is determined by partitioning the input digital image into small sub-images and analyzing the sub-images to determine a set of image features. The image features are associated with a set of designated reference features, and the inequality index is determined based on the statistical variation of the reference features. The inequality index is compared to a predefined threshold to classify the input digital image as a rich-content image or a low-content image. For rich-content images, the estimated clutter level is determined responsive to a set of scene content features relating to spatial structures or semantic content of the input digital image is determined by analyzing the input digital image. For low-content images, the estimated clutter level is determined responsive to an overall luminance level.
US08731276B2
A motion space presentation device includes: a work area generation unit configured to generate a three-dimensional region in which the movable robot operates; an image capture unit configured to capture a real image; a position and posture detection unit configured to detect an image capture position and an image capture direction of the image capture unit; and an overlay unit configured to selectively superimpose either an image of a segment approximation model of the movable robot as viewed in the image capture direction from the image capture position, or an image of the three-dimensional region as viewed in the image capture direction from the image capture position, on the real image captured by the image capture unit, according to the difficulty in recognizing each image.
US08731272B2
Methods for correcting for aberrations in the image or three-dimensional reconstruction of a sampled region obtained by broadband interferometry. The sampled region is illuminated with a broadband beam of light, and light returned from the sample is detected, along with a reference beam, in order to derive an interference signal for pixels of a volume spanned by wavenumber and axes transverse to the beam propagation direction. An optimization procedure is performed with respect to a specified criterion so as to obtain an aberration-corrected image of at least one plane of the sampled region, either in a plane-specific manner or in a space-invariant manner throughout the sampled region. A filter function, which may be derived from the interference signal attendant to irradiating a sparsely distributed plurality of point scatterers, or otherwise, corrects for a detected aberrated point spread function. Methods of the present invention may be used for aberration correction in reading information from an optical data storage medium.
US08731270B2
In order to provide a technique for accurately realizing an examination, which is for acquiring a plurality of images of the same examination section, without a complicated operation and an extension of an examination time, body movement information of a subject is acquired immediately before each imaging in an examination, and it is determined whether or not there is a change in the position of the subject by comparing it with body movement information immediately before reference imaging. Only when there is a change in the position of the subject, an imaging slice setting image is acquired again. Then, a recommended imaging slice is calculated using the newest imaging slice setting image.
US08731260B2
Systems and methods for processing, storing, and viewing extremely large imagery data rapidly produced by a linear-array-based microscope slide scanner are provided. The system receives, processes, and stores imagery data produced by the linear scanner as a series of overlapping image stripes and combines the data into a seamless and contiguous baseline image. The baseline image is logically mapped into a plurality of regions that are individually addressed to facilitate viewing and manipulation of the baseline image. The system enables dynamic imagery data compression while scanning and capturing new image stripes that eliminates the overhead associated with storing uncompressed image stripes. The system also creates intermediate level images, thereby organizing the baseline image into a variable level pyramid structure referred to as a virtual slide. The system facilitates the use of virtual slides in applications such as telemedicine, telepathology, microscopy education, and analysis of high value specimens like tissue arrays.
US08731256B2
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, comprising: a magnetic resonance imaging scanner configured to generate a plurality of signals for forming at least one magnetic resonance image of a soft tissue region from a subject under observation, wherein the at least one magnetic resonance image provides at least one integrating feature to facilitate automatic segmentation; a signal processing system in communication with the magnetic resonance imaging scanner to receive the plurality of signals; and a data storage unit in communication with the signal processing system, wherein the data storage unit contains at least one template corresponding to the soft tissue region, wherein the signal processing system is adapted to process the plurality of signals received from the magnetic resonance imaging scanner to automatically perform segmentation for the soft tissue region of the subject under observation by utilizing the at least one template and the at least one integrating feature.
US08731254B2
A biological signal drawing apparatus draws biological signals as drawing points in time series. The biological signal drawing apparatus includes: a thinner performing a thinning process to thin a first number of the drawing points corresponding to the biological signals sampled in each pixel zone, to obtain a second number of the drawing points for each pixel zone, the second number being smaller than the first number; a calculator, after the thinning process is performed, calculating a parameter based on at least one difference of values of adjacent two of the drawing points included in a group that includes: a first drawing point being a center in time series in the group and having a first value; and at least one second drawing point preceding or succeeding the first drawing point in time series and having a second value; and a processor performing a process of: performing a weighted moving average calculation using the first value, the second value and the calculated parameter, to obtain a third value; and replacing the first value with the third value.
US08731251B2
A method of matching fingerprints is disclosed. The method comprises, for a first minutia point, being assigned as a planet minutia point a) determining pairs including the planet minutia point and a satellite minutia point, respectively, such that a cluster is formed; b) comparing the clusters of the respective sets and excluding non-matching satellites; c) counting links in the cluster formed by remaining pairs; and d) for remaining satellite minutia points, performing steps a) to c) with respective satellite minutia point assigned as planet minutia point to form a supercluster by iterating steps a) to d) and superadding the clusters; calculating a score of the supercluster based on the aggregate counted links; and comparing the score with a threshold. A biometric matching apparatus, a portable data carrier, a data processing unit comprising a matching apparatus and a computer program for implementing the invention are also disclosed.
US08731235B2
Embodiments of the invention provide a method and a system for fingerprinting a data object at a server system and a method and a system for extracting the fingerprint from the data object at a client system. Sections of a data object are watermarked with known watermark data to create a first and a second variant of the data object, whereby the section boundaries are optionally saved as metadata. Using the metadata, the first and second variant are combined by taking sections from the variants to create a fingerprinted data object. From the fingerprinted data object, the watermark data can be extracted again.
US08731234B1
Automatic roof identification systems and methods are described. Example embodiments include a roof estimation system configured to automatically detect a roof in a target image of a building having a roof. In one embodiment, automatically detecting a roof in a target image includes training one or more artificial intelligence systems to identify likely roof sections of an image. The artificial intelligence systems are trained on historical image data or an operator-specified region of interest within the target image. Then, a likely outline of the roof in the target image can be determined based on the trained artificial intelligence systems. The likely roof outline can be used to generate a roof estimate report. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
US08731232B2
A speaker frame, including: a vibration support portion supporting a vibrating body of a speaker; a magnet support portion arranged inside of said vibration support portion and supporting a magnetic circuit portion of said speaker; and a plurality of connection beams connecting said vibration support portion and said magnet support portion, wherein in a cross-section passing through a central axis of said speaker, an inclination angle of one connection beam of said connection beams to said central axis is different from an inclination angle of other connection beam to said central axis.
US08731231B2
There is provided a dynamic sound transducer having a diaphragm system (10) which has at least a first and second metallized surface (11) which are separated from each other by an insulating surface (12). The dynamic sound transducer further has a moving coil (20) with a coil wire (25). An end of the coil wire is electrically conductingly connected to the first metallized surface (11) and the other end of the coil wire is electrically conductingly connected to the second metallized surface (11).
US08731230B2
A loudspeaker includes an outer frame with an annular magnet partially exposed from a bottom thereof; a voice coil located inside the annular magnet; a diaphragm glued to between an expanded front opening of the outer frame and the voice coil; a flexible suspension ring having an outer edge fixed to a stepped section of the outer frame and a central opening edge clearance-fitted to a middle/front portion of the annular magnet; and an inner frame having a front portion fitted around the voice coil, a rear portion located on the central opening edge of the flexible suspension ring, and legs extended between the front and rear portions to locate in front of slots formed on the annular magnet. Therefore, the loudspeaker has reduced depth and volume, increased vibration amplitude and stability, and high quality sound output.
US08731227B2
An earphone has an ear cushion mounted thereon to be freely tiltable. The body includes an outer case enclosing a sound wave generating means, and a ball joint provided at an end portion of the outer case that has a sound wave path that propagates sound waves out of the body and having an opening communicating with the sound wave path. An operation holder mounted on the outer circumference of the ball joint includes a frictional ball seat whose inner surface contacts with the outer circumference of the ball joint so as to combine an internal passage communicating with the inner space of the frictional ball seat, and a periphery for the ear cushion. Thus, the earphone becomes sturdier because the body and its outer portion are not structurally weakened. Productivity improves by process simplification. The assembly of the sliding portion is done only on the outside of the body.
US08731222B2
To hold loudspeakers of different sizes in an instrument panel of a motor vehicle, a holding plate with a cutout for inserting a first variant of a circular loudspeaker is arranged in the wall part of a defroster duct, and the holding plate can, by means of predetermined breaking points arranged at the edge in the direction of the wall part, be detached in order to obtain a further, larger cutout for inserting a second variant of a rectangular loudspeaker.
US08731220B2
A MEMS microphone includes a silicon substrate, a diaphragm connected to the silicon substrate, a backplate opposed from the diaphragm for forming an air gap. The backplate defines a plurality of first through holes and a plurality of second through holes surrounded by the first through holes, each of the first through holes being formed by a straight boundary and an arc boundary, the radius of the second boundary being greater than half the width of the first boundary.
US08731204B2
For flexibly signaling a synchronous mode or an asynchronous mode in the multi-channel parameter reconstruction, a parameter configuration cue is inserted in the data stream, which is used by a configurator on the side of a multi-channel decoder to configure a multi-channel reconstructor. If the parameter configuration cue has a first meaning, the configurator will look for further configuration information in its input data, while, when the parameter configuration cue has another meaning, the configurator performs a configuration setting of the multi-channel reconstructor based on information on a coding algorithm with which transmission channel data have been coded, so that it is ensured efficiently on the one hand and flexibly on the other hand that there will always be obtained a correct association between parameter data and decoded transmission channel data.
US08731202B2
Spread of a forged storage medium is prevented suppressing an authentic storage medium's damage and trouble of a owner to the minimum. When there is an update request of user key data, the update history of the user key data concerning the shown above-mentioned medium identifier IDm is referred to. When judged that the update of the user key data concerning the shown medium identifier IDm not being performed within a predetermined period, the update of user key data is performed. The request of a update is refused when judged that the update of the user key data concerning the shown medium identifier IDm being performed within a predetermined period.
US08731198B2
In general, techniques are described for protecting optical networks from consecutive identical digit (CID) errors. An optical network device comprising a control unit and an interface may implement the techniques described in this disclosure. The control unit determines whether a data packet will result in a CID error prior to encapsulating at least a portion of the data packet to form a passive optical network (PON) frame and then, in response to the determination that the data packet will result in the CID error, modifies the data packet to form a modified data packet so that the modified data packet will not result in the CID error. The control unit encapsulates the modified data packet to form a PON frame. The control unit applies a scrambling polynomial to the PON frame to form a scrambled PON frame. The interface transmits the scrambled PON frame.
US08731192B2
A data generating is device capable of preventing unauthorized extraction of plaintext content between decryption processing and digital watermark embedment processing. A content reproducing device obtains restoration information and, in accordance with the restoration information, selectively performs predetermined restoration processing and processing of embedding device unique information, on content data at a position shown by the restoration information.
US08731191B2
An embodiment of the invention provides a data encryption method for an electrical device. The method comprises: generating an identification code corresponding to the electrical device; generating a temporary key according to the identification code; encrypting first data to generate a first secret key according to the temporary key and a first encryption mechanism; and encrypting the first secret key by a second encryption mechanism to generate an encrypted key.
US08731182B2
A data store (e.g., a relational database, an object-oriented database, an unstructured file system, an in-memory data structure, etc.) and associated methods are disclosed for predicting the accuracy of agent responses in a call center. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, agents in a call center are prompted at different times during their workday for estimates of how much longer they will be servicing their current call, and the estimates are stored in the data store along with the actual times required for completion of the call. Statistics for each agent's prediction accuracy are computed and stored in the data store along with the raw data, and can then be used to assess the accuracy of subsequent agent responses to queries.
US08731176B2
An operator evaluation support device includes a speech recording unit configured to record speech times of a customer and an operator during a telephone call; a superposition identifying unit configured to refer to the speech recording unit and identify a superposition speech, which is a speech of the operator that has started during a speech of the customer; a problematic superposition identifying unit configured to identify a problematic superposition speech among the superposition speeches, by comparing a sound quality of a speech of the customer that has started after the superposition speech with a standard sound quality; a call information creating unit configured to refer to the speech recording unit and create telephone call information indicating the identified problematic superposition speech during the telephone call; and a sending unit configured to send the created telephone call information to an administrator terminal used by an administrator evaluating the operator.
US08731172B2
Techniques for providing a method and system for trunk independent gateway transfer of calls are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a computer implemented method, comprising receiving a call transfer request for a call at a gateway and determining, using a processor of the gateway, whether a trunk to be used for transferring the call requires a transfer command. In the event the trunk requires transfer command, the techniques comprise generating a transfer command, and transferring the call using the transfer command.
US08731169B2
Examples include a system, method and program for notifying presence of a phone call participant. In an example, a computer receives a request from a first calling device to connect with one or more second calling devices through a network. The computer provides a presence notification on the first calling devices wherein the presence notification provides a repeating indicator which represents that the one or more second calling devices are connected. The computer determines that the one or more second calling devices has disconnected and in response the computer ceases the presence notification on the first calling device.
US08731165B2
A computer-readable storage device stores instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including prompting a caller during a call for an order identifier. The order identifier identifies a pending order. The operations also include prompting the caller to provide a reason for the call. The operations further include transferring the call to an automated check order status system in response to receiving an indication that the reason for the call is to obtain an order status associated with the pending order. The operations also include, in response to receiving an indication that the order status is not locatable, automatically transferring the call to a customer service agent.
US08731163B1
Identifying a caller includes establishing, by a service provider, a connection over a computer network with a user device and accessing information enabling determination of a location of the user. A request to place a call to a call recipient is received from the user and a pool of temporary telephone numbers is accessed. Based on the location of the user, a temporary telephone number from the pool of temporary telephone numbers is selected. The temporary telephone number is associated with the call, the call is initiated to the call recipient, and information sufficient to identify the temporary telephone number is provided in call information sent to the call recipient.
US08731159B2
A sponsor purchases a prepaid card that can be transmitted to an intended user with increased security. Using a prepaid card dispenser, the sponsor elects an amount for the prepaid card and is prompted for at least one telephone number at which a server platform should contact the sponsor when the intended user wants to authenticate the card. The sponsor may enter additional phone numbers that will be called if the sponsor does not answer the first number when called by the server platform. When an intended user has received the prepaid card, the intended user calls a telephone number associated with the server platform and is connected to the sponsor via a telephone bridge so that the sponsor may authenticate the intended user. The sponsor may then inform the server platform (e.g., via DTMF tones) that the card has been authenticated.
US08731158B2
Methods are disclosed for providing prepaid telephony service via an Internet protocol (IP) network system. A first method provides controlling at least one media agent or call routing station/switch of an IP network system for allowing and/or blocking call media streams from traversing through the media agent. A second method provides directing all signaling messages transmitted by a signaling agent or station and all media packets transmitting voice and data communications through at least one common device within the IP network system. The methods further provide for continuously monitoring a subscriber's account balance and terminating the prepaid telephony service if the account balance is less than a predetermined amount.
US08731152B2
The generation and delivery of key frames to clients of a video conference are performed in response to a need for a synchronization point. Instead of automatically sending a key frame periodically to each of the clients in the video conference, a key frame is sent to one or more clients upon the occurrence of an event in the video conference. For example, a key frame may be sent to a client when the client joins the video conference. A key frame may also be sent to a client that has packet loss, upon the request of a client, a speaker change within the video conference, when a new stream is added by the client, and the like. The clients in the video conference that are not affected by the event continue to receive predicted frames.
US08731148B1
Embodiments of the invention provide a system for enhancing user interaction with Interactive Voice Response (IVR) destinations, the system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising: data encoding a database, the database comprising a list of telephone numbers associated with one or more destinations implementing an IVR; instructions executable by the processor for automatically communicating with at least one user; and instructions executable by the processor to pull at least one menu from the database and display the menu to the at least one user, wherein the menu is associated with a telephone number dialed by the at least one user, and wherein the menu comprises at least one icon.
US08731146B2
In exemplary embodiments, a universal messaging adapter provides hands-free operation of a communications device. The adapter communicates with the communications device, and in some embodiments, with a peripheral device such as another communications device, a headset, and other devices. The universal messaging adapter allows a user to use voice commands so that the user does not have to handle the communications device. The universal messaging adapter receives voice commands from a user interface and translates the voice commands to commands recognized by the communications device. The universal messaging adapter also monitors the communications device to detect communications device events and provides notice of the events to the user. Still further, the universal messaging adapter presents customized voice messaging tools that enable a portable voice messaging service that the user may use with a plurality of communications devices.
US08731136B2
Disclosed is a gate shift register, which can perform a bi-directional shift operation with a reduced number of switching devices. The gate shift register includes a plurality of stages to receive a plurality of gate shift clocks and sequentially output a scan pulse. A kth stage includes a scan direction controller including first and second forward TFTs and first and second reverse TFTs to convert a scan direction in response to carry signals of previous stages input through first and second input terminals and carry signals of next stages input through third and fourth input terminals, a node controller including first to eighteenth TFTs to control charging and discharge operations of Q1, Q2, QB1 and QB2 nodes, and an output unit including first and second pull-up TFTs and first to fourth pull-down TFTs to output two scan pulses based on voltage levels of the Q1, Q2, QB1 and QB2 nodes.
US08731121B2
By exploiting the multi-block structure of the used slot format having a training sequence in the time domain and at least one pre-coded user data block to sequentially reconstruct the slot, using in the first act known symbols and using detected symbols in each subsequent act and improved receiver may be provided. This may result in less ISI/IBI and therefore increased performance.
US08731117B2
Embodiments of a method for OFDM frame boundary detection in a vehicular multipath channel include use of a maximal channel energy instead of a strongest path for detecting a frame boundary. A sample of OFDM data inputs is processed using long preamble local copy correlation and integration to obtain a channel energy which sums all paths of the multipath. A plurality of such channel energies obtained within a given time period are searched for a maximal channel energy, which, when found, is used to detect the frame boundary.
US08731115B2
The present inventions are related to systems and methods for pre-equalizer noise suppression in a data processing system. As an example, a data processing system is discussed that includes: a sample averaging circuit, a selector circuit, an equalizer circuit, and a mark detector circuit. The sample averaging circuit is operable to average corresponding data samples from at least a first read of a codeword and a second read of the codeword to yield an averaged output based at least in part on a framing signal. The selector circuit is operable to select one of the averaged output and the first read of the codeword as a selected output. The equalizer circuit is operable to equalize the selected output to yield an equalized output, and the mark detector circuit is operable to identify a location mark in the equalized output to yield the framing signal.
US08731112B2
In a tone signal circuit and a wireless receiver of the present invention, a digital signal in a frequency band including at least a tone signal component is input into a Goertzel filter. Further, an envelope of an output from the Goertzel filter is detected, and a derivative value of the envelope is derived. Then, if the derivative value is maintained to be equal to or greater than a first threshold value, it is determined that a first prerequisite for existence of the tone signal component is satisfied. The above tone signal circuit and the wireless receiver can perform highly-accurate tone detection in a small calculation amount.
US08731102B2
A transmitter includes multiple transmit antennas, a conversion unit configured to generate multiple signal sequences corresponding to a predefined frequency bandwidth from one or more transmission streams associated with any of the transmit antennas, a precoding unit configured to weight the signal sequences with a precoding matrix selected from a codebook including multiple predefined precoding matrices, and a transmitting unit configured to convert an output signal from the precoding unit into a number of signals corresponding to the number of transmit antennas and transmit the converted signals from the transmit antennas. The precoding unit applies distinct precoding matrices to different signal sequences, and an association between the distinct precoding matrices and the different signal sequences is determined through open-loop control being independent of a feedback from a receiver.
US08731099B2
Transmitter circuits for generating baseband signals having low receiver-band noise are disclosed. In one embodiment, the transmitter circuit comprises an active filtering-and-amplifying component comprising a first input configured to receive a first input signal, and a first output configured to output a first output signal. The transmitter circuit further comprises a passive filtering component comprising a second input connected to the first output and configured to receive the first output signal, a passive pole arrangement comprising a number of switchable resistance elements and a capacitance element connected across the plurality of switchable resistance elements, and a second output configured to output a second output signal having reduced noise as compared to the first output signal. The transmitter still further comprises a number of feedback loops connecting the passive filtering component to the first input.
US08731093B2
The present invention discloses a communication system with a data-dependent superimposed training mechanism and a communication method thereof. The system uses a precoding module installed in front of the data-dependent superimposed training mechanism to precode data by a precoding matrix. The precoding matrix is a N×N unitary matrix, which is constructed by Q×Q precoding sub-matrix. Q is the block size N divided by the channel length. The precoding matrix can achieve full frequency diversity. Any two sets of data precoded by the precoding matrix must be different from each other, such that the receiver can effectively identify the data transmitted from the transmitter and the computational complexity of the receiver is reduced.
