US08982363B2
Depth information about a scene of interest is acquired by illuminating the scene, capturing reflected light energy from the scene with one or more photodetectors, and processing resulting signals, in at least one embodiment, a pseudo-randomly generated series of spatial light modulation patterns is used to modulate the light pulses either before or after reflection.
US08982362B2
Described herein is a method and apparatus for measuring the thickness of a deposited semiconductor material. A colorimeter has an optical source that illuminates a portion of a deposited semiconductor material with optical radiation, a sensor that collects and measures color information related to reflected radiation from the deposited semiconductor material, and a processor that receives the color information related to the reflected radiation from the sensor and calculates a thickness of the semiconductor material. The processor may control a semiconductor material deposition apparatus.
US08982360B2
A position detector includes a source of radiant energy, such as infrared light. A sensor is spaced from the source. The source and the sensor can be carried spaced apart from one another by a housing. Control circuits, carried by the housing, are coupled to the source and the sensor. Pulsed radiant energy, emitted by the source is incident on the sensor only when transmitted by a solid optical medium which has a predetermined orientation relative to the housing. When the medium has the predetermined orientation, the sensor receives transmitted radiant energy from the source. When the medium moves from the predetermined orientation, the sensor ceases to receive the transmitted radiant energy from the source, and the control circuits can generate an alarm indication.
US08982357B2
The present invention relates to a structure in which a sensor includes a first area and a second area upon which dispersed first and second lights are focused. The first and second areas are disposed in a dispersion direction or a direction perpendicular to the dispersion direction. A distance between the first and second areas is adjusted by using a distance between a plurality of fiber ends from which a plurality of combined lights exit and an optical magnification at a detecting section.
US08982355B2
Disclosed is a system and method for characterizing optical materials, using steps and equipment for generating a coherent laser light, filtering the light to remove high order spatial components, collecting the filtered light and forming a parallel light beam, splitting the parallel beam into a first direction and a second direction wherein the parallel beam travelling in the second direction travels toward the material sample so that the parallel beam passes through the sample, applying various physical quantities to the sample, reflecting the beam travelling in the first direction to produce a first reflected beam, reflecting the beam that passes through the sample to produce a second reflected beam that travels back through the sample, combining the second reflected beam after it travels back though the sample with the first reflected beam, sensing the light beam produced by combining the first and second reflected beams, and processing the sensed beam to determine sample characteristics and properties.
US08982351B2
An apparatus for measuring the transmittance of a piece of cover glass for a photovoltaic cell which can measure an accurate transmittance irrespective of whether or not the cover glass has a pattern and irrespective of the shape of the pattern. The apparatus includes a light source part disposed in front of the piece of cover glass. The light source part directs light into the piece of cover glass. A detector is disposed in the rear of the piece of cover glass, and detects light that has been directed into the piece of cover glass and then has passed through the piece of cover glass. The detector is disposed within a range where the intensity of the light that has passed through the piece of cover glass is uniform.
US08982343B2
An optical analyzer, in particular an optical gas analyzer, having a holder (10) for installing into a gas-carrying hollow space, wherein the holder (10) has a ball socket (20) and a ball segment (30) with a longitudinal axis (A), wherein the ball socket (20) has at least one first segment (21) and a second segment (22) and is designed such that it at least partly engages around the ball segment (30) in the direction of the longitudinal axis (A).
US08982330B2
A method and an apparatus of profiling a surface are disclosed. The method comprises projecting slit pattern light toward a target object in at least two directions in sequence to obtain pattern images reflected on the target object, obtaining heights by using the pattern images according to the directions, obtaining vector fields showing a direction of maximum variation of height, obtaining confidence indexes of the heights corresponding to the at least two directions, obtaining integrated vector fields by using the confidence indexes and the vector fields, and calculating height of each position of the target object by using the integrated vector fields. Therefore, accuracy is enhanced.
US08982310B2
An electronic device may have a display such as a liquid crystal display. The display may include a layer of liquid crystal material interposed between a color filter layer and a thin-film transistor layer. The thin-film transistor layer may be provided with capacitive touch sensor electrodes. Wide metal lines on the thin-film transistor layer may be used to inhibit parasitic capacitances during touch sensor mode. The color filter layer may include a layer of black masking material that surrounds the active display area. A light-curable adhesive may used to attach the color filter layer to the thin-film transistor layer. Openings may be formed in the black masking material and in the metal lines on the thin-film transistor layer. The adhesive may be cured by applying ultraviolet light to the adhesive through the openings in the black masking material and through the openings in the metal lines.
US08982302B2
A stereoscopic image display device includes a first substrate defining an active area and a non-active area surrounding the active area, the first substrate having a gate line formed at the active area and the non-active area, a gate pad formed at the non-active area, a dummy line defining a dummy pixel by crossing the gate line, and a light leakage blocking layer that is connected to the dummy line and disposed to overlap the gate line and the gate pad; a second substrate opposing the first substrate, the second substrate having a black stripe on a side of the second substrate opposite from the first substrate along portions corresponding to edges of the active area, and a patterned retardation film over the black stripe; and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first and second substrates.
US08982292B2
A spatial light modulator comprising an array-type liquid crystal panel, a polarization beam splitter, an oblique wave plate and a converging lens. The polarization beam splitter is orientated to direct a source light towards a reflective planar surface of the array-type liquid crystal panel. The oblique wave plate and converging lens are located between the polarization beam splitter and the array-type liquid crystal panel. The converging lens is configured to direct light from the reflective planar surface onto a facing surface of the polarization beam splitter.
US08982286B2
A chart generation unit generates an adjustment chart, and a projection unit projects the adjustment chart onto a circular cylinder. A parameter acquiring unit acquires 12 parameters in total, relating to the positions of four corners and middle points of a top side and a bottom side of a chart and lateral expansion of the chart, the chart being input by a user through manipulations of an operation unit. A transform function determination unit calculates, from the total of 12 parameters, an accurate transform function for projecting an image onto the circular cylinder. An image conversion unit applies geometric transformation to the image based on the calculated transform function.
US08982278B2
An HDMI® source determines whether or not an HDMI® sink can receive a sub-signal based on VSDB of E-EDID. When the HDMI® sink can receive the sub-signal, the HDMI® source adds a sub-signal to pixel data of a main image composed of pixel data whose number of bits is smaller than that of transmission pixel data transmitted by a transmitter, thereby constructing transmission pixel data. This data is transmitted by the transmitter through TMDS channels #0 to #2. Furthermore, the HDMI® source transmits a general control packet containing sub-signal information indicating whether or not the sub-signal is contained in the transmission pixel data in the control period of a vertical blanking period. The present invention can be applied to, for example, HDMI®.
US08982274B2
Disclosed herein is a camera module, including: a lens holder including a receiving unit receiving a lens module therein; a driving unit joined to the lens holder to be movable in a direction vertical to an optical-axis direction; a housing in which the driving unit is installed to be movable in the vertical direction to the optical-axis direction and having a protruding member that protrudes on one surface thereof; a shape memory alloy wire part connected to the driving unit to generate driving force in the vertical direction to the optical-axis direction; and an elastic member applying a preload to the shape memory alloy wire part to cause initial transformation.
US08982272B1
Methods, apparatuses, systems and software for focusing a camera are disclosed. The camera focusing system includes a distance measuring device, a video receiver that receives video/images, a graphics overlay unit, and a monitor. The distance measuring device includes an emitter that emits a radiation beam, a detector that detects reflected radiation, and logic that determines and processes distance information for subject(s) or object(s) in detection zones from the reflections. The graphics overlay unit receives video/image information from the video receiver and the distance information from the distance measuring device, and includes a video overlay and data processing unit that generates graphics indicating a field of detection and position for each detection zone and a direction and/or magnitude of a change in focus setting(s) to bring subjects or objects within each detection zone into focus. The monitor displays the video/image and the graphics overlaid thereon.
US08982266B2
An imaging device includes an imaging section for repeatedly forming an image of a subject at a set period, while performing a bulb exposure operation, and outputting image data; an adding processing section for performing adding processing of the image data and previously output image data; an image display section for displaying the added image; and a designation section for designating to display only notification information indicating that bulb exposure is being performed, on the image display section, for a given period from commencement of the bulb exposure.
US08982258B2
Of the output signals of a solid state image sensor 101, only the signals in a vertical OB line period are selected by an OB line selector 105. A level adjuster 107 adjusts the level of a past vertical OB line signal read out from the line memory 106 during a first vertical OB line period of a frame where the amplification factor of an amplifier 102 has changed, and outputs the same. A subtractor 109 subtracts the signal whose level has been adjusted from a current vertical OB line signal. A multiplier 111 multiplies, via a selector B 111, the signal after subtraction by a cyclic coefficient K1H for the first vertical OB line period of the frame where the amplification factor has changed. A subtractor 112 subtracts the multiplication result from the current vertical OB line signal, and rewrites the subtraction result to the line memory 106.
US08982253B2
A single-plate color imaging element where an array of the color filters includes a basic array pattern of M×N provided with first filters corresponding to a first color with one or more colors and second filters corresponding to a second color with two or more colors with contribution ratios for obtaining luminance signals lower than the first color, the first filters are arranged in a check pattern shape in the basic array pattern, one or more second filters corresponding to each color of the second color are arranged in each line in the horizontal and vertical directions of the array of the color filters in the basic array pattern, and a proportion of the number of pixels of the first color corresponding to the first filters is greater than a proportion of the number of pixels of each color of the second color corresponding to the second filters.
US08982250B2
An image processing apparatus is provided which minimizes reduction in S/N ratio and deterioration in resolution feeling at the lens periphery when the peripheral light amount drop correction of the lens is performed. An image processing LSI to perform the peripheral light amount drop correction of the imaging lens includes a space-direction noise removal correction part and a time-direction noise removal correction part. As the distance from the lens center position increases, the space-direction noise removal correction part reduces the noise reduction correction intensity to the image region to which the light amount drop correction gain is added in each image. As the distance from the lens center increases, the time-direction noise removal correction part increases the noise removal correction intensity to the image region to which the light amount drop correction gain is added in each image.
US08982249B2
Image capturing is performed with an image pickup element being exposed to light, whereby a plurality of pieces of exposure image data are obtained. Image processing is performed on the plurality of pieces of exposure image data. The plurality of pieces of exposure image data output are combined into combined exposure image data. A plurality of pieces of dark image data are obtained and one piece of dark reference image data is generated. Image processing that uses a parameter based on the image processing performed on each exposure image data is performed on the one piece of dark reference image data, whereby a plurality of pieces of processed dark image data are output. The plurality of pieces of processed dark image data are combined into combined dark image data. The combined exposure image data is corrected in accordance with the combined dark image data.
US08982241B2
An image photography apparatus includes a storage unit to store data which is generated when an image is edited in the image photography apparatus, a receiver to receive an event to recover the image if editing of the image that is being edited in the image photography apparatus stops, and a controller to determine whether the image is to be recovered to an unedited original image or editing of the image is to be resumed to recover the image to a completely edited image according to an edited degree of the image so as to recover the image to the unedited original image or the completely edited image.
US08982239B2
An imaging apparatus includes: a reading device that reads a recording file on which a plurality of groups of information of character strings are stored in advance; a displaying device that displays any one group of the plurality of groups of the information of character strings; a selecting device that selects one desired group of information of character strings from the plurality of groups of the information of character strings; and a recording device that records shooting completion information that indicates shooting corresponding to the one desired group of the information of character string has been completed on the recording file, when shooting is performed in a state where the one desired group of the information of character string is selected, wherein when one group of the plurality of groups of the information of character strings is selected and displayed, based on the shooting completion information, the displaying device displays the selected one group of the information of character strings, and a display of completed shooting information that indicates an image corresponding to the selected one group of the information of character strings has been shot together.
US08982238B2
An example method of multi-target automatic exposure and gain control based on pixel intensity distribution includes capturing a series of digital images with an image sensor. As the series of digital images are captured, exposure time and/or gain are adjusted to adjust a mean intensity value of the digital images until a target mean intensity value is reached. The method includes dynamically selecting the target mean intensity value from a plurality of target mean intensity values based on a relative number of pixels, in each captured digital image, that have an intensity value that falls outside a range of intensity values.
US08982237B2
A portable electronic device with camera function and an image capture method with auto exposure control. The disclosed method comprises the following steps: obtaining a pre-view frame from a camera module; dividing the pre-view frame into a plurality of blocks and calculating representative brightness values of the blocks; assigning weight values to the blocks according to the representative brightness values; obtaining a weighted brightness value by performing a weighted operation on the representative brightness values based on the weight values of the blocks; setting an auto exposure parameter of the camera module based on the weighted brightness value; and controlling the camera module for capturing images based on the auto exposure parameter.
US08982234B2
An image processing method, for correcting a blur a due to an optical system of an image capturing apparatus, the image processing method including, storing a plurality of representative filters in a memory, selecting a subset of representative filters from the plurality of representative filters based on a pixel position of a pixel of interest in an image, applying each of the selected representative filter to a pixel value of the pixel of interest, and correcting the pixel value of the pixel of interest based on (a) a result of the application of filters, and (b) the pixel position of the pixel of interest.
US08982231B2
The present invention relates to a security element (1), comprising: an optical system, comprising: a transparent or translucent substrate (2), on the side of a first surface (2a, 2b) of the substrate (2) is a combined image (I) comprising a plurality of encoded interleaved images (I1), a exposing screen (4) placed on top of the combined image, enabling the encoded images (I1) to be observed during a change in the direction of observing the security element (1) relative to the optical system, the exposing screen (4) being: located on the side of the first surface (2a, 2b), the combined image then being located between the exposing screen (4) and the substrate (2), in which case the security element (1) comprises, on the side of the second surface (2a, 2b), a reflective surface that enables the encoded images (I1) to be observed through exposing screen (4).
US08982225B2
According to one embodiment, a camera module includes a second imaging optical system and an image processing section. The second imaging optical system forms an image piece. The image processing section has at least one of an alignment adjustment section, a resolution restoration section, and a shading correction section and has a stitching section. The stitching section joins the image pieces, subjected to at least one of alignment adjustment, resolution restoration, and shading correction, together to form a subject image.
US08982224B2
An image pickup apparatus includes image pickup means; holding means for holding a coordinate system used to represent an image capturing direction or a region in an image capturing range of the image pickup means; reception means for receiving a first command for rotating a captured image obtained by the image pickup means or a captured image cut out from the region in the image capturing range by a certain angle, a second command for rotating the coordinate system held in the holding means about the origin by the certain angle, and specification information for specifying the image capturing direction in the coordinate system; and change control means for executing control to change the image capturing direction of the image pickup means to the image capturing direction specified by the specification information.
US08982221B2
A photography device with anti-shake function for sensing camera shake and moving a lens toward a direction to correct the camera shake when photographing an object so that the object may be clearly photographed. A coil and a magnet are included in the invention, and the coil moves in a direction perpendicular to the optical-axis of the lens as a result of magnetic fields generated by the magnet and the coil when electric power is applied to the coil.
US08982219B2
A transmitting device in accordance with the present invention includes an encoding unit that converts an input video signal into encoded data and sends out the encoded data to a transmission line, and a synchronization signal generation unit that generates a synchronization signal SYNC for adjusting the phase of an input video signal on the basis of phase information transmitted through the transmission line, wherein the phase information PHS includes information indicating that a timing of a synchronization signal generated by the synchronization signal generation unit is to be advanced by the time necessary for transmission, and the synchronization signal generation unit generates the synchronization signal SYNC so that an input video signal is advanced by the time necessary for transmission.
US08982218B1
A system and method for detecting media source quality are provided. The system includes a data store comprising a computer readable medium storing a program of instructions for the detection of media source quality; a processor that executes the program of instructions; a video data receiver to receive video raw data, the video raw data corresponding to an uploaded and transcoded video; a video improver to apply a video improvement technique to the received video raw data to produce a modified version of the video raw data; and a video quality assessor to compare the received video raw data and the modified version of the video raw data, and based on the modified version of the video raw data improving on a factor associated with the video improvement technique, the video quality assessor indicates a phenomenon affecting the quality of the uploaded and transcoded video.
US08982206B2
A system and method of high-speed microscopy using a two-photon microscope with spectral resolution. The microscope is operable to provide spectrally resolved, multi-dimensional images from a single scan of a sample. The microscope may include one of a multi-beam point scanning microscope, a single beam line scanning microscope, and a multi-beam line scanning microscope. The microscope includes a descanning arrangement such that emitted fluorescence is static on a receiving detector. The detector is a narrow detector with a width at least half the size of the length, to reduce the amount of pixel data being transmitted and improve scan speeds. The microscope may also incorporate one or more binning techniques whereby pixels are binned together to improve resolution or scan speeds.
US08982198B2
An image signal correction apparatus includes: a frame memory configured to hold input image signals corresponding to a predetermined number of frames; a difference calculation unit configured to calculate a difference signal between an input image signal and each of the image signals held in the frame memory; a filter unit configured to pass a difference signal having a value equal to or smaller than a threshold value; and a control unit configured to change the threshold value of the filter unit in accordance with the value of the difference signal calculated in the difference calculation unit.
US08982196B2
A stereoscopic image display device comprises a display panel which is controlled so that image frame data are stored for frame intervals and are displayed for blank intervals, each of the blank interval being between the frame intervals; a polarization control panel which positioned on the display panel and converts a polarization state of light passing through the display panel; and polarization glasses which creates stereoscopic images by restricting the light converted by the polarization control panel and reaching each eye.
US08982184B2
A method for compensating for cross-talk in a 3-D projector-camera system having a controller including a processor and system memory and at least two channels, includes the steps of calibrating the projector-camera system, computing cross-talk factors applicable to the projector-camera system, and correcting new image data for cross-talk based upon the computed cross-talk factors. The system is calibrated by sequentially projecting and capturing, with a camera, a calibration image for each channel, to capture cross-talk between the channels. The controller can compute the cross-talk factors based upon the captured calibration images.
US08982183B2
A method for processing a multi-view video stream includes receiving the multi-view video stream including a random access picture, the random access picture including a random access slice referring to slices existing at a same time in a different view only, receiving identification information indicating that the received multi-view video stream is a stereo video bitstream, obtaining flag information indicating whether the random access picture is used for inter-view prediction based on the flag information, determining initialization information of a reference picture list of the random access picture based on the flag information, initializing the reference picture list of the random access picture using the initialization information, determining a prediction value of a macroblock in the random access picture based on the initialized reference picture list, and decoding the macroblock using the prediction value of the macroblock.
US08982182B2
A method for depth mapping includes providing depth mapping resources including an illumination module, which is configured to project patterned optical radiation into a volume of interest containing the object, and an image capture module, which is configured to capture an image of the pattern reflected from the object. A depth map of the object is generated using the resources while applying at least one of the resources non-uniformly over the volume of interest.
US08982179B2
A method that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, utilizing a system including at least one processor for determining a video modification plan for a received video stream of a video call session according to the at least one party associated with the video call session, modifying, by the system, a plurality of background images of the received video stream according to the video modification plan to generate a plurality of modified background images, and generating, by the system, a modified video stream according to the plurality of modified background images. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US08982177B2
Disclosed is a method and tool for collaborating in a video conference using a non-electronically enhance whiteboard and without the use of electronically enhanced writing and/or pointing tools. An embodiment may set up a front camera to capture an overall video stream that is split into at least two video feeds, a whiteboard feed and presenter feeds. The front camera may be set up to have a depth of field and focus to capture the whiteboard and presenter as well as specific video capture settings for each feed to optimize the whiteboard or the presenter. An embodiment may capture the two feeds according to the appropriate settings and deliver the two feeds to other video conference member devices. Embodiments may add additional cameras to permit additional optimization such as eliminating whiteboard occluded areas and/or automatically selecting a presenter from a plurality of people who are in the video capture frame.
US08982169B2
According to the present disclosure, a manufacturing method of a fine wiring pattern is disclosed. The manufacturing method includes preparing a support member, forming a first layer on the support member by thick-film printing, and forming a second layer including Ag on the first layer by the thick-film printing. The method also includes forming a predetermined fine wiring pattern by performing an etching process upon the first layer and the second layer.
US08982168B2
A light irradiating device causes a light source to emit light with normal emitted light quantity sufficient for adhering toner on a photosensitive member, on an image portion of the photosensitive member, and causes the light source to emit light with minute emitted light quantity sufficient for preventing toner from being adhered on the photosensitive member, which is smaller than normal emitted light quantity. The light irradiating device includes a determining unit to determine a reference value input to the light irradiating device. Minute emitted light quantity is set based on the reference value input to the light irradiating device. The determining unit determines the reference value to be input to the light irradiating device based on information of relationship between a predetermined reference value and the light quantity in the position of the photosensitive member when causing the light source to emit light, based on the predetermined reference value.
US08982156B2
An assembling method for assembling a measurement or production set-up includes providing an augmented reality system with a processing device, an output device and a sensing device. The sensing device captures sensing data belonging to a working space. The method then includes providing first and second set-up components having first and second markers at the working space where the second set-up component is connectable to the first set-up component. The method captures the first and second markers by the sensing device and identifies the first and second marker. The processing device retrieves respective digital information assigned to the identified first and second markers from a database and makes a decision on the compatibility of the first set-up component with the second set-up component based on the retrieved digital information. An augmented representation of at least part of the captured sensing data and the decision on the compatibility is output.
US08982150B2
A system for advertising on footwear by displaying promotional content on an electronic display of the footwear and wherein the promotional content being displayed occupies 25% to 100% of the outer surface of the footwear. Additionally, the content can be displayed according to a plurality of conditions including time of day, rate of motion of the footwear and environmental lighting conditional around the footwear.
US08982148B2
A stationary or mobile terminal controlled by a pointing or input peripheral device is presented. The invention pertains to the field of man-machine interfaces (MMI) applied to digital reading. There is provided a stationary or mobile terminal that is capable of reproducing, when used, the sensation of reading paper on a screen, of developing novel modes of reading, and of enabling press groups to render the publications thereof paperless while doing away with the material and technical limitations of various reading terminals.
US08982145B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus for generating and providing display error indications. In one aspect, a method includes accessing data defining display areas and, for each display area: respective display area borders that are different from display area borders of other display areas; and display data for each of a plurality of objects that are rendered in the display area, the display data defining, for each object: a display position of the object; display dimensions of the object; and content data defining content of the object; wherein each object in each display area corresponds to a respective object in each other display area; receiving user input specifying a change in the display data of a first object in a first display area and, in response, determining whether the change causes a display error; and for each display area for which the change causes a display error, generating an error indication.
US08982142B2
Method for parallel approximation of distance maps on a discrete representation of a manifold, the method comprising: for at least one Euclidean grid applied on the discrete representation of a manifold, iterating over rows of the Euclidean grid in a first direction, and for each row currently visited during the iterating in the first direction, calculating a distance value for each single cell of the currently visited row in parallel, wherein the calculating is carried out according to a predefined approximation rule, using a distance value calculated for each one of respective cells of a row visited immediately before the currently visited row, wherein the cells of the row visited before the currently visited row are adjacent to the single cell in the Euclidean grid.
US08982131B1
A multivariate digital camera device and method for generating pictures of datasets comprised of points in hyperspace is provided. The invention may be embodied in an input device, a computer processor, and an output device. The input device may be a keyboard, a laboratory instrument such as a mass spectrometer, a reader of computer readable medium, or a network interface device. The output device may be a monitor used in conjunction with either a 2D or 3D printer or both. The computer processor receives data from the input device and performs a series of steps to create a 2D or 3D image of the hyperspace object. The resulting image is then produced in a non-transitory medium by at least one of the output devices. The processor steps include the use of a maximum distance method in which distances and angles information from the points in the hyperspace dataset are preserved to produce a more picture-like quality.
US08982125B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for shading computer graphics (CG) representations of materials. One of the methods includes obtaining data describing a physical material; receiving a shading request to shade a particular point in a CG representation of the physical material from a rendering engine, wherein the request identifies a mapping position of the particular point, a view direction at the mapping position, and a light direction at the mapping position; calculating a direct lighting color at the mapping position using a plurality of palettized images; calculating an indirect lighting color at the mapping position using the data describing the physical material; generating a final color at the mapping position by combining the direct lighting color and the indirect lighting color; and providing the final color to the rendering engine for use in rendering the CG representation of the physical material.
US08982124B2
In one embodiment described herein, a graphics engine with shader unit thread load balancing functionality executes shader instructions from multiple execution threads in a smaller number of execution threads by combining instructions from multiple threads at runtime. In one embodiment, multiple shader unit threads containing less than a minimum number of instructions are combined to minimize the discrepancy between the shortest and longest thread. In one embodiment, threads are merged when they contain a common output register.
US08982115B2
A liquid crystal display device discharges residual charge within the liquid crystal display panel. The liquid crystal display device comprises pixels defined by gate lines and data lines intersecting with each other and switching elements for driving the plurality of pixels; a level shifter comprising a first transistor connected between a gate-on voltage terminal and an output terminal and a second transistor connected between a gate-off voltage terminal and the output terminal to selectively output either the gate-on voltage or gate-off voltage to the plurality of gate lines; and a discharge circuit forming a discharge path connecting the gate-off voltage terminal and the ground terminal. The second transistor is turned on during the power-on of the liquid crystal display panel to apply the gate-off voltage. The discharge circuit is turned on to discharge the residual charge of the liquid crystal display panel through the discharge path.
US08982112B2
Embodiments may be directed to a display panel includes a base substrate including a display region having a plurality of pixels and a non-display region adjacent to the display region, a connecting line in the non-display region and including at least a first input pad, a second input pad, and an output pad, and an insulating layer on the connecting line. The insulating layer includes at least one first contact hole exposing at least a portion of the first input pad, at least one second contact hole exposing at least a portion of the second input pad, and at least one third contact hole between the first contact hole and the second contact hole. A first contact electrode, a second contact electrode, and a dummy contact electrode are disposed at the first, second and third contact holes, respectively.
US08982109B2
Systems, devices and methods enabling appearance comparison. The system includes at least one interactive imaging and display station. The station includes a mirror-display device capable of selectably operating in either or both a mirror mode or a display mode; an imaging device to capture one or more appearances appearing in a field of view in front of the mirror-display device; and/or an image control unit to select the mode of operation of the mirror-display device according to a user command.
US08982107B2
A monolithic gate driver capable of operating with a relatively small number of circuit elements is realized. A stage constituent circuit constituting each stage of a shift register includes two output terminals connected to scanning signal lines, two thin-film transistors each having a drain terminal to which an output control clock signal is supplied and a source terminal connected to the output terminal, a first-node connected to the two thin-film transistors in common, a first-node control circuit, and an input terminal for receiving a set signal. In this configuration, the first-node changes from an OFF level to an ON level based on the set signal. Further, the first-node control circuit changes the first-node from the ON level to the OFF level.
US08982100B2
An interactive panel comprises an optical waveguide within which totally internally reflected (TIR) illumination propagates, a display device beneath the optical waveguide and a partially transparent layer beneath the display device. The partially transparent layer reflects backlight illumination towards the display device and at least allows TIR illumination escaping from the optical waveguide and passing through the optical waveguide and the display panel, as a result of one or more contacts made on the optical waveguide, to pass therethrough.
US08982095B2
Provided are a capacitive touch detecting device, a capacitive touch detecting method, and a touch screen panel, using a level shift, and a display device having a built-in touch screen panel, which minimizes an influence due to noise or a parasitic capacitance, and detects a touch input by positively using a signal induced by a common electrode of a liquid crystal display (LCD).
US08982089B2
A touch panel and an electronic device including the same are provided. The touch panel includes a touch panel body including a first substrate and a second substrate that is spaced apart from the first substrate, driving electrodes that are arranged on the first substrate and the second substrate, and electro-rheological fluid that fills a gap between the first substrate and the second substrate; a driver that applies a driving voltage to all or a portion of the driving electrodes; and a sensor that applies a sensing signal sequentially to the driving electrodes and senses a variation in capacitance between the driving electrodes due to a variation of the gap between the first substrate and the second substrate in response to the sensing signal.
US08982084B2
A device implements a method of tracking objects on a touch surface of an FTIR based touch-sensitive apparatus. The method repeatedly operates to generate an interaction pattern that indicates local changes in interaction on the touch surface, identify apparent peaks in the interaction pattern, and update existing movement trajectories based on the apparent peaks. An error suppression process is executed at least intermittently in the method to process the apparent peaks and/or the existing movement trajectories to identify implicated trajectories with a potential tracking problem, define two or more movement propositions for each implicated trajectory, and cause an evaluation of the movement propositions in one or more subsequent repetitions of the method. The error suppression process improves tracking by postponing the final decision on how to track the object of the implicated trajectory until more information is available.
US08982083B2
A display device includes a plurality of first electrodes arranged on a substrate in parallel in a first direction; a plurality of second electrodes arranged in parallel in the first direction and a second direction crossing the first direction without contacting with the plurality of first electrodes; a plurality of first connecting wires, each first connecting wire being connected with at least one of the plurality of the first electrodes; and a plurality of second connecting wires, each second connecting wire connecting the second electrodes to each other in the second direction, wherein a touch driving voltage is supplied to the plurality of first connecting wires and a common voltage is supplied to the plurality of second connecting wires so that mutual capacitance is generated between the a plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes.
US08982082B2
A touch panel includes a substrate, a transparent conductive layer located on the substrate, and a number of electrodes electrically connected to the transparent conductive layer. The transparent conductive layer includes a carbon nanotube film. The carbon nanotube film includes a number of carbon nanotube wires substantially parallel with each other and a number of carbon nanotube clusters located between the number of carbon nanotube wires. The carbon nanotube wires extend along an X direction and are spaced from each other along a Y direction. The carbon nanotube clusters between each adjacent two of the carbon nanotube wires are spaced from each other along the X direction. The X direction is intercrossed with the Y direction.
US08982072B2
There are provided a mobile device and a method of controlling a screen of the mobile device. The mobile device includes: a display unit including an effective display area for displaying a screen; a touch screen panel including a plurality of sensing electrodes; and a control unit detecting a touch input based on a sensing signal generated from the plurality of sensing electrodes and controlling the screen displayed by the display unit, wherein when the touch input corresponds to a previously set first input gesture, the control unit controls such that a size of the screen is reduced at a predetermined first ratio and the reduced screen is only displayed in a portion of the effective display area.
US08982070B2
A display section (2000) that has a plurality of display screens includes: a touch panel type input section (3000) that senses touches on the display screens; and a control section (1000) that causes any one of the two display screens to display a predetermined portion that lies on two display screens of the plurality of display screens based on a touch operation on the display screens.
