US07707077B2
An electronic transaction, in which a payment amount is deducted from a customer account and added to a provider account, is prepared in cooperation between an account computer and a browser-enabled customer computer. The account computer forwards invoice and credit information as well as calculation instructions in portions of a page to the customer computer. The customer computer interprets a first page portion with a browser to present different invoice items and credit items on a screen. A user selection of the invoice and credit items is received and then the payment amount is calculated by offsetting the amounts of the invoice and credit items with instructions in a second page portion. Thereafter, a response with the payment amount is returned to the account computer.
US07707075B2
A system and method for managing inventory data are provided. A travel server obtains inventory data from one or more inventory suppliers and stores the inventory data as SKU group, SKU and SKU inventory records. The travel server utilizes the SKU group, SKU and SKU inventory records to process user requests for available inventory and supplier inventory action requests.
US07707072B2
An embodiment relates generally to a method of managing entitlements. The method includes receiving an indication of at least one purchase of a product by a user and determining an entitlement history of the user. The method also includes determining a plurality of purchasing conditions based on the entitlement history state and the at least one purchase of the product and providing the plurality of purchasing conditions for a user to select.
US07707069B2
A server for a merchant computer system, the server comprising: a file store for storing a range of audio/video products in respective product files; a dialogue unit having a network connection and operable to invite and receive a client selection from among the products via the network connection; a product reader for reading the product files to generate a digital audio/video signal; a digital signal processing unit having an input connectable to receive the digital audio/video signal from the product reader, a processing core operable to apply a defined level of content degradation to the digital audio/video signal, and an output connected to output the degraded digital audio/video signal from the processing core to the network connection. It is therefore possible for a content provider to change the characteristics of an audio or video data stream supplied over a network to a potential purchaser in a controlled and variable manner. The amount of degradation is sufficient to enable a potential purchaser to appreciate the characteristics of the audio or video product, whilst reducing the perceived quality.
US07707065B1
A method is provided for distributing information or services through a network. A piece of information or service to be distributed is composed and a list of intended recipients is compiled (301, 301′, 302, 601, 602). Said piece of information or service is released (304, 304′, 603) so that it becomes accessible to the recipients appearing on said list. As a response to an indication (305, 401, 606) of a certain recipient having accessed (605) said piece of information or service, an account associated with said certain recipient is credited (306, 608).
US07707061B2
A systematic method for detecting trends based on outcomes generated by a first process, comprising: (a) determining all possible outcomes associated with the first process, wherein the first process is associated with a range of possible outcomes; (b) coding the possible outcomes to provide a plurality of separate groups, wherein each possible outcome is systematically allocated to one of the groups; (c) allocating an identifier to each of the groups; (d) monitoring in real time the first process such that actual outcomes generated by the first process are mapped to an identifier in accordance with coding step (b); (e) providing a matrix comprised of a plurality of cells arranged in rows; (f) allocating each identifier generated in step (d) to said matrix in accordance with the exeleon allocation procedure; and (g) repeating step (f) until a trend of duplicating identifiers becomes self evident.
US07707056B1
A schedule for a network of transportation resources is produced by generating a proposed schedule that satisfies at least one predefined constraint using constraint programming. Multiple schedule alternatives including the proposed schedule and at least one alternative to the proposed schedule are identified, and the schedule alternatives are analyzed using an objective function to identify a refined schedule.
US07707051B2
A game that serves to educate a player about the decision making process for determining the cost of a premium for insurance coverage for an entity. The player(s) and/or team(s) select a fictitious name for an insurance company. The company can subsequently bid on providing insurance coverage for an entity. Several rounds of bidding on insurance premiums for providing insurance coverage to an entity can be played before determining a winner of the game. A round consists of a player(s) and/or team(s) bidding on the amount to charge for an insurance premium to insure the entity for a particular period of time, such as one year. The winner of a round is the insurance company (player/team) that provides the lowest bid for the insurance premium for the particular period of time.
US07707046B2
Methods and systems are described for automated processing of medical data for insurance and disability determinations. Based on medical conditions claimed by a claimant, medical evidence queries are automatically generated to provide instructions to medical providers for conducting physical exams and laboratory tests and for retrieving medical records. After medical evidence is collected according to the queries, the medical evidence and related rating codes and decisions are displayed to rating personnel in a user-friendly format to assist in making a rating decision.
US07707045B2
A system and method for receiving medical or other database information and pregrouping and extending that data include a data enhancement layer configured to generate additional stored dimensions capturing the data and relevant attributes. Data sources such as hospitals, laboratories and others may therefore communicate their clinical data to a central warehousing facility which may assemble and extend the resulting aggregated data for data mining purposes. Varying source format and content may be conditioned and conformed to a consistent physical or logical structure. The source data may be extended and recombined into additional related dimensions, pre-associating meaningful attributes for faster querying and storage. Users running analytics against the resulting medical or other datamarts may therefore access a richer set of related information as well as have their queries and other operations run more efficiently.
US07707042B1
A system and method for estimating needed medical supplies based on a selected predefined operational scenario. A predefined operational scenario may be modified, a new operational scenario may be built, or a predefined operational scenario may be imported from an external source. A computer-readable program, system and method is provided for enabling a user to produce a query concerning relationships between patient conditions, tasks and medical supplies needed in specific locations. The production of a report or query is performed by referencing a database containing data pertaining to patient conditions, functional locations at which patients are to be treated (triage, operating room, etc.), equipment available in defined functional areas, tasks associated with treatment of defined patient conditions, medical supplies needed to carry out each defined task, and relationships therebetween, and determining needed medical supplies based on use data input and data contained in the database.
US07707039B2
Systems and methods for quickly and easily getting information about, or included in, a paper document into a public or private digital page. One embodiment of an example system includes a scanner that generates scan information from at least a portion of a paper document and a processing system that receives the generated scan information from the scanner, accesses a database of digital documents, searches the database based on the received scan information, locates a digital document corresponding to the paper document, and sends either the digital content or a hyperlink to the digital content to a predetermined web page.
US07707031B2
Large scale subjective signal quality measurements for a mobile radio communications system are made using a large number of handheld subscriber radio communication units moving at various positions in the mobile radio communications system. Each handheld subscriber unit stores a copy of a test voice or video signal stream as does a quality management network node. An uplink subjective signal quality for each such handheld subscriber unit is determined based on a comparison of the stored test signal and the received test signal from the handheld subscriber unit. A downlink subjective signal quality to each handheld unit is based on the returned test signal stream received from the handheld subscriber unit and the stored test signal stream. Because the handheld units do not perform the subjective quality comparison calculations, ordinary subscriber units that do not require significant extra data processing resources associated with those calculations may be used.
US07707030B2
A filter bank device for generating a complex spectral representation of a discrete-time signal includes a generator for generating a block-wise real spectral representation, which, for example, implements an MDCT, to obtain temporally successive blocks of real spectral coefficients. The output values of this spectral conversion device are fed to a post-processor for post-processing the block-wise real spectral representation to obtain an approximated complex spectral representation having successive blocks, each block having a set of complex approximated spectral coefficients, wherein a complex approximated spectral coefficient can be represented by a first partial spectral coefficient and by a second partial spectral coefficient, wherein at least one of the first and second partial spectral coefficients is determined by combining at least two real spectral coefficients. A good approximation for a complex spectral representation of the discrete-time signal is obtained by combining two real spectral coefficients, preferably by a weighted linear combination, wherein additionally more degrees of freedom for optimizing the entire system are available.
US07707021B2
A circuit emulation system and method are provided, the system including at least one trace chain and a trace memory in signal communication with the at least one trace chain for sequentially receiving values and feeding them back through the chain to their original storage unit positions; and the method including modeling the circuit, providing at least one storage unit in the model, emulating the circuit with the model, extracting a state of the at least one storage unit during emulation, storing the extracted state, and restoring the stored state through a feedback loop.
US07707017B2
A system modeling facilitating method and apparatus, wherein, entities and interactions among the entities are introduced gradually starting from critical entities in a system to form an abstract view of the entities. An associated sub-module is built for at least one of the entities and interfaces to other entities are formed for the sub-module. Representations of behaviors and logical relations among the behaviors, as well as links between its interfaces and representations of behaviors are built. When an entity is extended to be a sub-module, other entities appear in abstract form, forming a local view of sub-module together with the other entities shown in abstract form. A global view can be formed by combining the sub-modules depicted in the local view based on the interaction described in the abstract view.
US07707015B2
In one aspect, a method of instructing at least one operator in a best practices implementation of a process for managing resource capacity in an information technology (IT) environment is provided. The method comprising providing instructions to the at least one operator to perform acts of: (A) creating at least one model of at least some aspects of the IT environment; (B) analyzing the at least one model to determine cost information relating to the modeled IT environment; (C) applying at least one simulated use condition to the at least one model; (D) analyzing performance of the at least one model under the at least one simulated use condition to determine information relating to at least a utilization of resources in the modeled IT environment and to determine resources in the modeled IT environment that create performance bottlenecks in the modeled IT environment; and (E) modifying at least one aspect of the at least one model impacting resource capacity based on the information determined in (B) and/or (D).
US07707005B2
Histograms formed based on samples of a population, such as histograms created from random page-level samples of a data store, are intelligently scaled to histograms estimating distribution of the entire population of the data store. As an optional optimization, where a threshold number of duplicate samples are observed during page-level sampling, the number of distinct values in the overall population data is presumed to be the number of distinct values in the sample data. Also, during estimation of distinct values of an overall population, a “Chao” estimator can optionally be utilized as a lower bound of the estimate. The resulting estimate is then used when scaling, which can take domain knowledge of the data being scaled into account in order to prevent scaled estimates from exceeding the limits of the domain. Also, a “sum of the parts” mathematical relationship can be taken into account during scaling that the sum of the scaled distinct values for each bin of an estimate histogram should total an estimate for the total distinct values of the entire population.
US07707000B2
Test instruments constituting an automatic test system are characterized in terms of execution time data. The execution time data is composed of a set of execution times. Each of the execution times is the time required for the test instrument to perform a respective testing operation. The test instruments additionally have the ability to communicate their respective execution time data to such recipients as others of the test instruments, the system controller and recipients outside the automatic test system. Additionally, such test instruments have the ability to communicate test results to at least one other of the test instruments and the ability to process test results received from at least one other of the test instruments. Such characterization, communication and processing allows a system integrator to devise execution time-dependent test programs as part of a test suite that allows test throughput to be maximized.
US07706998B2
Systems and methods for synchronizing communication between devices include using a test circuit to measure a propagation time through a delay circuit. The propagation time is used to determine an initial delay value within a delay lock loop. This delay value is then changed until a preferred delay value, resulting in synchronization, is found. In various embodiments, used of the initial delay value increases the speed, reliability or other beneficial features of the synchronization.
US07706997B2
A method for measuring the temperature dependency of a sensor element for a variable, the value of which varies with the temperature, for any liquid. The method includes the steps of changing the temperature of the liquid over time, simultaneously collecting the data produced by the sensor element, and thereafter using the data produced by the sensor element at the different temperatures to determine coefficients for compensation algorithms of the temperature dependencies of the sensor element, thus producing a correlation between the change in temperature and the other measured variables.