US08731087B2
A method of uplink transmission from a mobile device having multiple antennas to a base station having multiple antennas includes transmitting in an open-loop single-user MIMO mode when the mobile device is at high speed, transmitting in a closed-loop single-user MIMO mode when the mobile device is at low speed, and, upon request, transmitting in a multi-user collaborative MIMO mode. The method also includes controlling uplink transmissions in a selected one of the open-loop single-user MIMO, the closed-loop single-user MIMO and the multi-user collaborative MIMO modes. Uplink transmissions from the mobile device may be transmitted using multiple antennas of the mobile device. Upon request, the mobile device may switch to transmitting in multi-user collaborative MIMO mode with a subset of the multiple antennas.
US08731083B2
In the case of a narrow band in which the number of sub-carriers to be used for the concurrent transmission is smaller than a predetermined value, an RSRP estimation unit carries out processes in an order of time-wise in-phase addition, frequency-wise averaging, and conjugate multiplication, with respect to the channel estimation values estimated by the channel estimation unit; and in the case of a wide band in which the number of sub-carriers to be used for the concurrent transmission is greater than the predetermined value, the RSRP estimation unit carries out processes in an order of frequency-wise averaging, conjugate multiplication, and time-wise in-phase addition, with respect to the channel estimation values estimated by the channel estimation unit.
US08731075B2
A baseband processor includes a modulating unit and a converting unit. The modulating unit generates an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol by modulating a bit stream. The converting unit converts the OFDM symbol from a frequency domain into a time domain, and adjusts a frequency of the OFDM symbol according to a frequency hopping sequence to perform frequency hopping in a digital domain.
US08731069B2
A remote display system having a server to transmit moving image content data to a network, and a display terminal to receive and reproduce/display the image data, transmits the image data to which an error resilience code is attached, displays the image content together with other display elements on the display terminal, determines a display shape of the image content in the display, and changes an error resilience method in accordance with a result of the display shape determination.
US08731064B2
Systems, apparatuses and methods whereby a base coded video signal is provided to a decoder having a set of post-processing stages. The base coded video signal can be decoded to produce a base decoded video signal. Post-processing of the base decoded video signal can be used to produce an enhanced quality video output signal. Application of a post-processing stage can be implemented according to the capabilities of the decoder and/or the instantaneous operating parameters of the decoder and/or characteristics of a display. A control signal, communicated over a dedicated channel separate from the base coded video signal, can be used initiate and/or aid implementation of a post-processing stage. The control signal can also provide information to assist/manage the decoding of the base coded video signal. The use of additional post-processing stages increases the complexity of an overall decoding process while improving the quality of a resulting reproduced video sequence.
US08731053B2
Embodiments of the present invention multiplex elementary streams without timing information coded to create a transport stream. In some embodiments, ‘n’ number of access units are constructed and pushed into a list one by one. Each access unit is capable of looking ahead to obtain information on timing for the next access unit. A header is constructed by calculating timing information from the topmost access unit of the list. Said header is written in the transport stream and the remaining bytes of the transport stream are filled with data from the said elementary stream. Thus the transport stream is constructed.
US08731051B1
A video processor is described, which is useful for implementing a quantization process, in compliance with the H.264 standard. The video processor includes an input, for receiving a block of image data. The image data is loaded into an internal register. In response to receiving a SIMD instruction, a quantizer, which incorporates the quantization lookup tables associated with the H.264 standard in its associated hardware, makes necessary high-level quantization decisions. In response to receiving another SIMD instruction, the quantizer uses those high-level quantization decisions to retrieve specific values from the quantization lookup tables.
US08731048B2
Gain Saturation (GS) for MRFME is where searching in more previous frames offers very limited or even no performance gain. Similarly, gain aggregation (GA) is where significant gain can be obtained by searching more frames. By dynamically determining, while encoding, if either condition applies, and changing the search range accordingly, complexity is reduced and speed can be increased.
US08731045B2
A method is provided for encoding a portion of a current image, including: an estimation of motion between the current image portion and a plurality of candidate image portions in order to form motion components, an evaluation of a performance criterion for each candidate image portion, and the selection of a reference image portion using said performance criteria. In the method, for at least one motion component, the motion estimation, the performance criteria evaluation and the reference image portion selection only use information considered to be available at the decoder and no motion information is inserted into an output flow intended for a decoder. A corresponding decoding method is also provided.
US08731042B2
A technique includes using a first signal that is produced by a counter to generate a center-aligned pulse width modulation signal having a first time profile and using the first signal to concurrently generate a pulse width modulation signal that has a second time profile that is different from the first time profile.
US08731022B2
Transmitters, receivers and associated methods are disclosed for providing phase and amplitude modulation in a carrier-less communication system (e.g., an ultra-wide band communication system). An approximate quadrature signal is provided by delaying the in-phase signal by an amount determined by various criteria, such as the bandwidths of the component signals, minimizing the mean square error between an approximate quadrature signal and the true quadrature signal, and minimizing the auto-correlation function of the in-phase signal.
US08731012B2
A surface emitting semiconductor laser includes a substrate; a first semiconductor distributed bragg reflector of a first conductive type; an active region; a second semiconductor distributed bragg reflector of a second conductive type; a current confinement layer that confines current in the active region; an optical confinement layer that confines light in the active region; and an optical loss unit including center and periphery portions in a predetermined direction, and gives a larger optical loss to the periphery portion than that of the center portion. Also, Do1
US08731011B2
The invention relates to a precision optical frequency tunable laser. The laser includes: a laser gain medium, an intracavity collimating lens, an active optical phase modulator, a tunable acousto-optic filter and an intracavity total reflection mirror all arranged sequentially in a laser cavity, and the tunable laser further includes an active polarization rotator, a polarization beam splitter, two etalons, a temperature control system attached to the etalons, two total reflection mirrors, a radio frequency signal source, a laser pumping source, an active optical phase modulator drive source, an active polarization rotator drive source and a laser drive control circuit. Through the temperature control system attached to the etalons, stable laser output and the precision optical frequency tuning less than 1 GHz within a wide spectrum range can be realized, thereby greatly reducing the bandwidth requirements in achieving narrowband filtering for the tunable acousto-optic filter. The invention is compact with high performance, low cost for volume production and installation, and achieves stable tunable laser output within a wide spectrum range.
US08731009B2
The present invention relates to a super continuum light source comprising a pump source arranged to emit light having a center wavelength λcenter arranged to provide pump pulse to a generator fiber, where the refractive index profile of the core is arranged to allow modal cleaning of the light is it propagates, such as via stimulated Raman scattering. An example of invention is the application of a relatively high power pump laser utilized to provide an optical super continuum with relatively high spectral density and/or good beam quality even though the pump laser may provide a beam with a high M2.
US08731001B2
Systems and techniques for communication using coordinated multi-point transmission. In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises at least one processor and a memory storing a set of computer instructions. The processor is configured to cause the apparatus to receive information relating to a propagation delay variation between at least a first transmission and a second transmission received at a user equipment. The first transmission is received from a first transmission point and the second transmission is received from a second transmission. The information relating to the propagation delay variation is evaluated and, based on the result of the evaluation, a determination is made as to whether the second transmission point is acceptable as a participant in a cooperative multi-point joint processing transmission to the user equipment.
US08730996B2
The present invention discloses a method and device for reestablishment at packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. On the receiving side of the PDCP layer, the method comprises: clearing resident control messages (501); processing resident service messages, and clearing feedback information generated during processing (502); and resetting a decompressor, and updating configuration of a decryption module (503). On the transmitting side of the PDCP layer, the method comprises: resetting a compressor, and updating configuration of an encryption module; clearing the resident control messages; and reprocessing the resident service messages. With the differentiated processing for the resident messages at the PDCP layer during the reestablishment, the present invention can avoid the abnormal mode switching of the compressor, and accelerate the user plane restoration after the reestablishment. The present invention can further avoid the transmission of invalid feedback, thus improving the utilization of air interface resources; meanwhile, by avoiding the influence of the invalid status report on uplink and downlink transmission policies, the present invention can reduce retransmission of the service messages, thus improving the utilization of air interface resources.
US08730988B2
A method of allocating logical channels in consideration of an interference range in a wireless sensor network includes defining logical channels to increase the number of available channels and determining the number of logical channels in accordance with the number of nodes within an interference range, allocating the logical channels to the nodes within the interference range so that the determined logical channels do not overlap each other, and exchanging data among the nodes using the allocated logical channels.
US08730984B2
A system includes a host and a network controller coupled to the host by a bus. The system includes logic to classify Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) receive packets based on the network source, network destination, port source, and port destination of the respective receive packets; and cause queuing of the receive packets in a one of multiple receive queues based on the classifying such that receive packets having the same network source, network destination, port source, and port destination are to be queued to the same one of the multiple queues for processing.
US08730982B2
A network device for processing data includes at least one ingress module for performing switching functions on incoming data, a memory management unit for storing the incoming data and at least one egress module for transmitting the incoming data to at least one egress port. The at least one egress module includes an egress scheduling module and multiple queues per each of the at least one egress port. Each of the multiple queues serve data attributable to a class of service, and the egress scheduling module is configured to service a minimum bandwidth requirement for each of the multiple queues and then to service the multiple queues to allow for transmission of a maximum allowable bandwidth through a weighting of each of the multiple queues.
US08730980B2
Techniques are provided to start a virtual service node that is configured to provide network traffic services for one or more virtual machines. The virtual service node has at least one associated service profile comprising identifiers for corresponding service policies for network traffic services. The service policies identified in the at least one associated service profile are retrieved. A virtual machine is started with an associated virtual interface and a port profile is applied to the virtual interface, including information identifying the service profile. Information is provided to the virtual service node that informs the virtual service node of network parameters and assigned service profile of the virtual machine. Network traffic associated with the virtual machine is intercepted and redirected to the virtual service node. A virtual service data path is provided that enables dynamic service binding, virtual machine mobility support, and virtual service node chaining and/or clustering.
US08730975B2
An apparatus comprising an edge virtual bridging (EVB) bridge, and an EVB station coupled to the EVB bridge, wherein the EVB station is configured to send to the EVB bridge a virtual station interface (VSI) discovery and configuration protocol (VDP) request comprising a filter information (info) field without specifying a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (ID), and wherein the EVB bridge is configured to send a VLAN ID (VID) to the EVB station in a second filter info field in a VDP response to the VDP request.
US08730968B2
A method of operating a communication system in which transmissions in a first direction, say from a base station, comprise frames formed by data packets and transmissions in a second direction, say from a user equipment (U E), comprise substantially continuous transmissions having acknowledgement fields (ARQ-A, ARQ-B) for data packets and transmission gaps (GP) to allow the UE to make other measurements. The acknowledgement fields are mapped to the data packets to enable the base station to determine which data packets are being acknowledged. In order to avoid ambiguity in mapping acknowledgement fields to data packets when a transmission gap occurs, a single data packet is transmitted in either the frame whose acknowledgement field would occur in the transmission gap or the frame whose acknowledgement field would occur immediately following the transmission gap. Thus the base station will know that the acknowledgement field immediately following the transmission gap maps onto the data packet transmitted in the selected one of the two frames. In one embodiment a data packet is not transmitted in the frame whose acknowledgement field would occur immediately following the transmission gap. In a refinement of the method, the selection of the particular frame is related to the one which can support a high rate data packet.
US08730965B2
Adaptive packet routing is employed in a multiprocessor network configuration such as an InfiniBand switch architecture. Packets are routed from host to host through one or more switches. Upon receipt of a packet at a switch, the packet header is inspected to determine the destination host. A destination field in the header is used to index into a lookup table or other memory, which produces a route type and an output port grouping. Depending on the route type, one or more primary and secondary output port candidates are identified. An output port arbitration module chooses an output port from which to send a given packet, using congestion sensing inputs for the specified ports. A heuristic may include the congestion information that is provided to the arbitration module. Switching may be performed among minimal or non-minimal routes along each hop in the path, depending upon link and packet injection information.
US08730962B2
A packet switch for switching variable length packets. Each output port interface of the packet switch includes a buffer memory, a transmission priority controller, and a packet readout controller. The buffer memory stores transmission packets. The transmission priority controller classifies, based on a predetermined algorithm, transmission packets passed from a packet switching unit into a plurality of queue groups to which individual bandwidths are assigned respectively, and queues the transmission packets in the buffer memory so as to form a plurality of queues according to transmission priority in each of the queue groups. The packet readout controller reads the transmission packets from each of the queue groups in the buffer memory according to the order of transmission priority of the packets while guaranteeing the bandwidth assigned to the queue group.
US08730961B1
A system and method for reducing the number of cycles used in CAM lookup. A network comprises a plurality of network devices connected to a router. The router comprises a media access controller which is effective to receive an input packet and a packet processor which is effective to receive the input packet from the media access controller and to extract data stored in the input packet. The router further comprises a CAM which is effective to receive the data stored in the input packet from the packet processor, a PRAM, a control processor and a bus. The control processor controls the packet processor and the CAM so that the packet processor extracts a destination address from the input packet and forwards the destination address to the CAM. The packet processor extracts a source address from the input packet and forwards the source address to the CAM. The CAM performs a lookup of the destination and source addresses in parallel. The packet processor extracts miscellaneous information, a source protocol address, and a destination protocol address from the received packet and the CAM performs a lookup of the miscellaneous information, the source protocol address, and the destination protocol address at the same time.
US08730955B2
Packets can be read from a network interface into an application using a single kernel copy. In one embodiment, the invention includes a receiver packet memory to store captured packets, and a network interface driver operating in a kernel of a device to read packets captured by network interface hardware into the kernel by storing captured packets in the receiver packet memory. Then, an application interface can expose the receiver packet memory to an application executing on the device by representing the receiver packet memory as a virtual file.
US08730954B2
In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a switch core that defines a single logical entity and has a multi-stage switch fabric physically distributed across a plurality of chassis. The multi-stage switch fabric has a plurality of ingress ports and a plurality of egress ports. The switch core is configured to be coupled to a plurality of peripheral processing devices via the plurality of ingress ports and the plurality of egress ports. The switch core is also configured to provide non-blocking connectivity at line rate between a first peripheral processing device disposed with a first chassis and a second peripheral processing device disposed within a second chassis.
US08730952B2
A method and apparatus for enabling providers of PSTN toll free services to stagger simultaneous transmission of call setup signaling messages into an IP based teleconference bridge, supported by a VoIP network, by suspending a subset of calls and placing them on hold while placing other calls to be connected to the conference bridge are disclosed. The PSTN network can stagger calls by limiting the number of call setup signaling messages to be sent to the VoIP network within a predefined period of time interval and spread all the calls over multiple of such predefined periods. Prerecorded announcements or music can be played while the calls that have been placed on hold are in queue.
US08730944B2
A method for controlling communication between a number of first terminal modules connected to a multimedia IP network in particular with the first communication session being a call session already running, includes the steps of establishing a first communication session between the first terminal modules, establishing at least one second communication session between at least a subset of the first terminal modules, and storing relation information relating the first and the second communication sessions.
US08730938B2
A method for self synchronization by a base station is described. Network information is sent to a wireless communication device. The network information indicates a first time period. The first time period is a period of silence by the base station. Synchronization signals are monitored during the first time period. Monitoring synchronization signals includes not transmitting.
US08730935B2
Aspects of a method and system for Bluetooth connection setup in a multi-standard multi-radio communication system are provided. In this regard, a Bluetooth system may be operable to determine whether a coexistent time division multiplexing communication system is receiving signals and to control the types of packets it transmits based on the determination. While the coexistent time division multiplexing communication system is receiving signals, the Bluetooth system may be limited to transmission of Bluetooth packets that enable establishment of a Bluetooth connection. For example the Bluetooth system may be limited to sending ID packets in response to page packets and FHS packets and/or may be limited to sending FHS packets. Also, the Bluetooth system may refrain from transmitting packets while the Bluetooth system is connected as a piconet master and while the time division multiplexing communication system is receiving.
US08730934B2
Systems and methods are provided for assigning a customer device to a group of customer devices for the transmission of broadband data signals. A communications signal output by a customer device associated with a customer of the service provider may be received by a service provider system. The service provider system may be associated with the service provider, and the service provider system may include one or more computers. The received communications signal may be processed by the service provider system to determine a linear impairment associated with the customer device. Based at least in part on the linear impairment, a frequency range at which communications will be output by the service provider system for receipt by the customer device may be determined.
US08730930B2
Polling using B-ACK for occasional back-channel traffic in VoWIFI applications. Within wireless communication systems having a relatively asymmetric channel (e.g., relative more downstream traffic than upstream), certain upstream communications (e.g., acknowledgments (ACKs) and/or block acknowledgments (B-ACKs)) include indication therein (e.g., piggybacked therein) that a given downstream located communication device desires/needs to make upstream communication. In some instances, specificity is also provided therein to indicate the type of information to be transmitted upstream. Such a communication protocol mitigates (or eliminates) contention between upstream and downstream traffic in an environment with significantly more downstream traffic (e.g., such as ongoing downstream traffic that may include streaming video). A coordinating device (e.g., access point (AP)) may employ such upstream provided indicia to coordinate upstream and downstream communications within the wireless communication system in a non-contentious manner that does not deleteriously affect ongoing downstream traffic.
US08730924B2
The present invention relates to a method for sending reserved sub-carriers to a UE for the purpose of reducing peak to average power ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted signal to ensure sufficient quality of the modulated signal to achieve high data rate, including the steps of sending the information related to dynamic activation and deactivation of reserved sub-carriers on a common channel, which is readable for all UEs in idle and in connected mode; dynamically activating the transmission of the reserved sub-carriers in a cell when high modulation quality is to be maintained; dynamically deactivating the transmission of the reserved sub-carriers in a cell when high modulation quality is not required. The invention furthermore relates to a radio base station and a UE relating to said method.
US08730923B2
A resource allocation algorithm identifies a resource hogger in a wireless communication system data sharing arrangement and control shared resource overuse by the resource hogger. In one embodiment, the base station for a given sector in the system tracks the time-slot usage of each active user in the sector. If the usage for any user reaches a predetermined hogger threshold, normal target QoS enforcement is suspended for that user to allow more time slots to be allocated to the other, non-hogger users. When the resource hogger user's usage falls below the threshold, target QoS enforcement is returned to that user. Temporarily suspending target QoS enforcement for resource hoggers and allocating the remaining resources to other users prevents resource hoggers from deteriorating performance of the entire system.
US08730909B2
A method in a wireless communications device having a first protocol stack for use with a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second protocol stack for use with a second RAT, the first protocol stack comprising a reordering component associated with a first layer of the first protocol stack and arranged to implement a data reordering queue, the method for transitioning from the first RAT to the second RAT, the method comprising: determining that the device should transition from the first RAT to the second RAT; in response to determining that the device should transition, determining that data is present in a reordering queue implemented by the reordering component; sending the data present in the reordering queue to a second layer which is higher than the first layer; and attempting transitioning from the first RAT to the second RAT.
US08730903B2
A method and apparatus for channel estimation for radio link between a base station and a relay station in a radio communication system are disclosed. A method for receiving a downlink signal at a relay node in a wireless communication system, the method comprising receiving downlink control information by demodulating a R-PDCCH of a first RB pair based on a downlink channel estimated by a DMRS in the first resource block (RB) pair; and receiving downlink data by demodulating a PDSCH of the one or more RB pairs contiguous to the first RB pair based on a downlink channel estimated by a DMRS in the one or more RB pairs, wherein, if the PDSCH is assigned to the first RB pair, the downlink channel is estimated on the assumption that the same precoder is applied to one RB bundle including the first RB pair and the one or more RB pairs.
US08730901B2
A sequence allocating method and apparatus wherein in a system where a plurality of different Zadoff-Chu sequences or GCL sequences are allocated to a single cell, the arithmetic amount and circuit scale of a correlating circuit at a receiving end can be reduced. In ST201, a counter (a) and a number (p) of current sequence allocations are initialized, and in ST202, it is determined whether the number (p) of current sequence allocations is coincident with a number (K) of allocations to one cell. In ST203, it is determined whether the number (K) of allocations to the one cell is odd or even. If K is even, in ST204-ST206, sequence numbers (r=a and r=N−a), which are not currently allocated, are combined and then allocated. If K is odd, in ST207-ST212, for sequences that cannot be paired, one of sequence numbers (r=a and r=N−a), which are not currently allocated, is allocated.
US08730899B2
The present invention is a method for operating terminals in a broadband wireless communication system in which a persistent allocation technique is employed, comprising the steps of: receiving a persistent resource allocation message from a base station; determining whether or not the persistent resource allocation message includes frame position information related to a second persistent resource allocation; deciding a frame position for allocating a persistent resource based on a persistent allocation period and the frame position information included in the persistent resource allocation message, when it is determined that the frame position information related to the second persistent resource allocation is included; and receiving a data packet using the persistently allocated resource at the decided frame position.
US08730896B2
In the system of a variable transmission bandwidth, transmit power control for minimizing an impact on a circuit is performed. There is provided a transmit power control method that is applied to a transmission apparatus that transmits data through the use of a different transmission format at each transmission opportunity, in which transmit power is controlled depending on the transmission format before digital/analogue conversion is performed on transmission data, and, based on the transmit power control, the transmit power is controlled on the transmission data that has been subjected for the digital/analogue conversion. In addition, the transmission format specifies a frequency bandwidth used for transmission of the transmission data.