US08982069B2
Some embodiments provide a single integrated multi-functional input device (1) that provides the discrete input functionality of a keyboard to facilitate efficient text insertion operations and (2) that provides the functionality of a trackpad to facilitate efficient spatially dependent navigation in a graphical user interface (GUI) whereby each such functionality is accessible by the user's hands positioned at the home position keys of the keyboard. More specifically, some embodiments provide an enhanced keyboard with at least one touch sensitive key and software for adapting touches applied over the touch sensitive key to emulate trackpad functionality without interfering with regular text insertion (typing).
US08982066B2
A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for automatically ending an interactive device session. In one embodiment, the system comprises a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory and operable to: log out a user, delete locally stored data created during a session, and place one or more system hardware components in a reduced power consumption state based on: occupancy sensor data indicating presence or absence of one or more individuals in proximity to an occupancy sensor, and activity information associated with a display surface.
US08982058B2
Touch screens with more compact border regions can include an active area that includes touch sensing circuitry including drive lines, and a border region around the active area. The border region can include an area of sealant deposited on conductive lines, and transistor circuitry, such as gate drivers, between the active area and the sealant. The conductive lines can extend from the sealant to the active area without electrically connecting to the transistor circuitry. The conductive lines can have equal impedances and can connect the drive lines to a touch controller off of the touch screen. A set of drive signal characteristics for the drive lines can be obtained by determining a transfer function associated with each drive line, obtaining an inverse of each transfer function, and applying a set of individual sense signal characteristics to the inverse transfer functions to obtain the corresponding set of drive signal characteristics.
US08982056B2
An industrial process transmitter includes a transducer positioned to interact with an industrial process, display circuitry that displays a visual output to an operator, and control circuitry. The display can be selectively modified to provide the visual output at one of a plurality of orientations. The control circuitry is connected to communicate with the transducer and the display circuitry and receive an input regarding the orientation of the industrial process transmitter. In response to received input regarding the orientation of the industrial process transmitter, the control circuitry provides instructions to the display circuitry to modify the orientation of the visual output.
US08982054B2
A keyboard includes an input interface, a rotatable infrared emitter, a first counter, a second counter, an infrared receiver, and a processor. The rotatable infrared emitter emits infrared light across the input interface which represents a keyboard. The first counter starts a count at each beginning of the infrared light emission. The second counter starts a count when the infrared emitter rotates to reach a reference direction in each rotating period. The infrared receiver stops the counts of the first counter and the second counter when the infrared receiver receives infrared light reflected from an obstacle. The first counter defines a transmission time of the infrared light. The second counter defines a rotating time. The processor calculates a position of the obstacle on the input interface according to the transmission time, the rotating time, a rotating speed of the infrared emitter, and positions of the infrared emitter and infrared receiver.
US08982050B2
An interactive display system including a wireless pointing device, and positioning circuitry capable of determining absolute and relative positions of the display at which the pointing device is aimed. The pointing device captures images displayed by the computer, including one or more human-imperceptible positioning targets. The positioning targets are presented as patterned modulation of the intensity (e.g., variation in pixel intensity) in a display frame of the visual payload, followed by the opposite modulation in a successive frame. At least two captured image frames are subtracted from one another to recover the positioning target in the captured visual data and to remove the displayed image payload. Motion of the pointing device between the two frames is detected by relative motion sensors, and used to align the positions of the positioning targets in the captured images for those frames to improve the fidelity of the recovered positioning target following the subtraction.
US08982047B2
At least one characteristic of an object is captured at a first instant and the at least one characteristic of the object is then captured at a second instant. A moving direction and a moving speed of the object are calculated according to the at least one characteristic of the object captured respectively at the first instant and the second instant. A left view image and a right view image are projected to the object and if the moving speed of the object is greater than a threshold, a center point of the left view image and the right view image deviates from a center line of the object.
US08982045B2
A computing device is described herein which collects input event(s) from at least one contact-type input mechanism (such as a touch input mechanism) and at least one movement-type input mechanism (such as an accelerometer and/or gyro device). The movement-type input mechanism can identify the orientation of the computing device and/or the dynamic motion of the computing device. The computing device uses these input events to interpret the type of input action that has occurred, e.g., to assess when at least part of the input action is unintentional. The computing device can then perform behavior based on its interpretation, such as by ignoring part of the input event(s), restoring a pre-action state, correcting at least part of the input event(s), and so on.
US08982044B2
A position detector includes a tablet and a position indicator, which includes a coil and configured to continuously transmit a coil-based signal to the tablet as a position signal and to intermittently transmit the coil-based signal to the tablet as a non-positional signal. The tablet is configured to detect a position on its surface pointed to by the position indicator by detecting the continuously-transmitted coil-based signal, and to determine non-positional information regarding the position indicator (e.g., pen pressure, pen ID, etc.) by detecting the intermittently-transmitted coil-based signal. The position indicator further includes position indicator control circuitry configured to control the position indicator to: (i) receive an indicator control signal from the tablet; (ii) based on the received indicator control signal, select one type of non-positional information from among multiple types of non-positional information regarding the position indicator; and (iii) transmit the selected one type of non-positional information to the tablet.
US08982042B2
An image display medium driver includes a voltage applying unit that applies a voltage between a pair of substrates of an image display medium that displays an image, the image display medium including plural groups of colored particles colored in a color which is different for every group, at least one of the substrates having transparent properties, each group of colored particles moved when the voltage equal to or higher than a threshold voltage in terms of absolute value, that is different for every group, and a controller that determines a substrate on which the colored particles are present for each group of colored particles based on the last image information used for displaying an image.
US08982032B2
A display device with an integrated touch screen and a method of driving the same are provided. The display device with an integrated touch screen includes a gate driver that is configured with a plurality of stages that include a pull-up transistor and first and second pull-down transistors and are respectively connected to a plurality of gate lines. The method includes: turning on the pull-up transistor to output a pull-up signal to each of the plurality of gate lines and, after the pull-up signal is outputted, turning on the first pull-down transistor to output a pull-down signal to each of the plurality of gate lines, during an image output period in each frame; and turning on the second pull-down transistor to output the pull-down signal to each of the plurality of gate lines, during a touch sensing period in each frame.
US08982028B2
A display apparatus includes a first substrate, a second substrate, a liquid crystal layer, and a common electrode. The first substrate includes a gate line, a data line insulated from the gate line while crossing the gate line, and a pixel electrode connected to the gate line and the data line. The second substrate faces the first substrate. The liquid crystal layer is interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The common electrode is disposed on at least one of the first substrate or the second substrate to form an electric field in cooperation with the pixel electrode. A data voltage applied to the pixel electrode has a polarity inverted every at least one frame with reference to a predetermined reference voltage, and a common voltage applied to the common electrode has a polarity inverted every at least two frames with reference to the reference voltage.
US08982025B2
The present invention relates to device for driving liquid crystal display (LCD) and method for driving the same. The device for driving LCD comprises a voltage input module for receiving Gamma reference voltage; a voltage generation module connected to said voltage input module, for generating pixel driving voltage of a corresponding color with one resistor-chain, according to the Gamma reference voltage and the color of pixel being driven; and a voltage output module connected to said voltage generation module, for transmitting the pixel driving voltage of said corresponding color to a liquid crystal panel. According to an embodiment of the present invention, voltage generation units that respectively generate pixel driving voltage of three colors are set on one resistor-chain, and a corresponding voltage generation unit is selected by a multi-selector according to the color of pixel being driven, so that the corresponding voltage generation unit transmits the pixel driving voltage to the voltage output module. According to an embodiment of the present invention, color shifting phenomenon is effectively overcome, thus improving TFT-LCD's picture quality.
US08982015B2
A shift register includes cascade-connected stages, each of which includes a data latch and an output stage. In at least one embodiment, the latch has a single data input which, in use, receives a date signal from a preceding or succeeding stage. The output stage includes a first switch, which passes a clock signal to the stage output when the output stage is activated by the latch. The output stage also comprises a second switch, which passes the lower supply voltage to the stage output when the output stage is inactive.
US08982006B2
A dipole antenna is disclosed. The dipole antenna includes a feed-in terminal, a balun, a first radiator and a second radiator. The feed-in terminal is used for feeding in a radio-frequency signal. The balun is electrically connected to the feed-in terminal for driving out a return current of the dipole antenna to balance a feed-in impedance of the dipole antenna. The first radiator is electrically connected to the feed-in terminal and the balun for radiating the radio-frequency signal in a first frequency band. The second radiator is electrically connected to the first radiator, the feed-in terminal and the balun for radiating the radio-frequency signal in a second frequency band.
US08981996B2
Systems and methods are provided for determining position location information in a wireless network. In one embodiment, timing offset information is communicated between multiple transmitters and one or more receivers. Such information enables accurate position or location determinations to be made that account for timing differences throughout the network. In another embodiment, transmitter phase adjustments are made that advance or delay transmissions from the transmitters to account for potential timing differences at receivers. In yet another embodiment, combinations of timing offset communications and/or transmitter phase adjustments can be employed in the wireless network to facilitate position location determinations.
US08981995B2
An embodiment of the invention provides a method of determining a location of a mobile target that processes locations for the target provided by a wireless location technology tracker system to determine if the locations are outliers, discards locations that are determined to be outliers, and uses locations determined not to be outliers as locations for the target.
US08981990B2
A system and a method of generating a three-dimensional terrain model using one-dimensional interferometry of a rotating radar unit is provided herein. Height information is evaluated from phase differences between two echoes by applying a Kalman filter in relation to a phase confidence map that is generated from phase forward projections relating to formerly analyzed phase data. The radar system starts from a flat earth model and gathers height information of the actual terrain as the platform approaches it. Height ambiguities are corrected by removing redundant 2π multiples from the unwrapped phase difference between the echoes.
US08981984B2
A method, comprising: receiving a plurality of 2-tuples of asynchronously sampled inputs at an asynchronous to synchronous reconstructor; performing a coarse asynchronous to synchronous conversion using the plurality of 2-tuples to generate a plurality of low precision synchronous outputs; generating a high precision synchronous output, z0, using a plurality of asynchronous 2-tuples, low precision synchronous outputs after it, and its own high precision outputs from previous steps; calculating c0 and c−1 by summing future low precision outputs and the past high precision outputs after they are weighted with the appropriate windowed sinc. values and then subtracted from appropriate asynchronous samples; calculating, the four quantities “s−11”, “s01”, “s00” and “s−10” based on particular values of the windowed sinc. function; and using c0, c−1, s−11, s01, s00 and s−10, the high precision synchronous output of interest, z0 is generated.
US08981981B1
Systems and methods provide for the control of a fully-segmented digital-to-analog converter. The selected lead-most current cell of an array in the digital-to-analog converter is addressed individually using a row/column scheme and a decoder. The remaining current cells behind the lead-most current cell are enabled via a ripple enable signal that propagates backwards from the lead-most current cell. The ripple enable signal snakes through the array to enable all the current cells behind the lead-most current cell in a cell-by-cell fashion. The current cells in front of the lead-most current cell are not enabled.
US08981980B2
Systems and methods for providing a mechanism by which digital signals can be converted to analog signals with an efficient structure that reduces the number of filters required by providing a mechanism for cancelling images that would otherwise be generated. By adjusting three parameters in the system, a selection can be made as to whether to generate upper sidebands, lower sidebands and in which direction the envelope of the output from the system will be skewed.
US08981977B2
A system and method for low-power digital signal processing, for example, comprising adjusting a digital representation of an input signal.
US08981968B2
A method and apparatus for displaying aircraft information. A selection of a piece of dynamic information is detected about an aircraft on a first display on a user interface. The piece of dynamic information is used to operate the aircraft and changes during operation of the aircraft. The piece of dynamic information selected from the first display is added to a custom display on the user interface. The custom display is displayed on the user interface on a display system for the aircraft.
US08981961B2
A connection validation apparatus includes a connector engagement mechanism configured to physically engage a connector to connect the connector to a connector interface. The apparatus further includes a connection indication detector located on the connector engagement mechanism and configured to detect at least one of a sound and a vibration corresponding to a secure connection of the connector with the connector interface. The apparatus also includes a connection indicator output unit configured to provide an indication to a user that the connector is securely connected with the connector interface based on the detection of the at least one of the sound and the vibration by the connection indication detector.
US08981952B2
A sensor includes a housing and a mass, suspended in the housing. The motion of the mass emulates dynamic behavior of a brain of the wearer along a plurality of axes. At least one sensing element is coupled to generate sensor data based on the motion of the mass, in response to an impact to a protective helmet.
US08981949B2
A harvester grain bin monitoring system is disclosed. The system includes a sensor that monitors the perimeter of the bin proximate to the top rim to provide a warning to an operator when the grain level reaches approaches the bin rim. The sensor may be optical or mechanical.
US08981943B2
A wireless temperature measuring system, including multiple wireless temperature sensors, and multiple communication terminals; the wireless temperature sensors communicate with the communication terminals via RF, the wireless temperature sensor operates to obtain temperature signals from a temperature detection point, to perform cross-interleaved error correction encoding on the temperature signals whereby obtaining coded temperature signals, and to transmit the coded temperature signals to the communication terminals via RF; the communication terminal operates to receive and decode the coded temperature signals from the wireless temperature sensor, and to obtain decoded temperature signals.
US08981940B2
In one embodiment the present invention includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) system with a shorting loop. The shorting loop at least partially surrounds the antenna. The shorting loop distorts the electromagnetic field generated by the antenna to improve the definition of the border of the read region of the antenna. In this manner, the RFID system provides more accurate discrimination between RFID tags inside the read region versus RFID tags outside the read region (i.e., improves the accuracy of determining that a particular RFID tag is inside the read region).
US08981938B2
Methods of connecting or linking real objects to machines or the virtual world in real time utilizing a device are disclosed. In one embodiment, a wireless tag attached to an object in communication with an electronic device, such as a cellular phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, or watch, monitors and updates the position of a wireless tag locally and on a machine/network/cloud. Methods of using a wireless tag in safety, loss/theft prevention, healthcare, tracking, advertising and marketing, education, games, finance, payment, and athletic are disclosed. In another embodiment, methods of providing an application programming interface and/or a software development kit based on the devices are provided, allowing software developers the ability to create their own programs or applications on top of the disclosed system is disclosed. Methods of allowing developers to distribute and/or monetize applications developed through the application programming interface and/or a software development kit are also disclosed.
US08981937B2
An RFID tag includes: an antenna receiving an RF signal from a reader; an AFE (analog front end) generating voltage using the RF signal; and one or more switches interposed between the antenna and the AFE and controlling the connection between the antenna and the AFE through the switch operation.
US08981929B2
A system, method, and computer program product determine when a user's mobile device has left a secured location, such as a house or office, without predefined site security settings being met, and responsively inform the user of any security anomalies. A predetermined distance threshold is compared with the distance between the mobile device, and the secured location. If the distance exceeds the threshold and a trigger event is detected, an alert is transmitted. An alert may also be sent when a mobile object to be secured is moved away from the user's mobile device by a distance that exceeds the predetermined distance threshold.
US08981925B2
A system provides for radio frequency detection of an offending device within a specific range of a body worn device. Upon detection of the radio frequency signal, the body worn device communicates to an infrastructure to alert of the presence and optionally the location of the radio frequency signal, and therefore the offending device. The user and/or location of the body worn device is/are revealed and the source of the radio frequency signal is readily determined for confiscation of the offending device. Other features include locating/tracking of the body worn device (and wearer) detection of tampering with the body worn device, and detection of cloaking of the body worn device (e.g. submerging in water or covering with aluminum foil, etc.).
US08981924B2
In some embodiments, a personal possession management system using a short range Internet Protocol (IP) based Personal Area Network (PAN) comprises a master device MD to be worn or held by a user, and an IP based RFID electronic tag ET to be attached to or contained within a personal possession desired to be managed. The electronic tag ET has communicability with the master device. The master device MD is configured to allot an IP address to the electronic tag ET in a registration mode using IEEE 802.11 protocols and sends probes to the electronic tag ET. The electronic tag ET is configured to receive messages from the master device MD and respond accordingly. The master device MD alerts a user when the communicability between the master device MD and the electronic tag Er is disrupted in a monitoring mode.
US08981914B1
An improved system for magnifying forces perceived by an operator performing delicate procedures with a tool. The system senses forces between the tip and handle of the tool and actuates forces between the handle held by the operator and a brace contacting some other portion of the operator's anatomy. Magnifying the forces felt at the tip provides the ability to perceive forces that are smaller than could otherwise be felt and to perform procedures that are more delicate than possible without such enhanced perception. In at least one embodiment, the device is completely hand-held and thus can easily be adapted to a wide variety of locations, orientations, and applications.
US08981908B2
Systems and methods for decoding data transmitted by RFID tags are disclosed. One embodiment of the invention includes an analyzer and equalizer configured to filter an input signal, an estimation block configured to obtain a baseband representation of the modulated data signal by mixing the filtered input signal with the carrier wave, and a coherent detector configured to perform phase and timing recovery on the modulated data signal in the presence of noise and to determine a sequence of data symbols.
US08981900B2
A method, a portable data storage medium, an approval apparatus and a system for approving a transaction using acceleration sensors integrated in a portable data storage medium.
US08981892B2
A subsea fuse assembly is provided. The subsea fuse assembly is adapted to be operated in a pressurized environment. The subsea fuse assembly includes an enclosure adapted to be filled with a dielectric liquid, and a pressure compensator including a flexible element for pressure compensation. The subsea fuse assembly also includes a first penetrator and a second penetrator each passing through a wall of the enclosure for leading a first electric conductor and a second electric conductor, respectively, into the enclosure. The subsea fuse assembly includes a fuse arranged inside the enclosure and connected between the first electric conductor and the second electric conductor.
US08981884B2
A Hall effect grain level switch is positioned adjacent a grain fill opening at an upper portion of a grain enclosure. A Hall-voltage generator is coupled to the housing in a fixed position. An elongate member is pivotably coupled to the housing with the magnet being mounted adjacent a proximal end of the elongate member. A grain contact member is coupled adjacent a distal end of the elongate member. The Hall-voltage generator and magnet are positioned adjacent each other to provide a first output signal state when the elongate member extends vertically in a rest position. The Hall-voltage generator and magnet are distanced from each other to provide a second output signal state when the elongate member is pivoted to a non-vertical switched position in response to grain moving the contact member.
US08981877B2
A radio frequency (RF) filter includes an input port configured to receive a signal, an output port configured to output a signal, and a tuning probe configured to be movable within a tuning probe port to adjust filter characteristics. The tuning probe port is configured to receive the tuning probe therein, and a locking mechanism is configured to lock the tuning probe in the tuning probe port at a desired depth and further configured to prevent movement of the tuning probe in the tuning probe port when the locking mechanism is in a locked configuration.
US08981876B2
Film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) having frame elements and filters including the resonators are described.
US08981874B2
A resonator device (200) comprises a base (206) comprising an anchor (204) and a vibration unit (212) connected to the anchor (204). The vibration unit (212) is configured to have a first vibration mode (218) and a second vibration mode (216) different from the first vibration mode (218). According to an embodiment, the vibration unit (212) is configured such that the first vibration mode (218) and the second vibration mode (216) destructively interfere at the anchor (204).
US08981873B2
This invention features an absorptive tunable bandstop filter with a wide tuning range including first and second branches of all-pass filter networks, an input power divider for splitting the input signal and passing approximately half of the input signal power through each branch of the all-pass filter networks, and an output power combiner for recombining the signal power from each branch of the all-pass filter networks, at least one of the branches of the all-pass filter networks being electrically tunable to provide an approximately 180° phase difference with similar amplitudes of the split signal power to be recombined at the output power combiner for rejecting but substantially absorbing selected frequencies.
US08981871B2
Systems and methods for achieving high directivity (>20 dB) coupling over a reasonable frequency bandwidth on a microstrip transmission line. An exemplary coupler cancels out-of-phase, coupled reflected power signals on the transmission line thereby increasing the directivity.
US08981868B2
A balun includes an input port, a first output port, a second output port and a coupling microstrip group including an input line connected to the input port, a first output line connected to the first output port, a first coupling line, a second output line connected to the second output port and a second coupling line. The input line includes a first coupling section connected to the input port, a second coupling section opposite to the first coupling section and a connecting section connected between the first coupling section and the second coupling section. An unbalanced signal is transformed into a first balanced signal via coupling among the first coupling section, the first output line and the first coupling line. An unbalanced signal is transformed into a second balanced signal via coupling among the second coupling section, the second output line and the second coupling line.
US08981865B2
An exemplary transmission line system is provided. The system includes a first transmission line partially arranged on a first layer of a PCB including first structure units and partially arranged on a third layer of the PCB including second structure units, and a second transmission line arranged on a second layer of the PCB. Each first structure unit and each second structure respectively include a first connection line, a second connection line, and a first bent line; and a third connection line, a fourth connection line, and a second bent line. A second end of the first connection line and the second connection line of each of the first structure units are respectively connected to a second end of the third connection line and the fourth connection line of the adjacent second structure unit through respective vias.
US08981860B2
An apparatus includes a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device configured as part of an oscillator. The MEMS device includes a mass suspended from a substrate of the MEMS, a first electrode configured to provide a first signal based on a displacement of the mass, and a second electrode configured to receive a second signal based on the first signal. The apparatus includes an amplifier coupled to the first electrode and a first node. The amplifier is configured to generate an output signal, the output signal being based on the first signal and a first gain. The apparatus includes an attenuator configured to attenuate the output signal based on a second gain and provide as the second signal an attenuated version of the output signal.
US08981857B2
A timer to provide pulses at a comparator output wherein a frequency of the pulses is dependent on temperature, wherein providing each pulse includes biasing a first input of the comparator at a voltage and operating a transistor in a subthreshold region of operation to change the voltage of the first input of a comparator at a rate dependent upon temperature. The output of the comparator changes state when the voltage of the first input crosses a voltage of a second input of the comparator.
US08981854B2
A clock distributor includes a first oscillator and a second oscillator, to each of which a signal controlling an oscillation frequency is input and to one of which a clock is input; a wiring portion that connects the first oscillator and the second oscillator; a first conversion element that converts an output from the first oscillator into electric current, and outputs a result to a first connection portion connecting to the wiring portion; a second conversion element that converts voltage of the first connection portion into electric current, and outputs a result to the first oscillator; a third conversion element that converts an output from the second oscillator into electric current, and outputs a result to a second connection portion connecting to the wiring portion; and a fourth conversion element that converts voltage of the second connection portion into electric current, and outputs a result to the second oscillator.
US08981840B1
A pass device configured from a common gate transistor, wherein an input voltage is applied to the source and an output at the drain is applied to a load. The input resistance of the pass device increases as the input voltage is reduced and limits the useful range of the input voltage. Increasing the gate to source voltage (Vgs) by applying a negative voltage to the gate reduces the input resistance and increases the range of operation of the pass device.
US08981835B2
A charge pump circuit using a voltage doubler-type of circuitry for generating an output voltage is described. An output generating stage uses a voltage double structure, except that the transistors in each leg are not cross-coupled to the other leg, but instead are controlled by an auxiliary section. The auxiliary section has a voltage doubler structure, but is not used to drive the load, but instead provides the gate voltage for the precharge section using the same levels as used for the corresponding transistors in the auxiliary section. This arrangement can be particularly advantageous for applications using low supply voltages to address self-loading effect due to loading. As the auxiliary section does not drive the load, its elements can be sized smaller. Additional improvement can be obtained by using separate clock drivers for the auxiliary section to address secondary self-loading effect due to loading.
US08981822B2
Described is an apparatus comprising a plurality of logic units arranged in a ring, wherein an output terminal of each logic unit from the plurality of logic units is coupled to an input terminal of a next logic unit from the plurality of logic units, wherein the plurality of logic units includes a first multiple input logic unit having input nodes coupled to at least two output terminals of logic units from the plurality of logic units; and a plurality of latch units coupled to the output terminals of the plurality of logic units.
US08981818B2
A two-stage post driver circuit includes a controlling circuit, a pull-up unit and a pull-down unit. A first N-type transistor of the pull-down unit and a first P-type transistor of the pull-up unit are both connected to an output pad. The controlling circuit is used for controlling the first N-type transistor and the first P-type transistor. Consequently, when the pull-up unit or the pull-down unit is turned on, the voltage difference between the drain terminal and the source terminal of the first N-type transistor or the first P-type transistor is lower than a voltage stress.
US08981816B2
A multi-input voltage-to-frequency conversion circuit, includes: a multi-input operational amplifier amplifying one of multiple voltage signals in response to multiple control signals to generate an amplified voltage; a voltage-to-current converter converting the amplified voltage into a sensed current, and generating an oscillation current based on the sensed current and on an offset voltage that is associated with a predetermined frequency range corresponding to the one of the voltage signals; and a current-controlled oscillator generating, based on the oscillation current, a periodic pulse signal that has a frequency linearly proportional to the magnitude of the one of the voltage signals.
US08981805B2
An inspection apparatus includes an insulating substrate, a probe pin having a body portion secured to the insulating substrate, a tip portion connected to one end of the body portion and disposed on the back surface side of the insulating substrate, and a connection portion connected to the other end of the body portion and disposed on the front surface side of the insulating substrate, and a heat-radiating terminal in contact with the connection portion, wherein a current is applied through the heat-radiating terminal and the probe pin to an object to measured, and wherein the heat-radiating terminal discharges heat from the probe pin.
US08981804B2
A contact apparatus includes a pusher having first and second surfaces, the first surface being connected to a pressure unit, stoppers protruding from edges of the second surface of the pusher away from the pressure unit, a pusher block having first and second surfaces facing each other, the first surface facing the pusher, and the second surface being connected to a semiconductor device, coupling members connecting the pusher to the pusher block, and a connector disposed between the pusher and the pusher block, at least part of a surface of the connector being circular, and the circular surface making a point contact with the pusher or the pusher block.
US08981800B2
A current sensor includes a core arranged around a conductor, a sensing element arranged on the core and configured to generate an output variable dependent on a magnetic field in the core, and a measuring unit configured to detect the output variable and to derive a measured value of the current. The current sensor further includes a test coil arranged around the core and a test current generator connected to the test coil. The test current generator is configured to generate a test current signal of a specified amplitude and to output the test current signal to the test coil. The current sensor further includes a testing unit connected to both the measuring unit and the test current generator and configured to output information regarding the current sensor. The information is output as a test signal dependent upon comparing a first and a second measured value.
US08981795B2
A measuring arrangement for determining electrical conductivity of a measured liquid, comprising: a container, in which the measured liquid is accommodated, a gradiometer arrangement, comprising an exciter coil, a first receiving coil and a second receiving coil, wherein the first and the second receiving coils are arranged symmetrically relative to the exciter coil, and a measurement circuit embodied to excite the exciter coil for producing an alternating magnetic field passing through the first receiving coil, the second receiving coil and the measured liquid. The receiving coils are influenced in different manner by the magnetic field induced by the alternating magnetic field in the measured liquid and directed counter to the alternating magnetic field. The measurement circuit is furthermore embodied to register an electrical signal of the receiving coils and to derive from such the electrical conductivity of the liquid.
US08981793B2
An apparatus and method is described for measuring non-invasively level of contents inside an array of containers without setting up any electrodes or attaching sensors around the containers, or inserting of a probe inside. Electromagnetic waves are launched from the bottom of the containers using launchers embedded in a tray the containers rest on. These waves travel through the bulk of the contents inside the container using a mode of propagation similar to dielectric waveguides or optical fibers and set up standing waves due to reflection at the content-air interface. The level inside the container is a function of the complex reflection coefficient (magnitude and phase) at the launcher input and can be thus determined by measuring the complex reflection coefficient.
US08981791B2
A method, apparatus and software related product are presented for adaptive frequency-domain windowing to determine a time-domain crosstalk in a cable and produce effective TDX plots regardless of the frequency of a worst NEXT (near-end crosstalk). An adaptive window such as a low pass or pass band window may be selected based on the frequency of a measured worst NEXT margin for each pair combination.
US08981786B2
A test apparatus that tests a device under test outputting a data signal and a clock signal indicating a timing at which the data signal is to be sampled, the test apparatus comprising a data acquiring section that acquires the data signal output by the device under test, at a timing corresponding to a sampling clock corresponding to the clock signal output by the device under test or a timing of a timing signal corresponding to a test period of the test apparatus; a judging section that judges pass/fail of the device under test, based on a result of a comparison between the data signal acquired by the data acquiring section and an expected value; and a designating section that designates whether the data acquiring section acquires the data signal at the timing corresponding to the sampling clock or at the timing corresponding to the timing signal.
US08981776B2
A method for imaging a subject with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system using controlled aliasing is provided. A radio frequency (RF) excitation field is applied to excite the spins in a volume-of-interest that may include multiple slice locations. Using the MRI system, a readout magnetic field gradient is established following the application of the RF excitation field to form echo signals. These echo signal receive a differential encoding by way of establishing, while the readout gradient is established, alternating magnetic field gradients along two directions, such as the partition-encoding and phase-encoding directions. Image data is acquired from the formed echo signals and images of the subject are reconstructed from the acquired image data.
US08981767B2
Inductive sensor module comprising a coil arrangement and a carrier, on which electronic components are arranged, wherein the coil arrangement is arranged on a first side of the carrier and the electronic components are arranged on a second side of the carrier directed away from the first side.
US08981766B2
The invention relates to a position/displacement measuring system comprising at least one encoded scale body having at least one encoding track extending in a measuring direction and a sensor device having at least one sensor head sensitive to the encoding, wherein the at least one sensor head comprises at least a first sensor unit and a second sensor unit which provide respective sensor signals and are spaced apart from one another in the measuring direction.
US08981765B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide a motor function analyzing apparatus which simplifies a calibration measurement necessary before measuring a finger tapping motion, and which is capable of evaluating a motor function highly precisely. The present invention provides a motor function analyzing apparatus which simplifies a calibration measurement necessary before measuring a finger tapping motion, and which is capable of evaluating a motor function highly precisely by using a calibration point unique to each apparatus and a calibration point unique to each subject.
US08981760B2
A physically rotatable display for a test and measurement apparatus is provided. The display of instrument information and data is automatically reconfigured based on the user selected orientation to provide optimal data display.
