US09130445B1
Embodiments of an electromechanical transducer are presented. The electromechanical transducer includes a plurality of magnets and a substrate having a patterned conductive coil of at least one turn. The plurality of magnets are arranged such that a continuous magnetic flux path passes through each of the plurality of magnets. The substrate is located within an airgap between a given magnet of the plurality of magnets and an adjacent magnet of the plurality of magnets. The continuous magnetic flux path passes through at least a portion of the patterned conductive coil due to the location of the substrate within the airgap.
US09130444B2
The aim of the invention is to provide pivoting and rotary drives for electric machines with low number of parts economically. Said aim is achieved, by means of a secondary part (4) of circular or arched design. The primary part of the drive has at least two straight primary part segments (1), arranged at a predefined angle to each other in the longitudinal direction thereof to correspond to the shape of the secondary part (4). A pivoting or rotary drive can thus be economically produced with standard linear motor components.
US09130440B2
A winding method for producing, for example, electric coils, wherein strand-shaped winding material (8) fed by means of a feeding device (7) is wound onto a carrier body having a non-circular cross-section by means of moving the winding material (8) and the carrier body relative to each other. Prior to placing the winding material (8) onto the surface to be wound, a force is applied onto the material transversely to the longitudinal extension thereof such that the strand-shaped winding material conform to the shape of the surface of the carrier body having a non-circular cross-section.
US09130438B2
An electric motor has a stator and a rotor rotatably installed in the stator. The stator includes a housing, a plurality of magnets installed at an inner surface of the housing, a brush card installed inside of the housing, brushes mounted on the brush card, lead wires for connecting to a power source and feeding power to the brushes, and an end cap attached to an end of the housing and covering the brushes. The rotor includes a shaft, a commutator fixed on the shaft, a rotor core fixed on the shaft and a winding wound on the rotor core and connected to the commutator. An EMI suppression component is mounted on the brush card and covered by the end cap, and the lead wires extends through the EMI suppression component.
US09130437B1
A manufacturing method for permeable bandages and magnetic cores for rotors of electrical machines is proposed. The proposed method relies on winding with insulated metal preferably permeable wire or ribbon with high pretension and maintaining pretension in the wire or ribbon during manufacturing steps. The proposed method could be especially useful for high-speed electrical machines.
US09130435B2
A motor vehicle drive unit and an automotive vehicle comprising such a motor vehicle drive unit are provided. An electric motor has a rotor and a main stator rotatably mounted to a support structure. A first transmission provides an output to a first wheel axle shaft from the rotor. A second transmission provides an output to a second wheel axle shaft from the main stator. An auxiliary stator at least partially surrounds the main stator and is held stationary relative to the main rotatably mounted stator. A control unit is provided for controlling the auxiliary stator to add or subtract power to the main rotatably mounted stator.
US09130431B2
A stator includes a ring-shaped stator core and a stator winding. The stator core has a plurality of slots arranged in a circumferential direction. The stator winding has a plurality of phase windings. Each phase winding is composed of a plurality of segment conductors 41 disposed such as to be inserted into the slots and connected in series. The segment conductor is divided into two. The phase winding is configured by two divided phase windings connected to each other in parallel. The divided phase windings are respectively configured by a plurality of segment conductors respectively connected in series such that the two divided segment conductors are in parallel with each other.
US09130422B2
A rotor core for an internal permanent magnet machine includes at least one ferrite pole and at least one rare earth pole, arranged radially about an axis in alternating relationship. The ferrite poles define a plurality of first pole cavities, and the rare earth poles define a plurality of second pole cavities. One of a plurality of ferrite magnets is disposed within each of the first pole cavities of the ferrite poles, and one of a plurality of rare earth magnets is disposed within each of the second pole cavities of the rare earth poles.
US09130420B2
Provided is a stator that can reduce iron loss and ensure a fastening force for stator core segments. The stator of a generally hollow cylindrical shape includes a plurality of stator core segments arranged adjacent to one another in a circumferential direction of the stator and each having an outer surface on the outer side in a radial direction of the stator, and the same number of curved members as the stator core segments, the curved members extending in the circumferential direction, and each having a projecting portion curved to project toward the outer surface, contacting the outer surface and pressing the outer surface inward in the radial direction of the stator.
US09130418B2
A DC electric rotating machine mainly for the starter of an automotive vehicle, including: a stator having a magnetized structure with permanent magnetization and extending along the circumference of the stator; a rotor; a set of brushes adapted for the electric supply of the rotor by switching the electrical current in sections of the rotor; wherein the magnetized structure (5) of the stator includes at least one sector, between two consecutive magnetic poles (N; S) of the magnetized structure, having a magnetization vector that varies in an essentially sinusoidal manner upon displacement on the stator circumference, and wherein the angular deviation of the neutral line is selected so as to improve the switching during the operation of the machine.
US09130415B2
An electric motor includes an insert member situated within an insert bore formed in a rotor in order to adjust a balance of the rotor. The insert member has a body part provided with a cutout portion in a part of its circumference to define a gap extending therebetween. The insert member also has a pair of inner protrusions protruding radially inwardly from the opposite side edges of the gap. The size of the gap is determined such that the gap is not closed when the insert member elastically deforms and as a result, the outer diameter of the insert member becomes smaller than the diameter of the insert bore.
US09130407B2
Exemplary embodiments are directed to wireless power transfer including generating an electromagnetic field at a resonant frequency of a transmitter to create a coupling-mode region within a near field of the transmitter during a synchronization portion of a time-multiplexed recurring period. During a power transmission portion of the recurring period, the electromagnetic field will continue to be generated when there is a receiver within the coupling-mode region, or the electromagnetic field will be disabled when there are no receivers within the coupling-mode region. Different segments of the power transmission portion are allocated to different receivers. The transmitter issues serial commands to the receivers by on/off keying the electromagnetic field. The receivers issue serial replies by changing the amount of power consumed from the electromagnetic field between two different states. The serial commands and serial replies are used to determine the number of receivers, their power requirements, and the allocation of segments.
US09130401B2
A photovoltaic panel with multiple photovoltaic sub-strings including serially-connected photovoltaic cells and having direct current (DC) outputs adapted for interconnection in parallel into a parallel-connected DC power source. A direct current (DC) power converter including input terminals and output terminals is adapted for coupling to the parallel-connected DC power source and for converting an input power received at the input terminals to an output power at the output terminals. The direct current (DC) power converter optionally has a control loop configured to set the input power received at the input terminals according to a previously determined criterion. The control loop may be adapted to receive a feedback signal from the input terminals for maximizing the input power. A bypass diode is typically connected in shunt across the input terminals of the converter. The bypass diode functions by passing current during a failure of any of the sub-strings and/or a partial shading of the sub-strings. The bypass diode may be a single bypass diode connected across the parallel-connected DC power source. The DC power converter may convert the input power at high current to the output power at a lower current. The output terminals may be connectible with wire cables to a load, and the DC power converter is configured to reduce energy loss through the wire cables to the load.
US09130386B2
A wireless power transmitting device includes a housing configured to have a feeding surface on which a power receiving device is to be placed; a power transmitting coil disposed inside the housing and configured to have a central axis that intersects with the feeding surface; and an alternating-current power supply configured to supply power to the power transmitting coil, wherein the feeding surface has raised and recessed portions in an area corresponding to a region inside an outer region of the power transmitting coil.
US09130385B2
A tablet storage and charging cart includes a mobile cabinet formed of a horizontal base frame, two opposing upright frames and one or a number of horizontal partition panels and defining therein a plurality of storage compartments, a plurality of tablet racks set in the storage compartments for holding tablet PCs individually, and a transmission control system, which includes a power management device electrically connectable to an external power source for power input and one or a number of connector modules electrically coupled with the power management device, each connector module having multiple USB sockets and multiple transmission cables respectively electrically connected to the USB sockets and adapted for electrically connecting the USB sockets to storage tablet PCs.
US09130380B2
Disclosed herein are a contactless power transmitting system having an overheat protection function, which protects a battery cell module from damage due to overheating while the battery cell module is being charged, and a method thereof. In the contactless power transmitting system, a contactless power transmitting apparatus transmits a first power to a contactless power receiving apparatus through a power transmitting coil to charge the battery cell module with the first power, and transmits a second power, of lower wattage than the first power, to the contactless power receiving apparatus through the power transmitting coil to charge the battery cell module with the second power if an overheat alarm signal is received from the contactless power receiving apparatus, thereby making it possible to fully charge the battery cell module while preventing overheating of the battery cell module.
US09130376B2
A system and method for externally controlling the charging of a battery powered mobile computing device includes a charging unit configured to be electrically coupled to the mobile computing device to charge a battery therein. The charging unit comprises a charger configured to operate in a first mode to provide a constant charge current to the battery to be charged and to operate in a second mode to provide a constant charge voltage to the battery to be charged and where the switch from the first mode to the second mode occurs when the voltage at the battery a predefined threshold voltage. The charger including an offset compensator configured for applying an offset voltage to the measured output of the charger to maintain the charger in the first mode to compensate for voltage drops between the charger and the battery thereby allowing the battery voltage to reach the threshold voltage.
US09130367B2
To provide a novel display device with improved reliability. The display device includes an insulating layer between a first wiring and a second wiring. The insulating layer includes a first insulating layer and a second insulating layer overlapping with the first insulating layer and a region where a part of the second insulating layer is removed, and the region serves as a protection circuit. In addition, the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer are included in a region where the insulating layer overlaps with a semiconductor layer of a transistor, and a region where the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer are removed is included in a region where the first wiring and the second wiring are directly connected to each other.
US09130360B2
To provide an electrical junction box equipped with a bracket having a new structure that can stably and strongly secure the electrical junction box to a vehicle body to exert sufficient strength against an external force applied by bolt-fastening of a terminal hardware in an external wiring. A separate bracket attaches an electrical junction box main body to a vehicle body side support member. The separate bracket is provided with latch portions. Fixing positions between the latch portions and the electrical junction box main body are set on both sides of bolt connecting sections along the vehicle body side support member.
US09130358B2
A method of manufacturing an electrode material for use in spark plugs and other ignition devices. The electrode material may be manufactured into a desirable form by hot-forming a layered structure that includes a ruthenium-based material core, an iridium-based interlayer disposed over an exterior surface of the ruthenium-based material core, and a nickel-based cladding disposed over an exterior surface of the iridium-based material interlayer. The elongated layered wire produced by the hot-forming then has its nickel-based cladding removed to derive an elongated electrode material wire that includes the ruthenium-based material core encased in the iridium-based material. The elongated electrode material wire can be used to make many different spark plug/ignition device components.
US09130355B2
To provide a technology of improving the corrosion resistance of a spark plug.A spark plug having a metal shell on the outer surface of which a nickel plated layer is formed as a protective surface film. The nickel plated layer is such that when the atomic concentrations of constituent elements are measured in a depth direction by an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the concentration of carbon atoms is 1.0% to 10.0% at a depth at which the atomic concentration of Ni elements is 80%.
US09130350B2
A laser device includes: an optical amplifier; a first reflector configured to reflect light output from the first optical end face of the optical amplifier; a ring resonator; an input optical waveguide optically coupled to the ring resonator; a reflector optical waveguide optically coupled to the ring resonator; a second reflector configured to reflect light that propagates in the reflector optical waveguide; an output optical waveguide; and a delay interferometer that includes first and second optical couplers and a pair of optical waveguides formed between the first optical coupler and the second optical coupler. The second optical end face of the optical amplifier and one port of the first optical coupler are optically coupled. A first port of the second optical coupler and the input optical waveguide are optically coupled. A second port of the second optical coupler and the output optical waveguide are optically coupled.
US09130349B2
High-power, phased-locked, laser arrays as disclosed herein utilize a system of optical elements that may be external to the laser oscillator array. Such an external optical system may achieve mutually coherent operation of all the emitters in a laser array, and coherent combination of the output of all the lasers in the array into a single beam. Such an “external gain harness” system may include: an optical lens/mirror system that mixes the output of all the emitters in the array; a holographic optical element that combines the output of all the lasers in the array, and an output coupler that selects a single path for the combined output and also selects a common operating frequency for all the coupled gain regions.
US09130342B2
A laser includes an active ring, a passive waveguide, and a reflector. The active ring is to generate light. The passive waveguide is associated with the active ring to capture generated light. The reflector is associated with the passive waveguide to cause captured light from the waveguide to be coupled into the active ring to trigger domination of unidirectional lasing in the active ring to generate light.
US09130339B2
When an end-face-emitting photonic crystal laser element 10 is seen in an X axis, one end of an upper electrode E2 overlaps a laser light exit surface SF, the upper electrode E2 and an opposite end face SB are separated from each other, the upper electrode E2 is separated from both lateral end faces SR, SL, and one end of an active layer 3B overlaps the laser light exit surface SF.
US09130338B2
An excimer laser may include a frame, a base plate on which the frame is disposed, an excimer laser configured to oscillate and output laser light by discharge-pumping within a chamber containing a laser gas, an optical element that is mounted upon the frame and that is disposed in the optical path of the outputted laser light and a heat removal mechanism connected to both the frame and the base plate.
US09130333B2
A cable installation tool includes a baseboard having a containing space for containing a circuit board, a support base disposed on the baseboard, a sliding base slidably disposed on the baseboard and located at a side of the support base, a sliding rod slidably passing through the support base to be connected to the sliding base, a link, and a driving rod having a bending portion and a handle portion. An end of the link is pivoted to the sliding rod. The bending portion is pivoted to another end of the link and the support base respectively for driving the sliding rod via the link to slide relative to the support base, so that the sliding base could be pushed by the sliding rod to drive a cable device placed on the sliding base to insert into a slot of the circuit board.
US09130332B2
An apparatus including a housing, and a standard media plug connector rotatably mounted to the housing, so that the standard media plug connector can be rotated in a first plane, which is substantially perpendicular to a back surface of the housing, from a first orientation wherein the standard media plug connector is substantially parallel to the back surface of the housing to a second orientation wherein the standard media plug connector is substantially perpendicular to the back surface of the housing. The housing may be configured to be attached to a mobile electronic communications device. The apparatus may further include an electronic device connector which is configured to be connected to a data port of the mobile electronic communications device, while the housing is attached to the mobile electronic communications device. The apparatus may further include a mounting bracket to which the standard media plug connector is rotatably mounted.
US09130331B2
A rotating connector includes a cable accommodation chamber formed between an outer case and an inner case in their radial direction, a flexible flat cable housed in the cable accommodation chamber, and multiple idlers housed in the cable accommodation chamber. The idlers are rotatably provided in a direction of an annular slidable member. The idlers are rotatable on their own axes. The flat cable is wound on an inner periphery of the outer case and an outer periphery of the inner case by way of a reversed portion of the flat cable. The flat cable is wound thereon in opposite directions. The idlers are pivotally supported by the slidable member so as to change a space between the idlers and the inner case and a space between the idlers and the outer case depending on winding of the flat cable.
US09130327B2
A clip connector is configured to cooperate with a power strip for providing power to an LED display such that the clip connector is insertable into the power strip by a user compressing the first and second legs towards one another and first inserting the first leg into the first channel of the power strip and then inserting the second leg into the second channel of the power strip.
US09130316B2
A monitoring system for connector pins exposed to conductive/corrosive fluids and/or corrosive environments includes a first sensing portion having a pin monitoring section configured to measure a pin current flow of at least one conductor pin, and transfer a first signal. A second sensing portion produces a second signal indicating by a contactless determination the presence of a fastener providing physical connection between an interface member and a component. A decision logic device receives the first and second signals, compares the pin current flow to a predetermined range of values, and isolates electrical power to the conductor pin when the first signal indicates the pin current flow is outside the predetermined range of values. A sensor body created of a non-ferrous material and connected to the component includes a first insert member having the conductor pin and a second insert member defining a sensor sensing proximal presence of the fastener.
US09130315B2
An electrical connector includes a dielectric housing with a plurality of filtering modules therein. Each filtering module has a housing and a magnetics assembly including transformer cores with wires wrapped therearound. An array of pins extend from the module housing for connection to the wires. A plurality of tails extend from the module housing for interconnection to a circuit board upon which the connector may be mounted. An interconnection is provided between the pins and tails that may include filtering or other signal modifying circuitry. A circuit member having an enhanced layout is also provided for use in or upon which the connector may be mounted.
US09130313B2
An edge card connector includes a connector housing; a plurality of center conductors disposed in the connector housing, spaced apart from one another, and arranged to make contact with a surface of an edge card when the edge card is inserted into the edge card connector; and a plurality of shields disposed in the connector housing, surrounding three sides of a corresponding one of the plurality of center conductors, and arranged to make contact with the surface of the edge card when the edge card is inserted into the edge card connector.
US09130312B2
A cable connector assembly comprises a housing; a plurality of first contacts received in the housing; and cable having at least a first set of cable electrically respectively connected to the corresponding first contacts. Each of the first set of cable comprises a plurality of first wires formed therein. At least one of the first wires of one first set of cable is cut out, and the rest of the first wires of one first set of cable are electrically connected with the corresponding first contact.
US09130311B2
An electrical connector including electrical terminals, and a housing. The housing includes a first housing member and a second housing member. The second housing member includes terminal receiving areas which house the electrical terminals. The second housing member includes projections into the terminal receiving areas to limit forward movement of the electrical terminals in the terminal receiving areas. The first housing member includes a plurality of projections respectively extending into each of the terminal receiving areas to limit rearward movement of the electrical terminals in the terminal receiving areas. The electrical terminals float in the terminal receiving areas between the projections of the first housing member and the projections of the second housing member.
US09130309B2
An electrical connector that can prevent an unexpected length of time from being spent in separating the mated connectors is provided. The supporting portion is a plate-like member forming a slot in which a jig can be inserted in cooperation with the operation portion when the plug housing and receptacle housing are mated, and serves as the fulcrum point of leverage while the jig inserted in the slot and working as a lever abuts against the operation portion and deforms the elastic portion so as to disengage the latching portion and engaging portion.
US09130306B2
The invention relates to a connector assembly for an electrical plug-in connector (10), in particular an electrical socket plug-in connector (10) for an igniter of an airbag, with a contact casing (100) in which at least one electrical contact means (50) can be provided, and a contact securing means (200) which has a locking means (210) by means of which the contact means (50) can be locked in the contact casing (100); the contact securing means (200) having a strain-relief means (230) by means of which at least partially a strain relief for an electric line (60) connected to the contact means (50) can be set up on/in the connector assembly (12); and/or the connector assembly (12) having a plug-in-connector securing means (400) which, starting from a pre-latching position (V) on the connector assembly (12), for a final latching position (E) can be brought into engagement with the contact securing means (200) and/or a strain-relief cover (300) of the connector assembly (12).
US09130303B2
A cover for a cable connector includes, in one embodiment, a unitary cover body extending along an axis. The cover defines a cavity and has a plurality of regions. The regions have different diameters for receiving a cable connector and establishing one or more seals.
US09130299B2
Method for producing an electrically conductive connection between a component (1), which is positioned in a housing, is equipped with electrical contacts and is accessible from the outside through an opening located in a wall of the housing, and a feed source, using a plug-type element (6), which is equipped with electrical mating contacts (7) and is fitted to the end of an electrical line, which is connected to the feed source and has at least two insulated conductors (8). The plug-type element (6)together with conductors (8) connected thereto is first fixed on one end of a holder (9) made from plastic, whose outer dimensions are smaller than the clear width of the opening (4) of the housing (3). Then the plug-type element (6) is passed through the opening (4) of the housing (3) by means of the holder (9) and is plugged onto the contacts (2) of the component (1). Finally the holder (9) is detached from the plug-type element (6) once the end position of the plug-type element (6) has been reached, whilst remaining in the housing (3) or in its opening (4). The holder (9) may also support a closure (12) to close the opening (4).
US09130290B2
A contactor including a bellows body, a fixed portion, connected to one end of the bellows body and provided with at least one fixed touch piece extending along the bellows body, and a movable portion, connected to the other end of the bellows body, where the movable portion is configured to be depressed to compress the bellows body and to bring the movable portion and/or the bellows body into contact with the fixed touch piece of the fixed portion.
US09130288B2
A female F connector incorporates a nose protruding from an end of the connector and the nose is urged to protrude by a spring.
US09130284B2
A crimp terminal (10) includes a conductor crimp portion (12) having a cross section formed into a U-shape by a bottom plate (13) and a pair of conductor crimping pieces (14, 14) provided to extend on both sides of the bottom plate (13) and crimped to wrap a conductor (Wa) of an electric wire (W) disposed on an inner surface (13a) of the bottom plate (13). The conductor crimp portion (12) is crimped and connected to the conductor (Wa) and includes serrations (16) at respective lattice points of a lattice (21, 22, 23) assumed in an inner surface (13a, 14a) of the conductor crimp portion (12) and obliquely crossing in a longitudinal direction of the conductor (Wa). The serrations (16) are consisted of cylindrical recesses having the same shape.
US09130261B2
An improved inverted-F antenna, adapted for wireless communication devices, is disclosed, which comprises: a ground plane; a pin, coupled to a side of the ground plane while extending vertically upward therefrom; a first radiation unit, connected to an end of the pin that is not connected to the ground plane while enabling the periphery of the same to align with the periphery of the ground plane. Moreover, the inverted-F antenna is further comprised of: a second radiation unit, connected to the end of the first radiation unit that is not connected to the pin while enabling the same to be enveloped within the periphery of the ground plane, and being shaped like a fan tapering toward the end thereof that is connected to the first radiation unit; and a feed point, disposed extendingly from an end of the first radiation unit for feeding electrical signals.
US09130258B2
A waveguide filter comprising a base block of dielectric material defining at least first and second resonators and a bridge block seated on top of the base block and defining at least a third resonator. In one embodiment, the base block comprises first and second base blocks that have been coupled together in an end to end relationship. An external transmission line or an interior RF signal transmission window or an RF signal transmission bridge provides a cross-coupling RF signal transmission path between the first and second resonators. At least first and second interior RF signal transmission windows provide a direct RF signal transmission path between the first and third resonators and the second and third resonators respectively.
US09130257B2
A structure and method for adjusting the bandwidth of a ceramic waveguide filter comprising, in one embodiment, a monoblock of dielectric ceramic material defining respective steps and respective input/output through-holes extending through the monoblock and the respective steps. In one embodiment, the steps are defined by notches in the monoblock and the input/output through-holes define openings terminating in the notch. The bandwidth of the ceramic waveguide filter may be adjusted by adjusting the height/thickness and direction of the steps relative to an exterior surface of the monoblock and/or the diameter of the input/output through-holes.
US09130254B1
Three-dimensional electromagnetic signal interconnect systems and methods for fabricating the interconnect systems are described. An example apparatus may comprise a first layer including a first dielectric layer coupled to one or more of a first and second conducting layer. The first layer may also include at least one hole. The apparatus may also comprise a second layer including at least one through-hole and a second dielectric layer coupled between a third and fourth conducting layer. The apparatus may further comprise a third layer including at least one hole and a third dielectric layer coupled to one or more of a fifth and sixth conducting layer. The at least one hole/through-hole of each layer may be aligned at least in part with the at least one hole/through-hole of each other layer, and may include metal plating coupled to an inner surface of the respective at least one hole/through-hole.
US09130251B2
A flat cable includes a dielectric element assembly including a plurality of dielectric layers laminated on each other, a linear signal line provided in the dielectric element assembly, a first ground conductor provided on one side in a direction of lamination relative to the signal line and including a plurality of first openings arranged along the signal line, and a second ground conductor provided on the other side in the direction of lamination relative to the signal line and including a plurality of second openings arranged along the signal line. The first ground conductor is more distant from the signal line in the direction of lamination than is the second ground conductor. The first openings are larger than the second openings.
US09130250B2
A process for producing a metamaterial excellent in productivity is provided. The present invention relates to a process for producing a metamaterial including an electromagnetic wave resonator resonating with an electromagnetic wave, the process including: vapor-depositing a material which can form the electromagnetic wave resonator to a support having a shape corresponding to a shape of the electromagnetic wave resonator to thereby arrange the electromagnetic wave resonator on the support.
US09130247B2
The present disclosure provides a cable-type secondary battery, comprising: an inner electrode; and a sheet-form laminate of separation layer-outer electrode, spirally wound to surround the outer surface of the inner electrode, the laminate being formed by carrying out compression for the integration of a separation layer for preventing a short circuit, and an outer electrode.According to the present disclosure, the electrodes and the separation layer are compressed and integrated to minimize ununiform spaces between the separation layer and the outer electrode and reduce the thickness of a battery to be prepared, thereby decreasing resistance and improving ionic conductivity within the battery. Also, the separation layer coming into contact with the electrodes absorbs an electrolyte solution to induce the uniform supply of the electrolyte solution into the outer electrode active material layer, thereby enhancing the stability and performances of the cable-type secondary battery.
US09130242B2
A gel polymer electrolyte composition includes i) a compound acting as a monomer for forming gel polymer by polymerization and having at least two double bonds at an end thereof; ii) an electrolyte solvent containing carbonate and linear saturated ester; iii) an electrolyte salt; and iv) a polymerization initiator. A gel polymer electrolyte formed using the above composition has excellent mechanical strength and lithium ion conductivity. A secondary battery containing the gel polymer electrolyte has improved room/low temperature characteristics and rate capacity.
US09130240B2
The object of the present invention is to provide an ionic liquid having a chiral center in the structure of a cation contained therein, a lithium secondary battery electrolyte includes the ionic liquid, and a lithium secondary battery including the electrolyte
US09130238B2
Methods of and hybrid factories for thin-film battery manufacturing are described. A method includes operations for fabricating a thin-film battery. A hybrid factory includes one or more tool sets for fabricating a thin-film battery.
US09130236B2
A sheet-form electrode for a secondary battery includes a current collector; an electrode active material layer formed on one surface of the current collector; a porous organic-inorganic layer formed on the electrode active material layer and including inorganic particles and a polymer binder; and a first porous supporting layer formed on the porous organic-inorganic layer. The sheet-form electrode for a secondary battery has supporting layers on at least one surface thereof to exhibit surprisingly improved flexibility and prevent the release of the electrode active material layer from a current collector even if intense external forces are applied to the electrode, thereby preventing the decrease of battery capacity and improving the cycle life characteristic of the battery.
US09130226B2
A stabilized electrode comprising a metal oxide or lithium-metal-oxide electrode material is formed by contacting a surface of the electrode material, prior to cell assembly, with an aqueous or a non-aqueous acid solution having a pH greater than 4 but less than 7 and containing a stabilizing salt, to etch the surface of the electrode material and introduce stabilizing anions and cations from the salt into said surface. The structure of the bulk of the electrode material remains unchanged during the acid treatment. The stabilizing salt comprises fluoride and at least one cationic material selected from the group consisting of ammonium, phosphorus, titanium, silicon, zirconium, aluminum, and boron.
US09130215B2
A separator includes a porous substrate, a porous organic-inorganic coating layer formed on at least one surface of the porous substrate, and an organic coating layer formed on the surface of the organic-inorganic coating layer. The porous organic-inorganic coating layer includes a mixture of inorganic particles and a first binder polymer. The first binder polymer contains a copolymer including (a) a first monomer unit including either at least one amine group or at least one amide group or both in the side chain thereof and (b) a (meth)acrylate having a C1-C14 alkyl group as a second monomer unit. The organic coating layer is formed by dispersing a second binder polymer on the surface of the organic-inorganic coating layer, leaving scattered uncoated areas.
US09130213B2
Disclosed are compositions and methods for producing a cathode for a secondary battery, where a fluorophosphate of the formula LixNa2-xMnPO4F is used as an electrode material. LixNa2-xMnPO4F is prepared by partially substituting a sodium site with lithium through a chemical method. LixNa2-xMnPO4F prepared according to the invention provides a cathode material for a lithium battery that has improved electrochemical activity.
US09130212B1
The present invention aims to provide a positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries which achieves high output and high capacity when used as a positive electrode material. Disclosed is a method for manufacturing the positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, the method comprising: a first step, wherein an alkaline solution with a tungsten compound dissolved therein is added to and mixed with a lithium metal composite oxide powder represented by a general formula LizNi1-x-yCoxMyO2 (wherein, 0.10≦x≦0.35, 0≦y≦0.35, 0.97≦Z≦1.20, and M is at least one element selected from Mn, V, Mg, Mo, Nb, Ti, and Al), including primary particles and secondary particles composed of aggregation of the primary particles, and thereby W is dispersed on a surface of the primary particles; and a second step, wherein, by heat treating the mixture of the alkaline solution with the tungsten compound dissolved therein and the lithium metal composite oxide powder, fine particles containing W and Li are formed on a surface of the primary particles.
US09130205B2
The controller (185) of a fuel cell stack (151) in a vehicle (150) responds to lower demand to cause a diverter (172) to direct all air from the cathodes (19) except as required to generate sufficient power to limit cell voltage to a safe idle voltage threshold, cause storage in an energy storage system (201) sufficient to limit cell voltage to the idle voltage threshold unless SOC is too high, connects a voltage limiting load (220) to the stack sized to consume all power not consumed by auxiliary BOP, or, for longer idles, air-starves the stack and powers BOP from storage. In response to increase in a demand signal, the controller causes flow of all air to the cathodes. In response to an off signal (223) or a start signal (193) the controller causes a shutdown routine or a startup routine in each of which all generated power is stored to maintain fuel cell voltage below a threshold, or is consumed in the voltage limiting load.
US09130197B2
A manufacturing method of an organic light emitting display includes preparing a substrate including a cathode line and forming an anode electrode on the substrate, the anode electrode being insulated from the cathode line. The method also includes forming an insulating layer having a first opening exposing a portion of the cathode line and a second opening exposing a portion of the anode electrode on the substrate, forming an organic layer on the insulating layer, and forming an electrical connection portion electrically connected to the cathode line. The electrical connection portion is formed in this method by supplying a conductive solution that dissolves the organic layer in an area of the organic layer corresponding to the first opening, and the manufacturing method also includes forming a cathode electrode overlapping with the electrical connection portion.
US09130189B2
An optoelectronic component having a substrate (1), an anode (2) and a cathode (10) and at least one active layer (6) disposed between the anode and the cathode. An amorphous dielectric layer (3) which contains or consists of a metal oxide, a metal nitride or a metal oxynitride is disposed directly on the cathode-side surface of the anode. The metal contained in the metal oxide, metal nitride or metal oxynitride is selected from one or several of the metals of the group consisting of aluminum, gallium, titanium, zirconium, hafnium, tantalum, lanthanum and zinc.
US09130175B2
An organic photoelectronic device includes a first electrode and a second electrode facing each other, and an active layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, the active layer including a compound represented by Chemical Formula 1 or Chemical Formula 2, and a compound represented by Chemical Formula 3.