US08730891B2
Disclosed is a wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method wherein flexible frequency scheduling is performed without increasing the scale of the DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) circuitry. For example, when resource allocation information is reported indicating whether or not a resource has been allocated to each of a plurality of RBGs (RB groups) into which the system bandwidth is divided, as in Type 0 allocation, if the number of reported RBs reported by the resource allocation information cannot be expressed as “2^n×3^m×5^l”, an allocated RB number setting section (208) sets the number of allocated resource blocks used in the actual transmission band, corresponding to the reported RB number, to the number of resource blocks that can be represented by any of “2^n×3^m×5^l”, and an allocated RB selection section (209); selects the allocated RB employed in the actual transmission band from the resource allocation information and allocated RB number.
US08730888B2
Transmitter(s) (34), radio base station nodes (38) comprising transmitter(s), and methods of operating transmitter(s)/radio base station(s) involve handling discontinuous transmission indication bits, particularly when transmitting using a 16 QAM signal point constellation having an I-branch and a Q-branch (for a quadruple of bits comprising two I-branch bits, i1 and i2, and two Q-branch bits q1 and q2). The transmitter(s) (34) and the radio base station nodes (28) comprised thereof are operated to perform a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service over Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) transmission wherein the MBSFN transmission comprises mapping data to a Secondary Common Control Physical Channel (SCCPCH).
US08730873B2
A system for configuring antenna systems for selecting directional communication signals corresponding to other apparatuses. A directional communication signal may be selected as the result of a beam training operation coordinated between at least two apparatuses. Beam selection training sequences may then be broadcast from one apparatus, and the receiving apparatus may determine the quality of each received beam training sequence in order to approximate a vector describing the direction from which the signals were sent.
US08730872B2
A method and system for determining that a first mobile communication device that is part of a designated group is in a proximate location to a second mobile communication device that is part of such designated group, by comparing an identifier or a MAC address of an access point that is detected by the first device with an identifier or MAC address of an access point that is detected by the second device. If both devices detect a presence of a same access point, as is indicated by the MAC addresses of the access point, a signal is sent to at least one of the devices to indicate that the devices are in proximate locations.
US08730868B2
In order to select a synchronization signal higher in accuracy, thereby increasing the accuracy of the time synchronization, it is provided a network node for transferring data in a network, comprising: a network interface having a plurality of ports; a transfer control module; a time synchronizing module; a fluctuation measurement module; and a clock. The time synchronization module uses a received time synchronization packet to synchronize the clock. The fluctuation measurement module determines an accuracy of a time contained in the received time synchronization packet based on a result of comparison between the time contained in the received time synchronization packet and a time of the clock.
US08730867B2
A device (DA1) is intended to aid a clock synchronization device (DS1) of a master station (SM) of a wireless network in performing time synchronizations, this master station (SM) comprising a master clock (HM) represented by the value of a master counter (CM) and means (MG1) for generating wireless frames of IP packets containing in particular PTP messages of first and second types. The aid device (DA1) comprises detection means (MD1) for, in case of detection by the physical layer of the master station (SM) of a frame pulse received from the network, triggering the sampling of the value of the master counter (CM).
US08730866B2
A radio base station communicating with a radio terminal, comprising a control unit configured to perform scheduling of a radio resource with respect to the radio terminal, wherein the control unit estimates transmission power of the radio terminal, which is calculated by the radio terminal, based on information on transmission power notified from the radio terminal, calculates power of an uplink signal from the radio terminal based on uplink propagation loss between the radio base station and the radio terminal, and performs the scheduling based on a difference between a first power obtained by the estimation of the transmission power of the radio terminal and a second power obtained by the calculation of the power of the uplink signal.
US08730864B2
A payload switching architecture for LEO satellite networks minimizes processing and storage requirements of payloads for deployment as small primary or secondary payloads, payloads perform only forwarding functions. Forwarding rules are provisioned in the payloads enabling them to reroute in case of failures or congestion without intervention from a ground station. Configuration rules are provisioned in the payloads enabling them to dynamically establish and remove interplane crosslinks without intervention from a ground station. The central network operations center on the ground computes forwarding rules and configuration rules for payloads and uploads the rules to the payloads.
US08730861B2
In co-channel heterogeneous networks, subframes may be partitioned between several evolved Node Bs (eNBs) including eNBs of different power classes. Lower power eNBs may have a reduced range due to interference from neighboring higher power eNBs. Rate matching on the UE allows the UE, during communication with a low power eNB, to avoid transmitting on Resource Elements (REs) which experience interference from common resource signals of an interfering base station.
US08730855B2
A method for detecting a channel in a mixed-mode communications system is presented. The channel contains a primary synchronization pattern in a predetermined location within the channel. The primary synchronization pattern is compared against different predetermined channel synchronization patterns to detect a channel. Upon detection of the channel, a look-back channel detector confirms the existence of the channel by using the location of the primary synchronization pattern. Detection and confirmation of the channel may be employed simultaneously to each channel of a multiple-channel direct mode of operation signal. Audio holes may be eliminated in a 2:1 TDMA direct mode operation where both time slots contain signals from two different originating communication devices and the signals have different priority.
US08730852B2
Embodiments are directed to eliminating false audio using an egress gateway in a communications network. At least one false audio packet is received by an egress gateway. The false audio packet includes false audio. A DTMF packet is received by the egress gateway. The DTMF packet is received subsequent to the at least one false audio packet. The false audio in the false audio packet is replaced with a substitute signal by the egress gateway.
US08730847B1
A method for joining a conference using a mobile device includes receiving an invitation at the mobile device. The invitation includes a link associated with a conference bridge and a first identifier of the conference. The method also includes activating the link in the invitation, sending the first identifier of the conference from the mobile device to the conference bridge, and receiving a redirect message at the mobile device from the conference bridge. The redirect message is associated with a conferencing application on the mobile device and includes a second identifier of the conference. The method also includes launching the conferencing application on the mobile device and sending the second identifier of the conference from the mobile device to the conference bridge to establish the conference between the conference bridge and the conferencing application via the mobile device.
US08730844B2
Disclosed are a self-forming ad-hoc network architecture and triplet-based radio waveform for communicating via the network architecture. The self-forming ad-hoc network preferably has a plurality of network nodes including a point-of-presence node, one or more relay nodes that aggregate data (triplet) traffic, one or more sensor nodes that send and receive data from relay nodes, and one or more handheld nodes that send and receive data to and from relay nodes and communicate data between themselves. The communication waveform is defined by orthogonal triplets having multiple time slots, multiple frequency channels, and multiple hop sequences in a channel, that is used to communicate between the network nodes.
US08730843B2
Tree assessment systems and methods are disclosed. An example of a method includes building a system tree in computer-readable medium, the system tree having a plurality of nodes, each node in the system tree representing a characteristic of a component of a system under consideration. The method also includes comparing nodes of the system tree stored in computer-readable medium, with nodes in other trees to identify at least one similar node for identifying similar trees. The method also includes extracting extracting a most similar tree from the similar trees based on the at least one similar node. The method also includes assigning characteristics from the most similar tree to the system tree.
US08730842B2
A cellular network device comprises a data network indicator and an automatic network reconfiguration module. A data network indicator provides an indication when data network connectivity associated with a cellular network does not meet performance or configuration criteria. An automatic network reconfiguration module automatically reconfigures network data connectivity in the event that an indication has been provided that data network connectivity does not meet performance or configuration criteria. A cellular network device comprises a data network indicator and a management channel. A data network indicator for providing an indication when data network connectivity associated with a cellular network does not meet performance or configuration criteria. A management channel for enabling automatic access in the event that an indication is received that data network connectivity does not meet performance or configuration criteria, wherein the management channel enables automatic access to the cellular network device for administrative maintenance or reporting.
US08730835B2
A communication system may include a plurality of entities comprising a hybrid network controller, one or more femtocells, one or more access points and/or one or more end-point devices. The hybrid network controller may determine and/or communicate configuration parameters corresponding to space, time, frequency and/or code domains that may enable communication of data between and/or among two or more of the entities. The configuration parameters may comprise frequency, time slot, codes and/or antenna pattern assignments. The network controller may control communication between a communication device external to the communication system and one or more of the entities within the communication system. Availability of frequencies, time slots, codes and/or antenna patterns may be monitored. The network controller may assign the femtocells, access points and/or end-point devices to handle the communication of the data. The hybrid network controller may communicate with the plurality of entities via wired, optical and/or wireless interfaces.
US08730833B2
Technologies are presented for enabling a relatively low power, limited range communications system (or, alternatively, a terminal in a directional, point-to-point communications link), using native data communications services provided by an overlying wireless network, to automatically (or semi-automatically) negotiate with that network for use of specific portions of the frequency band or bands that are used in common by the low power device and the overlying network. Frequency management capabilities inherent to the wireless network may be utilized to automatically execute the resulting frequency use coordination. Through the coordination, the low power (or point-to-point) communications system may be protected from potentially excessive interference from the overlying network and/or user devices operating on that network (and vice-versa) while minimizing any impact on performance and capacity of the overlying network.
US08730807B2
Certain exemplary embodiments comprise a method comprising: for selected traffic that enters a backbone network via a predetermined ingress point and is addressed to a predetermined destination, via a dynamic tunnel, automatically diverting the selected traffic from the predetermined ingress point to a processing complex; and automatically forwarding the selected traffic from the processing complex toward the predetermined destination.
US08730798B2
Apparatus and methods for transmitting information over a home coax network. The apparatus and methods may involve a physical layer frequency domain signal preprocessor and a physical layer time domain signal transmitter. The transmitter may be configured to receive the signal from the preprocessor and transmit the signal over coax that is in radiofrequency communication with a plurality of network nodes, the transmitter having a first transmission channel and a second transmission channel. The signal may be received by a receiver on the network. The receiver may have a MAC-to-PHY interface that is configured to receive signals from single-transmission-channel transmitters.
US08730796B2
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for providing radio access in a communication system by inter-working between at least two packet-based networks, such as heterogeneous cellular networks including a cellular network and an Internet Protocol (IP)-based wireless data network. The method includes enabling a packet routing path across the cellular and wireless data networks to provide a quality of service metric and an indication for mobility information associated with a user of a mobile device. The method further comprises transferring the quality of service metric and the indication for mobility information on the packet routing path in response to a service request across the networks. To provide wireless radio access, an IP-based communication system may use a wireless router, such as a base station router (BSR) and an inter-working unit. The inter-working unit may enable a packet routing path to provide a Quality of Service (QoS) metric and an indication for mobility information, such as mobility context information, associated with a user of a mobile device. In this way, instead of using a Mobile-IP client of the mobile device, the inter-working unit may provide radio access to the cellular network and the wireless data network using the wireless router.
US08730793B2
A method, apparatus and computer program product is presented. A first tunnel is provided across a layer 3 network from a first network device to a second network device. A first virtual interface (VI) is provided on the second network device, and assigned to the first tunnel. Information related to the first tunnel and the first VI is passed to a third network device, which is a member of a cluster with the second network device. A second tunnel is provided across the layer 3 network from the third device to the first network device, and a second virtual interface (VI) is provided on the third network device, and assigned to the second tunnel. Forwarding information is exchanged between the second network device and the third network device. The second network device and the third network device provide forwarding redundancy service to the first network device.
US08730784B2
A machine readable information storage medium, a reproducing method and apparatus which reproduces data from the storage medium, and a recording method and apparatus for recording data on the storage medium. The information storage medium includes a control area which stores within a data structure information usable by the recording or reproducing apparatus to record or reproduce the data on or from the storage medium. The information stored within the data structure includes a version corresponding to a specification, a revision number of recording speed, and an extended part version field.
US08730782B2
A machine readable information storage medium, a reproducing method and apparatus which reproduces data from the storage medium, and a recording method and apparatus for recording data on the storage medium. The information storage medium includes a control area which stores within a data structure information usable by the recording or reproducing apparatus to record or reproduce the data on or from the storage medium. The information stored within the data structure includes a version corresponding to a specification, a revision number of recording speed, and an extended part version field.
US08730772B1
Systems, methods, and computer-readable mediums for handling of switching errors include, in at least one aspect, a method including: switching between a first mode and a second mode; obtaining a first error value associated with switching from the first mode to the second mode; obtaining a second error value associated with switching from the second mode to the first mode; determining a total error value based on the first error value and the second error value; and determining an adjustment value based on the total error value and a value of an associated resolution gain.
US08730767B2
The timepiece includes first (1) and second (2) rings to which indications (3, 4) are affixed for displaying, in combination with each other, a time-related magnitude (5), which appears in a large aperture (6). The rings (1, 2) have equal dimensions, are arranged one on top of the other and off-center in relation to each other such that, at the vertical of the large aperture, the outer edge (7) of the first ring (1) substantially borders the inner edge (8) of the second ring (2).
US08730763B2
Methods and apparatus to optimize parameters in a downhole environment are described. An example downhole tool includes a transmitter to transmit a signal into a subterranean formation and one or more receivers to receive at least a portion of the acoustic signal. The downhole tool also includes a processor configured to determine slownesses of different acoustic modes at a frequency of the signal received. Each of the slownesses is associated with a first parameter and a second parameter. The different acoustic modes have substantially different sensitivities to at least one of the first parameter or the second parameter. The processor to invert the determined slownesses of the different acoustic modes to determine an optimized value of the first parameter and an optimized value of the second parameter.
US08730756B2
A memory circuitry includes memory components operable in response to first edges of an internal clock; and internal clock generating circuitry to generate the internal clock in response to a system clock, wherein the first edges of the internal clock are generated in response to both a rising and a falling edge of the system clock.
US08730745B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of first interconnects which extend in a first direction and are arranged in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, a plurality of second interconnects which extend in the second direction and are arranged in the first direction, and a plurality of first storage modules which are formed in regions where the first interconnects and the second interconnects cross. The semiconductor memory device further comprises a first interconnect control module which supplies a voltage to the first interconnects, detects a first current flowing in the first interconnects, and outputs a first voltage corresponding to the first current, a reference voltage generator module which generates a second voltage based on a second current, and a regulator which generates a third voltage based on the first voltage and the second voltage.
US08730742B2
Provided is a device, including: a first terminal which receives an external clock signal; a clock generation circuit connected to the first terminal to generate an internal clock signal based on the external clock signal; word lines and bit lines; amplifier circuits connected to the bit lines, respectively; and a control unit. The control unit controls, in a test operation, at least one of the word lines to repeat a selected state and an unselected state in accordance with the internal clock signal during a first period, and maintains the amplifier circuits in an active state during the first period. The control unit further controls, in a normal operation, the amplifier circuits to switch between the active state and an inactive state depending on switching between the selected state and the unselected state of the at least one of the word lines.
US08730741B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory system includes a first semiconductor memory device, a second semiconductor memory device, and a wiring line. The wiring line is connected between the first semiconductor memory device and the second semiconductor memory device. When one of the first and second semiconductor memory devices discharges electric charge, the other of the first and second semiconductor memory devices receives the discharged electric charge through the wiring line.
US08730738B2
Methods of operating nonvolatile memory devices including a plurality of cell strings each having at least one ground selection transistor, a plurality of memory cells, and at least one string selection transistor, the operating methods including receiving a command and an address, determining a voltage applying time in response to the input command and address, and applying a specific voltage to memory cells of cell strings corresponding to the input address during the determined voltage applying time.
US08730734B2
The present disclosure includes methods, devices, and systems for access line biasing. One embodiment includes selecting, using a controller external to the memory device, a particular access line dependent biasing scheme and corresponding bias conditions for use in performing an access operation on an array of memory cells of the memory device, and performing the access operation using the selected particular access line dependent biasing scheme and corresponding bias conditions. In one or more embodiments, the selected particular access line dependent biasing scheme and corresponding bias conditions is selected by the controller external to the memory device based, at least partially, on a target access line of the array.
US08730733B2
A non-volatile memory device and a read method thereof are disclosed. The read method includes providing a memory block having memory cells connected to word lines and connected in serial to a bit line, sensing potential of the bit line by applying a first read voltage to a selected word line of the word lines and providing a first pass voltage to an unselected word line adjacent to the selected word line, sensing potential of the bit line by applying a second read voltage higher than the first read voltage to the selected word line and providing a second pass voltage lower than the first pass voltage to the unselected word line adjacent to the selected word line, and sensing potential of the bit line by applying a third read voltage higher than the second read voltage to the selected word line and providing a third pass voltage lower than the second pass voltage to the unselected word line adjacent to the selected word line.
US08730728B2
An EEPROM cell including a transfer gate that can suppress a data disturbance phenomenon of the EEPROM cell is provided. The EEPROM cell includes: an inverter; a control plate; a tunneling plate; a data output metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) that is connected to the inverter; a floating plate that is connected to the inverter; a tunneling capacitor area that is formed between the floating plate and the tunneling plate; and a transfer gate that is connected to the tunneling plate. As the transfer gate is added between a bit line and the tunneling plate of the EEPROM cell, in a standby (or unselected) operation of the EEPROM cell, the tunneling plate is floated.
US08730727B2
A 3D non-volatile memory device includes a plate-type lower select line formed over a substrate, a lower select transistor formed in the lower select line, a plurality of memory cells stacked over the lower select transistor, an upper select transistor formed over the memory cells, and a line-type common source line formed over the substrate and spaced from the lower select line.
US08730726B2
Memory cells comprising: a semiconductor substrate having a source region and a drain region disposed below a surface of the substrate and separated by a channel region; a tunnel dielectric structure disposed above the channel region, the tunnel dielectric structure comprising at least one layer having a hole-tunneling barrier height; a charge storage layer disposed above the tunnel dielectric structure; an insulating layer disposed above the charge storage layer; and a gate electrode disposed above the insulating layer are described along with arrays and methods of operation.
US08730719B1
In one embodiment of the invention, there is provided a magnetic random access (MRAM) device. The device comprises a plurality of MRAM cells, wherein each MRAM cell comprises a magnetic bit, and write conductors defined by conductors patterned in a second metal layer above the magnetic bit; and a gate formed below the magnetic bit between a source and a drain; and addressing circuits to address the MRAM cells.
US08730717B2
A semiconductor device has multiple memory cell groups arranged at intersections between multiple word lines and multiple bit lines intersecting the word lines. The memory cell groups each have first and second memory cells connected in series. Each of the first and the second memory cells has a select transistor and a resistive storage device connected in parallel. The gate electrode of the select transistor in the first memory cell is connected with a first gate line, and the gate electrode of the select transistor in the second memory cell is connected to a second gate line. A first circuit block for driving the word lines (word driver group WDBK) is arranged between a second circuit block for driving the first and second gate lines (phase-change-type chain cell control circuit PCCCTL) and multiple memory cell groups (memory cell array MA).
US08730715B2
A magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) die may include an MRAM cell, a reservoir defined by the MRAM die, and a chemical disposed in the reservoir. At least one boundary of the reservoir may be configured to be damaged in response to attempted tampering with the MRAM die, such that at least some of the chemical is released from the reservoir when the at least one boundary of the reservoir is damaged. In some examples, at least some of the chemical is configured to contact and alter or damage at least a portion of the MRAM cell when the chemical is released from the reservoir.
US08730712B2
A static random access memory (SRAM) is described and includes; a bit cell connected with a word line, connected between a bit line and a complementary bit line, and receiving an internal voltage from a write assist circuit. The write assist circuit includes a power control circuit that charges/discharges an internal voltage line to provide the internal voltage in response to at least one control signal, and a compensation circuit that controls a level of the internal voltage.
US08730705B1
Disclosed are various embodiments related to stacked memory devices, such as DRAMs, SRAMs, EEPROMs, ReRAMs, and CAMs. For example, stack position identifiers (SPIDs) are assigned or otherwise determined, and are used by each memory device to make a number of adjustments. In one embodiment, a self-refresh rate of a DRAM is adjusted based on the SPID of that device. In another embodiment, a latency of a DRAM or SRAM is adjusted based on the SPID. In another embodiment, internal regulation signals are shared with other devices via TSVs. In another embodiment, adjustments to internally regulated signals are made based on the SPID of a particular device. In another embodiment, serially connected signals can be controlled based on a chip SPID (e.g., an even or odd stack position), and whether the signal is an upstream or a downstream type of signal.
US08730704B1
A CAM device is disclosed that includes an array of CAM cells in which the compare circuits of groups of CAM cells are connected together using a conductive layer interposed between a polysilicon layer of the CAM device and the metal-1 layer of the CAM device. This allows the data lines (e.g., the bit lines and/or comparand lines) of the CAM array to be formed in the metal-1 layer of the CAM device, which in turn allows the match lines of the CAM array to be formed in the metal-2 layer of the CAM device. The conductive layer, which may be a silicide layer, is connected to the match line by a via extending from the conductive layer through the metal-1 layer to the metal-2 layer.