US08981746B2
A low-dropout linear regulator includes an error amplifier which includes a cascaded arrangement of a differential amplifier and a gain stage. The gain stage includes a transistor driven by the differential amplifier to produce at a drive signal for an output stage of the regulator. The transistor is interposed over its source-drain line between a first resistive load included in a RC network creating a zero in the open loop gain of the regulator, and a second resistive load to produce a drive signal for the output stage of the regulator. The second resistive load is a non-linear compensation element to render current consumption linearly proportional to the load current to the regulator. The first resistive load is a non-linear element causing the frequency of said zero created by the RC network to decrease as the load current of the regulator decreases.
US08981736B2
This document discusses, among other things, apparatus for high-efficiency, thermally-compensated regulators. In an example, a regulator can include a zener diode having a first temperature coefficient, the zener diode configured couple to an output and to provide at least a portion of a reference voltage, a transistor having a second temperature coefficient, the transistor configured to receive the reference voltage, to receive a representation of the output, and to provide feedback information indicative of an error of the output using the representation of the output voltage and the reference voltage, and wherein the first temperature coefficient and the second temperature coefficient are configured to reduce at least a portion of a temperature drift effect of the zener diode and the transistor.
US08981734B2
A power source generation circuit includes a regulator circuit which receives an external power source voltage VDDA from an external power source, and generates a predetermined internal power source voltage on a given terminal VDD; and a charging circuit which connects the external power source and the given terminal when the external power source voltage VDDA supplied from the external power source is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold voltage.
US08981733B2
In one embodiment the present invention includes a system and method of charging a battery using a switching regulator. In one embodiment, a switching regulator receives an input voltage and input current. The output of the switching regulator is coupled to a battery to be charged. The switching regulator provides a current into the battery that is larger than the current into the switching regulator. As the voltage on the battery increases, the current provided by the switching regulator is reduced. The present invention may be implemented using either analog or digital techniques for reducing the current into the battery as the battery voltage increases.
US08981730B2
Provided are a switching device for an electric vehicle and a method of controlling the switching device. The switching device includes a switch, a signal selection part, an inverter, and a controller. The switch generates a first or second switching signal according to an operation mode. The signal selection part receives the first or second switching signal, and selects the first or second switching signal according to the operation mode to output the selected switching signal. The inverter performs a direct current/alternating current conversion process on power according to the switching signal output from the signal selection part, and outputs the power. The controller determines the operation mode, and generates a control signal according to the operation mode such that the signal selection part selects the first or second switching signal.
US08981725B2
A battery protection circuit and a method of controlling the same. The battery protection circuit includes a fuse blowing path connected in parallel to at least a portion of a high-current path between a battery and a terminal unit, the high-current path having a fuse therein, and a fuse current control switch in the fuse blowing path, the fuse current control switch controlling a current flow along the fuse blowing path. The battery protection circuit may completely blow the fuse when a battery malfunctions.
US08981723B2
An air battery system that can inhibit production of hydrogen. The air battery system includes a battery cell which is provided with an air electrode, an anode containing an active material capable of releasing lithium ions, and a solid electrolyte layer and aqueous electrolytic solution layer having lithium ion conductivity which are disposed between the air electrode and the anode; a detecting device which is capable of detecting a voltage between the anode and the air electrode; and a signaling device which emits a signal when the voltage detected by the detecting device becomes 2.2 V or less.
US08981721B2
A battery control device that controls a battery module in which a plurality of cell groups, in each of which a plurality of cells are connected in series, are connected in series or series-parallel, includes: a plurality of cell controller ICs that control each of the plurality of cell groups; and one or more connectors that are provided for connecting the plurality of cell controller ICs to the battery module; wherein: the plurality of cell controller ICs include first and second cell controller ICs that are provided in sequence, so as to control two or more of the cell groups that are connected in series; and an auxiliary connection member (a pin) is provided for connecting GND terminal side wiring of the first cell controller IC and VCC terminal side wiring of the second cell controller IC together, externally to the battery control device.
US08981720B2
A charging dock includes a base, a charging cable and a retractable wire reel module received in the base. A wall of the base is concaved downward to form a charging space including an opening in a cavity of the base. The charging cable includes a power wire, a charging and a power connector interfaces. The charging interface is received in the base. The power interface is positioned out of the base. The retractable wire reel module includes a guiding shaft positioned, a coil spring member and a sleeve member. The sleeve member rotatably sleeves on the guiding shaft via the coil spring member. The power wire is wound on the sleeve member, the coil spring member is connected with the guiding shaft and the sleeve member. The power wire retracts in the base via the sleeve member driven to rotate by the coil spring member.
US08981718B2
Disclosed herein are embodiments of serial multi-vehicle quick charge systems and stations for battery propulsion vehicles and methods thereof. One charging system comprises a charging unit having a plurality of charging circuits configured to be individually switched. The plurality of charging stations is electrically connected to the charging unit through the plurality of charging circuits. A controller is programmed to initiate charging of a vehicle connected to the charging unit through one of the charging stations by signaling a corresponding one of the charging circuits to close, track order of connection of each vehicle connected to the charging unit and initiate charging of each subsequently connected vehicle one at a time based on the order of connection, such that an individual vehicle is charged until a predetermined fraction of battery charge capacity has been obtained before the controller initiates charging of a vehicle next in the order of connection.
US08981713B2
Disclosed herein is a charging apparatus using a pad type electrode contact point, the charging apparatus including: a charging plate having a plate shape; and an attaching plate installed on a portable terminal to provide the power to a charging circuit of the portable terminal.
US08981710B2
An energy management system and method connecting a load to multiple energy sources. The system includes a load connection, source connections for each energy source, a control unit and at least one energy management module having an inductor and four switches. The first source is in parallel with the load. The first switch couples the first source positive terminal to the first inductor end, second switch couples the first source negative terminal to the first inductor end, third switch couples the second source positive terminal to the second inductor end, and fourth switch couples the second source negative terminal to the second inductor end. The control unit controls the four switches of each module to transfer energy between the energy sources through the module inductor. The system can have more than two sources. Modes including one or two switch, synchronous or asynchronous, and buck or boost can be used.
US08981699B2
Rotating electric machine for electric vehicle, drive control device and insulation diagnosis method
A rotating electric machine for an electric vehicle, installed in a vehicle and driven by an inverter power source, includes: a partial discharge measuring device that measures partial discharges occurring in insulated areas between windings, between phases and between the rotating electric machine and a ground.
US08981691B2
When a failure detection part detects a failure in an inverter circuit in a first power supply system, a drive control part stops the inverter circuit from driving a motor. An on/off control part turns off a first power supply relay of a power supply on/off part. Under a state that the inverter circuit stops a motor driving operation, a first coil set of the motor generates an induced voltage by rotation caused by an external force. The induced voltage is regenerated to a battery from the inverter circuit through a second power supply relay and a parasitic diode of the first power supply relay. Thus, circuit elements in the power supply system, which is failing, are protected from breaking down.
US08981687B2
A motor control apparatus includes an A/D converter, which is a hardware part for converting an analog signal of a sensor to a digital signal, a microcomputer, which is a software part, and a drive circuit, which is a hardware part for driving an inverter to supply electric power to a motor. The microcomputer includes calculation blocks, each of which is a calculation block for individually calculating an output from an input. The microcomputer further executes, in parallel to control calculations, software monitor processing for each calculation block to monitor whether the control calculation is executed normally. The motor control apparatus thus can detect a software abnormality without using a monitoring hardware circuit separately.
US08981685B2
The disclosure describes, in one aspect, a system for a machine having an electric drive configuration. The system includes an electric motor associated with at least one wheel and adapted to provide retarding torque to the wheel, and a controller configured to determine a power measurement of a retarding grid and control the retarding torque to the at least one wheel during retarding as a function of the power measurement.
US08981683B2
The present invention relates to a high power battery system having a battery system monitoring electronics and battery modules being electrically connected in series via an operating current line. At least one battery module is a bypass battery module comprising a bypass switch and a bypass line for electrically bypassing the battery module. For each bypass battery module a module monitoring unit of the monitoring electronics monitors the assigned battery module and detects a fault state. In the fault state, the battery system monitoring electronics measures the current flow in the operating current line connecting the battery modules and switches the bypass switch of the bypass battery module concerned from a normal operating position to a bypass position at a time when the current flow in the operating current line is lower than a predetermined limit value.
US08981681B2
Systems and methods for controlling blind systems and other systems with moving parts are disclosed. Certain systems and methods couple to a blind system, and include one or more transceiving, processing, sensor, motion delivery, power delivery, and various other components for collectively or individually controlling a blind system to open or close its blinds. Certain systems and methods utilize preprogrammed control instructions stored locally, or user-initiated control signals received from remote devices to control the blind system.
US08981664B2
The current (Iout) flowing between a plasma chamber and a power supply is limited by limiting the current change di/dt if the current exceeds a predetermined current. A current change limiting device is provided in the current path between the power supply and the plasma chamber and is configured to determine if the current exceeds the predetermined current and limits the current change.
US08981660B2
The present invention discloses an electronic ballast for operating a gas discharge lamp which includes (i) a rectifier bridge circuit; (ii) a power factor correction (PFC) network that includes an electrolytic capacitor that charges by means of a circuit comprised by an inductor, diode and capacitor; and (iii) a switched inverter circuit that converts rectified DC voltage to a high frequency current AC voltage. The electronic circuit has a switch that switches on the aforementioned electronic elements making the (PFC) circuit consume energy continuously from the network, while the electrolytic capacitor remains connected to the voltage of the rectifier bridge, through the inductor and the diode, even if the inductor has no energy stored. From the storage capacitor the inverter is powered by a constant voltage and noise-free, allowing the inverter to power the luminous load properly.
US08981655B2
A solid-state lighting system comprises a plurality of light-emitting devices (e.g., light-emitting diodes) and an alternating current to direct current (AC-DC) converter that converts AC power to DC power for powering the plurality of light-emitting devices. The AC-DC converter is configured to perform AC-DC conversion directly, without the need for or use of a bridge rectifier or step-down transformer. According to one aspect of the invention, the light-emitting devices of the solid-state lighting system are autonomous and individually powered by a plurality of DC power supplies generated from the DC power produced by the AC-DC converter. According to another aspect, a plurality of phase-offset dimmer control signals are generated based on waveform distortions in a dimming signal produced by a conventional dimmer switch. The phase-offset dimmer control signals are used to individually control the dimming of the light-emitting devices.
US08981643B2
An electroluminescent (EL) display panel includes a substrate, an EL display array, at least one first thin film encapsulation (TFE) layer and a first patterned stress releasing layer. The EL display array is disposed on the substrate. The first TFE layer covers the EL display array. The first patterned stress releasing layer covers the first TFE layer.
US08981640B2
A first device may be provided in some embodiments. The first device may comprise a substrate, a first emissive region, and a second emissive region, where the first emissive region and the second emissive region may comprise a contiguous area. The first device may further comprise a first electrode disposed over the substrate that extends across the first and the second emissive regions, and an organic layer disposed over the substrate that extends across the first and second emissive regions, where the organic layer comprises the same emissive material across the first and the second emissive regions. The first device may further include a second electrode disposed over the substrate that extends across the first and second emissive regions, where the second electrode includes a patterned layer of conductive material that is disposed in the first emissive region and that is not disposed in the second emissive region.
US08981637B2
The invention relates to a light source for generating light having a spectral emittance in at least a part of the range of 380 nm to 680 nm. The light has a spectral power distribution E(λ) as a function of the wave-length λ over a first range of 600 nm<=λ<=680 nm, a second range of 505 nm<=λ<=600 nm, and a third range of 380 nm<=λ<=505 nm. A first ratio of the integral power distribution over said first range to that of a range of 380 nm<=λ<=680 nm is given by the relation: Formula (I) wherein 0.65<=Pl<=0.95, A second ratio of the integral power distribution over said second range to that of a range of 380 nm<=λ<=680 nm is given by the relation: Formula (II) wherein Pm>=0.08, A third ratio of the integral power distribution over said third range to that of a range of 380 nm<=λ<=680 nm is given by the relation: Formula (III) wherein Ps>=0.03 or Ps>=0.015 if Pl>=0.75l A respective radiation emission peak in each of the first, second and third wavelength range has a full width half maximum (=FWHM) of at least 12 nm.
US08981616B2
An electric motor (1) comprises a casing (2), a stator housed in the casing (2), a sealing cover (10), a rotor (6) rotatable inside the casing (2) and equipped with a commutator (7), a circuit (8) for powering the commutator (7) comprising two brushes (15) in sliding contact with the commutator (7); the motor (1) comprises two brush holder sleeves (14) in which the brushes (15) slide and two springs (17) operating between the brush holder sleeves (14) and the respective brushes (15) in such a way as to push the latter towards the commutator (7); both the sleeves (14) and the springs (17) form part of the circuit (8) for powering the brushes (15).
US08981614B2
Included are a pair of insulators arranged on axial end surfaces of a split core, and an insulating film attached to lateral side surfaces of the tooth part, for insulating the split core from a coil wound around the tooth part. Each insulator includes projections projecting further than a tooth front end part in the circumferential direction, slits which are formed in the respective projections to a corresponding axial end surface side of the tooth front end part and into which the insulating film is inserted, and ribs formed, on an end surface side in the circumferential direction, in the respective projections. The insulating film inserted into the slits is folded back to a back yoke part side with the ribs interposed therein, and fixed by being interposed between the ribs at tip portions of projections of adjacent insulators. Accordingly, the insulating film can be assuredly fixed and prevented from escaping from a slot.
US08981607B2
It is an object to provide a driving apparatus, according to which a control unit can be detachably connected to a motor unit in a condition that electronic circuits are not exposed to an outside of a housing. The electronic circuits are accommodated in the housing. A first connecting member is supported by a holder unit, which holds a motor terminal connected to a winding of a stator of the motor unit. A second connecting member is attached to the housing from the outside thereof, in such a way that a circuit-board terminal connected to the electronic circuits and the motor terminal are interposed between the first and second connecting members. As a result, the circuit-board terminal and the motor terminal are mechanically and electrically connected to each other.
US08981605B2
An ECU attached to a motor assembly has a substrate and a heat sink. The substrate mounts thereon a microcomputer, which controls driving of a motor in accordance with a rotation angle of the motor. The substrate is fixed to the heat sink. The substrate has a first through hole group and a second through hole group, which are through holes connectable electrically by soldering to rotation angle signal wires connected to a rotation angle sensor, which detects a rotation angle of the motor.
US08981603B2
A voice coil motor (VCM) includes a moving unit, a fixing unit, an elastic plate, and a conducting pole. The moving unit includes a moving barrel and a coil assembly around the moving barrel. The coil assembly includes a connecting portion. The moving barrel defines a blind hole on an upper surface thereof, one end of a conducting pole being received in the blind hole. The fixing unit defines a through hole receiving the moving unit. The elastic plate is connected between the moving barrel and the fixing unit. The conducting pole provides a stable electrical connection between the elastic plate and the connecting portion notwithstanding movements of the moving barrel.
US08981602B2
A proximity switch assembly includes first and second proximity switches comprising first and second proximity sensors and a tactile feature disposed between the first and second proximity switches. The assembly also includes controlling circuitry detecting an object on the tactile feature based on sensed signals from the first and second proximity sensors and preventing activation of the first and second switches when an object is detected on the tactile feature. The assembly further includes a resting pad having a third sensor, wherein the control circuitry detects an object with the first sensor and an object on the resting pad and determines activation of the first and second proximity switches based on the detected objects.
US08981594B2
An advance power-saving power socket for power saving systems includes a socket body which includes an extension cord and has a master socket and at least one slave socket, wherein the slave sockets are connected in parallel with each other at first, and then connected in series with a slave socket temperature sensitive switch and linked with both ends of the power input end on the slave socket control loop. So the master socket is connected in series with the parallel-connected master socket temperature sensitive switch and first heater, and then connected in parallel with the power input end, so as to use the working temperature produced by the current flowing through the first heater of the master socket control loop for controlling over the closed or open state of the slave socket control loop and shunt the current of the master socket control loop.
US08981575B2
A semiconductor package structure includes: a dielectric layer; a metal layer disposed on the dielectric layer and having a die pad and traces, the traces each including a trace body, a bond pad extending to the periphery of the die pad, and an opposite trace end; metal pillars penetrating the dielectric layer with one ends thereof connecting to the die pad and the trace ends while the other ends thereof protruding from the dielectric layer; a semiconductor chip mounted on the die pad and electrically connected to the bond pads through bonding wires; and an encapsulant covering the semiconductor chip, the bonding wires, the metal layer, and the dielectric layer. The invention is characterized by disposing traces with bond pads close to the die pad to shorten bonding wires and forming metal pillars protruding from the dielectric layer to avoid solder bridging encountered in prior techniques.
US08981572B1
To form a semiconductor device, a through electrode is formed in a semiconductor die, and a dielectric layer is then formed to cover the through electrode. The dielectric layer has an opening by being partially etched to allow the through electrode to protrude to the outside, or has a thickness thinner overall so as to allow the through electrode to protrude to the outside. Subsequently, a conductive pad is formed on the through electrode protruding to the outside through the dielectric layer by using an electroless plating method.
US08981566B2
Disclosed is a discrete semiconductor device package (100) comprising a semiconductor die (110) having a first surface and a second surface opposite said first surface carrying a contact (112); a conductive body (120) on said contact; an encapsulation material (130) laterally encapsulating said conductive body; and a capping member (140, 610) such as a solder cap, a further semiconductor die or a combination thereof in conductive contact with the solder portion, said solder cap extending over the encapsulation material. A further solder cap (150) may be provided over the first surface. A method of manufacturing such a discrete semiconductor device package is also disclosed.
US08981562B2
A method of forming photo masks having rectangular patterns and a method for forming a semiconductor structure using the photo masks is provided. The method for forming the photo masks includes determining a minimum spacing and identifying vertical conductive feature patterns having a spacing less than the minimum spacing value. The method further includes determining a first direction to expand and a second direction to shrink, and checking against design rules to see if the design rules are violated for each of the vertical conductive feature patterns identified. If designed rules are not violated, the identified vertical conductive feature pattern is replaced with a revised vertical conductive feature pattern having a rectangular shape. The photo masks are then formed. The semiconductor structure can be formed using the photo masks.
US08981552B2
This power converter includes a first substrate, a second substrate, a power conversion element, and a case portion, and the case portion includes a first connection terminal connected to a first conductor pattern arranged on a side of the first substrate closer to the power conversion element and a second connection terminal connected to a second conductor pattern arranged on a side of the second substrate opposite to the power conversion element.
US08981543B2
Semiconductor packages are disclosed. In a semiconductor package, a package board may include a hole. A mold layer may cover an upper portion of the package board and extend through the hole to cover at least a portion of a bottom surface of the package board. Each of the sidewalls of a lower mold portion may have a symmetrical structure with respect to the hole penetrating the package board, such that a warpage phenomenon of the semiconductor package may be reduced.
US08981541B2
A Quad Flat Package (QFP) semiconductor device has a multi-stepped lead frame for forming rows of external contacts. A semiconductor die is attached to a die pad of the lead frame and electrically connected to lead with bond wires. The die and bond wires are encapsulated with a mold compound and then multiple cuts are made to the lead frame to form the rows of external contacts.
US08981539B2
A power semiconductor device comprises a lead frame unit, a control die, a first MOSFET die and a second MOSFET die, wherein the lead frame unit comprises at least a die paddle for mounting the first and second MOSFET dies, a first pin and a second pin for connecting to top electrodes of the first and second MOSFET dies, a first row of carrier pins and a second row of carrier pins disposed in-line with the first and second pins respectively for the control die to mount thereon.
US08981536B1
A semiconductor structure includes a carrier, a first protective layer, a second protective layer, and a third protective layer. A first surface of the first protective layer comprises a first anti-stress zone. The second protective layer reveals the first anti-stress zone and comprises a second surface, a first lateral side, a second lateral side and a first connection side. The second surface comprises a second anti-stress zone. An extension line of the first lateral side intersects with an extension line of the second lateral side to form a first intersection point. A zone formed by connecting the first intersection point and two points of the first connection side is the first anti-stress zone. The third protective layer reveals the second anti-stress zone and comprises a second connection side projected on the first surface to form a projection line parallel to the first connection side.
US08981534B2
The present disclosure involves an apparatus. The apparatus includes a substrate having a front side a back side opposite the front side. The substrate includes a plurality of openings formed from the back side of the substrate. The openings collectively define a pattern on the back side of the substrate from a planar view. In some embodiments, the substrate is a silicon substrate or a silicon carbide substrate. Portions of the silicon substrate vertically aligned with the openings have vertical dimensions that vary from about 100 microns to about 300 microns. A III-V group compound layer is formed over the front side of the silicon substrate. The III-V group compound layer is a component of one of: a light-emitting diode (LED), a laser diode (LD), and a high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT).
US08981530B2
A semiconductor device includes a first NMOS device with a first threshold voltage and a second NMOS device with a second threshold voltage. The first NMOS device includes a first gate structure over a semiconductor substrate, first source/drain (S/D) regions in the semiconductor substrate and adjacent to opposite edges of the first gate structure. The first S/D regions are free of dislocation. The second NMOS device includes a second gate structure over the semiconductor substrate, second S/D regions in the semiconductor substrate and adjacent to opposite edges of the second gate structure, and a dislocation in the second S/D regions.
US08981528B2
A semiconductor device such as a Schottky diode is provided which includes a substrate, a first active layer disposed over the substrate and a second active layer disposed on the first active layer. The second active layer has a higher bandgap than the first active layer such that a two-dimensional electron gas layer arises between the first active layer and the second active layer. A first electrode has a first portion disposed in a recess in the second active layer and a second portion disposed on the second active layer such that a Schottky junction is formed therewith. A second electrode is in contact with the first active layer. The second electrode establishes an ohmic junction with the first active layer.
US08981524B2
An object is to provide an antifuse with little power consumption at the time of writing. The antifuse is used for a memory element in a read-only memory device. The antifuse includes a first conductive layer, a multilayer film of two or more layers in which an amorphous silicon film and an insulating film are alternately stacked over the first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer over the multilayer film. Voltage is applied between the first and second conductive layers and resistance of the multilayer film is decreased, whereby data is written to the memory element. When an insulating film having higher resistance than amorphous silicon is formed between the first and second conductive layers, current flowing through the antifuse at the time of writing is reduced.
US08981521B1
Provided is a lateral BJT including a substrate, a well region, an area, at least one lightly doped region, a first doped region, and a second doped region. The substrate is of a first conductivity type. The well region is of a second conductivity type and is in the substrate. The area is in the well region. The at least one lightly doped region is in the well region below the area. The first doped region and the second doped region are of the first conductivity type and are in the well region on both sides of the area. The first doped region is connected to a cathode. The second doped region is connected to an anode, wherein the doping concentration of the at least one lightly doped region is lower than that of each of the first doped region, the second doped region, and the well region.
US08981516B2
A back-side illuminated image sensor formed from a thinned semiconductor substrate, wherein: a transparent conductive electrode, insulated from the substrate by an insulating layer, extends over the entire rear surface of the substrate; and conductive regions, insulated from the substrate by an insulating coating, extend perpendicularly from the front surface of the substrate to the electrode.
US08981514B2
A semiconductor package includes a light transmissive cover having a conductive pattern, a substrate having a cavity, a semiconductor chip in the cavity of the substrate and electrically connected to the conductive pattern arranged on the light transmissive cover, and a blocking pattern between the light transmissive cover and the substrate.
US08981510B2
Provided is an image sensor device. The image sensor device includes a substrate having a front side and a back side. The image sensor includes first and second radiation-detection devices that are disposed in the substrate. The first and second radiation-detection devices are operable to detect radiation waves that enter the substrate through the back side. The image sensor also includes an anti-reflective coating (ARC) layer. The ARC layer is disposed over the back side of the substrate. The ARC layer has first and second ridges that are disposed over the first and second radiation-detection devices, respectively. The first and second ridges each have a first refractive index value. The first and second ridges are separated by a substance having a second refractive index value that is less than the first refractive index value.
US08981490B2
A method of fabricating a CMOS integrated circuit (IC) includes implanting a first n-type dopant at a first masking level that exposes a p-region of a substrate surface having a first gate stack thereon to form NLDD regions for forming n-source/drain extension regions for at least a portion of a plurality of n-channel MOS (NMOS) transistors on the IC. A p-type dopant is implanted at a second masking level that exposes an n-region in the substrate surface having a second gate stack thereon to form PLDD regions for at least a portion of a plurality of p-channel MOS (PMOS) transistors on the IC. A second n-type dopant is retrograde implanted including through the first gate stack to form a deep nwell (DNwell) for the portion of NMOS transistors. A depth of the DNwell is shallower below the first gate stack as compared to under the NLDD regions.
US08981485B2
A power transistor having a top-side drain and a forming method thereof are provided. Firstly, a body layer is formed. An epitaxial layer is subsequently formed on the body layer. Then a gate trench is formed in the body layer and the epitaxial layer. Afterward, a gate structure is formed in the gate trench. Then, a doped drain layer is formed within the epitaxial layer. Next, a source is formed in contact with the body layer. Lastly, a drain is formed in contact with the dope drain layer. The structure and forming method disclosed can through arranging the drain at the top of the power transistor integrate with the newly high performance packaging design structure. Accordingly, the efficiency of the power transistor can be greatly enhanced.
US08981475B2
A lateral diffusion metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) comprises a semiconductor substrate having an STI structure in a top surface of the substrate, a drift region below the STI structure, and a source region and a drain region on opposite sides of the STI structure. A gate conductor is on the substrate over a gap between the STI structure and the source region and partially overlaps the drift region. A conformal dielectric layer is on the top surface and forms a mesa above the gate conductor. The conformal dielectric layer has a conformal etch-stop layer embedded therein. Contact studs extend through the dielectric layer and the etch-stop layer, and are connected to the source region, drain region, and gate conductor. A source electrode contacts the source contact stud, a gate electrode contacts the gate contact stud, and a drain electrode contacts the drain contact stud. A drift electrode is over the drift region.
US08981474B2
A semiconductor device formed on a silicon-on-insulator substrate includes a gate electrode, a gate insulation film, a drain diffusion region, a drift region, a body region, a plurality of source diffusion regions, and a plurality of charge collection diffusion regions. The source diffusion regions and charge collection diffusion regions are of mutually opposite conductivity types, and alternate with one another in the direction paralleling the width of the gate electrode. The half-width of each source diffusion region is equal to or less than the length of the gate electrode plus the half-length of the drift region.
US08981473B2
According to one embodiment, in a dielectric isolation substrate, an insulating film having a first thickness is provided on a semiconductor substrate. A semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type having a second thickness is provided on the insulating film. An impurity diffusion layer of a second conductivity type is provided partially in a lower portion of the semiconductor layer and is in contact with the insulating film.
US08981466B2
Multilayer dielectric structures are provided having silicon nitride (SiN) and silicon oxynitride (SiNO) films for use as capping layers, liners, spacer barrier layers, and etch stop layers, and other components of semiconductor nano-devices. For example, a semiconductor structure includes a multilayer dielectric structure having multiple layers of dielectric material including one or more SiN layers and one or more SiNO layers. The layers of dielectric material in the multilayer dielectric structure have a thickness in a range of about 0.5 nanometers to about 3 nanometers.
US08981461B2
According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a fin-type stacked layer structure in which a first insulating layer, a first semiconductor layer, . . . an n-th insulating layer, an n-th semiconductor layer, and an (n+1)-th insulating layer (n is a natural number equal to or more than 2) are stacked in order thereof in a first direction perpendicular to a surface of a semiconductor substrate and which extends in a second direction parallel to the surface of the semiconductor substrate, first to n-th memory strings which use the first to n-th semiconductor layers as channels respectively, a common semiconductor layer which combines the first to n-th semiconductor layers at first ends of the first to n-th memory strings in the second direction.
US08981459B2
A semiconductor structure uses its control gate to be the wordline for receiving an operation voltage for the semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure has a first and a second doped region and a buried channel between the first and the second doped region, wherein the buried channel has a first length along the first direction. The semiconductor structure further has a charge trapping layer stack on the buried channel and a conductive layer on the charge trapping layer stack, wherein the conductive layer extends along the first direction. The conductive layer is configured as both the control gate and the wordline of the semiconductor structure.
US08981455B2
In accordance with an embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a substrate with a semiconductor layer and memory cells on the semiconductor layer. Each memory cell includes a laminated body on the semiconductor layer, a gate insulating film on the laminated body, and a control gate on the gate insulating film. The laminated body includes a tunnel insulating film and a floating gate subsequently laminated in a direction vertical to a front surface of the substrate for N (a natural number equal to or above 2) times. A dimension of a top face of any floating gate in a second or subsequent layer is smaller than a dimension of a bottom surface of the floating gate in the lowermost layer in at least one of a first direction parallel to the front surface of the substrate and a second direction crossing the first direction.
US08981445B2
An analog floating-gate electrode in an integrated circuit, and method of fabricating the same, in which trapped charge can be stored for long durations. The analog floating-gate electrode is formed in a polycrystalline silicon gate level, doped n-type throughout its length, and includes portions serving as gate electrodes of n-channel and p-channel MOS transistors; a plate of a metal-to-poly storage capacitor; and a plate of poly-to-active tunneling capacitors. The p-channel MOS transistor includes a buried channel region, formed by way of ion implantation, disposed between its source and drain regions. Silicide-block silicon dioxide blocks the formation of silicide cladding on the electrode, while other polysilicon structures in the integrated circuit are silicide-clad.
US08981443B2
In case the size of the transistor is enlarged, power consumption of the transistor is increased. Thus, the present invention provides a display device capable of preventing a current from flowing to a display element in signal writing operation without varying potentials of power source lines for supplying a current to the display element per row. In setting a gate-source voltage of a transistor by applying a predetermined current to the transistor, a potential of a gate terminal of the transistor is adjusted so as to prevent a current from flowing to a load connected to a source terminal of the transistor. Therefore, a potential of a wire connected to the gate terminal of the transistor is differentiated from a potential of a wire connected to a drain terminal of the transistor.
US08981435B2
The present description relates to the field of fabricating microelectronic devices having non-planar transistors. Embodiments of the present description relate to the formation of source/drain contacts within non-planar transistors, wherein a titanium-containing contact interface may be used in the formation of the source/drain contact with a discreet titanium silicide formed between the titanium-containing interface and a silicon-containing source/drain structure.