US09130170B2
There is disclosed a method for preparing the surface of a metal substrate. The present disclosure also relates to an organic photovoltaic device including a metal substrate made by such method. Also disclosed herein is an inverted photosensitive device including a stainless steel foil reflective electrode, an organic donor-acceptor heterojunction over the reflective electrode, and a transparent electrode over the donor-acceptor heterojunction.
US09130168B2
A piezoelectric ceramic that includes barium titanate and 0.04 mass % or more and 0.20 mass % or less manganese relative to barium titanate. The piezoelectric ceramic is composed of crystal grains. The crystal grains include crystal grains A having an equivalent circular diameter of 30 μm or more and 300 μm or less and crystal grains B having an equivalent circular diameter of 0.5 μm or more and 3 μm or less. The crystal grains A and the crystal grains B individually form aggregates and the aggregates of the crystal grains A and the aggregates of the crystal grains B form a sea-island structure.
US09130158B1
A method for etching a stack with at least one metal layer in one or more cycles is provided. An initiation step is preformed, transforming part of the at least one metal layer into metal oxide, metal halide, or lattice damaged metallic sites. A reactive step is performed providing one or more cycles, where each cycle comprises providing an organic solvent vapor to form a solvated metal, metal halide, or metal oxide state and providing an organic ligand solvent to form volatile organometallic compounds. A desorption of the volatile organometallic compounds is performed.
US09130135B2
An optoelectronic semiconductor component, includes at least two optoelectronic semiconductor chips, which are located on a common mounting surface. An optical element is arranged downstream of the semiconductor chips in a main emission direction and is spaced from the semiconductor chips. In a direction transverse to the main emission direction the optical element has a transmission gradient in a transitional region. The transitional region does not overlap the semiconductor chips, when viewed in plan view onto the mounting surface.
US09130131B2
Some embodiments disclosed herein include a lighting apparatus having a composite. The composite may include a first emissive layer and a second emissive layer. The first emissive layer may include a first garnet phosphor having a common dopant. The second emissive layer may include a second garnet phosphor having the common dopant. In some embodiments, the first emissive layer and the second emissive layer are fixed together. Some embodiments disclosed herein include efficient and economic methods of making the composite. The method may include, in some embodiments, sintering an assembly that includes pre-cursor materials for the first emissive layer and the second emissive layer.
US09130113B2
A method and system provide for depositing a TCO, transparent conductive oxide, film in one chamber of a manufacturing tool then irradiating the TCO film with light energy in another chamber of the same tool. The TCO film is used in a solar cell and formed on a solar cell substrate in some embodiments. The method includes irradiating the TCO film for a time and energy to reduce resistance of the TCO film without reducing transmittance. One or multiple light sources are used in the light irradiation chamber. Light in the infrared range, visible light range and ultraviolet light range are used either individually or in combination.
US09130107B2
This disclosure discloses a light-emitting device. The light-emitting device comprises: a substrate; a first light-emitting stack comprising a first active layer; a bonding interface formed between the substrate and the first light-emitting stack; and a contact structure formed on the first light-emitting stack and comprising first, second and third contact layers. Each of the first, second and third contact layers comprises a doping material.
US09130095B2
Provided are a substrate for a power module having a uniform parallel switching characteristic and a power module including the same. The substrate for the power module includes a plurality of areas on which input terminals are mounted, an area on which an output terminal is mounted, a plurality of areas on which devices are mounted, and an area on which a plurality of control pins are mounted. The plurality of areas on which the devices are mounted are bilaterally symmetric about the area on which the plurality of control pins are mounted. The plurality of areas on which the input terminals are mounted, respectively, are provided into three areas spaced apart from each other and bilaterally symmetric to each other. The plurality of areas on which the device are mounted are bilaterally symmetric about the area on which the control pins are mounted.
US09130090B2
Provided are an olefin composition, filler and an optoelectronic device. One illustrative olefin composition may be effectively used as a filling material for various optoelectronic devices.
US09130087B2
A light emitting diode includes a substrate, an un-doped GaN layer, a plurality of carbon nanotubes, an N-type GaN layer, an active layer formed on the N-type GaN layer, and a P-type GaN layer formed on the active layer. The substrate includes a first surface and a second surface opposite and parallel to the first surface. A plurality of convexes is formed on the first surface of the substrate. The un-doped GaN layer is formed on the first surface of the substrate. The plurality of carbon nanotubes is formed on an upper surface of the un-doped GaN layer. The plurality of carbon nanotubes is spaced from each other to expose a portion of the upper surface of the un-doped GaN layer. The N-type GaN layer is formed on the exposed portion of the upper surface of the un-doped GaN layer and covering the carbon nanotubes therein.
US09130086B2
A light sensor and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. The light sensor is capable of being coupled to a carry object and includes a sensing chip and a plurality of conductive connecting elements. The sensing chip includes a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other. The sensing chip also includes a sensing unit disposed between the first surface and the second surface and at least partially exposed by a window formed on the second surface. The first surface faces the carry object when the light sensor is coupled to a carry object. The conductive connecting elements are disposed on the first surface and coupled to the sensing unit in order to couple the light sensor to the carry object.
US09130079B2
A detector apparatus is configured to receive light and generate electrical signals. The detector apparatus includes a light sensor having a light incidence side and a cooling component. The cooling component is in direct contact with at least one of the light sensor, on the light incidence side, or a substrate carrying the light sensor.
US09130061B2
A semiconductor device includes: a micro CMOS region including a micro CMOS and a micro interconnect that is connected to the micro CMOS; and a high breakdown voltage device region including a high breakdown voltage device that has a breakdown voltage higher than that of the micro CMOS, and drain and source interconnects that are connected to the high breakdown voltage device and have a width greater than that of the micro interconnect in a plan view. In the high breakdown voltage device region, an electrically-isolated dummy interconnect is not provided adjacent to at least the drain interconnect and the source interconnect.
US09130058B2
A device includes a plurality of intra-device insulation regions having a first height; and a plurality of semiconductor fins horizontally spaced apart from each other by the plurality of intra-device insulation regions. A portion of the plurality of semiconductor fins is disposed above the plurality of intra-device insulation regions. The device further includes a first inter-device insulation region and a second inter-device insulation region with the plurality of semiconductor fins disposed therebetween. The first and the second inter-device insulation regions have a second height greater than the first height.
US09130057B1
A method and system of hybrid dicing using a blade and laser are described. In one embodiment, a method involves focusing a laser beam inside the substrate in regions between the integrated circuits, inducing defects inside the substrate in the regions. The method also involves forming a groove on a surface of the substrate with a blade saw in the regions. The method further involves singulating the integrated circuits at the regions with the induced defects and the groove. In one embodiment, a system includes a laser module configured to focus a laser beam inside the substrate in regions between the integrated circuits, inducing defects inside the substrate in the regions. A blade grooving module is configured to form a groove in a surface of the substrate with a blade saw in the regions.
US09130035B2
A trench power MOSFET and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The trench power MOSFET has a buried oxide layer formed in the epitaxial layer, wherein the buried oxide layer is located under a body region for changing a vertical electric field distribution to increase a breakdown voltage of the MOSFET, thereby obtaining a lower on-state resistance.
US09130023B2
Systems and methods are presented for forming a gate structure comprising an insulative portion, whereby the insulative portion is utilized to electrically isolate an electrically conductive portion of the gate structure from a conductive element located in the vicinity of the gate structure. The insulative portion is formed by chemically modifying a conductive portion of the gate. Chemical modification is an oxidation process, converting aluminum conductor to aluminum oxide insulator material. Utilizing a chemically modified gate structure enables self aligning contact technique(s) to be utilized with semiconductor devices comprising a replacement metal gate(s). The chemical modification process can be performed prior or after forming a contact opening.
US09130022B2
In a method for forming a semiconductor device, an interconnect structure over a semiconductor substrate is provided. The interconnect structure includes a first dielectric layer and a conductive pattern inside a trench in the first dielectric layer. An etch stop layer (ESL) is formed over the interconnect structure. An interface layer comprising elemental silicon is deposited over the ESL. A second dielectric layer is then formed over the interface layer.
US09130011B2
An apparatus for mounting a semiconductor device includes a mounting component and a loading component. The mounting component is configured to mount the semiconductor device onto a circuit board. The loading component is disposed adjacent to the mounting component, and is configured to supply the semiconductor device and the circuit board to the mounting component.
US09130010B2
An approach for providing a latch-up robust silicon control rectifier (SCR) is disclosed. Embodiments include providing a first N+ region and a first P+ region in a substrate for a SCR; providing first and second n-well regions in the substrate proximate the first N+ and P+ regions; providing a second N+ region in the first n-well region, and a second P+ region in the second n-well region; and coupling the first N+ and P+ regions to a ground rail, the second N+ region to a power rail, and the second P+ region to an I/O pad.
US09130005B2
A bipolar junction transistor includes a first trench element isolation film, a second trench element isolation film, a first base region, a second base region, a collector region, a first well, a second well, an emitter, a collector, and bases. The second well is formed by implanting an n-type impurity into the semiconductor substrate, and the emitter is formed by implanting the n-type impurity into the emitter region between the first trench element isolation film and the second well. The collector is formed by implanting the n-type impurity into the collector region between the first well and the second trench element isolation film, and the bases are formed by implanting the p-type impurity into the first base region and into the second base region between the emitter region and the second well.
US09130004B2
A heterojunction bipolar transistor includes a ballast resistor layer of which resistance increases with an increase in temperature. The ballast resistor layer includes a first ballast resistor sub-layer having a positive temperature coefficient of resistivity in a first temperature range and a second temperature range and a second ballast resistor sub-layer having a negative temperature coefficient of resistivity in the first temperature range and a positive temperature coefficient of resistivity in the second temperature range.
US09130002B2
A spin chuck for holding semiconductor wafers includes one or more damping mechanisms to limit the force with which chuck pins impact the wafer edge following wafer shift. The damping mechanism may be a linear or rotary dashpot. The dashpot or dashpots are mounted on a surface of the chuck body and include a control arm that contacts a common gear ring that in turn drives the chuck pins during radially inward and outward movement.
US09129990B2
Embodiments of semiconductor devices and driver circuits include a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type, an isolation structure (including a sinker region and a buried layer), an active device within area of the substrate contained by the isolation structure, and a diode circuit. The buried layer is positioned below the top substrate surface, and has a second conductivity type. The sinker region extends between the top substrate surface and the buried layer, and has the second conductivity type. The active device includes a drain region of the second conductivity type, and the diode circuit is connected between the isolation structure and the drain region. The diode circuit may include one or more Schottky diodes and/or PN junction diodes. In further embodiments, the diode circuit may include one or more resistive networks in series and/or parallel with the Schottky and/or PN diode(s).
US09129989B1
The present disclosure provides a semiconductor device, including a semiconductor substrate, an epitaxial structure, a well region, a drain region and a source region respectively formed in the epitaxial structure inside and outside of the well region. At least one set of first, second and third heavily doped regions formed in the well region between source and drain regions, wherein the first, second and third heavily doped regions are adjoined sequentially from bottom to top. A gate structure disposed over the epitaxial structure. The present disclosure also provides a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device.
US09129988B1
A FinFET includes a fin structure, a gate and a source-drain region. The fin structure is over a substrate and has a recess of an upper surface of the fin structure and a doped region in the fin structure and adjacent to the recess. The gate protrudes from the recess and across over the fin structure. The source-drain region is in the fin structure and adjacent to the doped region. Methods for forming the FinFET are also provided.
US09129982B2
A semiconductor device includes a first-conductivity-type semiconductor layer including an active region in which a transistor having impurity regions is formed and a marginal region surrounding the active region, a second-conductivity-type channel layer formed between the active region and the marginal region and forming a front surface of the semiconductor layer, at least one gate trench formed in the active region to extend from the front surface of the semiconductor layer through the channel layer, a gate insulation film formed on an inner surface of the gate trench, a gate electrode formed inside the gate insulation film in the gate trench, and at least one isolation trench arranged between the active region and the marginal region to surround the active region and extending from the front surface of the semiconductor layer through the channel layer, the isolation trench having a depth equal to that of the gate trench.
US09129976B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor apparatus includes: a charging step of charging the thermosetting resin in excess of an amount necessary for forming the sealing layer to fill the inside of the first cavity with the thermosetting resin and discharging an excess of the thermosetting resin from the first cavity; an integrating step of integrating the substrate on which the semiconductor device is mounted, the substrate on which no semiconductor device is mounted and the sealing layer by molding the thermosetting resin while pressurizing the upper mold and the lower mold; and a dicing step of extracting the integrated substrates from the molding mold and dicing the integrated substrates to obtain an individual semiconductor apparatus.
US09129972B2
Provided is a semiconductor package including a substrate and a semiconductor chip formed on the substrate. The semiconductor chip may include a chip alignment mark on a surface of the semiconductor chip, and wiring patterns formed on a surface of the substrate, wherein the chip alignment mark is bonded to the wiring patterns. Accordingly, the surface area of the semiconductor chip may be reduced.
US09129963B1
A semiconductor device may include a substrate including a first surface and a second surface, a through electrode penetrating the substrate to include a protrusion that protrudes from the second surface of the substrate, and a front side bump electrically coupled to the through electrode and disposed on the first surface of the substrate. The semiconductor device may include a first passivation pattern disposed on the first surface of the substrate to substantially surround a sidewall of the front side bump and may be formed to include an uneven surface, and a second passivation pattern disposed on the second surface of the substrate to include an uneven surface. The protrusion of the through electrode may penetrate the second passivation pattern to protrude from the uneven surface of the second passivation pattern.
US09129958B2
3D integrated circuit packages with window interposers and methods to form such semiconductor packages are described. For example, a semiconductor package includes a substrate. A top semiconductor die is disposed above the substrate. An interposer having a window is disposed between and interconnected to the substrate and the top semiconductor die. A bottom semiconductor die is disposed in the window of the interposer and interconnected to the top semiconductor die. In another example, a semiconductor package includes a substrate. A top semiconductor die is disposed above the substrate. An interposer is disposed between and interconnected to the substrate and the top semiconductor die. A bottom semiconductor die is disposed in a same plane as the interposer and interconnected to the top semiconductor die.
US09129952B2
Semiconductor devices including a stressor in a recess and methods of forming the semiconductor devices are provided. The methods may include forming a trench in an active region and the trench may include a notched portion of the active region. The methods may also include forming an embedded stressor in the trench. The embedded stressor may include a lower semiconductor layer and an upper semiconductor layer, which has a width narrower than a width of the lower semiconductor layer. A side of the upper semiconductor layer may not be aligned with a side of the lower semiconductor layer and an uppermost surface of the upper semiconductor layer may be higher than an uppermost surface of the active region.
US09129948B2
A semiconductor device has a die support and external leads formed integrally from a single sheet of electrically conductive material. A die mounting substrate is mounted on the die support, with bonding pads coupled to respective external connection pads on an external connector side of the substrate. A die is attached to the die mounting substrate with die connection pads. Bond wires selectively electrically couple the die connection pads to the external leads and the bonding pads and electrically conductive external protrusions are mounted to the external connection pads. An encapsulant covers the die and bond wires. The external protrusions are located at a central region of a surface mounting side of the package and the external leads project outwardly from locations near the die support towards peripheral edges of the package.
US09129943B1
An array includes a substrate having a frontside surface and a backside surface. A backside cavity is formed in the backside surface. Backside through vias extend through the substrate from the frontside surface to the backside surface. Embedded component through vias extend through the substrate from the frontside surface to the backside cavity. An embedded component is mounted within the backside cavity and coupled to the embedded component through vias. In this manner, the embedded component is embedded within the substrate.
US09129931B2
A power semiconductor module includes: a plurality of first metal plates arranged in the same planar state; a power semiconductor chip mounted on the first metal plate; and an overbridge-shaped second metal plate which is composed of bridge frame sections and leg sections that support the bridge frame sections, the leg sections being for appropriately performing solder bonding between electrodes of the power semiconductor chips and between the electrode of the power semiconductor chip and the first metal plate, the power semiconductor module being configured by a resin package in which these members are sealed with electrically insulating resin. In the power semiconductor module, the solder bonding section of the leg section is formed in a planar shape by bending process and is provided at a position lower than the bridge frame section.
US09129926B2
A display device according to example embodiments includes a first thin film transistor on a substrate, a second thin film transistor on the first thin film transistor, and a display unit electrically connected to at least one of the first thin film transistor and the second thin film transistor.
US09129925B2
In a display apparatus including a switching transistor, a correction voltage for eliminating an effect of a variation in a characteristic of a driving transistor is stored in a storage capacitor. The switching transistor is disposed between one current terminal of the driving transistor and a light emitting element. The switching transistor turns off during the non-light emission period thereby to electrically disconnect the light emitting element from the one current terminal of the driving transistor thereby preventing a leakage current from flowing through the light emitting element during the period in which the correction unit operates, and thus preventing the correction voltage from having an error due to the leakage current.
US09129924B2
Spalling is employed to generate a single crystalline semiconductor layer. Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) logic and memory devices are formed on a single crystalline semiconductor substrate prior to spalling. Organic light emitting diode (OLED) driving circuitry, solar cells, sensors, batteries and the like can be formed prior to, or after, spalling. The spalled single crystalline semiconductor layer can be transferred to a substrate. OLED displays can be formed into the spalled single crystalline semiconductor layer to achieve a structure including an OLED display with semiconductor driving circuitry and other functions integrated on the single crystalline semiconductor layer.
US09129919B2
Processes for the treatment of silicon wafers to form a high density non-uniform distribution of oxygen precipitate nuclei therein such that, upon being subjected to the heat treatment cycles of essentially any arbitrary electronic device manufacturing process, the wafers form oxygen precipitates in the bulk and a precipitate-free zone near the surface are disclosed. The processes involve activation of inactive oxygen precipitate nuclei by performing heat treatments between about 400° C. and about 600° C. for at least about 1 hour.
US09129904B2
Methods of dicing semiconductor wafers, each wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits, are described. A method includes forming a mask above the semiconductor wafer. The mask is composed of a layer covering and protecting the integrated circuits. The mask is patterned with a pulse train laser scribing process using multiple-pulse bursts to provide a patterned mask with gaps. The patterning exposes regions of the semiconductor wafer between the integrated circuits. The semiconductor wafer is then etched through the gaps in the patterned mask to singulate the integrated circuits.
US09129902B2
A method for etching features with a continuous plasma is provided. A first plasma process is provided, comprising providing a flow of a first process gas into a process chamber, maintaining the continuous plasma, and stopping the flow of the first process gas into the process chamber. A transition process is provided, comprising providing a flow of a transition gas into the process chamber, maintaining the continuous plasma, and stopping the flow of the transition gas into the process chamber. A second plasma process is provided, comprising providing a flow of a second process gas into the process chamber, maintaining the continuous plasma, and stopping the second process gas into the process chamber.
US09129896B2
An array includes vertically-oriented transistors, rows of access lines, and columns of data/sense lines. Individual of the rows include an access line interconnecting transistors in that row. Individual of the columns include a data/sense line interconnecting transistors in that column. The data/sense line has silicon-comprising semiconductor material between the transistors in that column that is conductively-doped n-type with at least one of As and Sb. The conductively-doped semiconductor material of the data/sense line includes a conductivity-neutral dopant between the transistors in that column. Methods are disclosed.
US09129894B2
Provided are nonvolatile memory assemblies each including a resistive switching layer and current steering element. The steering element may be a transistor connected in series with the switching layer. Resistance control provided by the steering element allows using switching layers requiring low switching voltages and currents. Memory assemblies including such switching layers are easier to embed into integrated circuit chips having other low voltage components, such as logic and digital signal processing components, than, for example, flash memory requiring much higher switching voltages. In some embodiments, provided nonvolatile memory assemblies operate at switching voltages less than about 3.0V and corresponding currents less than 50 microamperes. A memory element may include a metal rich hafnium oxide disposed between a titanium nitride electrode and doped polysilicon electrode. One electrode may be connected to a drain or source of the transistor, while another electrode is connected to a signal line.
US09129883B2
The invention provides a package structure of optical transceiver component, comprising: a metal base; a plurality of pins, at least one optical emitting diode and/or at least one optical receiving diode; wherein the pins are provided and passed through the metal base and insulated with the metal base by using an insulating material; the optical emitting diode and the optical receiving diode are each mounted on the metal base through a sub-mount, respectively. The optical emitting diode/optical receiving diode is connected to the pins neighboring therewith by a wire directly or through the sub-mount, when set the top surface of the pins be a reference level, at least one of the top surfaces of the optical emitting diode, the optical receiving diode, and sub-mount is flush with the reference level.
US09129875B2
In a pixel unit of a solid-state imaging device, a semiconductor substrate is provided with a plurality of photodiodes, a first insulating film includes a recess in a portion above each of the photodiodes, a second insulating film embeds the recess, a plurality of color filters is formed on the second insulating film, the color filters each corresponding to one of the photodiodes, a partition is provided between adjacent ones of the color filters, the partition being a part of a third insulating film, and in an area outside of the pixel unit, (i) a conductive film at least partially covered by the third insulating film is formed on the second insulating film, and (ii) the third insulating film formed on the conductive film and on the second insulating film near the conductive film has a film thickness smaller than a film thickness of the partition.
US09129873B2
Various aspects of the present disclosure provide a semiconductor device, for example comprising a finger print sensor, and a method for manufacturing thereof. Various aspects of the present disclosure may, for example, provide an ultra-slim finger print sensor having a thickness of 500 μm or less that does not include a separate printed circuit board (PCB), and a method for manufacturing thereof.
US09129869B2
Methods of fabricating interconnect structures for semiconductor dice comprise forming conductive elements in contact with bond pads on an active surface over a full pillar diameter of the conductive elements, followed by application of a photodefinable material comprising a photoresist to the active surface and over the conductive elements. The polyimide material is selectively exposed and developed to remove photodefinable material covering at least tops of the conductive elements. Semiconductor dice and semiconductor die assemblies are also disclosed.
US09129868B2
A method of fabricating a TFT and IPS with reduced masking operations includes a substrate, a gate, a layer of gate dielectric on the gate and surrounding substrate surface and a semiconducting metal oxide on the gate dielectric. A channel protection layer overlies the gate to define a channel area in the semiconducting metal oxide. A S/D metal layer is patterned on the channel protection layer and a portion of the exposed semiconducting metal oxide to define an IPS area. An organic dielectric material is patterned on the S/D terminals and at an opposed side of the IPS area. The S/D metal is etched to expose the semiconducting metal oxide defining a first IPS electrode. A passivation layer covers the first electrode and a layer of transparent conductive material is patterned on the passivation layer to define a second IPS electrode overlying the first electrode.
US09129865B2
A display panel and a driving method thereof are provided. In a pixel array substrate of the display panel, each first transistor electrically connects to a corresponding first pixel electrode, each second transistor electrically connects to a corresponding second pixel electrode, each third transistor electrically connects to a corresponding third pixel electrode, and each fourth transistor electrically connects to a corresponding fourth pixel electrode. A plurality of data lines electrically connect to the corresponding first, second, third and fourth transistors. Each first scan line electrically connects to the first and third transistors. Each second scan line electrically connects to the second and fourth transistors. A plurality of third scan lines are located between the corresponding first and second scan lines and electrically connect to the corresponding third and fourth pixel electrodes via fifth transistors.
US09129863B2
A method includes providing a structure having a substrate, a first insulating layer on the substrate, a first semiconductor material layer on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer on the first semiconductor layer in a first portion of the structure and a second semiconductor layer of a second, different semiconductor material on the second insulating layer in the first portion. The method further includes growing additional first semiconductor material on the first semiconductor layer in a second portion of the structure forming a regrown semiconductor layer; forming first fins in the regrown semiconductor layer and second fins in the second semiconductor layer; and forming gate structures upon the first and second fins. A height difference, relative to a surface of the first insulating layer, of the gate structures formed upon the first fins and the gate structures formed upon the second fins is less than a predetermined value.
US09129861B2
Provided is a memory device including first to third selection lines extending in a first direction and sequentially arranged in a second direction crossing the first direction, multiple sets of first to third vertical pillars, each set coupled with a corresponding one of the first to third selection lines and sequentially arranged in the second direction, a first sub-interconnection connecting the third vertical pillar coupled with the first selection line to the first vertical pillar coupled with the second selection line, a second sub-interconnection connecting the third vertical pillar coupled with the second selection line to the first vertical pillar coupled with the third selection line, and bit lines extending in the second direction and connected to corresponding ones of the first and second sub-interconnections.
US09129856B2
According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for concurrently fabricating a memory region with a logic region in a common substrate includes forming a lower dielectric segment in the common substrate in the memory and logic regions. The method also includes forming a polysilicon segment over the lower dielectric segment in the memory region, while concurrently forming a sacrificial polysilicon segment over the lower dielectric segment in the logic region. Furthermore, the method includes removing from the logic region the lower dielectric segment and the sacrificial polysilicon segment. The method additionally includes forming a high-k segment in the logic region over the common substrate, and in the memory region over the polysilicon segment and forming a metal segment over the high-k segment in the logic and memory regions. An exemplary structure achieved by the described exemplary method is also disclosed.
US09129855B2
A method of making a semiconductor structure includes forming a select gate over a substrate in an NVM portion and a first protection layer over a logic portion. A control gate and a storage layer are formed over the substrate in the NVM portion, wherein the control and select gates have coplanar top surfaces. The charge storage layer is under the control gate, along adjacent sidewalls of the select gate and control gate, and is partially over the top surface of the select gate. A second protection layer is formed over the NVM portion and the logic portion. The second protection layer and the first protection layer are removed from the logic portion leaving a portion of the second protection layer over the control gate and the select gate. A gate structure is formed over the logic portion comprising a high k dielectric and a metal gate.
US09129841B2
A semiconductor device in which a reliable high voltage p-channel transistor is formed without an increase in cost and the number of manufacturing steps. The transistor includes: a semiconductor substrate having a main surface and a p-type region therein; a p-type well region located over the p-type region and in the main surface, having a first p-type impurity region to obtain a drain electrode; an n-type well region adjoining the p-type well region along the main surface and having a second p-type impurity region to obtain a source electrode; a gate electrode between the first and second p-type impurity regions along the main surface; and a p-type buried channel overlying the n-type well region and extending along the main surface. The border between the n-type and p-type well regions is nearer to the first p-type impurity region than the gate electrode end near to the first p-type impurity region.
US09129840B2
When a conductive post is bonded to a bonding target member such as a semiconductor chip or an insulating substrate with conductive patterns by using metal nanoparticles, a strong bonding layer can be obtained by forming a bottom surface of the distal end of the conductive post in a concave shape.
US09129836B2
A circuit includes first, second, third and fourth terminals, and first and second switches. The first switch switches a first signal from the first terminal to the second terminal or from the first terminal to the fourth terminal. The second switch switches a second signal from the third terminal to the second terminal or from the third terminal to the fourth terminal. The first switch comprises a first switching element with a first high-frequency switching transistor connected between the first terminal and the second terminal, and a second switching element with a second high-frequency switching transistor connected between the first terminal and the fourth terminal. The second switch comprises a third switching element with a third high-frequency transistor connected between the third terminal and the second terminal and comprises a fourth switching element with a fourth high-frequency switching transistor connected between the third terminal and the fourth terminal.
US09129835B2
A semiconductor device includes a drift layer including a trench formed on a semiconductor substrate. A well in the drift layer overlaps an edge of the trench, and at least one gate electrode is formed at this overlapping edge region. The drift layer and semiconductor may be doped with a first type of impurity and the well may be doped with a second type of impurity. Through this arrangement, an improved distribution of carriers may be formed in the drift layer.
US09129824B2
A power semiconductor module has four power terminals. An IGBT has a collector connected to the first power terminal and an emitter coupled to the third power terminal. An anti-parallel diode is coupled in parallel with the IGBT. A DC-link is connected between the second and fourth power terminals. The DC-link may involve two diodes and two IGBTs, where the IGBTs are connected in a common collector configuration. The first and second power terminals are disposed in a first line along one side of the module, and the third and fourth power terminals are disposed in a second line along the opposite side of the module. Two identical instances of the module can be interconnected together to form a three-level NPC phase leg having low stray inductances, where the phase leg has two parallel DC-links.
US09129820B2
An integrated circuit is formed in a semiconductor substrate. The integrated circuit includes a trench formed in a first main surface of the semiconductor substrate. The trench includes a first trench portion and a second trench portion. The first trench portion is connected with the second trench portion. Openings of the first and second trench portions are adjacent to the first main surface. The integrated circuit further includes a trench transistor structure including a gate electrode disposed in the first trench portion, and a trench capacitor structure including a capacitor dielectric and a first capacitor electrode. The capacitor dielectric and the first capacitor electrode are disposed in the second trench portion. The first capacitor electrode includes a layer conformal with a sidewall of the second trench portion.
US09129816B2
A system and method for testing electrical connections is provided. In an embodiment one or more floating pads may be manufactured in electrical connection with an underbump metallization structure. A test may then be performed to measure the electrical characteristics of the underbump metallization structure through the floating pad in order to test for defects. Alternatively, a conductive connection may be formed on the underbump metallization and the test may be performed on the conductive connection and the underbump metallization together.
US09129810B2
A method and apparatus for depositing a film on a substrate includes introducing a material and a carrier gas into a heated chamber. The material may be a semiconductor material, such as a cadmium chalcogenide. A resulting mixture of vapor and carrier gas containing no unvaporized material is provided. The mixture of vapor and carrier gas are remixed to achieve a uniform vapor/carrier gas composition, which is directed toward a surface of a substrate, such as a glass substrate, where the vapor is deposited as a uniform film.
US09129807B2
A method for synthesis of silicon nanowires provides a growth reactor having a decomposition zone and a deposition zone. A precursor gas introduced into the decomposition zone is disassociated to form an activated species that reacts with catalyst materials located in the deposition zone to deposit nano-structured materials on a low melting point temperature substrate in the deposition zone. A decomposition temperature in the decomposition zone is greater than a melting point temperature of the low melting point temperature substrate. The silicon nanowire are grown directly on the low melting point temperature substrate in the deposition zone to prevent the higher temperatures in the decomposition zone from damaging the molecular structure and/or integrity of the lower melting point temperature substrate located in the deposition zone.
US09129806B2
Protection device structures and related fabrication methods are provided. An exemplary semiconductor protection device includes a base well region having a first conductivity type, an emitter region within the base well region having a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type, a collector region having the second conductivity type, a first floating region having the second conductivity type within the base well region between the emitter region and the collector region, and a second floating region having the first conductivity type within the base well region between the first floating region and the collector region. The floating regions within the base well region are electrically connected to reduce current gain and improve holding voltage.