US07706992B2
The present invention provides a system and method for representing quasi-periodic (“qp”) waveforms comprising, representing a plurality of limited decompositions of the qp waveform, wherein each decomposition includes a first and second amplitude value and at least one time value. In some embodiments, each of the decompositions is phase adjusted such that the arithmetic sum of the plurality of limited decompositions reconstructs the qp waveform. These decompositions are stored into a data structure having a plurality of attributes. Optionally, these attributes are used to reconstruct the qp waveform, or patterns or features of the qp wave can be determined by using various pattern-recognition techniques. Some embodiments provide a system that uses software, embedded hardware or firmware to carry out the above-described method. Some embodiments use a computer-readable medium to store the data structure and/or instructions to execute the method.
US07706988B2
A method of predicting at least one physical change in crack geometry of a crack in a pipeline based on in-line inspection operating pressure is presented. In one method, a first test on a pipeline is performed at a first pressure, which obtains a first set of test data. A second test is performed on the pipeline at a second pressure, obtaining a second set of test data. The first and second sets of test data are compared for any difference. A run comparison software processing device may be employed. In other methods, finite element analysis of crack-like dimensions is performed to predict Crack Mouth Opening Displacement (CMOD) for a given set of crack dimensions for a surface-breaking crack and inline pipe inspection operating run pressure. Another method predicts probability of detection of a crack associated with a given CMOD as a function of pressure in successive inspections.
US07706985B2
In a non-limiting, exemplary system for in-situ monitoring of a composite workpiece, at least one ultrasonic testing transducer is mounted to a surface of a composite workpiece and configured to transmit and receive ultrasonic energy to and from the composite workpiece during mechanical loading of the composite workpiece. An ultrasonic pulser/receiver is operatively coupled to the at least one ultrasonic testing transducer. A computing system is operatively coupled to the ultrasonic pulser/receiver. The computing system includes a data acquisition component configured to acquire data from the ultrasonic pulser/receiver and a data analysis component configured to analyze the acquired data. The data analysis component may be further configured to analyze the acquired data for initiation of failure of the composite workpiece and/or growth of failure of the composite workpiece. Further, failure of the composite workpiece may include cracking and/or delaminating and/or disbonding.
US07706980B2
A method and apparatus for testing a blowout preventer (BOP) wherein a pressurization unit applies fluid to an isolated portion of the throughbore of the BOP. A signal that is representative of the actual pressure in the isolated portion of the throughbore over successive time points and a pre-determined non-deterministic finite state automaton are used to predict the pressure in the isolated portion of the throughbore as a function of time relative to a pre-determined acceptable leak rate and the time at which stability is achieved. In one embodiment stability is achieved when successive predicted pressures are within a predetermined difference over a predetermined interval of time. Visual indications are provided to depict the progress of testing.
US07706971B2
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to systems and methods for identifying and eliminating discrepancies in electronic maps. Embodiments of a method and system for correcting discrepancies in an electronic map includes receiving location information from one or more computing devices using the electronic map, identifying a discrepancy between the electronic map and the location information, and altering the electronic map to eliminate the discrepancy.
US07706964B2
Sensing, learning, inference, and route analysis methods are described that center on the development and use of models that predict road speeds. In use, the system includes a receiver component that receives a traffic system representation, the traffic system representation includes velocities for a plurality of road segments over different contexts. A predictive component analyzes the traffic system representation and automatically assigns velocities to road segments within the traffic system representation, thereby providing more realistic velocities for different contexts where only statistics and/or posted speed limits were available before. The predictive component makes predictions about velocities for road segments at a current time or at specified times in the future by considering available velocity information as well as such information as the properties of roads, geometric relationships among roads of different types, proximal terrain and businesses, and other resources near road segments, and/or contextual information.
US07706963B2
A probe-vehicle traffic information system for and method of gathering traffic data utilizing a host probe vehicle having onboard exterior sensors. The host vehicle is configured to detect at least one condition from at least one traveling target vehicle, aggregate and process the condition data, and report only the processed data to a traffic information center, so as to reduce the number of simultaneous communication channels typically required to report condition data from a plurality of probe vehicles.
US07706941B2
A method and system for coordinating a vehicle stability control system with a suspension damper control sub-system includes a plurality of dampers, each of which are controlled directly by the suspension damper control sub-system. A plurality of sensors sense a plurality of vehicle parameters. A supervisory controller generates vehicle damper commands based on the plurality of vehicle parameters for each of the dampers. A damper controller in electrical communication with the supervisory controller receives the vehicle damper commands and generates sub-system damper commands based on a portion of the plurality of vehicle parameters for each of the dampers. The damper controller also determines if any of the vehicle damper commands for any one of the dampers has authority over the corresponding sub-system damper command. The damper controller then determines a modified sub-system damper command for each of the dampers in which the corresponding vehicle damper command has authority, wherein the modified sub-system damper command is based on the vehicle damper command and the sub-system damper command.
US07706939B2
In a data recording apparatus for recording control parameters in a control unit in a vehicle, it is determined whether or not the control unit has terminated an operation for outputting control parameters to be recorded. Then, when it is determined that the control unit has terminated the operation, shut-down processing is executed at a timing at which the termination of the operation is determined for shutting down a power supply to the data recording apparatus.
US07706934B2
A portable guide device is characterized by comprising a transport facility start judgment means for judging that a transport facility has begun to move if a period where an acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor (SN3) is included continuously in an acceleration range at the time of starting movement is not shorter than the acceleration continuation time; a distance calculation means for calculating the moving distance of the transport facility according to an acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor (SN3) when start of movement of the transport facility is detected; a route information storage means (KC6A) for storing route information including information on a distance between stations of the transport facility and station identifying information for identifying each station; and an announcement device control means (KC1) for controlling an announcement unit (11) which announces guidance of a station to a user of the portable guide device according to the station identification information on an entraining station, route information, and the moving distance.
US07706932B2
According to the method of the invention, control parameters V indicating speed, R indicating turn characteristics and γ indicating a path angle are determined such that these parameters are maintained between limits, and such that one of them deviates as little as possible from a corresponding control input parameter Ri. In order to maintain (as much as possible) the value of R unchanged, V can be varied. The method may include the calculation of the maximum and minimum thrust available.
US07706929B2
A preheating control system of an information processing device and a control method thereof are described. The system includes a temperature sensing module, a first controller, a heating module, and a second controller. After receiving a power ON signal, the first controller shifts to a primary control mode and determines whether temperature of the hard disk satisfies an operating temperature scope or not. When the temperature does not satisfy the operating temperature scope, the heating module is used to heat the hard disk. When the temperature satisfies the operating temperature scope, the first controller shifts to a secondary control mode and activates the second controller to execute a boot program of the information processing device, thereby improving system stability.
US07706928B1
A system that establishes a local dynamic data link between an energy management system (EMS) and a security system (SS) within a building. A power management device, including a monitor module that directly monitors energy usage of at least one energy load to generate at least one measurement of energy usage by said at least one energy load; and a security module operatively coupled to the monitor module.
US07706917B1
A navigational control system for an autonomous robot includes a transmitter subsystem having a stationary emitter for emitting at least one signal. An autonomous robot operating within a working area utilizes a receiving subsystem to detect the emitted signal. The receiver subsystem has a receiver for detecting the emitted signal emitted by the emitter and a processor for determining a relative location of the robot within the working area upon the receiver detecting the signal.
US07706913B2
A method for machining a workpiece 1 by means of a rotating cutting tool 2, in which the tool 2 is moved along paths 3 relative to the workpiece 1, characterized in that limits of machining portions to be machined by means of at least one tool 2 are determined, that within the range of the limits of machining portions to be machined by means of the tool 2 an infeed and/or lifting movement of the tool 2 is defined and that the infeed or lifting movement during machining of the workpiece 1 is carried out within the range of the limits of machining portions to be machined by means of the tool 2.
US07706908B2
The invention relates to a method for positioning a wafer (3) with a reference mark (6) in a vacuum processing unit with a transport chamber containing a transport device (2, 20, 21) for moving the wafers (3) in a plane to a process chamber arranged on said chamber and a single sensor (1), arranged within the transport chamber before the process chamber for recording the position of the wafer (3) by means of recording the edge thereof at a first detection point (4) and a second detection point (5), such that the actual position of the wafer (12) with a known wafer diameter can be determined with electronic analysis of both measured detection points (4, 5) and the transport device (2, 20, 21) guides the wafer (3) to a desired set position. The wafer (3) is aligned in a given position on the transport device (2, 20, 21) in relation to the reference marks (6) thereof and the projection of the reference marks (6) determines a non-permitted zone (22) along a direction of movement on the wafer (3) and hence defines a free zone on the remainder of the wafer (3). The sensor (1) is arranged in the transport chamber such as to guarantee that the non-permitted zone (22) is not scanned and the sensor (1) can thus only record the circular art of the wafer edge and not parts of the reference mark (6).
US07706907B2
A substrate processing apparatus is provided, which can place a substrate in a correct position, even though a positional error occurs between the substrate carried in a processing vessel and a placing table. This substrate processing apparatus can take a necessary action immediately against a positional error of the substrate generated when the substrate is separated from the placing table after completion of a process. The plasma apparatus 1 includes a processing vessel 11, lifting pins 34 provided in the processing vessel 11, and a detecting head 22. A wafer W is carried into the processing vessel 11 from the exterior of the processing vessel 11 by using a carrying apparatus 6, and is stopped in a transferring position above the lifting pins 34. Thereafter, the detecting head 22 is moved from an evacuation position to a detection position, so as to obtain positional error information between a current position in which the wafer W is currently held and a programmed position in which the transfer of the wafer W is to be carried out. Based on the positional error information, the transferring position of the wafer W is corrected by using the carrying apparatus 6, such that an amount of the positional error between the current position W and the programmed position is within an allowable range.
US07706906B2
A sensor net system including: a sensor node which includes: a sensor which obtains sensor data of a worker; a radio frequency circuit which notifies a server of the sensor data; and a server which includes: a relation list for correlating the sensor data with work status of the worker; a unit for confirming the work status of the worker based on the obtained sensor data by using the relation list; a unit for displaying the confirmed work status on a display unit connected to the server.
US07706899B2
An adaptive cascade proportional-integral-derivative controller produces a fixed controller output including a fixed proportional-integral-derivative and a fixed feedforward controller command, and an adaptive controller output including an adaptive cascade PID and an adaptive feedforward command all from a reference command. The fixed controller output and the adaptive controller output are added to produce a control command for a controlled system, which provides a measure of an output and a rate of change of the output as feedback for the controller.
US07706893B2
The present invention is a micro-machined electrode for neural-electronic interfaces which can achieve a ten times lower impedance and higher charge injection limit for a given material and planar area.