US08730702B2
A DC-to-AC power converter is disclosed which provides current regulated three-phase AC outputs and very high conversion efficiencies. The converter sinks power from an external DC current source and steers that current directly into two phases of a three-phase load by using complementary semiconductor switches in disparate half-bridges of a six-pole bridge. The steering switch selection rotates every 60° to direct current into the two phases with the largest voltage differential at any given time. The remaining half-bridge acts as a high-frequency, bi-directional current source to balance the three-phase load currents. This topology and control method significantly reduces power conversion losses. Prior art converters first convert “soft” DC sources to voltage sources and then to AC current sources. The invention eliminates the need for large filter inductors and DC bus capacitors used in prior art converters. The invention is optimized for photovoltaic, utility-grid-interactive applications.
US08730701B2
An H-bridge control circuit comprises an input stage, comparator stage, inverter stage. The operation of the H-bridge can be controlled by a single analog input signal provided by a feedback stage. Shoot-through protection is provided for the H-bridge circuit through the inclusion of a dead gap determined by inputs to the comparator stage. The dead gap can be adjusted, allowing for adjustment of the precision operation of the load. The H-bridge can be used to drive a bi-directional load such as, for example, a Peltier conditioner.
US08730693B2
A control circuit of a charge pump circuit is disclosed, which includes a ring oscillator and a load status detection unit. The ring oscillator herein is for producing a clock signal and adjusting the frequency of the clock signal according to a first control signal, and stopping generating the clock signal according to an adjustment signal. The load status detection unit is for producing the first control signal and determining a time point to enable the first control signal according to the voltage drop variation of an output voltage of the charge pump circuit and the adjustment signal, wherein the pulse width of the adjustment signal gets narrower with a smaller drop in amplitude of the output voltage value.
US08730691B2
A power conversion apparatus, such as an uninterruptible power supply, included first and second DC busses, a neutral node and an inductor configured to be coupled to a load. The apparatus further includes an inverter circuit coupled to the first and second DC busses, to the neutral node and to the inductor and configured to selectively couple the first and second DC busses and the neutral node to a first terminal of the inductor to generate an AC voltage at a second terminal of the inductor such that, in a given half-cycle of the AC voltage, the inverter circuit uses a switching sequence wherein the first DC bus, the second DC bus and the neutral node are successively coupled to the first terminal of the inductor.
US08730685B2
A mounting apparatus assembly includes a data storage bracket, a computer enclosure, a mounting member fixed on the data storage bracket and a guiding rail fixed on the computer enclosure. A mounting portion is installed on the mounting member. A plurality of mounting slots is located on the guiding rail. When the bracket rotates relative to the computer enclosure, the mounting portion moves along the guiding rail and engages with the plurality of mounting slots, and the data storage bracket is installed at a required position on the computer enclosure.
US08730684B2
Described is a preamp flex cable for use in a hard drive. The flex cable incorporates a stiffener layer operable to provide a mechanical support, an insulating layer provided over the stiffener layer and having at least one via provided therein to expose the stiffener layer, and at least one conductive layer provided over the insulating layer. The at least one conductive layer forms an electrical circuit and at least one heat removing element that extends through the via and establishes a contact with the stiffener layer.
US08730683B2
An attachment mechanism for an electronic component includes a circuit board and a fastener. A first connector is fastened to the circuit board to be connected to a second connector of the electronic component. The first connector includes a mounting portion fastened to the circuit board and a main body on a top of the mounting portion. The fastener includes an engaging portion and a rotating portion rotatably connected to a first end of the engaging portion. The engaging portion sandwiches the main body. The rotating portion includes a top wall and two abutting walls extending from opposite ends of the top wall to abut a top of the main body. One of the abutting walls is rotatably connected to the first end of the engaging portion. A stop wall extends from the other abutting wall to be detachably connected a second end of the engaging portion.
US08730682B2
An electronic apparatus including a housing that includes a first connector, and a printed circuit board unit that includes a printed circuit board, a second connector that is connected to the first connector at the completion of insertion of the printed circuit board into the housing, a lever that is rotatably provided for the printed circuit board, and a lock mechanism that locks the lever in a predetermined position. Wherein when the printed circuit board is inserted into the housing, the lever in a first position comes into contact with the housing, when the printed circuit board is further inserted into the housing, the lever rotates in one direction while being in contact with the housing, and when the insertion of the printed circuit board into the housing is completed, the lever is in a second position, and the lock mechanism locks the lever in the second position.
US08730681B2
A power semiconductor module includes a housing, a base plate disposed in the housing, a plurality of substrates mounted to the base plate, a plurality of power transistor die mounted to the substrates and a plurality of terminals mounted to the substrates and protruding through the housing. The terminals are in electrical connection with the power transistor die. The power semiconductor module further includes a wireless surface acoustic wave (SAW) temperature sensor disposed in the housing of the power semiconductor module.
US08730676B2
A composite component includes a first joining partner, at least one second joining partner and a first joining layer situated between the first joining partner and the second joining partner. In addition to the first joining layer, at least one second joining layer is provided between the first and the second joining partner; and at least one intermediate layer is situated between the first and the second joining layer.
US08730674B2
Magnetic fluid cooling devices and power electronic devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, a magnetic fluid cooling device includes a magnetic field generating device, a magnetic fluid chamber assembly, and a heat sink device. The magnetic field generating device includes a plurality of magnetic regions having alternating magnetic directions such that magnetic flux generated by the magnetic field generating device is enhanced on a first side of the magnetic field generating device and inhibited on a second side of the magnetic field generating device. The magnetic fluid chamber assembly defines a magnetic fluid chamber configured to receive magnetic fluid. The heat sink device includes a plurality of extending fins, and is thermally coupled to the magnetic fluid chamber assembly. Power electronic devices are also disclosed, wherein the magnetic fluid chamber may be configured as opened or closed.
US08730662B2
A server rack system includes a rack, servers, and a heat-dissipating wall. The rack has guiding rails, a front end, and a rear end opposite to the front end. The servers slidably configured on the guiding rails and in the rack are adapted for being moved into or out of the rack from the front end. The heat-dissipating wall is pivoted to the rear end and adapted for being folded against or unfolded away from the rear end. The heat-dissipating wall includes a fan wall. Fans lie on the fan wall. The fans are adapted for sucking cool air, such that the cool air enters the rack from the front end and passes through the servers. Heat exchange between the cool air and the servers is carried out to generate hot air that flows out of the rack through the heat-dissipating wall to dissipate heat of the servers.
US08730660B2
A sticky drive includes a flash storage device and a mounting structure having a stickable surface. The mounting structure is coupled to the flash storage device to enable a user to attach the flash storage device to a user-selected object.
US08730656B2
An electronic device having a unitary housing is disclosed. The device can include a first housing component having an open cavity, an internal electronic part disposed within the cavity, a second housing component disposed across the cavity, and a support feature disposed within the cavity and arranged to support the second housing component. The first housing component can be formed from metal, while the second housing component can be formed from a plurality of laminated foil metal layers. The second housing component can be attached to the first housing component via one or more ultrasonic welds, such that a fully enclosed housing is created. The fully enclosed housing can be hermetically sealed, and the outside surfaces thereof can be machined or otherwise finished after the ultrasonic welding.
US08730655B2
A side key connection device of a mobile terminal simplifies a connection structure between a side key and a main circuit board. The mobile terminal includes a side key and a row and column terminal pad. The mobile terminal also includes a side key connection device installed between the side key and the row and column terminal pad. The side key connection device is electrically connected to the side key and the row and column terminal pad. Thereby, by simplifying a connection structure of a side key, a key cost, an assembly process, and a surface mounting cost can be reduced.
US08730654B2
A UPS module includes a battery; a case accommodating the battery; a terminal disposed on a side of the case so as to transmit or receive electric signals representing data about a status of the battery to or from an external device; and a terminal unit disposed on another side of the case to be electrically connected to an external device for charging or discharging the battery.
US08730653B2
An interior assembly for a three phase load center. The interior assembly includes a base pan having at least one first module that includes a first receptacle portion and a first base portion. The base pan also includes at least one second module having a second receptacle portion and a second base portion. Each receptacle portion includes a receptacle wall having a receptacle edge portion. Each base portion includes a base wall having a base edge portion wherein upon insertion of the second base portion into the first receptacle portion the receptacle and base edge portions engage to attach the first module to the second module and form a modular base pan. The base pan further includes a bus bar located on a back side of the first and second modules and a plurality of insulators for insulating the bus bar.
US08730647B2
A printed wiring board includes a capacitor including a dielectric body having a first surface and a second surface, a first electrode provided on the first surface of the dielectric body, and a second electrode provided on the second surface of the dielectric body. The first electrode has an area facing and being smaller than the first surface of the dielectric body, and the second electrode has an area facing and being larger than the second surface of the dielectric body.
US08730640B2
A surge suppressor device includes a first housing defining a first cavity, input and output conductors disposed in the first cavity of the first housing, a capacitor connected in series with the input conductor and the output conductor, a first spiral inductor having an inner edge connected to the input conductor and an outer edge and a second spiral inductor having an inner edge connected to the output conductor and an outer edge. The surge suppressor device further includes a second housing defining a second cavity and connected to the first housing, a feed-through connecting the first cavity to the second cavity, a non-linear protection device positioned in the second cavity of the second housing and a first electrical wire passing through the feed-through and connecting the outer edge of the first spiral inductor to the non-linear protection device.
US08730621B2
An electrical connection between a first element and a second element formed by a solder ball bridge having at least three solder balls in physical contact with each other extending to electrically connect the first element and the second element. The solder ball bridge is particularly suitable for a disc drive system, to form an electrical connection between two elements such as between a piezoelectric microactuator element and the suspension assembly. Methods of making a solder ball bridge are also provided.
US08730616B2
According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording head includes a main pole, a trailing shield opposing the main pole with a write gap therebetween, and a high-frequency oscillator between a distal end portion of the main pole and the trailing shield configured to produce a high-frequency magnetic field. The high-frequency oscillator includes a lower end surface facing the recording medium and an upper end surface substantially parallel to the lower end surface. The width of the lower end surface in a track-width direction is smaller than that of the upper end surface.
US08730612B1
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a first head actuated over a first disk surface, and a second head actuated over a second disk surface. A first fly height (FH) setting is adjusted for the first head, and a second FH setting is adjusted for the second head. When a ratio of the first FH setting to the second FH setting exceeds a threshold, corrective action is taken.
US08730608B1
A read/write head for reducing flying height in a disk drive apparatus includes a write transducer for storing data on a storage medium, a read transducer for reading data from the storage medium, and read and write heater elements configured so that during read/write operations, heat dissipated in the read heater element is greater than heat dissipated in the write heater element. A control pad in the head receives current supplied to the read and write heater elements during read and write operations. During the write operation, protrusion of the read/write head attributable to the write transducer and the write heater element is greater than a protrusion of the head attributable to the read heater element. During the read operation, protrusion of the read/write head attributable to the read heater element and the read transducer is greater than a protrusion of the head attributable to the write heater element.
US08730602B2
A method and apparatus for detecting a touch-down and contact between a head and a storage medium by using a signal generated by a data storage device, specifically by a sensor installed in a slider. The method includes: separating a signal detected by a sensor into a direct current (DC) component and an alternating current (AC) component, wherein the sensor has an electrical characteristic that changes according to temperature; using the DC component to detect a touch-down state of the head during a touch-down test to determine a value of a control signal for adjusting the flying height of the head; and using the AC component to detect a contacting state between the head and the storage medium in an operating state of the apparatus.
US08730601B2
A fluorescence observation system, a method for performing a fluorescence observation, and a set of filters that can be used in such system and method are provided.
US08730599B2
A micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) lens actuator having a support frame including a stationary outer portion surrounding an inner receiving portion. A piezoelectric drive member is positioned within the inner receiving portion and attached to the stationary outer portion. A first movable lens support member and a second movable lens support member are frictionally engaged with opposing ends of the piezoelectric drive member at a contact point along each of the opposing ends using a preload force at the contact point. The piezoelectric drive member may have a first actuation mode which drives movement of the first movable lens support member and the second movable lens support member in a same direction and a second actuation mode which drives movement of the first movable lens support member and the second movable lens support member in different directions.
US08730597B2
A holding apparatus includes a structure and configured to hold an object so that a distance from a reference point of the structure to a reference point of the object in a direction along a reference axis is kept at a constant value. The holding apparatus further includes a plurality of holding members, each supported by the structure, including an inclined surface that is inclined relative to a plane orthogonal to the reference axis, and configured to hold the object via the inclined surface. The inclined surfaces are inclined so that the distance falls within a tolerance even if temperature of the object and the plurality of holding members change.
US08730593B2
An image pickup optical system includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit that does not move for focusing and has a positive optical power, a second lens unit that moves during focusing, an aperture diaphragm, and a third lens unit that does not move for focusing. The image pickup optical system includes a diffractive optical element, and an optical element NLF made of a solid material on the object side of an intersection between a paraxial chief ray and an optical axis. The predetermined conditional expressions are satisfied.
US08730590B1
This disclosure provides an image capturing lens system, in order from an object side to an image side comprising: a first lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface; a second lens element with positive refractive power; a third lens element with positive refractive power; and a fourth lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface, a concave at a paraxial region and convex at a peripheral region image-side surface, and both of the object-side and image-side surfaces thereof being aspheric; wherein the lens elements of the image capturing lens system with refractive power are the first lens element, the second lens element, the third lens element and the fourth lens element.
US08730576B2
The present invention provides a micro-retarder film for a 2D/3D image switchable display. The micro-retarder film comprises a first homogenous layer, a microstructure phase layer with a plurality of retarder patterns formed on the first homogenous layer alternately, and a second homogenous layer formed on the microstructure phase layer.
US08730568B2
Techniques and devices for producing short laser pulses based on chirped pulse amplification.
US08730561B2
An electrophoretic display device includes a first display substrate (including a base substrate, a first electrode, and a second electrode), a second display substrate (including a third electrode facing the first and second electrodes), and an electrophoretic layer between the first display substrate and the second display substrate, the electrophoretic layer including a first charged particle, a second charged particle and a colored solvent (the first and second charged particles having different polarities from each other and the colored solvent having a chromatic color).
US08730558B2
A lighting device is described for receiving source light within a source wavelength range, converting the source light into a converted light, and reflecting the converted light to a desired output direction. The lighting device may use a micro electromechanical system (MEMS) device to receive and redirect the source light to the desired output direction. A conversion coating may be applied to the operative surface of the MEMS device to convert the source light into a converted light.
US08730545B2
The precision of phase difference AF control is raised.An image pickup device includes a color filter that is provided with repeatedly disposed basic array patterns configured with a first array pattern and a second array pattern disposed symmetrically about a point, wherein the first array pattern includes a first filter placed over 2×2 pixels at the top left and a pixel at the bottom right of a 3×3 square array, a second filter placed over a right end pixel of a vertical direction center line of the square array and over a left end pixel a lower edge line, and a third filter placed over a pixel at the right end of the vertical direction upper edge line of the square array and over a center pixel of the lower edge line, and the second array pattern has the same placement of the first filter as that in the first array pattern and has a placement of the second filter and a placement of the third filter swapped over therefrom; and phase difference detection pixels that are placed at positions corresponding to 2 pixels that are adjacent in the horizontal direction out of the 2×2 pixels of at least one side of the upper side or lower side disposed first and second array patterns out of the 2 first array patterns and the 2 second array patterns configuring the basic array pattern.
US08730541B2
A duplex scanning apparatus includes a flatbed scanning portion and an automatic document feeder. The flatbed scanning portion has a first scanning module. The automatic document feeder has a second scanning module. The first scanning module has a first normal line perpendicular to a horizontal plane. The second scanning module is disposed in an inclined channel, and has a second normal line. In addition, an included angle is defined between the first normal line and the second normal line. Since the second scanning module is not directly disposed over the first scanning module, the height of the duplex scanning apparatus is reduced.
US08730536B2
A scanning apparatus includes a scanning module and a sheet size detecting mechanism. The scanning module is used for acquiring an image of a paper sheet. The sheet size detecting mechanism includes a first sheet guide part, a second sheet guide part, and a controlling unit. The first sheet guide part and the second sheet guide part are contacted with two parallel edges of the paper sheet, respectively. A light-emitting unit is disposed on the second sheet guide part. The light-emitting unit is used for projecting a light beam onto an optical sensing element of the scanning module. According to the light beam, the optical sensing element generates a sensing signal. According to the sensing signal, a distance between the two parallel edges of the paper sheet is acquired.
US08730527B2
A processor controls a marking engine to print a uniform region having a visually uniform color for an observer within all areas of the uniform region. The processor also controls the marking engine to print different gloss patterns within the uniform region. The different gloss patterns have first and second gloss regions, and the gloss difference between the first and second gloss regions forms gloss marks. Additionally, the processor controls the marking engine to print different infrared patterns within the uniform region to form infrared marks. In some embodiments, the infrared patterns are only within the first gloss regions and are not within the second gloss regions.
US08730519B2
An image processing device includes: a process section; a generation section; and a supply section. The process section includes: an index value determination section; and an adjustment section. The index value determination section is configured to determine an index value for each of a plurality of target pixels included in edge image data. The adjustment section is configured not to adjust a pixel value of the target pixel in a first case where the density of the target pixel is determined to be relatively low based on the index value of the target pixel, and configured to adjust the pixel value of the target pixel so as to reduce the density of the target pixel in a second case where the density of the target pixel is determined to be relatively high based on the index value of the target pixel.
US08730518B2
Printing of color imagery onto a rewritable color surface is accomplished by providing an applicator with an alignment subsystem capable of sensing an alignment marker of one or more colors dots from multiple local color dot patterns as the applicator scans the surface to align the applicator's print head to the local color dot patterns. The alignment subsystem uses the sensed alignment markers to determine an absolute position on the rewritable color surface at a resolution of the individual color dots in the local color dot pattern and to align the state values for the corresponding portion of the color image to the individual color dots in the local color dot patterns on said surface.
US08730516B2
An image reading device includes a document tray on which documents having different sizes are stacked; a document transport mechanism that sequentially feeds and transports the documents one-by-one; an image data generator extending in a width direction that intersects a document moving direction and having an image reading sensor that repeatedly reads, in the width direction, an image from each document, the image data generator generating image data expressing an image within a target reading region of a currently fed document by permitting the image reading sensor to perform a reading process to a region protruding from the target reading region so as to cause the image reading sensor to perform the reading process over a reading region that does not cause unread parts within the target reading region; an image memory storing the image data; and an image extractor extracting the image data from the stored image data.
US08730513B2
An image forming apparatus is provided with a storage unit for storing setting information including at least a size of a substitute recording medium, and a processing unit for executing a print instruction by automatically changing a size of a recording medium to be used to the size of the substitute recording medium based on the setting information stored in the storage means, when the size of the recording medium specified by the print instruction is not available.
US08730498B2
An information processing apparatus for causing a printing apparatus to output content data included in a received print job as an output product according to information carried in a job ticket included in the print job includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire, out of a plurality of processing orders executable by the printing apparatus, information relating to a processing order that is executable by the printing apparatus when the print job is output as the output product, based on the information carried in the job ticket, a determination unit configured to determine the processing order to be executed by the printing apparatus when the print job is output, based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit, and a generation unit configured to generate a job ticket for the printing apparatus to execute the processing order determined by the determination unit.
US08730494B2
An image forming apparatus including an operation panel has, as a configuration of the operation panel, a display portion including a function to display environmental label information of the image forming apparatus. The environmental label information includes information on a type of greenhouse effect gases (CO2) and a total emission amount of the greenhouse effect gases in a life cycle of the image forming apparatus. On the display portion, there is provided a selective display portion for displaying an environmental label as list display or thumbnail display, as well as selectively displaying detailed information of the environmental label according to the environmental label.
US08730487B2
A multifunction device includes a memory reading unit for reading file information in a memory, a selecting unit for selecting an executable function based on said file information, a printing unit for printing out on a printing medium information bringing said file information into correspondence with said executable function, a medium scanning unit for scanning the printing medium, a detecting unit for detecting the file information requested for execution and the executable information from among information scanned out with the medium scanning unit, and an executing unit for executing a process corresponding to the executable function to a file corresponding to the file information based on the information detected with the detecting unit.
US08730486B2
A printing apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine whether a document read by a reading unit is blank. The printing apparatus controls a printing unit to perform print processing based on image data corresponding to a document that has been determined not to be blank by the determination unit, and controls the printing unit not to perform print processing based on image data corresponding to document that has been determined to be blank by the determination unit. The printing apparatus discharges a sheet, on which print processing has been performed based on image data corresponding to a document, subsequent to the document that has been determined to be blank by the determination unit, which has been determined not to be blank by the determination unit, to be distinguishable from a sheet that has already been discharged.
US08730473B2
Provided is an alignment mark having a plurality of sub-resolution elements. The sub-resolution elements each have a dimension that is less than a minimum resolution that can be detected by an alignment signal used in an alignment process. Also provided is a semiconductor wafer having first, second, and third patterns formed thereon. The first and second patterns extend in a first direction, and the third pattern extend in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The second pattern is separated from the first pattern by a first distance measured in the second direction. The third pattern is separated from the first pattern by a second distance measured in the first direction. The third pattern is separated from the second pattern by a third distance measured in the first direction. The first distance is approximately equal to the third distance. The second distance is less than twice the first distance.