US09129793B2
A high pressure discharge lamp with auxiliary lamp comprises: a high pressure discharge lamp having an arc tube and at least one sealing portion, a pair of main electrodes, and a pair of feeders supplying power to the main electrodes; an auxiliary lamp having an airtight case, an inner electrode, and an outer electrode, wherein the inner electrode is arranged at a position so as to part the inner space to large and small spaces, the outer electrode is arranged at a position so as to face the large space, the auxiliary lamp as arranged as the large space faces the sealing portion.
US09129792B2
A fast starting induction RF fluorescent lamp comprising a power coupler with conductive material in contact with the power coupler to reduce extraneous electromagnetic radiation emanating from the power coupler, and with structures within the bulb envelope that facilitate rapid luminous development during a turn-on phase.
US09129789B2
An ion trap includes a containment region for containing ions, and a plurality of electrodes positioned on a regular polyhedral structure encompassing the containment region. An electrode is positioned on each vertex of the encompassing structure and at least one of the polygonal surfaces includes additional electrodes configured to form a plurality of quadrupoles on the surface. Alternating RF voltage is applied to the plurality of electrodes, so that directly neighboring electrodes are of equal amplitude and opposite polarity at any point in time. This configuration on the polyhedral structure forms a potential barrier for repelling the ions from each of the regular polygonal surfaces and containing them in the trap. Mass selective filters can be formed from the quadrupoles for parallel mass analysis in different m/z windows. Application of a small DC potential to a plate electrode outside the quadrupoles preferentially depletes single charged ions for enhanced signal-to-noise analysis.
US09129785B2
Aspects of the disclosure include methods for analyzing an analyte composition by mass spectrometry employing a macroporous metal organic polymer matrix. In practicing methods according to certain embodiments an analyte composition is applied to a macroporous metal organic polymer matrix, a voltage is applied to the macroporous metal organic polymer matrix sufficient to produce and expel analyte ions from the macroporous metal organic polymer matrix and the analyte ions are analyzed by mass spectrometry. In other embodiments, a composition having biological macromolecules is applied onto a surface-modified macroporous metal organic polymer matrix and analytes produced by reaction (e.g., enzymatic cleavage of the biological macromolecules) at or near the surface of the macroporous metal organic polymer matrix are measured by mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry emitters made from the subject macroporous metal organic polymer matrix, mass spectrometry systems employing macroporous metal organic polymer matrices of interest and kits suitable for practicing the subject methods are also described.
US09129784B2
A Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FT-ICR MS) includes: an ionization source generating ions; a deceleration lens, on which the ions generated by the ionization source and spatially dispersed are incident, selectively decelerating the incident ions so as to decrease the distance between the ions; and an ion cyclotron resonance cell on which the ions passing through the deceleration lens are incident. By preventing dispersing of ions due to mass difference and converging the ions using the deceleration lens, the mass range that can be measured at one time can be extended. Also, measurement sensitivity can be improved since the ions are effectively introduced to the ICR cell.
US09129782B2
In a drift tube partitioned into a plurality of cascaded drift tube segments each followed by an ion elimination region, for any integer M greater than 1, a method of separating ions repeats the following multiple times to cause only ions entering the drift tube that have a predefined ion mobility or range to traverse the drift tube: for each integer N beginning with 1 and sequentially advancing to M, establishing for a time duration an Nth electric repulsive field in the Nth ion elimination region and in every following Mth ion elimination region and an Nth electric drift field in each remaining ion elimination region and in each drift tube segment while deactivating for the time duration all non-Nth electric drift fields and non-Nth electric repulsive fields in each of the ion elimination regions and drift tube segments.
US09129779B2
A processing system for detecting in-situ arcing events during substrate processing is provided. The processing systems includes at least a plasma processing chamber having a probe arrangement, wherein the probe arrangement is disposed on a surface of the processing chamber and is configured to measure at least one plasma processing parameter. The probe arrangement includes a plasma-facing sensor and a measuring capacitor, wherein the plasma-facing sensor is coupled to a first plate of the measuring capacitor. The probe arrangement also includes a detection arrangement that is coupled to a second plate of the measuring capacitor, wherein the detection arrangement is configured for converting an induced current flowing through the measuring capacitor into a set of digital signals, which is processed to detect the in-situ arcing events.
US09129777B2
A plasma reactor that generates plasma in workpiece processing chamber by a electron beam, has an electron beam source chamber and an array of plasma sources facing the electron beam source chamber for affecting plasma electron density in different portions of the processing chamber. In another embodiment, an array of separately controlled electron beam source chambers is provided.
US09129774B2
The invention relates to a method of using a phase plate, having a thin film, in a transmission electron microscope (TEM), comprising: introducing the phase plate in the TEM; preparing the phase plate by irradiating the film with a focused electron beam; introducing a sample in the TEM; and forming an image of the sample using the prepared phase plate, wherein preparing the phase plate involves locally building up a vacuum potential resulting from a change in the electronic structure of the thin film by irradiating the phase plate with a focused beam of electrons, the vacuum potential leading to an absolute phase shift |φ| with a smaller value than at the non-irradiated thin film. Preferably the phase plate is heated to avoid contamination. The phase shift achieved with this phase plate can be tuned by varying the diameter of the irradiated spot.
US09129773B2
In many cases, the charged particle beam apparatus is used basically for observation at a magnification of 10,000 times or higher. It is thus difficult to recognize how the orientation of a sample seen with the naked eye corresponds to the origination of the sample appearing on an acquired image. This makes it difficult intuitively to grasp the tilt direction and other details of the sample. An object of this invention is to provide a charged particle beam apparatus allowing the orientation and the tilted state of the sample to be grasped intuitively. The apparatus includes: a charged particle beam source that emits a charged particle beam; a charged particle beam optical system that irradiates the sample with the charged particle beam; a platform on which the sample is placed; a stage capable of moving the platform at least in a tilt direction; a display unit that displays a tilted state of the platform by use of a simulated image of the platform; an operation input unit that allows a user to designate the position and direction of the sample for observation; and a control unit that controls the amount of movement of the stage based on a signal input from the operation input unit.
US09129769B2
A protective device including a substrate, a conductive section and a bridge element is provided. The conductive section is supported by the substrate, wherein the conductive section comprises a metal element electrically connected between first and second electrodes. The metal element serves as a sacrificial structure having a melting point lower than that of the first and second electrodes. The bridge element spans across the metal element in a direction across direction of current flow in the metal element, wherein the bridge element facilitates breaking of the metal element upon melting.
US09129767B2
Exemplary embodiments are directed to a switching device for an electric circuit including at least one contact movable between a closed position in which it is coupled to a corresponding fixed contact and an open position in which it is spaced away from said corresponding fixed contact. The switching device including at least one locking device configured for being actuated between a rest configuration in which said at least one movable contact is free to move and an operative configuration in which it locks said at least one movable contact in the open position. The locking device is configured for outputting one or more electrical signals which are indicative of at least one of the rest configuration, the operative configuration, and an under actuation condition wherein the locking device itself is moving between said rest and operative configurations.
US09129766B2
A switching device includes at least a first input and a second input, as well as at least a first output and a second output. The first input is connected with the first output through a first controller and a first switch contact pair. The second input is connected with the second output through a second controller and a second switch contact pair. The switching device further includes a transformer with a core. The first controller forms at least a first coil of the transformer and the second controller forms at least a second coil of the transformer. A switch arrangement is configured to maintain an unsaturated state of the core.
US09129765B2
A switch apparatus usable in a DC circuit employs a rotatable shaft having conductors that are removably connected with two or more pairs of contacts that are situated on line conductors and load conductors and that are connected in parallel by the conductors on the shaft. In rotating the shaft to open the switch, one pair of the contacts is electrically disconnected prior to electrical disconnection of the other pair of contacts. Further rotation of the shaft causes the other pair of contact to eventually become disconnected. Electrical arcs thus form only at the air gaps between the other pair of contacts and the conductor. Magnetic field elements in the form of permanent magnets are situated in the vicinity of the air gaps of only the other pair of contacts and apply Lorentz forces to the arcs to extinguish them.
US09129764B2
A switch device includes a lever. A switch body is arranged in the lever. The switch body supports the lever in a tiltable manner. At least one pusher is moved by contact with the lever when the lever is tilted. At least one switch unit is pushed when the pusher moves. A resiliently deformable sealing member is arranged between the lever and the switch body where air including dust may enter. The sealing member is separated from a location where the pusher comes into contact with the lever, and the sealing member is resiliently deformed when the lever is tilted.
US09129759B2
A circuit for detecting individual positions of a plurality of electrical contactors, including a plurality of modules each including a contactor having k separate contact positions each connected in series to a resistor associated with an integer status value between 1 and k and separate from other status values of a same module, each module being associated with a weighting coefficient and the weighting coefficients following a geometric progression of no less than k+1, the electrical conductance value of each resistor being equal to the status value thereof multiplied by the weighting coefficient of the module thereof.
US09129757B2
A waterproof type switch includes: a waterproof sheet including a flat portion and a side wall portion disposed around the flat portion, an upper portion of the side wall portion coupled to an edge portion of the flat portion; a switch disposed below the flat portion; and an electronic component coupled to an upper surface of the flat portion, the electric component being used as a key top, wherein the waterproof sheet includes a rubber and a reinforcing plate including a first reinforcing plate disposed on the upper surface of the flat portion and coupled to the electric component.
US09129755B2
Provided is a method of preparing a porous metal material. The method includes: obtaining a composite of a DNA hydrogel and a metal precursor by mixing the DNA hydrogel and the metal precursor; and reducing the composite of the DNA hydrogel and the metal precursor.
US09129750B2
There is provided a multilayered ceramic electronic component including: a ceramic body including dielectric layers having an average thickness of 0.6 μm or less; and first and second internal electrodes, wherein the ceramic body includes a capacitance formation part and a non-capacitance formation part provided on at least one surface of upper and lower surfaces of the capacitance formation part, and when the capacitance formation part is divided into three regions in a thickness direction of the ceramic body, in a central region among the three regions, dielectric grains have an average particle size of 150 nm or less, and the number of dielectric grains per layer is 4 or more, and in upper and lower regions, dielectric grains have an average particle size of 200 nm or less, respectively, and the number of dielectric grains per layer is 3 or more.
US09129736B2
A transformer capable of suppressing common mode current and a power converter thereof are provided. The transformer comprises a primary winding, a secondary winding, a magnet core and a shielding winding layer. The shielding winding layer has a first shielding winding and a second shielding winding. A voltage jump direction of the first shielding winding is constantly opposite to that of the second shielding winding. The shielding winding layer is coupled to a static terminal coupled with the primary winding or the secondary winding.
US09129730B1
Provided are a powder for a magnet, which provides a rare-earth magnet having excellent magnet properties and which has excellent formability, a method for producing the powder for a magnet, a powder compact, a rare-earth-iron-based alloy material, and a rare-earth-iron-nitrogen-based alloy material which are used as materials for the magnet, and methods for producing the powder compact and these alloy materials.
US09129725B2
A paste composition contains an electrically conductive silver powder, one or more glass frits or fluxes, and a lithium compound dispersed in an organic medium. The paste is useful in forming an electrical contact on the front side of a solar cell device having an insulating layer. The lithium compound aids in establishing a low-resistance electrical contact between the front-side metallization and underlying semiconductor substrate during firing.
US09129722B2
A power cable includes a steel pipe coupled to a reference potential node, three transmission cables within the steel pipe and respectively including a conductor to transmit three-phase alternating current power, and a return cable within the steel pipe and coupled to the reference potential node. Each of the three transmission cables includes a first insulating layer covering the conductor, a metal layer covering the first insulating layer, and a second insulating layer covering the metal layer. The three transmission cables are twisted around a periphery of the return cable along a longitudinal direction of the return cable, and the metal layer is coupled to the reference potential node.
US09129719B2
An ion dosage apparatus for an energy storage apparatus includes a first energy guiding device with a first energy supply device and a separating device. The separating device is configured to control, via supplied energy, a number of ions that are transported around the first energy guiding device and/or blocked.
US09129717B2
An Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) excitation light source has a beam guide device for manipulating at least one laser beam is provided. The beam guide device comprises at least one beam splitter for generating at least two separated beams from at least one laser beam, at least one mirror or a lens for manipulating at least one of the separated beams, a superposition mirror for superposing the at least two separated beams, and a focusing appliance for generating a respective focus for each of the at least two separated beams. At least two focuses can be generated at one identical location or at two different locations by the beam guide device.
US09129713B2
A high pressure safety injection tank (HPSIT) system includes one safety injection tank (HIT) which replaces a core makeup tank (CMT) and a low pressure (approximately 4.3 Mpa or below) safety injection tank (SIT) and which can shift to and operate on a high pressure (approximately 17 Mpa) operation mode, to enable injection of emergency core coolant into a reactor system both under low pressure (approximately 4.3 Mpa or below) and high pressure (approximately 17 Mpa).
US09129708B2
In one embodiment, an integrated circuit includes at least one logic circuit supplied by a first supply voltage and at least one memory circuit coupled to the logic circuit and supplied by a second supply voltage. The memory circuit is configured to be read and written responsive to the logic circuit even if the first supply voltage is less than the second supply voltage during use. In another embodiment, a method includes a logic circuit reading a memory cell, the logic circuit supplied by a first supply voltage; and the memory cell responding to the read using signals that are referenced to the first supply voltage, wherein the memory cell is supplied with a second supply voltage that is greater than the first supply voltage during use.
US09129706B2
Systems and methods for detecting and suppressing crowbar currents in memory arrays. A dummy read is implemented to prevent crowbar currents in the case of simultaneous read-write collisions in a static random access memory (SRAM) array having cross-coupled bitline keepers. When a simultaneous read and write operation to a first entry of the memory array is detected, the read operation to the first entry is suppressed and a dummy read operation to a second entry of the memory array is performed. The write operation to the first entry is allowed to proceed undisturbed.
US09129705B2
The semiconductor device includes an input clock generator and a data input unit. The input clock generator generates an input clock signal including a first pulse and a second pulse, wherein the first pulse is generated in response to a write signal and a write latency signal and the second pulse is generated in response to an external command signal and a burst length signal. The data input unit receives data and generates first input data in response to the first pulse of the input clock signal and receives the data and generates second input data in response of the second pulse of the input clock signal.
US09129699B2
A semiconductor storage apparatus comprises a memory controller and flash memories which include a plurality of blocks as storage areas. The memory controller is configured to manage a degree of deterioration and read frequency for each of the plurality of blocks. A reliability maintained period is calculated for each storage area based on the degree of deterioration and read frequency for each storage area of a flash memory, and refresh is executed on each storage area in a planned manner based on the calculated reliability maintained period by newly storing the data stored in a block in another block based on an obtained reliability maintained period. The memory controller may also be configured to execute verification on each block and, if the number of failure bits is larger than a predetermined threshold, execute refresh to store data which is stored in a verification target block in another block.
US09129694B2
Apparatus and methods may operate so that arrival times of a data signal at gates of transistors are controlled to switch the transistors at different times to modulate the slew rate of a signal on a node. Additional embodiments are also described.
US09129686B2
Apparatus, systems, and methods for providing high voltage to memory devices are provided. One apparatus includes a low voltage input and a two-rail level shifting. The two-rail level shifting is configured to increase the low voltage or to decrease the low voltage to an amount that is less than or equal to a ground potential based on the amount of the low voltage. A system includes a low voltage input for receiving a voltage and a two-rail level shifting coupled to the low voltage input. The two-rail level shifting is configured to increase the voltage to a positive voltage if the voltage is equal to a ground potential and decrease the voltage to a negative voltage if the voltage is greater than the ground potential. One method includes receiving a voltage, modifying the voltage to generate one of a plurality of output voltages, and providing the output voltage to a memory device.
US09129685B2
A word-line driver includes first, second and third transistors. The first transistor includes a gate terminal driven by a first group selection signal, a first conduction terminal driven by a second sub-group selection signal and a second conduction terminal coupled to the word-line. The second transistor includes a gate terminal driven by a second group selection signal, a second conduction terminal driven by the second sub-group selection signal, and a first conduction terminal coupled to the word-line. The third transistor includes a gate terminal driven by a third the group selection signal, a first conduction terminal driven by a first sub-group selection signal, and a second conduction terminal coupled to the word-line.
US09129673B2
A solid-state memory that requires a lower current during recording and erasing data and can repeatedly rewrite data an increased number of times. In at least one example embodiment, the solid-state memory includes a recording layer that includes a laminated structure in which electric properties are changed in response to a phase separation. The laminated structure includes a film containing an Sb atom(s) and a film containing a Ge atom(s), which films constitute a superlattice structure. In the laminated structure, phase separation of the film containing the Sb atom and the film containing the Ge atom allows data to be recorded and erased efficiently.
US09129672B2
A semiconductor device includes a first stage register for storing events occurring for a first period, a second stage register for storing events occurring for a second period shorter than the first period and a controller for controlling the second stage register to select events from the second stage register each having a reference value larger than a second threshold value to the first stage register and for controlling the first stage register to store events which are selected from the second stage register.
US09129670B2
The semiconductor device includes a comparator and a data output unit. The comparator compares a phase of a first pulse signal generated in a first memory region with a phase of a second pulse signal generated in a second memory region and responsively generates a detection signal. The data output unit outputs first data received from the first memory region as output data in synchronization with a first output strobe signal generated by defining a pulse width of a first strobe signal in response to the detection signal and outputs second data received from the second memory region as the output data in synchronization with a second output strobe signal generated by defining a pulse width of a second strobe signal in response to the detection signal.
US09129665B2
The various embodiments described herein include systems, methods and/or devices used to enable dynamic brownout adjustment in a storage device. In one aspect, the method includes: (1) obtaining a set of power tolerance settings, the set of power tolerance settings used for determining whether one or more power supply voltages provided to the storage device are out of range, (2) in response to a predefined trigger, adjusting the set of power tolerance settings in accordance with one or more parameters of the storage device, (3) determining, in accordance with the adjusted set of power tolerance settings, whether the one or more power supply voltages are out of range, and (4) in accordance with a determination that the one or more power supply voltages are out of range, latching a power fail condition.
US09129664B2
An internal voltage generating circuit capable of controlling a swing width of a detection signal in a semiconductor memory apparatus is provided. The internal voltage generating circuit of a semiconductor memory apparatus includes an internal voltage level detecting unit configured to compare an internal voltage with a target voltage and then generate a detection signal, and an internal voltage level control unit configured to control the internal voltage based on a voltage level of the detection signal, wherein the internal voltage level detecting unit is configured to control a swing width of the detection signal based on a voltage difference between the internal voltage and the target voltage.
US09129659B2
A buckling shock mounting and method related thereto are discussed herein. In one embodiment, the buckling shock mounting may take the form of a plurality of panels oriented uprightly within a plane to form at least one geometric shape. The plurality of panels are made of a uniform material and each of the panels is configured to buckle when a threshold amount of force is applied perpendicularly to the plane.
US09129657B2
A video image display apparatus includes a processor, a memory, and a display unit wherein the memory contains instructions for causing the processor to perform operations of reading out, among from time/angle video image data, frames corresponded to time identification information and angle identification information in a frame-by-frame manner in a time order of the time identification information. The operations include causing the display unit to display the frames in the frame-by-frame manner in the time order of the time identification information; and inputting an angle switching instruction for the video image. Upon successive input of the angle switching instruction, the video image display apparatus successively reads out a frame corresponded to the time identification information at a time of input and the angle identification information, and the display unit successively switches to and displays the frame.
US09129649B2
According to embodiments of the present invention, a method for providing a synchronization signal for at least one of a read operation or a write operation carried out by means of a head in a data storage device is provided. The method includes obtaining a readback servo signal from a storage medium of the data storage device by means of the head, the readback servo signal having at least one frequency associated with a servo track of the storage medium, frequency mixing the readback servo signal with a local signal having a local frequency to provide a frequency mixed signal, and filtering the frequency mixed signal to provide the synchronization signal for at least one of the read operation or the write operation. According to further embodiments of the present invention, a data storage device is also provided.
US09129648B2
An apparatus for reading data includes an array of analog inputs operable to receive analog signals retrieved from a magnetic storage medium, wherein the analog inputs correspond to multiple data tracks on the magnetic storage medium, and wherein the number of analog inputs in the array of analog inputs is greater than the number of data tracks being read, at least one joint equalizer operable to filter the analog inputs to yield an equalized output for each of the data tracks being read, and at least one data detector operable to apply a detection algorithm to the equalized output from the joint equalizer to yield detected values for each of the data tracks being read.
US09129647B2
A servo system includes an equalizer circuit operable to filter digital servo data samples according to filter tap coefficients to yield equalized data, a detector circuit operable to apply a data detection algorithm to the equalized data to yield hard decisions, a convolution circuit operable to yield ideal digital data based on the hard decisions and on target values, a subtraction circuit operable to subtract the ideal digital data from the equalized data to yield an adaptation error signal, an error gradient calculator operable calculate an error gradient signal based at least in part on the adaptation error signal, and a tap adaptation circuit operable to calculate values of the filter tap coefficients based on the error gradient signal.
US09129637B2
Provided is a disc loading device and optical disc drive using the same. The disc loading device includes a loading roller for loading a disc in a main frame, an eject lever for discharging the disc out of the main frame, and a main slider operating the eject lever, and moving in a direction by a disc emergency ejection pin inserted from outside of the main frame.
US09129633B1
A device may be configured at least with a controller connected to a transducer or transducing assembly that is positioned proximal a data storage medium having at least one thermal asperity or other similar defect. The controller may be configured to select a clearance height above the data storage medium in response to a measured severity of the at least one thermal asperity.
US09129622B2
A magnetoresistive effect element that prevents a recording medium from deteriorating by effectively inhibiting erroneous writing to a medium or the like includes a magnetoresistive effect part, and an upper shield layer and a lower shield layer that are laminated and formed in a manner sandwiching the magnetoresistive effect part from above and below, and is in a current perpendicular to plane (CPP) structure in which a sense current is applied in a lamination direction. The magnetoresistive effect part includes a nonmagnetic intermediate layer, and a first ferromagnetic layer and a second ferromagnetic layer that sandwich the nonmagnetic intermediate layer from above and below, the upper shield layer and the lower shield layer have inclined magnetization structures in which magnetizations of them are respectively inclined with respect to a track width direction, the magnetizations of the upper shield layer and the lower shield layer are mutually substantially orthogonal, the first ferromagnetic layer is indirectly magnetically coupled with the upper shield layer via a first exchange coupling function gap layer that is positioned between the first ferromagnetic layer and the upper shield layer, and the second ferromagnetic layer is indirectly magnetically coupled with the lower shield layer via a second exchange coupling function gap layer that is positioned between the second ferromagnetic layer and the lower shield layer.
US09129618B1
A stepped suspension load beam is described, such as for a hard disk drive, in which the main body is composed of a proximal portion that lies in a first plane, an intermediate portion between the proximal portion and a distal portion and that lies in a second plane that angles upward from the proximal portion, and a distal portion that lies in a third plane that angles back down from the intermediate portion, thereby forming a load beam stepped in the longitudinal direction. Further, the proximal portion may be formed to taper in at a first angle, the intermediate portion formed to taper in at a second angle that is less than the first angle, and the distal portion formed to taper in at a third angle greater than the first and second angles, thereby forming a load beam stepped in the transverse direction.
US09129616B1
A system for accessing a data from a storage device includes a gain value calculation circuit operable to calculate a first gain value based upon a data set, an early gain acquisition circuit operable to generate a second gain value in parallel to calculation of the first gain value by the gain value calculation circuit, and a gain combination circuit operable to combine the first gain value and the second gain value to yield a third gain value.
US09129614B2
An apparatus according to one embodiment includes a magnetic head, the magnetic head having: a tape bearing surface having a first edge oriented perpendicular to an intended direction of tape travel thereacross; and an array of transducers in and/or adjacent the tape bearing surface, wherein a longitudinal axis of the array is defined between opposite ends thereof, wherein the longitudinal axis of the array of transducers is oriented at an angle relative to the first edge, the angle being between greater than 0.2° and about 10°.
US09129611B2
A voice analyzer includes a first voice acquisition unit provided in a place where a distance of a sound wave propagation path from a mouth of a user is a first distance, plural second voice acquisition units provided in places where distances of sound wave propagation paths from the mouth of the user are smaller than the first distance, and an identification unit that identifies whether the voices acquired by the first and second voice acquisition units are voices of the user or voices of others excluding the user on the basis of a result of comparison between first sound pressure of a voice signal of the voice acquired by the first voice acquisition unit and second sound pressure calculated from sound pressure of a voice signal of the voice acquired by each of the plural second voice acquisition units.
US09129610B2
Processing a signal includes: receiving data that includes an input signal; filtering the input signal to generate a filtered signal, such that if the input signal includes at least one instance of a nonlinear distortion of a desired signal then the filtered signal includes a signature signal corresponding to the nonlinear distortion, the nonlinear distortion characterized by a time duration that is within a predetermined range; and detecting whether or not the filtered signal includes the signature signal.
US09129609B2
A speech speed conversion factor determining device has a physical index calculation unit including a sound/silence judgment unit that distinguishes between sound and silent intervals of an input signal, a fundamental frequency calculation unit that calculates a fundamental frequency of the signal in the sound intervals and determines stable and unstable intervals, a frequency smoothing unit that smoothes the fundamental frequency in the stable intervals, a pseudo fundamental frequency calculation unit that calculates, for the intervals, a pseudo fundamental frequency by interpolation , and a fundamental frequency general shape connection unit that connects the smoothed and pseudo frequencies to obtain sampled values of a general shape of the frequency, such that the sampled values are output as an index, based on which conversion factor are calculated.
US09129589B2
A drive apparatus for an ultrasonic device includes a transmission circuit for outputting a first through n-th (where n is an integer 2 or greater) drive signal to first through n-th driving electrode line belonging to the ultrasonic device, as well as a control unit for controlling the transmission circuit. In a case where the phase difference between an i-th (where i is an integer 1≦i≦n−1) drive signal and an i+1-th drive signal is a first phase difference, the transmission circuit outputs the first through n-th drive signals at a greater voltage amplitude than a case where the phase difference between the i-th drive signal and the i+1-th drive signal is a second phase difference greater than the first phase difference.
US09129588B2
Systems, devices, and methods for customizable reduction of perceived ambient sounds are disclosed. Customizable reduction can be achieved via an application operable in conjunction with an audio player or a headset having a microphone.
US09129586B2
An active noise control (ANC) processor has an adaptive filter that uses a reference signal to produce an anti-noise signal, and an error signal to evaluate cancellation performance. An adaptive filter algorithm engine configures the filter coefficients of the adaptive filter, in accordance with pre-shaped versions of the error and reference signals. The pre-shaping filter has a high-pass transfer function and enables the adaptive algorithm engine to increase noise cancellation performance in a high frequency band during the presence of focused or narrow-band noise energy in a low frequency band. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US09129585B2
An electronic percussion instrument includes a head, a frame, and an impact sensor. The back of the head is divided into a main area (e.g. a main strike area) and an auxiliary area. At least one connecting part is arranged above or below the main area in the back of the head and reduced in thickness compared to the auxiliary area, thus reducing vibration from being transmitted through the head. The impact sensor is attached to the back of the main strike area of the head via a cushion member. When the main strike area of the head is being struck with a beater, a vibration is caused to occur in the head and detected by the impact sensor to produce an electric signal which is used to generate an electronic musical sound while suppressing mechanical noise due to an impact between the beater and the head.
US09129578B2
The display device according to the present invention comprises a substrate and at least one optical coupler having an optical receiver and an optical transmitter formed on the substrate, wherein the optical transmitter transmits an optical signal to the optical receiver.
US09129574B2
A gate driving circuit includes a shift register circuit and an auxiliary circuit which are disposed at different sides of a pixel array. The shift register circuit includes an (N−1)th shift register stage for generating an (N−1)th gate signal according to a first clock, an Nth shift register stage for generating an Nth gate signal according to a second clock, and an (N+1)th shift register stage for generating an (N+1)th gate signal according to a third clock. The auxiliary circuit includes a first transistor. The first transistor performs the signal voltage stabilization and level switching acceleration operations on the Nth gate signal according to the (N−1)th gate signal and the second clock.
US09129565B2
Embodiments of methods, systems, or apparatuses relating to adjusting a brightness level of at least one luminescent body disposed, at least in part, on a side emitting backlight display device are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, for example, one or more values representing a light spreading profile for a particular luminescent body may be accessed. A process, system, or apparatus may adjust a brightness of a particular luminescent body by adjusting one or more brightness values associated with that particular luminescent body based, at least in part, on the accessed values.
US09129563B2
Examples of the present invention disclose system and method timing adjustment of a backlight module for a display. According to one example, a temperature of the display is monitored and a response time associated with the display is determined based on the temperature. Furthermore, a power-on timing and/or a power-off timing of the backlight module is adjusted based on the determined response time and the monitored temperature.
US09129559B2
An organic light emitting display device, and a driving method for the same. The organic light emitting display device, including: a pixel unit configured to display an image corresponding to a data signal, a scan signal, a first power, and a second power; a data driver configured to receive an image signal to output the data signal; a scan driver configured to output the scan signal; a power supply unit configured to receive an input power from an external source to generate the first power and the second power; and a controller configured to output a voltage control signal to control a voltage of the first power and a voltage of the second power and output a first gamma value and a second gamma value in accordance with a voltage of the input power, the first and second gamma values being for controlling a voltage of the data signal.
US09129549B2
An automatic brightness adjustment for devices with displays includes the capability to assess ambient light. The assessment may be made using circuitry, such as a light meter circuit, by exploiting exposure control circuitry, or using other approaches. The ambient light value is sent to a brightness adjustment driver, which may employ a look-up table to keep track of brightness adjustments for particular ambient conditions. The look-up table may include distinct adjustment values.
US09129546B2
A method and an apparatus for operating an electronic device for changing a setting value are provided. In the method, a touch input for a set region is detected, so that a mode is switched to a setting change mode for changing a stored setting value. At least one guide interface for receiving a change of at least one setting value among stored setting values is displayed. A predetermined gesture for an arbitrary region of the displayed at least one guide interface is detected, so that whether to store a changed at least one setting value is determined.
US09129543B2
A compressing of a texel block consisting of two texel sub-bocks involves determining respective value codewords and table codewords for the two texel sub-blocks. The value codewords represent respective base texel values and the table codewords represent respective modifier sets comprising multiple value modifiers for modifying the base texel value associated with the given texel sub-block. Each texel in the texel block is assigned a texel index associated with one of the value modifiers of the modifier set for the texel sub-block to which the texel belongs or indicates that the base texel value of the other texel sub-block is to be used for the texel.
US09129538B2
On a name badge, the rear part (2) of which, formed as a plastic injection moulded part, has a hook-shaped clamping limb (10) for the attachment of the name badge to an item of clothing, the clamping limb (10) is provided with a slot (14) into which an abutment (15) projects to improve the seating of the name badge on the item of clothing.