US07706891B2
An electrophysiology catheter includes an elongate catheter body having a distal end and a proximal end, a catheter tip including at least one metallic catheter component, such as an electrode, thereon, and at least one internal catheter component joined to the at least one metallic catheter component. The at least one internal catheter component includes a shape memory alloy and a metal compound that is capable of both bonding with the shape memory alloy and being metallurgically joined to the at least one metallic catheter component as by brazing. The metal compound may be a coating on or a core within the shape memory alloy. Suitable metal compounds include, without limitation, nickel, copper, brass, and combinations thereof.
US07706881B1
Techniques are provided for improving cardiac output and also suppressing certain forms of apnea/hypopnea within a patient using an implantable medical device, such as a pacemaker or ICD. In one example, a selected pacing parameter—usually the pacing rate—is temporarily altered by an amount sufficient to elevate cardiac output, the elevation in cardiac output being eventually reduced by intrinsic compensatory mechanisms within the patient. The pacing parameter is then temporarily reset for a duration sufficient to allow the compensatory mechanisms to return toward a previous state so as to permit a subsequent alteration in the pacing parameter to again elevate cardiac output. The pacing parameter is repeatedly altered and reset so as to achieve an overall increase in cardiac output despite the intrinsic compensatory mechanisms. The increase in cardiac output is often sufficient to suppress certain forms of apnea/hypopnea, particularly apnea/hypopnea arising from Cheyne-Stokes Respiration (CSR).
US07706877B2
An implanted cardiac device detects an atrial arrhythmia and provides periodically updated atrial arrhythmia status as long as the arrhythmia is ongoing. A patient may request an indication of ongoing atrial arrhythmia status from external to the patient using a patient activator. The patient activator may include a magnet for closing a reed switch in the implanted device to provide the request or may provide the request over a telemetry link to the implanted device. The implanted device may provide the requested atrial arrhythmia status and other information in the form of an audible tone produced by the implanted device or as a message telemetered from the implanted device to the patient activator. The patient activator may include a tone detector and display for providing a visual indication of the atrial arrhythmia status indication. The magnet activator may also be employed to request or withhold atrial shock therapy.
US07706875B2
A method of treating a patient undergoing pharmacotherapy with a selected drug for treatment of a medical disorder is provided which comprises: (a) administering the selected drug to said patient at a first time point, to treat the medical disorder; and (b) applying an electrical signal to a vagus nerve of the patient at a second time point, wherein the signal is selected so as to modulate at least one pharmacologic and/or pharmacokinetic property of the selected drug in the body of the patient. The vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) modulated drug therapy may be performed secondarily to, and in conjunction with, application of a primary VNS therapy to the patient for treatment of the same or a different medical disorder, to enhance treatment of the patient.
US07706871B2
Disclosed is a system and method of assessing the efficacy of and predicting response to treatment of neurological or psychological disorders. The preferred embodiment uses at least two surface electrodes to acquire EEG signals from the surface of a patient's body, a processor for computing from the EEG signals various features and indices that are representative of the patient's neurological or psychological state. Pretreatment indices represent a patient's neurological or psychological state and therefore may be used to predict the response to treatment. Changes in these parameters may be used to assess the efficacy of treatment and to modify the treatment to optimize the resultant patient state.
US07706864B2
An electrical method and apparatus for stimulating cardiac cells causing contraction to force hemodynamic output during fibrillation, hemodynamically compromising tachycardia, or asystole. Forcing fields are applied to the heart to give cardiac output on an emergency basis until the arrhythmia ceases or other intervention takes place. The device is used as a stand alone external or internal device, or as a backup to an ICD, atrial defibrillator, or an anti-tachycardia pacemaker. The method and apparatus maintain some cardiac output and not necessarily defibrillation.
US07706856B2
A system and method for controlling thermal output of a medical device is disclosed. A thermal controller receives operational parameters for an impending use of a medical device and predicts a thermal output of the medical device from the operational parameters. The thermal controller compares the predicted thermal output to a desired limit on thermal output and, if the predicted thermal output exceeds the desired limit on thermal output, dynamically controls power consumption by the medical device to maintain an actual thermal output substantially at or below the desired limit on thermal output during use of the medical device.
US07706851B2
Apparatus, and an associated method, for companding communication data. Companding is provided for a two-way radio communication station operable pursuant to a coded squelch scheme, such as an MURS or FRS radio. A baseband processor invokes compression operations upon originating communication data that is originated at the communication station. And, the processor invokes operation of expansion operations when the communication data comprises terminating data.
US07706838B2
The interactive authentication system allows a consumer to interact with a base station, such as broadcast media (e.g., television and radio) or PC, to receive coupons, special sales offers, and other information with an electronic card. The electronic card can also be used to transmit a signal that can be received by the base station to perform a wide variety of tasks. These tasks can include launching an application, authenticating a user at a website, and completing a sales transaction at a website (e.g., by filling out a form automatically). The interaction between the base station and the electronic card is accomplished by using the conventional sound system in the base station so that a special reader hardware need not be installed to interact with the electronic card. The user is equipped with an electronic card that can receive and transmit data via sound waves. In the various embodiments, the sound waves can be audible or ultrasonic (which can be slightly audible to some groups of people).
US07706836B2
Aspects of a method and system for a radio data service (RDS) demodulator for a single chip integrated Bluetooth and frequency modulation (FM) transceiver and baseband processor are presented. Aspects of the system may include circuitry on a single chip that enables demodulation of an RDS signal, filtering of the RDS signal, and detection of binary bits in the filtered RDS signal. The filtered RDS signal may be generated by filtering the RDS signal based on a raised cosine filter, or a doublet filter. In general, the RDS signal may also be filtered by a filter that is a first, or greater derivative of a Gaussian filter in either the time or frequency domain. Aspects of the method may include demodulating the RDS signal, filtering the RDS signal, and detecting binary bits in the filtered RDS signal.
US07706834B2
A mobile terminal is provided having an radio frequency identification (RFID) function and includes an antenna which transmits and receives a radio signal; a radio frequency identification matching circuit which changes an operating band of the antenna to a frequency band where an RFID radio signal is input and output; a communication module which processes a mobile communication radio signal transmitted and received via the antenna; and a switch which connects the antenna to either the communication module or the RFID matching circuit according to whether an RFID function is used or not. Accordingly, the compactness of the mobile terminal can be realized, and the RFID communication performance can be enhanced.
US07706833B2
A unified dual-mode global system for mobile communication (GSM)/universal mobile telecommunication systems (UMTS) clock and a transceiver employing the unified GSM/UMTS clock are disclosed. A reference clock generates a reference clock signal and a local oscillator (LO) generates a LO signal based on the reference clock signal. A frequency divider selectively generates either a GSM clock signal or a UMTS clock signal by converting a frequency of the LO signal by a predetermined factor. Both the GSM clock signal and the UMTS clock signal are generated based on the common reference clock signal. The reference clock signal frequency may be a GSM fundamental frequency or a UMTS fundamental frequency. An interpolator and/or a decimator may be used for matching frequencies of UMTS baseband signal and the UMTS clock signal or frequencies of GSM baseband signal and the GSM clock signal.
US07706826B2
A satellite radiotelephone system includes a space-based component that is configured to communicate with multiple radiotelephones over multiple frequency bands and/or multiple air interfaces. An ancillary terrestrial network is configured to communicate terrestrially with the multiple radiotelephones over substantially the multiple frequency bands and/or substantially the multiple air interfaces. An aggregate radiated power controller is configured to limit an aggregate radiated power by the multiple radiotelephones to a maximum aggregate radiated power.
US07706822B2
A method is used by a mesh point that includes one or more step of receiving one of a beacon and probe response from an other mesh point; setting a state of whether the mesh point is already synchronized with one or more peers to true and performing a beacon timing synchronization function when the mesh point is in the unsynchronized state and the other mesh point requests synchronization from a peer mesh point; adding an identity of the other mesh point to a database of beacon senders maintained by the mesh point and performing a beacon timing synchronization function when the mesh point and the other mesh point are both synchronized; and providing indications of whether the mesh point supports synchronization, requests synchronization from a peer mesh point, and is already synchronized with one or more peer.
US07706813B2
A positioning method in a SUPL based position information (positioning) system, and particularly a positioning method capable of variously efficiently performing an area-based positioning (location tracking) performed by a location server or a mobile communications terminal when the location server and the mobile communications terminal respectively manage triggers generating the area-based positioning.
US07706810B1
The present invention is a position-based interleave regulation system for communications devices. The device may comprise one or more of the following features: (a) a global positioning system (GPS) receiver capable of receiving positioning data from GPS satellites; (b) a radio frequency (RF) transceiver having at least a first channel and a second channel; (c) a geographical information system (GIS) database of topographical data; (d) a processor capable of optimizing transceiving parameters of the RF transceiver based on the positioning data and topographical data; and (e) a bus linking the GPS receiver, RF transceiver, GIS database, and processor.
US07706809B2
Described is an RFID tracking system, an RFID tag and method, The tag includes a memory storing identification data and a radio frequency transceiver receiving a signal from a first wireless transceiver. The first wireless transceiver is part of a wireless wide area network (WWAN). The radio frequency transceiver transmits a response signal including the identification data to at least one second wireless transceiver. The at least one second wireless transceiver being part of a wireless local area network (WLAN). A location of the RFID tag is determined as a function of the response signal.
US07706805B2
Embodiments of the invention include a method and software for pre-allocating bandwidth for time-sensitive data such as voice data, for allocating some of the pre-allocated bandwidth to calls, and for timely delivery of frames that include time-sensitive data such as voice data in both the uplink and downlink direction for calls between an access point, e.g., a quality-assured access point (Q-AP) and one or more of its client stations.
US07706789B2
A system, apparatus, method and article to manage roaming in a wireless communication system are described. An apparatus may include a first wireless device having a processor to receive roaming information for a second wireless device from a third wireless device, and send the roaming information to the second wireless device to establish a connection with the third wireless device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US07706773B2
A system and method are provided for managing emergency services received by a mobile terminal having a temporary wireless directory number (TDN). The system includes an emergency call register (ECR) network and a disaster recovery call center (DRCC). The DRCC authorizes the mobile terminal to receive emergency services and provides service information for managing the emergency services to the ECR network if the mobile terminal is authorized to receive the emergency services.
US07706771B2
A voice data and RF integrated circuit (IC) receives at least one power status signal indicating an inductive power status of an off-chip inductive power module, the inductive power status including an inductive power ready state, and the at least one power status signal further indicating a battery power status of a battery. A selected one of a plurality of power modes is determined based on the at least one power status signal. A power mode signal is generated based on the selected one of the plurality of power modes. A plurality of power supply signals are generated based on the power mode signal.
US07706770B2
An integrated circuit includes an on-chip antenna interface, coupled to an off-chip antenna interface having at least one off-chip filter component that forms a programmable filter with the at least one off-chip filter component. The programmable filter is programmable based on a control signal. An RF receiver generates inbound data in response to a received signal from the programmable filter.