US08981433B2
A compensation network for a radiofrequency transistor is disclosed. The compensation network comprises first and second bonding bars for coupling to a first terminal of the RF transistor and a compensation capacitor respectively; one or more bond wires coupling the first and second bonding bars together; and a compensation capacitor formed from a first set of conductive elements coupled to the second bonding bar, the first set of conductive elements interdigitating with a second set of conductive elements coupled to a second terminal of the RF transistor.
US08981431B2
A semiconductor light emitting device including: a substrate made of GaAs; and a semiconductor layer formed on the substrate, in which part of the substrate on a side opposite to the semiconductor layer is removed by etching so that the semiconductor light emitting device has a thickness of not more than 60 μm.
US08981426B2
The invention discloses an ESD protection circuit, including a P-type substrate; an N-well formed on the P-type substrate; a P-doped region formed on the N-well, wherein the P-doped region is electrically connected to an input/output terminal of a circuit under protection; a first N-doped region formed on the P-type substrate, the first N-doped region is electrically connected to a first node, and the P-doped region, the N-well, the P-type substrate, and the first N-doped region constitute a silicon controlled rectifier; and a second N-doped region formed on the N-well and electrically connected to a second node, wherein a part of the P-doped region and the second N-doped region constitute a discharging path, and when an ESD event occurs at the input/output terminal, the silicon controlled rectifier and the discharging path bypass electrostatic charges to the first and second nodes respectively.
US08981423B2
There is provided a power semiconductor device, including a plurality of trench gates formed to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, a current increasing part formed between the trench gates and including a first conductivity-type emitter layer and a gate oxide formed on a surface of the trench gate, and an immunity improving part formed between the trench gates and including a second conductivity-type body layer, a preventing film formed on the surface of the trench gate, and a gate oxide having a thickness less than that the gate oxide of the current increasing part.
US08981421B2
The present invention discloses a strip-shaped gate-modulated tunneling field effect transistor and a preparation method thereof, belonging to a field of field effect transistor logic device and the circuit in CMOS ultra large scale integrated circuit (ULSI). The tunneling field effect transistor includes a control gate, a gate dielectric layer, a semiconductor substrate, a highly-doped source region and a highly-doped drain region, where the highly-doped source region and the highly-doped drain region lie on both sides of the control gate, respectively, the control gate has a strip-shaped structure with a gate length greater than a gate width, and at one side thereof is connected to the highly-doped drain region and at the other side thereof extends laterally into the highly-doped source region; a region located below the control gate is a channel region; and the gate width of the control gate is less than twice width of a source depletion layer. The device modulates the source-side tunneling junction by using the strip-shaped gate structure, achieves the effect equivalent to that the source junction has a steep doping concentration gradient, and improves the TFET device performance; and the preparation method thereof is simple.
US08981416B2
An organic light-emitting diode has a carrier substrate. The light-emitting diode also contains an active layer that generates and emits electromagnetic radiation at a carrier front face. The active layer is mounted on the carrier substrate. At least one contacting device is located on a carrier rear face and is arranged simultaneously for electrical contacting and for mechanical attachment of the light-emitting diode. The contacting device includes a contact region. The contact region and/or the contacting device, seen in a side view parallel to the carrier rear face, are elevated in a U-shape or L-shape above the carrier rear face and/or extend in a lateral direction away from the active layer.
US08981413B2
An optical communication module includes an optical semiconductor element. The element includes an optical functional region having a light receiving function or a light emitting function, a first transmission layer transmissive to light emitted from the optical functional region or light received by the optical functional region, and a wiring layer stacked on the first transmission layer and constituting a conduction path to the optical functional region. The communication module also includes a second transmission layer transmissive to the light and disposed to cover the optical semiconductor element, and a first resin member stacked on the second transmission layer. The communication module is formed with a fixing hole for fixing an optical fiber. The fixing hole includes a bottom face provided by the second transmission layer, and an opening formed in an outer surface of the first resin member.
US08981412B2
According to one embodiment, an optical semiconductor device includes a light emitting layer, a transparent layer, a first metal post, a second metal post and a sealing layer. The light emitting layer includes a first and a second major surface, a first and a second electrode. The second major surface is a surface opposite to the first major surface, and the first electrode and second electrodes are formed on the second major surface. The transparent layer is provided on the first major surface. The first metal post is provided on the first electrode. The second metal post is provided on the second electrode. The sealing layer is provided on the second major surface. The sealing layer covers a side surface of the light emitting layer and seals the first and second metal posts while leaving end portions of the first and second metal posts exposed.
US08981409B2
A semiconductor light emitting device comprises a first groove extending to a first semiconductor layer from a second semiconductor layer side through the second semiconductor layer and a light emitting layer; a first ohmic electrode formed in contact with the first semiconductor layer in the first groove; an insulating layer covering a surface of the second semiconductor layer and at least the surface of part of the light emitting layer exposed in the first groove; a metal layer covering the surface of the insulating layer and connected to the first ohmic electrode; a second groove extending from a first semiconductor layer side through the first semiconductor layer and the light emitting layer to the second semiconductor layer; a second ohmic electrode formed in contact with the second semiconductor layer in the second groove; and a support body bonded to the metal layer via a junction layer.
US08981397B2
A device includes a textured substrate, which further includes a plurality of trenches. Each of the plurality of trenches includes a first sidewall and a second sidewall opposite the first sidewall. A plurality of reflectors configured to reflect light is formed, with each of the plurality of reflectors being on one of the first sidewalls of the plurality of trenches. The second sidewalls of the plurality of trenches are substantially free from any reflector.
US08981396B2
A semiconductor light emitting device includes a substrate, a semiconductor laminate having a base semiconductor layer, a first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductivity-type semiconductor layer sequentially formed on the substrate and divided by an isolation region to provide a plurality of light emitting cells, an intermediate separation layer interposed between the base semiconductor layer and the first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, a plurality of first and second electrodes connected to the first and second conductivity-type semiconductor layers, respectively, of the plurality of light emitting cells, and a wiring unit connecting the first and second electrodes of different light emitting cells.
US08981393B2
An object is to provide a light-emitting element which uses a plurality of kinds of light-emitting dopants and has high emission efficiency. In one embodiment of the present invention, a light-emitting device, a light-emitting module, a light-emitting display device, an electronic device, and a lighting device each having reduced power consumption by using the above light-emitting element are provided. Attention is paid to Förster mechanism, which is one of mechanisms of intermolecular energy transfer. Efficient energy transfer by Förster mechanism is achieved by making an emission wavelength of a molecule which donates energy overlap with the longest-wavelength-side local maximum peak of a graph obtained by multiplying an absorption spectrum of a molecule which receives energy by a wavelength raised to the fourth power.
US08981391B2
A display panel including a substrate, a meshed shielding pattern, and a plurality of light-emitting devices is provided. The meshed shielding pattern is disposed on the substrate so as to define a plurality of pixel regions on the substrate. The light-emitting devices are disposed on the substrate. At least one light-emitting device of the light-emitting devices is disposed in each pixel region of the pixel regions, wherein an area of the pixel region is A1, an area of the light-emitting device is A2, and a ratio of A2 to A1 is below 50%.
US08981378B2
A mother substrate for an organic light-emitting display apparatus. The mother substrate has a panel area and a peripheral area surrounding the panel area, pixels disposed in a display area of the panel area, pads that are disposed in a non-display area of the panel area and are coupled to the pixels, test wirings disposed in the peripheral area, a local buffer electrically connected to the test wirings, a bridge wiring connecting the local buffer to one of the pads, and a dummy resistance layer having one end in contact with the bridge wiring and another end in contact with one of the test wirings.
US08981376B2
A semiconductor device includes a first conductive layer, a first insulating layer over the first conductive layer, first and second oxide semiconductor layers over the first insulating layer, a second conductive layer over the first oxide semiconductor layer, a third conductive layer over the second oxide semiconductor layer, a fourth conductive layer over the first oxide semiconductor layer and the second oxide semiconductor layer, a second insulating layer over the second conductive layer, the third conductive layer, and the fourth conductive layer, a fifth conductive layer electrically connected to the first conductive layer over the second insulating layer, and a sixth conductive layer over the second insulating layer. Each of the first and fifth conductive layers includes an area overlapping with the first oxide semiconductor layer. The sixth conductive layer includes an area overlapping with the second oxide semiconductor layer.
US08981375B2
A transistor includes: a gate electrode; a semiconductor layer facing the gate electrode with an insulating layer in between; a pair of source-drain electrodes electrically connected to the semiconductor layer; and a contact layer provided in a moving path of carriers between each of the pair of source-drain electrodes and the semiconductor layer, the contact layer having end surfaces covered with the source-drain electrode.
US08981372B2
A display device with low manufacturing cost, with low power consumption, capable of being formed over a large substrate, with a high aperture ratio of a pixel, and with high reliability is provided. The display device includes a transistor electrically connected to a light-transmitting pixel electrode and a capacitor. The transistor includes a gate electrode, a gate insulating film over the gate electrode, and a first multilayer film including an oxide semiconductor over the gate insulating film. The capacitor includes the pixel electrode and a conductive electrode formed of a second multilayer film which overlaps with the pixel electrode with a predetermined distance therebetween, and has the same layer structure as the first multilayer film. A channel formation region of the transistor is at least one layer, which is not in contact with the gate insulating film, of the first multilayer film.
US08981370B2
A semiconductor device which has stable electrical characteristics and high reliability is provided. The semiconductor device includes a gate electrode over an insulating surface, a gate insulating film over the gate electrode, a semiconductor film which is over the gate insulating film and overlaps with the gate electrode, and a protective insulating film over the semiconductor film; and the protective insulating film includes a crystalline insulating film and an aluminum oxide film over the crystalline insulating film.
US08981358B2
An organic insulating layer composition includes a polymer mixture including 50 parts to 90 parts by volume of an organic polymer and 10 parts to 50 parts by volume of an amorphous polymer, wherein the organic polymer includes at least a first repeating unit and a second repeating unit, the first and second repeating units each being substituted with at least one of fluorine or chlorine, a total number of fluorine and chlorine atoms in the first repeating unit being different from a total number of fluorine and chlorine atoms in the second repeating unit, and an organic solvent.
US08981351B2
An organic light-emitting device including: a first electrode; a second electrode; and an organic layer that includes a carrier transport layer and an emission layer and is interposed between the first and second electrodes, wherein the emission layer and the carrier transport layer include the same material.
US08981348B2
A semiconductor element (semiconductor device) including a substrate having a patterned structure of an organic semiconductor material and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor element are disclosed. According to one embodiment, the method of manufacturing the semiconductor element provides a substrate having a patterned structure of an organic semiconductor material which is cost-effective and which realizes a structure having a high degree of uniformity of the patterned semiconductor regions. The method includes: providing the substrate, applying a continuous layer of an organic semiconductor material onto the substrate, applying a solvent onto the continuous layer in the second regions thereby dissolving and removing the organic semiconductor material, which is located in the second regions, from the continuous layer.
US08981345B2
Provided is a graphene nanoribbon sensor. The sensor includes a substrate, a graphene layer formed on the substrate in a first direction, and an upper dielectric layer on the graphene layer. Here, the graphene layer may have a plurality of electrode regions respectively separated in the first direction and a channel between the plurality of electrode regions.
US08981339B2
A white-light emitting lighting device comprising one or more light emitting light sources (preferably solid state semiconductor light emitting diodes) that emit off-white light during operation, wherein the off-white light includes a spectral output including at least one spectral component in a first spectral region from about 360 nm to about 475 nm, at least one spectral component in a second spectral region from about 475 nm to about 575 nm, and at least one deficiency in at least one other spectral region, and an optical component comprising an optical material for converting at least a portion of the off-white light to one or more predetermined wavelengths, such that light emitted by the lighting device comprises white light, wherein the optical material comprises quantum confined semiconductor nanoparticles. Also disclosed is an optical component, lighting fixture, a cover plate for a lighting fixture, and methods.
US08981335B2
Resistive random access memory (ReRAM) cells can include a ZnTe switching layer and TiN or Pt electrodes. The combination of the switching layer of ZnTe and the electrodes of TiN or Pt is designed to achieve desirable performance characteristics, such as low current leakage as well as low and consistent switching currents. High temperature anneal of the ZnTe switching layer can further improve the performance of the ReRAM cells. The switching layer may be deposited using various techniques, such as sputtering or atomic layer deposition (ALD).
US08981334B1
Some embodiments include a memory cell having a first electrode, and an intermediate material over and directly against the first electrode. The intermediate material includes stabilizing species corresponding to one or both of carbon and boron. The memory cell also has a switching material over and directly against the intermediate material, an ion reservoir material over the switching material, and a second electrode over the ion reservoir material. Some embodiments include methods of forming memory cells.
US08981331B2
In some embodiments, a memory cell is provided that includes a metal-insulator-metal stack and a steering element coupled to the metal-insulator-metal stack. The metal-insulator-metal stack includes a first conductive layer, a reversible resistivity switching layer above the first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer above the reversible resistivity switching layer. The first conductive layer and/or the second conductive layer includes a first semiconductor material layer. The steering element includes the first semiconductor material layer. Numerous other aspects are provided.
US08981328B2
A resistive random access memory cell formed in an integrated circuit includes first and second resistive random access memory devices, each including an anode and a cathode. The anode of the second resistive random access memory device is connected to the anode of the first resistive random access memory device. A programming transistor has a first source/drain terminal connected to a programming potential node, a second source/drain terminal connected to the anodes of the first and second resistive random access memory devices, and a gate connected to a program-enable node.
US08981326B2
A phase change memory cell, an array of the phase change memory cells, and a method for fabricating the phase change memory cells. The phase change memory cell includes a bottom electrode, a heating element, and a heat shield. During programming of the phase change memory cell, the bottom electrode passes current to the phase change memory cell. The heating element is electrically coupled to the bottom electrode and generates heat during the programming of the phase change memory cell. The heat shield is thermally conductive and surrounds at least a portion of the heating element. The heat shield conducts heat generated during programming of the phase change memory cell to the bottom electrode.
US08981321B2
A charged-particle beam exposure apparatus which includes a deflector that deflects a charged-particle beam, and a stage mechanism that drives a substrate, and draws a pattern on the substrate while scanning the charged-particle beam in a main-scanning direction by the deflector and scanning the substrate in a sub-scanning direction by the stage mechanism. The apparatus includes a blanker unit configured to control irradiation and unirradiation of the substrate with the charged-particle beam, and a controller configured to control the deflector to deflect the charged-particle beam in the sub-scanning direction by an amount of driving of the substrate in the sub-scanning direction by the stage mechanism during a period of time from stop of drawing on the substrate until restart thereof when the drawing on the substrate is stopped and then restarted while the substrate is driven in the sub-scanning direction by the stage mechanism.
US08981302B2
An electronic device may be provided with proximity sensor capabilities for monitoring for the presence of nearby external objects. The electronic device may make temperature measurements such as measurements involving the monitoring of nearby objects for emitted blackbody light indicative of whether or not the external object is a heat-emitting object such as a human body part. The same sensor that is used in gathering temperature readings may be used in gathering proximity sensor data or separate temperature sensor and proximity sensor detector structures may be used. Motion sensor capabilities may be provided using sensor structures having an array of heat sensing elements. Signals from the array of heat sensing elements may be used in making temperature measurements and in gathering proximity sensor readings. Sensor structures may operate at wavelengths longer than 3 microns such as wavelengths from 3-5 microns or 10-15 microns.
US08981300B2
An electromagnetic wave pulse measuring device, includes an elastic vibration wave generating section which irradiates a predetermined area of a sample with an elastic vibration wave, an electromagnetic wave pulse generating section which irradiates the predetermined area, which is irradiated with the elastic vibration wave, with an electromagnetic wave pulse, and an electromagnetic wave pulse detecting section which measures a waveform of the electromagnetic wave pulse modulated in the predetermined area by the elastic vibration wave. The timing at which the electromagnetic wave pulse detecting section measures the waveform of the electromagnetic wave pulse is a timing at which a phase angle of the elastic vibration wave has a predetermined value when the elastic vibration wave generating section generates the elastic vibration wave.
US08981294B2
An interface, a scanning electron microscope and a method for observing an object that is positioned in a non-vacuum environment. The method includes: generating an electron beam in the vacuum environment; scanning a region of the object with the electron beam while the object is located below an object holder; wherein the scanning comprises allowing the electron beam to pass through an aperture of an aperture array, pass through an ultra thin membrane that seals the aperture, and pass through the object holder; wherein the ultra thin membrane withstands a pressure difference between the vacuum environment and the non-vacuum environment; and detecting particles generated in response to an interaction between the electron beam and the object.
US08981287B2
The present invention is concerned with an ion analysis apparatus comprising an ion guide having an ion optical axis extending from an ion inlet to an ion outlet, the ion guide being configured to guide ions from the ion inlet to the ion outlet along the ion optical axis, wherein the ion guide comprises at least one extraction region located between the ion inlet and the ion outlet, the at least one extraction region being configured to extract ions moving along the ion optical axis of the ion guide in an extraction direction, the extraction direction being substantially orthogonal to the ion optical axis of the ion guide, wherein the apparatus includes ion radial confinement means that in use confine the ions in the radial direction within the ion guide.
US08981281B2
An optical module comprising a tunable interference filter including a first substrate, a second substrate facing the first substrate, a first reflective film formed on the first substrate, a second reflective film formed on the second substrate and facing the first reflective film, a gap changing unit changing a gap between the first reflective film and the second reflective film, and a driving electrode line electrically connected to the gap changing unit, a temperature sensor detecting temperature of the tunable interference filter and including a first sensor wiring and a second sensor wiring, the first sensor wiring being electrically connected to the driving electrode line, a switch electrically connected to the second sensor wiring, and a temperature detecting circuit electrically connected to the switch.
US08981279B2
A photoelectric converter includes a circuit board, a laser diode electrical mounted on the circuit board, a supporting frame, an optical transmission member mounted on the supporting frame, a beam splitting assembly and an optical sensor positioned beside the beam splitting assembly. The laser diode, the beam splitting assembly and the optical sensor are received in a space cooperatively defined by the supporting frame and the optical transmission member. The laser diode emits optical signals. A part of optical signals is refracted by the beam splitter and transmitted to the optical transmission member, and the other part of optical signals is reflected by the beam splitter to the optical sensor.
US08981268B2
An apparatus for recovering valuable elements is provided herein. In some embodiments, the apparatus having a conveyor; a container configured to be moved on the conveyor, wherein the container has an open surface; a paper package which contains a mixture containing valuable elements, the paper package being configured to be disposed in the container and to be combusted; a cover that covers the open surface of the container, the cover having an opening for discharging valuable elements vaporized from the mixture; a microwave oven through which the container having the cover and the paper package passes, wherein the microwave oven having a microwave generator and a discharging opening for discharging the valuable elements vaporized from the mixture; and a condenser coupled to the discharge opening, wherein the condenser recovers the valuable elements vaporized from the mixture.
US08981264B2
An intake air heating system for an internal combustion engine is disclosed and includes an electric heater that heats the intake air and a control module that switches a voltage to the electric heater based on a control signal. The control module includes a gate drive module that includes a bootstrap charge pump module and generates a gate drive signal based on the control signal and that is referenced to the voltage. The control module also includes a power module that switches the power to the electric heater based on the gate drive signal.
US08981255B2
Provided herein is a method for securely fixing a connecting element on a metal workpiece by welding involving the formation of locally confined weld points that permits the friction-increasing, play-free, reversible connection of joined workpieces for applications in assembly and transportation. The connecting element includes a metal foil having hard material particles fixed on the joining surfaces by a metallic binding layer. Similarly, a component having a metal workpiece and the connecting element, which is suitable for the connection of workpieces to be joined in machine, plant, and motor vehicle construction, is also provided.
US08981249B2
A gap is provided at joining faces of a pair of metal works with an uneven shape when the metal works contact one another for joining. An adhesive agent having a chain-reacting curing reaction function is disposed within the gap. The adhesive agent is cured by an autogenously-generated curing reaction heat caused by an outer energy and an additional heat that is successively generated by the autogenously-generated curing reaction heat within the adhesive agent. A welding portion, where the works contact one another substantially directly, is welded by a laser beam, and the above-described energy for causing the autogenously-generated curing reaction heat for the adhesive agent is provided by the laser beam. Accordingly, a joining structure and method of metal works that can have less limitation in a joining location is provided.
US08981232B2
A multi-layer substrate includes a ground structure, a plurality of dielectric layers on the ground structure and a plurality of conductive layers separating the plurality of dielectric layers. The conductive layers include a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer and a connection electrically coupling the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer. The first conductive layer and the ground structure are configured to define a first parasitic capacitance there between and the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are configured to define a second, negating parasitic capacitance there between.
US08981223B2
Disclosed is a shield conductor for an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle, which includes a protector, a protector closure clip, and a rubber grommet. The protector is formed of aluminum having excellent corrosion resistance and connects a battery pack and a high voltage distribution box and protects shielded and unshielded wires. The protector closure clip is formed of injection molded plastic and is attached to the outside of the protector. The rubber grommet has excellent water-sealing characteristics and surrounds the circumferences of the wires exposed to the outside of the protector. As a result, to the present invention prevents the occurrence of scratches when the wires are inserted into the protector, prevents the wires from being twisted when the protector is bent, and prevents foreign materials or water from being introduced into the protector from the outside.
US08981219B2
An electrical junction box includes an upper box section having an opened lower part, and a lower box section whose upper part is open and is mounted to the lower part of the upper box section, wherein the lower box section includes an abutment protrusion part which protrudes from an outer surface of the lower box section and has an abutment surface that abuts against an edge surface of the lower part of the upper box section when the lower box section is mounted to the upper box section. The abutment protrusion part includes an inclined surface at a place where the abutment protrusion part further extends outwards at least than an outer surface of the upper box section in a direction parallel with the abutment surface, the inclined surface connecting to the abutment surface and being inclined downwards from the abutment surface.
US08981213B1
A piezoelectric photovoltaic cell is disclosed. The cell may include a photovoltaic portion, including a sensitized semiconductor material. The cell may also include a piezoelectric portion, including a piezoelectric material.
US08981211B2
An interlayer structure that, in one implementation, includes a combination of an amorphous or nano-crystalline seed-layer, and one or more metallic layers, deposited on the seed layer, with the fcc, hcp or bcc crystal structure is used to epitaxially orient a semiconductor layer on top of non-single-crystal substrates. In some implementations, this interlayer structure is used to establish epitaxial growth of multiple semiconductor layers, combinations of semiconductor and oxide layers, combinations of semiconductor and metal layers and combination of semiconductor, oxide and metal layers. This interlayer structure can also be used for epitaxial growth of p-type and n-type semiconductors in photovoltaic cells.
US08981205B2
A photovoltaic module comprises at least one string of back contact solar cells and a porous non-conductive layer behind the cells including thereon flexible conductive pathways electrically interconnecting the solar cells. There is a back sheet and an encapsulant between the back sheet and the porous non-conductive layer flowable through the porous non-conductive layer and bonding the back sheet to the solar cells.
US08981202B2
Systems and methods for disposing and supporting a solar panel array are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system for supporting a solar panel array includes the use of support columns and cables suspended between the support columns, with the solar panels received by solar panel receivers that are adapted to couple to the cables. The solar panel array may then be used to provide power as well as shelter. Cooling, lighting, security, or other devices may be added to the solar panel array. Embodiments of the invention include differing ways to support the solar panels by receivers of differing construction. Special installations of the system can include systems mounted over structure, such as parking lots, roads and aqueducts.
US08981201B2
A frame for mounting a plurality of solar tracking units is provided. The frame comprises a plurality of leg assemblies interconnected by trusses to provide a stable structure that is ballasted by the frame's own weight, rather than relying on external ballast such as concrete blocks. Each leg assembly is provided with a shaft with a mounting end for mounting a solar tracking unit. Each solar tracking unit includes an armature assembly and at least one motor for controlling the orientation and position of a solar panel mounted thereon. Solar tracking assemblies, each comprising the frame and plurality of solar tracking units, can be assembled in an array using connectors spacing the assemblies, thus providing enhanced stability. Each of the assemblies can be provided with a local control unit for controlling each individual solar tracking unit, and a global control unit may be used to control the local control units.
US08981197B1
The circular computer interface is a keypad, keyboard or the like, allowing the user to easily actuate, or type with, all keys using only a single hand. The circular computer interface includes a cylindrical housing and a circular keypad mounted to the upper end of the cylindrical housing. The circular keypad includes a plurality of keys, where each key is contoured as a sector of a circle. To use the keypad for playing music, the keypad includes twelve such keys, with each key representing a respective tone of a chromatic musical scale, allowing the keypad to be played directly in the arrangement of the musical circle of fifths. In an alternative embodiment, the circular keypad is divided into a plurality of sets keys, where each set is arranged as a sector of the circle, and each set includes a plurality of radially arranged keys.
US08981195B2
A cymbal edge guard. The edge guard can be described as a generally U-shaped, flexible annulus, the open end of the annulus being oriented toward the center of the annulus, the annulus being dimensioned to fit over the outer perimeter of a cymbal. The edge guard may further include a gripping tongue, formed within the U-shaped portion of the annulus. Additionally, a protective bulb may be integrally formed with the outer edge of the edge guard. A double cymbal edge guards may further be provided, dimensioned to fit over the outer parameters of a matched pair of cymbals, the cymbals being arranged bottom to bottom with their peripheral edges in registration.
US08981190B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV910566. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV910566, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV910566 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV910566 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV910566.
US08981188B2
Novel expression vectors and constructs encoding a chloroplast transit peptide (CTP) operably linked to a monomeric anthranilate synthase are provided. Additionally, novel polynucleotide sequences encoding monomeric anthranilate synthases are provided. Also provided are methods for increasing the levels of free tryptophan in transgenic plants containing the expression vectors and constructs.
US08981187B1
A soybean cultivar designated 27153891 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar 27153891, to the plants of soybean cultivar 27153891, to the plant parts of soybean cultivar 27153891, and to methods for producing progeny of soybean cultivar 27153891. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. The invention also relates to soybean cultivars or breeding cultivars, and plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 27153891. The invention also relates to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines, or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 27153891, and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing cultivar 27153891 with another soybean cultivar.
US08981184B2
The invention relates to the soybean variety designated S110158. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the soybean variety S110158. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the soybean variety S110158 and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety S110158 with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods.
US08981167B2
A fluorographene and preparation method thereof are provided. For the said fluorographene, the fraction of F is 0.5
US08981164B2
The present invention relates to catalysts, to processes for making catalysts and to chemical processes employing such catalysts. The catalysts are preferably used for converting acetic acid and ethyl acetate to ethanol. The catalyst comprises a precious metal, tin and cobalt, wherein molar ratio of cobalt to tin is at least 11:1.
US08981159B2
The invention relates to a method for the oxidation of a primary or secondary alcohol, preferably to form an aldehyde or ketone, comprising the following steps: a) providing a catalyst composition comprising at least one compound containing a nitroxyl radical, at least one NO source, at least one carbon or mineral acid or an anhydride of a carbon or mineral acid; b) producing a reaction mixture by adding at least one primary or secondary alcohol and a gas comprising oxygen and optionally one or more than one solvent to the catalyst composition from step a) or step e); c) incubating the reaction mixture from step b) at a temperature of between 0 and 100° C. or at the boiling point of the solvent; d) simultaneously with or subsequent to step c): crystallizing the reaction product; and e) recovering the catalyst composition by removing the crystallized reaction product from the reaction mixture obtained in step d).
US08981154B2
Provided herein are novel solid state forms of tapentadol salts, process for their preparation, pharmaceutical compositions, and method of treating thereof. The tapentadol salts include an L-(−)-camphorsulfonate salt, a dibenzoyl-(L)-tartrate salt, a dibenzoyl-(D)-tartrate salt, a malate salt, a maleate salt, or a salicylate salt.
US08981144B2
The present invention is a method for preparing triterpenoids such as 2-cyano-3,12-dioxoolean-1,9-dien-28-methyl ester and derivatives thereof from oleanic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid, sumaresinolic acid or hederagenin.
US08981143B2
Method of producing glycerol that includes mixing a peroxide stream with an olefenic alcohol stream to form a feed stream; processing the feed stream in a high shear device to produce a high shear dispersion of peroxide and olefinic alcohol, wherein the high shear device is configured with a rotor and a stator separated by a shear gap; and contacting the high shear dispersion with a catalyst in a reactor to produce glycerol.
US08981135B2
A method for producing fatty acid alkyl esters from biolipids through transesterification and/or esterification reactions uses a flow-through cavitation device for generating cavitation bubbles in a fluidic reaction medium. The fluidic medium is passed through sequential compartments in the cavitation device having varying diameters and inner surface features to create localized reductions in fluid pressure thus vaporizing volatile alcohols and creating an increased surface area and optimized conditions for the reaction to occur at the gas-liquid interface around the bubbles.
US08981129B2
The compounds are intermediates in the preparation of therapeutic agents useful in the treatment of viral infections, particularly HIV infection. The compounds are 2-(2-hydroxy-2-phenylethyl)-3-[(phenylmethyl)oxy]-4H-pyran-4-one of the formula P-3 and/or 2-[(E)-2-phenylethenyl]-3-[(phenylmethyl)oxy]-4H-pyran-4-one of the formula P-4.
US08981127B2
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of nebivolol and, more particularly, to an improved process of synthesizing an alpha-haloketone of formula a key intermediate in the preparation of nebivolol.
US08981120B2
An organic semiconductor represented by the following formula (1). wherein Ar and Ar′ are or are not the same as each other and each of them is independently a cyclic compound having a conjugated structure; R and R′ are or are not the same as each other and each of them is independently one of a straight chain alkyl group, branched alkyl group, straight chain alkoxy group, branched alkoxy group, hydrogen, and halogen; R″ is one of a straight chain alkyl group, branched alkyl group, straight chain alkoxy group, branched alkoxy group, hydrogen, and halogen; x, y, and z are multiples of 0.5, and x≦z, y≦z; and n is a constant of 1 to 1000.
US08981119B2
The present invention is directed to compounds of Formula I: wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, X and n are described herein. These compounds and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof are useful as IK1 channel activators.
US08981118B2
Process for the preparation of a benzodithiophene compound which comprises reacting at least one monohalogenated dithiophene compound with at least one internal alkyne, in the presence of at least one catalyst containing palladium and of at least one co-catalyst containing copper in oxidation state +1.Said benzodithiophene compound, after suitable functionalization and polymerization, can be advantageously used in the construction of photovoltaic devices (or solar devices) such as, for example, photovoltaic cells (or solar cells), photovoltaic modules (or solar modules), on either rigid and flexible supports. Furthermore, said benzodithiophene compound can be advantageously used as a constituent unit of luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). Said benzodithiophene compound can also be advantageously used as a precursor of monomeric units in the preparation of semiconductor polymers.