US09129535B2
A method for learning reduction techniques using an anatomical model for training aid enabling the learning of reduction techniques without performing reduction on an actual patient is provided. The method for learning the reduction techniques uses the anatomical model for training aid which comprises bone members having shapes similar to human bones and a soft member covering the bone members, the bone members comprising a first bone member and a second bone member, either one of the first bone member or the second bone member being provided with a magnet and the other being provided with a magnet material, and has two connection statuses including a normal connection status where the first bone member and the second bone member are connected in a status similar to a normal connection status of human bones and an abnormal connection status where they are connected in a status different from the normal connection status of human bones, wherein the method for learning the reduction techniques comprises a step of arranging the first bone member and the second bone member into the abnormal connection status and a step of applying reduction performances to the bone members in the abnormal connection status to move them into the normal connection status.
US09129533B2
A combination valve and valve extension allows an operator to open and close a hose bib. A ball valve attaches to the free end of a hose bib. An extension member includes a coupling end that slides over the handle of the ball valve. A handle is provided at an opposite end of the extension member to allow torque to be exerted on the ball valve handle to open and close it. In this manner, a simple and cost effective method of controlling a hose bib without incurring many of the problems associated with bushes planted in front of the hose.
US09129526B2
A real-time traffic management system comprising a main light controller module configured to monitor and control functionality of one or more traffic lights, a master control unit server software application, a network operations control module, and a network watcher application program. The main light controller module communicates with one or more coordinating light controller modules, onsite personnel, and a network operations center. The main light controller uses a camera that detects instances of vehicle demand and provides live images for situational awareness. The main light controller module comprises a global positioning satellite receiver and a light sensor for monitoring ambient lighting conditions. The network watcher application program continuously scans incoming data, monitors performance of all components in the system, and issues alerts and alarms to notify personnel of events or conditions outside of established tolerances.
US09129524B2
Described herein is a method of determining parking lot occupancy from digital images, including a set-up procedure that includes receiving a layout of a parking lot and estimating parking space volume for at least one viewing angle and the probability that an observed pixel belongs to the parking space volume. The method further includes acquiring one or more image frames of the parking lot from at least one digital camera; performing pixel classification using a vehicle detector on the acquired image frames to determine a likelihood that a pixel belongs to a vehicle; computing a probability that a parking space is occupied by a vehicle based on a spatially varying membership probability density function and a likelihood of vehicle pixels within a region of interest; and determining parking lot vacancy via a comparison of the computed probability that a parking space is occupied by a vehicle to a pre-determined threshold.
US09129514B2
The present technology relates to protocols relative to utility meters associated with an open operational framework. More particularly, the present subject matter relates to protocol subject matter for advanced metering infrastructure, adaptable to various international standards, while economically supporting a 2-way mesh network solution in a wireless environment, such as for operating in a residential electricity meter field. The present subject matter supports meters within an ANSI standard C12.22/C12.19 system while economically supporting a 2-way mesh network solution in a wireless environment, such as for operating in a residential electricity meter field, all to permit cell-based adaptive insertion of C12.22 meters within an open framework. Cell isolation is provided through quasi-orthogonal sequences in a frequency hopping network. Additional features relate to apparatus and methodology subject matters relating to Number-of-sons' management.
US09129512B2
A remote control having a button for actuating an electric equipment unit, a dongle controlled by the remote control for transmitting control orders to the equipment unit, and a housing having a designated location for the dongle, the housing having a two-part case which is convertible from open to closed positions but not closable if the dongle is not in its designated location, the two parts of the case being slidable between two positions, with a latch between the two positions, and which is movable by removal or insertion of the dongle.
US09129506B1
A method for monitoring an individual in a dwelling so as to know when such individual falls or indicates the need of assistance. A plurality of 3D motion and sound sensors are located in the dwelling and provide data to a computerized monitoring system. The sensors are configured to recognize one or more biometric identifiers of the individual being monitored. When the monitoring system detects that the individual has fallen or gestured, a computerized communication system contacts the individual to determine the need to send assistance to help the individual. Where assistance is required the system automatics contacts the previously designated caregiver for the individual and can also contact emergency personnel.
US09129503B2
A GPS-based child-locator device can be securely locked to a child's wrist or ankle so as to be removable only by using one or more custom mechanical keys and/or resettable software keys/codes. This prevents the child-locator device from being disabled by being removed from the child during an abduction. The GPS locator comprises a housing unit, a connecting band, by which the housing unit is attachable to a child, and a locking mechanism, by which the connecting band is lockably attachable to the housing unit. The GPS locator also utilizes a novel antenna design to achieve a very compact profile for the housing which contains the device's electrical components.
US09129502B2
A method and range monitoring system for verifying that communication between two communicating units is of satisfactory quality and that the units are within a predetermined range from one another, wherein the units are in non-continuous communication. One or both units test that the quality and distance by sending a signal to the other unit, and expecting a response signal. If no response signal is received, an alert is fired. The check is initiated upon a trigger, such as a timer, a sensed motion, or a user-initiated event such as when the user presses a button.
US09129498B2
A method includes receiving, at a node located in a structure, an indication of an evacuation condition. The structure includes a plurality of nodes in communication with one another. The method also includes sending, by the node, a message to one or more additional nodes. The message informs the one or more additional nodes that the node is going to determine an evacuation route in response to the indication of the evacuation condition such that the one or more additional nodes do not determine the evacuation route. The method also includes determining, by the node, the evacuation route based at least in part on the indication of the evacuation condition and at least in part on a layout of the structure. The method further includes providing, by the node, the evacuation route to the one or more additional nodes.
US09129496B1
A rotatable tag is provided that is configured to be affixed to a moveable object, the tag includes a housing configured to provide an increased volume and occupy a relatively small amount of surface area on the object to which the tag is affixed. The rotatable tag is configured to transmit information related to the tag and/or an environment surrounding the tag. Related systems are also provided herein.
US09129495B1
A side camera of a vehicle, including a camera housing rotatable in a first axis and a second axis each relative to an exterior surface of the vehicle, and a camera attached to the camera housing that captures image data. The camera is positioned in a plurality of positions by rotating the camera housing along the first axis and the second axis.
US09129493B2
Cash drawers that are operated by wireless devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, a cash drawer includes a network interface and a controller. The network interface enables the cash drawer to communicate with one or more wireless devices. The controller optionally controls access of the one or more wireless devices to the cash drawer based on a collection of biometric information. The collection of biometric information may be collected by the cash drawer, by the one or more wireless devices, or by an input device that is communicatively coupled to the one or more wireless devices. The collection of biometric information is illustratively used to verify an identity of a user.
US09129487B2
An online variant of the game of Hold 'Em poker allows one or all of the players to remain in a game with an option of checking or making specific wagering amounts in first play wagers, being limited in the size of subsequent available play wagers or prohibited from making additional play wagers if a first play wager has been made, being limited in the size of available later play wagers if a first or earlier play wager has been made, and having the opportunity for at least two and as many as three or four distinct opportunities in the stages in the play of a hand to be able to make one or more play wagers.
US09129485B2
A gaming system, a gaming machine and a method is provided having a Five Card Video Draw poker game with a single hand or multiple hands. The gaming system or gaming machine first determines whether a dream card is going to be used in a particular round of play or a dream card is used on every hand. If the dream card is going to be used, then the last card of the initial hand is chosen so that, when the last card is combined with the other randomly selected cards of the initial hand, the initial starting hand will have the highest possible expected value.
US09129482B2
In various embodiments, the gaming system, gaming device, and gaming method disclosed herein includes an accumulation sequence and a competition sequence. In one embodiment, the gaming system includes competitor points which determine (i) a competitor's eligibility to participate in the competition sequence and (ii) the competitor's relative probability of success in the competition sequence. In this embodiment, a competitor (which is either representative of an actual player or a virtual, gaming system controlled player) accumulates competitor points during one or more point accumulation sequences which occur in association with designated events. For a subsequent competition sequence, the gaming system determines if a competitor will participate in the triggered competition sequence based on the competitor's accumulated competitor points. For the subsequent competition sequence, the gaming system further determines the competitor's relative probability of success in the competition sequence based on the competitor's accumulated competitor points.
US09129478B2
Example apparatus and methods concern attributing user actions based on biometric identifications. One example method includes detecting an action intended to control an application associated with a shared launch surface. The method includes associating the action with a body located in a field of view of a biometric sensor associated with a shared launch surface. Data from the biometric sensor is used to determine a biometric identity for the body and then the action is attributed to a user as a function of the biometric identity. A context associated with the user is accessed and an operation associated with the action is selectively controlled based on the context.
US09129475B2
A method and a slot floor mix recommendation system for use with a server-based gaming network are provided. The system includes a memory device, a processor in communication with the memory device, and at least one data acquisition network. The system further includes a plurality of electronic gaming machines (EGM), at least some having dissimilar manufacturers, makes, models, and attributes communicatively coupled to the at least one data acquisition network, at least one historical data repository, a gaming machine recommender configured to determine a composition of themes available for selection on each of the plurality of EGMs using a relative performance of each available theme compared to each other available theme over at least one historical period and with respect to at least one attribute, and a reporter configured to output the determined composition.
US09129472B2
A video gaming device having a plurality of indicia-bearing spinning reels in a first set of reels and a second set of reels is disclosed. A determination is made as to whether the display of the indicia of the plurality of spinning reels in the first and second sets of reels are winning outcomes. Award-multiplier indicia of a first shared spinning base game award-multiplier reel is positioned between the first and second set of reels. The base game award-multiplier indicia modifies the winning outcome on the first set of reels, modifies the winning outcome on the second set of reels, includes a secondary game trigger symbol, forms a contiguous set of reels having a common axis of rotation with the first and second set of reels, or combinations thereof.
US09129464B2
Systems and methods for accepting payments for goods and services provided by a merchant. In one embodiment, a method for accepting payments from a consumer for a good or service provided by a merchant comprises receiving a transaction request from the merchant, receiving a payment from the consumer, associating the payment with the transaction request, and sending at least a portion of the payment to the merchant. In this manner, the merchant stages the transaction, and the consumer completes the transaction by making the payment. An optional time limit feature also may be used, and the transaction may be staged by the consumer, or others.
US09129454B2
A passive entry system and method for determining the location of a remote transmitter positioned near a vehicle. The system and method including a transmitter configured to transmit one or more polling sequences. The polling sequences including one or more polling signals indicative of a particular side and/or door of the vehicle. The system and method further including a receiver configured to receive an acknowledgement signal from a remote transmitter in response to one or more of the polling sequences. The system and method also including a controller configured to determine if the remote transmitter is positioned near the first side or second side of the vehicle based upon the acknowledgement signal being in response to the first or second polling sequence.
US09129453B2
The present disclosure relates to the use of DNA sample data as part of a biometric security system in a transponder transaction. The biometric security system also includes a DNA sensor that detects biometric samples, and a device for verifying biometric samples. In one embodiment, the biometric security system includes a transponder configured with a DNA sensor. In another embodiment, the system includes a reader configured with a DNA sensor. In yet another embodiment, the present invention discloses methods for proffering and processing DNA samples and DNA sample data to facilitate authorization of transactions.
US09129451B2
From the prior art, access control devices are already known in which a distinction is made between a first detection device (2) and the actual access and access is enabled or not, on the basis of a comparison of the data detected by the first detection device (2) with the data detected again at the actual access lock (7). Starting from the prior art, the solution according to the invention proposes an expansion of the system such that modern Internet booking procedures are considered and furthermore the new possibilities of facial recognition are performed in a quasi manner as the last examination before access is enabled, and access is granted or rejected depending on the examination result, in other words the examination of a biometric feature. The invention can be used for a border crossing control device.
US09129448B2
This invention is related to visualization of a natural language text, namely, to conversion of such text into a corresponding image, animation, or a three-dimensional scene. The proposed solution provides for a tool set for visualization of such text and automatically obtaining an animated three-dimensional scene. The invention contemplates a method of text visualization comprising the steps of obtaining a natural language text, conducting an automatic semantic breakdown of the language text (parsing) with the purpose of obtaining a structured semantic net, creating a three-dimensional scene on the basis of semantic breakdown results, creating a video clip or a set of pictures using the obtained three-dimensional scenes, and visualization of the obtained video clip or set of images. The invention provides for simultaneous producing video clips by several users according to different scenarios, manual editing a three-dimensional scene and semantic breakdown results, replenishing a library by own content, etc.
US09129445B2
Several embodiments of an efficient tone mapping of high bit depth video to low bit depth displays are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system maps an input image data of a high dynamic range (HDR) onto output image data of a lower dynamic range (LDR) and where the mapping does not transform the input image data from one color space to another color space. One embodiment comprises a tone mapping module which outputs a tone-mapped luminance signal for output image data and a color mapping module which outputs chroma signals for the output image data. Intermediate image processing steps may be avoided and hence may increase the efficiency of the mapping.
US09129444B2
A graphical user interface for interactively displaying large amounts of related data using a geometrical pattern is provided. The geometrical user interface permits users to view, navigate and interact with large amounts of related data in a single display window without going through multiple clicks, menus, drop-downs and scrolling events.
US09129441B2
Systems and methods are provided for improved filtering and correcting of glyphs on a GPU. The computational intensity required for filtering and/or rendering can be reduced by pre-calculating some or all of the calculations needed for converting coverage data into corrected pixel values. Additional efficiencies may be realized in some embodiments by transferring data from a CPU to a GPU in an improved format. The improvements can be realized in a variety of graphics formats.
US09129437B2
A line plotting method for plotting lines whose coordinates are given on a display screen on which pixels are arranged according to a prescribed rule, the method includes correcting coordinates at the end point of a line on the basis of which the end point is a starting point or an ending point or whether the end point is inside a prescribed frame determining whether a direction from a starting point of a line after correction toward its ending point horizontally or vertically is the same as a direction from a starting point before correction of a line toward its ending point determining whether integer values of the coordinates of starting and ending points after correction are the same when directions from starting points after and before correction of a line toward their ending points are not matched.
US09129436B2
A computer-implemented method for smoothing a stereo parameter for a computer-animated film sequence. A timeline for the film sequence is obtained, the timeline comprising a plurality of time entries. A stereo parameter distribution is obtained, wherein the stereo parameter distribution comprises one stereo parameter value for at least two time entries of the plurality of time entries, and wherein the stereo parameter value corresponds a stereo setting associated with a pair of stereoscopic cameras configured to produce a stereoscopic image of the computer-animated film sequence. Depending on a statistical measurement of the stereo parameter distribution, either a static scene parameter is calculated, or a set of smoothed parameter values is calculated.
US09129424B2
Phase sensitive T1 mapping is provided in magnetic resonance (MR). The phase from samples of a modified Look-Locker inversion recovery sequence may be used to normalize contrast, allowing for accurate motion registration without extra information acquisition. The sign may be estimated, allowing T1 mapping with a single application of a non-linear fit.
US09129422B2
A computer-implemented method of performing a combined surface reconstruction and registration of stereo laparoscopic images includes a computer system generating an intraoperative three-dimensional model of an anatomical area of interest and receiving a plurality of stereo endoscopic images of the anatomical area of interest from a laparoscope. The computer system performs a first stereo reconstruction process using the stereo endoscopic images to yield a first surface image corresponding to the anatomical area of interest and aligns the first surface image with a surface of the intraoperative three-dimensional model using a rigid registration process. Then, the computer system performs a second stereo reconstruction process using the first surface image and prior knowledge from a pre-operative three dimensional model to yield a second surface image corresponding to the anatomical area of interest and aligns the second surface image with the surface of the intraoperative three-dimensional model using a non-rigid registration process.
US09129418B2
A computer-implemented method for the determination of the optimal image viewing direction of an asymmetrical object is included. The method generates a 3D surface reconstruction of the object from 2D images of the object obtained from different perspectives. A point of interest can be specified in at least one of the used 2D images and an area of interest can be specified in the object where the point of interest lies within. A plane containing view directions with reduced foreshortening for the specified area of interest is generated and a 3D point corresponding to the specified point of interest is determined on the 3D surface reconstruction of the object. At least one particular view direction corresponding to the 3D point and located with the identified plane is considered as the optimal image viewing direction of the asymmetrical object. A corresponding apparatus and computer program are also disclosed.
US09129414B2
A device is provided that generates a composite image using a first image and a second image having different exposure conditions. The device includes an image input unit, a likelihood calculating unit, an exposure estimating unit, and a compositing unit. The image input unit inputs the first image and the second image. The likelihood calculating unit calculates a subject motion likelihood at each pixel based on a difference between the first image and the second image. The exposure estimating unit estimates an exposure transform function that conforms the exposure conditions of the first image and the second image to each other based on the subject motion likelihood. The compositing unit composites the first image and the second image by using the exposure transform function.
US09129410B2
A periodicity determining unit determines whether an image region including a target pixel is a periodic region in which pixel values vary periodically. A first generating unit generates a pixel value using a first interpolation method. A second generating unit generates a pixel value using a second interpolation method. A control unit determines, based on the determination result of the periodicity determining unit, which one of the first and second generating units is to be used for generating a pixel value of the target pixel. A pixel value inserting unit inserts the generated pixel value to the target pixel. The periodicity determining unit includes a cycle estimating unit to estimate, using pixel values of pixels within the image region, a variation cycle of the pixel values, and/or a determining unit to determine whether each region positioned at left and right sides of the target pixel is the periodic region.
US09129407B2
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus including: operation accepting means for accept an operation input; image storing means for storing a plurality of images; management information storing means for storing management information corresponding to the plurality of images stored in the image storing means; image drawing means for drawing, in a display area including at least an image display area, at least one of images stored in the image storing means onto the image display area in a predetermined sequence; and controlling means for, when an operation input commanding selection of an image included in the image display area has been accepted by the operation accepting means, controlling recording of the selection of the image to management information stored in the management information storing means in correspondence with the image.
US09129397B2
A human tracking method using a color histogram is disclosed. The human tracking method using the color histogram according to the present invention can more adaptively perform human tracking using different target color histograms according to the human poses, instead of applying only one target color histogram to the tracking process of one person, such that the accuracy of human tracking can be increased. The human tracking method includes performing color space conversion of input video data; calculating a state equation of a particle based on the color-space conversion data; calculating the state equation, and calculating human pose-adaptive observation likelihood; resampling the particle using the observation likelihood, and estimating a state value of the human; and updating a target color histogram.
US09129392B2
A series of rt-3DE images of the mitral valve are quantitatively analyzed so as to enable, for example, prediction of the degree of recurrent ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) and comprehensive assessments of leaflet tethering and “tenting” for the entire mitral valve. In accordance with the method, first, the rt-3DE images are registered with symmetric diffeomorphism to obtain information about how the mitral valve deforms over time. Second, the mitral valve is segmented with the level sets or other known segmentation method at each time point in the cardiac cycle with minimal user interaction. Third, the information about mitral valve structure is reduced into a 3D medial model, a compact representation of shape. In other words, a volumetric segmentation of the mitral valve is condensed to a form that is amenable to clinically relevant morphometry.
US09129391B2
Preoperative resection planning is assisted by a computer. Rather than rely on interpolation of the user input, a graph of interconnections is used. The user inputs one or more polylines on one or more two-dimensional views. The polylines are used to assign resection and remnant seeds with a band of unassigned locations. The 2D seeds are used with the graph of interconnections to assign different voxels in the volume, including the unassigned locations, as being part of the resection volume or part of the remnant volume.
US09129382B2
A method for brain tumor segmentation in multi-parametric 3D MR images. The method comprises: pre-processing an input multi-parametric 3D MR image; classifying each voxel in the pre-processed multi-parametric 3D MR image, determining the probability that the voxel is part of a brain tumor, and obtaining an initial label information for the image segmentation based on the classification probability; constructing a graph based representation for the pre-processed image to be segmented; and generating the segmented brain tumor image using the initial label information and graph based representation. This method tries to exploit the local and global consistency of the image to be segmented for the tumor segmentation and can alleviate partially the performance degradation caused by the inter-subject image variability and insufficient statistical information from training.
US09129381B2
Modification of post-viewing parameters for digital images using image region or feature information
A method of generating one or more new digital images using an original digitally-acquired image including a selected image feature includes identifying within a digital image acquisition device one or more groups of pixels that correspond to the selected image feature based on information from one or more preview images. A portion of the original image is selected that includes the one or more groups of pixels. The technique includes automatically generating values of pixels of one or more new images based on the selected portion in a manner which includes the selected image feature within the one or more new images.
US09129371B2
A method for registering a visual image and a spectral image of a biological sample includes aligning a first set of coordinate positions of a plurality of reticles on a slide holder and a second set of coordinate positions of the plurality of reticles on the slide holder. The method further includes generating a registered image of a visual image of a biological sample and a spectral image of the biological sample based upon the alignment of the first and second set of coordinate positions.
US09129361B2
The present invention is a system and method for visually indexing medical data about a patient by generating an image for presentation to a user depicting a subset of the patient's body parts, with body parts having associated diagnostic data highlighted. A user may then select a highlighted body part and be presented with some or all of the associated diagnostic data. The user may manipulate the presented image, which is derived from a three dimensional model, to rotate it or zoom is to expose more body parts, or more detailed body parts depicting child body parts associated with the diagnostic data. The system or method may employ a patient index comprising a hierarchical graph with nodes corresponding to body parts and associated with diagnostic data for those body parts.
US09129360B2
The invention relates to a visualization apparatus (1) for visualizing an image data set. The visualization apparatus (1) comprises an image data set providing unit (2) for providing the image data set, a differential property determination unit (5) for determining local differential properties for different regions of the image data set, an assigning unit (6) for assigning visualization properties to the different regions of the image data set depending on the determined local differential properties, wherein a visualization property defines the visualization of a region, to which the visualization property is assigned, and a display unit (7) for displaying the visualization properties assigned to the different regions of the image data set. By displaying the visualization properties assigned to the different regions of the image data set different objects can visually be separated from each other without requiring large computational costs.
US09129347B2
A display device including: a display screen having first region and second region, the first region having a first pixel density and the second region having a second pixel density, the second pixel density being higher than the first pixel density, an input for receiving image data, a power source; and wherein the display screen is operable in a full screen mode in which an image is displayed in both the first region and the second region and a reduced screen mode in which power to the first region is turned off and the image is displayed in the second region.
US09129343B2
Transferring spectrum use rights may include ascertaining information regarding available spectrum for use in wireless communications. A request for spectrum use from a spectrum user system may be matched with available spectrum. A spectrum certificate may be issued to the spectrum user system, where the spectrum certificate contains at least one spectrum-related variable under which the spectrum user system is to engage in wireless communications.
US09129342B2
The invention is concerned with a virtual trading card system, comprising a data source that provides information associated with a public figure, and a user device configured to display a first and a second virtual view of an electronic card associated with the public figure, wherein the second virtual view includes a plurality of updateable data fields.
US09129341B2
A method (100) and betting system (120) for a betting agency (102) to accept a bet (103) from a participant (101). The betting system (120) includes: the betting agency (102) receiving the bet (103) from the participant (101) wagering an amount in relation to one or more selected potential outcomes of an event (201); the betting agency (102) receiving from the participant (101), an indication of one or more modifications (290) to one or more parameters of the bet (103); and the betting agency (102) modifying the one or more parameters of the bet in accordance with the received indication (290) after commencement of the event (201) and prior to completion of the event
US09129337B2
Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for distributing a resource (such as electricity) using a resource allocation system. In one exemplary embodiment, a plurality of requests for electricity are received from a plurality of end-use consumers. The requests indicate a requested quantity of electricity and a consumer-requested index value indicative of a maximum price a respective end-use consumer will pay for the requested quantity of electricity. A plurality of offers for supplying electricity are received from a plurality of resource suppliers. The offers indicate an offered quantity of electricity and a supplier-requested index value indicative of a minimum price for which a respective supplier will produce the offered quantity of electricity. A dispatched index value is computed at which electricity is to be supplied based at least in part on the consumer-requested index values and the supplier-requested index values.
US09129325B2
Embodiments of systems and methods for the aggregation, analysis, display and monetization of pricing data for commodities in general, and which may be particularly useful applied to vehicles are disclosed. Specifically, in certain embodiments, historical transaction data associated with a particular vehicle configuration may be obtained and processed to determine pricing data associated with the vehicle configuration. The historical transaction data or determined pricing data may then be presented in an intuitive manner.
US09129323B1
Item identification data indicating a product or service of interest to a first party is obtained and posted to one or more network locations accessible by one or more other parties associated with the first party. Activity on the one or more network locations where the item identification data is posted is then monitored. If data indicating interest in the product or service from one or more other parties is identified that exceeds a threshold level of indicated interest, then at least one provider of the product or service is notified and provided the opportunity to extend a potential group sale related offer to at least one of the individuals indicating interest in the product or service.
US09129322B2
Architectures and techniques are described to rent electronic books. In particular, a content provider can rent electronic books to individuals for a specified rental term. The individuals may have the option to modify the rental term for an electronic book. The rental term for a particular electronic book may be modified by extending the rental term of the particular electronic book or decreasing the rental term of the particular electronic book. Individuals may also convert the rental of an electronic book to a purchase and a purchase of an electronic book to a rental. In order to rent the electronic books to individuals, the content provider may acquire permission from the publishers of the electronic books. In some cases, the content provider may acquire a pool of time-bound rentable licenses from the publishers to allocate to individuals renting electronic books from the content provider.
US09129310B1
An NFC-enabled apparatus for providing contents is disclosed. The apparatus includes a display, a near field communication (NFC) module and a data module control for supplying contents to the display and for supplying data corresponding to the display to the NFC module for making them available for NFC transmission to an NFC-enabled mobile terminal.
US09129300B2
A system and a method are provided for using external sources (e.g., landing pages) for sponsored search ad selection. In one example, the system identifies one or more regions of an external source. The one or more regions are relevant to a query. The external source includes a source that includes relevant data that is usable for augmenting an ad selection process. The system extracts one or more features from the one or more regions. The system determines which of the one or more features are relevant for item indexing. The system then augments an item selection process by using the one or more features that are relevant for item indexing.
US09129297B2
A system and method for providing a dating service using dating cards with unique QR code/s. A registered member of the dating service acquires one or more dating cards with unique QR codes and presents the card a potential date. When the potential date scans the QR code, the potential date is forwarded to personal information of the registered member. The potential date therefore can appraise the merits of the registered member based on the personal information and decide whether to establish further contact. Preferably, the dating card has a detachable tab with a unique QR code that correlates to the QR code on the card that is handed to the potential date for tracking and access control purposes. Each card can reveal a partial or different façade of the personal information and display a different personal greeting message.
US09129296B2
Systems and methods for augmenting recommendation algorithms based on similarity between electronic content items are provided. In one embodiment, a content management application executed by a processor identifies at least one first electronic content item associated with a first client. The content management application determines that the first electronic content item is similar to at least one second electronic content item associated with a second client. The content management application generates an association between the first electronic content item and the second electronic content item. The association is based on the first electronic content item and the second electronic content item being similar to each another. The content management application generates a recommendation output based at least partially on the association between the first electronic content item and the second electronic content item.
US09129294B2
Systems and methods for providing coupons, including targeted coupons associated with, for example, loyalty programs and the like from coin counting kiosks are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method for providing a coupon includes receiving coins from a consumer and counting the coins to determine a value. The method further includes providing a voucher to the consumer that is redeemable for cash and/or merchandise. The method can further include providing a coupon to the consumer that is based at least in part on prior purchase information associated with the consumer.
US09129290B2
A predictive model generator that enhances customer experience, reduces the cost of servicing a customer, and prevents customer attrition by predicting the appropriate interaction channel through analysis of different types of data and filtering of irrelevant data. The model includes a customer interaction data engine for transforming data into a proper format for storage, data warehouse for receiving data from a variety of sources, and a predictive engine for analyzing the data and building models.
US09129285B2
Future promotions can be tested on a live production website with a preview web application that is separate from a live production web application used by customers. A preview session is established with the preview web application on a live production server responsive to receiving a request to perform a command on the live production server in a preview mode that allows testing of a future promotion. A preview context and a content context are instantiated for the preview session. The preview context indicates a time in the future to use in processing the request on the live production server. The preview web application dispatches the request to the live production web application on the live production server. The second web application processes the request with business logic based, at least in part, on the preview context and the content context.
US09129279B1
A financial institution can provide financial services to a plurality of remote devices, such as personal computers, personal data assistants, screen phones, automatic teller machines, external service providers, and internally to staff terminals and individual branches. By separating the components of the system into independent components, the system and method can be developed and tested on a component level rather than the entire system level, thereby reducing the development and maintenance cycle time. The system and method operate in sessions and can employ a dialog component for gathering information from a customer, a rule broker component for providing answers to the various legal and regulatory rules in a particular country, a language man component for selecting appropriate language, a transaction executor component for performing transactions, and a presentation manager component for formatting outputs to the customer.
US09129278B2
A method to process credit card transactions, including obtaining available merchant account IDs allocated to a master merchant account at a credit card processor entity of a credit card transaction network, where the master merchant is authorized to set up merchant accounts based on the master merchant account and assumes merchant-side financial risks of the merchant accounts, receiving, after obtaining the available merchant account IDs, a request from a merchant to set up a merchant account, and assigning, in response to credit approval of the merchant, a merchant account ID selected from the available merchant account IDs to the merchant for setting up the merchant account, where a credit card transaction of the merchant is submitted, subsequent to assigning the merchant account ID, to the credit card processor entity for authorization based on the master merchant account, where the credit card transaction is tagged with the merchant account ID.
US09129277B2
In some arrangements, product packaging is digitally watermarked over most of its extent to facilitate high-throughput item identification at retail checkouts. Imagery captured by conventional or plenoptic cameras can be processed (e.g., by GPUs) to derive several different perspective-transformed views—further minimizing the need to manually reposition items for identification. Crinkles and other deformations in product packaging can be optically sensed, allowing such surfaces to be virtually flattened to aid identification. Piles of items can be 3D-modelled and virtually segmented into geometric primitives to aid identification, and to discover locations of obscured items. Other data (e.g., including data from sensors in aisles, shelves and carts, and gaze tracking for clues about visual saliency) can be used in assessing identification hypotheses about an item. Logos may be identified and used—or ignored—in product identification. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.
US09129276B1
A method for inventory management. The method includes: obtaining a first invoice sent from a supplier to a first merchant; capturing, by a computer processor, a first set of inventory data from fields on the first invoice; updating a template for the supplier based on capturing the first set of inventory data, where the template includes locations of the fields on the first invoice; obtaining a second invoice sent from the supplier to a second merchant, where the second invoice includes the fields; and capturing, after updating the template and by the computer processor, a second set of inventory data from the fields on the second invoice using the template, where the second set of inventory data includes a quantity of a product purchased from the supplier, and where an inventory database of the second merchant is updated with the quantity of the product.