US07706769B2
A zero-IF receiver includes an adaptive filter that is enabled when intermodulation distortion is detected. The adaptive filter is configured as a notch filter that is centered at the location of the second-order intermodulation distortion, which, in a zero-IF receiver, is at zero Hertz. In a preferred embodiment, the frequency response of the high pass filter that is typically used in a conventional zero-IF receiver is adjusted when intermodulation distortion is detected. Preferably, the detection of the intermodulation distortion is based on one or more of the digital baseband signals, for ease of implementation, but analog processing may also be employed.
US07706766B2
Certain aspects of a method and system for programmable biasing mechanism for a mobile digital television environment are disclosed. Aspects of one method may include controlling a bias of components within each of a plurality of radio frequency (RF) front-ends that comprise low noise amplifiers (LNAs) integrated within a single chip multi-band RF receiver, and of components within each of a plurality of baseband processors integrated within the single chip multi-band RF receiver. The controlling of the bias is based on signal power measurements within the integrated RF front-ends and within the baseband processors, and each of the plurality of RF front-ends handles processing of at least one of: a received UHF signal and a received L-band signal.
US07706756B2
A technique is provided for achieving reduction in size of an electronic device with a power amplifier circuit, while enhancing the performance of the electronic device. An RF power module for a mobile communication device includes first and second semiconductor chips, a passive component, and first and second integrated passive components, which are mounted over a wiring board. In the first semiconductor chip, MISFET elements constituting power amplifier circuits for the GSM 900 and for the DCS 1800 are formed, and a control circuit is also formed. In the first integrated passive component, a low pass filter circuit for the GSM 900 is formed, and in the second integrated passive component, a low pass filter circuit for the DCS 1800 is formed. In the second semiconductor chip, antenna switch circuits for the GSM 900 and DCS 1800 are formed. Over the upper surface of the wiring board, the second semiconductor chip is disposed next to the first semiconductor chip between the integrated passive components.
US07706753B2
The present invention provides a system for wide-range microwave communications over wireline networks. In an exemplary embodiment, a wide-range transceiver is made having pre-calibrated modular units including an IF radio processing card, an RF transmitter module, and an RF receiver module. Calibration factors are loaded into a memory (e.g., EEPROM) in each module during production. Certain additional calibration factors may also be loaded upon installation, such as a one time calibration for the type and length of cable connecting the RF unit to a remote SPU (signal processing unit). A processor in the RF unit is responsive to control signaling indicating a desired transmitter or receiver configuration (e.g., a particular frequency, bandwidth and modulation), to attenuate the signal in the transmitter/receiver path based on the predetermined calibration factors from the applicable modules. A method for calibrating the modules is also disclosed.
US07706748B2
Methods are provided to operate a communications system including a satellite and a satellite gateway. In particular, a feeder link may be provided between the satellite and the satellite gateway over a feeder link frequency band for communication of information between the satellite gateway and the satellite. A service link may be provided between the satellite and at least one radioterminal in a coverage area of the satellite over a service link frequency band. Moreover, the feeder link and service link frequency bands may be different. In addition, a frequency segment of the feeder link may be linearly translated from the feeder link frequency band to the service link frequency band to provide a frequency segment of the service link. Related satellites are also discussed.
US07706742B2
A communications module is disclosed for facilitating wireless electronic communications with an electronic device. The communications module includes a processor and a wireless module in electronic communication with the processor for wireless communications with the electronic device. A paging module is also included that is in electronic communication with the processor for communicating with a computer through a paging network. The communications module also includes a modem in electronic communication with the processor for communicating with the computer through a communications network. Further, memory is in electronic communication with the processor for storing data.
US07706741B2
A method for controlling operation of an integrated mobile communication and broadcast program reproduction device and of operating the device includes monitoring an occurrence of a trigger event at the device; and upon occurrence of the trigger event, recording a broadcast program signal received by the device. An integrated mobile communication and broadcast program reproduction device has a trigger event monitor and a broadcast program recorder for recording a broadcast program when a trigger event occurs. A trigger event may be receipt of an incoming call, the making of an outgoing call, the identification of predetermined content in a received program and the start of a predetermined program. Different trigger events may be prioritized. Recorded material may be reproduced, with broadcast material being received being recorded whilst previously recorded material is reproduced.
US07706740B2
Disclosed are apparatus and methods operable to distribute targeted content. Additionally, disclosed are corresponding apparatus and methods operable to selectively choose and cache selected ones from among the distributed targeted content, and to further choose ones from among the cached content to present on a device. In some aspects, selective caching of content may be based upon a match between predetermined content attribute information and predetermined profile information. Further, in some aspects, an indicator is operable to trigger the selective inclusion of one or more of the cached content in a presentation of other content, which may be based on a match between a desired content attribute associated with the indicator and the respective predetermined content attribute information of the cached content.
US07706739B2
An example system comprises one or more base stations, each base station associated with a cell, a Channel-to-Subscriber Management Entity operable to register a channel and a plurality of subscribers to that channel, wherein each subscriber is located in at least one of the cells, and a router operable to send media content associated with the channel to the one or more base stations, wherein each base station is operable to transmit the content to the subscribers in its cell at the same time.
US07706733B2
A printer includes an idler movement mechanism that rotates a transfix member at a speed corresponding to a rotational speed for a rotating image member before moving the transfix member into engagement with the rotating image member to form a nip. The printer includes a rotating image member for receiving colorant from a print head to form an image on the rotating image member, a motor having rotational output that is coupled to the rotating image member for rotating the rotating image member at a first surface speed, a transfix member for forming a nip with the intermediate print member to transfer the image from the intermediate print member to media in the nip, the transfix member being moveable from a first position, in which the transfix member does not form a nip with the intermediate print member, to a second position, in which the transfix member forms the nip with the intermediate print member, and a rotational transfer link for coupling the transfix member in the first position to the rotation of the rotating image member so the transfix member rotates at a second surface speed that corresponds with the first surface speed as the transfix member is moved to the second position to form the nip with the rotating image member rotating at the first surface speed.
US07706732B2
In an image forming apparatus, toner primarily transferred to an intermediate transfer belt is secondarily transferred at a first nip area formed by a secondary transfer roller and a transfuse roller, onto the transfuse roller, at pressure of 5.3 N/cm2 to 20 N/cm2 and at a driving speed ratio of the intermediate transfer belt and the transfuse roller of 1.02 to 1.04, and the toner sufficiently heated and melted in the process of conveyance from the first nip area to a second nip area formed by the transfuse roller and a pressure roller is thirdly transferred and fixed to a recording medium P at the second nip area, at pressure of 13.3 N/cm2 to 33.3 N/cm2.
US07706727B2
An image forming apparatus includes a toner container, an image development mechanism, and a toner container holder. The toner container has a longitudinal length with first and second longitudinal ends, is driven for rotation to move the toner. The image development mechanism develops an electrostatic latent image into a toner image. The toner container holder includes a base plate onto which the toner container is inserted in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the toner container. The toner container holder further includes first and second supporters. The first and second supporters are mounted in traversal edge sides of the base plate and support the first and second longitudinal ends of the toner container, respectively.
US07706724B2
A first bearing member and a second bearing member fit in a first side and a second side of a rotating shaft in the axial direction, respectively. The first bearing member is held by a supporting portion provided in a casing on a side corresponding to an emplacing member of an image carrier drum. The second bearing member is held by fitting in a fit-in portion from inside. A wall surface that regulates a charging roller in a longitudinal direction is formed on the second bearing member to protrude from a wall surface rotatably and pivotally supporting the charging roller.
US07706723B2
An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image carriers, a drive mechanism, a plurality of drive force transmission gears, a phase difference detector, and a shift unit. The plurality of image carriers forms images of separate colors. The drive mechanism including a single drive unit for driving the plurality of image carriers simultaneously. The plurality of drive force transmission gears, provided for each of the image carriers, transmits a driving force from the drive unit to the image carriers. The phase difference detector detects a phase difference in drive speed among the image carriers. The shift unit, provided for each of the plurality of drive force transmission gears, meshes or unmeshes the drive force transmission gear to the drive mechanism. The shift unit is activated to correct any phase difference in drive speed of the image carriers based on a detection result detected with the phase difference detector.
US07706722B2
A method and apparatus for shifting a photoreceptor in a cross-process direction to reduce the formation of a paper edge ghost on the photoreceptor. The shifting can occur continuously or in steps.
US07706719B2
An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming apparatus body, a photosensitive member, an intermediate transfer belt, and a developing device placed on a side opposite to the intermediate transfer belt across the photosensitive member and provided with a detachable toner cartridge. The intermediate transfer belt is disposed such that a distance between ends in a height direction is longer than a distance between ends in an anteroposterior direction. At least a part of the photosensitive member is placed between the anteroposterior ends of the intermediate transfer belt. The image forming apparatus body includes an openable section at an upper face side or a front face side thereof to allow the toner cartridge to be attached and detached therethrough and to allow a jam to be fixed therethrough.
US07706702B2
A product of a predetermined time interval and the number of periods is set to be an integer multiple of a time (or agitation period) required for one rotation of an agitation member and also a light receiving state is detected when an interval signal is Hi. Therefore, the number of times that light cannot be received due to the agitation member (or the number of agitation influences) is constant within one period. Since the number of agitation influences is set to the constant number of times in one period and the influence of the agitation member is constant at the remaining developer amount ratio of 1/Light Receiving Ratio, the light receiving ratio appropriately indicating the remaining developer amount can be obtained and the remaining developer amount can be correctly detected.
US07706700B2
Systems and methods for authentication of materials used in imaging members and assemblies. Authentication of imaging materials ensure that compatible components are being used with the imaging members and assemblies. Embodiments provide a system and method for efficiently detecting whether materials being used in the imaging members and assemblies are compatible and authentic materials authorized for such uses.
US07706696B2
A method and apparatus for dynamically compensating for phase deviations using two synchronous rectifiers in a quadrature constellation and a delay line.
US07706691B2
A transmission device having optical fiber high definition digital audio-video data interface (HDMI/DVI/UDI), in which optical fiber is utilized as the physical connection for the logical channels of the transmission device, and is used to carry images, voices and auxiliary data of the logic channels. For the half-duplex transmission mode utilized by the display data channel, the reverse unit, the serial unit, and the multi-serial unit are properly arranged, thus fulfilling the DC balance requirement of optical fiber transmission, and resolving the lower tolerance rate shortcomings of the I2C bus specification of display data channel (DDC) and the customer electronics control (CEC) channel.
US07706672B2
An imaging apparatus according to the present invention aims to make a transit of a blur correction section from/to an electronically retained state to/from a mechanically retained state without causing image shifts on a display section. For this purpose, the imaging apparatus includes an image sensor, an LCD monitor, a gyro-sensor, a CCD stage, an actuator, a mechanical retention mechanism, a blur correction function in which the CCD stage is mechanically retained at a predetermined position during non-performance of a blur correction and it is electronically retained in a drivable state at a predetermined position during the blur correction, and a controller changing a display control over the LCD monitor when the CCD stage is transited from/to an electronically retained state to/from a mechanically retained state.