US08730470B2
An apparatus and method for detecting cadmium using optical emission spectroscopy is provided. The apparatus contains a system which uses optical emission spectroscopy which is programmed and calibrated to detect the presence of cadmium in PPM. The system is calibrated using test samples which have been prepared with a lead/cadmium matrix material having at least one iron based electrode integrated therein.
US08730464B2
A method of inspecting a substrate is disclosed. The method of inspecting a substrate, comprises: obtaining phase data per projecting part with regard to a substrate, by projecting pattern beam onto the substrate having a target object formed thereon through a plurality of projecting parts in sequence; obtaining height data per projecting part with regard to the substrate by using the phase data per the projecting part; setting up a projecting part with highest reliability in the a plurality of projecting parts to be a reference projecting part; modifying height data of remaining projecting part, referenced by height data of the reference projecting part; and obtaining integrated height data by using the modified height data.
US08730462B2
A critical-angle refractometer which utilizes an in image of light reflected from an optical interface with a vessel containing a sample under test to determine an optical property of the sample, sample properties are evaluated to prevent improper testing of the sample. This evaluation includes establishing reflectance information associating the amount of reflection with locations in the image; and utilizing a plurality of properties of the reflectance information to determine if the vessel contains a proper sample under test.
US08730460B2
The present disclosure relates to the use of a paper medium to measure blood hemoglobin concentration. In certain embodiments, spectrophotometric techniques are used to measure light transmission at specified wavelengths through a paper medium containing a blood sample. The light transmission information is then used in the calculation of blood hemoglobin concentration. In certain embodiments, the paper medium may be chemically treated to lyse the blood sample prior to measurement of the light transmission information.
US08730458B2
An optoelectronic sensor (10), in particular a laser scanner, is provided which comprises a light transmitter (12) for transmitting a light beam (16) having a beam profile (28) elongated in a line direction into a monitored plane (26), a light receiver (34) for generating a received signal from the light bream (30) remitted by objects in the monitored plane (26), a movable deflection unit (24) for the periodic deflection of the light beam (16, 30) to scan the monitored plane (26) in the course of the movement and an evaluation unit (42) for detecting the objects with reference to the received signal. The laser scanner has an optical beam rotation element (20) which is disposed after the light transmitter (12) and which can tilt the line direction of a light beam (16) passing through.
US08730456B2
A compact monostatic optical transmitter/receiver device simultaneously transmits an optical beam and collects returning light using a single lens or optical aperture. The system provides automatic alignment of the transmit and receive aperture and is compatible with fiber-coupled laser sources. Transmit light is emitted from a double-cladding fiber core while received light is coupled into the inner cladding of the same fiber. The transmit light propagating in the core and the received light propagating in the inner cladding are separated by the means of a diplexer comprised of a fused fiber coupler or a fiber-coupled micro-optic device.
US08730454B2
An EUV radiation source comprising a fuel supply configured to deliver droplets of fuel to a plasma formation location, and a collector configured to collect EUV radiation emitted by a plasma at the plasma formation location, wherein the collector has a reflective surface that is a modified ellipsoid shape, the modified ellipsoid shape providing improved intensity uniformity of collected EUV radiation in the far field compared with a perfect ellipsoid shape.
US08730453B2
An exposure apparatus includes a light emitting unit, a mask stage that holds a mask for forming a pattern on a workpiece and a moving stage that holds the workpiece and has a laser length measuring device. The apparatus further includes an XYθ direction moving mechanism that moves the moving stage within a plane parallel to the workpiece face, and a Z direction moving mechanism that moves the moving stage in a vertical direction. The laser length measuring device measures a distance between the device and a reflection mirror using laser light. A control unit controls the XYθ direction moving mechanism to move the moving stage based on the distance. The reflective mirror is fixed to a structural body that supports the mask stage.
US08730449B2
An optical device includes a wavelength separation filter configured to separate incident light into light having a first wavelength and light having a second wavelength, the wavelength separation filter including a blazed grating whose cross-sectional shape is a saw-tooth shape formed by one-dimensionally arranging a plurality of grating elements, wherein the blazed grating is configured to exert a first power on the light having the first wavelength, of the light having the first wavelength and the light having the second wavelength, by gradually changing angles surfaces of the plurality of grating elements make with a base plane, and to exert a second power on the light having the second wavelength, of the light having the first wavelength and the light having the second wavelength, by gradually changing lengths of the plurality of grating elements along a direction in which the plurality of grating elements are arranged.
US08730448B2
A lithographic apparatus includes a substrate table constructed to hold a substrate, a projection system configured to project a patterned radiation beam through an opening and onto a target portion of the substrate, and a conduit having an outlet in the opening. The conduit is configured to deliver gas to the opening. The lithographic apparatus further includes a cooling apparatus controlled by a control system. The cooling apparatus is configured to cool the gas such that gas which travels from the opening to the substrate has a predetermined temperature when the gas is incident upon the substrate.
US08730443B2
A liquid crystal display device includes first and second substrates with a liquid crystal layer disposed therebetween, a display region and a peripheral region, a gate signal line and an image signal line, an insulating layer formed over the gate signal line and the image signal line, a pixel electrode formed in the display region, a counter electrode formed over the insulating layer and formed by a first transparent conductive layer, and a second transparent conductive layer and an external connection terminal. The second transparent conductive layer and the external connection terminal are disposed in the peripheral region, and the second transparent conductive layer is formed over the insulating layer and is electrically connected to the counter electrode and the external connection terminal. A part of the gate signal line is covered by the second transparent conductive layer in the peripheral region.
US08730441B2
The present invention provides an anti-reflection film which allows more appropriate black indication by reason of selectively restraining tinging with blue on the occasion of being provided for a transmission liquid crystal display surface to offer a black indication by changing the optical properties of the anti-reflection film. The anti-reflection film provided with visibility-average light transmittance absorption loss is within a range of 0.5% or more and 3.0% or less, a value obtained by subtracting a minimum value of light transmittance absorption loss at each wavelength in a visible light region from the maximum value thereof is within a range of 0.5% or more and 4.0% or less, and light transmittance absorption loss at each wavelength satisfies Q450>Q550>Q650 (Q450, Q550 and Q650: light transmittance absorption loss at a wavelength of 450 nm, 550 nm and 650 nm).
US08730431B2
The backlight has an anisotropic diffusion sheet disposed between the reflective polarizing plate and the optical path converter. The anisotropic diffusion sheet includes a refractive index anisotropic diffusion sheet stretched in an absorption axis direction in which a concave-convex portion is formed on a surface of the reflective polarized plate, and an isotropic material part laminated on a surface of the concave-convex part. The isotropic material part has an isotropic reflective index. The refractive index of the isotropic material part is the same as the refractive index in the transmission axis direction perpendicular to a stretching direction of the refractive index anisotropic sheet.
US08730429B2
A PCB and an LCD device with the same are disclosed. The PCB and the LCD device force an LED to directly contact either a heat radiation member or a metal plate. As such, heat generated in the LED is directly transferred to the heat radiation member or the metal plate without passing through wiring and prepreg layers. Therefore, the heat is effectively discharged to the exterior through a bottom cover. In other words, heat generated in the LED can be effectively discharged because of passing through the shortened heat radiation path.
US08730425B2
A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel; a backlight unit disposed under the liquid crystal panel and providing a light to the liquid crystal panel, the backlight unit including a reflective sheet, a light guide plate on the reflective sheet, an optical sheet on the light guide plate and a light emitting diode (LED) assembly at one side of the light guide plate, the light emitting diode assembly including at least one LED as a light source; a main frame that surrounds sides of the liquid crystal panel and the backlight unit, the main frame including a first portion, where the LED assembly is fixed, and a second portion extending from the first portion, the second portion covering a top portion of the LED assembly; a bottom frame under the reflective sheet and being combined with the main frame; and a top frame that surrounds an edge of the liquid crystal panel and attaches to the bottom frame and the main frame.
US08730424B2
A display apparatus is provided which realizes high display quality without inclusion of bubbles when a protective cover is bonded over the display surface of the display panel with a transparent adhesive sheet therebetween. A display surface of a display panel and a protective cover are bonded with first and second transparent adhesive sheets. The first transparent adhesive sheet has a cross-sectional area vertical to the thickness direction that is formed smaller than the opening area of an opening of a frame, and it is provided within the opening. Then, a bonding member is charged into a gap formed by the frame, display panel, first transparent adhesive sheet, and second transparent adhesive sheet, so as to bond the frame, display panel, first transparent adhesive sheet, and second transparent adhesive sheet.
US08730423B2
A liquid crystal display device includes: a plurality of source lines (2) to which a signal voltage according to a source signal is applied; a first wire (3a) and a second wire (3b) for fixing a wire breakage that are configured so that they can be connected to opposite ends of at least one of the plurality of source lines (2); and a buffer section (4) provided between the first wire (3a) and the second wire (3b) for impedance conversion along the first wire (3a) and the second wire (3b), wherein the liquid crystal display device includes spare capacitors (10a) and (10b) for adjusting a signal waveform according to the source signal applied to the source lines (2a) and (2b) with the first wire (3a) and the second wire (3b) being connected to the source lines (2a) and (2b).
US08730422B2
A liquid crystal display uses a layout which reduces the number of data lines relative to the number of pixel columns by providing one data line for every two pixel columns. The display is structured to prevent a passivation layer from becoming opaque due to a manufacturing haze effect by forming the pixel electrode below a gate insulating layer. It is structured to prevent a drain electrode from being damaged due to an etchant used for patterning the pixel electrode. Further, it is structured to prevent a short circuit between a common voltage line and a gate line while not substantially reducing an aperture ratio by disposing a common voltage contact hole for electrically connecting the common voltage line with a common electrode between vertically extending portions of two gate lines that generally extend horizontally.
US08730419B2
To provide a display device which has a narrower frame region and which includes a driver circuit not affected by variation in transistor characteristics. A base substrate having an insulating surface to which a single-crystal semiconductor layer is attached is divided into strips and is used for a driver circuit of a display device. Alternatively, a base substrate having an insulating surface to which a plurality of single-crystal semiconductor layers is attached is divided into strips and is used for a driver circuit of a display device. Accordingly, a driver circuit corresponding to a size of a display device can be used for the display device, and a display device which has a narrower frame region and which includes a driver circuit not affected by variation in transistor characteristics can be provided.
US08730416B2
A liquid crystal display device includes a pixel area including a first display region and a second display region, a light supply portion sequentially supplying a plurality of lights having different hues to the first and second display regions and an optical system. Pairs of pixels are arranged in each of the first and second display regions. The pair of pixels is composed of a right-eye pixel and a left-eye pixel. The plurality of pieces of light is supplied to the first and second display regions to emit a first light with the right-eye pixel and a second light with the left-eye pixel. The optical system orients the travel direction of the first light to a right eye of a viewer and the travel direction of the second light to a left eye of the viewer.
US08730413B2
An entertainment system for a vehicle seat comprises a support structure mounted to a frame of the vehicle seat, and a media unit mounted to the support structure, wherein the support structure includes a frame positioned behind and spaced apart from a headrest of the vehicle seat. The support structure frame includes a plurality of bends to position the support structure frame away from the headrest.
US08730410B1
The present invention is directed to display technologies. More specifically, various embodiments of the present invention provide projection display systems where one or more laser diodes are used as light source for illustrating images. In one set of embodiments, the present invention provides projector systems that utilize blue and/or green laser fabricated using gallium nitride containing material. In another set of embodiments, the present invention provides projection systems having digital lighting processing engines illuminated by blue and/or green laser devices. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a 3D display system. There are other embodiments as well.
US08730409B2
The invention involves a sort of curved film projection system, including a rendering surface, a projection screen, a real scene rendering model of image system, a rendering model of projection system that renders the projection the image rendered by the rendering model of image system on the rendering surface, and projecting devices that projects the image finally rendered by the rendering model of projection system onto the projection screen through optical lens. The viewing direction and angle from observer's eyes to the rendering surface is consistent with that to the projection screen: The image system rendering model can be reversible on optical path with the projection system rendering model. The curved film projection system not only reduces the rendering cost, but also produces lifelike experience for audience.
US08730405B2
In order to display selected content as desired by a viewer by performing an easy operation without interrupting current viewing, a display apparatus includes a reception unit for receiving from a remote controller for transmitting an operation instruction to the display apparatus operation information including the amount of operation of a selection member which is detected at the time of selecting content and identification information identifying selected content, a determination unit for determining an output attribute of the selected content identified using the identification information based on the amount of operation, an output image generation unit for generating an output image of the selected content based on the output attribute determined by the determination unit, and a display control unit for displaying the output image generated by the output image generation unit.
US08730402B2
Provided is an analog front end of a digital TV, a digital TV system having the same, and a method of operating the same. The analog front end includes: a first selection circuit which selectively outputs differential sound intermediate frequency signals or differential TV broadcast signals in response to a first selection signal; a second selection circuit which outputs a clock signal among a plurality of clock signals having a different sampling frequencies, in response to a second selection signal; and an analog-to-digital converter which converts output signals output from the first selection circuit to a digital code, according to a sampling frequency of a clock signal output from the second selection circuit.
US08730400B2
An image displaying apparatus and an image processing apparatus are provided. The image displaying apparatus comprises a signal receiver unit, a signal processor unit, a display unit, a signal output unit, and a control unit. The signal receiver unit receives a broadcast signal or a signal provided from a signal source. The signal processor unit processes the received signal. The display unit displays the processed signal. The signal output unit comprises an output terminal configured to output the received signal, and a signal converter configured to convert the processed signal. The control unit controls the signal, provided from the signal receiver unit, to be outputted to the external device by using the signal output unit.
US08730399B2
A display apparatus includes one or more imaging channels, each imaging channel includes a polarized light source and a spatial light modulator that is actuable to modulate the polarized light and provide a modulated polarized light. A control logic processor is disposed to receive and analyze each frame of image data for the one or more imaging channels. A variable brightness attenuator in the path of the modulated polarized light and actuable under the control of the control logic processor to attenuate the modulated polarized light to one of a plurality of attenuation levels for the one or more imaging channels according to each frame of image data.
US08730396B2
A computer implemented method and system for capturing events of interest by performing a spatio-temporal analysis of a video are provided. A continuous video stream containing a series of image frames is acquired over time. Each of the image frames is represented by horizontal spatial coordinates and vertical spatial coordinates of a two dimensional plane. A temporal dimension is assigned across the image frames of the video stream. A spatio-temporal analysis image is constructed based on a user-defined line of analysis on each of one or more of the image frames. The spatio-temporal analysis image is constructed by concatenating a series of temporally-successive linear pixel arrays along the temporal dimension. Each of the linear pixel arrays comprises an array of pixels along the line of analysis defined on each of one or more of the image frames. The constructed spatio-temporal analysis image is segmented for capturing the events of interest.
US08730393B2
In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a plurality of video signal fields, characterizing at least one portion of at least one of the plurality of video signal fields, determining a value for a pixel using inter-field de-interlacing if the characterization satisfies a first criteria, determining a value for a pixel using motion compensated de-interlacing if the characterization satisfies a second criteria, and determining a value for a pixel using intra-field de-interlacing if the characterization satisfies a third criteria. In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a storage medium having stored instructions that when executed by a machine result in the method.
US08730385B2
A method of operating an image pickup system includes generating a first control signal in response to a long duration exposure mode selectively input by a user, setting circuits to process image data associated with modes other than long duration exposure mode to a standby mode in response to the first control signal, generating a second control signal when the standby mode has been established, opening a shutter in response to the second control signal, and performing a long duration exposure to accumulate a charge corresponding to an optical signal incident on an image sensor of the image pickup system when the shutter is open.
US08730371B2
Optical transfer information of an imaging lens is input from the imaging lens, and characteristic information of an image capturing unit of an image capturing apparatus is acquired. The optical transfer information is converted into that, which depends on the characteristics of the image capturing unit, based on the characteristic information. A correction filter, which corrects degradation of an image captured via the imaging lens, is generated based on the optical transfer information which depends on the characteristics of the image capturing unit.
US08730370B2
According to one embodiment, a correction-parameter storing unit corrects a position of a captured image captured by an image sensor, and an image-position correcting unit corrects the position of the captured image for each pixel based on the correction parameter.
US08730369B2
A method includes forming optical lenses on an ICD at the wafer level, rather than attaching a separate lens assembly. The lenses may be formed as an array of individual lenses or as multiple, e.g., two, arrays of individual lenses. The array of lenses may be coupled to an array of ICDs. The ICDs and individual lenses in the array assembly may be singulated to form individual digital camera modules. Additionally or alternatively, the ICDs and individual lenses may be singulated in separate steps.
US08730365B2
The present invention provides an image capturing apparatus, which comprises a plurality of photoelectric converter-containing pixels that are positioned horizontally and vertically and a gain circuit, has a gain controller that can control the gain of the gain circuit in N stages (where N is an integer equal to or greater than 2). The gain circuit outputs each of a plurality of signals given by the product of the output signal from one of the plurality of pixels and the gain in each stage of the N stages.
US08730359B2
Image processing apparatus comprises a demosaic processor for receiving a video signal comprising pixel data from an array of photosensors each having a respective color filter so as to restrict the sensitivity of that photosensor to a primary color range selected from a set of three or more primary color ranges, the array being such that the photosensors in alternate rows are sensitive to a first primary color range, and photosensors in intervening rows are sensitive to the other primary color ranges. The pixel data including pixel data from a first subset of the rows sensitive to the first primary color range, the first subset being the same from image to image of the video signal; and pixel data from a second subset of the rows of photosensors sensitive to the other primary color ranges, the second subset changing from image to image of the video signal.
US08730352B2
An image processing apparatus and an image processing method that enable suitable contrast adjustment are provided. The image processing apparatus includes a region detection unit configured to detect predetermined first luminance level detection region and second luminance level detection region in a human face as a target to be photographed, a luminance amount calculation unit configured to calculate an absolute value of a difference between a luminance level of the first luminance level detection region and a certain reference luminance level as a high luminance amount and calculate an absolute value of a difference between a luminance level of the second luminance level detection region and the reference luminance level as a low luminance amount, and a determination unit configured to determine whether a difference or a ratio between the high luminance amount and the low luminance amount falls within a certain range.
US08730349B2
When a shutter release operation is performed at an electronic still camera, an MPU records image data output from an image capturing element into a CF card. The MPU also stores the image data in a transfer buffer memory of an interface circuit. The image data stored in the transfer buffer memory are transferred to a transfer buffer memory provided at an interface circuit of a personal computer connected via an IEEE-1394 cable. The MPU of the personal computer reads out the image data having been taken into the personal computer from the transfer buffer memory and records them in a specific recording area in a recording device.
US08730343B2
Color processing apparatus and method for performing color conversion using a color appearance model
There is provided a color processing apparatus that performs color reproduction in accordance with the brightness of a subject at the time of photographing. An acquisition unit acquires image data. A setting unit sets viewing environment parameters for a plurality of luminance ranges based on a luminance histogram of the image data that is acquired. A processing unit performs color conversion processing using a color appearance model, using the viewing environment parameters that are set in accordance with the luminance of pixels of the image data that is acquired.
US08730340B2
Apparatus and method for processing wide dynamic range (WDR) image are disclosed. The WDR image processing apparatus could be integrated within an image sensor or an image backend apparatus. Whether the m-th bit of the sensing image signal is equal to 1 is determined. If the m-th bit is equal to 1, then the values corresponding to the m-th to the (m−r)-th bits are added by first offset to output a WDR image signal. If the m-th bit is not equal to 1, then whether the (m−1)-th bit is equal to 1 is determined. If the (m−1)-th bit is equal to 1, then the values corresponding to the (m−1)-th to the (m−s)-th bits are added by a second offset to output the WDR image signal. The same processing is applied up to the (m−t)-th bit, m, n, r, s and t are positive integers, and m is greater than n.
US08730335B2
An imaging apparatus includes: an image sensor configured to capture an image of a subject; an identification information storage unit configured to store a particular subject and a terminal device corresponding to the particular subject; a face detection unit and a face recognition unit configured to detect the particular subject stored in the identification information storage unit in the image captured by the image sensor; and a microcomputer configured to shoot the subject using the image sensor. When the particular subject is detected in the image captured by the image sensor, the microcomputer performs the shooting, and sends a shooting condition used for the shooting to the terminal device which is stored in the identification information storage unit and does not correspond to the shot particular subject.
US08730324B1
Examples of imaging microsatellites are described that have an imaging system and antenna system disposed within the microsatellite body when the microsatellite is in a non-deployed state. The properties of the antenna system can be adjusted such that the antenna system does not impact, contact, or displace the imaging system when the microsatellite is in the non-deployed state. The properties of the antenna system can be adjusted such that the antenna system does not contact or impact the body of the microsatellite or any other structure when the microsatellite transitions to a deployed state. The antenna system can be configured to achieve a desired gain and/or data transmission rate by adjusting properties of the antenna system based on the radiation pattern of an antenna feed and geometric constraints imposed by the imaging system. Examples of methods for designing such imaging microsatellites are provided.