US08981117B2
Processes for the preparation of certain isoindole compounds, and isotopologues thereof, are provided. In some embodiments, the processes comprise catalytic assymetrical hydrogenation with hydrogen gas or deuterium gas in a solvent containing exchangeable proton or deuterium for proton-deuterium exchange.
US08981113B2
Disclosed are compounds, compositions and methods for treating various diseases, syndromes, conditions and disorders, including pain. Such compounds are represented by Formula I as follows: wherein R0, R1, R2, R3, R4 and a are defined herein.
US08981112B2
The present invention relates to spirocyclic acylguanidines and their use as inhibitors of the β-secretase enzyme (BACE1) activity, pharmaceutical compositions containing the same, and methods of using the same as therapeutic agents in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, disorders characterized by cognitive decline, cognitive impairment, dementia and diseases characterized by production of β-amyloid aggregates.
US08981109B2
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of pure Valsartan (I) substantially free from impurities of formulae (Ia), (Ib), and (Ic), which comprises: (i) condensing 2-(4′-bromomethylphenyl)benzonitrile of formula (II) with L-valine methyl ester hydrochloride of formula (V) in the presence of a base in a solvent to produce N-[(2′-cyanobiphenyl-4-yl)methyl]-(L)-valine methyl ester of formula (VI); (ii) treating the compound VI of step (i) with acid followed by treating with base to produce pure compound VI substantially free from dimeric impurity of formula (Via); (iii) reacting the pure compound of formula (VI) with n-valeryl chloride in the presence of a base to produce pure N-valeryl-N-[(2′-cyanobiphenyl-4-yl)methyl]-(L)-valine methyl ester (VII) substantially free from alkene impurity of formula (Vila); (iv) reacting the compound of formula (VII) with trialkyltin chloride and a metal azide in a solvent at a reflux temperature to produce N-(1-oxopentyl)-N-[[2′-(2-tributyltintetrazol-5-yl)-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4-yl]methyl]-(L)-valine methyl ester of formula (VHIb) free from thermal degradation impurity (Villa); (v) hydrolyzing the compound of formula (VHIb) in the presence of alkaline conditions to produce Valsartan (I).
US08981107B2
There are provided a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound such as a substituted amino-pyridine-N-oxide compound represented by formula (1), which is useful as a synthetic intermediate for an agrochemical and the like; and a method for producing the nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound. (In formula (1), R1 and R2 each represents a hydrogen atom or an unsubstituted or substituted alkyl group; R3 represents a hydrogen atom, an unsubstituted or substituted alkylcarbonyl group or the like; R4 represents an unsubstituted or substituted alkylcarbonyl group, an unsubstituted or substituted arylcarbonyl group or the like; A represents a hydroxyl group, a thiol group or the like; m represents any one of integers of 1 to 4; k represents any one of integers of 0 to 3; and k+m≦4.)
US08981104B2
The present application relates to novel 5-amino-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroquinoline-2-carboxylic acids, to processes for their preparation, to their use for the treatment and/or prevention of diseases, and to their use for producing medicaments for the treatment and/or prevention of diseases, especially for the treatment and/or prevention of cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary disorders.
US08981096B2
The design and synthesis of six nickel charge transfer (CT) complexes are described herein. The six nickel CT complexes have a nickel center, two organic ligands coordinated with the nickel center to form a dianionic square planar supramolecule and an organic counter-cation as represented by The ligands and counter-cations are selected to optimize properties, such as molecular alignment, film morphology, and molecular packaging. Described herein, the ligands can be 2,3-pyrazinedithiol (L1), 1,2-benzenedithol (L2) or 2,3-quinoxalinedithol (L3) and the counter-cations can be diquat (2,2′-ebpy) or methyl viologen (4,4′-mbpy). The six nickel CT complexes can also be utilized semiconductor devices, such as thin film transistors or inverters. Processes are also provided for the fabrication of semiconductors devices. The processes can include fabricating a substrate with a bilayer octadecylphosphonic acid (ODPA)/Al2O3 dielectric and applying one of the six nickel charge transfer (CT) complexes to the substrate.
US08981095B2
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of Lurasidone or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, a compound useful for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The present invention further relates to processes for the preparation of Lurasidone intermediates, and to certain novel intermediates obtained by such processes.
US08981094B2
The invention relates to a DGAT inhibitor of formula (I): including any stereochemically isomeric form thereof, wherein A represents CH or N; the dotted line represents an optional bond in case A represents a carbon atom; X represents —C(═O)—; —O—C(═O)—; C(═O)—C(═O)—; —NRx—C(═O)—; —Z1—C(O)—; —Z1—NRx—C(═O)—; —C(═O)—Z1—; —NRx—C(═O)—Z1—; —S(═O)p-; —C(═S)—; —NRx—C(═S)—; —Z1—C(═S)—; —Z1—NRx—C(═S)—; —C(═S)—Z1-; —NRx—C(═S)—Z—; Y represents NRx—C(=0)-Z2—; —NRx—C(=0)-Z2—NRy—; —NRx—C(=0)-Z2—NRy—C(=0)-; —NRx—C(=0)-Z2—NRy—C(=0)-O—; —NRx—C(=0)-Z2-0-; —NRx—C(=0)-Z2-0-C(=0)-; —NRx—C(=0)-Z2—C(=0)-; —NRx—C(=0)-Z2—C(=0)-; —NRx—C(=0)-0-Z2—C(=0)-; —NRx—C(=0)-0-Z2—C(=0)-0-; —NRx—C(═O)—O—Z2—O—C(═O)—; —NRx—C(═O)—Z2—C(═O)—NRy—; —NRx—C(═O)—Z2—NRy—C(=0)-NRy—; —C(═O)—Z2—; —C(═O)—Z2—O—; —C(=0)-NRx—Z2—; —C(=0)-NRx—Z2-0-; —C(=0)-NRx—Z2—C(=0)-0-; —C(=0)-NRx—Z2-0-C(=0)-; —C(=0)-NRx—Z2—NRy—; —C(=0)-NRx—Z2—NRy—C(=0)-; —C(=0)-NRx—Z2—NRy—C(=0)-0-; R1 represents C1-12alkyl optionally substituted with cyano, C1-4alkyloxy, C1-4alkyl-oxyC1-4alkyloxy, C3-6Cycloalkyl or aryl; C2-6alkenyl; C2-6alkynyl; C3-6cycloalkyl; adamantanyl; aryl1; aryl1C1-6alkyl; Het1; or Het1C1-6alkyl; provided that when Y represents —NRX—C(═O)—Z2—; —NRx—C(=0)-Z2—NRy; —NRX—C(═O)—Z2—C(═O)—NRy—; —C(═O)—Z2—; —NRx—C(=0)-Z2—NRy—C(=0)-NRy—; —C(═O)—NRX—Z2—; —C(═O)—NRX—O—Z2—; or —C(=0)-NRx—Z2—NRy—; then R1 may also represent hydrogen; R2 represents hydrogen, C1-12alkyl, C2-6alkenyl or R3; provided that if X represents —O—C(═O)—; the R2 represents R3; and provided that (A) is excluded; a N-oxide thereof, a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof or a solvate thereof. The invention further relates to methods for preparing such compounds, pharmaceutical compositions comprising said compounds as well as the use as a medicine of said compounds.
US08981090B2
The present invention relates to a novel process for the preparation of pemetrexed diethyl ester 2 by purifying the mixture obtainable by reacting compounds 1 and 1a in the presence of a chemical agent capable of promoting the formation of a peptide bond in an aprotic organic solvent characterized in that the mixture is subjected to the following steps: a) washing with a basic aqueous solution; b) concentration of the organic phase; c) addition of a polar organic solvent and/or a mixture of polar organic solvents; d) precipitation of the pemetrexed diethyl ester 2.
US08981087B2
Compounds of formula (I): wherein: W is O, N—H, N-alkyl, N-alkenyl, N-alkynyl, N-aryl, N-heteroaryl or S; each X is independently CH or N; R1 is formula (b) or R3 is H, alkyl, NH2, OH, =0 or halogen; each A and B are independently CH or N; D is NHR4; R4 is H, alkyl, —C(O)-alkyl. —C(O)—NH2, —C(O)—NH-alkyl, —SO2-alkyl, —SO2—NH2 or —SO2—NH-alkyl; R2 is aryl substituted with at least one nitrogen-containing group or R2 is a nitrogen-containing heteroaryl, cycloalkyl substituted with a nitrogen-containing group, nitrogen-containing cycloalkyl, C1-C6 mono alkylamino, C1C6 bis alkylamino, C1C6 acylamino, C1-C6 aminoalkyl, mono (C1C6 alkyl)amino C1-C6 alkyl, bis (C1C6 alkyl)amino C1C6 alkyl, C1-C6-acylamino or C1 C6 alkynyl-NR11, R11 is H, alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, heteroaryl, halogen, O-alkyl, NH-alkyl, N-dialkyl, —C(O)—R7, —C(O)—NH2, —C(O)—NH—R7, —SO2—R7, —SO2—NH2, —SO2—NH—R7, NH-acyl, NH-sulfonyl, NR7-acyl, NR7-sulfonyl, N—C(O)—NH—R7, N—SO2—NH—R7, N—C(O)—NR7R7 or N—SO2—NR7R7; and R7 is alkyl, aryl or heteroaryl, are useful as PI3K inhibitors and are useful in therapy.
US08981086B2
Described are palladium precatalysts, and methods of making and using them. The palladium precatalysts show improved stability and improved reactivity in comparison to previously-described palladium precatalysts.
US08981084B2
Disclosed are compounds having the formula: wherein X1, X2, X3, R1, R2, Y, Q, X, B and L are as defined herein, and methods of making and using the same.
US08981079B2
A chlorinating agent such as a chloroiminium species is used to remove or neutralize tertiary acetamide present as a contaminant in a tertiary formamide solvent. Tertiary formamide solvent purified or treated in this manner can be used as a reaction vehicle for the chlorination of sucrose-6-acylates, thereby improving the yields of the desired sucralose-6-acylate (an intermediate in the production of sucralose).
US08981077B2
A solid matrix for the extraction, stabilization, and storage of nucleic acids is provided. At least one protein denaturant, and at least one acid or acid-titrated buffer reagent are impregnated in a dry state therein the matrix; and the matrix is configured to provide an acidic pH on hydration. The matrix is configured to extract nucleic acids from a sample and stabilize the extracted nucleic acids, particularly RNA, in a dry format under ambient conditions for a prolonged period of time. Methods for collecting and recovering the nucleic acids stored in the dry solid matrix are also described.
US08981073B2
Disclosed are an HCV gene having higher replication efficiency and higher reinfection efficiency than the known HCV gene of genotype 1b, an RNA replicon having this gene, a cell infected with this RNA replicon, which cell allows replication of HCV, and an HCV particle. The hepatitis C virus gene encodes an amino acid sequence wherein the 979th amino acid is threonine; the 1804th amino acid is leucine; and the 1966th amino acid is lysine. An HCV gene which can propagate in vitro and has higher replication efficiency and higher reinfection efficiency than the known HCV gene of genotype 1b was provided.
US08981063B2
The invention provides novel polypeptides useful for co-stimulating T cells, isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding them, vectors containing the nucleic acid molecules, and cells containing the vectors. Also included are methods of making and using these co-stimulatory polypeptides.
US08981062B2
In certain embodiments, this present invention provides polypeptide compositions (e.g., antibodies and antigen binding portions thereof that bind to EphB4), and methods for inhibiting EphB4 activity. In other embodiments, the present invention provides methods and compositions for treating cancer or for treating angiogenesis-associated diseases.
US08981046B2
The present invention provides synthetic cell platforms. The synthetic cell platforms can be used for culturing cells in vitro. The synthetic cell platforms can also be implanted together with bound cells into an individual. The present invention provides methods of using the platforms to provide cells or progeny of such cells for use in various applications, including clinical applications; and methods of use of the platforms to introduce cells into an individual.
US08981039B2
The present invention relates to a composition that can be used to manufacture an impermeable, sealing, tight envelope, to a process for manufacturing an impermeable envelope, and to a tank. The composition of the invention comprises in % by weight relative to the total weight of the composition: from 70 to 90% of a monomer (I); from 0.1 to 1% of an activator (II), in which R is chosen from the group comprising CnH2n+2, n being an integer chosen from 1 to 10; —OH; —OCnH2n+2, n being an integer chosen from 1 to 10; and —NHR′ where R′ is either CnH2n+2, n being an integer chosen from 1 to 10, or an amine functional group; from 2 to 6% of a catalyst (III), in which X is chosen from the group comprising MgBr, MgI, Li and Na; and from 10 to 20% of an additive (IV), with: This composition can be used, for example, to manufacture elements that are impermeable to fluids, for example impermeable envelopes, for example that can be used in the manufacture of type IV tanks or hydraulic accumulators.
US08981034B2
A method for preparing polyaryletherketone-based copolymer by using quaternary copolymerization technology comprises: (1) adding high-temperature organic solvent into a three-necked flask equipped with a thermometer, a nitrogen-feeding pipe, and a stirrer; then stirring and heating; orderly adding 4,4′-difluordiphenylketone, 4,4′-bifluorotriphenyldione, hydroquinone, and 4,4′-dihydroxydiphenylketone after the high-temperature organic solvent has been melted, and stirring to completely dissolve them; adding alkali carbonate of 1-5% excessive amount relative to total mole of hydroquinone and 4,4′-dihydroxydiphenylketone; heating to 220-230° C. while stirring, and maintaining the temperature for 20-40 minutes to complete the first salt-forming reaction, (2) heating to 250-260° C., and maintaining the temperature for 20-40 minutes to complete the second salt-forming reaction, (3) heating to 300-320° C. to start condensation polymerization, and maintaining the temperature for 3-4 hours to complete the polymerization, and (4) pouring the obtained polymer solution into distilled water at room temperature to cool to strip-shaped solid, pulverizing, extracting with ethanol to remove organic solvent, extracting with deionized water to remove byproduct salts, and vacuum-drying to obtain quaternary copolymer containing PEEK, PEEKK, PEK, and PEKEKK repeating units in molecule chains. When the mole ratio of hydroquinone to 4,4′-dihydroxydiphenylketone is above 99:1 and the mole ratio of 4,4′-difluorodiphenylketone to 4,4′-bifluorotriphenyldione is above 99:1, the obtained quaternary copolymer mainly contains PEEK chain segments, and has the same macrophysical properties as those of PEEK.
US08981033B2
A curable resin comprising a curing agent, wherein the curing agent comprises an adjustable structural unit having a stable chain-like arrangement which is adjustable to a stable ring-like arrangement, wherein the ring-like arrangement comprises the constituents of the chain-like arrangement with two terminal constituents exhibiting an attractive chemical interaction, and is adjustable back from the ring-like arrangement to the chain-like arrangement by separation of the two terminal constituents.
US08981028B2
Copolymers, especially multi-block copolymer containing therein two or more segments or blocks differing in tacticity, are prepared by polymerizing propylene, 4-methyl-1-pentene, or another C4-8 α-olefin in the presence of a composition comprising the admixture or reaction product resulting from combining: (A) a first metal complex olefin polymerization catalyst, (B) a second metal complex olefin polymerization catalyst capable of preparing polymers differing in tacticity from the polymer prepared by catalyst (A) under equivalent polymerization conditions, and (C) a chain shuttling agent.
US08981022B2
There is provided a method of producing a composition having a continuous phase and a disperse phase dispersed finely with low polydispersity in the continuous phase, with high production efficiency. The composition is produced by the production method including the steps of: (A) passing the swirling flow of the continuous phase liquid into a cylindrical body the circumferential surface of which is either in part or entirely formed by a porous membrane, (B1) supplying the disperse phase fluid to the swirling flow via the porous membrane to form the particles of the disperse phase on the porous membrane, and (B2) detaching the disperse phase particles formed on the porous membrane by the shear force of the swirling flow.
US08981018B2
The condition of internal or hidden material layers or interfaces is monitored and used for control of a process that changes a condition of a material system. The material system has multiple component materials, such as layers or embedded constituents, or can be represented with multiple layers to model spatial distributions in the material properties. The material condition changes as a result of a process performed on the material, such as by cold working, or from functional operation. Sensors placed proximate to the test material surface or embedded between material layers are used to monitor a material property using magnetic, electric, or thermal interrogation fields. The sensor responses are converted into states of the material condition, such as temperature or residual stress, typically with a precomputed database of sensor responses. The sensor responses can also be used to determine properties of the test material, such as electrical conductivity or magnetic permeability, prior to conversion to the material state. The states are used to support control decisions that control the process or operation causing the material condition to change.
US08981011B2
The present application relates to an olefin-based ionomer resin composition, to an encapsulant, and to an optoelectronic device. The resin composition according to the present application may be used as an encapsulant for a variety of optoelectronic devices, and may exhibit superior adhesion to the substrates of the optoelectronic devices. In addition, according to the present application, an olefin-based ionomer resin composition, which can provide good workability and economic advantages in the manufacture of devices without negatively affecting components such as encapsulated optoelectronic elements or the wired electrodes of optoelectronic devices, may be provided.
US08981003B2
A thermoplastic elastomer compound is disclosed having copolyester elastomer, epoxidized soybean oil, and vulcanized vegetable oil. The compound has a biorenewable content of at least about 50 weight percent of the compound. The compound can be used to make a plastic article needing a Shore A hardness of from about 40 to about 70. The compound is a sustainable solution for extruded or molded articles.
US08981000B2
A polymer has at least the following characteristics: (a) a block styrene content containing 4 to 6 styrene units from about 27 to about 50 weight percent based on total styrene content in the polymer; (b) a vinyl content from about 30 to about 80 weight percent based on total amount of polymerized 1,3-butadiene; and (c) a styrene content from about 40 to about 70 weight percent based on total weight of polymer. Processes for the polymerization of such a polymer, compositions containing such a polymer, and articles containing at least one component formed from such a composition are described.
US08980982B2
A plastic packaging component is provided that is formed of a resin containing an electromagnetic spectrally detectable additive mixed with the resin. The resin formed into a plastic packaging component of an aerosol package lid, an aerosol spray button, an aerosol spray tube, a trigger sprayer, an integrated lid-sprayer, a grease cartridge, a grease cap, plastic fiber toweling, a packaging strap, a pail lid, a jar cap, or a brush. A process for detecting a displaced packaging component in an organic production stream is provided that includes adding to a resin an electromagnetically detectable additive intermixed with the resin and forming the additive loaded resin into the plastic packaging component. The production stream is then scanned for the detectable signal of the additive. Upon detecting the additive, an alarm signal is provided that the production stream contains the displaced packaging component.
US08980981B2
A hot-melt adhesive composition intended to form a film: a) from 20 to 60% by weight of a styrene block copolymer; b) from 5 to 50% by weight of a particular tackifying resin; c) from 10 to 40% of a Fischer-Tropsch type wax; and d) from 1 to 30% of a polyethylene wax and/or at least one polyolefin polymerized by metallocene catalysis; said composition having a Brookfield viscosity at 180° C. from 3,000 to 70,000 mPa·s, a softening point of 80 at 130° C., and a modulus of elasticity at 60° C. of 2×105 to 108 Pa. A film for hot-melt adhesive product constituted by a hot-melt adhesive material of such a composition. A ready-to-use hot-melt adhesive product and its production, said hot-melt adhesive product having a coating constituted by such a film.
US08980975B2
Compositions including carbon nanofoam are suitable for printing and magnetic ink.
US08980972B2
Polymerisable material which comprises a polymerisable group, a siloxane group-containing component and a zwitterionic group is described. The polymerisable material may be used to produce polymers and articles, in particular contact lenses.
US08980962B2
Methods for producing or regenerating an iodinated resin are presented. The methods include converting iodide residues on a surface of and in pores of an iodide loaded anion exchange resin to iodine and iodine intermediates using a source of active halogen to form an iodinated resin having iodine and iodine intermediate residues on the surface of and in the pores of the iodinated resin. The iodinated resins show reduced and stable levels of iodine elution compared to conventional iodinated anion exchange resins and may utilizes less iodine raw materials during the manufacturing process. The iodinated resin can also act as an end-of life indicator in a water purification system that incorporates the iodinated resin to reduce microbial, including bacterial and viral, contamination in drinking water sources. Methods and systems for purifying water are also presented.
US08980958B2
A method for producing an emulsion is provided. At least a fluid to be processed that forms continuous phase and a fluid to be processed that forms dispersed phase are mixed in a thin film fluid formed between processing surfaces arranged to be opposite to each other so as to be able to approach to and separate from each other, at least one of which rotates relative to the other, whereby the emulsion having variation coefficient of 0.3 to 30% in a particle size distribution is obtained.
US08980956B2
A method for producing polymerizable solution which comprises dissolving an ethylenically unsaturated zwitterionic monomer in a co-monomer system comprising a functionalized ethylenically unsaturated monomer in which the zwitterionic monomer is soluble, a siloxane group-containing monomer or macromer, and a crosslinking agent is disclosed. The polymerizable solution is biocompatible and can be used to produce polymers and articles such as contact lenses.
US08980954B2
The present invention relates to method(s) of treating a subject afflicted with cancer or a precancerous condition, an inflammatory disease or condition, and/or stroke or other ischemic disease or condition, the method comprising administering to the subject or patient in need a composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of a substituted cis or trans-stilbene.
US08980951B2
Bicyclic sesquiterpene compounds exhibiting antifungal characteristics are formulated into antifungal compositions for use in the treatment of fungal infections in humans, animals, and plants. Particularly, sesquiterpene alcohols derived from drimane have been discovered to possess broad-spectrum antifungal characteristics. Exemplary antifungal sesquiterpene compounds include albicanol and drimenol, which have been shown effective against a number of pathogenic fungi.
US08980950B2
Novel calcilytic compounds and methods of using them are provided.
US08980948B2
Travoprost medicament compositions for non-daily topical application are useful for simulating or inducing the growth and/or decreasing the loss and/or increasing the density and/or reducing the heterogeneity in the diameter of human hair shafts/follicles, e.g., for the treatment of androgenic alopecia, such medicament compositions being at least twice applied over a time interval of greater than 24 hours.
US08980929B2
The present invention is directed to novel amino-substituted seven-membered heterocyclic compounds of structural formula (I) which are inhibitors of the dipeptidyl peptidase-IV enzyme and which are useful in the treatment or prevention of diseases in which the dipeptidyl peptidase-IV enzyme is involved, such as diabetes and particularly Type 2 diabetes. The invention is also directed to pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds and the use of these compounds and compositions in the prevention or treatment of such diseases in which the dipeptidyl peptidase-IV enzyme is involved.
US08980924B2
Non-retinoid RBP4 antagonist for treatment of age-related macular degeneration and stargardt disease
A method for treating bisretinoid-mediated macular degeneration in a mammal afflicted therewith comprising administering to the mammal an effective amount of a compound having the structure: or an ester or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
US08980917B2
The invention is directed to methods of treating organ specific infections in a host organism by administering compounds that target host receptors and/or host cellular signaling molecules to prevent a pathogen from infecting the organ. For example, the administration of a compound to prevent a pathogen from crossing the blood-brain barrier to prevent a brain infection.
US08980907B2
The present invention relates to novel therapeutic and diagnostic dendrimers. In particular, the present invention is directed to dendrimer-linker conjugates, methods of synthesizing the same, compositions comprising the conjugates, as well as systems and methods utilizing the conjugates (e.g., in diagnostic and/or therapeutic settings (e.g., for the delivery of therapeutics, imaging, and/or targeting agents (e.g., in disease (e.g., cancer) diagnosis and/or therapy, pain therapy, etc.)). Accordingly, dendrimer-linker conjugates of the present invention may further comprise one or more components for targeting, imaging, sensing, and/or providing a therapeutic or diagnostic material and/or monitoring response to therapy.
US08980895B2
The present invention relates to compounds and pharmaceutically acceptable salts, esters and prodrugs of Formula (I) or (II): which are useful as AMPK modulators effective in treating diabetes, obesity and cancer in a subject.
US08980894B2
The invention relates to the use of a phosphodiesterase type III (PDE III) inhibitor or Ca2+-sensitizing agent or a pharmaceutically acceptable derivative thereof for the preparation of a medication for the prolongation of time until onset of clinical symptoms in patients having an asymptomatic (occult) heart failure or for the reduction of heart size in patients having symptomatic or asymptomatic (occult) heart failure.
US08980886B2
The present invention relates to novel anthranilic acid derivatives of the general formula (I) in which R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, Qx, A, Qy and n have the meanings given in the description, to their use as insecticides and acaricides for controlling animal pests, also in combination with other agents for activity boosting, and to a plurality of processes for their preparation.
US08980882B2
The invention relates to a pharmaceutical preparation for applying a pharmaceutical agent. According to the invention, the preparation contains: a) a pharmaceutical agent which has an aromatic group or an aromatic part and the molecule of which has a maximum diameter of ≦2 nm; b) a permethylated cyclodextrin having a degree of substitution of 3 methyl groups per glucopyranose unit. The permethylated cyclodextrin and the pharmaceutical agent form a complex.
US08980881B2
The present invention is directed to crystalline forms of (R)-8-chloro-1-methyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-3-benzazepine, compositions containing the same and uses thereof.
US08980875B2
The invention relates to the platinum N-heterocycle derivatives of general formula (I) in which—R1 and/or R2 are, independently of one another, an aryl or aralkyl group, each optionally substituted, a linear or branched C1-C6 alkyl group, a monocyclic C3-C7 cycloalkyl group or a linear or branched C2-C6 alkenyl group, or else R′ is a hydrogen atom and R is a group selected from the following groups: cycloalkyl or heterocycloalkyl, which is monocyclic or bicyclic and has from 3 to 8 carbon atoms, or benzyl, which is optionally substituted, or else R and R′ form, together with NH, a C3-C8 monocyclic or bicyclic heterocycloalkyl, V is a nitrogen atom or a C—R4 radical, R3 and/or R4 are hydrogen or a phenyl group or R3 and R4 may also together form a C3-C6 alkylene radical or a C3-C6 heteroalkylene radical with one or more nitrogenous heteroatoms, it being possible for the carbon atoms of the heteroalkylene radical to be modified in the form of a carbonyl radical, and X is iodine, bromine, chlorine or a nitrato (—ONO2) group.
US08980859B2
The present invention relates to the discovery of the Aegyptin gene and Aegyptin protein, a molecule that interacts with collagen and inhibits platelet adhesion, activation and aggregation. Novel biological tools, prophylactics, therapeutics, diagnostics, and methods of use of the foregoing are also disclosed.
US08980857B2
The present invention relates to antisense oligonucleotides that modulate the expression of and/or function of PAR4, in particular, by targeting natural antisense polynucleotides of PAR4. The invention also relates to the identification of these antisense oligonucleotides and their use in treating diseases and disorders associated with the expression of PAR4.
US08980850B2
The present disclosure relates to methods for the treatment of cancer in patients in recognized need of such treatment. The methods comprise administering to such a patient an NAE inhibitor or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, such as ((1S,2S,4R)-4-(4-((1S)-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-ylamino)-7H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-7-yl)-2-hydroxycyclopentyl)methyl sulfamate (MLN4924) or {(1S,2S,4R)-4-[(6-{[(1R,2S)-5-chloro-2-methoxy-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-yl]amino}pyrimidin-4-yl)oxy]-2-hydroxycyclopentyl}methyl sulfamate (I-216), and a hypomethylating agent or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, such as azacitidine or decitabine. Also disclosed are medicaments for use in the treatment of cancer.
US08980847B2
The present invention relates to the therapeutic or ameliorating effects of anthocyanin extracted from black soybean on varicocele or male infertility. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for treating or ameliorating varicocele or male infertility using anthocyanin extracted from black soybean.
US08980843B2
Peptides are provided having leptin receptor agonist activity. The peptides are useful for treating obesity, type II diabetes, appetite control after bariatric surgery, insulin resistance, lipodystrophy and hypothalamic amenorrhea, obesity-related infertility, among other diseases and conditions related to leptin deficiency and/or leptin resistance.
US08980841B2
A method for treating a disease, particularly asthma and anaphylactic shock, comprises administering to a subject in need thereof an effective amount of an EC-SOD protein or a vector having a polynucleotide encoding thereof.
US08980836B2
The invention herein related to methods and compositions for treating nervous system disorders. The methods comprise administration of antibodies directed towards peptides that bind to receptors important in disease progression, thus attenuating the disease.
US08980835B2
A chemically modified water-soluble elastin that is obtained by subjecting to N-acylating some or all of the primary amines and secondary amines contained in the molecule of a high molecular weight water-soluble elastin and coupling some or all of the carboxyl groups contained in the molecule with the amino group of an amino acid alkyl ester.A chemically modified water-soluble elastin/collagen mixed gel obtained by mixing a collagen with a chemically modified water-soluble elastin that is obtained by subjecting to N-acylating some or all of the primary amines and secondary amines contained in the molecule of a high molecular weight water-soluble elastin and coupling some or all of the carboxyl groups contained in the molecule with the amino group of an amino acid alkyl ester.
US08980818B2
The present invention relates to an aqueous composition comprising three components. The first component is a primary detergent, non-ionic surfactant with a critical packing parameters (CPP) of ≧0.95. The second component is a inorganic particle whose surface has been modified to improve stability. The third necessary component is a secondary surfactant with a CPP of ≦0.85. The secondary surfactant can function to improve the overall cleaning performance, the streaking performance and provide overall formulation stability.
US08980807B2
A method for producing a high viscosity, low volatiles blown stripped oil blend is provided. The method may include the steps of: (i) obtaining an oil blend of corn stillage oil and soybean oil having a weight ratio of corn stillage oil to soybean oil of from about 1:2 to 3:1; (ii) heating the oil blend to at least 90° C.; (iii) passing air through the heated oil blend to produce a blown oil having a viscosity of at least 50 cSt at 40° C.; and (iv) stripping the blown oil from step (iii) to reduce an acid value of the blown oil to less than 5.0 mg KOH/gram.
US08980803B2
Provided for are lubricant base stocks with improved filterability. The lubricant base stock includes a bright stock or a heavy neutral and an effective amount of a pour point depressant. The filterability of the base stock as measured by the Membrane Filtration Method is less than or equal to 400 seconds. Also provided for are lubricating oils with improved filterability and methods of improving the filterability of lubricant base stocks.