US07706671B2
A container is provided for heating or otherwise processing the contents of the container. For example, the container may be a kettle or kettle for heating fluids therein. The container may receive a command, desired characteristic or desired range for processing the contents of the container. The container may further include at least one sensor such as a temperature sensor or pressure sensor for determining a corresponding characteristic of the contents of the container. Based on at least one determined characteristic and/or the input command, the container may heat or otherwise process the contents therein. The results and/or current status of the contents may further be provided through a display. Also, based on the current status of the contents, the container may further process/heat the contents or discontinue processing/heating of the contents.
US07706668B2
Access point pictures designated as randomly accessible positions are I pictures or P pictures. Information indicating the decoding sequence (I1, P1, B1, B2, B3, B4, P2, . . . ) of pictures functioning as access points and attribute information (picture_type) indicating whether a picture functions as an access point or is necessary for decoding of the access point following a given access point are recorded on the video information recording medium. Random access is possible even if the GOP interval is lengthened.
US07706666B2
With this invention, at least one of a video file containing video information, a still picture file containing still picture information, and an audio file containing audio information and a management file having management information on a control method of reproducing the information in the file are recorded on an information storage medium. This realizes a data structure that causes the recording and deleting places on the information storage medium to correspond spuriously to places on a single tape, such as a VTR tape. Use of the data structure provides users with an easy-to-use interface.
US07706661B2
Subservive data has been incorporated in the content of an optical disc, such as a DVD, to prevent copying of the disc. To defeat such copy protection, devices to copy optical discs are now being controlled to only copy data referred to by selected program paths. Accordingly, it is proposed to provide copy protection for optical discs by introducing errors into redundant control data to frustrate access to content on the disc. For example, the errors may be inconsistencies in a Video Manage Information Table (VMGI) or in a Video Title Set Information Table (VTSI).
US07706659B2
The invention relates to coated optical fibers comprising soft primary coatings and to such primary coatings for protecting glass optical fibers having a sufficient high resistance against cavitation. In particular, the primary coatings have a cavitation strength at which a tenth cavitation appears (σ10cav) of at least about 1.0 MPa as measured at a deformation rate of 0.20% min−1 and of at least about 1.4 times their storage modulus at 23° C. The coating preferably shows strain hardening in a relative Mooney plot, preferably has a strain energy release rate Go of about 20 J/m2 or more, and preferably has a low volumetric thermal expansion coefficient. The invention furthermore provides a method and apparatus for measuring the cavitation strength of a primary coating.
US07706658B2
A copolymer containing a repeating unit of formula (1) and a repeating unit of formula (2-1) or (2-2): wherein R1 and R2 represent alkyl or aryl, R3 represents alkyl, aryl, alkoxy or amino, R5 and R6 represent hydrogen, alkyl or aryl. The copolymer exhibits excellent mechanical properties, and capable of forming a coating film having low reflectivity.
US07706646B2
Techniques, apparatus and systems that use an optical probe head to deliver light to a target and to collect light from the target for imaging, monitoring, medical diagnostics and medical treatment applications.
US07706642B2
A method and device for moving optical beams including a conduit and an attached, independently movable structure that moves the conduit with up to 6 degrees of freedom both controlled and restricted as required. This structure may include a conductor positioned by an electromagnetic field generator. A cam or flexible capacitor plate or combination of such could also form the independently moveable structures. A control provides a current through the conductor, thereby providing a force on the conductor to move the conduit. A position sensor detects the position of the conduit and provides feedback to the control to aid in accurate and rapid movement.
US07706641B2
Some or all of the optical fibers of a single-mode or multi-mode cable are monitored for intrusion by transmitting through the fibers a signal which can be analyzed for changes in its characteristics which are indicative of movement as a prelude to an intrusion event. To avoid independent monitors of all of the fibers, in some cases the same light signal is looped through a plurality of the fibers in series by passive jumpers. Switches can be used to disconnect out those fibers which are compromised. As an alternative a plurality of separate monitoring signals can be provided each associated with its own sensor where unique combinations of the signals are transmitted through separate fibers allowing a higher number of fibers to be monitored than the number of signals.
US07706635B2
Methods and systems for scaling an input image.
US07706632B2
A method of producing a multiple focus stack image of a target, the stack image comprising a plurality of images of the target, each image having a corresponding focal range or position, wherein the method comprises causing relative scanning movement between the target and an array of light detectors, the array being used to repeatedly receive image information from the target during the scan in the form of scan lines; and causing the relative focus between the target and the array to be modified between the said focal ranges or positions of the respective images during the scan so as to obtain scan lines corresponding to each focal range or position during the scan, thereby obtaining the images in the stack, wherein each image is formed from the image information obtained as scan lines at the respective focal range or position during the scan. The method is then further characterized in that the relative focus is cycled between two extreme focal ranges or positions during the relative scanning movement and at least one scan line is obtained at a focal range or position located between subsequent extreme focal ranges or positions during the scan, each scan line being used to form one of the images of the target.
US07706631B2
A method of processing image data representing a plurality of images, the method includes processing the image data for respective ones of the images in order to generate allocation data for each image, and on the basis of the allocation data, allocating an image a position in a template, the template includes a plurality of image windows, each window representing a template position; and on the basis of user input, generating selection data representing a user selected allocated image, and for an unselected allocated image, replacing that image with another image from the plurality of images.
US07706627B2
A method for removing blocking artifacts from moving and still pictures, comprising classifying horizontal and vertical boundaries in each picture as blocky or non-blocky; for each blocky boundary, defining an adaptive, picture contentdependent, one-dimensional filtered pixels region of interest (ROI) that crosses the boundary and is bound at each of its ends by a bounding pixel; defining a finite filter having a length correlated with the length of the ROI; defining a filtering pixels expansion that uniquely determines the padding values of the finite length filtered pixels ROI for the finite length filtering; and filtering the ROI pixels using the finite filter and the filtering expansion.
US07706617B2
An image indexer for indexing a plurality of images that includes a first data structure for subsequent classification of the one or more images. The first data structure includes characteristics for at least one class. An image classifier classifies one or more individual images found in the plurality of images as classified images according to the first data structure. A second data structure performs subsequent clustering of the plurality of images, wherein the second data structure includes at least two sequential events in a set of known events. The classified images are clustered according to the second data structure, and a representative image is selected from each cluster of classified images.
US07706609B2
A Bayesian two-color image demosaicer and method for processing a digital color image to demosaic the image in such a way as to reduce image artifacts. The method and system are an improvement on and an enhancement to previous demosaicing techniques. A preliminary demosaicing pass is performed on the image to assign each pixel a fully specified RGB triple color value. The final color value of pixel in the processed image is restricted to be a linear combination of two colors. Fully-specified RGB triple color values for each pixel in an image used to find two clusters represented favored two colors. The amount of contribution from these favored two colors on the final color value then is determined. The method and system also can process multiple images to improve the demosaicing results. When using multiple images, sampling can be performed at a finer resolution, known as super resolution.
US07706606B1
Methods and systems, including computer program products, for determining a plurality of color clusters based on a plurality of pixels associated with a color image, the clusters being fewer than the pixels. A grayscale value for each one of a plurality of points in a color space is determined. Each grayscale value is based on a weighted average of target differences between each point and the clusters. Each of the pixels is associated with one or more of the points. A grayscale value for each pixel is identified based on the grayscale value of the associated one or more points.
US07706604B2
In one example, there is designed a system for calculating an evaluation index for sample ink amount data from a color difference evaluation index and an image quality evaluation index, and creating a profile based on a highly rated sample. In this system, the printer driver is designed to use different indexes to create plural profiles, and to perform color conversion using these plural profiles. These plural profiles may be selected appropriately according to user needs, printing conditions, type of image targeted for printing, and the like.
US07706599B2
An edge inspection method for detecting defects on a wafer edge normal surface includes acquiring a set of digital images which captures a circumference of the wafer. An edge of the wafer about the circumference is determined. Each digital image is segmented into a plurality of horizontal bands. Adjacent edge clusters about the circumference of the wafer are combined into edge pixel bins. The edge pixel bins are analyzed via edge clusters analysis to identify defects. The edge pixel bins are also analyzed via blob analysis to determine defects.
US07706596B2
A process for using a hand-held infrared inspection system incorporating on-board training, on-board validation, on-board operator certification, on-board reporting information, or on-board survey instructions. Improved methods for automating area surveys are provided through exception-driven surveillance practices. Imbedded information enables less experienced operators to use more sophisticated devices more effectively. Validation or certification assures operator knowledge or ability. Multilevel classification of anomalies aids in automated analysis and report generation.
US07706591B2
The present invention provides automated methods for cell body extension analysis, software for carrying out such methods, and detection devices comprising such software.
US07706582B2
A compact authentication device that prevents user from feeling pressure and is strong against external light, when capturing an image of a finger blood vessel pattern with transmitted light. The device includes a guidance part for determining the finger position, a light source disposed on at least one side of the guidance part to emit light to be transmitted though the finger, an image capture part for capturing the transmitted light, a shading unit for limiting an irradiation region of the light, a finger thickness measuring unit, a unit for controlling a light amount of the light source based on a result of the measurement, a unit for recording registered image patterns of the finger, a unit for collating a captured image pattern from the image capture part with the registered patterns, and a unit for controlling different processing according to the collation result.
US07706574B1
A system for authenticating messages using keystroke dynamics identifying a composer of a message using diagraphs transmitted by the use of an input device. Keystrokes are gathered by modules that determine the timing factors between each keystroke and diagraph that is created by the message composer. Once sufficient keystrokes and diagraphs are monitored that allows a generation of an identifier of a unique message composition rhythm, a unique signature of the message creator is stored within the created message. This authentication method is embedded within a message. When a user tries to access or authenticate a message, the user will be verified against the authorized signature contained within the message or authorized database of readers. If a match occurs, the user will then be allowed to access the message.
US07706569B2
The present invention aims to be able to provide an efficient public key digital watermark method which is specialized to information common to contents. In the method, arrangement order of digital data in input digital contents is set to become predetermined arrangement order so that the input digital contents constitute an error correction code.
US07706568B2
A method is provided that enables verification of whether a component of original image data has been altered at the location at which the component is to be reused without newly generating a signature. More specifically, the method includes inputting first document data including a plurality of components and signature information corresponding to the components, selecting at least one component from among the components, and extracting signature information corresponding to the at least one selected component. The method further includes storing the at least one selected component and the signature information corresponding to the at least one selected component in a memory, and generating second document data by pasting the at least one stored component and the stored signature information into a document selected as a paste location.
US07706555B2
A stereophonic device for headphones to which a monophonic signal or a stereophonic signal is inputted comprises an uncorrelating processing unit for reducing the correlation between two signals obtained by dividing the inputted monophonic signal into two channels or two signals constituting the inputted stereophonic signal, a reflected sound adding processing unit for adding a reflected sound, and a sound image localizing processing unit for controlling the position where a sound image is localized.