US09129262B2
A purchaser apparatus stores “anonymous order information including an order ID and purchaser identity verifying information” and “purchaser identity proving secret information”. A shop apparatus stores “anonymous order information including an order ID and purchaser identity verifying information”. If necessary, a purchaser sends a request including an order ID and zero knowledge proving information that a purchaser knows the purchaser identity proving secret information, from a purchaser apparatus to a shop apparatus. A shop apparatus verifies the zero knowledge proving information, based on purchaser identity verifying information retrieved from an order ID included in the request. Therefore, the unlinkability for past use is eliminated if necessary, and inconvenience caused by the unlinkability is eliminated.
US09129258B2
In various embodiments, an attendee of a live online meeting selects screen data from an earlier point in time in the online meeting for playback while the meeting is still ongoing. Automatically generated image thumbnails of the screen data for the online meeting may be employed to navigate to the earlier point in time. Attendees may annotate screenshots associated with the thumbnails, and a summary document may be generated that includes the screenshots and the annotations.
US09129257B2
An approach for enabling the monitoring of high risk users is described. A high risk user (HRU) event management platform designates a user as a high risk user candidate and then initiates monitoring of activities of a computing device associated with identity information of the user. The HRU event management platform then collects data from the computing device and from one or more data sources according to one or more predetermined parameters specifying asset information. The data is correlated with the identity information of the user for confirming that the user is a high risk user.
US09129255B2
One embodiment of the present invention comprises a plug-in for an office software product. The plug-in can allow for the creation of a Business Process Management (BPM) instance that can be related to an open document in the office software product. The Business Process Management instance can be launched at a business process management server running business process management software. The business process management software can be separate from the office software product.
US09129254B2
A method for sending messages within notifications to a recipient is disclosed. The method includes receiving information related to at least one recipient and receiving a selection of at least two messages from a plurality of messages. The method also includes associating the at least one recipient with the at least two messages, and transmitting at least one notification to the at least one recipient, the at least one notification comprising the at least two messages. A system for sending messages within notifications to a recipient is also provided.
US09129246B2
An electronic commerce protocol stack includes a connectivity layer that receives business data from a first entity. The business data indicates that the destination of the business data is a second entity. The protocol stack also includes a translation layer that receives the business data and that translates the business data as appropriate for the second entity using one or more translation rules. The protocol stack also includes a semantic routing layer that receives the translated business data, determines the semantic meaning of at least a portion of the business data using one or more semantics rules, determines one or more appropriate destinations for the business data based on the semantic meaning, and communicates the business data the determined destinations to the connectivity layer. The connectivity layer communicates the business data to the determined destinations.
US09129245B2
Methods and systems for adaptive storage and management of pharmaceutical product containers at a pharmacy are described. Pharmaceutical product containers are managed so that the containers for more-frequently-used pharmaceutical products are stored among plural storage locations more-efficiently accessible to a pharmacy workstation. Containers for less-frequently-used pharmaceutical products are managed so that the containers for such products are stored among the storage locations which are less-accessible to the pharmacy workstation. As the frequency of pharmaceutical product usage changes, the inventory of pharmaceutical product containers is managed adaptively so that the containers used most frequently are stored at locations more-easily accessible to the pharmacy workstation, thereby facilitating fulfillment of prescriptions by pharmacy personnel. Further efficiencies may be achieved through use of an optical positioning system providing directed placing and picking of pharmaceutical product containers. Management of pharmaceutical product containers repeatedly taken from and returned to inventory may be provided.
US09129243B2
A system for performing strategic planning. At least one processor and memory are configured to, based on user input, provide a plurality of roadmaps, and link a data point of a first roadmap to a data point of a second roadmap to integrate at least portions of the first and second roadmaps. “Intelligent” roadmapping can be provided wherein the system scans relationships in data from different sources and loads related categories and data points onto a combined roadmap.
US09129242B2
A dispatching system adjusts resources to meet real-time changes in demand. When a customer requests service, a work assignment is generated and sent to an employee. When a customer cancels the requested service, a cancellation code is sent to the employee. The cancellation code informs the employee that the work assignment has been canceled.
US09129238B2
A Dynamic Web Service server may facilitate custom Enterprise Application interface development with little or no developer input by dynamically creating a web service for performing a particular transaction according to a transaction map. An Enterprise Application client device may create a transaction map by “recording” a transaction between an Enterprise Application client and an Enterprise Application server and mapping transaction fields to a custom interface generated to collect data for re-performing the recorded transaction. The Enterprise Application client device may call the dynamic web service, and the Dynamic Web Service server may then perform the recorded transaction using input data collected in the custom interface. Such a dynamic web service may be performed as part of an automated business process managed by a workflow server.
US09129237B2
Disclosed is an integrated interfacing system for intelligent defect yield solutions. The integrated interfacing system is configured to have a web server, which initiates a web interface for containing a plurality of functional items provided for clicking to activate a corresponding function. Through the graphical user interface, users may select one or more functions for viewing the multiple solutions regarding wafer yield. The system uses a memory to store the computer-executable instructions for selectively performing corresponding functionalities. When the wafer images are inputted through the interface, the system performs a defect coordinate conversion, dashboard summary, defect screening, defect sampling, defect yield diagnosis, design for yield, yield prediction, pattern diagnosis, data management, and system administration. By the interfacing system, an additional viewing method is also introduced to provision of full-chip viewing over the data retrieved during the wafer manufacturing procedure.
US09129235B2
A system for use in a motor vehicle wherein a navigation system and a control unit. The control unit is designed such that, using a list of goods stored in the control unit, a route of stops for purchasing the goods which can be depicted by the navigation system is produced. Furthermore, a near-field receiver and/or near-field transponder for detecting goods is present in the motor vehicle and can be or is connected to the control unit such that an additional list having detected goods can be transmitted to the control unit and the stored list can be updated by the additional list. A dynamic examination and possibly a dynamic adaptation of the route for purchasing the various goods depicted in the navigation system are thus possible.
US09129234B2
A spreadsheet includes a native spreadsheet object that represents a person. The person object may be used within a spreadsheet just as any other spreadsheet objects are utilized. For example, the person object may be integrated with spreadsheet formulas and other spreadsheet objects such as charts, tables, pivot tables, sheets, and the like. Spreadsheet formulas may perform operations specific to a person object (e.g. send message, get contact information, get status, get other person specific information, sort, and the like). Common actions may be associated with the person object, such as initiating communication with the person represented by the person object (e.g. phone call, email, text message, collaboration invite, and the like). Social networking information may also be associated with a person object. For example, social networking posts may be included within a spreadsheet, a user may post to a social network from the spreadsheet, and the like.
US09129233B2
An operator training system for a machine is disclosed. The operator training system comprises an interface in communication with a machine and a processor communicatively coupled to the interface. The processor is configured to receive, via the interface, operation data associated with operation of the machine. The processor is further configured to determine an operator performance value for an operator of the machine based on the received operation data. The processor is also configured to compare the operator performance value with a benchmark value. The processor is further configured to provide one or more training tools to the operator if the operator performance value is less than the benchmark value.
US09129232B2
According to one embodiment, a determination tree generating apparatus includes a determination unit, a condition generating unit, a determining unit, and a point branch generating unit. The determination unit provisionally and sequentially determines all component categories to be classification component categories for a first point of a determination tree. The point branch generating unit generates a first point assigned to a classification component category, and generates component names to be assigned to one or more branches leading from an assigned first point to one or more child points.
US09129227B1
Mechanisms for recommending content items based on topics are provided. In some implementations, a method for recommending content items is provided that includes: determining a plurality of accessed content items associated with a user, wherein each of the plurality of content items is associated with a plurality of topics; determining the plurality of topics associated with each of the plurality of accessed content items; generating a model of user interests based on the plurality of topics, wherein the model implements a machine learning technique to determine a plurality of weights for assigning to each of the plurality of topics; applying the model to determine, for a plurality of content items, a probability that the user would watch a content item of the plurality of content items; ranking the plurality of content items based on the determined probabilities; and selecting a subset of the plurality of content items to recommend to the user based on the ranked content items.
US09129223B1
The location of a sound within a given spatial volume may be used in applications such as augmented reality environments. An artificial neural network processes time-difference-of-arrival data (TDOA) from a known microphone array to determine a spatial location of the sound. The neural network may be located locally or available as a cloud service. The artificial neural network is trained with perturbed and non-perturbed TDOA data.
US09129222B2
Certain aspects of the present disclosure support a local competitive learning rule applied in a computational network that leads to sparse connectivity among processing units of the network. The present disclosure provides a modification to the Oja learning rule, modifying the constraint on the sum of squared weights in the Oja rule. This constraining can be intrinsic and local as opposed to the commonly used multiplicative and subtractive normalizations, which are explicit and require the knowledge of all input weights of a processing unit to update each one of them individually. The presented rule provides convergence to a weight vector that is sparser (i.e., has more zero elements) than the weight vector learned by the original Oja rule. Such sparse connectivity can lead to a higher selectivity of processing units to specific features, and it may require less memory to store the network configuration and less energy to operate it.
US09129218B1
An intelligent control system based on an explicit model of cognitive development (Table 1) performs high-level functions. It comprises up to O hierarchically stacked neural networks, Nm, . . . , Nm+(O−1), where m denotes the stage/order tasks performed in the first neural network, Nm, and O denotes the highest stage/order tasks performed in the highest-level neural network. The type of processing actions performed in a network, Nm, corresponds to the complexity for stage/order m. Thus N1 performs tasks at the level corresponding to stage/order 1. N5 processes information at the level corresponding to stage/order 5. Stacked neural networks begin and end at any stage/order, but information must be processed by each stage in ascending order sequence. Stages/orders cannot be skipped. Each neural network in a stack may use different architectures, interconnections, algorithms, and training methods, depending on the stage/order of the neural network and the type of intelligent control system implemented.
US09129214B1
In an approach, a method comprises receiving title interaction data, wherein the title interaction data specifies, an order in which users interacted with a plurality of titles; generating a plurality of statistical models, each statistical model of the plurality of statistical models specifying a plurality of probabilities, wherein the plurality of probabilities represent, for each first title of the plurality of titles and each second title of the plurality of titles, a likelihood that a user will interact with the first title then next interact with the second title; refining the plurality of statistical models based on the title interaction data; determining a plurality of weight values corresponding to the plurality of statistical models for a particular user; identifying, for the particular user, one or more recommended titles of the plurality of titles based on the plurality of weight values and the plurality of statistical models.
US09129209B2
A printer includes: a generation unit sequentially converting each of partial original data of a plurality of pages included in original data designated as a print target by a specific user into each of partial print data in a memory; a supply unit sequentially supplying each of the partial print data to a print execution unit; and a confirmation unit, whenever the partial print data of one page is generated, confirming whether the specific user is present around the printer. When it is not confirmed that the specific user is present around the printer when first partial print data of one page is generated, the supply unit does not supply the first partial print data to the print execution unit, and the generation unit starts to generate second partial print data of another page in the memory.
US09129208B2
A method for determining a color profile from received raster data and printing the raster data is provided. Color profiles provide a mapping from a color space of the raster data to a color space of the printer, which typically uses CMYK toner or ink. A text color profile may be employed to print crisper text, or a photo color profile may be employed to produce better images. The raster data includes a plurality of raster scan lines containing digital pixel values. The method includes determining a number of sequentially repeated digital pixel values and a number of sequentially non-repeated digital pixel values for the plurality of raster scan lines. A color profile is selected based on a determination between the repeated and non-repeated digital pixel values. An example image forming apparatus that may carry out the method is also provided.
US09129198B2
Disclosed herein are an information code and an information code reader. In information code, a plurality of light-colored modules exhibiting the reflective characteristics of light color when light of a second wavelength band different from light of a first wavelength band is radiated and a plurality of dark-colored modules exhibiting the reflective characteristics of dark color when the light of a second wavelength band is radiated are arranged in a code region. The information code includes a masked portion disposed in a predetermined region of the code region in which light is intercepted and prevents the corresponding information code from being read, and configured to, when the light of a second wavelength band is radiated, allow light reflected from the modules of the corresponding code region to pass therethrough and thereby interrupt the light of a first wavelength band.
US09129195B2
A data transmitting and receiving device includes: a clock signal generator which modulates a reference clock signal having a reference frequency to produce a clock signal whose frequency changes in a set cycle within a set frequency band; and a frequency range storage which stores a first frequency range as a part of the set frequency band and/or a second frequency range as the rest part of the set frequency band. The first transmitter does not transmit first communication data to a first receiver based on the clock signal having the frequency belonging to the first frequency range and transmits the first communication data to the first receiver based on the clock signal having the frequency belonging to the second frequency range. The first receiver receives the first communication data from the first transmitter based on the clock signal having the frequency belonging to the second frequency range.
US09129192B2
Techniques are disclosed herein that enable digital images to be segmented based on a user's semantic input. In other words, given an input image of a person walking a dog adjacent to a tree, a user can simply provide the semantic input “dog” and the system will segment the dog from the other elements in the image. If the user provides other semantic input, such as “person” or “tree”, the system will segment the person or the tree, respectively, from the same image. Using semantic input advantageously eliminates any need for a user to directly interact with the input image through a tedious process of painting brush strokes, tracing boundaries, clicking target points, and/or drawing bounding boxes. Thus semantic input represents an easier and more intuitive way for users to interact with an image segmentation interface, thereby enabling novice users to take advantage of advanced image segmentation techniques.
US09129187B2
An objective is to enable calculation of a distribution of a physical property such as a density inside a measurement object, even when the distribution of the physical property value is non-uniform, within a feasible period of time without causing image deterioration due to phenomena such as refraction and multiple-reflections caused by the non-uniformity. To this end, the physical property value that makes an evaluation quantity be an extremum is outputted, where the evaluation quantity is a liner sum or a product of exponential function of: an equation residual quantity that is a residual being a difference between an operator term and an external force term of an equation of motion; a non-uniformity detection equation residual quantity that is a residual of an equation of detecting the non-uniformity of the physical property value from a matching degree of solutions of the equation of motion under two types of boundary conditions; and a conditional equation residual quantity that is a residual of a constraint condition.
US09129185B1
A method and system for reducing clutter in a number of images. Sub-image pixel values are identified for a sub-image at a location in an image in the number of images. A first portion of the sub-image pixel values corresponds to a number of suspected target pixels in the sub-image. A second portion of the sub-image pixel values corresponds to clutter pixels in the sub-image. Modeled pixel values are generated using a clutter model fitted to the second portion of the sub-image pixel values. The modeled pixel values are subtracted from the sub-image pixel values to form new pixel values.
US09129182B2
An information processing apparatus detects a moving member that moves in a background area and that includes an object other than a recognition target. The apparatus sets a partial area as a background undetermined area if the moving member is present in the background area and sets a partial area as a background determined area if it is regarded that the recognition target is not present in the background area in each of the partial areas set as the background undetermined area. The apparatus recognizes an operation caused by the recognition target that moves in the background determined area.
US09129172B2
An indicia reading terminal can comprise an image sensor integrated circuit having a two-dimensional image sensor, a hand held housing encapsulating the two-dimensional image sensor, and an imaging lens configured to focus an image of a target decodable indicia onto the two-dimensional image sensor. The two-dimensional image sensor can include a plurality of pixels arranged in repetitive patterns. Each pattern can include at least one pixel sensitive in a first spectrum region, at least one pixel sensitive in a second spectrum region, and at least one pixel sensitive in a third spectrum region. The image sensor integrated circuit can be configured to capture a frame of image data by reading out a plurality of analog signals. Each read out analog signal can be representative of light incident on a group of two or more pixels of the plurality of pixels. The image sensor integrated circuit can be further configured to convert the plurality of analog signals to a plurality of digital signals and to store the plurality of digital signals in a memory. The indicia reading terminal can be operative to process the frame of image data for attempting to decode for decodable indicia.
US09129171B2
A code reading device includes a neighbor searching and voting unit that, for each of a part of dot marks located in a matrix displaced from virtual lattice points, votes on coordinate values of four neighboring dot marks, using each of the part of the dot marks as a reference point, in a plane; a direction detecting unit that determines first and second directions from the voting results; an order determining unit that determines a raster order for the part of the dot marks based on the directions; and a code detecting unit that detects a relative position of each of lattice points determined based on coordinate values of the part of the dot marks and the raster order, to a closest dot mark among the part of the dot marks according to the raster order, thereby encoding the part of the dot marks to provide the positional information.
US09129166B2
A magnetic card reader module includes a magnetic sensor and an adjacent groove, a microcontroller and an application. The magnetic sensor is configured to pick-up an analog magnetic signal generated by swiping a magnetic stripe through the groove. The magnetic stripe is attached to a card and comprises tracks with magnetically encoded data. The microcontroller is configured to convert the analog magnetic signal into a digital signal. The application is configured to analyze the digital signal, and to perform soft-decision decode of the digital signal and to generate an output comprising the magnetically encoded data and side information providing card swipe information feedback.
US09129160B2
A vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus detects the presence of a moving object along a vehicle periphery. The apparatus sets multiple detection lines along a horizontal axis of an image captured by a camera, and detects a brightness change of a pixel along the detection lines. With reference to the brightness change detected along the detection line and a parameter for determining whether such brightness change is caused by the moving object, the apparatus determines the presence of the moving object. In addition, the apparatus changes a determination condition for determining the moving object such that as the number of detection lines along which the brightness change is detected decreases, the harder it is to satisfy the determination condition for determining that the moving object is present.
US09129158B1
Described is a method and system for embedding unsupervised learning into three critical processing stages of the spatio-temporal visual stream. The system first receives input video comprising input video pixels representing at least one action and at least one object having a location. Microactions are generated from the input image using a set of motion sensitive filters. A relationship between the input video pixels and the microactions is then learned, and a set of spatio-temporal concepts is learned from the microactions. The system then learns to acquire new knowledge from the spatio-temporal concepts using mental imagery processes. Finally, a visual output is presented to a user based on the learned set of spatio-temporal concepts and the new knowledge to aid the user in visually comprehending the at least one action in the input video.
US09129156B2
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for detecting and recognizing an object in an image, the method comprising a plurality of stages, wherein at least one of the stages comprises an integrated approach of feature detection and object recognition of at least a part of the object. In a further embodiment at least one of the stages comprises identifying an image part that contains a feature point, and matching the image part to a set of hierarchies of templates, wherein a hierarchy comprises templates for an object to be recognized, a template describes at least a part of an object to be recognized, and a child template describes a sub-part of the part of the object described by its parent template.
US09129153B2
A basketball shot-tracking system comprising a wrist tracker, a net tracker, and a shot-tracking mobile application. The wrist tracker is worn on the wrist or arm of a basketball player and the net tracker is attached to the net of the basketball hoop. The wrist tracker and net tracker automatically detect shot-attempt and made-shot events, respectively, and asynchronously transmit messages to the shot-tracking mobile application reporting these events. The shot-tracking mobile application, which runs on a mobile device, such as a smart phone or tablet computer, includes program instructions that, when executed by the CPU of the wireless mobile device, causes the wireless mobile device to automatically receive and process the asynchronous event data sent by the wrist tracker and net tracker, and to automatically tabulate, store and/or display the basketball player's shooting statistics (such as total shots taken, total shots made, shooting percentage, shot locations, and the like).
US09129150B2
According to at least one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a detector, a classifier and a display controller. The detector detects face images in images. The classifier classifies, based on the face images, one or more images corresponding to a first face into a first group and one or more images corresponding to a second face into a second group. The display controller displays on a screen, if a number of images in the first group is greater than or equal to a threshold and a number of images in the second group is less than the threshold, a first representative image of the first group that is distinguishable from a second representative image of the second group.
US09129142B2
The invention relates to a method for generating a representation of a finger print minutiae information. The invention also relates to a method for generating a representation of a finger print for biometric template protection purposes Biometric template protection techniques provide technological means to protect the privacy of biometric reference information stored in biometric. systems These methods stand in sharp contrast to approaches where biometric information is protected only by legislation and procedures around storage facilities. These systems are not reliable as they are susceptible to human and procedural errors. Template protection guarantees the protection of biometric information without the assumption that individuals are trusted or procedures are properly implemented.
US09129137B2
The invention in particular relates to provide security for intermediate programming code for its execution by a virtual machine. After having received (200) a plurality of pseudo-instructions of the intermediate programming code, the plurality of bytecode instructions is converted (230, 235), the conversion including a step of inserting at least one bytecode instruction relative to a function for execution checking of at least one bytecode instruction of the plurality of bytecode instructions. A following step is directed to generating bytecode, the generated bytecode including the plurality of converted bytecode instructions.
US09129136B2
A method of ensuring the integrity of read-only components in deployed mixed-mode applications that includes generating a digital fingerprint prior to the deployment of a mixed-mode application is discussed. The digital fingerprint is based on a read-only component in the mixed-mode application and uniquely identifies the read-only component. The method also deploys the mixed-mode application and the digital fingerprint. Additionally, the method verifies, at execution time by using the digital fingerprint, that the read-only component in the mixed-mode deployed application that served as the basis for the digital fingerprint is identical to the same read-only component originally packaged with the mixed-mode application.
US09129132B2
A system and method are provided for managing data, such as for example security or other business data. For the example of security data, security data is received from a plurality of assets that may or may not be remotely located. A plurality of security metrics are computed and normalized according to thresholds. Security metrics are aggregated to generate an aggregate score, this may include weighting the metrics according to metric priorities. A change effort corresponding to each metric is also received and a corresponding change effort for the aggregate score is calculated. Aggregate scores and aggregate change efforts are analyzed to generate risk reduction recommendations. Upon instruction, metrics corresponding to an aggregate score may be displayed including recommendations of metrics for risk reduction. The recommended metrics may be selected according to analysis of change-to-effort ratios for the metrics.
US09129128B2
A method comprises the steps of submitting at least one comment regarding an editorially-controlled content to be published with the editorially-controlled content. The published comment is authored by a contributing member of an online community. A rating of the published comment is entered. The rating is determined by at least one reviewing member of the online community. Points are assigned within a predefined range for ratings of the published comment that exceeds a predetermined level. The points are assigned to the contributing member by an editor of the online community in which the points identify subject matter expertise for the contributing member. Awarded points are received in which the awarded points received by the contributing member comprise the points capped by a maximum number assigned to the editorially-controlled content.
US09129121B2
Example embodiments provide various techniques for locating cryptographic keys stored in a cache. The cryptographic keys are temporarily stored in the cache until retrieved for use in a cryptographic operation. The cryptographic key may be located or found through reference to its cryptographic key identifier. In an example, a particular cryptographic key may be needed for a cryptographic operation. The cache is first searched to locate this cryptographic key. To locate the cryptographic key, the cryptographic key identifier that is associated with this cryptographic key is provided. In turn, the cryptographic key identifier may be used as an address into the cache. The address identifies a location of the cryptographic key within the cache. The cryptographic key may then be retrieved from the cache at the identified address and then used in the cryptographic operation.
US09129117B2
An anonymous dataset generation method comprises following steps. A critical attribute set and a quasi-identifier (QID) set are acquired, and one of the critical attribute and the quasi-identifier is set as an anchor attribute. An attribute sequence and an equivalence table are generated according to the quasi-identifier set and the critical attribute set. A data cluster and a cluster table are generated according to the equivalence table. The content of the cluster table is generalized to generate and output an anonymous dataset corresponding to an original dataset. A risk evaluation method for an anonymous dataset calculates data weight to extract distinctive data and to attacking defects of the anonymous dataset according to the distinctive data, thereby enhancing a risk evaluation efficiency of the anonymous dataset.
US09129112B2
Systems, methods and machine-readable media for providing a security service are disclosed. The methods include receiving a modification of the application object code to allow the software application to transmit a request for the security service; retrieving the modified application object code corresponding to the software application from memory; receiving, via a processor, the request for the security service from the modified application object code; and providing, via the processor, the security service. The systems and machine-readable media performing operations according to the methods disclosed.
US09129110B1
An improved approach for classifying computer files as malicious (malware) or benign (whiteware) is disclosed. The invention classifies any computer file as malware or whiteware after using Bayes Theorem to evaluate each observable feature of each file with respect to other observable features of the same computer file with reference to statistical information gathered from repositories of known whiteware and malware files.
US09129107B2
A document encryption and decryption system and method for selectively encrypting and decrypting files and attachments, electronic mail, text messages, and any other items to protect or secure its contents by helping to prevent unauthorized individuals from viewing data in human-perceivable or readable form. The encryption and decryption system includes remote authentication to verify user credentials stored on a remote database hosted by a web server. The encryption system further includes remote deletion to automatically delete at least encrypted items stored on the user's computer, handheld or portable device, smartphone, tablet, and any other computer of any kind when enabled and logged onto a network. The encryption and decryption system includes selectively decrypting items by retrieving a decryption key and decrypting the item, and/or typing a decryption key if the item cannot be decrypted with the key, and/or sending an invitation to a recipient using the web server.
US09129098B2
A method for controlling or protecting the use of a software licensed product is provided. The method comprises, for example, encrypting protected data associated with the software licensed product with a key derived from code of a licensing module, distributing the encrypted protected data associated with the software licensed product to user devices, tracking usage of a software licensed product, and for all but one instance of the usage of the software licensed product terminating the usage of the software license product by allowing execution of the software licensed product upon successful decryption of the encrypted protected data.
US09129096B2
The invention relates to a method for automatically licensing service features during the upgrade of a first communication system (11) into a second communication system (12), said method having the following steps: (a) extracting the service features to be licensed from a database, (b) transmitting the service features to be licensed to a License Server (CLS), (c) generating a license file (LF) in the License server (CLS), (d) transmitting the license file (LF) to the second communication system (12), and (e) installing the license file (LF) in the second communication system (12). This invention also relates to a corresponding computer program and corresponding licensing system.
US09129083B2
Automatically computing the reflected mass or reflected inertia of a computer-aided design model comprised of a motor includes executing a simulation of the model, using the simulation results to compute the reflected mass or reflected inertia, and treating the non-motor parts of the model as a virtual body having a time-varying mass or a time-varying inertia. The mass or inertia of the virtual body at a specific time is the reflected mass or reflected inertia, respectively, of the model at the specific time.
US09129082B2
One or more embodiments of techniques or systems for variation factor assignment for a device are provided herein. In some embodiments, a peripheral environment is determined for a device. A peripheral environment is a layout structure or an instance. When the peripheral environment is the layout structure, a variation factor is assigned to the device based on an architecture associated with the layout structure. When the peripheral environment is the instance, the variation factor is assigned to the device based on a bounding window created for the instance. In this manner, variation factor assignment is provided, such that a first device within a first block of a die has a different variation factor than a second device within a second block of the die, thus giving finer granularity to variation factor assignments.
US09129078B1
Systems, apparatus, and methods of static timing analysis for an integrated circuit design in the presence of noise are disclosed. The integrated circuit design may be partitioned into a plurality of circuit stages. A timing graph including timing arcs is constructed to represent the timing delays in circuit stages of the integrated circuit design. A model of each circuit stage may be formed including a model of a victim driver, an aggressor driver, a victim receiver, and a victim net and an aggressor net coupled together. For each timing arc in the timing graph, full timing delays may be computed for the timing arcs in each circuit stage.
US09129065B2
In one embodiment, a universal serial bus (USB) device can include: (i) an interface module having a power supply port, a ground port, and first and second data ports, where the interface module is configured to connect to corresponding ports of a USB host at a USB interface; (ii) a property identification module coupled to the first and second data ports, where the property identification module is configured to determine properties of the USB interface; (iii) a data transmission module configured to exchange data between the USB device and the USB host according to the determined properties; and (iv) a charging module coupled to the power supply port and the ground port, where the charging module is configured to charge the USB device based on the determined properties.
US09129064B2
Methods and devices for transmitting SuperSpeed information between a host device and a USB device via an extension medium are provided. Link partner relationships are established between the host device and an upstream facing port device, between the USB device and a downstream facing port device, and between the upstream facing port device and the downstream facing port device. While the link partner relationship between the upstream facing port device and the downstream facing port device is substantially compliant to the USB 3.0 Specification, the link partner relationship may use a configurable link layer acknowledgement timer to compensate for delays in transmission over the extension medium.
US09129058B2
A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium for application monitoring through continuous record and replay are described herein. The method includes continuously recording execution traces including external non-deterministic input data for an application at a user device and analyzing the recorded execution traces to identify relevant execution traces for determining a behavior of the application. The method also includes reporting the relevant execution traces to a server, wherein the server is configured to replay the relevant execution traces to determine whether the behavior of the application is as expected.
US09129055B2
Various methods, techniques or modules are provided to allow for the automated analysis of the 3-D representation of the upper front torso (i) to recognize 3-D anatomical features, (ii) to orient the subject with reference to their anatomy or a display, (iii) to determine dimensional analysis including direct point-to-point lines, 3-D surface lines, and volume values, (iv) to simulate the outcome with the addition of breast implants including breast and nipple positioning, (v) to assist in the selection of the breast implants, and/or (vi) to assist in the planning of breast surgery. The automated analysis is based on the analysis of changes in a 3-D contour map of the upper torso, orientation analysis of 3-D features and planes, color analysis of 3-D features, and/or dimensional analysis of 3-D features and positions of the upper torso.
US09129053B2
Method and system for computation of advanced heart measurements from medical images and data; and therapy planning using a patient-specific multi-physics fluid-solid heart model is disclosed. A patient-specific anatomical model of the left and right ventricles is generated from medical image patient data. A patient-specific computational heart model is generated based on the patient-specific anatomical model of the left and right ventricles and patient-specific clinical data. The computational model includes biomechanics, electrophysiology and hemodynamics. To generate the patient-specific computational heart model, initial patient-specific parameters of an electrophysiology model, initial patient-specific parameters of a biomechanics model, and initial patient-specific computational fluid dynamics (CFD) boundary conditions are marginally estimated. A coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation is performed using the initial patient-specific parameters, and the initial patient-specific parameters are refined based on the coupled FSI simulation. The estimated model parameters then constitute new advanced measurements that can be used for decision making.
US09129052B2
An approach that provides assigning and tracking inter-Cloud operational transactions within a Cloud computing environment in order to meter Cloud resource usage when processing a Cloud service request. In one embodiment, there is a Cloud usage and accounting tool, including a route management component configured to define and manage the physical implementation of delineation points between Clouds. The Cloud usage and accounting tool further includes a workflow control component configured to track inter-Cloud operational transactions as they pass through the delineation points.
US09129033B1
A computer-implemented method, a system and a computer-readable medium provide for improved caching. A request key for information is received from a requestor and used to retrieve corresponding metadata from a metadata cache. The metadata is analyzed to determine if information related to the request key should be looked up in a primary cache. If so, the information is retrieved from the primary cache. If the metadata indicates against looking up the information in the primary cache, or if the information was not found in the primary cache, the information is loaded, the metadata is updated, and the information is added to the primary cache if analysis of the updated metadata indicates that adding the information is appropriate.