US08730323B2
An image converter for performing processes of cutting out a part of a distorted circular image photographed by use of a fisheye lens and converting the part into a planar regular image. The image converter includes a distorted circular image memory, a planar regular image memory, a parameter input unit, a corresponding coordinate calculating unit, and a planar regular image forming unit.
US08730312B2
A method for generating an augmented reality display on a display device according to embodiments of the present invention includes overlaying augmented reality data onto an actual image using three dimensional positioning data and three dimensional orientation data of the display device. The augmented reality data may include at least one line feature and/or at least one video feature, and may take into account both elevation of the device and the three-dimensional direction in which the imaging device is pointed.
US08730308B2
A volume scanning three-dimensional floating image display is constructed from a real mirror image forming optical system capable of forming the real mirror image of an object to be projected in a planar symmetric position with respect to a symmetry surface, and a display located under the symmetry surface showing images that serve as the object to be projected, and an actuator means capable of moving the display in a direction with a component perpendicular to the display surface, so by changing the displayed image synchronously with the motion of the display, the real mirror image of that image will be formed in the space on the other side of the symmetry surface as a three-dimensional floating image.
US08730304B2
A data structure, recording medium, playing device, playing method, program, and program storing medium, which enable providing of a video format for 3D display, suitable for 3D display of captions and menu buttons. Caption data used for 2D display of caption and menu data used for 2D display of menu buttons are recorded in a disc as is a database of offset information, in which is described offset information, made up of offset direction representing the direction of shifting of an image for the left eye and an image for the right eye used for 3D display as to images for 2D display regarding the caption data and menu data, and an offset value representing the amount of shifting, correlated with the playing point-in-time of caption data and menu data, respectively.
US08730303B2
A broadcast transmitter, a broadcast receiver, and a 3D video data processing method are disclosed. The 3D video data processing method includes formatting 3D video data (S 9010) encoding the formatted 3D video data (S 9020), generating system information having 3D format information (S 9030) that includes information about 3D video data formatting and information about the encoding, and transmitting a broadcast signal including the 3D video data and the system information (S 9040). The 3D video data processing method includes receiving a broadcast signal including 3D video data and system information, obtaining 3D image format information by parsing the system information, decoding the 3D video data, scanning the decoded 3D video data according to the 3D image format information, and formatting the scanned video data.
US08730299B1
A user activation of an image capture function of a mobile device is received. The image capture function is for a surround image mode. Two or more camera lenses are approximately concurrently activated. Responsive to activating the lenses, a front-side image from a first camera lens and a rear-side image from a second camera lens are optically captured. Content from the front-side image and content from the rear-side are recorded in a non-transitory storage medium of the mobile device within a single file for a surround mode image.
US08730293B2
A laser light irradiating system which irradiates a laser light onto a thermally reversible recording medium which is pasted on a face on one side of an object to be conveyed to perform one of image erasing and image recording is disclosed. The laser light irradiating system includes a conveying unit; a detecting unit; a laser light emitting unit; and a control unit, wherein the control unit conveys the object to be conveyed to a specific position and, when the thermally reversible recording medium is not detected by the detecting unit, the laser light with a power level greater than or equal to a predetermined power level is prevented from being emitted from the laser light emitting unit.
US08730288B2
An optical writing device includes a light emission control unit configured to cause a light source to emit light based on a rotational position of a photosensitive element and pixel information making up a correction pattern to form an electrostatic latent image of the correction pattern on the photosensitive element, the correction pattern being formed across an entire circumference of the photosensitive element in a rotating direction; a reading signal acquiring unit configured to acquire reading signals resulting from reading the correction pattern, and generate, based on the reading signals, density variation information in which the rotational position and a density of the correction pattern are associated; and a correction value information generation control unit configured to generate information about correction to an amount of light emitted by the light source based on the density of the correction pattern to generate correction value information.
US08730287B2
A ribbon drive assembly for optimizing the tension across a ribbon supply in a thermal transfer printer comprising a supply spindle and a take up spindle operable for cooperating with each other such that the ribbon supply is fed from the supply spindle through a print station and metered onto the take up spindle. Each spindle is provided with and connected to a motor, a plurality of gears, and a rotary encoder such that the spindles may be independently controlled by a control processor. The control processor is operable for monitoring, detecting, and controlling the operation of the motors and spindles. During operation and in order to maintain a constant ribbon tension, the torque on the motors are continuously adjusted in accordance with various data provided by the printer's processor.
US08730284B2
A printing apparatus includes an ink ribbon on which a plurality of color inks are arranged frame-sequentially, a printing unit configured to be able to print by a predetermined length by transferring the plurality of color inks onto roll paper by one cycle of the ink ribbon, and a print control unit configured to control the printing apparatus to successively print two calendar sheets in case that the printing apparatus is instructed to print a calendar sheet having a length larger than the predetermined length. The calendar sheet includes an image area corresponding to the predetermined length and a date area having a length not larger than substantially 0.5 times of the predetermined length. The print control unit controls the printing apparatus to rotate, through 180°, one of the two calendar sheets to be successively printed, and print.
US08730280B2
A display device includes a color converter, a timing controller, and a display panel. The color converter converts R, G, and B data into R′, G′, B′, and W′ data. The R′, G′, B′, and W′ data includes first component data and second component data. The timing controller provides the first component data to a data driver during a first driving time and provides the second component data to the data driver during a second driving time. The data driver provides gray level display voltages corresponding to the first component data and the second component data to a data line, and the display panel displays the R′, G′, B′, and W′ data in response to the gray level display voltage.
US08730279B2
Provided are a display device that can suppress occurrence of a color breakup as well as occurrence of a false contour, and a control method therefor. In the display device, a plurality of sub-frame periods forming one frame period are divided into: a first group to which sub-frame periods with the same length of light transmission periods belong; and a second group to which sub-frame periods with lengths of light transmission periods shorter than those of the sub-frame periods in the first group and different from each other belong. Further, among the sub-frame periods that belong to the first group, sub-frame periods having the light transmission period increase in number from a middle of the one frame period toward a start point and an end point of the one frame period in accordance with an increase of the gray level.
US08730275B2
Provided is a display device including a setting condition acquisition unit for obtaining various conditions for adjusting a gain of a video-signal, a current-brightness table calculation unit that calculates a table representing a relationship between an average brightness and a gain of a video-signal, and that calculates the table capable of setting a peak-brightness and power consumption of the video-signal independently, based on the various conditions acquired by the setting condition acquisition unit, a video-average brightness conversion block that calculates average-brightness of the video-signal input for each frame, a current-brightness control table that calculates a gain of the video-signal from the table based on the average-brightness calculated above, a video gain block that adjusts the video-signal using the gain calculated above, and a display panel that includes a plurality of pixels that emit light in response to a video-signal and displays a video based on the video-signal adjusted above.
US08730274B2
A liquid crystal display (LCD) system including a liquid crystal (LC) panel; an LC panel controller to send output code values to the LC panel; a backlight to illuminate the LC panel; a backlight controller; and a display controller to control the backlight controller and the LC panel controller, and receive input code values from an image source is presented wherein the LCD system uses a dynamic knee point determination of soft clipping to provide output code values to the LC panel. A method for using an LCD system as above is also provided.
US08730273B2
In an exemplary RGBW display apparatus, a plurality of four-color image output signals and a plurality of mapping scale ratios are generated according to a plurality of three-color image input signals. Furthermore, a backlight output intensity outputted from a backlight module is dynamically adjusted according to the mapping scale ratios and a white color signal adjust ratio is generated. In addition, a white color signal in each of the four-color image output signals is adjusted to be an updated white color signal according to the white color signal adjust ratio.
US08730270B2
A method for gradually adjusting screen brightness when switching an operating system is provided. The method is used for gradually adjusting the brightness of a screen of an electronic device by a controller thereof when the electronic device is switched from a first operating system to a second operating system. First, an operating system switching signal is received. Then, a first brightness value of the first operating system is obtained. The screen brightness is gradually adjusted from the first brightness value to a predetermined second brightness value. Afterwards, the first operating system is switched to the second operating system, and the screen brightness is further adjusted from the second brightness value back to the first brightness value. Accordingly, a user can sense the switching of the operating system more intuitively and has enough time to get used to the change of the screen brightness and the displayed frame.
US08730266B2
This invention relates to gaze tracking methods and systems integrated with virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR). A system may include one or more cameras for capturing images of a subject's eyes, a display device for displaying a VR or AR image, a first reflecting surface associated with the display device for at least partially reflecting light from the eyes to the one or more cameras and for transmitting the VR or AR image; and a second reflecting surface for at least partially reflecting light from the eyes to the one or more cameras and for receiving the VR or AR image and rendering the VR or AR image to the subject as at least one component of a VR or AR environment. The methods and systems described herein may be used in research, medical, industrial, aerospace, and entertainment applications.
US08730262B2
In an electronic device and its display method, which dissolves a feeling of wrongness given to users in the case where information displayed in the foreground image and its related information is displayed in the background image, thereby making it possible to reduce a burden imposed on users; when a wallpaper display processing is carried out and a background image displayed by a background image display unit (183) is included in information and its related information displayed by an information display unit (182), such as a clock, a date, a radio condition, a remaining battery charge, and the like; an information display suppression unit (184) suppresses display of either the information display by the information display unit (182) or the information display by the background image display unit (183).
US08730259B2
An image grouping device which may comprise a first classifying unit for classifying a plurality of items of image data in a first predetermined unit, a second classifying unit for breaking the plurality of the items of image data classified by the first classifying unit into smaller groups in a second predetermined unit, and a control unit for controlling the plurality of the items of image data classified by the second classifying unit to be displayed on a display. The control unit may automatically select a background image according to background music during a slide show.
US08730253B2
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for decomposing and filling cubic Bèzier segments of paths without tessellating the paths. Path rendering may be accelerated when a GPU or other processor is configured to perform the decomposition operations. Cubic Bèzier paths are classified and decomposed into simple cubic Bèzier path segments based on the classification. A stencil buffer is then generated that indicates pixels that are inside of the decomposed cubic Bèzier segments. The paths are then filled according to the stencil buffer to produce a filled path.
US08730250B2
An image processor includes a video input unit that counts the number of input pixel data and a command fetch/issue unit calculates, when a command including information concerning a relative position register in which a delay amount from input of pixel data until execution of a command is stored is fetched, a pixel position of processing target pixel data based on the delay amount and a count result and determines, based on the calculated pixel position, whether signal processing should be performed or specifies an operand used in arithmetic operation.
US08730242B2
To perform time slice-based visual prediction, a weighted moving aggregate of data values in a data set is calculated over previous time slices to predict data values based on interactive user input. A visual accuracy indicator is generated for display to indicate a quality of prediction of data values at different times. A visualization presents data values from the data set and the predicted data values, where the data values from the data set and the predicted data values are represented as corresponding cells.
US08730239B2
Embodiments relate to a computer-implemented method of providing a transition between first and second regions within a virtual scene, where the first and second regions are rendered using different methods and being connected to one another along a border line. The second region features a sharply diminishing illumination from the border line. The method includes adding, an overlay of additional illumination to the first region as to make the illumination in portions of the first region that are close to the borderline similar to that of portions of the second region that are close to the border line. The method also includes shifting a position on which calculation of the illumination of the second region is based away from the first region.
US08730224B2
A stereoscopic image display device comprises: a display panel including thin film transistors (TFTs) formed at crossings of data lines and gate lines and m×n (m and n are positive integers) number of pixels divided into main subpixels and auxiliary subpixels; a data driving circuit supplying a data voltage of a two-dimensional (2D) image to the data lines in a 2D mode and supplying a data voltage of a three-dimensional (3D) image to the data lines in a 3D mode; and a gate driving circuit simultaneously supplying gate pulses to a pair of gate lines including neighboring gate lines in the 2D mode and simultaneously supplying gate pulses to even-numbered gate lines in the 3D mode.
US08730223B2
A source driver includes a gamma reference voltage generating unit and a gamma signal supplying unit. The gamma reference voltage generating unit generates a plurality of gamma reference voltages in response to a gamma control signal. The gamma signal supplying unit is integrated into a display panel and provides a gamma signal to data lines of the display panel using the gamma reference voltages.
US08730222B2
A display capable of improving frame quality includes a display panel, a timing controller, and a source driver. The timing controller is used for generating a scan start signal, and generating at least one control signal in a blanking time of the display panel according to polarity of a last datum before the blanking time and polarity of a first datum after the blanking time. The source driver is used for generating at least one datum synchronized with the at least one control signal according to the polarity of the last datum before the blanking time, a voltage of the first datum after the blanking time and the at least one control signal. The source driver does not change a last datum of the at least one datum after the at least one control signal in the blanking time.
US08730213B2
A method of detecting a touch event on an acoustic fingerprint based touch system comprises digitizing at least two signals to form first and second sets of digitized signals. The at least two signals are received from at least two sensors on a touch panel. A frequency transform is performed upon the first and second sets of digitized signals to form first and second frequency transform data sets of frequency components. At least first and second live fingerprints are constructed wherein at least one of the first and second live fingerprints is based on the first and second frequency transform data sets. A touch location is identified based on the at least first and second live fingerprints.
US08730212B2
An integrated vision and display system comprises a display-image forming layer configured to transmit a display image for viewing through a display surface; an imaging detector configured to image infrared light of a narrow range of angles relative to the display surface normal and including a reflection from one or more objects on or near the display surface; a vision-system emitter configured to emit the infrared light for illuminating the objects; a visible- and infrared-transmissive light guide having opposing upper and/or lower face, configured to receive the infrared light from the vision-system emitter, to conduct the infrared light via TIR from the upper and lower faces, and to project the infrared light onto the objects outside of the narrow range of angles relative to the display surface normal.
US08730210B2
Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, an image or projection cone is projected onto a projection surface via a raster scan to generate the image, or in a light cone. Movements of two or more input sources with respect to projection cone are detected, and a determination is made whether the input sources have crossed a crossover line in the projection cone. If the input sources have moved greater than a threshold amount after crossing the crossover line, position data between the input sources may be exchanged to reflect proper position data for the input sources.
US08730207B2
A method of driving and detection for a capacitive touch screen and a device thereof are provided. The method includes: sending, from a driving side, excitation signals through a plurality of channels simultaneously during the same driving and detection time period; receiving, by each of receiving channels at a receiving side, a charge signal generated from the excitation signals through coupling capacitances at corresponding touch detection points, and performing detection, which includes: converting and amplifying the charge signal into a voltage signal, and performing signal demodulation and analog-to-digital conversion on the voltage signal; and storing digital signals obtained from the analog-to-digital conversion, and analyzing the digital signals by a controller to obtain a detection result. This can achieve rapid scan, increase frame rate in detection, and meet the rapidity requirement for performing display driving and touch detection at different time slots.
US08730203B2
A data acquisition method to acquire data from a multicontact matrix tactile sensor having a matrix array of a cells, includes scanning the cells of the matrix array sequentially, and measuring an electrical characteristic of a cell, which represents a weight of the cell. The method also includes comparing the weight with a predetermined significant weight value interval, storing cell data associated with the cell, where the cell data includes the weight and coordinates of the cell in the matrix array, after the weight is determined to lie within the predetermined significant weight value interval. The method also verifies an existence of a data record associated with neighboring cells in a neighboring zone of the cell, and updates the data record associated with the neighboring cells by storing in the data record data associated with the cell, after the existence of the data record is confirmed.
US08730202B2
A touch sensing apparatus and a touch sensing method are provided. The touch sensing apparatus includes a plurality of capacitance touch sensors and a post-processing circuit. Each of the capacitance touch sensors determines a value of an output current according to a distance between two electrodes of a touch sensing capacitor thereof. The post-processing circuit performs an integration operation for output currents to obtain a plurality of voltage values. The post-processing circuit further judge whether a touch event occurs according to a voltage difference between two voltage values corresponding to two capacitance touch sensors thereof, to further determine whether calculating a coordinate of a touch position. There is a linear relation between a variation of each of the voltage values and a variation of a distance between the two electrodes of the corresponding touch sensing capacitor.
US08730200B2
A touch-sensitive panel is provided for a display assembly and computing device. Individual cells of the panel are structured to include electrically inactive interior portions or centers to enhance the sensitivity and performance of the panel.
US08730188B2
A method of controlling an electronic device, including a touch-sensitive display, includes detecting a gesture associated with a gesture character entry mode and determining a direction of the gesture on the touch-sensitive display, determining ones of a plurality of characters associated with the gesture based on the direction, and adding the ones of the plurality of characters to candidate character strings.
US08730186B2
A touch sensor (touch panel) which can be formed over the same substrate as a display portion is provided. Alternatively, a touch sensor (touch panel) which does not cause degradation in the quality of an image displayed on a display portion is provided. The touch panel includes a light-emitting element and a microstructure in which a pair of electrodes facing each other is isolated with an insulating material. As the insulating material, an elastic material or a material having a hole is used so that a filler layer formed using the insulating material can be deformed when a movable portion operates. It is preferable to use a material which is softened or hardened by certain treatment (e.g., heat treatment or chemical treatment) after formation.
US08730179B2
Integrated touch sensor and solar panel stack-up configurations that may be used on portable devices, particularly handheld portable devices such as a media player or phone are disclosed. The solar cell stack-up configurations may include one or more touch sensor layers and one or more solar cell layers. By integrating both the touch sensors and the solar cell layers into the same stack-up, surface area on the portable device may be conserved. The solar panel may be mounted face down or otherwise obstructed by a touch sensor or other component. In this configuration, the device may include light channels that allow light into the device and direct the light around the component and to the solar panel. A parabolic reflector may be used to direct the light.
US08730177B2
Apparatus and methods are disclosed for simultaneously tracking multiple finger and palm contacts as hands approach, touch, and slide across a proximity-sensing, multi-touch surface. Identification and classification of intuitive hand configurations and motions enables unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.
US08730172B2
A character input method is implemented in a device with a plurality of keys. If a key is activated by a first operation matching a first input pattern, a first route is selected to traverse a plurality of characters corresponded by the key during presentation of the plurality of characters. If the first key is activated by a second operation matching a second input pattern, the plurality of characters corresponded by the first key are orderly retrieved and presented according to a second route in response to operations on the first key. The order for presenting two characters corresponded by the first key in the first route is reversed in the second route.
US08730159B2
An input device includes an input section having a detection section which detects a force transmitted via a human body when a trailing operation is performed on a part of the body contacting the input device, and outputs the force as detection data “a”; a timer management control unit which generates a timing for converting the detection data “a” into time-series data and outputs the timing as timing data “c”; an input information specifying unit which converts the detection data “a” into time-series data based on the timing data “c”, compares the time-series data with stored data “b” in a database which has been set beforehand, to thereby specify an input operation and output the input operation as input information specifying data “d”; and an information presenting unit which, upon receiving the input information specifying data “d”, displays a function assigned to the input operation.
US08730149B2
A method for backlight control includes: receiving a display synchronization signal; generating a backlight control signal according to the display synchronization signal; and driving a backlight source according to the backlight control signal. An apparatus for backlight control includes: a signal receiving circuit, for receiving a display synchronization signal; a control circuit, coupled to the signal receiving circuit, for generating a backlight control signal according to the display synchronization signal; and a driving circuit, coupled to the control circuit, for driving a backlight source according to the backlight control signal.
US08730142B2
A gate line drive circuit includes: X level shift circuits configured to convert first address signals into second address signals; and a logic circuit configured to drive a selection gate line of N gate lines of a display unit based on the second address signals by supplying a first driving voltage to the selection gate line and by supplying a second driving voltage to non-selection gate lines of the N gate lines other than the selection gate line. X is an integer of 1 or more. N is equal to 2 raised to a power X. The first address signals includes X voltages each of which is a first voltage or a second voltage. The second address signals includes X driving voltages each of which is the first driving voltage or the second driving voltage.
US08730139B2
An image display apparatus employing a laser beam source includes: a light modulating unit that modulates a laser beam emitted from the laser beam source into image light representing an image; and a driving-signal generating unit that generates, on the basis of an image signal of a frame image updated at a fixed first period, a driving signal for driving the light modulating unit. The driving-signal generating unit periodically inserts a noise image in the driving signal while maintaining timing for updating display of the frame image at the first period.
US08730138B2
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) pixel array includes a plurality of first signal lines, a plurality of second signal lines, and a plurality of pixel array units. The pixel array units are arranged in array on a substrate. Each of the pixel array units includes a plurality of OLED pixels. The OLED pixels are connected to the same first signal line and respectively connected to a first portion and a second portion of the second signal lines. At least two of the OLED pixels are located between the first portion and the second portion. A transmittance region is surrounded by the first portion, the second portion, and the OLED pixels, and the first portion and the second portion are respectively located at two opposite sides of the transmittance region.
US08730129B2
The present invention discloses an improved method and device for the immersive display of three-dimensional images with visual accommodation. An improved method for manufacturing a visual display incorporating a scanned light source and an improved method of presenting visual information are disclosed. A complete, immersive display environment is also presented.