US07706549B2
A broadside small array microphone beamforming apparatus comprises first and second omni-directional microphones, a microphone calibration unit, and a directional microphone forming unit. The first and second omni-directional microphones respectively convert voice from a desired near-end talker into first and second signals. The second and first omni-directional microphones and the desired near-end talker are respectively arranged at three points of a triangle. The microphone calibration unit receives the first and second signals and correspondingly outputs first and second calibration signals. The directional microphone forming unit receives the first and second calibration signals to generate a first directional microphone signal with a bidirectional polar pattern. The adaptive channel decoupling unit receives the first calibration signal and the first directional microphone signal to generate a first main channel signal and a first reference channel signal for noise detection.
US07706546B2
The present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer implemented instructions for computer-based onboard noise suppression devices with remote web-based management features. The present invention detects noise within a computer. A noise canceling signal is generated based on parameters. These parameters may include, for example, the percentage of noise to suppress. The noise canceling signal is broadcasted to reduce or eliminate noise. Additionally, the present invention provides the ability to remotely manage noise suppression within computers.
US07706545B2
Systems and methods for providing protection from failure events in a digital audio amplification system. One embodiment of the invention comprises a system having a digital amplifier controller, an amplifier output stage coupled to the controller and configured to receive audio signals from the controller, one or more sensors coupled to the output stage and one or more low-pass filters coupled to receive sensor signals from the one or more sensors. The low-pass filter is configured to filter the sensor signals and to provide the filtered sensor signals to the controller, which provides a programmable response to the filtered sensor signals. The response may range from not taking any action, to limiting the amplification of audio signals, to shutting down the system.
US07706544B2
An audio reproduction system is divided into a central wave-field synthesis module and a plurality of loudspeaker modules disposed in a distributed way, wherein synthesis signals for the individual loudspeakers as well as corresponding channel information associated to the synthesis signals are calculated in the central wave-field synthesis module. The synthesis signals for a loudspeaker as well as associated channel information will then be transmitted to respective loudspeaker modules via a transmission path, wherein every loudspeaker module obtains the synthesis signals and associated channel information intended for the loudspeaker associated to the loudspeaker module. A distributed audio rendering and digital/analog converting takes place in the loudspeaker module to generate the actually analog loudspeaker signals in a distributed way in spatial proximity to every loudspeaker. The division into a central wave-field synthesis module and the plurality of distributed loudspeaker modules allows that audio reproduction systems that are scalable with regard to the price can be generated in order to offer systems of different size scalable in price particularly for cinema reproduction rooms varying strongly in size.
US07706543B2
The invention concerns the processing of audio data. The invention is characterized in that it consists in: (a) encoding signals representing a sound propagated in three-dimensional space and derived from a source located at a first distance (P) from a reference point, to obtain a representation of the sound through components expressed in a spherical harmonic base, of origin corresponding to said reference point, (b) and applying to said components compensation of a near-field effect through filtering based on a second distance (R) defining, for sound reproduction, a distance between a reproduction point (HPi), and a point (P) of auditory perception where a listener is usually located.
US07706542B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved noise removal device having an improved noise removal precision. A second noise extracting unit extracts a noise of an IF signal, and outputs a second noise signal which is then smoothed by a second noise smoothing unit to produce a second noise-smoothed signal. A noise hold control signal generating unit compares the second noise-smoothed signal with the second noise signal to produce a noise hold control signal indicating an occurring position and an occurring period of the noise of the IF signal. A first noise extracting unit extracts a noise of an FM detection signal, and outputs a first noise signal. A noise hold unit holds the first noise signal in accordance with the noise hold control signal to produce a held noise signal which is then smoothed by a first noise smoothing unit to produce a first noise-smoothed signal. A hold control signal generating unit compares the first noise-smoothed signal with the first noise signal to produce a hold control signal indicating an occurring position and an occurring period of the noise of the FM detection signal. Subsequently, a hold unit operates to hold the FM detection signal in accordance with the hold control signal, thereby generating and thus outputting an FM detection signal not containing any noise.
US07706538B1
A system, method and data storage device for encrypting data to provide at-rest data encryption of data in the data storage device. The system includes a compression engine for receiving a host data stream packet and selectively generating a compressed data packet, and an encryption engine in electronic communication with the compression engine for receiving an unencrypted data packet from the compression engine. The unencrypted data packet comprises the compressed data packet when the compression engine generates the compressed data packet. The unencrypted data packet comprises the host data packet when the compression engine does not generate the compressed data packet. The encryption engine generates an encrypted data packet having an encrypted component corresponding to the unencrypted data packet and a set of meta data indicative of one or more characteristic of the encrypted data packet.
US07706516B2
An apparatus for intelligently responding when a user refuses an incoming message at a telecommunications terminal is disclosed. In the illustrative embodiments, the apparatus comprises a processor that prompts the user to optionally specify (i) one or more acceptable alternative message delivery mechanisms (e.g., email, text chat, etc.), and/or (ii) one or more alternative devices (e.g., pager, PDA, etc.) when a user refuses an incoming message. For example, a user in a noisy environment who refuses a voice telephone call might specify the following as alternative delivery mechanisms and devices: short message service (SMS) on the user's pager, text chat on the same device as the first message, and email on the user's personal digital assistant (PDA).
US07706511B2
This disclosure includes a system to send text messages by the Internet and deliver messages in the form of speech directly on an addressee's phone. This system includes a central server where software is installed. The server receives a written text message, converts it into speech and processes it, so that the message can be sent in vocal form over a telephone line. The user receiving the message in vocal form can also answer it, sending a reply message to the sender using the telephone.
US07706510B2
A communication device and method are provided for audibly outputting a received text message to a user, the text message being received from a sender. A text message to present audibly is received. An output voice to present the text message is retrieved, wherein the output voice is synthesized using predefined voice characteristic information to represent the sender's voice. The output voice is used to audibly present the text message to the user.
US07706509B2
The keyboard for blind people comprises a body carrying a plurality of keys and interface means for its connection to an external unit. The keys have a number of portions each having associated a function of the key and having represented such a function in Braille characters thereon. Moreover, the keys are jerky rotatable connected to the body so as to select one of the portions of the key and are also pressable in order to activate that function associated to the activable portion, so that each function is selected through rotations and subsequent pressure of the corresponding key portion.
US07706508B2
The invention is directed to an x-ray flux management device that adaptively attenuates an x-ray beam to limit the incident flux reaching a subject and radiographic detectors in potentially high-flux areas while not affecting the incident flux and detector measurements in low-flux regions. While the invention is particularly well-suited for CT, the invention is also applicable with other x-ray imaging systems. In addition to reducing the required detector system dynamic range, the present invention provides an added advantage of reducing radiation dose.
US07706506B1
A system for irradiating material used in transfusions. The material can be pre-transfused blood, blood components and marrow. The system includes a vacuum chamber with a plate cathode inside. The cathode has a large beam electrode field-electron emissive surface with a selected cross-sectional shaped area. A power supply is connected to the cathode for generating negative high-voltage pulses and causing a selected cross-sectional shaped beam of electrons to be emitted. An electron window is also disposed inside the vacuum chamber and made of thin metal foil. The electron window receives the selected cross-sectional shaped beam of electrons therethrough and onto an electron target disposed outside the vacuum chamber. The electron target receives the selected cross-sectional shaped beam of electrons thereon and generates a selected cross-sectional shaped X-ray beam. A cathode filter is disposed next to the electron target and eliminates low energy beams from the spectrum of the X-ray beam. The filtered X-ray beam exposes the material to high energy beams for irradiation.
US07706499B2
Systems and methods are provided for acquiring and reconstructing projection data using a computed tomography (CT) system having stationary distributed X-ray sources and detector arrays. In one embodiment, a non-sequential activation of X-ray source locations on an annular source is employed to acquire projection data. In another embodiment, a distributed source is tilted relative to an axis of the scanner to acquire the projection data. In a further embodiment, a plurality of X-ray source locations on an annular source are activated such that the aggregated signals correspond to two or more sets of spatially interleaved helical scan data.
US07706494B2
A wireless communication apparatus includes: a transmitter which sends transmitted data while mixing it with a carrier; a receiver which receives the transmitted data sent from the transmitter while mixing it with the carrier; a spreading waveform generator which generates a spread clock resulting from a reference clock for generating the carrier being spread in a PN pattern; a wired sender which, by sending the spread clock by wire, causes both the transmitter and the receiver to share it; and a carrier reproducer which reproduces the carrier based on a result of a phase comparison with the spread clock.
US07706489B2
A centroid calculator calculates the channel virtual center for an adaptive equalizer, based on some type of training signal (e.g., the segment sync of a ATSC-DTV signal), with internal limiting capability that improves its performance. In addition, a centroid calculator with internal limiting capability that improves performance.
US07706486B2
A communication system employing site diversity combing to increase link availability includes at least two receivers at receive sites within a single downlink beam separated by enough distance to provide decorrelation of weather phenomena—such as rain fade outages. A signal transmits digital symbols to all the receivers and may use bandwidth efficient modulation with forward error correction coding. Sampled symbol values for each codeword are produced at each receiver, which are connected by one or more ground links so that all data can be collected at one site. At least two different soft-decision computation modules translate the sampled symbol values from the different receivers into different sets of soft-decision values—which may be log-likelihood-ratio (LLR) values reflecting the probability value for each bit of the codeword—that are digitally synchronized and combined for use by a decoder. The technique thus avoids disadvantages of either coherent waveform combining or BER-based digital switching.
US07706484B2
In a method for reducing electromagnetic interference in a clocked circuit, the clock circuit includes at least a first clock signal and a second clock signal. The method detects when a first transition of the first clock signal is substantially aligned with a corresponding second transition of the second clock signal. The second clock signal is delayed by a predetermined amount of time when the first transition is substantially aligned with the second transition.
US07706469B2
A method of transmitting a transmit vector comprising symbols to be delivered within a resource unit from a transmitting station with one or more transmit antennas to one or more receiving stations with one or more receive antennas. The method comprises obtaining information on the state of channels between the one or more transmit antennas and the one or more receive antennas; and computing, on the basis of the channel states between the one or more transmit antennas and the one or more receive antennas, a covariance matrix Rnn, a combined channel matrix H, and a block-diagonal linear operator V of decoding matrices of the receiving stations. The transmit vector is multiplied with a precoding matrix P fulfilling the equations (HHVHVH=λI)P=HHVH Vi(HiPPHHiH+Rnn,i)=PiHHiH, i=1 . . . K trace(PHP)=Ptr and corresponding performing filtering in the receiving station using a receiver filter corresponding to the block-diagonal linear operator V.
US07706465B2
During operation of a node in a secondary communication system (100) data enters a spreader (301) and is appropriately spread. The spread data is then modulated onto all available channels using a multi-carrier OFDM modulation technique. This entails the spread data being modulated onto those channels that are currently being used by the primary communication system (120). Finally, a transmitter (303) transmits the spread data only over carriers that will not interfere with the primary communication system.