US08980798B2
The precipitation of polymeric kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) in stored produced water is prevented or inhibited by incorporating a water immiscible solvent therein having a polarity index greater than about 3. The polymeric KHIs whose precipitation is inhibited or prevented include, but are not limited to, hyperbranched molecules, polyvinylcaprolactam, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and the like. Suitable water immiscible solvents include, but are not necessarily limited to, xylene, toluene, kerosene, mineral spirits, trimethylbenzene, cumene, heavy aromatic naphtha, ethylbenzene, polyethylbenzene, naphthalene, and mixtures thereof.
US08980795B2
Novel compounds of formula (I) their use as germination trap for parasitic weeds, for the regulation of branching, tillering and root development, for enhancement of cambium growth, for the regulation of hyphal growth of mycorrhizal fungi and compositions comprising compounds of formula (I) and insecticides and/or fungicides.
US08980794B2
This invention relates to a synergistic herbicidal composition comprising Component A comprised of i) 25 to 40% asulam, or its sodium salt; ii) 10 to 20% of a surfactant; iii) 0 to 1% of an antifoam; iv) 0 to 5% adjuvants and auxiliaries; and v) 40 to 65% water; and Component B comprised of trifloxysulfuron, or its herbicidally effective salts; wherein the ratio of Component A to Component B is in range of 80:1 to 380:1 based on active ingredient. The invention furthermore relates to a method of controlling weeds in crops of useful plants, especially in postemergence sugarcane, and to the use of this novel composition for this purpose.
US08980785B2
A catalyst structure suitable for use in an ammonia oxidation process is described including a plurality of shaped catalyst units supported on one or more members in a spaced relationship that allows the structure to flex.
US08980781B2
The present invention relates to novel metallocene catalysts of formula I, which is defined herein. The present invention also provides processes for making these catalysts and their use in olefin polymerisation reactions.
US08980778B2
The present invention relates to novel binder and slurry formulations used to form molds for casting metal alloys and, more particularly, reactive metal alloys. The shell molds lead to more uniform castings which exhibit limited alpha case as compared to other currently available shell mold systems.
US08980768B2
A protective insulation film covering a surface of a compound semiconductor region is formed to have a two-layer structure of a first insulation film and a second insulation film which have different properties. The first insulation film is a non-stoichiometric silicon nitride film while the second insulation film is a silicon nitride film in an almost stoichiometric state.
US08980767B2
Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate are provided. In some embodiments, a method of processing a substrate disposed in a process chamber includes performing a process on a substrate disposed in a process chamber having a substrate support ring configured to support the substrate and a reflector plate disposed proximate a back side of the substrate; providing a first gas comprising one of an oxygen containing gas or a nitrogen containing gas to a back side of the substrate via one or more through holes disposed in the reflector plate while performing the process on the substrate; and maintaining the process chamber at a first pressure proximate a top surface of the substrate and at a second pressure proximate the bottom surface of the substrate, wherein the first pressure is greater than the second pressure sufficiently to prevent dislodgement of the substrate from the substrate support ring during processing.
US08980756B2
Embodiments of a method for device fabrication by reverse pitch reduction flow include forming a first pattern of features above a substrate and forming a second pattern of pitch-multiplied spacers subsequent to forming the first pattern of features. In embodiments of the invention the first pattern of features may be formed by photolithography and the second pattern of pitch-multiplied spacers may be formed by pitch multiplication. Other methods for device fabrication are provided.
US08980751B2
Polymerized material on a substrate may be removed by exposure to vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation from an energy source within a gaseous atmosphere of a controlled composition. Following such removal, additional etching techniques are also described for nano-imprinting.
US08980743B2
A wafer level semiconductor device and manufacturing method including providing a semiconductor device wafer substrate having a backside, applying to the backside a conductive metallization layer, and applying to the backside over the conductive metallization layer a protective metal layer of titanium, titanium alloys, nickel, nickel alloys, chromium, chromium alloys, cobalt. cobalt alloys, palladium, and palladium alloys.
US08980741B2
A system and method are disclosed for providing a through silicon via (TSV) with a barrier pad deposited below the top surface of the TSV, the top surface having reduced topographic variations. A bottom TSV pad is deposited into a via and then polished so the top surface is below the substrate top surface. A barrier pad is then deposited in the via, and a top TSV pad deposited on the barrier pad. The top TSV barrier pad is polished to bring the top surface of the top TSV pad about level with the substrate. The barrier pad may be less than about 1 microns thick, and the top TSV pad may be less than about 6 microns thick. The barrier pad may be a dissimilar metal from the top and bottom TSV pads, and may be selected from a group comprising titanium, tantalum, cobalt, nickel and the like.
US08980731B2
Methods of forming a semiconductor device are provided. The methods may include forming first and second layers that are alternately and repeatedly stacked on a substrate, and forming an opening penetrating the first and second layers. The methods may also include forming a first semiconductor pattern in the opening. The methods may additionally include forming an insulation pattern on the first semiconductor pattern. The methods may further include forming a second semiconductor pattern on the insulation pattern. The methods may also include providing dopants in the first semiconductor pattern. Moreover, the methods may include thermally treating a portion of the first semiconductor pattern to form a third semiconductor pattern.
US08980728B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor apparatus is disclosed. A first-type doped layer, a second-type doped layer, and an internal electrical connection layer are formed. The internal electrical connection layer is deposited and electrically coupled between the first-type doped layer and the second-type doped layer. In one embodiment, the internal electrical connection layer is formed by using a group IV based precursor and nitrogen based precursor. In another embodiment, the internal electrical connection layer is formed by a mixture comprising a carbon-contained doping source, and the internal electrical connection layer has a carbon concentration greater than 1017 atoms/cm3. In a further embodiment, the internal electrical connection layer is formed at a temperature lower than those of the first-type doped layer and the second-type doped layer.
US08980712B2
A non-volatile memory device having a string of a plurality of memory cells that are serially coupled, wherein the string of memory cells includes a plurality of second channels of a pillar type, a first channel coupling lower end portions of the plurality of the second channels with each other, and a plurality of control gate electrodes surrounding the plurality of the second channels.
US08980710B2
An impurity layer is formed in a first region of a semiconductor substrate, a silicon layer is grown on the semiconductor substrate, a tunnel gate insulating film is formed on a first silicon layer of a second region, a first conductor layer is formed on the tunnel gate insulating film, a first silicon oxide film and a silicon nitride film are formed on a second silicon layer, in a reduced pressure state, oxygen and hydrogen are independently introduced into an oxidation furnace to expose the silicon nitride film to active species of the oxygen and active species of the hydrogen to thereby oxidize the silicon nitride film to form a second silicon oxide film, a gate insulating film is formed on the silicon layer of the first region, a second conductor layer is formed on the second silicon oxide film and on the gate insulating film, the second conductor layer and the first conductor layer of the second region are patterned to form a stack gate of a nonvolatile memory transistor, and the second conductor layer above the first region is patterned to form a gate electrode of an MIS-type transistor.
US08980701B1
A method of forming a semiconductor device includes the following steps. At least a fin structure is provided on a substrate and a gate structure partially overlapping the fin structure is formed. Then, a dielectric layer is formed on the substrate. Subsequently, a first etching process is performed to remove apart of the dielectric layer to form a first spacer surrounding the gate structure and a second spacer surrounding a sidewall of the fin structure, and a protective layer is formed in-situ to cover the gate structure and the first spacer. Finally, a second etching process is performed to remove a part of the protective layer and totally remove the second spacer.
US08980693B2
A microelectronic assembly includes a first microelectronic package having a substrate with first and second opposed surfaces and substrate contacts thereon. The first package further includes first and second microelectronic elements, each having element contacts electrically connected with the substrate contacts and being spaced apart from one another on the first surface so as to provide an interconnect area of the first surface between the first and second microelectronic elements. A plurality of package terminals at the second surface are electrically interconnected with the substrate contacts for connecting the package with a component external thereto. A plurality of stack terminals are exposed at the first surface in the interconnect area for connecting the package with a component overlying the first surface of the substrate. The assembly further includes a second microelectronic package overlying the first microelectronic package and having terminals joined to the stack terminals of the first microelectronic package.
US08980687B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes providing a transfer foil. A plurality of semiconductor chips is placed on and adhered to the transfer foil. The plurality of semiconductor chips adhered to the transfer foil is placed over a multi-device carrier. Heat is applied to laminate the transfer foil over the multi-device carrier, thereby accommodating the plurality of semiconductor chips between the laminated transfer foil and the multi-device carrier.
US08980681B2
The disclosure provides a method for fabricating a solar cell, including: providing a first substrate; forming a light absorption precursor layer on the first substrate; conducting a thermal process to the light absorption precursor layer to form a light absorption layer, wherein the light absorption layer includes a first light absorption layer and a second light absorption layer, and the first absorption layer is formed on the first substrate; forming a second substrate on the second light absorption layer; removing the first substrate to expose a surface of the first light absorption layer; forming a zinc sulfide (ZnS) layer on the surface of the first light absorption layer; and forming a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) layer on the zinc sulfide (ZnS) layer.
US08980676B2
A method of forming a window cap wafer (WCW) structure for semiconductor devices includes machining a plurality of cavities into a front side of a first substrate; bonding the first substrate to a second substrate, at the front side of the first substrate; removing a back side of the first substrate so as to expose the plurality of cavities, thereby defining the WCW structure comprising the second substrate and a plurality of vertical supports comprised of material of the first substrate.
US08980675B2
A method for manufacturing a spectroscopic sensor 1 comprises a first step of forming a cavity layer 21 by etching a surface layer disposed on a handle substrate, a second step of forming a first mirror layer 22 on the cavity layer 21 after the first step, a third step of joining a light-transmitting substrate 3 onto the first mirror layer 22 after the second step, a fourth step of removing the handle substrate from the cavity layer 21 after the third step, a fifth step of forming a second mirror layer 23 on the cavity layer 21 devoid of the handle substrate after the fourth step, and a sixth step of joining a light-detecting substrate 4 onto the second mirror layer after the fifth step.
US08980665B2
It is an object to provide a highly reliable semiconductor device including a thin film transistor whose electric characteristics are stable. In addition, it is another object to manufacture a highly reliable semiconductor device at low cost with high productivity. In a semiconductor device including a thin film transistor, a semiconductor layer of the thin film transistor is formed with an oxide semiconductor layer to which a metal element is added. As the metal element, at least one of metal elements of iron, nickel, cobalt, copper, gold, manganese, molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, and tantalum is used. In addition, the oxide semiconductor layer contains indium, gallium, and zinc.
US08980660B2
A method of manufacturing a light emitting device is provided in which satisfactory image display can be performed by the investigation and repair of short circuits in defect portions of light emitting elements. A backward direction electric current flows in the defect portions if a reverse bias voltage is applied to the light emitting elements having the defect portions. Emission of light which occurred from the backward direction electric current flow is measured by using an emission microscope, specifying the position of the defect portions, and short circuit locations can be repaired by irradiating a laser to the defect portions, turning them into insulators.
US08980658B2
A light-emitting element includes a n-type silicon oxide film and a p-type silicon nitride film. The n-type silicon oxide film and the p-type silicon nitride film formed on the n-type silicon oxide film form a p-n junction. The n-type silicon oxide film includes a plurality of quantum dots composed of n-type Si while the p-type silicon nitride film includes a plurality of quantum dots composed of p-type Si. Light emission occurs from the boundary between the n-type silicon oxide film and the p-type silicon nitride film by injecting electrons from the n-type silicon oxide film side and holes from the p-type silicon nitride film side.
US08980657B2
The present invention is a method for producing a light-emitting device whose p contact layer has a p-type conduction and a reduced contact resistance with an electrode. On a p cladding layer, by MOCVD, a first p contact layer of GaN doped with Mg is formed. Subsequently, after lowering the temperature to a growth temperature of a second p contact layer being formed in the subsequent process, which is 700° C., the supply of ammonia is stopped and the carrier gas is switched from hydrogen to nitrogen. Thereby, Mg is activated in the first p contact layer, and the first p contact layer has a p-type conduction. Next, the second p contact layer of InGaN doped with Mg is formed on the first p contact layer by MOCVD using nitrogen as a carrier gas while maintaining the temperature at 700° C. which is the temperature of the previous process.
US08980655B2
A test apparatus includes a foreign matter removal unit having a first slope provided with an abrasive coating or an adhesive sheet and a second slope provided with an abrasive coating or an adhesive sheet, the second slope facing the first slope in such a manner that an upper end of the second slope is spaced from an upper end of the first slope a greater distance than a lower end of the second slope is spaced from a lower end of the first slope, a test unit for testing electrical characteristics of a semiconductor chip, and a transfer unit for holding and releasing the semiconductor chip at a position above the first and second slopes and transferring the semiconductor chip to the test unit.
US08980654B2
The ion implantation method includes setting an ion beam scanning speed and a mechanical scanning speed of an object during ion implantation using hybrid scan in advance and implanting ions based on the set ion beam scanning speed and the set mechanical scanning speed of the object. In the setting in advance, each of the ion beam scanning speeds is set based on each of ion beam scanning amplitudes changing severally according to a surface outline of an object which is irradiated with the ions so that an ion beam scanning frequency is maintained constant for any of ion beam scanning amplitudes, and the mechanical scanning speed of the object corresponding to the ion beam scanning speed is set so that an ion implantation dose per unit area to be implanted into the surface of the object is maintained constant.
US08980651B2
A multi-patterning method of manufacturing a patterned wafer provides test structures designed to enhance overlay error measurement sensitivity for monitoring and process control. One or more patterns are overlaid on a first pattern, each of a given pitch, with the elements interleaved. Test structure is formed with elements of the overlaid patterns spaced away from respective mid-positions more closely toward elements of the first pattern. In some embodiments, test structure elements of the second pattern are overlaid midway between mid-positions of elements of the first pattern and measured by scatterometry. In other embodiments, test structure elements of the second pattern are overlaid at a slightly different pitch than the elements of the first pattern and measured by reflectivity. Measurements are compared with library measurements to identify the error, which may be fed back to control the patterning process. The multi-patterning may be formed by LELE, LLE, LFLE, or other methods.
US08980639B2
The present invention is concerned with a method of discriminating between, in a surface of a transition metal alloy, transition metals in different oxidation states using surface sensor molecules adapted to associate selectively with one of the transition metals. In particular, the present invention provides a method of identifying degradation in aircraft components such as turbine blades, engine casings and aerofoils. In embodiments, a surface sensor molecule comprising an oxidation state discriminating group, such as an imidazole, and a fluorescein probe is applied in aqueous solution to the surface of a service-run Ni alloy aircraft component. The sensor molecule selectively associates with transition metals in oxidation states greater than zero such that fluorescence imaging can be used to identify areas of degradation.
US08980638B2
Provided herein are methods and compositions for the prognostic evaluation of a patient suspected of having, or having, cancer by assessing the expression of IMP3 in a biological sample of a patient. Methods can be used at the time of initial diagnosis of malignant tumors to identify a group of patients with a high potential to develop progression or metastasis later. Therefore, methods not only are able to provide very useful prognostic information for patients but also can help clinicians to select a candidate patient likely to benefit from early and aggressive cancer therapy. Methods and compositions for the treatment of cancer associated with expression of IMP3 are also provided.
US08980633B2
Compositions and methods for genetically modifying the production levels of nicotine and other alkaloids in plants are provided. An expression vector which comprises a tripartite GAG motif is also disclosed.
US08980632B2
The invention relates to rapid and efficient methods and apparatuses for displacing target plant materials from seeds. In one embodiment, the invention relates to methods and apparatuses for displacing embryos from maize seeds. In yet another embodiment, the displaced embryos can be propagated and regenerated into plants.
US08980628B2
This invention relates to methods of producing hair folliclesin vitro, compositions for producing hair follicles in vitro, in vitro produced hair follicles, methods of providing an in vitro produced hair shaft at an interfollicular or intrafollicular site, methods of treating hair loss by providing an in vitro produced hair shaft at an interfollicular or intrafollicular site and assays for studying the effect of test agents on hair biology. The invention also provides the similar methods and products which are, or use, immature follicles (“defined herein as proto-hairs”). The invention provides a method for in vitro production of a hair follicle or a proto-hair comprising co-culturing dermal papilla cells with keratinocytes, and optionally with melanocytes.
US08980618B2
Methods are provided for separating algae from an aqueous environment. An aqueous feed containing algae can be aged for a period of at least about 90 hours without purging or other aeration. The aging of the aqueous feed can result in formation of aggregated algae, which can then be filtered under pressure. Due to the larger size of the algae aggregates, the pressurized filtration can reduce/minimize the tendency to clog the filter, as the algae aggregates can generally be too large to fit within the pores of the filter. The filter can preferably be located at the bottom of the vessel holding the aqueous feed. This can assist in allowing the algae to remain in a cake above the filter, as opposed to having the algae dissolve back into the aqueous feed.
US08980610B2
The present invention pertains to methods of using arginine to inactivate or reduce the infectious titer of enveloped viruses potentially present in biological compositions produced by eukaryotic cells (such as a antibodies or other therapeutic proteins). In some embodiments, inactivation or reduction of viral titers by exposure to arginine is achieved in a neutral (pH ˜7) or near neutral (˜pH 6 to ˜pH 8) environment.
US08980607B2
The present invention relates to glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferases and polynucleotides encoding the same. The present invention provides non-naturally occurring polynucleotides encoding a protein having at least 85% homology to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, as well as an expression vector and transformant comprising such polynucleotides. The present invention also provides a method for producing food using the transformant, and food produced by the method.
US08980602B2
Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, microbial, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as food products and amino acids.
US08980600B2
Methods of marking paper products and marked paper products are provided. Some methods include irradiating the paper product to alter the functionalization of the paper.
US08980596B2
The invention provides an improved method for the production, separation and recovery of one or more fermentation products from a fermentation broth. Further, the invention provides a method for increasing efficiency of a fermentation reaction. In particular, the invention relates to a fermentation system which incorporates a simulated moving bed for separation of fermentation products from a fermentation broth, and a corresponding method.
US08980594B2
The invention relates to the use of a protein homologous to a MeaB protein for increasing the enzymatic activity of a 3-hydroxycarboxylic acid-CoA mutase, a fusion protein comprising a 3-hydroxycarboxylic acid-CoA mutase and a protein sequence homologous to a MeaB protein and an enzymatic method for producing 2-hydroxyisobutryric acid.
US08980592B2
In a process for the enantioselective enzymatic reduction of a hydroxy ketone of general formula I wherein R1=C1-C6 alkyl and R2=—Cl, —CN, —OH, —H or C1-C6 alkyl, into a chiral diol of general formula II wherein R1 and R2 have the same meaning as in formula I, the hydroxy ketone is reduced with an oxidoreductase in the presence of NADH or NADPH as a cofactor, wherein a) the hydroxy ketone is provided in the reaction at a concentration of ≧50 g/l, b) the oxidized cofactor NAD or NADP having formed is regenerated continuously by oxidation of a secondary alcohol of general formula RXRYCHOH, wherein RX, RY independently represent hydrogen, branched or unbranched C1-C8-alkyl and Ctotal≧3, and c) the reduction of the hydroxy ketone and the oxidation of the secondary alcohol are catalyzed by the same oxidoreductase.
US08980579B2
Provided herein are methods for stable integration and/or expression of one or more recombinant polynucleotides in a host cell. The recombinant polynucleotides are typically integrated into the host genome at some native chromosomal integration sites. The integration can be mediated by homologous recombination or by using a hybrid recombinase targeting the specific chromosomal locations. The native chromosomal integration sites in the host cells, which support stable integration and strong transcription activities of foreign genes, are present within or adjacent to specific genes in the CHO genome, the ankyrin 2 gene (Ank2), cleavage and polydenylation specific factor 4 gene (Cpsf4), C-Mos gene, and Nephrocystin-1/Mal gene. Also provided are methods and nucleic acid molecules for inserting site-specific recombination sequences (chromosomal landing pads) into these specific chromosomal locations, engineered host cells containing chromosomal landing pads, methods and compositions (e.g., kits) therefore.
US08980574B2
Embodiments described herein relate to compositions, methods and uses for alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) or derivatives or analogs or peptides or mutants thereof for treating a subject exposed to radiation. In certain embodiments, AAT or derivatives thereof or analogs thereof can be used to modulate adverse effects of radiation therapy on subjects undergoing treatment for cancer. In other embodiments, compositions disclosed herein can be used for treating a subject having been exposed to non-therapeutic or accidental radiation. Some embodiments reported herein concern compositions and methods for enhancing radiotherapy. Certain embodiments relate to methods and compositions for preventing or reducing radiation exposure-induced cellular damage in a subject.
US08980569B2
Provided herein are methods for identifying a subject afflicted with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who is responsive to treatment with a chemotherapeutic agent by detecting the presence or absence of at least one APOE4 allele in the subject, the presence of an APOE4 allele identifying the subject as responsive to the treatment. Also provided are methods of treating a subject afflicted with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, including administering an estrogenic agent, an androgen withdrawal agent, an apoE4 peptide or mimetic thereof, and/or a chemotherapeutic agent in an amount effective to treat said chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Methods of determining a prognosis for a patient diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia are also provided. In addition, methods for stratifying a subject into a subgroup of a clinical trial and methods for identifying a patient in a clinical trial of a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia are herein provided.
US08980562B1
The invention relates to a method of detecting HPV and determining HPV type.
US08980561B1
The invention provides a rapid, sensitive and specific nucleic acid detection system which utilizes isothermal nucleic acid amplification in combination with a lateral flow chromatographic device, or DNA dipstick, for DNA-hybridization detection. The system of the invention requires no complex instrumentation or electronic hardware, and provides a low cost nucleic acid detection system suitable for highly sensitive pathogen detection. Hybridization to single-stranded DNA amplification products using the system of the invention provides a sensitive and specific means by which assays can be multiplexed for the detection of multiple target sequences.
US08980555B2
The present invention discloses methods, primer, probes, and kits for genotyping various mutations or disease-causing agent. In one embodiment, the present invention is applied to detecting the presence of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, HBV, beta-globin mutations, mutations related to thrombophilia, or the presence of sexually transmitted diseases in a subject.
US08980551B2
The present invention relates to a method for genotyping DNA molecules contained in at least one DNA sample. The method includes: (a) digesting the DNA molecules contained in at least one DNA sample with a class IIB restriction endonuclease to generate DNA fragments; (b) optionally separating DNA fragments comprising the recognition site for the class IIB restriction endonuclease from the remaining DNA fragments; (c) attaching at least one adaptor DNA to the 5′ and/or 3′ end of one or both strands of the DNA fragments comprising the recognition site for the class IIB restriction endonuclease obtained in a) or separated in b) to form adaptor-fragment constructs; (d) determining the sequence of at least a fraction of the DNA fragments obtained in c); and (e) assigning genotypes to the at least one DNA sample analyzed based on the sequence data obtained in d). The present invention further relates to method for determining the position of DNA molecules comprised in a DNA library within the DNA sequence represented by the DNA library or within a known DNA sequence and for establishing a cross-reference between individual DNA molecules and their location in an at least three dimensional matrix.
US08980547B2
The present invention is directed to a filamentous bacteriophage for use in treating a neurodegenerative tauopathy or susceptibility to a neurodegenerative tauopathy and a method of using the bacteriophage for reducing the formation of fibrils of tau protein or for disaggregating pre-formed fibrils of tau protein, such as in a patient suffering from neurodegenerative tauopathy. The filamentous bacteriophage used in the present invention does not display (i) a mammalian cell internalization signal (ii) a β-amyloid antigen or an antibody to β-amyloid, or (iii) a tau protein antigen or an antibody to tau protein.
US08980546B2
This invention relates to compositions and methods for the detection of immunodeficiency virus infection, especially immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-I) infection. The invention particularly concerns compositions and methods that may be used in HIV vaccine recipients whose sera may contain vaccine-generated anti-HIV-1 antibodies.
US08980545B2
Presented herein is the discovery of a new human picornavirus, Cosavirus (previously termed Dekavirus), methods of detecting the Cosavirus and diagnosing Cosavirus infection, methods of treating or preventing Cosavirus infection, and methods for identifying anti-Cosavirus compounds.
US08980540B2
A solid-state image sensor is manufactured through a plurality of photolithography processes. The plurality of photolithography processes includes at least one first lithography process including a dividing exposure step of exposing a substrate using a plurality of photomasks, and at least one second lithography process including a non-dividing exposure step of exposing the substrate using one photomask. The at least one first lithography process includes a process for forming a resist pattern to define active regions on the substrate, and a process for forming a resist pattern to define charge accumulation region.
US08980525B2
A chemically amplified positive resist composition is provided comprising an alkali-insoluble or substantially alkali-insoluble polymer having an acid labile group-protected acidic functional group, an alkyl vinyl ether polymer, a photoacid generator, and a benzotriazole compound in a solvent. The composition forms on a substrate a resist film of 5-100 μm thick which can be briefly developed to form a pattern at a high sensitivity and a high degree of removal or dissolution to bottom.
US08980524B2
A positive resist composition including a base component (A) which exhibits increased solubility in an alkali developing solution under action of acid, an acid-generator component (B) which generates acid upon exposure and a fluorine-containing polymeric compound (C′) which generates acid upon exposure, the base component (A) having a structural unit (a0-1) represented by general formula (a0-1) and a structural unit (a1) derived from an acrylate ester containing an acid dissociable, dissolution inhibiting group, and the fluorine-containing polymeric compound (C′) having a structural unit (c0) which generates acid upon exposure and a structural unit (c1) represented by formula (c1) (wherein R2 represents a divalent linking group, R3 represents a cyclic group containing —SO2— within the ring skeleton, Q0 represents a single bond or a divalent linking group, and R0 represents an organic group which may have a fluorine atom).
US08980523B2
The present invention provides dual wavelength imaging compositions, processes for forming dual wavelength imaging compositions, methods for forming images using dual wavelength imaging compositions and substrate (e.g., paper web) treated (e.g., coated) on one or both sides with dual wavelength imaging compositions. Also provided is a dual wavelength imaging particulate comprising a matrix of polymer material and containing: one or more image-forming agents; a photo-oxidizing agent which is activated at a first wavelength of light to cause the one or more image-forming agents to form one or more images; and a reducing agent which is activated at a second wavelength of light to cause termination of the formation of the one or more images.
US08980522B2
The present invention relates to a process for producing a toner for development of electrostatic latent images which includes a step (1) of mixing and aggregating resin particles (A), releasing agent particles and an aggregating agent formed of a divalent to pentavalent amine salt in an aqueous medium to obtain aggregated particles, and a toner for development of electrostatic latent images obtained by the process.
US08980515B2
A magnetic toner for electrostatic latent image development includes toner particles containing toner core particle containing at least a binder resin and a magnetic powder, and a shell layer coating the toner core particle. In the toner, in the case where the surfaces of the shell layers are observed using a scanning electron microscope, the magnetic powder is not observed, and approximately spherical particles derived from the resin fine particles are not observed on the surfaces of the shell layers for toner particles having a particle diameter in a specific range. In the toner, in the case where the cross-sectional surfaces of the toner particles are observed using a transmission electron microscope, cracks approximately perpendicular to surfaces of the toner core particles are observed inside the shell layers.
US08980514B2
A toner for electrostatic latent image development is comprised toner particles containing toner core particle containing at least a binder resin and a shell layer coating the toner core particle. The shell layer is smoothened to a predetermined level. And, when cross-sections of the toner particles are observed using a transmission electron microscope, cracks approximately perpendicular to surfaces of the toner core particles are observable inside the shell layer.
US08980511B2
An organic photoconductor includes a conductive substrate; a charge generation layer over the conductive substrate; a charge transport layer over the charge generation layer; and an overcoat layer over the charge transport layer. The overcoat layer comprises a cross-linked polyacrylate that includes a charge transport material dispersed therein and a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane.
US08980510B2
An electrophotographic photosensitive member in which a leakage hardly occurs, a process cartridge and electrophotographic apparatus having the electrophotographic photosensitive member, and a method for producing the electrophotographic photosensitive member are provided. The conductive layer in the electrophotographic photosensitive member contains metal oxide particle coated with tin oxide doped with niobium or tantalum. The relations: Ia≦6,000 and 10≦Ib are satisfied. The conductive layer before the test is performed has a volume resistivity of not less than 1.0×108 Ω·cm and not more than 5.0×1012 Ω·cm.
US08980506B2
The present invention relates to a photosensitive resin composition, which comprises an alkali-soluble resin (A), a compound (B) containing vinyl unsaturated group(s), a photoinitiator (C), ortho-naphthoquinone diazide sulfonic acid ester (D), a thermal initiator (E) and a solvent (F). The photosensitive resin composition added with the ortho-naphthoquinone diazide sulfonic acid ester (D) and the thermal initiator (E) can have excellent resolution and development adherence. Moreover, the present invention further provides a spacer or a protective film formed by the aforementioned photosensitive resin composition, as well as a liquid crystal display device (LCD) including the aforementioned spacer or protective film.
US08980500B2
A polymer electrolyte fuel cell of the present invention includes a membrane-electrode assembly (5) and separators (6A, 6B). A plurality of reactant gas channels are formed on a main surface of at least one of the separator (6A, 6B) and a gas diffusion layer (3A, 3B). In a case where among the plurality of reactant gas channels, a reactant gas channel overlapping the peripheral portion of the electrode (4A, 4B) twice is defined as a first reactant gas channel, and a reactant gas channel formed to overlap the peripheral portion of the electrode (4A, 4B) and formed such that the length of a portion overlapping the peripheral portion is longer than a predetermined length is defined as a second reactant gas channel, the second reactant gas channel is formed such that the flow rate of a reactant gas flowing therethrough is lower than that of the reactant gas flowing through the first reactant gas channel or the second reactant gas channel does not exist.
US08980498B2
The present invention provides a fuel cell stack that has a separator arranged between fuel cells, the separator including: a sandwiching section which sandwiches an electrolyte electrode assembly and includes a fuel gas channel and a separately provided oxygen-containing gas channel; a bridge which is connected to the sandwiching section and includes a reactant gas supply channel; a reactant gas supply section which is connected to the bridge and includes a reactant gas supply passage; and a connecting section that connects the sandwiching section to the bridge.
US08980486B2
A fuel cell system 10 removes water retaining in a cathode catalyst layer 217 in a fuel cell 20, after a start-up of the fuel cell 20 and before feed of coolant to the fuel cell 20.