US08730121B2
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, reader antennas are provided within storage fixtures or supporting fixtures for transporting RF signals between, for example, an RFID reader and an RFID tag. In a preferred embodiment, the RFID-enabled fixtures are implemented using an intelligent network, which may allow enhanced flexibility in controlling systems for interrogation of RFID antennas.
US08730110B2
A diversity antenna system that operates within a low frequency band ranging from 700 Megahertz is disclosed. A plurality of antennas are folded onto a single printed circuit in a meander pattern configuration. Each antenna has an independent feed port and ground pin. The plurality of antennas are configured within a compact mobile phone space to produce a high isolation and low correlation at resonating frequencies within the 700 Megahertz frequency band.
US08730106B2
A communications device may include an electrically conductive antenna layer having a slotted opening therein extending from a medial portion and opening outwardly to a perimeter thereof, the electrically conductive antenna layer including antenna feed points. The communications device may include a first dielectric layer adjacent the electrically conductive antenna layer, an electrically conductive passive antenna tuning member adjacent the first dielectric layer, a second dielectric layer adjacent the electrically conductive passive antenna tuning member, circuitry adjacent the second dielectric layer, and electrically conductive vias extending through the first and second dielectric layers and coupling the circuitry and the antenna feed points.
US08730104B2
The programmable wide-band radio frequency feed network is a wideband multi-port microwave/RF feed network that can operate with multiple communication bands covering a wide frequency range. In addition, the feed network is programmable via a digital controller and has two degrees of freedom, viz., amplitude and phase variations. The feed network provides amplification as well as attenuation to the amplitude of the incoming signals. The feed network is designed using discrete microwave components, and fabricated on a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) with a small footprint. The digitally controlled feed network is ideal for any antenna array application within the covered frequency range, and can be re-programmed for various wireless communication standards.
US08730099B2
An electronic scanning type radar device mounted on a moving body includes: a transmission unit transmitting a transmission wave; a reception unit comprising a plurality of antennas receiving a reflection wave of the transmission wave from a target; a beat signal generation unit generating a beat signal from the transmission wave and the reflection wave; a frequency resolution processing unit frequency computing a complex number data; a target detection unit detecting an existence of the target; a correlation matrix computation unit computing a correlation matrix from each of a complex number data of a detected beat frequency; a target consolidation processing unit linking the target in a present detection cycle and a past detection cycle; a correlation matrix filtering unit generating an averaged correlation matrix by weighted averaging a correlation matrix of a target in the present detection cycle and a correlation matrix of a related target in the past detection cycle; and a direction detection unit computing an arrival direction of the reflection wave based on the averaged correlation matrix.
US08730097B1
A system for testing a phased array comprising a phase-locked loop circuit responsive to a received output signal of the phased array. The phase-locked loop circuit comprises a phase detector; a filtering element, a variable frequency oscillator and a feedback loop. The system is configured to output at least one of a value indicative of the output of the phase detector and a value indicative of the output of the filtering element for estimating at least one of an imparted phase shift and an imparted frequency modulation by array.
US08730094B2
A method and a radio beacon for determining a distance of a vehicle passing a radio beacon of a road toll system, from beacon. The vehicle is equipped with an onboard unit, which emits a signal with a known curve of its frequency over time. The method includes receiving the signal in the radio beacon during passage of the vehicle and recording a curve of its frequency over time in relation to the known frequency curve; detecting a change in the recorded frequency curve exceeding a predetermined threshold value; looking for two far regions in the frequency curve lying before and after the detected change in time and showing a frequency change below a threshold value; scaling the recorded frequency curve in such a manner that the far regions assume predetermined values; and determining the said distance from a gradient of the scaled frequency curve in an inflection point thereof.
US08730092B2
Aspects of this invention are directed to the substantially improved detection and geolocation accuracy of targets (stationary or moving) by using the coherent data received at multiple airborne sensors. Further aspects are directed to aligning the (unknown) time-delayed and Doppler-shifted signals received at the multiple sensors relative to an arbitrary reference sensor, which depend on the unknown target position. This results in the target position and velocity vectors being simultaneously estimated and the detection peak enhanced by obtaining near coherent gain. Still further aspects are directed to the coherent generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) and the minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) statistic for multistatic radar systems, conditioned on estimation of certain parameters that render the system coherent. Analytical and computer simulation results are presented to show substantially enhanced detection and geolocation of moving targets in clutter.
US08730088B2
Techniques disclosed herein include systems and methods for accurately scheduling radar and radio events against each other. Specifically, a scheduling manager can schedule radar events based on scheduled radio events (wireless network communication events). A given radio schedule for a compact radar sensor can be a relatively complicated schedule, especially when the compact radar sensor operates as part of an ad hoc network. In certain embodiments, the scheduling manager identifies a radio transmission schedule of neighboring radar nodes or compact radar sensor units. Such a radio transmission schedule of neighboring nodes can include information on when neighboring nodes will be receiving or transmitting data. The scheduling manager then schedules radar events to be executed by the radar device at available times, or at times that do not overlap with scheduled radio events.
US08730086B2
Disclosed is a satellite weather detection system that uses atmospheric precipitation density data. Subscribers detect the signal strength and signal-to-noise ratio of signals that are transmitted from the satellite. Upstream transmit power data is also collected, which is needed to achieve a given SNR at a gateway. The values of the downstream signal strength and signal-to-noise ratio data as well as the upstream transmit power data are normalized and compared with current atmospheric data. The data can be color coded and graphically displayed to show weather patterns. Location and velocity of high precipitation density cells can be tracked to predict movement of storms.
US08730078B2
A signal sensing circuit converts a received current input into a voltage output and provides the voltage output to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to generate a digital output signal. The voltage output is associated with a circuit having a first reference impedance, and a reference voltage of the ADC is associated with a circuit having a second reference impedance, wherein the circuit having the first reference impedance and the circuit having the second reference impedance are formed by the same material, so that the ratio between the changes in the current input and the changes in the value of the digital output signal is a constant.
US08730077B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for processing a signal in a read channel using a selective oversampled analog to digital conversion. The disclosed selective oversampled analog to digital conversion simplifies the analog design by transferring at least a portion of the equalization and/or filtering processes to the digital domain. An analog input signal in a read channel is converted to a digital signal to generate one or more digital samples corresponding to the analog input signal for a given bit interval. The analog input signal is selectively filtered in an analog domain in a first mode and the digital samples are selectively filtered in a digital domain in a second mode. A data detection algorithm is applied to the digital samples to obtain a detected output. The selection of the first mode and the second mode can be, for example, based on channel conditions. The analog to digital conversion can be performed at a baud rate in the first mode and at an oversampled rate in the second mode.
US08730073B1
A method for digitizing an analog signal through a pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) may include pipelining a sample sub-stage, a quantization sub-stage and an amplification sub-stage to an ADC lane. Within a first of multiple pipelined stages, clock phases may be assigned to the ADC lane, including a sample clock phase, a quantization clock phase, and an amplification clock phase such that the quantization clock phase is non-overlapping with the sample clock phase and the amplification clock phase. The non-overlapping feature may be facilitated by generating multiple reference clock phases for the sub-stages of multiple ADC lanes, and interleaving assignment of the sample clock phase, the quantization clock phase, and the amplification clock phase to the reference clock phases among the multiple lanes.
US08730065B2
A system for tactile presentation of information to a pilot of an aircraft. The system comprises a pilot seat, a plurality of tactors, and a controller configured to control the plurality of tactors to tactually present the threat information to the pilot by producing one or more tactile stimuli based on situational awareness information. The tactors in the plurality of tactors are physically coupled to the pilot seat and the threat information is indicative of a threat to the aircraft. In some embodiments, at least one pressure sensor may be physically coupled to the pilot seat and the plurality of tactors may be configured to tactually present the threat information to the pilot based at least in part on data obtained by the at least one pressure sensor.
US08730064B2
Systems and methods for aircraft cabin noise analysis are disclosed. In one embodiment, a computer based system to monitor vehicle conditions comprises a trigger table stored in a tangible computer readable memory which stores at least one set of logic conditions which may trigger directive to analyze if alert conditions exist. The system further comprises a trigger processor to receive one or more data streams comprising vehicle condition data for a monitored vehicle and transmit the directive to analyze alert logic to an alert evaluation queue when the vehicle condition data satisfies the at least one set of logic conditions in the trigger table, and an alert evaluation processor to execute a stand-alone program to analyze vehicle data and generate an alert when the vehicle condition data satisfies the at least one set of alert conditions. In some embodiments, the system may be implemented in a computing system or as logic instructions recorded on a computer readable medium.
US08730062B2
A computer-implemented system and method for providing gun shot detection through a centralized parking services server is provided. Smart parking devices are physically proximate parking spaces. Acoustic sensors are deployed with at least one acoustic sensor in a smart parking device. Vehicle occupancy sensors and parking availability indicators are associated with the parking spaces. Parking space occupancy is sensed through the nearest vehicle occupancy sensor. Use of the parking space is processed based on an identity of a driver. Potential gunshots are detected by aurally monitoring ambient sounds in the service region through the acoustic sensors. The potential gunshots are identified by evaluating the ambient sounds for sound characteristics of gunfire and triangulating the ambient sounds relative to the locations of the acoustic sensor comprised in one of the smart parking devices and at least one other of the acoustic sensors. Finally, an alert is generated for the potential gunshot.
US08730058B2
Described herein are analyte monitoring systems including a receiver or data processing component that is configured to automatically issue a first alert notification when a first predetermined number of consecutive data packets are not received from the sensor/sensor electronics, and automatically issue a second alert notification when a second predetermined number of consecutive data packets are not received by the sensor/sensor electronics. The receiver may also be configured to enable a user to disenable alert or alarm notifications that are triggered based on detected events.
US08730052B1
Systems and methods for detecting that a removable antenna is electrically connected to a communication device are disclosed. An exemplary detection device includes a visual indicator component and a data indicator component. The visual indicator component electrically connects to an RF antenna connector of the communication device. The visual indicator component generates a visual indicator in response to the RF antenna connector being connected to the removable antenna. The RF antenna connector being connected to the removable antenna provides electrical paths through the visual indicator component and through the data indicator component from at least one voltage source to ground. The data indicator component electrically connects to the RF antenna connector. The data indicator component generates a data indicator in response to the RF antenna connector being connected to the removable antenna.
US08730047B2
An apparatus and method for noninvasive determination of analyte properties of human tissue by quantitative infrared spectroscopy to clinically relevant levels of precision and accuracy. The system includes subsystems optimized to contend with the complexities of the tissue spectrum, high signal-to-noise ratio and photometric accuracy requirements, tissue sampling errors, calibration maintenance problems, and calibration transfer problems. The subsystems can include an illumination/modulation subsystem, a tissue sampling subsystem, a data acquisition subsystem, a computing subsystem, and a calibration subsystem. The invention can provide analyte property determination and identity determination or verification from the same spectroscopic information, making unauthorized use or misleading results less likely than in systems that use separate analyte and identity determinations. The invention can be used to control and monitor individuals accessing controlled environments.
US08730044B2
In accordance with preferred embodiments of the invention, a method (and corresponding apparatus) is provided for deducing the location of one or more items or objects to be monitored. In exemplary embodiments, the method (and corresponding apparatus) is implemented in RFID (radio frequency identification) applications (e.g., reading RFID tags at 13.56 MHz and approximately 900 MHz) by deducing the location of an item associated with a unique RFID tag in one or more areas of detection covered by multiple RFID reader antennae.
US08730039B1
A data recorder may be installed in a house or other type of building in order to record conditions present at the building. The data recorded may be analyzed in order to forensically assess conditions that have led to damage or destruction of the building, or to prospectively forecast the possibility of future damage or destruction. A decision may be made based on analysis of the data, and an action may be taken based on the decision. Examples of data that may be recorded include temperature, wind speed, humidity, or any other information. Examples of decisions that may be made include insurance claim decisions, underwriting decisions, reinsurance decisions, alert decisions, or any other types of decisions.
US08730033B2
A telematics server manages meeting request messages sent from, and to, a vehicle-coupled device. The server performs authentication services when a subscriber logs in to the server from the vehicle-coupled device, or with a device associated with the subscriber's telematics services account. Upon login, the server may append a session identifier to the request message. After the message passes through the server, an application running on a device remote from the vehicle receives the request message and accepts user input that permits the remote device to transmit its current location to the vehicle-coupled device in a confirmation message according to the session identifier. The telematics server can use the session identifier to determine the destination address of the vehicle-coupled device to forward the confirmation message to. The vehicle-coupled device displays the remote user device location on a map. The request and confirmation messages may include a media content file.
US08730032B2
Proper insertion of medical leads into medical devices is detected at the time the lead is being inserted. An external device initiates impedance testing by the medical device that is receiving the lead prior to the insertion of the lead being completed. The medical device reports back the results of the impedance testing so that the external device can determine whether the lead is properly inserted at the time of lead insertion and can provide an output to a user to indicate whether the lead insertion is proper. The medical device may poll only a last connector expected to be connected before responding, test other connector combinations before or after responding, and so forth.
US08730025B2
Provided is an instrument driving device which can have improved marketability and designability by providing a new expression for a prompting operation. The instrument driving device is provided with an instrument (2) that displays vehicle information by causing a pointer to turn on a display board, and a display board lighting means (2d) for illuminating the display board. The instrument driving device is also provided with a control means (2a) for causing, in response to the input of a predetermined start signal, the instrument (2) to perform a prompting operation which is different from a normal operation, and as the prompting operation, activating at least the display board lighting means (2d), then gradually reducing the illumination such that the transition in brightness is nonlinear and the fading rate lessens over time. The predetermined start signal may be the ON or OFF of an electrical power switch.
US08730021B2
A door handle apparatus for a vehicle is provided. The door handle includes a door handle body that is configured to be disposed at a door of the vehicle. A light source is mounted inside the door handle body. A light-transmitting member is located between the light source and the door handle body. The light-transmitting member is partially exposed to an exterior of the door handle body.
US08729994B2
The invention refers to a Rotary Solenoid comprising a stator and rotor that can rotate around a rotational axis. The rotor has a rotor shaft on which a rotor disc is arranged. The rotor disc is, seen in the direction of the circumference, polarized alternating magnetically. The stator carries at least one coil. On the coil windings of electrically conducting wire are provided. For guiding the magnetic flow of the magnetic field generated by the coil a pole face consisting of several partial pole faces is provided.
US08729990B2
A supported superconducting magnet includes a superconducting magnet arranged within an outer vacuum container and a support structure bearing the weight of the superconducting magnet against a support surface. The support structure includes a tubular suspension element located between the magnet and the support surface, the tubular suspension element retaining the magnet in a fixed relative position with reference to the outer vacuum container by means of complementary interface surfaces arranged to transmit the weight of the superconducting magnet to the support structure. The tubular suspension element is arranged about a generally vertical axis, and supports a solenoidal magnet structure which is arranged about a generally horizontal axis.
US08729988B1
A trip device support frame for a circuit breaker is provided. The trip device support frame includes a calibration tab that is a cantilever member. As a cantilever member, the calibration tab may be moved, i.e. deformed at a proximal end of the tab, so as to adjust the position of the calibration tab relative to the other portions of the trip device support frame. The calibration tab extends upwardly and the distal end thereof is disposed adjacent a top member of a circuit breaker housing assembly. The circuit breaker housing assembly, and more specifically a housing assembly top member, includes a calibration slot. In this configuration, the calibration tab distal end may be engaged by a calibration tool from the upper side of the circuit breaker rather than a lateral side.
US08729981B2
Precision delay line instruments according to this disclosure may include a plurality of controller activatable delay loops of different delay length design values, and a controller configured to apply a selected delay setting by activating delay loops corresponding to the selected delay setting. The delay length design values may comprise a first set of delay lengths according to a first set of binary step values, and a second set of delay lengths according to a second set of binary step values that is offset from the first set of binary step values. Delay loops corresponding to selected delay settings may be identified in an operating data structure comprising best-fit matched combinations of delay loops that produce more accurate signal delays than one or more other combinations of delay loops.
US08729977B2
A method in a mobile communication device includes: measuring a first temperature associated with a crystal configured to provide a reference signal having a frequency; measuring a second temperature associated with a component that is coupled to the crystal by an electrically and thermally conductive line; and compensating, based upon the measuring of the first and second temperatures, for a change in the frequency of the reference signal of the crystal.
US08729976B2
Methods and apparatus for calibration and temperature compensation of oscillators having mechanical resonators are described. The method(s) may involve measuring the frequency of the oscillator at multiple discrete temperatures and adjusting compensation circuitry of the oscillator at the various temperatures. The compensation circuitry may include multiple programmable elements which may independently adjust the frequency behavior of the oscillator at a respective temperature. Thus, adjustment of the frequency behavior of the oscillator at one temperature may not alter the frequency behavior at a second temperature.
US08729974B2
A crystal oscillator circuit is configured to output an oscillation signal. A bias circuit responds to control signal to generate a bias current for application to the crystal oscillator circuit. A current generator generates a sense current from the control signal. The sense current is compared to a reference current by a comparator circuit. The comparator circuit generates a ready signal in response to the comparison. The ready signal is indicative of whether the oscillation signal output from the crystal oscillator circuit is ready for use by other circuitry. The reference current may be generated by a circuit which replicates the bias circuit.
US08729970B2
An oscillator circuit includes a pair of negative-resistance circuits, a pair of transmission lines coupled to the pair of negative-resistance circuits respectively, a pair of pads that are provided symmetrically to each other with respect to the pair of transmission lines and are to be coupled to each other by a bonding wire, and a synthetic circuit to synthesize output signals of the pair of negative-resistance circuits.
US08729968B2
A built-in self-test circuit for testing a voltage controlled oscillator comprises a voltage controlled oscillator, a buffer having an input coupled to an output of the voltage controlled oscillator and a radio frequency peak detector coupled to the output of the buffer. The radio frequency peak detector is configured to receive an ac signal from the voltage controlled oscillator and generate a dc value proportional to the ac signal at an output of the radio frequency peak detector. Furthermore, the output of the radio frequency peak detector generates a dc value proportional to an amplitude of the ac signal from the voltage controlled oscillator when the voltage controlled oscillator functions correctly. On the other hand, the output of the radio frequency peak detector is at zero volts when the voltage controlled oscillator fails to generate an ac signal.
US08729966B2
A variable gain amplifier circuit with a small-sized configuration can accurately adjust the gain without causing a transmission loss of an input signal. A plurality of amplification portions are connected with each other between an amplification coupling line and a grounding line in parallel. The amplification portion includes a switching device and an amplification transistor, which induces a current corresponding to an input signal to flow between the amplification coupling line and the grounding line via the switching device when the switching device is in the on state. The amplitude gain is varied by, according to a gain control signal, separately switching on and off the switching devices of the respective amplification portions.
US08729962B2
A millimeter wave power amplifier is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, a MM wave power amplifier (PA) includes a plurality of amplifier stages coupled together to receive a MM wave input signal and produce an amplified MM wave output signal, and one or more feedback elements coupled across the amplifier stages, each feedback element coupled across an odd number of the amplifier stages to increase an operating bandwidth of the PA.
US08729959B1
A voltage generating apparatus is provided. The voltage generating apparatus includes a reference voltage generator and an output voltage generator. The reference voltage generator is used for generating a reference voltage, and the reference voltage generator decides to generate the reference voltage or not according to a control signal. The output voltage generator includes a comparator, a variable resistor and a current source. The comparator compares the reference voltage and an output voltage to generator a calibrating signal. A resistance of the variable resistor is decided by the calibrating signal. The current source provides an output current to flow through the variable resistor for generating the output voltage. Wherein, the reference voltage is generated during an initial timing period, and the generator is turned off after the initial timing period. The initial timing period is determined according to the control signal.
US08729953B2
A method for reducing an off-current of a field effect transistor in which two electrodes of the field effect transistor have fixed voltage values and the rest electrode has an alternating voltage value by an AC voltage pulse generator to form an off-stress near source and drain junctions in turn.
US08729943B2
The present invention discloses a phase interpolating apparatus comprising: a first signal generation circuit, configured for generating a first signal having a first phase; an optional second signal generation circuit, configured for generating a second signal having the first phase; a third signal generation circuit, configured for generating a third signal having a second phase; a fourth/fifth signal generation circuit, configured for generating a fourth signal having a third phase when operating in a first mode and for generating a fifth signal having the second phase instead of the fourth signal when operating in a second mode; and a phase interpolator, configured for generating an interpolated signal without utilizing the fourth signal when operating in the first mode and for generating the interpolated signal according to the first signal, the third signal, and the fifth signal when operating in the second mode.
US08729941B2
A differential amplifier may be configured to have a duty cycle and/or gain that is adjustable, such as by adjusting the switch points of circuitry in the differential amplifier. The differential amplifier may alternatively or additionally have a hysteresis function by, for example, using a signal feedback from the output of the amplifier to adjust the switch points of circuitry in the differential amplifier. The differential amplifier may be used for a variety of purposes, such as in an input buffer or delay line, either of which may be used, for example, in a clock generator circuit.