US07706454B2
A wireless communication system is described that generates FDFR transmissions with any number of transmit and receive antennas through flat-fading channels and frequency- or time-selective channels. In particular, the system utilizes layer-specific linear complex-field (LCF) coding with a circular form of layered space-time (ST) multiplexing to achieve FDFR wireless communications with any number of transmit and receive antennas through flat-fading and frequency- or time-selective channels. Additionally, the described techniques provide flexibility for desirable tradeoffs among performance, rate, and complexity.
US07706452B2
A transmitter using a plurality of pulse signals having different pulse sequence times, a receiver for steadily demodulating pulse signals of only desirable wave, and a wireless system are disclosed. In the transmitter, a control signal generating circuit outputs a control signal for generating a plurality of pulse signals having different pulse sequence generating times, a pulse generating circuit generates a plurality of pulse signals by using the control signal. In the receiver, reception front end receives the plurality of pulse signals having different pulse sequence generating times, delay circuit delays at least one of reception front-end output signals supplied from the reception front-end by a given time, delay pulse composition circuit combines delay signal with reception front-end output signal, so that the receiver steadily demodulates the pulse signals of only the desirable wave.
US07706451B2
In the method, a motion vector difference between a motion vector for a first block including the pixel and a motion vector for a second block adjacent to the first block is obtained. A filtering strength is selected based on the motion vector difference.
US07706440B2
Some representative embodiments are directed to systems and methods for compressing a data set. In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving a frame of data to be encoded, generating a residual frame that represents a difference between the received frame and one or several reference frames, performing a respective sum of absolute differences (SAD) calculation for each block within the residual frame, and applying a transform function to each data value within the residual frame, wherein the transform function is at least a function of a SAD value calculated for the block containing the respective data value.
US07706426B2
A method for estimating one or more parameters of a ultra wideband signal and a receiver system for receiving ultra wideband signals is provided. The method for estimating one or more parameters of a signal in an ultra wide band system including estimating the parameter(s) for a first signal element in a received signal then removing this signal element from the signal to obtain a modified signal. The parameter(s) for a number of further signal elements are then estimated and these elements are removed from the modified signal to form a refined signal. The parameter(s) for the first signal element are re-estimated to re-define the first signal element based on the refined signal minus the signal element having the greatest amplitude. The parameter(s) for the signal element having the greatest amplitude are re-estimated to re-define this signal element. The steps are repeated to generate a refined estimate of the parameter(s) for the first signal element. There is also disclosed a receiver for performing the above steps.
US07706422B2
A semiconductor optical element has an active layer including quantum dots. The density of quantum dots in the resonator direction in a portion of the active layer in which the density of photons is relatively high is increased relative to the density of quantum dots in a portion of the active layer in which the density of photons is relatively low.
US07706421B2
An optical transmit assembly having a temperature sensor patterned on an electro-optic transducer die. Due to the close proximity of the electro-optic transducer junction and the temperature sensor, the temperature sensor more accurately measures the temperature of the electro-optic transducer junction. This permits for more refined control of the frequency characteristics of optical light emitted by the electro-optic transducer junction since the emitted optical frequencies of most electro-optic transducers are heavily temperature dependent.
US07706416B2
An optical communication system for transmitting telephone voice data to a subscriber terminal using an optical line is disclosed. The system includes an OLT (Optical Line Terminal) multiplexing the telephone voice data together with the broadcasting data and communication data, converting the optical signals transferred upward into electric signals, demultiplexing and converting the uplink telephone voice data into analog telephone voice signals to transfer the converted analog telephone voice signals to a PSTN; a plurality of ONTs (Optical Network Terminals) for converting the optical signals transferred from the OLT into electric signals, demultiplexing and converting the demultiplexed downlink telephone voice data into analog signals to transfer the converted analog signals to subscribers' telephones; and an optical branching filter for branching the signals from the OLT to the plurality of ONTs, combining, and transferring the signals from the plurality of ONTs to the OLT.
US07706414B2
A method and apparatus for facilitating downstream frequency override in a data-over-cable system is described. In one example, a data-over-cable system having a plurality of cable modem termination system (CMTS) elements is described. Each of the CMTS elements includes demodulation logic configured to detect one of a plurality of native preambles in upstream transmissions. Each of the native preambles may include a first section having a unique pattern and a second section having an equalizer training sequence. A concatenated preamble is formed from each of the native preambles. The concatenated preamble may include a first section having the unique pattern of each of the native preambles in a sequence and a second section having an equalizer training sequence. A burst profile is formed having the concatenated preamble for each of the CMTS elements. The burst profile is transmitted from each of the CMTS elements to a plurality of cable modems.
US07706413B2
A synchronization system (D) for equipment of a synchronous transport network comprises, firstly, a first synchronization module (MA) comprising i) a first submodule (SM1A) delivering a first intermediate clock signal derived from a first external reference clock signal or an internal reference clock signal, ii) a second submodule (SM2A) delivering a first main reference clock signal derived from the first intermediate clock signal or a second intermediate clock signal, and iii) a third submodule (SM3A) delivering a first output reference clock signal derived from the first main reference clock signal or a second main reference clock signal, and, secondly, a second synchronization module (MB) comprising i) a first submodule (SM1B) delivering the second intermediate clock signal derived from another first external reference clock signal and another internal reference clock signal, ii) a second submodule (SM2B) delivering the second main reference clock signal derived from the first or the second intermediate clock signal, and iii) a third submodule (SM3B) delivering a second output reference clock signal derived from the first or the second main reference clock signal.
US07706408B2
A physical frame is constructed, the physical frame including a medium access control super-frame payload which in turn includes a plurality of medium access control frames. With respect to the constructed physical frame, virtual carrier sense information is set in the plurality of medium access control frame so that a result of carrier sense is identical to another by virtual carrier sense based on the plurality of medium access control frames in the medium access control super-frame payload. The physical frame in which the virtual carrier sense information has been set is transmitted to a destined communication apparatus.
US07706403B2
A method and apparatus for rate control adjusts or otherwise requests adjustment of a communication link data rate based on transmit queuing delays. For example, a mobile station may monitor expected transmit queuing delays relative to one or more delay targets or other Quality-of-Service constraints, and request reverse link rate increases or decreases accordingly. Similarly, the mobile station may be configured periodically to request reverse link rate changes based on determining the rate needed to meet targeted queuing delays for one or more service instances being supported by the mobile station in each of a succession of ongoing rate control intervals. Requested rates may be defined data rates or may be virtual rates that can be achieved by using combinations of defined data rates. Queuing-based rate control also can be applied to the base station's forward link, and, more broadly, to essentially any rate controlled communication link.
US07706399B2
Access points in wireless networks provide contention free access to stations through polling. Polling frames are transmitted to stations at polling intervals. Stations may transmit polling alignment requests to the access point to request a modification of the polling interval. Virtual polling is provided by publishing a virtual polling schedule. Stations respond to the virtual polling schedule without receiving polling frames. Polling intervals used during virtual polling may be modified in response to polling alignment requests from mobile stations.
US07706397B2
Briefly, a wireless communication system that includes an Initiator and a Responder to transmit an aggregation of data units in a reverse direction is provided. The Initiator includes a medium access controller capable of allocating a time slot for exchanging one or more transmissions of aggregation of data units with the Responder. The medium access controller includes a channel access scheme, which is able to allocate the time slot for the Responder to transmit the aggregation of data units in the reverse direction, and to grant Originator rights of the Initiator to the Responder within said time slot.
US07706394B2
A system and a method to avoid packet traffic congestion in a shared-memory switch core, while dramatically reducing the amount of shared memory in the switch core and the associated egress buffers, is disclosed. According to the invention, the virtual output queuing (VOQ) of all ingress adapters of a packet switch fabric are collapsed into its central switch core to allow an efficient flow control. The transmission of packets from an ingress buffer to the switch core is subject to a mechanism of request/acknowledgment. Therefore, a packet is transmitted from a virtual output queue to the shared-memory switch core only if the switch core can actually forward it to the corresponding egress buffer. A token based mechanism allows the switch core to determine the egress buffer's level of occupation. Therefore, since the switch core knows the states of the input and output adapters, it is able to optimize packet switching and to avoid packet congestion. Furthermore, since a packet is admitted in the switch core only if it can be transmitted to the corresponding egress buffer, the shared memory is reduced.
US07706387B1
A switch includes an arbiter that receives a plurality of requests from N input ports, and determines N round robin arbitration option winners by performing N round robin arbitration options on the requests, each of the N round robin arbitration options performed assuming that a different one of the N input ports was a previous round robin arbitration winner. After the actual previous round robin arbitration winner is identified, a current round robin arbitration winner from among the N round robin arbitration option winners is determined by selecting the round robin arbitration option winner in which the assumed previous round robin arbitration winner is the actual previous round robin arbitration winner.
US07706378B2
A method and apparatus for monitoring and detecting strings of interest to effect intrusion detection, packet filtering, load balancing, routing, and other network-related operations.
US07706359B2
Systems and methods by which voice/data communications may occur are disclosed. In particular, systems and methods are provided with a computing system having a multi-bus structure, including, for example, a TDM bus and a packet bus. An integrated communication system is coupled to a digital telecommunications link, the communication system providing voice and data communications to a plurality of users. At least a first packet bus is coupled to one or more packet-based devices and adapted for transferring packetized data to and from the system. One or more time division multiplex (TDM) buses are coupled to one or more telephony devices. Data routing resources are provided internal to the integrated system. A network interface module couples data to and from a data router external to the integrated system. The data router external to the integrated system is coupled to the first packet bus. Data is routed via the external data router through the network interface module and coupled to data channels of the digital telecommunications link, while voice data is selectively coupled to voice channels of the digital telecommunications link.
US07706358B2
An IP application service providing method enabling inbound communication in IP application communication intended between an internal node concealed from an outside network and belonging to an inside network and an external node belonging to the outside network through a gateway device set to permit only outbound communication, includes periodically transmitting a control packet aiming at notifying of a control channel port and at maintaining a communication permission entry of a control channel path to a connection support device on the outside network from the internal node subordinated to the gateway device; notifying the internal node of a connecting destination address/port pair associated with the external node via the control channel from the connection support device; and actively opening a data channel of an IP application to the notified connecting destination address/port pair.
US07706357B1
A bandwidth divider and method for allocating bandwidth between a plurality of packet processors. The bandwidth divider includes a plurality of counters for measuring the bandwidth of data packets transferred from the bandwidth divider to a respective packet processor; and a controller for analyzing the plurality of counters and transferring a data packet to a selected packet processor based on the contents of the counters. The method monitors the bandwidth consumed by the packet processors; determines, based on the bandwidth consumed by the packet processors, which packet processor has consumed the least amount of bandwidth; and allocates a next data packet to the packet processor which has consumed the least amount of bandwidth.
US07706355B2
An apparatus is provided for enabling communication between telephony devices. The apparatus includes a queue operable to receive incoming media packets from the telephony devices, and a payload segmenter coupled to the queue and operable to divide an incoming payload section of each incoming packet into one or more data segments. The apparatus also includes a mixer coupled to the payload segmenter and operable to mix the data segments from the telephony devices to create an aggregate data segment. Furthermore, the apparatus includes a reassembly buffer coupled to the mixer and operable to construct an outgoing payload section for one or more telephony devices by linking successively generated aggregate data segments.