US09129030B2
Methods of generating a substitute URL are disclosed. In one implementation, a form is presented by a web server on a web site home page for the submission of a first URL for which a user wishes to generate an alias URL. A second URL is then generated for the URL that is entered in the form. The second URL contains some indication of the web site that hosts the first URL. In a second implementation the substitute URL generation is offered through a link or button on a web page other than the web site home page. The substitute URL is generated for the URL for the web page that hosts the link. In a third implementation, a web site automatically generates substitute URLs.
US09129029B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, including a method for ranking content using location-based query log analysis. The method comprises: identifying a region defining an area of interest including identifying a plurality of content items that are associated with the region; evaluating query logs associated with users that submitted queries associated with the region to determine a ranking associated with the plurality of content items; receiving a request for content associated with the region; and providing one or more of the content items based at least in part on the ranking.
US09129028B2
A method, system, and processor-readable storage medium are directed towards generating a report derived from data, such as event data, stored on a plurality of distributed nodes. In one embodiment the analysis is generated using a “divide and conquer” algorithm, such that each distributed node analyzes locally stored event data while an aggregating node combines these analysis results to generate the report. In one embodiment, each distributed node also transmits a list of event data references associated with the analysis result to the aggregating node. The aggregating node may then generate a global ordered list of data references based on the list of event data references received from each distributed node. Subsequently, in response to a user selection of a range of global event data, the report may dynamically retrieve event data from one or more distributed nodes for display according to the global order.
US09129022B2
In various example embodiments, a system and method for limiting shares of voice of individual users in a result set are provided. In example embodiments, a search request is received from a user interface of a searching user, and a result set is determined in response. The result set includes entries corresponding to businesses and entries corresponding to individual user. The result set is sorted based on a ratio of the entries corresponding to businesses to the entries corresponding to individual users in the result set. The sorted result set is caused to be displayed in the user interface to the searching user.
US09129018B2
Enhancements of the user experience are provided when a user returns to a previously viewed page, such as a previously viewed page of search results. When a user returns to a previously viewed page, additional context information from a user's actions since the initial view of a page can be used to modify the previously viewed page and/or obtain a new version of the previously viewed page. In situations where the previously viewed page corresponds to a page of responsive results from a search engine, the modified and/or new version of the search engine results page can include an expanded or reduced group of results, different types of results, different rankings for existing results, or a combination thereof.
US09129009B2
Methods and systems for providing related links are disclosed. In one aspect, a method comprises: retrieving textual information associated with a web page upon loading of the web page at a client; extracting a set of keywords from the received textual information; determining one or more keywords of the set of keywords using a keyword repository that maintains a list of keywords and their respective rankings; sending the one or more keywords as a search query to a search engine to obtain a list of search results ordered by their respective rankings; returning a number of search results with the highest rankings to the client for display on the web page.
US09129003B2
Classifying an electronic document in a computer-based system is disclosed. For each classification instance in a plurality of classification instances, a confidence data indicating a degree of confidence that the electronic document is associated with that classification instance is determined. A classification, based on a first classification instance in the plurality of classification instances, is assigned without human intervention to the electronic document if the confidence data associated with the first classification instance exceeds a first threshold.
US09128993B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for presenting secondary music search result links. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a search query. A plurality of search results that satisfy the search query are obtained. A presentation of the plurality of search results is generated, wherein a particular search result includes one or more secondary music search result links to respective music resources identified by markup language music data in a set of identified music web pages. The presentation of search results is provided in response to the search query.
US09128988B2
Systems and methods are disclosed herein for providing search results, particularly product records from a product database. Past queries are analyzed and grouped into clusters according to similarities with one another. For an individual query, relevant search results are identified and departments corresponding thereto are also identified. Confidence scores are determined for the identified departments and if one or more departments have confidence scores above a threshold, the search results are filtered based thereon. If not, then departments corresponding to a query cluster relevant to the query are selected. Additional departments may also be selected based on the number of search results corresponding to the additional departments. Search results filtered according to one or more selected departments are transmitted to an author of the query.
US09128977B2
Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for enhancing event summaries of synced online content management system interactions. Users can identify one or more of the collapsed events markers that have pointers to the original, uncondensed, event markers. Upon identifying the one or more collapsed event markers, users can add additional data, via the pointers, to the original, uncondensed, event markers that were used to generate the collapsed event marker. The content management system can then perform a new analysis of the shared dataspace, analyzing the event markers using pre-existing data and the newly added data to create additional collapsed event markers, modify previously generated collapsed event markers, or remove/replace collapsed event markers. These enriched collapsed event markers can then newly presented to the user.
US09128970B2
A system, method, and apparatus are provided for supporting and/or executing count-distinct queries. A large set of data (e.g., tens or hundreds of millions of event records) is condensed daily to generate presence bitmaps to reflect the distinctiveness of a selected data dimension S (e.g., user ID) for one or more key dimensions g1, g2, . . . (e.g., advertisement ID, campaign ID, advertiser ID). The condensation process eliminates duplication and yields a single value (e.g., 1 or 0) for each tuple [S, g1, . . . ] to represent the distinctiveness of each value in the S dimension to each combination of values in the grouping dimensions. On a monthly basis, the daily values are condensed to yield a single value for the month, and a similar process is applied on any other desired time granularities (e.g., year). The condensed data may be generated for any combination of selected dimension(s) and grouping dimension(s).
US09128969B2
A database query of point data among two or more axes of a database is received. The database stores point data in distinct integer vectors with a shared dictionary. Thereafter, the dictionary is scanned to determine boundaries for each axis specified by the query. In response, results characterizing data responsive to the query within the determined boundaries for each axis are returned. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US09128965B1
Methods and apparatus for configurable-capacity time-series tables are disclosed. A schedule of database table management operations, including at least an operation to change a throughput constraint associated with a table in response to a triggering event, is generated. The table is instantiated with an initial throughput constraint in accordance with the schedule. Work requests directed to the table are accepted based on the initial throughput constraint. The throughput constraint is modified in response to the triggering event. Subsequent work requests are accepted based on the modified throughput constraint.
US09128963B2
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system decomposes a set of schema files. The system receives a set of schema files and automatically identifies a plurality of root schema files in the set, where a root schema file is determined based on remaining schema files in the set lacking a reference to that schema file. For each root schema file, the system creates a subset of the original set of schema files. The subset contains the root schema file, and at least one subset further includes one or more schema files that provide information for that root schema file. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for decomposing a set of schema files in substantially the same manners described above.
US09128961B2
In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for loading media files to a mobile computing device. A media library that includes media files is stored at a server system. Information indicating a present state of the mobile device is accessed, where the present state is based on the device being at a geographical location at a present time. Information indicating a previous state of the mobile device is accessed, where the previous state is based on the device being at a previous geographical location at a previous time. A selection of preferred media files are accessed based on the present state and the previous state. A selection of a subset of media files are accessed based on the preferred media files. At least a portion of each media file in the subset is transmitted to the mobile device.
US09128959B2
A crowdsourced search and locate platform, comprising an application server and a client interface application. The application server: receives connections from crowdsourcing participants; navigates a first crowdsourcing participant to a specific geospatial location; sends an image corresponding to the geospatial location to the first crowdsourcing participant; receives tagging data from the first crowdsourcing participant, the tagging data corresponding to a plurality of objects and locations identified by the first crowdsourcing participant. The client interface application: displays elements enabling an administrative user to configure a crowdsourced search and locate campaign; displays other elements enabling an administrative user to configure and run a crowdrank algorithm; and upon the user's selecting a particular object type icon, displays tags of the type selected by placing visual indicators at each tagged location of objects of the selected type within the plurality of image strips.
US09128955B2
A system, method, and computer program for creating an index structure for spatial data, comprising representing a product structure by a network of nodes and edges; setting a local geometric bound for each of said network nodes; propagating a cumulative geometric bound of said local geometric bounds along each of said network edges; and simplifying said cumulative geometric bound at each of said network node during said propagation; whereby a geometric bound of each network node forms a spatial index geometric bound for a matching data model object and appropriate means and computer-readable instructions.
US09128950B2
Providing a subset of de-duplicated as output is disclosed. In some embodiments, the output includes a subset of data stored in de-duplicated form in a plurality of containers each of which includes a plurality of data segments. For each container that includes one or more data segments included in the subset, a corresponding container data is included in the output. Each container may include one or more segments not included in the subset. For each container the corresponding container data of which is included in the output, a corresponding value in a data structure that includes for each container stored on the de-duplicated storage system a data value indicating whether or not the corresponding container data has been included in the output is updated.
US09128946B2
Systems and methods for storing data files to a file system coupled to a database, and reading data files from the file system. In one aspect, a method for transferring a data file between a client system and a server system is provided. The client executes a first computer operating system and the server executes a second computer operating system, includes a file system, and is coupled to a database. The method includes receiving, by the database, a request to store the data file, wherein the request is transmitted to the database by a software application associated with the client. The method also includes receiving the data file from the client, storing the data file in a directory in the server file system, storing a path for the directory in the database, and outputting one of a success code and a failure code to the client.
US09128939B2
A system and method of automatically naming files on a mobile device can include determining at least one of a current geographical location data of a mobile device, a current time data, and a current date data. The current geographical location data, the current time data, and the current date data can be made can be compared to at least one of a personal information manager database and a geographical location database. A filename can be automatically-generated based on the comparison, and the filename can be applied to camera data received on the mobile device. The automatically-generated filename can include information relevant to the content of the camera data, thereby enhancing the efficiency and ease of identifying and organizing camera data stored on a memory of the mobile device.
US09128938B2
Systems and methods are operable to notify a user of content availability. An exemplary embodiment receives a content availability notification request that specifies at least one content of interest, searches current electronic program guide (EPG) information to identify the content of interest, determines that the information identifying the specified content of interest is unavailable based upon the search of the current EPG information, generates a content availability reminder that is associated with the specified content of interest, monitors a content database to determine an availability of the specified content of interest identified in the content availability reminder, determines that the specified content of interest is available when the monitored content database indicates availability of the specified content of interest, and generates a content availability reminder notification that indicates at least a title of the specified content of interest.
US09128936B1
A system and method for facilitating a visit to a cemetery, the system including a machine readable symbol encoded with a first set of information, a reading device to read and decode the symbol, a transmitting device to send a first query based on the first set of information to a data repository, a receiving device to receive a second set of information, and a display device to display a first biography of the decedent. The biography story is based on the first and second sets of information.
US09128932B2
Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for analyzing the recorded interactions of users within a shared dataspace, where the shared dataspace is provided by an a synced online content management system. As each user adds and deletes files in the shared dataspace, the content management system can record each interaction. The content management system can then analyze the recorded interactions, creating collapsed summaries of the interactions, and generate notifications that can be presented to users. Various thresholds can be used to determine when the recorded interactions are condensed, and when notifications associated with those condensed interactions are presented to users.
US09128926B2
Speech translation systems and methods for simultaneously translating speech between first and second speakers, wherein the first speaker speaks in a first language and the second speaker speaks in a second language that is different from the first language. The speech translation system may comprise a resegmentation unit that merge at least two partial hypotheses and resegments the merged partial hypotheses into a first-language translatable segment, wherein a segment boundary for the first-language translatable segment is determined based on sound from the second speaker.
US09128925B2
A DMA controller allocates space at a buffer to different DMA engines based on the length of time data segments have been stored at a buffer. This allocation ensures that DMA engines associated with a destination that is experiencing higher congestion will be assigned less buffer space than a destination that is experiencing lower congestion. Further, the DMA controller is able to adapt to changing congestion conditions at the transfer destinations.
US09128924B2
Apparatus and method for direct data transfer in a wireless broadband system having an operating system, the apparatus including a central processing unit (CPU), at least one dedicated Direct Memory Access unit (DMA) local to the CPU, coupled directly to the CPU, and a commands FIFO (First In First Out) receiving commands from the CPU and automatically transferring the commands in sequence to the DMA for implementation by the DMA, in the absence of intervention by the operating system.
US09128917B2
A method, system, and computer program product for providing automatic expanding and collapsing of a portion of visual content on a screen including expanding the portion of visual content, and providing a visual cue alerting a user that the portion is automatically expanded from a collapsed state.
US09128905B2
The different advantageous embodiments provide a method for loading and editing text files. A text file is identified as input. A determination is made as to whether the text file is a columnar text file. If the text file is columnar, data information is retrieved for the text file. Pre-defined cache settings are identified. A determination is made as to whether the data information retrieved fits within the pre-defined cache settings. If the data information retrieved fits within the pre-defined cache settings, a determination is made as to whether the first row of the text file is a header row in a view. If the first row of the text file is not a header row, the text file is normalized. A view mode is selected for load and edit operations of the text file.
US09128896B2
The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods to identify trending or temporally popular phrases based on aggregating multiple users' interactions with an aggregate of content. A server may receive identification of a plurality of clicks of encoded uniform resource locator (URL) links. The server may identify, for each of the plurality of clicks, in content identified from decoding the encoded URL links, a plurality of phrases that correspond to a predetermined set of keywords. The server may determine a velocity of clicks on content corresponding to each phrase of the plurality of phrases and identify a trend in one or more phrases of the plurality of phrases based on the velocity of clicks.
US09128889B2
Certain embodiments herein are directed to transferring information between devices on a network using a filing system such as the WebDAV file system. In one embodiment, a sensor device may communicate with a computer server including a WebDAV file system to obtain information for various purposes, such as for software upgrades or resolution of software bugs. The computer server may receive data from a sensor associated with a home, business, or power generation equipment, or other asset. The computer server may further prepare the data for transmission to a filing system, which may include calling one or more WebDAV functions. The data may be used to determine additional data that may be used by the computer device that sent the data, in one embodiment. The data, as well as the additional data, may be stored in a WebDAV file system and/or transmitted to a remote computing device.
US09128882B2
Tasks associated with backing up the data of a mobile client device are performed predominantly by the mobile client device. A backup server functions as a server with limited functionality that merely stores backup data received from the mobile client device and retrieves the backup data under the request of the mobile client device. The mobile client device functions as a master device, and the backup server functions as a slave device. A backup program for performing tasks associated with the backup operation on the mobile client device may itself be stored as part of the backup data.
US09128881B2
In response to receiving a checkpoint request from a first task for a process executing in parallel with at least a second task for the process, checkpoint data from the first task is stored to establish a restart point for the first task, wherein the checkpoint data records a current state of the first task, and the checkpoint data from the first task is merged with previously received checkpoint data for the at least second task to create a checkpoint file. In response to restarting the process, the first task and the at least second task are restarted using the checkpoint data in the checkpoint file.
US09128876B2
Contents of a memory are encrypted using an encryption key that is generated based on a random number and a memory location at which the contents are stored. Each of a plurality of locations of a memory can be associated with a respective unique pointer value, and an encryption key may be generated based on the unique pointer value and the random number. In some examples, the random number is unique to a power-up cycle of a system comprising the memory or is generated based on a time at which the data to be stored by the memory at the selected memory location is written to the memory.
US09128866B2
Systems and methods may provide for using audio output device driver logic to maintain one or more states of an audio accelerator in a memory store, detect a suspend event, and deactivate the audio accelerator in response to the suspend event. In addition, firmware logic of the audio accelerator may be used to detect a resume event with respect to the audio output accelerator, and retrieve one or more states of the audio accelerator directly from the memory store in response to the resume. Thus, the retrieval of the one or more states can bypass the driver logic.
US09128861B2
This disclosure provides systems and methods for sample processing and data analysis. Sample processing may include nucleic acid sample processing and subsequent sequencing. Some or all of a nucleic acid sample may be sequenced to provide sequence information, which may be stored or otherwise maintained in an electronic storage location. The sequence information may be analyzed with the aid of a computer processor, and the analyzed sequence information may be stored in an electronic storage location that may include a pool or collection of sequence information and analyzed sequence information generated from the nucleic acid sample. Methods and systems of the present disclosure can be used, for example, for the analysis of a nucleic acid sample, for producing one or more libraries, and for producing biomedical reports. Methods and systems of the disclosure can aid in the diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, and prevention of one or more diseases and conditions.
US09128859B1
Embodiments provide methods, apparatuses, and articles of manufacture that encode and decode data based on various error correction codes. In one embodiment, a method may include receiving input data, encoding the input data with an error correction code that is selected from a plurality of error correction codes based on the size of the input data, and writing the encoded input data to a memory device. The encoded data can be subsequently, retrieved and decoded when needed.
US09128847B2
A cache control apparatus comprises a primary cache part, a secondary cache part for caching data destaged from the primary cache part, and a controller connected to the primary cache part and to the secondary cache part. The secondary cache part has a first storage part and a second storage part having a lifetime longer than that of the first storage part. The controller determines whether the data destaged from the primary cache part is to be stored in the first storage part or the second storage part in the secondary cache part, based on a use state indicating whether or not the data has been updated, and stores the data in the first storage part or the second storage part determined.
US09128825B1
Systems and methods are discussed relating to allocation of memory from a fixed pool of fast memory within a data center having a data storage area equipped with that memory. Techniques include: receiving a request to write data in the storage area; identifying a file group associated with the write request; analyzing previous data activity traces associated with the file group; determining an available fast memory amount based on the total amount of fast memory in the fixed pool and a currently allocated amount of fast memory; determining a fast memory allocation for the file group based on the previous data activity traces, the available fast memory, and a fast memory constraint, the memory allocation including an allocation amount and a write probability; and providing information about the memory allocation to a file system of the data center, which writes the data based on the allocation amount and write probability.
US09128820B1
Apparatus and methods for managing files among different zones of storage media in at least one non-volatile storage device. At least a first zone is associated with a first type of storage media and a second zone is associated with a second type of storage media. A file having at least one attribute is accepted with the at least one attribute describing a characteristic of the file. It is determined whether the at least one attribute meets an attribute criteria and the file is stored in the first zone and/or the second zone based on the determination of whether the at least one attribute meets the attribute criteria.
US09128816B2
A control state of the vehicle is switched upon operation of a control switch. Besides, a mode of travel for a travel of a vehicle is selected by operation of a travel mode selection portion. Then, it is determined whether the recommended control state recommended for the selected mode of travel and the actual control state are the same. If it is determined that they are not the same, that is, that there is a deviation between the recommended control state and the actual control state, an operation method for a control switch for realizing the control state recommended for the selected mode of travel is presented to a driver.
US09128796B2
A system and method for updating an accessory device are described. A software upgrade for upgrading an accessory device is received from a wireless network at a wireless device. In response, it is automatically determined at the wireless device whether the accessory device is in communication with the wireless device. Upon determining that the accessory device is in communication with the wireless device, the software upgrade is forwarded from the wireless device to the accessory device to enable upgrade of the accessory device according to the software upgrade.
US09128789B1
Systems and methods for implementing cross-cutting actions that cut across many remote procedure calls (RPCs) in an interactive application, such as location-based parallel reality game are provided. In particular, one or more decorators can be associated in a source file, such as a Java source file, with a remote procedure call class defining a plurality of RPC methods for the interactive application. Each decorator can be a set of instructions that gets executed before and after an RPC method and addresses concerns that cut across a plurality of RPC methods for the interactive application.
US09128783B1
A device may receive a model including a group of blocks, and may receive a command to execute the model. The device may assign a parameter sample time to a subset of blocks of the group of blocks. The parameter sample time may permit a block, of the subset of blocks, to be executed based on a parameter change event detected during the execution of the model. The device may cause the model to be executed after assigning the parameter sample time to the subset of blocks. The device may detect a parameter change event, associated with the model, prior to the execution of the model being completed. The parameter change event may include an event that is external to the execution of the model. The device may cause at least one block, of the subset of blocks, to be executed based on the detecting the parameter change event.
US09128778B2
A system balances computational loads, for example in a virtual machine environment, taking into account the physical characteristics of the physical machines that the virtual machines are running on. A framework is provided for developing and implementing policies whereby computational loads are distributed in a beneficial manner. Examples of policies include policies that improve loads based on environmental and security concerns.
US09128774B2
A disclosed method includes: determining whether a value of a load caused by a transfer processing to transmit data received from first processing apparatuses to second processing apparatuses in response to a request from the second processing apparatuses exceeds a threshold; upon determining that the value of the load exceeds the threshold, counting, for each first processing apparatus, the number of second processing apparatuses that request data transmitted by the first processing apparatus; identifying a first processing apparatus that is a transmission source of data transferred in the transfer processing to be allocated to another transfer apparatus of plural transfer apparatuses, based on the counted number; and transmitting a change request requesting that the transfer processing of data transmitted by the identified first processing apparatus is to be allocated to the another transfer apparatus, to a management apparatus managing allocation of the transfer processing for the plural transfer apparatuses.
US09128770B2
Centralized system for synchronizing a Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) site hierarchy across a plurality of appliances in a multi-site deployment. With synchronization, differences in configurations across appliances may be determined and changes to configurations may automatically be distributed and applied on each appliance at each site to operate all the sites with a common single GSLB site hierarchy configuration. This reduces the challenging in configuration maintenance for the multi-site deployment.
US09128769B2
In one embodiment, a processor comprises a plurality of hardware resources, each hardware resource having a clock cycle. The processor also comprises a plurality of work stores, each work store assigned into one of a plurality of virtual functions if a mode of the processor is set to a virtual function mode, and each work store assigned into one physical function if the mode of the processor is set to a physical function mode. The processor further comprises dispatch logic configured to dispatch work from any work store corresponding to any virtual function or physical function to any released hardware resources.
US09128764B2
Described herein are systems and methods for use with a load balancer or traffic director, and administration thereof, wherein the traffic director is provided as a software-based load balancer that can be used to deliver a fast, reliable, scalable, and secure platform for load-balancing Internet and other traffic to back-end origin servers, such as web servers, application servers, or other resource servers. In accordance with an embodiment, the system comprises a high-speed network infrastructure which provides communication protocols or sockets for use by the origin servers in receiving requests; one or more protocol terminator/emulators for use with the communication protocols or sockets; and an inbound socket configuration and an outbound socket configuration which together indicate which terminator/emulator the traffic director should use in communicating requests to particular ones of the origin servers.
US09128763B2
A system and computer-implemented method for generating an optimized allocation of a plurality of tasks across a plurality of processors or slots for processing or execution in a distributed computing environment. In a cloud computing environment implementing a MapReduce framework, the system and computer-implemented method may be used to schedule map or reduce tasks to processors or slots on the network such that the tasks are matched to processors or slots in a data locality aware fashion wherein the suitability of node and the characteristics of the task are accounted for using a minimum cost flow function.
US09128761B1
Systems and method for the management of resource dependent workflows are provided. One or more resource control devices monitor usage of a computing resource by server computing devices. Each resource control device may direct a server computing device to proceed with a workflow or to pause processing a workflow. A resource control device may further direct a server computing device to take resource conserving actions. When a computing resource is determined to be available, a resource control device may direct a paused server computing device to resume a workflow.
US09128757B2
A system and method for scheduling the execution of multiple mixed-criticality software applications on the same processor. The method separates higher critical, but lower operational rate, software applications into multiple segments so that the separated segments cause the lower rate applications to have a higher rate so that they operate before the lower critical software applications. Alternately, the method increases the length of a lower critical, but higher frequency, software application so that the software application has a lower frequency than the more critical application so that the more critical application has a higher priority.
US09128752B2
An information processing system includes two processing cores. The execution of an application by the system includes the execution of application tasks and the execution of system tasks, and the system includes a micro-kernel executing the system tasks, which are directly linked to hardware resources. The processing system includes a computation part of the micro-kernel executing system tasks relating to the switching of the tasks on a first core, and a control part of the micro-kernel executing, on a second core, system tasks relating to the control of the task allocation order on the first core.
US09128750B1
A system that supports multi-threaded transactions includes one or more processors configured to speculatively execute a first thread in a first transaction and speculatively execute a second thread concurrently with the first thread in a comparable transaction with respect to the first transaction. It further includes one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, configured to provide the one or more processors with data storage. An uncommitted value written by the first thread while executing in the first transaction is visible to the second thread executing in the comparable transaction.
US09128747B2
Systems and method for optimizing the performance of software applications are described. Embodiments include computer implemented steps for identifying at least two constituent software components for parallel execution, executing the identified software components, profiling the performance of the one or more software components at an execution time, creating an optimization model with the set of data gathered from profiling the execution of the one or more software components, and marking at least two software components for execution in parallel in a subsequent execution on the basis of the optimization model. In additional embodiments, the optimization model may be reconfigured on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis of parallelization, and the software components involved marked for sequential execution if the resource overhead associated with parallelization exceeds the corresponding resource or throughput benefit.
US09128744B2
Techniques for creating a virtual machine super template to create a user-requested virtual machine template. A method includes identifying at least one virtual machine super template to be created via analyzing at least one existing template in a repository and/or a user-defined combination of software, creating the super template by installing software requested by the user to be within the super template, and creating a user-requested virtual machine template by un-installing software from the super template that is not required in the user-requested template and/or adding software to the super template required in the user-requested template that is not present in the super template.
US09128743B1
Representing a non-executing virtual machine with a graphical representation. Resource consumption on a hardware device is monitored. A policy that considers at least a present level of resource consumption and an amount of available resources of the hardware device is consulted. An operational state of a particular virtual machine that resides on the hardware device is changed to a non-executing state. An image that represents the virtual machine is displayed. The image is based upon the state of the virtual machine immediately prior to the virtual machine entering the non-executing state.
US09128740B2
A host information handling system (IHS) provides virtualization of host channel adapters (HCAs). A hypervisor partitions a system memory of the host IHS into multiple logical partitions (LPARs). A particular LPAR includes a single instance of an operating system. The single instance of the operating system includes a common layer that provides virtualization of physical HCAs and sharing of the physical HCAs by multiple virtual HCAs.
US09128719B2
A controlling circuit supporting a power saving mechanism includes: a transmitting interface arranged to perform a signal transmission with a specific controlling circuit; and a setting unit coupled to the transmitting interface. The setting unit is arranged to control the specific controlling circuit to operate in the power saving mechanism.
US09128717B2
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for a data processing system with thermal control. For example, a data processing system with thermal control is disclosed that includes a number of data processors and a scheduler, which is operable to determine the power consumption of the data processors and to switch the data processing system from a first mode to a second mode and from the second mode to a third mode. The data processing system consumes less power in the third mode than in the first mode. The second mode prepares the data processing system to enter the third mode.
US09128716B2
A memory device and a control method are disclosed herein. The memory device includes a delay locked loop module, a memory bank module and a control module. The delay locked loop module is configured to generate a system clock signal when enabled by a control signal. The memory bank module is configured to read or write data signals in accordance with the system clock signal and a read command or a write command. The control module configured to receive at least one control command to generate the control signal, wherein the control module disables the delay locked loop module, when the memory bank module goes to a precharge mode or a powerdown mode.
US09128715B2
A bridge receives a power down command and in response converts the power down command to a data hardening command. The bridge issues the data hardening command to a solid state disk. In response to the data hardening command, data stored on the solid state disk is hardened. The hardening comprises writing data in volatile memory to non-volatile memory. The data that is hardened comprises user data and protected data. The data hardening command optionally comprises one or more of a flush cache command, a sleep command, and a standby immediate command.
US09128714B2
Embodiments of the invention are directed to control devices configured for use with computing devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and devices for performing presence detection of an object body near a device. The methods and devices described herein may include comparing a reference signal against an over the air signal to determine whether a phase difference exists between the reference signal and the over the air signal. The existence of a phase difference may be indicative of a object or body in proximity to the device.
US09128713B2
Embodiments of the invention generally provide an input device that includes one or more source drivers that are coupled to a display screen. Specifically, one of the source drivers may be coupled to a plurality of source lines (or column lines) on the display screen which the source driver uses to set voltages associated with one or more sub-pixels that determine the color displayed by the pixel. When driving voltages onto subsequent source lines, the input device may precharge the source driver using a latent voltage stored on the source lines. That is, if the source line was previously driven to a particular voltage by the source driver, the input device uses that latent voltage to precharge the output of the source driver to the same voltage. The source driver may then adjust its output to a desired voltage and drive the desired voltage onto the source line and sub-pixel.
US09128704B2
Total power consumption of information-processing devices and power supply/cooling facilities is reduced to realize energy saving operation of information-processing system. The information-processing system includes information-processing devices, power supply facilities, cooling facilities and an operations management device. The operations management device is connected to the devices and the facilities and includes layout information constituted of locations and operating information of the devices and locations and environmental information of the facilities. Also, the operations management device obtains the power consumption of the devices, the power supply loss of the power supply facilities and the cooling power of the cooling facilities by using the layout information, and then allocates the workloads to the devices so as to reduce the total sum of power consumption, supply loss and cooling power.
US09128694B1
Systems, methods, apparatus and software can provide object interaction tools and techniques that allow a user to interact with a software object using familiar user interface elements. Information about the target object is provided so that an instance can be constructed. The object is introspect so available data and methods information can be used to populate a corresponding object interaction description and present an object interaction session.
US09128685B2
A mobile terminal is provided. The mobile terminal includes a terminal body, a display module located in the terminal body, a printed circuit board located within the terminal body, at least one electric device mounted on the printed circuit board, a sealing unit coupled to the printed circuit board to shield the electric device, a frame having a first surface contacting the sealing unit and a second surface coupled to the display module and a first heat transfer portion to radiate heat generated by the electric device.
US09128681B2
A liquid submersion cooling system that is suitable for cooling a number of electronic devices in parallel using a plurality of cases connected to a rack system. The system cools heat-generating components in server computers and other devices that use electronic, heat-generating components and are connected in parallel systems. The system includes a housing having an interior space, a dielectric cooling liquid in the interior space, a heat-generating electronic component disposed within the space and submerged in the dielectric cooling liquid. The rack system contains a manifold system to engage and allow liquid transfer for multiple cases and IO connectors to engage electrically with multiple cases/electronic devices. The rack system can be connected to a pump system for pumping the liquid into and out of the rack, to and from external heat exchangers, heat pumps, or other thermal dissipation/recovery devices.
US09128678B2
The present invention discloses a centralized power supply shielding structure of a cabinet-level server, where the structure includes multiple plug-in frames, a power supply copper bar which is configured to supply power to the multiple plug-in frames, and an inner container shielding can. Multiple plugs of the power supply copper bar are correspondingly inserted into the multiple plug-in frames to supply power to the multiple plug-in frames in a centralized way. The inner container shielding can wraps on a periphery of the power supply copper bar to shield the multiple plug-in frames from the power supply copper bar. The cabinet-level server and its centralized power supply shielding structure of the present invention implement a shielding structure for centralized power supply by a copper bar of integration of a frame and a cabinet, which can be applied in an application scene of an open rack and has a simple structural design.
US09128671B2
The disclosure relates to a docking device and an assembly comprising the docking device and a tablet computer. The docking device comprises a pair of frame members defining receiving space for receiving the tablet computer, each frame member includes a connection portion and a supporting portion; and a virtual input device pivotably mounted within an opening between the connection portions.