US08729936B2
A power switch module for an electronic device includes a flip-flop circuit, a first current path for coupling a voltage source to the flip-flop circuit, and a second current path for coupling the voltage source to the flip-flop circuit. In response to a user power-on event, an output of the flip-flop circuit is at a first logic state for normally powering on the electronic device. In response to a user power-off event, the output of the flip-flop circuit is at a second logic state for normally powering off the electronic device. When the voltage source is suddenly interrupted, the output of the flip-flop circuit is kept at the first logic state but the electronic device is abnormally powered off. After the voltage source is resumed, the output of the flip-flop circuit kept at the first logic state reboots the abnormally powered-off electronic device.
US08729929B2
A gate driving circuit includes a gate control circuit and a gate voltage limit circuit. The gate control circuit establishes or breaks electrical continuity of a gate voltage supply path from a power source line to a gate terminal of a transistor in response to an on-command and an off-command. The gate voltage limit circuit limits a gate voltage of the transistor to be less than or equal to a first voltage in response to the on-command at least in a period until a determination of whether an electric current greater than a fault criterion value flows to the transistor ends and then limits the gate voltage to be less than or equal to a second voltage.
US08729928B2
A switching circuit suitable for a low power oscillator circuit includes control and output circuits, the control circuit arranged to control the output circuit, the control circuit having input and output terminals, the output circuit having input and output terminals and control terminals; wherein the input terminal of the control circuit is connected to the input terminal of the output circuit, and the control terminal of the output circuit is connected to the output terminal of the control circuit, the output circuit first switches connected in series and arranged such that in use at least one of the switches is in a low impedance state at any given time, and the control circuit has second switches connected in series and arranged such that in use at least one of the switches is in a low impedance state at any given time.
US08729926B2
According to one embodiment, an output signal circuit for use in a receiver is provided. The output signal circuit is provided with first and second transistors of an insulated gate field effect type, and a backgate bias generator. A source of the first transistor is capable of receiving an input signal. A source of the second transistor is capable of generating an output signal. A backgate bias generator produces a backgate bias voltage which is applied to backgate of the first and second transistors commonly.
US08729921B2
A terminal discriminating apparatus and a terminal discriminating method using the same are provided. The terminal discriminating apparatus includes: a measurement unit for measuring a pull-up voltage and a pull-down voltage of each of candidate terminals to be discriminated; a discriminating unit for comparing the pull-up voltages, pull-down voltages, and the differences between the pull-up voltages and pull-down voltages for the candidate terminals to discriminate the types of the candidate terminals; and an output unit for outputting results of the discrimination of the candidate terminals transferred from the discriminating unit. The types of the candidate terminals can be discriminated by comparing the pull-up voltage, the pull-down voltage, and the differences between the pull-up voltages and the pull-down voltages for the candidate terminals.
US08729920B2
Circuits and methods are provided for a reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) enabled and self-regulated frequency and delay sensor of a semiconductor. A circuit for measuring and compensating for time-dependent performance degradation of an integrated circuit, includes at least one critical functional path of the integrated circuit, and Wearout Isolation Registers (WIR's) connected to boundaries of the critical functional path. The circuit also includes a feedback path connected to the WIR's, and a sensor control module operable to disconnect the critical functional path from preceding and succeeding functional paths of the integrated circuit, connect the critical functional path to the feedback path to form a critical path ring oscillator (CPRO), and enable the CPRO to generate an operating signal. A delay sensor module is operable to measure a frequency of the operating signal to determine and compensate for a degradation of application performance over a lifetime of a semiconductor product.
US08729916B2
Embodiments disclosed herein are directed to compliant probe structures for making temporary or permanent contact with electronic circuits and the like. Some embodiments are directed to various designs of cantilever-like probe structures while other embodiments are directed to methods for fabricating probe structures. In some embodiments, methods are used to form probe structures from a plurality of planar multi-material layers wherein each probe structure includes a contact tip and a compliant body wherein a portion of the complaint body is formed, then the contact tip is formed and then finally the rest of the compliant body is formed, wherein the compliant body provides for elastic compression of the probe in a plane of primary motion during use and wherein during formation of the layers a stacking direction of the plurality of layers is perpendicular to the plane of primary motion.
US08729912B2
A linear capacitance displacement transducer (1) comprising first (2) and second (3) fixed capacitor plate and a dielectric structure (5) moveable longitudinally within a space (4) between the first (2) and second (3) capacitor plates, the dielectric structure (5) being operatively coupled to a moveable element (8). The capacitor plates and the dielectric material may be cylindrical and disposed coaxially and concentrically. The transducer (1) enables a displacement sensor that is capable of monitoring liquid levels in a syringe type drug reservoir (101) with sufficient sensitivity as to allow detection of erroneous drug delivery. The sensor is inexpensive to manufacture and provides reliable performance through robust design.
US08729909B2
A radio wave intensity measuring device includes a radio wave absorber (100) configured to include a plane having a plurality of cells (CL11, CL12, . . . ) and to absorb a radio wave entering the plane, and a measurer (200) configured to measure radio wave intensities in a plurality of cells.
US08729901B2
A portable device and associated method are described for use with a system in which a locating signal is transmitted from within the ground during an operational procedure. The locating signal includes a transmission frequency that is selectable from a group of discrete transmission frequencies in a frequency range and the region includes electromagnetic noise that can vary. The portable device includes a receiver having a bandwidth that includes the transmission frequency range and is operable for measuring the electromagnetic noise in the transmission frequency range to establish a frequency content of the electromagnetic noise for use in selecting one of the discrete transmission frequencies that is subsequently transmitted as the locating signal during the operational procedure. The locating signal can be transmitted from a boring tool, a pullback arrangement or an inground cable. A predicted maximum operational depth for a transmitter can be determined prior to the operational procedure.
US08729899B2
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system magnet includes at least one main electromagnet winding disposed within a first radius of the magnet and at least one bucking electromagnet winding disposed within a second radius, larger than the first radius of the magnet and configured to provide self-shielding magnetic fields that substantially reduce fringe magnetic fields outside the magnet produced by the main electromagnet winding. The combination of magnetic fields produced by both the main and bucking electromagnet windings inside the magnet conform to MRI requirements within at least an imaging volume. The main and bucking electro-magnet windings are configured so as to create a net fringe field outside the magnet within the range of 50-100 gauss at a distance within a range of 3-5 meters axially and 2-3 meters radially from a center of the magnet.
US08729892B2
A differential magnetic field sensor that enables operation that is independent of sensor-to-target orientation is presented. The differential magnetic field sensor is provided with at least two differential channels. Each differential channel includes a pair of magnetic field sensing elements and has a respective sensing axis defined by those magnetic field sensing elements. The sensing axes are not aligned with respect to each other. One sensing axis is positioned relative to a reference axis of a target profile to define an orientation angle between the sensing axis and the reference axis. The differential magnetic field sensor includes circuitry to produce differential signals associated with the differential channels and use those differential signals to produce a single differential signal having an amplitude that is independent of the orientation angle.
US08729889B2
Contactless measurement of angular or linear positions is obtained by means of magnetic circuit configurations, biased by a permanent magnet, characterized by two airgaps whose relative geometry is designed to result in magnetic field values whose ratio is a function of the position to be measured. The magnetic field in said airgaps is measured by magnetic field probes, whose output signals are then electronically conditioned to generate a voltage proportional to said ratio. The output signal being function of a ratio, it naturally becomes insensitive to drifts of the magnet working point, or drifts in sensitivity of the magnetic field probes. In one embodiment said ratio of magnetic field values becomes a function of the relative angular displacement of two coaxial shafts, while becoming completely independent from their absolute angular displacement, allowing hence the realization of simple and robust torque sensors.
US08729888B2
A magnetic transducer configuration may include a permanent magnet element magnetized in its longitudinal direction having a pole transition. The permanent magnet element has a cross section in the pole transition section, which is larger than the cross section of the permanent magnet element in an area outside of the pole transition section. A magnetic position sensor may include a magnetic field sensor array and magnetic transducer configuration. The magnetic field sensor array and the magnetic transducer configuration are situated displaceably in the longitudinal direction in a plane-parallel manner. The magnetic field sensor array has at least one magnetic field sensor lying in a path along which the permanent magnet element moves during displacement of the magnetic transducer configuration.
US08729886B2
A device for measuring alternating current (AC) magnetic susceptibility and the method for measuring the same are provided. The device comprises an AC magnetic susceptibility coil set, a signal capturing unit, and a signal processing unit. The device detects AC magnetic susceptibility signals from under testing particles in the magnetic field with variable AC frequencies, and extracts the AC magnetic susceptibility intensity variation and phase difference and/or the real part and the imaginary part of the AC magnetic susceptibility by the signal processing unit.
US08729884B2
A voltage measuring circuit includes a voltage measuring port, a voltage reference unit, a first voltage comparing unit and a light emitting diode. The voltage measuring port is for receiving an external voltage to be measured. The voltage reference unit includes a port providing a reference voltage. The first voltage comparing unit includes a reference port connected to the voltage reference unit, a measuring port connected to the voltage measuring port, and an output port for outputting a high/low level voltage when the external voltage is lower/higher than the reference voltage. The light emitting diode includes a cathode connected to the output port of the first voltage comparing unit and an anode connected to an external voltage port.
US08729878B2
Provided is a switching regulator including an overload protection circuit, which has high accuracy even without requiring adjusting means in a test step. The switching regulator includes: a first triangle wave generation circuit for generating a first triangle wave which controls Duty of a PWM signal; and a second triangle wave generation circuit for generating a second triangle wave for overload detection, which has a crest value smaller than that of the first triangle wave. A ratio between the crest value of the first triangle wave and the crest value of the second triangle wave is set based on respective capacitances or constant currents thereof.
US08729877B2
A method is provided. A low dropout regulator (LDO) is disabled during a first mode, and a first reference voltage is selected and applied to a switched-mode converter during the first mode. Also during the first mode, a first output voltage is generated by the switched-mode converter from a power supply, and a first capacitor is overcharged with the first output voltage. The LDO is then enabled during a second mode. During a first portion of a startup period for the second mode, a second capacitor is charged from the first capacitor, and a second reference voltage is selected and applied to the switched-mode converter. Then, during a second portion of the startup period for the second mode, the second capacitor is charged with the switched-mode converter.
US08729869B2
A vehicle includes a mobile electric power generation system including a mobile power source such as a generator. An external power interface is included to connect to an external electrical power source. An AC electric power distribution bus is included to power electric loads of the vehicle and a power switch device is provided to selectively provide AC electric power on the power distribution bus from one of the respective power sources with a default to select one of the sources whenever it is present.
US08729858B2
A method of delivering power from a power supply to an electric vehicle is described herein. The method includes receiving a request to deliver power from the power supply to the electric vehicle. A first monitoring signal indicative of a combustible gas is transmitted from a sensor to a controller. The controller determines whether electrical power is to be delivered, from a charging device to the electric vehicle, based at least in part on the received first monitoring signal.
US08729855B2
A non-contact charging module with which reduction in thickness can be achieved while reliable insulation is maintained between conducting wire and magnetic sheet. This non-contact charging module comprises: a planar coil section (2) constituted by coiling a conducting wire; a conductive magnetic sheet (3) having the planar coil section (2) arranged thereon, with an insulating sheet (4) therebetween; and a recess (33) or slit (34) provided in the conductive magnetic sheet (3) and extending to an edge of the conductive magnetic sheet (3) from the starting point of the winding of the planar coil section (2). The conducting wire of the planar coil section (2) is stored in the recess (33) or slit (34) by the insulating sheet (4) being pushed into the recess (33) or slit (34). The conducting wire of the planar coil section (2) is insulated from the conductive magnetic sheet (3) by the insulating sheet (4).
US08729849B2
When a servo device receives the frequency setting signal as a control signal through the receiver from the transmitter, it select the information in conformity with the received frequency setting signal among the driving frequency setting information as stored in advance. When the handling signal is input as the control signal by the transmitter, the servo device is configured to transform the difference data taken synchronously with the difference data timing signal from the pulse width comparison part into the selected driving frequency. The servo device is configured to generate the driving signal from the transformed difference data signal of the desired corresponding count value range, and to perform drive control the driving feature.
US08729844B2
An AC-AC power converter supplies AC power to an AC motor having a plurality of motor windings and a case connected to a ground. The AC-AC power converter architecture includes an asymmetric phase shift autotransformer/rectifier unit (ATRU) that converts an AC input to a DC output, wherein the asymmetric phase shift ATRU generates a common-mode AC voltage across the asymmetric phase shift ATRU. The common mode voltage is diverted to ground through motor case parasitic capacitance via a common-mode voltage pull-down circuit connected between each phase of the ATRU AC input and the ground.
US08729843B2
To suppress torque variation including various frequency components, a lot of measuring and adjusting operations are necessary, and this takes much time and trouble. An electronic apparatus includes a selection unit configured to select, on the basis of a threshold value relating to speed variation of the mechanism and threshold values relating to a plurality of frequencies that constitute the speed variation, a frequency to be measured and a frequency to be suppressed, from the plurality of frequencies, a generation unit configured to generate a periodic signal including the frequency to be suppressed that is selected by the selection unit, and an acquisition unit configured to output the periodic signal generated by the generation unit to the control unit and to acquire a parameter relating to the frequency included in the periodic signal.
US08729837B2
A method of controlling the motion of a moveable door includes determining the direction that the door is moving with respect to its anticipated closed position, and based on the direction, regulating an amount of force that is available to the door for its motion. The method may further include monitoring the position of the door as it is moving, and adjusting the motion of the door and regulating the amount of force available to the door for its motion, based on the calculated difference between the door's position as detected during monitoring and its expected position.
US08729833B2
Digital Control Ready (DCR) is a two-way open standard for controlling and managing next-generation fixtures. A DCR-enabled lighting fixture responds to digital control signals from a separate digital light agent (DLA) instead of analog dimming signals, eliminating the need for digital-to-analog signal conditioning, fixture-to-fixture variations in response, and calibration specific to each fixture. In addition, a DCR-enabled lighting fixture may also report its power consumption, measured light output, measured color temperature, temperature, and/or other operating parameters to the DLA via the same bidirectional data link that carries the digital control signals to the fixture. The DLA processes these signals in a feedback loop to implement more precise lighting control. The DCR-enabled lighting fixture also transforms AC power to DC power and supplies (and measures) DC power to the DLA via a DCR interface. These features enable intelligent, networked DCR lighting systems operate with lower power (energy) consumption, greater flexibility, and simpler installation than other intelligent lighting networks.
US08729823B2
A regulating system includes a tricolor LED system including at least one first LED that emits light having a first color, at least one second LED that emits light having a second color, and at least one third LED that emits light having a third color, at least one fourth LED that emits light having a fourth color, a sensor that detects the light emitted by the LEDs and generating sensor signals representing characteristics of the light, a controller that outputs control signals depending on the sensor signals and reference values, and LED drivers that drive the first, second, third and fourth LEDs depending on the control signals.
US08729813B2
Implemented are a switching power supply device and a light-emitting diode lighting device in which a variation in load current can be suppressed against a wide range of variation in AC voltage. The configuration of the switching power supply device and the light-emitting diode lighting device includes: a rectifier unit which rectifies AC input voltage and outputs pulsating-current voltage; a power converting unit which receives the pulsating-current voltage and supplies a predetermined load current to a load; a current detecting unit which detects the load current; a drive control unit which controls the power converting unit to regulate the load current to a constant level; and an input voltage detecting unit which detects a variation in the AC input voltage. The drive control unit controls the power converting unit depending on the variation in the AC input voltage detected by the input voltage detecting unit.
US08729812B2
A lighting device includes a lighting part, a switching part and a luminance fine-tuning part. The lighting part at least includes a first light emitting diode unit for outputting light with a first color temperature and a second light emitting diode unit for outputting light with a second color temperature. The switching part is coupled with a power source. By changing the number of times the switching part is turned on, the light with desired color temperature and luminance is produced by the lighting part according to the user's requirements. By operating the luminance fine-tuning part, the selected luminance is slightly increased or decreased.
US08729793B2
An organic light-emitting display apparatus for selectively realizing circular polarization according to external light conditions, including a substrate; an organic light-emitting device on the substrate; a sealing member on the organic light-emitting device; a phase retardation layer on a surface of the substrate, the organic light-emitting device, or the sealing member; and a linear polarization layer on another surface of the substrate, the organic light-emitting device, or the sealing member, wherein the linear polarization layer is located to be closer to a source of external light than the phase retardation layer, and wherein the linear polarization layer comprises a photochromic material.
US08729792B2
Provided is a high-quality sign board including an organic light emitting device (OLED) which can be easily adapted to various designs applied by users to the sign board. The sign board includes a substrate, a plurality of first conductive lines disposed on the substrate, a plurality of pixel electrodes electrically connected with the first conductive lines, an intermediate layer comprising a light emitting layer disposed on the pixel electrodes, and a face electrode disposed on the intermediate layer. In another embodiment, the sign board further includes a plurality of second conductive lines, each of which connects at least two of the first conductive lines to each other. In still another embodiment, the plurality of pixel electrodes includes a plurality of first pixel electrodes electrically connected with the first conductive lines, and a plurality of second pixel electrodes that are not electrically connected with the first conductive lines.
US08729774B2
An actuator apparatus comprising a smart material device, a compensator, a movable supporting member, at least three mechanical webs, at least three actuating arms, and a second stage assembly is disclosed wherein the mechanical webs comprise a first resilient member attached to the compensator and a second resilient member attached to said movable supporting member. A piezoelectric or smart material device is affixed between the first mounting surface and the compensator. The actuating arms comprise a first actuating arm end attached to one mechanical web and a second actuating arm end attached to the second stage assembly. The second stage assembly comprises resilient strips having a first end attached to the actuating arm and a second end attached to a second stage attachment surface. Application of an electrical potential causes the smart material device to expand, thereby urging the movable supporting member away from the compensator and causing the first and second resilient members to flex. This in turn causes the actuating arms to move. The resilient strips urge the second stage attachment surface in a direction substantially parallel to the smart material device.
US08729773B2
A drive unit includes an actuator main body configured to vibrate to output a driving force, a movable body, which is contacted by the actuator main body and is movable relative to the actuator main body in a predetermined moving direction, and an opposing member positioned to face the actuator main body with the movable body interposed therebetween and hold the movable body together with the actuator main body so that the movable body is sandwiched therebetween. A portion of the movable body, which contacts the opposing member, has an elastic modulus lower than that of the opposing member.
US08729757B2
A spindle motor includes a shaft; a first sleeve rotatably supporting the shaft by fluid dynamic pressure; a second sleeve provided outwardly of the first sleeve; a stator core mounted on an outer surface of the second sleeve; and a base member including a mounting part protruding upwardly in an axial direction and fixed to at least one of the first and second sleeves.
US08729751B2
A motor driven assembly comprises a motor shaft, a rotor, a passage, and a corrugated fin heat transfer structure. The motor shaft is mounted for rotation about a rotational axis. The rotor is located radially about the shaft. The passage extends through the rotor alongside the motor shaft. The corrugated fin heat transfer structure is disposed within the passage radially aligned with the rotor.
US08729749B2
This invention relates to a magnetic gearbox, comprising: an inner rotor having a first plurality of magnetic flux sources; an outer rotor having a second plurality of magnetic flux sources; and, a modulator having a plurality of pole pieces positioned between the first and second magnetic flux sources and separated from each by an air gap, wherein upon relative rotation of the inner rotor, outer rotor and modulator the first and second magnetic flux sources and pole pieces are arranged to provide a modulated magnetic field in the air gap adjacent each rotor; wherein either or both of the modulator and inner rotor include at least one nozzle for directing fluid radially across the respective air gap so as to impinge on the adjacent rotor or modulator.
US08729737B2
A bag for wireless energy transfer comprising a compartment for storing an electronic device enabled for wireless energy transfer, and at least one magnetic resonator positioned for wireless energy transfer to the electronic device, wherein a the at least one magnetic resonator optionally operates in one of three modes: (1) as a repeater resonator to extend the energy transfer to the electronic device from an external wireless energy source, (2) as a source resonator transferring energy from a battery in the bag to the electronic device, and (3) as an energy capture resonator receiving wireless energy from an external source to recharge a battery in the bag.
US08729722B2
Wind turbine comprising a generator section with a generator rotor and a generator stator. A first air gap is defined between a first surface of the generator rotor and the stator, and magnets and electro conductive windings are provided at opposite sides of the first air gap to create a magnetic field over the first air gap during operation. The wind turbine comprises distance measurement means arranged to measure the radial length of a second air gap defined between a second surface of the generator rotor and a stationary part of the generator section. The second air gap is located at a radial distance from the first air gap at a position where there is no interference of a magnetic field generated by the magnets over the first air gap, and the length of the second air gap corresponds directly to the length of the first air gap. This enables accurate measurement and monitoring of the air gap length. A method for monitoring the gap length between a rotor and a stator of a wind turbine generator is also disclosed.