US08980483B2
An electrolyte contains a solvent and an electrolyte salt. The solvent contains an organic acid and a sulfone compound in combination. The organic acid has a moiety containing an electron-withdrawing group such as a carbonyl group (—C(═O)—) or a sulfonyl group (—S(═O)2—) in the center and hydroxyl groups (—OH) at both ends. The sulfone compound is a cyclic compound having a disulfonic anhydride group (—(O═)2S—O—S(═O)2—) or a carboxylic-sulfonic anhydride group (—(O═)2S—O—C(═O)—).
US08980477B2
The present invention is a secondary battery having a high specific capacity and good cycleability, and that can be used safely. The secondary battery is manufactured to include an anode formed from a host material capable of absorbing and desorbing lithium in an electrochemical system such as a carbonaceous material, and lithium metal dispersed in the host material. The anodes of the invention are combined with a cathode including an active material, a separator that a separates the cathode and the anode, and an electrolyte in communication with the cathode and the anode. The present invention also includes a method of preparing an anode and a method of operating a secondary battery including the anode of the invention.
US08980475B2
Process for preparing lithium mixed metal oxides which comprise essentially lithium, manganese, cobalt and nickel as metal atoms and have a stoichiometric ratio of lithium to the total transition metals of greater than 1, which comprises a) the preparation of a mixture designated as intermediate (B) which comprises essentially lithium-comprising mixed metal hydroxides and lithium-comprising mixed metal oxide hydroxides, where manganese, cobalt and nickel are comprised in the ratio (1-a-b):a:b and the oxidation state averaged over all ions of manganese, cobalt and nickel is at least 4-1.75a-1.75b, where 0≦a≦0.5 and 0.1≦b≦0.8, by a thermal treatment carried out with continual mixing and in the presence of oxygen of a mixture (A) comprising at least one transition metal compound and at least one lithium salt (L), during which L does not melt, and b) the thermal treatment carried out without mixing and in the presence of oxygen of the intermediate (B).
US08980472B2
The secondary battery according to the present invention includes an electrode (10) having: an electrode current collector (12), an electrode active material layer (14) formed on the surface of the electrode current collector (12), an electrically conductive film (16) that covers the surface of the electrode active material layer (14), and an electrical conductor part (18) for forming a direct electrical connection between the electrically conductive film (16) and the electrode current collector (12) by going around the electrode active material layer (14).
US08980470B2
A lithium ion battery comprises a shell, a cell disposed in the shell, and two lugs connected to the cell. Each of the lugs comprises a conductive foil with a surface and a PTC layer disposed on the surface of the conductive foil. The lugs conduct currents between the lithium ion battery and an outer circuit.
US08980468B2
A current interruption mechanism for prismatic secondary battery includes a tubular conductive member electrically connected to a positive electrode external terminal, an inversion plate, and a positive electrode collector connected to the inversion plate. The positive electrode collector has a first region that is parallel to a sealing body and a second region that is connected to a positive electrode plate. The boundaries between the first and second regions are disposed further outward than the inner surface of the tubular conductive member, and at least one of the edge portions, other than the boundaries between the first region and second region, is located further outward than the inner surface of the tubular portion of the conductive member. The current interruption mechanism is unlikely to be damaged even if the battery is subjected to shock due to vibration, falling, etc.
US08980464B2
A seal tape capable of preventing an electrode assembly from moving in a secondary battery, and a secondary battery using the same are disclosed. The seal tape for a secondary battery is attached to the outer surface of the electrode assembly which is received in a battery case, and includes a first adhesive layer having an adhesive surface adhered to the outer surface of the electrode assembly, and a second adhesive layer having an adhesive layer at a side opposite to the first adhesive layer so as to adhere to the inner surface of the battery case.
US08980461B2
The present disclosure relates to a separator and a lithium secondary battery including the same. The separator comprises a polyethylene-based powder or a polypropylene-based powder provided on or in the base film, wherein the polyethylene-based powder or the polypropylene-based powder is different from the base film.
US08980441B2
An organic electroluminescent device is provided and includes: a cathode; an anode; and a light-emitting layer between the cathode and the anode. The light-emitting layer includes a compound represented by formula (1). In formula (1), L represents a linking group; A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, and A10 each independently represent a carbon atom or a nitrogen atom, provided that at least two of A1, A5, A6, and A10 each represent a carbon atom having R′; R′ represents a substituent having a carbon atom at a bonding position thereof; a plurality of Rs each independently represent a substituent; m represents an integer; and n represents an integer of 2 to 10.
US08980440B2
This invention pertains to light emitting materials comprising novel ortho-metalated transition metal complexes [C^N]2M(T)(L), comprising chelate dialkylamino-substituted C^N ligands, monodentate neutral ligand (L) having sp2 hybridized N atom and a monodentate anionic ligand (T) chosen among CN−, CNO−, CNS−. It has been surprisingly found that when the metal has bound thereto in addition to substituted orthometalated ligands, both an anion chosen among cyanide, thiocyanate, cyanate, possessing strong C donor and π acceptor properties, and a monodentate neutral ligand L, as above defined, said ligands advantageously participate in the emission process, significantly shifting emission towards higher energies (blue-shift) and enabling appreciable improvement of the emission efficiency of complexes [C^N]2M(T)(L).Still objects of the invention are the use of said light emitting materials and organic light emitting device comprising said light emitting material.
US08980437B2
The use of polyelectrolyte complexes is described, for providing an oxygen barrier to packaging materials made of polymer foils. Polymeric components of the polyelectrolyte complex are applied in polymerized form to the polymer foil. The polymer foil is either coated with an aqueous dispersion comprising a dispersed polyelectrolyte complex previously produced by water-in-water emulsion polymerization, or is coated with a composition comprising a polyelectrolyte complex produced from anionic polymer and from cationic surfactant, or the polymer foil is coated with at least three alternating layers, where respectively one of two adjacent layers comprises an anionic polyelectrolyte component and the other of two adjacent layers comprises a cationic polyelectrolyte component, and polyelectrolyte complexes form at the opposite, adjacent interfaces of the alternating layers.
US08980410B2
A thermally conductive sheet may include an electrically insulative bottom film, an electrically insulative top film, and an intermediate layer positioned between the bottom film and the top film. The intermediate layer may include a mixture of granulated thermally conductive material and granulated electrically insulating polymer. The granulated electrically insulating polymer is adapted to form a polyimide bridge between the bottom film and the top film.
US08980403B2
An end face of a sheet member is cut while rotating a cutting member having a rotation axis extending along a vertical direction of the end face of the sheet member and a cutting blade projecting to a side of the end face of the sheet member around the rotation axis. The cutting member is moved relatively to the sheet member along a longitudinal direction of the end face to be cut. The part separated from a virtual line parallel to the sheet face and passing the rotation center in a cutting region formed by the rotating cutting blade is made to contact the end face of the sheet member.
US08980402B2
The invention relates to a curved glass pane, made of float glass, the area of a main face of which is greater than 1.5 m2 and the product of its two depths of bending is greater than 3000 mm2, and such that its point located on the normal to its surface passing through its center of gravity has a radius of curvature of less than 3 m in any direction, the variation in its thickness in the longitudinal float direction being less than 10 μm over 500 mm. This pane may be assembled into laminated glazing of the automobile windshield type. Such a windshield has a very small amount of double imaging even when it is fitted into the vehicle so as to be close to the horizontal.
US08980389B2
Described as one aspect of the invention are extrusion blow molded articles comprising at least one polyester which comprises: (a) a dicarboxylic acid component comprising: (i) about 90 to about 100 mole % of terephthalic acid residues; (ii) about 0 to about 10 mole % of aromatic and/or aliphatic dicarboxylic acid residues having up to 20 carbon atoms; and (b) a glycol component comprising: (i) about 42 to about 60 mole % ethylene glycol residues; and (ii) about 40 to about 58 mole % residues of 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol; wherein the total mole % of the dicarboxylic acid component is 100 mole %, and wherein the total mole % of the glycol component is 100 mole %; and wherein the inherent viscosity of the polyester is from 0.50 to 1.0 dL/g as determined in 60/40 (wt/wt) phenol/tetrachloroethane at a concentration of 0.25 g/50 ml at 25° C.
US08980387B2
A method of coating a surface, preparing a doped metal-ion precursor solution for coating, and an article including a component coated by the described method are disclosed. The method of coating includes applying a fluoro-silane doped metal-ion precursor solution on the surface to form a coated surface. The metal-ion precursor solution includes greater than about 0.6 molar percent concentration of a metal-ion precursor in a solvent comprising an alcohol. The method of preparing the doped metal-ion precursor solution includes dissolving a metal-ion precursor in a solvent comprising an alcohol at a temperature greater than about 100° C. and refluxing at a temperature greater than about 150° C. such that the concentration of metal-ion precursor in the solution is greater than 0.6 molar percent of the solution, and adding a fluoro-silane to the metal-ion precursor solution.
US08980386B2
Certain example embodiments of this invention relate to articles including anticondenzation coatings that are exposed to an external environment, and/or methods of making the same. In certain example embodiments, the anticondenzation coatings may be survivable in an outside environment. The coatings also may have a sufficiently low sheet resistance and hemispherical emissivity such that the glass surface is more likely to retain heat from the interior area, thereby reducing (and sometimes completely eliminating) the presence condensation thereon. The articles of certain example embodiments may be, for example, skylights, vehicle windows or windshields, IG units, VIG units, refrigerator/freezer doors, and/or the like.
US08980383B2
A method of making a wide temperature-range smectic liquid crystal material comprises taking a wide temperature-range nematic mixture and doping this with a mesogenic silicon-containing material. Aspects of the invention provide wide temperature-range smectic materials and devices using the smectic materials.
US08980378B2
There is provided a system and method to spray viscous coating materials comprising abrasive particles, such as Silicium Carbide. Such coating materials are e.g. advanced ceramic composites formulated to protect equipment from corrosion and erosion. In particular the method and the system is able to spray and evenly coat a surface with two component materials based on modified epoxy resin and aliphatic curing agent loaded with abrasive ceramic particles.
US08980373B2
A semi cured supported elastomeric glove with enhanced gripping surfaces achieved by the method of transferring of patterns by compression molding, including a plurality of concave indentations of any pattern and molded into the gripping surfaces of the semi cured glove.
US08980370B2
A method for making a composite carbon nanotube structure includes the following steps. An organic solvent, a polymer, and a carbon nanotube structure are provided. The polymer is dissolved in the organic solvent to obtain a polymer solution. The carbon nanotube film structure is soaked with the polymer solution. A contact angle between the organic solvent and a carbon nanotube is less than 90 degrees.
US08980359B2
A fat or oil composition comprising from 0.02 to 0.65 mass % of a free type triterpene alcohol and 0.18 mass % or less of a γ-oryzanol.
US08980356B2
An improved method of making a baked pastry, particularly, a shell or wrap for a samosa from a pastry dough in a convection baking oven having a convection atmosphere, the method comprising baking the dough in the oven at a baking temperature for a baking period of time, the improvement having the convection atmosphere with a sufficiently moist atmosphere for the duration of the baking time to prevent the pastry from becoming dry.
US08980355B2
The bulk density of food products with a center fill mat can be reduced by expanding the food strands making up the center fill mat. A method for producing food products with fillings having low bulk density includes preparing the food strands by passing dough through small holes, and enclosing the food strands by a first layer and a second layer.
US08980354B2
A process for making a frozen confectionery product by providing a mold with closed and opened ends in a refrigerated environment, filling the mold with a liquid mix to form a shell, removing non-solidified liquid mix from the mold, pressure-filling the shell in the mold with a frozen confection, inserting a stick in the frozen confection, removing the product from the mold and packing the resulting product. In such process, inclusions may be homogeneously distributed in the liquid mix or in the frozen confection or can be accumulated on the top of the frozen confection after filling the mold. The resulting product, a molded ice confectionery stick bar, is also an embodiment of the invention.
US08980344B2
The present invention provides a skin care product comprising at least two enhancers and at least one skin care ingredient, wherein the at least two enhancers are selected from cyclodextrin, pentasodium pentetate, phytic acid, potassium citrate, sodium citrate, potassium gluconate and sodium gluconate.
US08980342B2
A method of enhancing physical performance during exercise by administering an amount of a grape extract effective to treat a subject. A preferred grape extract comprises a concentration of flavanol monomers of greater than about 5% by weight, and more preferably within a range from about 12% by weight to about 50% by weight, and a concentration of flavanol dimers preferably greater than about 2% by weight, and more preferably within a range from about 6% by weight to about 20% by weight. The flavanol monomers preferably include catechin, epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, and gallic acid. The flavanol dimers preferably include procyanidin B1, procyanidin B2, procyanidin B3, procyanidin B4, and procyanidin B2-O-gallate.
US08980341B2
Provided are mosquito larvicide compositions comprising a mineral oil and a methylated coconut oil. The compositions may further comprise a silicone and at least one surfactant. The compositions can kill mosquito larvae in swamps, floodwater areas, and other areas where mosquitoes develop. Further provided are methods for mosquito control. The methods may comprise coating the surface of a body of water.
US08980339B1
Formulations for mammalian wellness including stimulating the growth and/or regrowth of mammalian hair are provided comprising colostrum and one or more of the following ingredients: lanolin, soap, such as castile soap, olive oil, chamomile oil, jojoba oil and vitamin E. Methods for the application of a formulation for stimulating the growth and/or regrowth of mammalian hair are also provided.
US08980336B2
A method for inhibiting free radical is provided. The method includes administering to a subject an effective amount of an herbal composition including Polygonum cuspidatum and/or Viola yedoensis. The herbal composition is suitable for mammalian subjects. The Polygonum cuspidatum is selected from fresh Polygonum cuspidatum herbage, and the Viola yedoensis is selected from fresh Viola yedoensis herbage.
US08980334B2
Bioadhesive sticker tablets which are applied directly to vaginal, rectal and/or oral mucosa are described herein. In one embodiment, the sticker tablets are applied directly to ulcers or lesions in the oral cavity. The compositions adhere immediately upon administration, swell over time, and remain adherent to the ulcer or lesion for at least 60 minutes. The compositions can be in the form of single layer, double layer, or multilayer sticker tablets. The compositions provide immediate pain relief to the patient and promote rapid healing of the ulcer or lesion. The sticker tablet compositions contain one or more bioadhesive polymers. In one embodiment, the polymers are crosslinked polycarboxylic acids and polyols. The compositions contain at least one herbal agent and/or irritating compound, and optionally, a non-herbal active agent. The compositions can deliver an non-irritating effective dose of the agent for at least 60 minutes. The compositions described herein are stable upon storage for six months or longer.
US08980324B2
The invention relates to ultrasmall, monodisperse nanoparticles comprising silicon dioxide to the surface of which at least one antigen is attached. The nanoparticles can be used for the immunoprophylaxis or immunotherapy of cancer. The invention also relates to a method for the targeting of antigens at antigen-presenting cells and for the activation of the immune system, where the efficiency of targeting and/or immunoactivation are set via the particle characteristics. The invention also relates to a method for the active and passive immunization of a mammal.
US08980321B2
A drug in a solubility-improved form is combined with a concentration-enhancing polymer in a sufficient amount so that the combination provides substantially enhanced drug concentration in a use environment relative to a control comprising the same amount of the same solubility-improved form of drug without the concentration-enhancing polymer.
US08980303B2
The invention relates to medicine and pharmacology, more particularly to a pharmaceutical composition in the form of vaginal suppositories for treating candidal vaginitis and vulvovaginitis, containing antimycotics and prebiotics. The contents of the composition for therapeutic use make it possible to achieve the synergistic effect of stimulating the growth of the normal vaginal microflora through the presence of prebiotics and inhibiting the growth and eliminating pathogenic Candida fungi through the presence of modern antimycotics. Furthermore, the composition substantially contains such antimycotics to which representatives of the normal flora, i.e. lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, are insensitive. The method for treating mycetogenous or bacterial vaginosis, vaginitis and vulvovaginitis is carried out with the aid of the antimycotic and prebiotic pharmaceutical composition in a medicinal form for local application.
US08980302B2
Surgical implants of the present disclosed include a film comprising a first therapeutic agent and a mesh comprising a second therapeutic agent. The surgical implant includes a film in direct contact with a mesh. The first therapeutic agent may be released at a first rate and the second therapeutic agent may be released at a second rate.
US08980300B2
A biocompatible plasticizer useful for forming a coating composition with a biocompatible polymer is provided. The coating composition may also include a biobeneficial polymer and/or a bioactive agent. The coating composition can form a coating on an implantable device. The implantable device can be used to treat or prevent a disorder such as atherosclerosis, thrombosis, restenosis, hemorrhage, vascular dissection or perforation, vascular aneurysm, vulnerable plaque, chronic total occlusion, claudication, anastomotic proliferation for vein and artificial grafts, bile duct obstruction, ureter obstruction, tumor obstruction, or combinations thereof.
US08980294B2
Ready-to-use foamable pesticide compositions that contain a particulate pesticide suspended therein and applicators for dispensing such compositions. Methods for treating pests such as arthropods by contacting pests with such compositions are also provided.
US08980292B2
A conditioner composition that increases the deposition and retention of benefit agent containing polyacrylate microcapsules onto hair. The conditioner composition is based on the combination of anionic charged polyacrylate microcapsules, deposition aids, conditioner agents, and a carrier.
US08980291B2
A solid oral controlled-release oral dosage form of hydrocodone is disclosed. The dosage form comprising an analgesically effective amount of hydrocodone or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and a sufficient amount of a controlled release material to render the dosage form suitable for twice-a-day administration to a human patient, the dosage form providing a C12/Cmax ratio of 0.55 to 0.85, said dosage form providing a therapeutic effect for at least about 12 hours.
US08980290B2
The present invention relates generally to compositions or formulations for transdermal or transmucosal administration of anticholinergic agents such as oxybutynin. The invention utilizes a novel delivery vehicle and is a substantially malodorous-free and irritation free transdermal formulation which is substantially free of long chain fatty alcohols, long-chain fatty acids, and long-chain fatty esters. A method is disclosed for treating a subject for urinary incontinence with these formulations while reducing the incidences of peak concentrations of drug and undesirable side effects associated with oral anticholinergics.
US08980286B2
Meningococcal protein NMB 1870 has been described in the prior art. The inventors have found that NMB 1870 is an effective antigen for eliciting anti-meningococcal antibody responses, and that it is expressed across all meningococcal serogroups. Forty-two different NMB 1870 sequences have been identified, and these group into three variants. Serum raised against a given variant is bactericidal within the same variant group, but is not active against strains which express one of the other two variants i.e. there is intra-variant cross-protection, but not inter-variant cross-protection. For maximum cross-strain efficacy, therefore, the invention uses mixture comprising different variants of NMB 1870.
US08980285B2
The present invention generally provides methods and vaccines for the prevention of diseases caused by Neisseria meningitidis bacteria, particularly serogroup B strains.
US08980283B2
The present invention describes vaccines that comprise C. perfringens Type alpha toxoids, antigenic fragments thereof, inactivated antigenic fragments of C. perfringens Type alpha toxins, or any combination thereof. The present invention further describes methods of using with these vaccines to protect animals against clostridial diseases. The present invention also describes methods of making these vaccines.
US08980280B2
The present invention provides vectors that contain and express in vivo or in vitro FeLV antigens that elicit an immune response in animal or human against FeLV, compositions comprising said vectors and/or FeLV polypeptides, methods of vaccination against FeLV, and kits for use with such methods and compositions.
US08980275B2
The present invention provides particle-forming chimeric proteins comprising a Calicivirus capsid protein and one or more heterologous antigen sequences. In particular, the present invention discloses engineered Calicivirus capsid protein sequences containing heterologous epitopes fused at internal locations such that the modified capsid proteins retain the ability to form virus-like particles when expressed in host cells. Virus-like particles comprising the chimeric proteins and vaccine formulations are also described.
US08980268B2
The present invention provides antibodies that bind to angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) and methods of using same. According to certain embodiments of the invention, the antibodies are fully human antibodies that bind to human Ang-2. The antibodies of the invention are useful, inter alia, for the treatment of diseases and disorders associated with one or more Ang-2 biological activities including angiogenesis.
US08980267B2
The field of the present invention relates to genetically engineered fusion molecules, methods of making said fusion molecules, and uses thereof in anti-tumor immunotherapies. More specifically, the present invention relates to fusion molecule constructs wherein a tumor associated antigen (TAA) antibody (Ab) serves as a targeting moiety to selectively deliver a cytokine to a tumor cell for purposes of killing or inhibiting the growth or proliferation of said tumor cell. In various embodiments, the engineered fusion molecules comprise a TAA Ab fused to an interferon-alpha (IFN-α) mutant molecule. The engineered Ab-IFN-α mutant fusion molecules of the present invention demonstrate improved therapeutic index and preserved or increased efficacy as compared to Ab-wildtype IFN-α fusion molecules, and/or demonstrate improved PK properties as compared to Ab-wildtype IFN-α fusion molecules.
US08980264B2
The present invention provides a monoclonal antibody or a functional fragment thereof, capable of recognizing Aggrus epitope that includes an amino-acid sequence represented by a sequence ID 1, 3, or 4, and the monoclonal antibody or the functional fragment thereof produced from a hybridoma with accession number of FERM BP-11446, FERM BP-11447, FERM BP-11448 or FERM BP-11449. The present invention provides the hybridoma, and further an Aggrus-CLEC-2 binding inhibitor and a pharmaceutical composition for inhibition of platelet aggregation, prevention of cancer metastasis, or treatment of tumor or cancer, including the monoclonal antibody or the functional fragment thereof.
US08980263B2
A pharmaceutical composition, comprising an antibody composition which specifically binds to human CC chemokine receptor 4 (hereinafter also referred to as CCR4) and at least one medicament; and a pharmaceutical composition for administering in combination of a recombinant antibody against CCR4 and at least one medicament are required. The present invention can provide a pharmaceutical composition comprising a recombinant antibody against CCR4 and at least one medicament; and a pharmaceutical composition for administering in combination of a recombinant antibody against CCR4 and at least one medicament.
US08980261B2
This invention concerns pathological angiogenesis and cancer, related treatment methods, and related compositions. Also disclosed are related diagnosis kits and methods.
US08980255B2
The present invention provides a specific binding molecule which binds to Annexin-1 (Anx-A1) for use in the treatment of T cell-mediated disease.
US08980252B2
Described herein are compositions which include digestive enzymes and which are formulated to reduce one or more symptoms of a neuropsychiatric disorder. Also described herein is a method for treating an individual with a neuropsychiatric disorder using digestive enzymes and their derivatives to alleviate the symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders. The method comprises administering to the individual an effective amount of digestive enzymes that are either naturally or recombinantly derived, or their derivatives, in an amount effective to reduce one or more symptoms of the neuropsychiatric disorder.
US08980250B2
The present disclosure generally relates to the use of des-aspartate-angiotensin I and/or its derivatives in medicine. In particular, the present invention relates to the use of des-aspartate-angiotensin I and/or its derivatives for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of inflammatory diseases or pathologies, for inducing anti-inflammatory actions and/or reducing inflammation, and/or for treatment of inflammation-related conditions.
US08980239B2
The present invention relates to a personal care composition and methods of using the same, the composition including an anionic surfactant, a cationic conditioning polymer, and a silicone emulsion wherein a total content of a cyclic polysiloxane having a general formula: is present in the silicone emulsion in an amount less than 2.5 wt % based on the total weight of all polysiloxanes, R is a substituted or unsubstituted C1 to C10 alkyl or aryl, wherein m is 4 or 5, wherein the composition forms coacervate particles upon dilution with water, and wherein a percentage of the coacervate particles with a floc size of greater than about 20 micron is from about 1% to about 60% upon dilution with water.
US08980235B2
A composition comprising coated particles of a salt of pyrithione selected from the group consisting of monovalent and polyvalent pyrithione salts, and combinations thereof, partially or fully coated with a lipophilic agent. The composition is characterized by enhanced anti-fungal and anti-dandruff efficacy in shampoos. Also disclosed is a personal care composition, preferably a shampoo, containing a topical carrier and coated particles of a salt of pyrithione selected from the group consisting of monovalent and polyvalent pyrithione salts, and combinations thereof, partially or fully coated with a lipophilic agent.
US08980224B2
The invention relates to a method of cardiac imaging using hyperpolarised 13C-pyruvate as MR imaging agent, which allows determination of the viability of cells in the myocardium.
US08980221B2
The invention relates to methods for processing [18F]-fluoride target water using a solid-support bound Cryptand of formula (I) and to apparatus for performing such methods. The resultant [18F]-fluoride is useful for preparation of radiopharmaceuticals by nucleophilic fluorination, specifically for use in Positron Emission Tomography (PET).
US08980205B1
A method and plant for reducing mercury (Hg) and other metal emissions including injecting a chemical reagent into the process in such a way as to convert elemental mercury into a mercury compound that is more readily captured using normal particulate control equipment associated with kilns, smelters, furnaces, and boilers of cement plants and other industrial plants.
US08980203B1
The present invention relates to the recovery of high purity litharge from spent lead acid battery paste at a low temperature which does not produce sulfur dioxide. In the process lead acetate or other lead salt is produced which is converted to high purity litharge by precipitation with a base.
US08980191B2
An apparatus 1 for manufacturing trichlorosilane includes a decomposition furnace 2 into which polymers and hydrogen chloride are introduced, the decomposition furnace 2 includes: a heating device 11 which heats an interior of the decomposition furnace 2; a reaction chamber 4 which is formed in the decomposition furnace; a center tube 3 which is inserted in the reaction chamber 4 along a longitudinal direction of the reaction chamber and has a lower-end opening portion 3a; raw-material-supply pipes 5 and 6 which supplies the polymer and the hydrogen chloride to the reaction chamber 4 at an exterior of the center tube 3; and a gas-discharge pipe 7 which leads out reacted gas from the center tube 3, the apparatus 1 further includes a fin 14 that leads the polymer and the hydrogen chloride to the lower-end opening portion 3a of the center tube 3 so as to stir the polymer and the hydrogen chloride.
US08980174B2
The device disclosed herein may be affixed over a transparent dressing overlying the catheter entry point, or may be used independent of such a dressing. The device may be affixed to the catheter insertion site using an adhesive or fastening band, or through other methods. Depending on context, the device may be used continuously or periodically, and may be affixed such that it is directly abutting a transparent dressing or directly adjacent to the skin surface, or it may be spaced a certain distance from the skin. If spaced from the skin, light may be directed from the light sources, either directly or indirectly through optical conduits. Preferably the light sources will be positioned such that light from the light sources overlaps at one or more areas on the skin, especially the catheter entry point.
US08980170B2
Methods of producing metal nanowires, compositions, and articles are disclosed. Such methods allow production of metal nanowires with reproducibly uniform diameter and length, even in the presence of catalyst concentration variation. Such metal nanowires are useful for electronics applications.
US08980161B2
A process for making a reservoir including steps of positioning a hollow extrudate at an elevated temperature in a mold cavity, inserting a fitting into an end of the extrudate, sealing an outer surface of the fitting with an interior surface of the extrudate using latent heat within the extrudate, and forming at least a portion of the extrudate against the mold cavity forming a reservoir with the fitting sealed into the reservoir.
US08980157B2
Method for aseptic molding of containers (2) of plastic material, comprising the steps of: heating parisons (4) of plastic material; sterilizing the parisons (5) by means of soft X-rays inside an advancing tunnel (7) after heating them and before molding them; blowing the heated and sterilized parisons (4) in such a way as to obtain the containers.
US08980150B2
A three-dimensional shaping method includes forming a combination to be each level of a three-dimensional shaped object and also forming a combination to be each level of a shaped object support member in each of a plurality of powder material layers having an uncured powder material in accordance with hierarchical shape data corresponding to each of the powder material layers.
US08980147B2
A kneading apparatus for a thermoplastic resin, includes: a plasticizing cylinder which has a high pressure kneading zone and a pressure reduction zone; a screw in the plasticizing cylinder; a downstream side seal mechanism which shuts off communication between the high pressure kneading zone and the pressure reduction zone; and a pressure reduction zone pressure adjusting mechanism which is connected to the pressure reduction zone and which controls a pressure of the pressure reduction zone so that the pressure is not less than an atmospheric pressure and the pressure is not more than a maximum pressure of the high pressure kneading zone that is achieved when kneading a molten resin with a pressurized fluid, when the downstream side seal mechanism shuts off the communication between the high pressure kneading zone and the pressure reduction zone.
US08980145B2
A method is provided for forming a fire resistant cellulose material. Such a method comprises processing cellulose fibers into a fiber mixture, and then forming a wetted mixture from the fiber mixture and a fire-retarding solution, wherein the wetted mixture has a solids content of the fire-retarding solution substantially uniformly and thoroughly dispersed therethrough. In some aspects, a cohesive mixture may be formed from the wetted mixture and a binding agent, and the cohesive mixture then formed into a formed cellulose product. An associated apparatus is also provided.
US08980144B2
The invention relates to a method for producing a biaxially oriented polypropylene film including at least one layer, which is constructed from propylene polymer B and a propylene polymer that has been recycled once. The method includes heat and melting propylene polymer B in a first extruder and heating a melting a propylene polymer A without a fraction of recycled material in a second extruder. The molten mass of the propylene polymer A is fed to two sides of the propylene polymer molten mass of B such that the propylene polymer A forms border regions of the film during the production process. The two border regions are then cut off after longitudinal and traverse stretching of the film, and melted and mixed together with the propylene polymer B and extruded to form a precursor film in the first extruder. The biaxially oriented polypropylene film comprising a propylene polymer that has been recycled only once is useful for producing capacitors.
US08980135B2
An object of the present invention is to provide an infrared-shielding nanoparticle dispersion that has a property whereby visible light is adequately transmitted, and light in the near-infrared region is adequately shielded; an infrared-shielding body manufactured using the infrared-shielding nanoparticle dispersion; a method for manufacturing infrared-shielding nanoparticles that are used in the infrared-shielding nanoparticle dispersion; and infrared-shielding nanoparticles manufactured using the method for manufacturing infrared-shielding nanoparticles. The present invention is a method for manufacturing infrared-shielding nanoparticle dispersion obtained by dispersing infrared-shielding nanoparticles in a medium, an infrared-shielding body manufactured by using the infrared-shielding nanoparticle dispersion, and infrared-shielding nanoparticles used in the infrared-shielding nanoparticle dispersion, wherein the infrared-shielding nanoparticles include a substance expressed by the general formula MXAYW(1-Y)O3 (where M is one or more elements selected from H, He, alkali metals, alkaline-earth metals, rare earth elements, Mg, Zr, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ru, Co, Rh, Ir, Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag, Au, Zn, Cd, Al, Ga, In, Tl, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, Sb, B, F, P, S, Se, Br, Te, Ti, Nb, V, Mo, Ta, Re, Be, Hf, Os, Bi, and I; A is one or more elements selected from Mo, Nb, Ta, Mn, V, Re, Pt, Pd, and Ti; W is tungsten; O is oxygen; 0
US08980134B2
Organic materials which possess outstanding stability to oxidative, thermal or light-induced degradation and/or are able to reduce the surface energy of organic materials comprise at least one compound of the formula (I) wherein the general symbols are as defined in claim 1.