US09128670B2
A computing device including a mounting component at a panel of the computing device to couple with a docking stand for a removable battery of the computing device to electrically couple and receive power from the docking stand and the removable battery supplies power to the computing device if the computing device decouples from the docking stand.
US09128665B2
There is provided an information processing device comprising a housing, a display screen, a touch panel arranged on the display screen, an icon, which is displayed on the display screen and manipulated through the touch panel, a state detection unit for detecting a state change of the housing, a state determination unit for determining the state change of the housing detected by the state detection unit, and a display control unit for displaying the icon in a desired position on the display screen in response to a determination result of the state determination unit.
US09128663B1
A method of manufacturing touch sensing electrode structure includes the steps of selecting a predetermined substrate material to form a substrate layer; forming at least one adhesion layer on the substrate layer; forming a masking layer with recessed lines on the adhesion layer; forming metal conductive electrodes in the recessed lines on the masking layer; removing the masking layer for the metal conductive electrodes to present a circuit pattern and etching off portions of the adhesion layer located between the metal conductive electrodes; and forming at least one weatherproof layer on peripheral surfaces of the metal conductive electrodes. The touch sensing electrode structure manufactured according to the above method has high yield rate and is weatherproof, and the metal conductive electrodes thereof have precisely controlled small width.
US09128655B2
A reception unit receives, in a case where an error has occurred in an image forming apparatus during execution of a designated job, error information indicating that the error has occurred. An acquisition unit acquires information indicating that it is designated to skip the error and to execute the job in the image forming apparatus. A determination unit determines, in a case where the acquisition unit acquires the information, whether or not to continue to display the error information depending on a type of the error. A control unit continues, in a case where the determination unit determines that the error information is continued to be displayed, to display the error information, and ceases, in a case where the determination unit determines that the error information is not continued to be displayed, to display the error information.
US09128653B2
An implementation of a print job processing sub-system includes a first bundle configured for rendering print jobs for a first print device and a second bundle configured for rendering print jobs for a second print device. The sub-system also includes a regionally-aware component configured to direct print jobs to the first or second bundles.
US09128649B2
A control apparatus is disclosed that may communicate with a wireless terminal and an information processing device. The control apparatus includes a first obtaining unit configured to obtain position data of the wireless terminal; a second obtaining unit configured to obtain state information about the information processing device; a determining unit configured to make a determination that the position data obtained by the first obtaining unit indicates a predetermined location and the state information obtained by the second obtaining unit indicates a predetermined state; and a transmission unit configured to transmit to the information processing device a control signal causing the information processing device to execute predetermined processing in response to the determination made by the determining unit.
US09128638B2
An event recorder includes an outer case, and a first memory module including a first amount of data storage capacity contained within the outer case. The first memory module is configured to receive and store multiple types of data including at least two of: video data; audio data; locomotive data indicative of one or more locomotive operating parameters, locomotive control signals, and locomotive performance characteristics; engine operating parameter data; exhaust characteristics data; electrical data; and positive train control data. A controller contained within the outer case may be configured to associate a universal time stamp with each of the multiple types of data stored in the first memory module. An inner, crash-hardened case may be contained within the outer case, containing a second memory module including a second amount of data storage capacity that is smaller than the first amount. The controller may be further configured to periodically transfer a portion of the time-stamped data stored in the first memory module to the second memory module.
US09128632B2
A memory module is operatable in a memory system with a memory controller. The memory module comprises a module control device to receive command signals from the memory controller and to output module command signals and module control signals. The module command signals are provided to memory devices organized in groups, each group including at least one memory device, while the module control signals are provided to a plurality of buffer circuits to control data paths in the buffer circuits. The plurality of buffer circuits are associated with respective groups of memory devices and are distributed across a surface of the memory module such that each module control signal arrives at the plurality of buffer circuits at different points in time. The plurality of buffer circuits are configured to align read data signals received from the memory devices such that the read data signals are transmitted to the memory controller from the memory module substantially aligned with each other and in accordance with a read latency parameter of the memory system.
US09128630B2
A system and method for monitoring a memory stack size is provided, and more particularly, a method for monitoring a memory stack size, whereby the size of a memory stack applied to an operating system of a controller for a vehicle is monitored so that an overflow phenomenon of the memory stack can be prevented. That is, an accurate usage amount of a memory stack of the entire control system for a hybrid vehicle is efficiently and effectively monitored so that, when the control system reaches a risk level of stack overflow, fail-safe logic is executed and an overflow phenomenon of the memory stack as a result can be prevented.
US09128628B1
A method, system, and computer program product for data replication, comprising dynamically changing between snapshot hot push and continuous replication; wherein snapshot hot push denotes a replication mode where a snapshot is pushed from the production site to the replication site while IO occurs to the production site.
US09128627B1
Virtual machine backup is described. A backup copy is created of a data set associated with a virtual machine based on a backup schedule. A clone copy is created of the backup copy based on a clone schedule. The clone copy is stored on an external destination node including a disk and/or a tape. A disaster recovery copy may be created of the backup copy and metadata associated with the backup copy based on a checkpoint at an interval. A request to restore the data set may be received. The data set may be restored based on the backup copy, the clone copy, or the disaster recovery copy.
US09128626B2
The present disclosure relates to a distributed information storage system which functions as virtual cloud storage overlay on top of physical cloud storage systems. The disclosure discloses transparently solving all the data management related security, virtualization, reliability and enables transparent cloud storage migration, cloud storage virtualization, information dispersal and integration across disparate cloud storage devices operated by different providers or on-premise storage. The cloud storage is owned or hosted by same or different third-party providers who own the information contained in the storage which eliminates cloud dependencies. This present disclosure functions as a distributed cloud storage delivery platform enabling various functionalities like cloud storage virtualization, cloud storage integration, cloud storage management and cloud level RAID.
US09128622B1
A data storage system includes at least one network virtualization-aware switch. The data storage system also includes at least one storage array operatively coupled to the network virtualization-aware switch, wherein the storage array is operatively coupled to at least one host computing device, and wherein the host computing device instantiates at least one virtual machine in at least one virtual network. Further, the data storage system includes at least one controller operatively coupled to the network virtualization-aware switch, wherein the controller is configured to link the storage array with the virtual machine of the virtual network through the network virtualization-aware switch.
US09128611B2
An electronic device including an interactive display having a first mode and a second mode. The interactive display includes an image display device that displays a first user-interactive imaged keypad when the interactive display is in the first mode, and that displays a second user-interactive imaged keypad when the interactive display is in the second mode, and a substantially transparent keypad including physical keys permanently formed within the display so that the keypad provides tactile feedback to a user indicating location of keys within the first and second imaged keypads.
US09128585B2
An apparatus and method for 3D rendering of a canvas and at least a first background in a ZUI environment are disclosed herein. Within a viewing window, display at least a portion of the canvas and at least a portion of the first background in parallax. Receive a user action taken on the viewing window that triggers a change in the displaying of the canvas and the first background. Calculate a first transform value and a first transparency value for the first background, in response to the received user action. Update the display of the canvas and the first background in response to the received user action, the canvas updated in accordance with the received user action and the first background updated in accordance with the first transform value and the first transparency value.
US09128582B2
A multi-display device is adapted to be dockable or otherwise associatable with an additional device. In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the multi-display device is dockable with a smartpad. The exemplary smartpad can include a screen, a touch sensitive display, a configurable area, a gesture capture region(s) and a camera. The smartpad can also include a port adapted to receive the device. The exemplary smartpad is able to cooperate with the device such that information displayable on the device is also displayable on the smartpad. Furthermore, any one or more of the functions on the device are extendable to the smartpad, with the smartpad capable of acting as an input/output interface or extension of the smartpad. Therefore, for example, information from one or more of the displays on the multi-screen device is displayable on the smartpad.
US09128574B2
Disclosed is a touch screen panel including a plurality of separate sensing electrodes, and a plurality of separate driving electrodes. Each of the sensing electrodes includes a main electrode and a plurality of expanded parts. Each of the expanded parts includes a sub-electrode extending from the main electrode and at least one expanded electrode extending from the sub-electrode. Each of the driving electrodes surrounds at least part of a corresponding one of the expanded parts.
US09128568B2
A capacitive touch screen panel includes top and bottom ITO coated glass sheets that may both be connected to detection electronics (e.g., a controller) by way of a single, normal flexible printed circuit connector. The ITO coated surface of each of the top and bottom glass sheets may face each other and a transparent material such as an optically clear adhesive may be disposed between the top and bottom glass sheets. In some embodiments, a number of spacers may be disposed between the top and bottom glass sheets to maintain a desired gap between the sheets. In other embodiments, the single, normal flexible printed circuit connector may generally reside in a single plane.
US09128562B2
To improve ease of operation in a case where a display device and a small terminal apparatus are connected to each other, and coordinated display is performed. When a contact or approach of an object having a size greater than or equal to a threshold value with or toward the surface of a display panel is detected, a video or an instruction corresponding to the motion detected by the motion sensor is output. The display device, on the basis of the video or the instruction that is output, displays a video in which the position of a pointer or the like is changed in response to the motion detected by a motion sensor.
US09128556B2
This disclosure provides a display device having a built-in touch input unit, the display device including: a lower substrate; an upper substrate; a plurality of first signal lines and second signal lines; touch cells that are formed in a plurality of areas, respectively including a conductive pad that forms an electrostatic capacity between a touch input means and the conductive pad when the touch input means approaches to the conductive pad within a predetermined distance (d) in each divided area, and at least a 3-terminal type switching element whose gate electrode is connected to the conductive pad; and a touch position detector that transmits and receives position detection signals to and from the first signal lines and the second signal lines, and detects whether output signals of the switching element are changed by capacitance that is formed between the touch input means and the conductive pad.
US09128555B2
A multi-display device includes: a transparent first touch panel; a second touch panel of which at least a part overlaps the first touch panel; and an operation controller which operates the first and second touch panels. The operation controller senses a touch input of the first and second touch panels to determine and execute a function according to a state of the sensed touch input and an overlapped state of the first and second touch panels. The operation controller may selectively activate first and second functions of first and second touch panels, respectively, according to a touch recognition result and select and execute a third function linked with the first and second functions.
US09128552B2
For organizing display data on a multiuser display, a position module determines a first user position from the disposition of a first touch object on the multiuser display. An organization module organizes the display data on the multiuser display in response to the first user position.
US09128550B2
Provided is an information processing device which allows a user to provide, regardless of a position or direction of a touch sensor, an operation input to the touch sensor at an arbitrary position or in an arbitrary direction. The information processing device includes two touch sensors each including a detection surface for detecting a position of an object thereon, the two touch sensors being arranged to be opposed to each other, determines at least one of a reference point and a reference axis based on one or a plurality of positions detected by one touch sensor of the two touch sensors, and evaluates a content detected by another touch sensor of the two touch sensors based on the at least one of the determined reference point and the determined reference axis to determine a content of an operation input of a user.
US09128546B2
A touch panel system in which power consumption is reduced and detection sensitivity is enhanced, a controller for the touch panel system, and a method of operating the system. Touch panel system includes status detecting portion having status signal generating portions generating a status signal indicative of a close status of an indicator, a position calculating portion processing the status signal, thereby calculating a position of the indicator on a detecting surface, and a region setting portion for updating an effective region set in the detecting surface P based on the position of the indicator which is calculated by the position calculating portion. A first operation causes the status signal generating portions SL and DL to selectively generate a status signal and a second operation causes the position calculating portion to selectively process the status signals generated by the status signal generating portions SL and DL.
US09128545B2
A shield that is attachable to a touch sensitive screen is disclosed. The shield may be attached to the touch sensitive screen only at its outer peripheral portion. An air gap is enclosed between the shield and the touch sensitive screen to form a planar air bearing. The shield preferably does not touch the active area of the touch sensitive screen when the user is not touching the shield but only viewing the touch sensitive screen through the shield. This mitigates unwanted optical artifacts such as trapped air bubbles, Newton rings and chromatic interference while maintaining the sensitivity of the touch sensitive screen.
US09128528B2
Techniques are provided for image-based real-time gesture recognition. Video data of a person is obtained. Pixels are classified in the video stream at a given time instance during a time period as a foreground or a background pixel. A data entry is generated comprising data indicating foreground history values for each of a plurality of time instances of the video stream and data indicating a time period value. When the classifying indicates that a first pixel is a foreground pixel, the data structure associated with the first pixel is evaluated to determine whether or not to update a foreground history value associated with the first pixel at the given time instance. A motion gradient vector is generated for the video stream based on the foreground history value associated with the first pixel and foreground history values associated with other pixels.
US09128524B2
Provided is a method of delivering a user input received from a Human Interface Device (HID) to a source device by a sink device. The method includes: receiving the user input from the HID; generating HID user input information including a first field that represents a type of the HID, a second field that represents an interface type of the HID, and a third field that includes the user input received from the HID; and transmitting the configured HID user input information to the source device.
US09128521B2
A system and method are described herein for a sensor device which biomechanically detects in real-time a user's movement state and posture and then provides real-time feedback to the user based on the user's real-time posture. The feedback is provided through immediate sensory feedback through the sensor device (e.g., a sound or vibration) as well as through an avatar within an associated application with which the sensor device communicates. The sensor device detects the user's movement state and posture by capturing data from a tri-axial accelerometer in the sensor device. Streamed data from the accelerometer is normalized to correct for sensor errors as well as variations in sensor placement and orientation. Normalization is based on accelerometer data collected while the user is wearing the device and performing specific actions.
US09128520B2
A collaborative on-demand system allows a user of a head-mounted display device (HMDD) to obtain assistance with an activity from a qualified service provider. In a session, the user and service provider exchange camera-captured images and augmented reality images. A gaze-detection capability of the HMDD allows the user to mark areas of interest in a scene. The service provider can similarly mark areas of the scene, as well as provide camera-captured images of the service provider's hand or arm pointing to or touching an object of the scene. The service provider can also select an animation or text to be displayed on the HMDD. A server can match user requests with qualified service providers which meet parameters regarding fee, location, rating and other preferences. Or, service providers can review open requests and self-select appropriate requests, initiating contact with a user.
US09128516B1
Systems and methods for design and use of models can have models with rigging, controls, avars, etc., but can also have controls that are themselves models, thus leading to a hierarchy of models and rigging usable for controlling models in an animation system wherein models correspond to elements or objects for which computer-generated graphics are to be rendered.
US09128504B2
A signal generation circuit includes: a clock signal generator configured to generate a clock signal and to change a frequency of the clock signal in response to a select signal; a transmission control circuit configured to control transmission of the clock signal based on the select signal; and a counter configured to perform an operation among a count operation and a count stop operation based on an output signal of the transmission control circuit and to output the select signal based on a result of performing the operation. When the counter performs the count operation in response to the clock signal output from the transmission control circuit, the counter outputs a most significant bit (MSB) among its count bits as the select signal.
US09128497B2
The present invention pertains to a voltage reference circuit based on temperature compensation, comprising positive and negative temperature coefficient generating units, temperature compensation circuit, image circuit and voltage divider. In this circuit, Item T is compensated with Item T, and Item T ln(T) is compensated by Item T in (T), which features a well-targeted compensation performance. The circuit outputs a reference voltage with zero temperature coefficient, which is independent to T and T ln (T). The output voltage value could be defined by adjusting the ratio of resistance in voltage divider. The invention provides a voltage reference circuit featuring good compensation, zero temperature coefficient and adjustable output voltage. The invention has a better compensation than the conventional one and a fixed output voltage, and it totally eliminates the temperature coefficient. The invention has wide application in analog IC and digital/analog mixed IC.
US09128493B2
A plating system comprises a plating solution and an apparatus for control of the plating solution, the apparatus including a Raman spectrometer for measurement of organic components, a visible light spectrometer for measurement of metallic components, and a pH probe. The plating solution can be sampled continuously or at intervals. Dosing of the plating solution adjusts for components consumed or lost in the plating process. The method of dosing is based on maintaining a desired composition of the plating solution.
US09128486B2
A navigational control system for altering movement activity of a robotic device operating in a defined working area, comprising a transmitting subsystem integrated in combination with the robotic device, the transmitting subsystem comprising beam emitters for emitting a number of directed beams, each directed beam having a predetermined emission pattern, and a receiving subsystem functioning as a base station that includes a navigation control algorithm that defines a predetermined triggering event for the navigational control system and a set of detection units positioned within the defined working area in a known spaced-apart relationship, the set of detection units being configured and operative to detect one or more of the directed beams emitted by the transmitting system; and wherein the receiving subsystem is configured and operative to process the one or more detected directed beams under the control of the navigational control algorithm to determine whether the predetermined triggering event has occurred, and, if the predetermined triggering event has occurred transmit a control signal to the robotic device, wherein reception of the control signal by the robotic device causes the robotic device to implement a prescribed conduct that alters the movement activity of the robotic device.
US09128484B1
An autonomous vehicle is provided that includes an autonomous vehicle control system, a dialysis machine, and an interface providing an electrical communication between the dialysis machine and the autonomous vehicle control system. The dialysis machine is configured to perform a dialysis treatment on a patient while the autonomous vehicle is under the control of the autonomous vehicle control system. A vehicle is also provided that includes a navigation system, a dialysis machine, and an interface between the navigation system and the dialysis machine. The vehicle can be a car, a train, a plane, or another vehicle.
US09128466B2
The present invention relates to a correction device for changing the data of a plurality N of time-related functions displayed by a timepiece. It is characterized in that the device includes a pusher (1) for changing function, whose actuation moves a control wheel (2) and meshes said wheel with a corrector pinion (3, 4, 5) for the selected function, and a stem (7) whose rotation in one direction or the other pivots said control wheel (2), which in turn drives one of said corrector pinions (3, 4, 5) to correct the data of said selected function by adding or subtracting.
US09128463B2
An assembly of an axially extending member, made of a first material, in an aperture of a part, made of a second material having no plastic domain. The part includes pierced holes forming an elastic deformation mechanism distributed around the aperture thereof. Further, the member includes an elastically and plastically deformed, radially flared portion that radially grips a wall of the part surrounding the aperture by stressing the elastic deformation mechanism, so as to secure the assembly in a manner that is not destructive for the part. The assembly can be used in the field of timepieces.
US09128459B2
An image forming apparatus includes a main body including a metal frame, and a holder configured to hold a plurality of photosensitive drums arranged in an arrangement direction. The metal frame includes a main body portion, a first extension portion and a second extension portion. The main body portion extends in the arrangement direction and is disposed in a position not overlapping the photosensitive drums in an axial direction of the photosensitive drums, and further has a first end portion and a second end portion opposite to the first end portion in the arrangement direction. The first extension portion and the second extension portion extend from the first end portion and the second end portion of the main body portion, respectively, in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction and parallel to a side of the holder in a first dimension, the side of the holder being parallel to the arrangement direction in a second dimension.
US09128458B2
A developing unit includes a toner storage portion containing toner and a toner supply member, and a development portion disposed above the toner storage portion. A partition wall divides the toner storage portion from the development portion. The partition wall includes a supply opening that defines a toner supply path from the toner storage portion to the development portion, and a discharge opening that defines a toner discharge path from the development portion to the toner storage portion.
US09128457B2
An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming portion which forms a toner image; a collecting container which is detachably arranged in an apparatus main body and which collects toner discharged from the image forming portion; a conveying path which conveys the toner discharged from the image forming portion toward the collecting container, the conveying path being arranged in the apparatus main body to be turnable to a first position positioned during operation of the main body and a second position different from the position positioned in the operation of the main body; and a fixing portion which can fix the conveying path at the first position and the second position.
US09128450B2
According to one embodiment, an image erasing apparatus includes an erasing unit to perform erasing processing to a sheet on which a specific pattern is formed with decoloring toner, a reading unit to read an image on the sheet to which the erasing processing is performed by the erasing unit, a detecting unit to detect erasing residue on the sheet, based on the image read by the reading unit, and a specific pattern forming unit to form a specific pattern again on the sheet, when the erasing residue is detected by the detecting unit.
US09128448B2
An image forming apparatus includes a fixing unit, an apparatus main body, a nip pressure changing member, a driving source, and a clutch mechanism. The fixing unit includes a first rotating member, a second rotating member, and a fixing nip forming mechanism. The fixing nip forming mechanism forms a fixing nip between the first rotating member and second rotating member. To the apparatus main body, the fixing unit is detachably installed. The nip pressure changing member presses the fixing nip forming mechanism and to change a pressure of the fixing nip by rotating around a rotation axis. The driving source rotates the nip pressure changing member. The clutch mechanism permits a transmission of a rotation from the driving source to the nip pressure changing member and restricts a transmission of a rotation from the nip pressure changing member to the driving source.
US09128447B2
An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes: a paper feed part; a conveying path conveying paper from the paper feed part; a transfer part transferring an image onto the paper; a registration roller timely delivering the paper to the transfer part; a paper detector detecting paper arrival at the registration roller; an image forming part starting image formation; an image processing part transmitting to the image forming part image data used for the image formation; and a control part, based on output of the paper detector, in a case where the paper detector has not detected the paper arrival at a check time point provided before a tip of the image arrives at the transfer part after the start of the image formation, delaying an image formation speed at the image forming part and an image data transmission speed of the image processing part.
US09128444B1
A method for estimating an amount of toner remaining in a reservoir of a replaceable unit for an image forming device according to one example embodiment includes measuring an amount of revolution of a shaft in the reservoir of the replaceable unit, decreasing an estimate of the amount of toner remaining in the reservoir based on the measured amount of revolution of the shaft, monitoring whether a pattern of widths of digital pulses generated from a magnetic sensor when the magnetic sensor senses a magnetic field of a magnet connected to a paddle mounted on the shaft in the reservoir when the paddle is near a lowest center of gravity of the paddle changes, and adjusting the estimate of the amount of toner remaining in the reservoir when the pattern of widths of digital pulses generated from the magnetic sensor changes.
US09128443B2
A method for estimating an amount of toner remaining in a reservoir of a replaceable unit for an image forming device according to one example embodiment includes rotating a shaft positioned in the reservoir and measuring an amount of revolution of the shaft. A paddle mounted on the shaft and free to fall ahead of the rotation of the shaft is pushed by the rotation of the shaft. An estimate of the amount of toner remaining in the reservoir is decreased based on the measured amount of revolution of the shaft. The paddle is sensed near a lowest center of gravity of the paddle. The estimate of the amount of toner remaining in the reservoir is adjusted when the number of times the paddle is sensed near the lowest center of gravity of the paddle per revolution of the shaft increases.
US09128440B2
An image forming apparatus includes a body; a paper supply tray mounted in the body; a first sensor including a light emitting element and a light receiving element; a first actuator including a first actuating arm to sense the presence of the printing medium stored in the paper supply tray by coming into contact with and being moved by the printing medium, a second actuating arm to sense a width of the printing medium by selectively coming into contact with and being moved by the printing medium fed to the printing path according to the width of the printing medium, and a first sensing arm placed between the first actuating arm and the second actuating arm to intercept the light that would otherwise be transmitted to the light receiving element by being moved in linkage with the first actuating arm and the second actuating arm.
US09128439B2
An image forming apparatus including: a conveyance mechanism conveying a first pattern formed by a first image forming unit among image forming units, a second pattern formed by a second image forming unit among the image forming units; a detection unit detecting the first pattern and the second pattern; and a control unit controlling, when a first condition is satisfied, a timing of conveying a recording sheet having the image formed by the first image forming unit is transferred based on a first time required after the formation of the first pattern and before detecting the first pattern, and controlling, when a second condition is satisfied, a timing of conveying the recording sheet having the image formed by the second image forming unit is transferred based on a second time required after the formation of the second pattern and before detecting the second pattern.
US09128431B2
An image forming apparatus includes: a fixing member rotatably supported for heating a developer; a pressure member pressing a recording medium upon sandwiching the recording medium with the fixing member; a temperature detection unit for detecting temperature of the fixing member; a temperature control unit for controlling the temperature of the fixing member; a rotation control unit for controlling rotation of the fixing member; an environment value detection unit for detecting an atmosphere temperature; a time measure unit for measuring time necessary for finish of warming up of the fixing member; and a rotation time setting unit for setting rotation time of the fixing member, wherein the rotation time setting unit changes the rotation time from a timing that the fixing member reaches a warming up temperature, based on a lapse time result provided from the time measure unit, where the atmosphere temperature is lower than a prescribed temperature.
US09128427B2
An image heating apparatus includes: a rotatable heating member for heating a toner image formed on a recording material by using a toner containing a parting agent; an exciting coil for causing the rotatable heating member to generate heat by electromagnetic induction heating; a magnetic flux suppressing member for suppressing a part of magnetic flux acting from the exciting coil onto the rotatable heating member; a moving mechanism for moving the magnetic flux suppressing member depending on a width size of the recording material; a motor for operating the moving mechanism; and an executing portion capable of selectively executing an operation in a first mode in which a first current is supplied to the motor and an operation in a second mode in which a second current larger than the first current is supplied to the motor.
US09128425B2
A fixing device includes: a flexible tubular member defining an axis extending in an axial direction; a first fixing member; a second fixing member configured to nip the tubular member in cooperation with the first fixing member; and a pair of restricting members disposed to interpose the tubular member therebetween in the axial direction. The tubular member has end faces in the axial direction and a circumference defining a circumferential direction. Each restricting member has a restricting surface abuttable with each end face of the tubular member to restrict the tubular member from moving in the axial direction, each restricting surface having a specific area continuously applied with a lubricant upon completion of assembly of the fixing device, the specific area having an arcuate shape extending in the circumferential direction and having a width at least equal to a thickness of the tubular member in the radial direction.
US09128422B2
An aspect of the present invention provides an image forming apparatus including: a photosensitive element where a latent image is formed and developed into a toner image; an image carrier; an intermediate transfer driving roller that drives the image carrier; a primary transfer roller for transferring the toner image from the photosensitive element to the image carrier; a secondary transfer roller for secondary transfer of the toner image from the image carrier to a medium; a bias applying unit that applies, as a secondary transfer bias, a first bias and a second bias to the intermediate transfer driving roller and the secondary transfer roller, respectively; and a fixing unit that fixes the toner image onto the medium. The first bias is lower than a minimum voltage at which discharge to the primary transfer roller can occur. The second bias depends on the first bias and is opposite in polarity therefrom.
US09128420B2
A belt unit is provided with an endless belt, a driving roller, and a pair of guide ribs. The driving roller is disposed on an inner peripheral surface side of the endless belt and drives the endless belt. The pair of guide ribs is placed on each opposite widthwise end of the inner peripheral surface of the endless belt and contacts both end faces of the driving roller, thus preventing meandering of the endless belt. Additionally, the driving roller is equipped with a low friction region at both opposite lengthwise ends in a predetermined width and the low friction region is configured to have a friction coefficient that is lower than a friction coefficient of a region adjacent to the low friction region.
US09128416B2
A developing device includes a developer bearer, a first developer compartment to supply developer to the developer bearer, a second developer compartment to supply developer to the first developer compartment and positioned adjacent to the first developer compartment, a partition to divide, at least partly, the first developer compartment from the second developer compartment, a communicating opening in the opening, through which developer is transferred from the second developer compartment to the first developer compartment, a rotary conveyor to transport developer inside the second developer compartment to the communicating opening and a flexible sheet provided to the rotary conveyor and positioned facing the communicating opening. The flexible sheet rotates integrally with the rotary conveyor and projects through the communicating opening into the first developer compartment as the rotary conveyor rotates.
US09128415B2
A toner container for use with an image forming apparatus which includes a horizontally mounted toner body mounted within the image forming apparatus, a toner outlet to discharge toner in a downward direction, and a shutter to open and close the toner outlet which moves along a first and second rail. The second rail is disposed downstream of the first rail in the insertion direction of the toner body and parallel to the length of the toner body. The longitudinal length of the first rail is smaller than the longitudinal length of the second rail.
US09128405B2
An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image forming stations and a control portion configured to control an image forming operation. Each of the image forming stations includes an image bearing member configured to form a toner image on a surface thereof and a charging device configured to charge the image bearing member. The toner images formed on the image bearing members of the image forming stations are sequentially transferred to a transfer incurring member to be superimposed. The control portion sets a voltage applied to the charging device in forming an image in an image forming station which performs the transfer later based on image density information of the toner image transferred to the transfer incurring member by an image forming station which performs the transfer earlier in a sequence of the image forming operations.
US09128397B2
A resin for use in toner is provided. The resin comprises an oligomer segment and a soft segment. The oligomer segment comprises a polyhydroxycarboxylic skeleton and an aromatic diol skeleton.
US09128396B2
Methods for making toner particles comprising a polyester-wax resin, wherein the polyester-wax resin includes a bio-based oil that is chemically incorporated into the main chain of the polyester resin. The toner particles may be formed using emulsion aggregation methods. A toner formed from the toner particles may be used in low-oil or oil-less fusing systems.
US09128392B2
A photoconductor that includes, for example, a supporting substrate, an optional anticurl layer, an optional ground plane layer, an optional hole blocking layer, an optional adhesive layer, a photogenerating layer, a charge transport layer, and an optional protective coating, and where the photogenerating layer contains a polyarylatecarbonate.
US09128383B2
Photolithographic apparatus, systems, and methods that make use of sub-resolution assist devices are disclosed. In the various embodiments, an imaging mask includes an optically transmissive substrate having a sub-resolution assist device that further includes a first optical attenuation region and a spaced-apart second optical attenuation region, and an optically transmissive phase adjustment region interposed between the first optical attenuation region and the second optical attenuation region, the phase adjustment region being configured to change a phase of incident illumination radiation by altering an optical property of the substrate.
US09128380B2
A method of performing nanopatterning is disclosed, comprising the use of a system comprising a plasmonic writing head that enables super-resolution exposures. The super-resolution exposures are carried out using light directed onto a data recording medium using plasmonic structures, and in particular using plasmonic structures having specially designed super-resolution apertures, of which the “bow-tie” and “C-aperture” are examples. These specially designed apertures create small but bright images in the near-field transmission pattern. In one embodiment, a writing head comprising an array of these apertures is held in close proximity to a data recording medium. A data processing system is provided to re-interpret the data to be patterned into a set of modulation signals used to drive the multiple individual channels and the multiple exposures.
US09128378B2
A pattern is formed in a polymeric layer comprising a reactive composition that comprises: (a) a polymer comprising pendant -arylene-X—C(═O)—O— t-alkyl groups that comprise a blocking group that is cleavable to provide pendant -arylene-XH groups, (b) a compound that provides a cleaving acid upon exposure to radiation having a λmax of 150 nm and to 450 nm, which cleaving acid has a pKa of 2 or less as measured in water, and (c) optionally, a photosensitizer. The polymeric layer is imagewise exposed to suitable radiation to provide non-exposed regions and exposed regions comprising a de-blocked and crosslinked polymer with pendant -arylene-XH groups. The exposed regions are contacted with electroless seed metal ions in the de-blocked and crosslinked polymer. After reduction, the corresponding electroless seed metal nuclei are electrolessly plated using a suitable metal that is the same as or different from the corresponding electroless seed metal nuclei.