US08980132B2
Provided are a luminescent material and a preparing method thereof. The borosilicate luminescent material has a chemical formula of aM2O.bLn2O3.cAl2O3.dR2O3.eSiO2.fCeO2.gTb2O3 or aMO.bLn2O3.cAl2O3.dR2O3.eSiO2.fCeO2.gTb2O3, wherein M is alkaline earth metal or alkali metal, Ln is one or two elements selected from the group consisting of elements Y and Gd; R is one or two elements selected from the group consisting of elements B and P; a, b, c, d, e, f, and g are molar fractions, and 6≦a≦20, 3≦b≦12, 20≦c≦30, 32≦d≦45, 0≦e≦12, 0.01≦f≦1, and 0.05≦g≦1.5. The preparing methods comprises the following steps: 1) selecting source compounds of above elements; 2) mixing and grinding the source compounds to obtain a mixture; 3) presintering the mixture, then grinding the mixture; 4) sintering under reducing atmosphere, and cooling, thereby obtaining the luminescent material.
US08980129B2
Disclosed is a liquid-crystal compound with negative dielectric anisotropy, having the chemical formula: wherein A1, A2, and A3 are independently selected from cyclohexyl group, cyclohexenyl group, or phenyl group; L1 and L2 are independently selected from H or F; R is selected from H, F, Cl, C1-10 alkyl group, C1-10 alkenyl group, C1-10 alkoxy group, or C1-10 ether group; Y is fluorinated methyl group; m and n are independently selected from an integer of 0-2; and 1≦m+n≦3.
US08980128B2
The present invention relates to methods for absorbing and/or desorbing water by contacting water with hybrid inorganic-organic material having high surface area, and pores with the size of molecules or nanometers. More specifically, the water adsorbent has facile adsorption-desorption even below 100° C., having high adsorption capacity, and having high desorption capacity when it is heated up to the temperature below 100° C. The adsorbent of the present invention can be applied to a humidifier, dehumidifier, cooler and heater. The present invention also relates to a technology to control humidity using the adsorbent.
US08980126B2
To provide a power storage device including an electrode material having a large capacity. First heat treatment is performed on a mixture of a compound containing lithium; a compound containing a metal element selected from manganese, iron, cobalt, and nickel; and a compound containing phosphorus. A cleaning step is performed on the mixture subjected to the first heat treatment. Second heat treatment is performed on the mixture subjected to the cleaning step, so that a lithium phosphate compound is produced. With the use of the lithium phosphate compound, an electrode is formed.
US08980121B2
The present invention provides an etching liquid for a multilayer thin film containing a copper layer and a titanium layer, and a method of using it for etching a multilayer thin film containing a copper layer and a titanium layer, that is, an etching liquid for a multilayer thin film containing a copper layer and a titanium layer, which comprises (A) hydrogen peroxide, (B) nitric acid, (C) a fluoride ion source, (D) an azole, (E) a quaternary ammonium hydroxide and (F) a hydrogen peroxide stabilizer and has a pH of from 1.5 to 2.5, and a etching method of using it.
US08980120B2
A heat dissipating material and a method for preparing the same, of which the method comprises the following steps: providing paraffin wax, boron nitride, graphite, and a modified multi-walled carbon nanotube; heating the paraffin wax until the paraffin wax is softened; and mixing the boron nitride, the graphite, the modified multi-walled carbon nanotube and the paraffin wax. Wherein, based on the total weight of the heat dissipating material, the content of the paraffin wax is from 50 to 60% by weight; the content of boron nitride is from 20 to 40% by weight; the content of the graphite is from 3 to 15% by weight; and the content of the modified multi-walled carbon nanotube is from 1 to 5% by weight.
US08980117B2
Provided is a piezoelectric material having a high Curie temperature and satisfactory piezoelectric characteristics, the piezoelectric material being represented by the following general formula (1): A(ZnxTi(1-x))yM(1-y)O3 (1) where A represents a Bi element, M represents at least one element selected from Fe, Al, Sc, Mn, Y, Ga, and Yb; x represents a numerical value of 0.4≦x≦0.6; and y represents a numerical value of 0.17≦y≦0.60.
US08980100B2
We provide a system and method for reverse osmosis treatment of water, including seawater and brackish water. Methods and systems of embodiments of the invention may include, for example, ultrafiltration followed by biofoulant removal, both of which precede reverse osmosis. In preferred embodiments the system is run at a low flux. For example, a flux of 6-8 GFD may be used with seawater. Additional embodiments may provide the above process in conjunction with a reverse-osmosis membrane cleaning system. The membrane cleaning system is a “clean in place” system that includes use of the natural pressure differential in the reverse osmosis system to remove biofoulants and their precursors.
US08980097B2
A filter to provide potable water may generally comprise an inlet in fluid communication with an outlet, a halogen release system intermediate the inlet and the outlet, a filter material comprising chitosan or a derivative thereof intermediate the halogen release system and the outlet, and a scavenger barrier intermediate the filter material and the outlet. The filter material may comprise a chitosan-halogen complex. The filter material is capable of regeneration during periods of stagnation. The filter may have a Log reduction value for viruses of at least 4 and a Log reduction value for bacteria of at least 6.
US08980094B2
A method for the filling and flushing of a blood tube set including a pump segment for a blood pump, an arterial line connected to an inlet of a dialyser, a venous line connected to an outlet of a dialyser, a substituate line connected to a substituate port and having a pump segment for a substituate pump, and a three-way connector connected to the arterial line, the venous line and a rinse port. The method includes the steps of opening the rinse port, filling and simultaneously flushing the arterial and venous lines with the substituate supplied from the substituate line via the substituate pump, while substituate is drained off via the rinse port, closing the rinse port, and circulating the substituate in the circuit of arterial line, dialyser and venous line by the blood pump.
US08980093B2
A multicapillary sample preparation device, especially useful for handling biological samples, comprising a plurality of uniform capillary tubes coated with a stationary phase, and arranged in a monolithic element. The multicapillary device is suitable for attachment to a pipette, micropipette, syringe, or other analytical or sample preparation instrument.
US08980087B2
A system and method for filtering is disclosed, which is capable of accomplishing a filtering operation at a high recovery rate of 96% or more, and realizing a compact and simplified system structure, the system comprising a water bath including an inlet and a discharging hole, wherein feed water to be treated is supplied to the inside of the water bath through the inlet, and concentrated water is discharged out through the discharging hole; and plural membrane cassettes including first and second membrane cassettes submerged into the feed water contained in the water bath, wherein the first membrane cassette is positioned nearest to the inlet, and the second membrane cassette is positioned nearest to the discharging hole, wherein the first membrane cassette treats the feed water with a first impurity concentration; the second membrane cassette treats the feed water with a second impurity concentration; and the first impurity concentration is smaller than the second impurity concentration.
US08980084B2
A filter assembly for use in drainage systems to prevent the buildup of eroded materials such as soil, leaves and other debris. The assembly includes a unitary frame and a filter media attached to the frame and is adapted to be retained within a component of a drainage sewer such as a catch basin. A porous material filter media such as a woven or non-woven geotextile allows for the flow of water through the filter while retaining debris or soil within the filter. The filter media extends into the basin to provide volume for the retained material without blocking the entire surface of the filter.
US08980083B2
A water treatment apparatus comprises a chamber divided by a partition into a treatment section and an outlet section. The treatment section may, for example, contain a filter media including organic material which supports a shrub or tree. Runoff water enters the treatment section over an inlet chamber which forms a bridge over the outlet section. During heavy flow conditions, some of the incoming water overflows inlet bypass weirs to pass directly to the outflow section, bypassing the filter media in the treatment section.
US08980060B2
A biomass hydrothermal decomposition apparatus includes, a biomass feeder (31) that feeds biomass material (11) under normal pressure to under increased pressure, a hydrothermal decomposition device (42A) that allows the fed biomass material (11) to be gradually moved inside a device main body (42A) from either end thereof in a consolidated condition, and also allows hot compressed water (15) to be fed from an other end of a feed section for the biomass material into the main body (42A), so as to cause the biomass material (11) and the hot compressed water (15) to countercurrently contact with each other and undergo hydrothermal decomposition, and that elutes a lignin component and a hemicellulose component into the hot compressed water, so as to separate the lignin component and the hemicellulose component from the biomass material (11); and a biomass discharger (51) that discharges, from the side where the hot compressed water is fed into the device main body, a biomass solid residue (17) under increased pressure to under normal pressure.
US08980054B2
The present invention provides a modified cellulosic fiber having reduced hydrogen bonding capabilities. The modified fiber formed in accordance with the present invention may be useful in the production of tissue products having improved bulk and softness. More importantly, the modified fiber is adaptable to current tissue making processes and may be incorporated into a tissue product to improve bulk and softness without an unsatisfactory reduction in tensile.
US08980053B2
A transformer paper comprising polyetherimide fibers is disclosed, along with a method of making the transformer paper and articles.
US08980051B2
This invention relates to the delignification of lignocellulosic pulp. More particularly, the invention relates to sulfonation and bleaching of the alkali pulping produced by Kraft pulp processes or produced through combination of alkali pulping processes and extended delignification stages.
US08980050B2
A method for treating a cellulosic material comprising extracting the cellulosic material with an extractant to selectively extract hemicellulose therein and separating the extracted hemicellulose to form a cellulosic product comprising less hemicellulose than the cellulosic material. The extractant comprises an amine oxide and a non-solvent. The cellulosic product retains the cellulosic fiber morphology.
US08980044B2
A plasma reactor having a reactor chamber and an electrostatic chuck having a surface for holding a workpiece inside the chamber includes inner and outer zone backside gas pressure sources coupled to the electrostatic chuck for applying a thermally conductive gas under respective pressures to respective inner and outer zones of a workpiece-surface interface formed whenever a workpiece is held on the surface, and inner and outer evaporators inside respective inner and outer zones of the electrostatic chuck and a refrigeration loop having respective inner and cuter expansion valves for controlling flow of coolant through the inner and outer evaporators respectively. The reactor further includes inner and outer zone temperature sensors in inner and outer zones of the electrostatic chuck and a thermal model capable of simulating heat transfer through the inner and outer zones, respectively, between the evaporator and the surface based upon measurements from the inner and outer temperature sensors, respectively. Inner and outer zone agile control processors coupled to the thermal model govern the inner and outer zone backside gas pressure sources, respectively, in response to predictions from the model of changes in the respective pressures that would bring the temperatures measured by the inner and outer zone sensors, respectively, closer to a desired temperature.
US08980042B2
A method for joining two carpet segments, each carpet segment having an underside and at least one edge. The method comprises abutting one edge of one carpet segment with one edge of the other carpet segment; positioning a length of seam tape under the abutting edges, and activating the adhesive to secure the seam tape to the undersides of both carpet segments. The seam tape comprises an elongated base layer that is resilient in a transverse direction and an adhesive applied to the base layer. The adhesive may comprise a hot-melt thermoplastic adhesive. The base layer may comprise a resilient textile or fabric, such as cotton denim and elastane.
US08980036B2
A thin ribbon spirally wound polymer conduit and method of forming, wherein a helical reinforcing bead is interposed adjacent overlapping layers of ribbon. Further, a method of continuously forming spirally wound conduit wherein a sacrificial layer, preferably having a different base polymer to that of the conduit, is first applied to the former before the conduit is formed overtop.
US08980031B2
A method of fabricating a turbine engine blade out of composite material includes three-dimensionally weaving yarns to make a preform including root and airfoil portions that are connected together by oblique side faces for forming bearing surfaces enabling the root to bear against an assembly slot in a rotor disk. The method also includes compacting the preform in a mold having a cavity with first oblique side faces corresponding to the above-mentioned side faces of the preform, and second oblique side faces bearing against the root portion of the preform and at angles of inclination opposite to those of the first oblique side faces. Further, the method includes vacuum injecting a resin into the mold and polymerizing the resin.
US08980024B1
A system, method, and process for fabricating solid surface inserts for solid surface materials is provided. The solid surface inserts provide additional decorative and/or functional elements to a solid surface material. The solid surface inserts are designed and fabricated to capture the salient features of a desired design in order to integrate the desired design into the solid surface base to create an assembled solid surface. To create the assembled solid surface, the solid surface base has a pocket formed to accept the solid surface inserts. Then, the solid surface inserts are fabricated from other solid surface materials. The fabricated solid surface inserts are then assembled, interlocked, and secured, either with each other and/or with the solid surface base, using an adhesive to create the assembled solid surface.
US08980023B2
A gas generating pyrotechnic composition that in addition to a primary fuel component and a primary oxidizer component includes critical relative amounts of elemental carbon and cupric oxide. Also provided are associated methods for producing an inflation gas for an occupant restraint system of a motor vehicle.
US08980022B2
This case hardening steel has a chemical composition including, by mass %: C: 0.1 to 0.6%; Si: 0.02 to 1.5%; Mn: 0.3 to 1.8%; P: 0.025% or less; S: 0.001 to 0.15%; Al: over 0.05 to 1.0%; Ti: 0.05 to 0.2%; N: 0.01% or less; and O: 0.0025% or less, and further including, by mass %, one or more of Cr: 0.4 to 2.0%, Mo: 0.02 to 1.5%, Ni: 0.1 to 3.5%, V: 0.02 to 0.5%, and B: 0.0002 to 0.005%, and the balance consisting of iron and unavoidable impurities.
US08980014B2
A cartridge for use in a detergent-dosing system of a water-conducting domestic appliance, in particular, a cartridge for use in a domestic dishwasher of the type having a detergent dispenser configured with a holding space for holding the cartridge, the cartridge including at least a pair of chambers, each chamber for holding a detergent separate from any detergent held by another chamber; and a pair of seals, each seal being associated with a respective one of the chambers for substantially precluding discharge of a detergent retained by the respective chamber and each seal being configured to be opened at least once for a discharge of detergent from the respective chamber and to be closed again at least once.
US08980010B2
In a piezoelectric device, a first electrode and a second electrode are disposed to be opposed to each other on plate surfaces of the piezoelectric device, a first electrode plane of the piezoelectric device is fixedly bonded to a plate surface of a vibrating plate, a piezoelectric material forming the piezoelectric device is polarized in a direction parallel to the first electrode plane, the piezoelectric device is fixed to a base through a second electrode plane of the piezoelectric device, and the piezoelectric device generates a thickness-shear vibration with the fixed second electrode plane being a reference plane. The piezoelectric vibration generated by the piezoelectric device generates a flexural vibration in the vibrating plate, to thereby remove dust adhering to a surface of the vibrating plate.
US08979998B2
Compositions and methods for increasing grinding efficiency of cement, cement clinker, raw materials for cement, and other inorganic particles. Use of biomass-derived polyols such as diols, triols, or mixtures thereof, optionally with a conventional grinding aid, cement quality improver, and/or hexavalent chromium reducer, are believed to provide less risk of sludging when compared to glycerides obtained from fossil fuel sources.
US08979987B1
Provided, amongst other things, are dyes of formula II: wherein R1, R2, R3 and R4 are independently H or alkyl, so long as one or more is alkyl, and salts of the compound of formula II. Methods of making, inks, surgical markers and methods of marking tissue and the like are further provided.
US08979979B2
Method and device for removing volatile organic substances from the contained air of closed habitats
A method for removing volatile organic substances from the contained air of closed habitats includes a) conducting contained air through an adsorber bed formed by a hydrophobic zeolite bed, b) closing the adsorber bed, c) extracting the air from the adsorber bed and feeding the air into the closed habitat, d) desorbing the volatile organic substances, in particular freons such as R134a and VOCs, from the adsorber bed by heating the adsorber, e) leading the desorbed substances to an environment outside the closed habitat, wherein water vapor, water, or CO2 is fed to the adsorber bed through a flushing line. The device includes a housing for accommodating an adsorber, a contained-air supply line, a contained-air return line, a flushing line, and least one outlet-air line for returning air from the adsorber bed into the closed habitat and for conducting the desorbate to an environment outside the closed habitat.
US08979977B2
A device for degassing aqueous media has a first container containing medium to be degassed. A first line connects the first container to a degassing module and a second line connects the degassing module to a second container for receiving the degassed medium. A first non-return valve in the first line prevents backflow from the degassing module to the first container. A hydrophilic membrane in the second line prevents the passage of gas, and a branch between the degassing module and the hydrophilic membrane has a hydrophobic degassing filter for letting out gas. A third line is connected to the first line between the first container and the first non-return valve and to the second line between the second container and the hydrophilic membrane. A second non-return valve in the third line between the first non-return valve and the hydrophilic membrane prevents a flow towards the second container.
US08979972B2
Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing a metal flake, including the steps of: applying metal ink containing an organic metal compound onto a substrate; calcining the metal ink applied on the substrate to form a thin metal film; separating the formed thin metal film from the substrate; and pulverizing the separated thin metal film. The method of manufacturing a metal flake is characterized in that the thickness and size of metal flakes can be easily adjusted, metal flakes having excellent conductivity and gloss can be obtained, and metal flakes can be mass-produced using environmentally friendly and economical methods.
US08979970B2
Fertilizer granules and methods of producing fertilizer granules. The fertilizer granules are formed from a fertilizer composition, such as a phosphate fertilizer, includes a fibrous material for the purpose of increasing the granule strength preventing or reducing attrition or dusting formation during storage, transport, and/or handling of the fertilizer. Dust formation can be reduced fifty percent or more. The base fertilizer composition can include a phosphate fertilizer, such as monoammonium phosphate (MAP) or diammonium phosphate (DAP), and optionally one or more micronutrients or secondary nutrients, such as elemental sulfur. The fibrous material is pulp or paper sludge, for example.
US08979963B2
The present invention discloses a suspended ceiling filtration apparatus, which includes filtration units. The filtration unit includes a filtration part, two horizontal strip support legs and two longitudinal strip support legs. A support plate protrudes from the support legs. The filtration part is placed on the support plate, and a buffer filling part is disposed between the filtration part and the support plate. The buffer filling part is utilized to self-adaptively swell and shrink relative to the support plate according to a weight of the supported filtration part, the buffer filling part fills a gap between the support plate and the filtration part.
US08979950B2
A sealing method for battery containers which employs a first fixture to engage with the outer peripheries of edges of an opening of a container made from metal sheets, in order to define a shape of the opening of the container; then a second fixture is inserted into an inner space of the container from its opening, so that the edges of the opening of the container are shaped due to the ductility and malleability properties of metal sheets, and lateral surfaces of the container are made flat; lastly, a cover is placed on the opening of the container to have the container sealed by a welding means. The sealing method can restore an original shape of the container from a deformed state by using the fixtures, so that an entire sealing process for battery containers can be executed by automation in order to save labor costs.
US08979949B2
An object of the present invention is to provide a fine crystal particle production method and device that are excellent in mixing efficiency.This object is achieved by a method for producing fine crystal particles, comprising: a swirl flow producing step at which a swirl flow of liquid a comprising reactant A is supplied into a cylinder having a circumferential surface partially or wholly composed of a porous membrane; and a reaction step at which liquid b comprising reactant B which is reactive with the reactant A is supplied through the porous membrane to the swirl flow to effect mixing, whereby the reactants A and B are reacted to precipitate fine crystal particles.
US08979948B2
A process is provided for preparing a salt product with reduced sodium content including the step of providing a concentrated brine, which is typically seawater, to which has been added potassium chloride. The mixture is transferred to a crystallizer unit where at least a portion of the mix is transferred to the crystallizer through a washing column. Liquid is evaporated from the crystallizer such that crystals form, crystals are passed from the crystallizer through said washing column to a separating unit such that in the passing through the washing column the crystals are rinsed with the brine portion being transferred as a counter current through the column. The inventive process is characterized by recycling of the brine from which the salt crystallizes, thus all main ingredients of the mixed input brine reach a steady equilibrium concentration in the mother liquor in the crystallizer. These will then precipitate as crystals, as more of the respective substances gets added to the mother liquor through inflow of mixed input brine. None of the liquor is purged out of the system as in conventional salt crystallizers. All the components in the feed are substantially contained in the product from the crystallizer either as crystalline material or soluble ingredients.
US08979946B2
This application relates to thiophene azo dyes for use as hueing agents, laundry care compositions comprising such thiophene azo dyes, processes for making such thiophene azo dyes, and laundry care compositions and methods of using the same. The thiophene azo dyes contain a formally charged moiety and are generally comprised of at least two components: at least one chromophore component and at least one polymeric component. Suitable chromophore components generally fluoresce blue, red, violet, or purple color when exposed to ultraviolet light, or they may absorb light to reflect these same shades. These thiophene azo dyes are advantageous in providing a hueing effect, for example, a whitening effect to fabrics, while not building up over time and causing undesirable blue discoloration to the treated fabrics. The thiophene azo dyes are also generally stable to bleaching agents used in laundry care compositions.
US08979945B2
Disclosed is an implantable end pad. The end pad includes a bone attachment portion having a recess configured to receive an amputated bone of a residual limb. The end pad further includes an end portion having a contour corresponding to at least a portion of a socket of an artificial limb such that the end pad can be at least partially received in the socket of the residual limb. Further disclosed is a method wherein the end pad is implanted into a residual limb by way of a surgical procedure.
US08979944B2
A liner interface and method of making comprising non-compressible deformable electrically conductive neural receptors having electrically conductive elements extending therefrom, formed by attaching each receptor and the conductive elements to an inner surface of a fabric layer, placing the fabric layer into a first part of a molding machine having a predetermined shape, moving a second part of the molding machine having a shape complemental to the first predetermined shape toward said fabric layer to either abut or axially deform the deformable receptors and define a space therebetween, injecting a molten gel elastomer into the space to surround and adhere to the receptors, conductive elements and fabric layer, allowing the molten gel to cure to form a gel inner surface, and removing the second part from the molding machine and allowing the receptors to either axially expand beyond or remain even with the inner surface of the cured liner interface.
US08979939B2
A prosthesis arranged to be coupled to a bone. The prosthesis comprises a substrate (2) having a surface (6). The surface (6) of the substrate (2) has a first area and a second area, the first area being treated such that osseointegration is promoted more than in the second area. The interface (12) between the first and second areas forms an alignment mark to assist alignment of the prosthesis relative to a bone. The prosthesis is arranged to be at least partially inserted into a bone cavity such that the position of the alignment mark relative to the bone cavity is indicative of the angle of insertion of the prosthesis or the alignment mark provides a position reference for determining the implanted position of the prosthesis in the cavity. A method of manufacturing the prosthesis and a method of implanting the prosthesis are also provided.
US08979938B2
An artificial joint associated with an implant having a pair of three dimensional and structurally extending bones, each defining a contoured and opposing end face and collectively defining a joint location. A plasticized layer is applied to an end face of each bone and coacts in substantially frictional reducing fashion with an opposing end face of a further selected bone. The plasticized layer further includes at least a plurality of projecting contact locations, between which are defined a network of valleys for receiving, supporting, and distributing a lubricant across a surface area associated with the layer.
US08979935B2
Joint space interpositional prosthetic devices for positioning between surfaces of a joint in a patient are disclosed. The prosthetic device may have exterior surfaces affixed to the joint surfaces and may have internal surfaces which provide bearing surfaces. In an exemplary embodiment, the bearing surfaces are encapsulated within the device. The exterior surfaces of the device may include bone securement features to facilitate attachment of the prosthetic device to the joint surfaces.
US08979934B2
An orthopedic implant comprising a substrate material adapted to provide the orthopedic implant. The implant has a primary friction area located on or integral with the substrate material. The primary friction area defining an engagement surface having a primary frictional feature. A secondary friction area is located on or integral with the engagement surface and defining a second frictional feature. The primary friction area and the secondary friction area defining a friction interface zone between the orthopedic implant and at least one bone. The secondary friction area increases a friction of the engagement surface and modulus of elasticity to enhance the frictional engagement between the engagement surface and the at least one bone.
US08979933B2
A stand-alone interbody fixation system having a cage, anterior fixation blade and posterior fixation blade. The cage includes an annular side wall with an open interior and upper and lower surfaces, the cage being configured to fit between end plates of adjacent vertebrae. The anterior fixation blade includes an anterior alignment boss with two opposing outward extending anterior blades with end plate penetrating tips configured to fit within the open interior of the cage. The posterior fixation blade includes a posterior alignment boss with two opposing outward extending posterior blades with end plate penetrating tips configured to fit within the open interior of the cage. The anterior and posterior fixation blades are counter-rotating blades and the anterior alignment boss and posterior alignment boss are configured to receive or engage a deployment instrument having an anterior engagement portion and a posterior engagement portion configured to rotate the anterior and posterior fixation blades from a stowed position to a deployed condition.
US08979930B2
An orthopedic implant system includes an implant configured and adapted for orthopedic applications. The implant defines a bore therethrough having a bore entrance defined along a first axis and a bore exit defining a second axis that is angled with respect to the first axis to facilitate implantation of the implant. A flexible screw is mounted in the bore of the implant.The screw includes a head at one end configured to receive a driver tool for turning the screw within the implant, and a screw tip at an opposite end from the head configured for engaging bone. A portion of the screw between the tip and the head is flexible to allow bending of the screw while passing into the bore of the implant along the first axis and out of the bore of the implant along the second axis.
US08979925B2
Implants or systems of implants and methods apply a selected force vector or a selected combination of force vectors within or across the left atrium, which allow mitral valve leaflets to better coapt. The implants or systems of implants and methods make possible rapid deployment, facile endovascular delivery, and full intra-atrial retrievability. The implants or systems of implants and methods also make use of strong fluoroscopic landmarks. The implants or systems of implants and methods make use of an adjustable implant and a fixed length implant. The implants or systems of implants and methods may also utilize a bridge stop to secure the implant, and the methods of implantation employ various tools.
US08979916B2
An improved apparatus for delivering and deployment of an expandable stent with a protection sheath within a blood vessel is provided. The system comprises a fluid pressure device which is coupled with a retraction device for the protection sheath such that after retraction of the protection sheath the stent is automatically deployed by the fluid pressure device. The advantage of the invention is an easy and simple operation of the apparatus.
US08979907B2
The present method includes the following steps: removing a portion of a previously implanted spinal arthroplasty device; and attaching a revision component to a remaining portion of the previously implanted spinal arthroplasty device to alter a biomechanical characteristic of the implanted arthroplasty device. Another aspect of the invention provides a method of limiting motion between adjacent vertebrae including the steps of accessing an implanted spinal arthroplasty device comprising a cephalad component fixed to a first vertebra and a caudal component fixed to a second vertebra inferior to the first vertebra, the cephalad and caudal components having a range of motion between them, and attaching a revision component to the cephalad and caudal components to reduce the range of motion. The invention also includes revision devices for revising the biomechanics of implanted spinal arthroplasty devices.
US08979905B2
A spine or spinal rod has a cross-section defining angled sides that cooperate with a spinal rod opening of a spinal rod holder. In one form, the spine rod has an essentially pentagonal cross-section that thus essentially defines angled sides or side surfaces that interact with the spinal rod holder opening to positively seat the spine rod into the spinal rod holder and prevent spine rod from rotation. In the pentagonal cross-section form, the spine rod has a top or posterior side/side surface, a bottom or anterior side/side surface, a first lateral side/side surface, a second lateral side/side surface, a first angled sub-lateral side/side surface and a second angled sub-lateral side/side surface. The first and second angled sub-lateral sides/side surfaces provide contact with angled sides of the spine rod holder opening. In another form, the spine rod has an essentially V-shaped cross-section that defines sides/side surfaces that interact with the spinal rod holder opening. Preferably, but not necessarily, the spine rod is formed of PEEK. Other bio-compatible materials, however, may be used.
US08979903B2
A connection system is provided that joins a revision fixation plate to a previously implanted skeletal fixation plate. In one form, the system allows the previously implanted plating system to be revised without disturbing the original implant components. In one aspect, the connection includes joining the revision fixation plate to a previously implanted fastener. In another aspect, the revision fixation plate is directly joined to a previously implanted fixation plate. In yet another aspect, the connection includes forming a dynamic relationship between the previously implanted plating system, the revision fixation plate, and the affected vertebrae. In one form, the dynamic relationship enables movement between the previously implanted plating system and the affected vertebrae and in another form, the dynamic relationship enables movement between the previously implanted plating system and the revision fixation plate.
US08979892B2
A generally tubular endovascular prosthesis (100) is configured to transition between a radially-compressed state and a radially-expanded state. The prosthesis (100) includes a first generally cylindrical structural portion (101), which has first and second ends (102, 103), and a second generally cylindrical structural portion (104), which has first and second ends (105, 106). The first end (102) of the first structural portion (101) and the first end (105) of the second structural portion (104) meet each other at a juncture (107). The prosthesis (100) is configured to transition from (a) an initial folded state, in which the second structural portion (104) is folded into the first structural portion (101) at the juncture (107), to (b) an unfolded state, in which the second structural portion (104) is no longer positioned within the first structural portion (101), and the second end (103) of the first structural portion (101) and the second end (106) of the second structural portion (104) are positioned at opposite ends of the prosthesis (100). Other embodiments are also described.
US08979883B2
A surgical instrument for use with a surgical portal apparatus includes an elongate shaft defining a longitudinal axis. A dilating member disposed at a distal end of the elongate shaft and has a first longitudinal arc segment and a second longitudinal arc segment being in diametrical opposed relation. The first and second longitudinal arc segments define respective first and second radii of curvature transverse to the longitudinal axis, and decrease from proximal to distal to define a generally tapered configuration of the dilating member. The first radius of curvature is greater than the second radius of curvature at predefined longitudinal positions of the dilating member such that the first longitudinal arc segment extends distally beyond the second longitudinal segment to define a penetrating tip. The penetrating tip has a reduced profile and is dimensioned to facilitate initial insertion of the dilating member into tissue.