US09128377B2
There is provided a method for forming a graphene pattern, in which a graphene thin film layer is transferred onto a surface of a photosensitive film, and then patterned through exposure/development of the photosensitive film. The photosensitive film is cured after being finally developed, thereby securing stability and reliability.
US09128376B2
A pattern forming method including: (i) forming a film using an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition containing a resin (A) having a repeating unit having a group generating a polar group upon being decomposed by the action of an acid, and a repeating unit having an aromatic group, a compound (B) generating an acid upon irradiation with actinic rays or radiation, and a solvent (C); (ii) exposing the film; and (iii) developing the exposed film using a developer including an organic solvent to form a negative tone pattern, wherein the resin (A) is a resin having a repeating unit having a naphthyl group, and the like, and/or the actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition contains a compound (D) having a naphthalene ring, and the like.
US09128371B2
An imprint method includes an inspection step of inspecting a substrate to obtain information of a foreign substance on the substrate; and a film forming step of forming a film covering the foreign substance, using the information of a foreign substance on the substrate, wherein the film forming step is performed before the contact step.
US09128370B2
A radiation-sensitive composition includes a photoacid generator represented by a general formula (1), and a solvent. Each R0 independently represents a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, or a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent organic group. R1 represents a fluorine atom or a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent organic group. R2 represents a fluorine atom or a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent organic group. Rf represents a fluoromethylene group or a divalent fluoroalkylene group. M+ represents a monovalent onium cation. Optionally R1 bonds to Rf or R2 to form a cyclic structure.
US09128367B2
A 3D imaging device obtains a 3D image (3D video) that achieves an appropriate 3D effect and/or intended placement. The 3D imaging device estimates (calculates) an ideal disparity of a main subject based on a preset viewing environment (display condition) and a distance to the main subject, and obtains a disparity (an actual disparity) of the subject (main subject) actually occurring on a virtual screen. The 3D imaging device obtains a correction disparity using the ideal disparity and the actual disparity, and adds the calculated correction disparity to the 3D image (horizontally shifts the image) to perform appropriate disparity correction. The 3D imaging device obtains a 3D image (3D video) that achieves an appropriate 3D effect and/or intended placement without being affected by a disparity occurring in the horizontal direction caused by insufficient precision (in particular, insufficient optical precision).
US09128357B2
A vehicular projection system including a projection apparatus, a beam splitting module, and two projection screens is provided. The projection apparatus provides at least one image light beam. The beam splitting module divides the image light beam into a first image light beam and a second image light beam. The two projection screens receive the first image light beam and the second image light beam respectively. Each of the first image light beam and the second image light beam respectively forms an image on one of the two projection screens corresponding thereto.
US09128356B1
A system for projecting to a viewing surface including an illumination source to project a first image onto the viewing surface along a beam path, a focusing system to focus the first image, provided in a first polarization state and projected from the illumination source, at a first image plane along the beam path between the illumination source and the viewing surface, a transmissive LCD, through which the first image is transmitted, for placement in the beam path at the first image plane with the LCD further configured to propagate a second image, provided in a second polarization state, and a first polarized filter configured to provide the first image in the first polarization state before the first image is transmitted through the LCD. At least one of the first image and the second image is in a non-detectable polarization state when illuminated upon the viewing surface.
US09128355B2
An imaging apparatus includes a camera body; and a flash device provided in the camera body and configured to be popped up from the camera body. The flash device includes a light emitter configured to emit light, a capacitor configured to store charge, an electric circuit configured to control the light emitter and the capacitor, a first electric wire configured to electrically connect the light emitter and the capacitor, and a second electric wire configured to electrically connect the capacitor and the electric circuit. The light emitter, the capacitor, the electric circuit, the first electric wire, and the second electric wire move integrally when the flash device is popped up.
US09128343B2
A method of forming an optical element which includes an electrochromic apodized aperture having variable light transmittance through a clear aperture area in response to an applied electrical current is disclosed. The apodized aperture includes a body including an area defining the clear aperture area wherein a fluid containment area substantially overlapping the clear aperture area, and includes at least one fill passage extending from the fluid containment area to at least one fill port outside of the clear aperture area; an electrochromic fluid within the fluid containment area substantially overlapping the clear aperture area and having variable light transmittance in response to an applied electrical current; a cover attached with the electrochromic fluid between the cover and body; electrical contacts electrically coupled to the electrochromic fluid for supplying electrical current thereto; and at least one passage seal in each said fill passage positioned outside of the clear aperture area.
US09128333B2
The present invention provides a pixel structure of a display panel and a method for manufacturing the same. The pixel structure comprises a first pixel area and a second pixel area that are adjacent to each other. The first pixel area has a first transparent conductive layer disposed therein and the second pixel area has a second transparent conductive layer disposed therein. The first transparent conductive layer in the first pixel area and the second transparent conductive layer in the second pixel area are located at different heights. The pixel structure of the present invention can efficiently increase an aperture ratio for the pixels on the display panel.
US09128331B2
A first substrate includes a first insulating substrate. A first organic insulating film is arranged on the first substrate in a circumference area outside an active area. The first organic insulating film includes a first surface and a first concave portion in the circumference area. A second substrate includes a second insulating substrate. A circumference color filter is laminated on a circumference shield layer and includes a second concave portion arranged facing the first concave portion. The second concave portion spreads toward the first substrate. A second organic insulating film covers the circumference color filter and includes a second surface and a third concave portion covering the second concave portion. A seal material is arranged between the first surface and the second surface, and between the first concave portion and the third concave portion to attach the first substrate and the second substrate.
US09128329B2
An alignment film and method of fabricating the alignment film are disclosed. A photosensitive alignment material is spread on an LCD array substrate or color filter substrate and partially cured. A soft mold is aligned on the partially cured alignment material. The soft mold has a concavo-convex pattern with grooves and projections. The alignment material is exposed to ultraviolet radiation through the soft mold and then developed. The differences between the indices of refraction of the soft mold and air cause interference in the ultraviolet radiation, leading to periodic variations in the exposure intensity of the alignment material. These variations result in crests and troughs being formed when the alignment film is developed. The developed alignment film is then cured.
US09128325B2
A display device has light sources located in a receptacle, where a lower interior walls part of the receptacle is formed of an electrically insulating material. The device includes a vertically extending grounding electrode extending to and physically affixed at one end to the interior walls part of the receptacle. This allows the light sources to be easily grounded by means of the grounding electrode.
US09128324B2
A display device includes a transparent display panel and an adjustable light valve. The transparent display panel and the adjustable light valve are disposed opposite to each other. The transparent display panel includes a plurality of pixels including active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes for generating an image. When the display device operates under a transparent display mode, the adjustable light valve is in a transparent status. When the display device operates under a high color saturation display mode, the adjustable light valve is in a non-transparent status. Thereby, the display device will not be limited to having only a display mode.
US09128319B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a Color filter substrate and a transflective liquid crystal display device. The color filter substrate comprises: a base substrate; a plurality of pixel regions each of which is divided into a transmissive region and a reflective region and comprises a color filter formed on the base substrate, wherein, the boundary region of each pixel region adjacent to a neighboring pixel region comprises at least one light hole which corresponds to the reflective region of the pixel region where it is located.
US09128318B2
There is provided a display device in which the thickness of a transparent board and an attaching member is reduced while the strength thereof is ensured. The display device includes a display panel, a transparent board having a panel installation region in which the display panel is provided, and an outer frame region surrounding the panel installation region, and an attaching member having a fixing portion bonded to the transparent board in the outer frame region, and an outer-side raised portion raised from a side of the fixing portion, the side being adjacent to an outline of the transparent board.
US09128317B2
The present invention discloses a liquid crystal module having F-type frames and an assembly method thereof. An F-type frame assembly according to the present invention is assembled by a plurality of F-type frames. Each of the F-type frames has a cross-section of F shape, and has a first opening portion located in an upper half thereof and a second opening portion located in a lower half thereof. Besides, the first opening portions and the second opening portions of all of the F-type frames are correspondingly facing inward, so as to form a first receiving space and a second receiving space, respectively. In the present invention, by placing a liquid crystal panel in the first receiving space and placing a backlight module in the second receiving space, a liquid crystal module is assembled.
US09128315B2
A backlight module and a liquid crystal display are provided. The backlight module includes a plastic frame. The sidewalls of the plastic frame have an adjustable length. Each sidewall having the adjustable length includes at least two separated member slidably connected together. The present invention may flexibly set the plastic frame according to the size of the liquid crystal display, and need not specially configure the molds to produce the plastic frames for the different sizes of the liquid crystal display, thereby not only reducing the cost, but also increasing the manufacture efficiency.
US09128314B2
Disclosed are a display device and a manufacturing method thereof, which do not use some of cases and set covers necessary for producing the display device and thus can minimize a thickness and enhance a sense of beauty with an innovative design. The display device includes a display panel, a guide frame, an adhesive member, a set cover, and a soft member. The set cover receives the guide frame, and surrounds a side of the display panel. The soft member is formed at the set cover, and closely contacted to the side of the display panel.
US09128306B2
A logic gate is disclosed having a photonic or polaritonic band gap medium and a plurality of nano particles, atoms or artificial atoms are disposed in the band gap medium. Two coupled electromagnetic pulses are propagated within the medium and produce two output pulses. The output pulses are detected or sensed and a third external electronic field controls the relative velocities of the two output pulses. A method for producing a time delay of an electromagnetic pulse is also disclosed.
US09128305B2
A reader for communicating with both an eye-mountable device and a display device is provided. The reader can transmit radio frequency power to a tag that is part of the eye-mountable device. The reader can communicates with the tag using a first protocol. Communicating with the tag can include having the reader request data from the tag and receive the requested data from the tag. The reader can process the received data. The reader can store the processed data. The reader can communicates with the display device using a second protocol, where the first and second protocols can differ. Communicating with the display device can include having the reader transmit the stored data to the display device. The display device can receive the transmitted data, process the transmitted data, and generate one or more displays including the transmitted and/or processed data.
US09128288B2
A light-controlling device is provided. The light-controlling device includes a first substrate, a second substrate disposed opposite the first substrate, and a partition wall separating the first and second substrates to define a cell. An optical medium containing charged particles is disposed within the cell between the first and second substrates. A plurality of first electrodes is disposed on the first substrate, and a plurality of second electrodes is disposed on the second substrate to generate electrical field within the cell to move at least some of the charged particles. Each of the first electrodes has a first width and a first thickness, and each of the second electrodes has a second width and a second thickness. Each of the second electrodes is disposed at an interval of a third width such that the open region on the second substrate between the second electrodes corresponds to the first electrode on the first substrate.
US09128287B2
A MEMS substrate is formed from a transparent substrate and a movable type shutter arranged on each pixel of a surface of the transparent substrate. An AP substrate includes another substrate and a light blocking film arranged on the other transparent substrate formed with an aperture corresponding to each shutter. A plurality of supporting columns is formed on a surface of the transparent substrate of the MEMS substrate. A plurality of cylindrical contact holes having the same inner diameter as an outer diameter of each supporting column are formed at a position corresponding to one part of the supporting columns. Both substrates are arranged with a certain interval so that each shutter and an aperture oppose each other, thereby a tip end of corresponding supporting columns is inserted into each contact hole and in this way, both substrate are mutually positioned.
US09128274B2
Provided is a zoom lens system including: a first lens group having a positive refractive power; a second lens group having a negative refractive power; a third lens group having a positive refractive power; and a fourth lens group having a negative refractive power sequentially from an object side to an image side, wherein a zooming operation is performed by moving the second lens group and the fourth lens group.
US09128265B2
Provided are a lens assembly and an optical system including the same. The lens assembly may include a first lens having a groove region, a second lens having an insertion region that is inserted into the groove region, and a light blocking member between the first lens and the second lens. The light blocking member may be disposed between a first surface portion of the first lens and a second surface portion of the second lens, and the light blocking member may be separated from at least one of the first surface portion and the second surface portion. The lens assembly may further include at least one additional lens. The lens assembly may be applied to various optical systems.
US09128260B2
In one embodiment, an optical subassembly includes a housing, a ball lens, a constraining insert, and a ball lens constraint. The housing includes a fiber receptacle formed in a first end of the housing and a second receptacle formed in a second end of the housing opposite the first end. The fiber receptacle and second receptacle define a cavity through the housing from the first end to the second end of the housing. The ball lens and the constraining insert are disposed within the cavity. The ball lens constraint is configured to cooperate with the constraining insert to constrain the ball lens in three dimensions within the cavity.
US09128258B2
An optical assembly is disclosed where the optical assembly provides an optical device and a holder including a sleeve, a skirt, and a lens. The sleeve has a bore, into which an external optical fiber is set to couple with the optical device, providing a target surface in an end thereof. The target surface includes an aiming index to indicate the axis of the lens.
US09128257B2
The invention relates to an optical communications system, including an optical module, including a module motherboard provided with a substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface, an optical component on the upper surface of the substrate, the optical component being configured to submit and/or receive optical signals and being connected to electrical conductors extending through the substrate, an optical coupling module having a first light coupling port, a second light coupling port, and at least one light guiding component guiding light signals between the first and second light coupling ports, and a connector receptacle, a longitudinal axis of the connector receptacle being provided parallel or with an acute angle to the plane of the substrate, and a fiber cable connector provided on an end portion of an optical fiber cable and received in the connector receptacle.
US09128256B2
The invention provides an optical connector for coupling with a complementary optical connector and for supporting an optical component. The connector comprises a cover moveable between a first and second position. The cover may also comprise a moveable shield and biasing components. There is also provided an optical connector assembly comprising covers that sequentially open. A PCB comprising waveguides and an optical component sub-mount for integrating with the PCB is also presented.
US09128250B2
We present optical systems suitable for focusing two substantially collimated beams or sheets of light propagating in different directions onto a common focal point. In some embodiments the optical systems comprise separate focusing elements for each beam or sheet of light, while in other embodiments the optical systems comprise a focusing element and a redirection element. The optical systems have particular application in the receive optics of infrared touch screens, where they enable the detection of additional light paths that assist in the determination of two or more simultaneous touch events.
US09128248B2
An optical lens connector includes alignment features for passive connection alignment. The alignment features are C-shaped and have generally planar surfaces to interface with a mating connector. The alignment features passively align an optical fiber with an optical lens in the optical lens connector, by fitting adjacent to planar surfaces of the mating connector. When interfaced together, the alignment features restrict lateral and vertical motion of the connectors with respect to each other, which helps keep the optical lens aligned with the optical fiber.
US09128242B2
A mode-evolution compound converter for processing an optical signal that includes a first component having a fundamental transverse magnetic (TM) mode and a second component having a fundamental transverse electric (TE) mode is disclosed. The compound converter includes a set of multiple converters connected to form a compound converter, wherein each converter is a mode-evolution converter selected from a group including a polarization converter, a spatial converter, and combination thereof, wherein the polarization converter at least converts a mode of a polarization of at least one component of the optical signal, and the spatial mode converter at least converts a spatial mode order of at least one component of the optical signal.
US09128230B1
The optical absorber for long-wave infrared radiation includes a nano-plasmonic gold structure arrayed on an absorbing dielectric substrate in an alternating checkerboard-type pattern. A plurality of plasmonic cells are formed on an upper surface of the absorbing dielectric substrate, which can be, for example, a silicon nitride (Si3N4) substrate. The plurality of plasmonic cells are arrayed in a regular rectangular grid pattern, with each plasmonic cell having a plurality of elongated strips, each extending along an identical axis of orientation within the plasmonic cell. Adjacent ones of the plasmonic cells are oriented orthogonally with respect to one another, and each elongated strip includes a titanium layer formed on the upper surface of the absorbing dielectric substrate and a gold layer formed on the titanium layer, such that the titanium layer is sandwiched between the gold layer and the upper surface of the absorbing dielectric substrate.
US09128221B2
A light guide plate has a light introducing portion configured to confine light that is incident from an end surface, and a light guide-plate main body configured to emit incident light to an outside from a light emitting surface and provided continuously with the light introducing portion in a thickness smaller than a maximum thickness of the light introducing portion. The light introducing portion has an inclined surface inclined toward the light guide-plate main body from a surface comprising a larger thickness than a thickness of the light guide-plate main body, on at least one of a surface at a light emission side and a surface opposite to the surface at the light emission side. The inclined surface has a main-inclined surface configured to be positioned in front of a light source arranged opposite to the end surface.
US09128216B2
The disclosed embodiments relate to functional and decorative lighting. A transparent body (100) comprises a plurality of light guides (130, 140) forming a matrix. Light is emitted from light sources (210, 220). In the cells of the matrix in which light from different light sources (210, 220) intersects, the light is mixed which results in different cells having different colors.
US09128212B2
A method of enhancing a geologic model of a subsurface region is provided. A bed topography of the subsurface region is obtained. The bed topography is defined by a plurality of cells with an elevation associated with each cell center. The bed topography is represented as a cell-centered piecewise constant representation based on the elevations associated with the cells. The bed topography is reconstructed to produce a spatially continuous surface. Flux and gravitation al force-related source terms are calculated based on the reconstructed bed topography. Fluxes are calculated between at least two of the cells. Fluid flow, deposition of sediments onto the bed, and/or erosion of sediments from the bed are predicted using the fluxes and gravitational force-related source terms. The predictions are inputted into the geologic model to predict characteristics of the subsurface region, and the predicted characteristics are outputted.
US09128205B2
The process of obtaining seismic data includes deploying a seismic energy source and seismic receivers, actuating the source, and detecting seismic energy resulting therefrom at the receivers. The process further includes digitally sampling seismic energy detected at the receivers indexed with respect to time to form a plurality of traces and sorting the traces to form a plurality of shot gathers. In addition, the process includes applying a depth migration technique to the shot gathers to generate two images according to the cross-correlation imaging condition (I0) and the gradient-based imaging condition (I1) for each shot gather. A reflection angle (θ) or a general domain parameter (α) is computed at each subsurface position and the images are mapped according to the corresponding reflection angle or the general domain parameter to form common image gathers. Amplitude correction is applied to common image gathers and the images and common image gathers are stored on non-transitory computer-readable media.
US09128203B2
Subsurface reservoir properties are predicted despite limited availability of well log and multiple seismic attribute data. The prediction is achieved by computer modeling with least square regression based on a support vector machine methodology. The computer modeling includes supervised computerized data training, cross-validation and kernel selection and parameter optimization of the support vector machine. An attributes selection technique based on cross-correlation is adopted to select most appropriate attributes used for the computerized training and prediction in the support vector machine.
US09128200B2
A method and apparatus is provided for detection of a particular material in an object, in particular in an item of luggage, by means of electromagnetic radiation in which the intensities of non-absorbed radiation from at least three radiation planes are measured and evaluated in associated detector apparatus, wherein an image is produced, initially from the intensities of the non-absorbed radiation, and then if single regions of low complexity are found which are characterized by approximately constant intensities, an estimation of the attenuation coefficient s performed and a material detection is carried out in the region according to an algorithm which calculates a three-dimensional reconstruction from different views.
US09128197B2
A system, a device, and a method for reading out X-ray information stored in a storage phosphor plate includes a storage phosphor plate and a device for reading out X-ray information stored in the storage phosphor plate including a light source for generating stimulating light that excites the storage phosphor plate to have it emit first emission light, and a detector for detecting the first emission light emitted by the storage phosphor plate. At least one marking is arranged and configured in such a way that stimulating light can impinge on the marking and can be at least partially reflected and/or scattered by the marking and/or can excite the marking to have it emit second emission light, wherein the reflected or scattered stimulating light, respectively, or emitted second emission light, respectively, can be detected by the detector, and marking information can be derived therefrom.
US09128187B2
A method and associated system for estimating a position of an object. A radio wave is received from each radio frequency identification (RFID) tag of N RFID tags affixed to the object at different positions at the object (N≧2). A position of each RFID tag is detected from the received radio waves. A position of each RFID tag is estimated from analysis of the detected positions. The estimating includes utilizing, for n=1, 2, . . . , N, a specified probability function P(′pn|pn) denoting a probability that the estimated position of RFID tag n is ′pn if the detected position of RFID tag n is pn, wherein ′pn and pn are vectors from an origin of a coordinate system to the detected position and the estimated position, respectively, of the RFID tag n. The position of the object is ascertained from analysis of the estimated positions.
US09128186B2
According to one embodiment, target tracking device includes track calculator and correction unit. Track calculator calculates a track of a target based on angular measurement of the target measured by a passive sensor. Correction unit sends correction data to the track calculator. Correction unit calculates correction data based on state vector of target input from an external device. Track calculator calculates track for each of a plurality of motion models based on angular measurement and correction data. Track calculator calculates the track of the target based on the track for each of the motion models. Track calculator calculates the track of the target by weighted sum of all tracks for the motion models.
US09128181B2
A method for monitoring the operability of a fill level sensor acting as a FMCW radar device in which the frequency of a radar signal to be sent from the fill sensor during measurement of a fill level of a medium is modulated with a set of pre-settable measuring parameters and a measured value of the fill level determined from at least one received signal received during measurement of the fill level. The method enables simple automatic monitoring of the operability of a fill level sensor acting as a FMCW radar device in that, during a test phase, the frequency of the radar signal to be sent is modulated with at least one set of pre-settable test parameters and a test measured value is determined from at least one test received signal received during the test phase, which is evaluated to establish the operability of the fill level sensor.
US09128176B2
Methods and apparatus are described for processing a set of GNSS signal data derived from code observations and carrier-phase observations at multiple receivers of GNSS signals of multiple satellites over multiple epochs, the GNSS signals having at least two carrier frequencies, comprising: forming an MW (Melbourne-Wübbena) combination per receiver-satellite pairing at each epoch to obtain a MW data set per epoch, and estimating from the MW data set per epoch an MW bias per satellite which may vary from epoch to epoch, and a set of WL (widelane) ambiguities, each WL ambiguity corresponding to one of a receiver-satellite link and a satellite-receiver-satellite link, wherein the MW bias per satellite is modeled as one of (i) a single estimation parameter and (ii) an estimated offset plus harmonic variations with estimated amplitudes.
US09128171B2
A detection and ranging system includes: a signal generator configured to generate M probe signals having different carrier frequencies; M transmitting elements configured to transmit the M probe signals; N receiving elements configured to receive an echo signal from a target; N demodulators provided for the N receiving elements, each of the demodulators being configured to generate a demodulated echo signal by demodulating an echo signal received by a corresponding one of the receiving elements by using at least one of the M probe signals, and to generate M sets of data signals corresponding to the M probe signals by filtering the demodulated echo signal in a frequency domain; and a signal processor configured to detect the target according to M×N sets of data signals generated by the N demodulators.
US09128170B2
The claimed subject matter provides a method for displaying a map comprising a location estimate on a mobile device. The method includes displaying an interface specifying a correction to the location estimate. The method also includes determining a revised location based on the correction. Additionally, the method includes displaying the map comprising the correction.
US09128168B2
Methods and kits of the invention are useful for calculating 24-hour excretion of sodium without the need to collect urine for 24 hours.
US09128163B2
In a voltage measuring apparatus for a plural battery according to the present invention, each of voltage detecting ICs (21-1) to (21-5) connects a switch SW1 to a reference voltage generator 24 and supplies a reference voltage Vf from the reference voltage generator 24 to an A/D converter 26. The A/D converter 26 digitizes the reference voltage Vf, which is transmitted to a main microcomputer 33. The main microcomputer 33 finds a theoretical value of the reference voltage according to an ambient temperature, compares the theoretical value with the measured value of the reference voltage Vf, and determines whether or not the voltage detecting accuracy of the first voltage detecting IC (21-1) is good.
US09128159B2
A method for estimating charge capacity of a lithium iron-phosphate battery pack using data from a plug-in charge event. A laboratory-measured battery pack resistance, which is known to remain constant over a battery pack's life, can be used to determine open circuit voltage from terminal voltage during charging. Actual open circuit voltage after charging can be measured later, after the battery pack has rested for a sufficient amount of time. The two values of open circuit voltage, if taken at points on the battery pack's SOC-OCV curve which have great enough slope, provide two values of battery pack state of charge. By integrating charging current over the time interval between the two open circuit voltage readings, and using the two state of charge values, the battery pack capacity can be determined from the plug-in charge data.
US09128152B2
The disclosure describes a process and apparatus for accessing devices on a substrate. The substrate may include only full pin JTAG devices (504), only reduced pin JTAG devices (506), or a mixture of both full pin and reduced pin JTAG devices. The access is accomplished using a single interface (502) between the substrate (408) and a JTAG controller (404). The access interface may be a wired interface or a wireless interface and may be used for JTAG based device testing, debugging, programming, or other type of JTAG based operation.
US09128144B2
A system and method of quantifying color and intensity of light sources including LEDs, HBLEDs (High Brightness LEDs), and other Solid State Lights (SSLs) using C-parameters to model a Spectral Power Distribution (SPD) to improve precision, accuracy, repeatability and usefulness of measurement of optical properties of wavelength and radiant flux in manufacturing of an object, designing products and processes that use the object, and describing/defining the object, is provided. In one embodiment, a method of characterizing a Solid State Light (SSL) source includes a SSL source under test (DUT), a Spectral Power Distribution (SPD) of light emission of the SSL source, a curve-fitting function, a set of configuration data comprising the order of the curve-fitting function, the number of nodes, wavelength boundary limits, saturation threshold, and noise floor threshold, a computing device for curve-fitting, node detection, iteration and program control and inputting and outputting data; and a set of C-Parameters, noise parameters, and confidence values.
US09128142B1
Provided is a spintronics device. The spintronics can include a ferromagnetic metal layer, a positive electrode disposed on a first surface portion of the ferromagnetic metal layer, and a negative electrode disposed on a second surface portion of the ferromagnetic metal.
US09128139B2
A method performs a diagnosis of a lambda sensor of a “UEGO” type of an exhaust system for an internal-combustion engine. The lambda sensor includes a series of pins. The diagnosis method comprises steps of: heating the lambda sensor to cause the lambda sensor to reach an inner temperature that is higher than about 600° C.; polarizing a first one of the pins by connecting the first pin to a supply voltage through a first limiting resistance; measuring a voltage of all of the pins while the first pin is connected to the supply voltage; and diagnosing a presence of a short circuit to an electrical ground if the voltage of at least one of the pins is lower than a predetermined threshold. A control unit performs the diagnosis.
US09128138B2
An electrical storage system includes: serially connected electrical storage blocks each including at least one electrical storage element; a voltage detection circuit connected to each electrical storage block via voltage detection lines; a protection circuit including an overvoltage protection element connected in parallel with each electrical storage block via the voltage detection lines and a first resistor connected in series with the overvoltage protection element; a discharge circuit connected in parallel with each overvoltage protection element via the voltage detection lines and in series with the first resistor, the discharge circuit including a second resistor having a larger resistance value than the first resistor; and a controller detecting an abnormality in the overvoltage protection elements by, while the electrical storage elements are not connected to the load, comparing a voltage of a discharging first electrical storage block with a voltage of a non-discharging second electrical storage block.
US09128137B2
A diagnostic tool for monitoring a component in a load electrical circuit is provided. The diagnostic tool includes a housing containing a relay, at least one electrical sensor, a computer readable memory and a processor. The relay is configured for selectively open and close the load electrical circuit according to a control electrical circuit. The at least one sensor is configured to measure current and/or voltage in the load electrical circuit and to generate signals corresponding to the electrical load drawn through the load electrical circuit. The processor is in electrical with the sensor or sensors and the computer readable memory for storing data in the computer readable memory corresponding to the signals generated by the sensor.
US09128133B2
Method and module for measuring the rate of change of frequency of a waveform related to a converter unit of a wind turbine generator, comprising: measuring an instantaneous value of said rate of change of frequency of the waveform, calculating a first filtered value of said rate of change of frequency, said first filtered value having good accuracy but low time response, and calculating a second filtered value of said rate of change of frequency said second filtered value having a good time response but low accuracy, comparing said first and second filtered values and selecting that an output value of said measured rate of change is based on said first or second filtered values depending on said comparison.
US09128127B2
Provided is a sensor device capable of removing the influence of each offset voltage of a sensor element, a differential amplifier, and an amplifier of the sensor device, to thereby detect a physical quantity with high precision. The sensor device includes: a switch circuit, which is connected to a first terminal pair and a second terminal pair of the sensor element, for controlling switching of the terminal pairs and outputting detection voltages; a differential amplifier, which includes a first input terminal and a second input terminal connected to a first output terminal and a second output terminal of the switch circuit, respectively, for outputting a result obtained by amplifying a difference of the detection voltages; an amplifier including at least two differential input pairs, one of which inputs the differential signal output from the differential amplifier, and at least one of which inputs a reference signal corresponding to a physical quantity to be detected; and a detection voltage setting circuit for outputting the reference signal to the amplifier.
US09128115B2
In accordance with the present inventive concept, there is provided a method for evaluating deceleration of a vehicle. The method comprises: measuring a deceleration of the vehicle during a first time interval, estimating a speed of the vehicle at a first time instant in a second time interval, which is different from the first time interval, based on the measured deceleration, measuring a speed of the vehicle at the first time instant, comparing the estimated speed to the measured speed, and generating a signal based on the comparison. There is also provided an apparatus for evaluating deceleration of a vehicle.
US09128113B2
A vehicle orientation indicator comprises a sensor and a controller. The sensor is configured to sense a gravitational force component imposed on a vehicle. The controller is configured to determine an orientation of the vehicle with respect to a fixed plane based on the sensed gravitational force component and control an indicator device to provide a representation of the orientation of the vehicle. The controller is further configured to control the indicator device to update the representation of the orientation of the vehicle based on a change in the sensed gravitational force component as sensed by the sensor while a movement condition of the vehicle meets a prescribed condition, and to control the indicator device to refrain from updating the representation of the orientation of the vehicle while the movement condition fails to meet the prescribed condition.
US09128107B2
Subject of the present invention are assays and in vitro methods for prediction of the progression of primary chronic kidney disease (CKD) or for monitoring chronic kidney disease therapy comprising the determination of the level of ANP and/or ADM or its precursors or fragments thereof.
US09128104B2
The invention belongs to the fields of diagnostic, prognostic, and monitoring assays of neurological disorders involving Tau dysfunction. A direct interaction between proteins FKBP52 and Tau is reported. Herein are described methods for testing a subject thought to have or be predisposed to having a neurological disorder involving Tau dysfunction; and also for preventing or treating a neurological disorder involving Tau dysfunction in a subject in need thereof.