US07706354B2
A telephone switching system includes line packages and a switch unit allowing a path to be established between the line packages. At least one line package is interconnected to, e.g. a broadband-adaptive unit, and is adaptive to both of a first coding rule expected of the switch unit and a second coding rule higher in compression ratio than the first coding rule. The broadband-adaptive line package, monitoring the coding rule of another line package connected thereto, adapts itself to the first coding rule if the other line package is adaptive only to the first coding rule, or adapts itself to the second coding rule if the other line package is adaptive to both of the first and second coding rules.
US07706350B2
The disclosed embodiments provide for methods and systems for flexibly allocating a shared frequency spectrum to a plurality of users, the spectrum may have a first number of segments, each segment having a second number of clusters associated with a certain sector/cell. In one aspect, a method for flexibly allocating a shared frequency spectrum to a plurality of users comprises the acts of fixedly assigning a first group of clusters to a first group of users, such that the first group of users stay fixed to the assigned clusters, and assigning a second group of clusters to a second group of users, such that the second group of users hop within the assigned clusters.
US07706347B2
The present invention provides a signal processing in applying HARQ to an MIMO system, by which error-detecting information enabling to decide whether a received signal is erroneous is appended for transmission. The present invention appends CRC to the data block transported from a higher layer so that HARQ can be efficiently applied to the MIMO system. The present invention segments the CRC-appended data block and then transmits the segmented data blocks via a plurality of antennas. Data streams generated from the segmented data blocks are independent from each other in coding scheme and modulation.
US07706341B2
A technique is disclosed to optimize the call admission control algorithm that governs a shared-communications channel, in which the algorithm accounts for the levels of mobility, on an individual basis, of one or more terminals that need to use the channel. Instead of determining the variation in the distribution of supported data rates aggregated across multiple terminals—which can result in a greater variance in the call admission criterion—the technique of the illustrative embodiment tracks the variation in the distribution, for each terminal, of the data rates for that terminal. In short, the technique of the illustrative embodiment accounts for the variance in data rates that is attributed to the mobility of individual, representative terminals and not to the variance that is attributed to the spatial distribution of multiple terminals.
US07706337B2
A method for performing neighbor discovery in a multi-tier wireless local area network where a client creates a neighbor list identifying a neighbor wherein the neighbor is identified as an access point or a client. Then, the client determines a time to perform a scan of neighbors based upon 1) a type of neighbor discovery to be performed and 2) when a first beacon is transmitted by an access point in a first tier of the multi-tier wireless local area network. Subsequently, the client performs a scan of neighbors at the determined time on a channel associated with the type of neighbor discovery. Finally, the client receives a beacon sent from a neighbor of the client to update the neighbor list with information transmitted in the beacon.
US07706336B2
Mobile station communication architectures for supporting circuit and packet modes of operation and methods therefor, for example time division multiple access (TDMA) and general packet radio services (GPRS) in a cellular telephone handset. In one exemplary embodiment, the architecture includes a router and operating mode switch (108) coupled to an RF transceiver (112), a packet stack (102) coupled to the RF transceiver, a circuit stack (104) coupled to the router and operating mode switch and to the packet stack, the RF transceiver, and to the circuit stack coupled to the packet stack, and an interoperability entity (106) coupled to the router and operating mode switch and to the packet and circuit stacks.
US07706333B2
A method of transmitting/receiving a packet using a hybrid automatic repeat request in the mobile communication system is disclosed. The packet data transmitting method includes transmitting at least one sub packet divided from plurality of encoded packets generated by repeating a bit stream that is made by encoding information desired to be transmitted with 1/5 rate turbo encoder, and transmission start point information of the sub packet through the sub packet identifier field on the accompanying control channel.
US07706324B2
Pilots are transmitted on demand on a reverse link and used for channel estimation and data transmission on a forward link. A base station selects at least one terminal for on-demand pilot transmission on the reverse link. Each selected terminal is a candidate for receiving data transmission on the forward link. The base station assigns each selected terminal with a time-frequency allocation, which may be for a wideband pilot, a narrowband pilot, or some other type of pilot. The base station receives and processes on-demand pilot transmission from each selected terminal and derives a channel estimate for the terminal based on the received pilot transmission. The base station may schedule terminals for data transmission on the forward link based on the channel estimates for all selected terminals. The base station may also process data (e.g., perform beamforming or eigensteering) for transmission to each scheduled terminal based on its channel estimate.
US07706323B2
In a wireless network employing Spatial Division Multiplexing Access (“SDMA”) in at least one of its cells, a method is provided for dynamically allocating transmission resources to different subscriber devices. The method comprises the steps of: providing at least one base station comprising at least one antenna array; providing one or more sectors associated with that wireless communications network; dynamically dividing one or more of the sectors into a plurality of virtual sub-sectors, each allowing communications between the base station and at least one respective subscriber; from among the plurality of the virtual sub-sectors, selecting at least one pair of subscriber devices wherein each of the pair of subscriber devices is not interfered substantially by transmissions directed to the other subscriber of that pair; for each of the divided sectors, generating plurality of time frequency allocation maps; transmitting the generated maps to all virtual sub-sectors associated with the respective sector; and for each of the sectors, beamforming the transmissions to be conveyed to the subscriber devices' pairs, summing them and conveying the summed result towards the array antenna.
US07706322B2
The disclosed embodiments relate to a method for arranging the transfer of packets between a wireless data transfer device (MS) and a mobile communication network (NW). For transferring packets between the wireless data transfer device (MS) and the mobile communication network (NW), temporary block flows (UL TBF, DL TBF) are formed, and information is transferred in these block flows in one or more packet data traffic channels (PDTCH) either in the first direction from the mobile communication network (NW) to the wireless data transfer device (MS) or in the second direction from the wireless data transfer device (MS) to the mobile communication network. In the method, information about the end of the block flow is set in a packet to be transmitted in a block flow when data transfer has stopped. When the transfer of packets in said first direction has stopped, at least one enquiry message is also sent from the mobile communication network (NW) to the wireless data transfer device (MS). If there are packets to be sent to the mobile communication network (NW) in the wireless data transfer device (MS), a reply message to the enquiry message is sent from the wireless data transfer device (MS), which also sets information about the need to send packets in the reply message.
US07706321B2
Systems and techniques are disclosed relating to telecommunications which include transmitting a plurality of data groups to a receiver at a first power level, retransmitting a first one of the data groups to the receiver at a second power level lower than the first power level, providing feedback from the receiver relating to the retransmission of the first one of the data groups, and retransmitting a second one of the data groups to the receiver at a third power level different from the second power level, the third power level being a function of the feedback. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.
US07706311B2
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for a wireless communication between a base station and at least one mobile station. The method includes receiving a request for a data rate from the mobile station on a reverse link channel to the base station. The method further includes, in response to the request, skipping a first slot after a delay for a portion of a slot on a forward link transmission before transmitting a data packet in a second slot. By beginning the forward link transmission at the start of the second slot, for example, a software module may cause the base station to skip a slot immediately after the half slot delay. This additional delay of one slot or a portion of the slot may expand radius of a cell for a wireless communication between the base station and the mobile station in a relatively high-speed wireless data network.
US07706308B2
Disclosed is a wireless communication system for providing a service in a time division duplexing (TDD) mode and a frequency division duplexing (FDD) mode according to a duplexing mode determination factor of a mobile station in a base station communicating with the mobile station. During call setup, the mobile station transmits the duplexing mode determination factor to the base station, sets a TDD mode or an FDD mode as a reverse mode set by the base station, and sets up a channel for the set reverse mode and a forward channel to perform communication. During call setup, the base station receives the duplexing mode determination factor from the mobile station, sets a reverse mode to the TDD mode or the FDD mode using the received duplexing mode determination factor, and sets up a reverse channel for the set mode and a TDD mode for forward transmission to communicate with the mobile station.
US07706307B2
A system and method for making a band selection in a wireless communications device is provided. The available bands include a first-communication band, a second communication band, and an auxiliary band. A wideband diplexer provides a wideband path, which includes the first-communication band and the auxiliary band, and a second-communication band path. A combination duplexer couples to the wideband path, and has an auxiliary signal port, a first-band receive port, and a first-band transmit port. A standard duplexer couples to the second communication path to provide a second-band receive port and a second-band transmit port. In one example, the first communication band is the PCS band, the second communication band is the cellular band, and the auxiliary signal is a GPS satellite signal.
US07706303B2
In one embodiment, methods and systems for port pooling are described. An interface may communicate with at least one physical server. The at least one physical server may host a plurality of virtual servers and be connectable via a plurality of gateway ports to a storage area network (SAN). A virtual server manager configured to arrange the plurality of gateway ports in a plurality of port pools, define a virtual server group including a plurality of virtual servers, associate each virtual server with one or more port pools, the one or more port pools defining available gateway ports for access by the particular virtual server; and provide configuration instructions to allow the particular virtual server to communicate with the SAN through the available gateway ports.
US07706298B2
A method of selecting routing tables to include in a network line card consists of determining dependencies of local routes on remote routes using a reference count on prefixes, and selectively downloading remote routes when resolution of a route has a dependency on a remote route. In one embodiment, only remote routes that are needed to forward traffic are downloaded to a network line card.
US07706297B1
A system and method is disclosed for providing real time signal to noise computation for a 100 Mb Ethernet physical layer device. A slicer module obtains a slicer error signal in the physical layer device and generates a signal that represents a square of the slicer error signal. A variance computation unit uses the signal that represents the square of the slicer error signal to calculate a value of variance of a histogram of the physical layer device by continuously accumulating a plurality of values of the square of the slicer error signal for a selected period of time. A real time signal to noise ratio is then computed using the calculated value of the variance of the histogram of the physical layer device.
US07706296B2
In packet-drop attacks in ad hoc networks, a malicious network node chooses to selectively drop packets that are supposed to be forwarded, which results in adverse impact on application good-put and network stability. A method and system for detection of packet-drop attacks in ad hoc networks requires network nodes to report statistics on IP flow packets originated, received, or forwarded to neighbors. These statistics are analyzed and correlated to determine nodes suspected of dropping packets.
US07706295B2
A resynchronization device for an Ethernet network device with a transmitter and a receiver includes a detector that detects faulty code groups received by the receiver. A counter counts the faulty code groups that are detected by the false carrier detector during a predetermined period. A resynchronization trigger asserts a resynchronization signal if the counter exceeds a predetermined threshold during the predetermined period. The faulty code groups include false carriers, which include non-idle code groups other than frame delimiters. Alternately, the faulty code groups include idle code groups that match idle code groups generated by the transmitter of the local network device.
US07706293B2
The present invention discloses a performance management system, apparatus and method between a Residential Gateway (RG) and a Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS), the method thereof includes: configuring an OAM IWF for the protocol conversion between the performance management message of the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) protocol or the point-to-point Ethernet OAM protocol and the performance management message of the service layer Ethernet OAM protocol in a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM), when the performance management is performed in a broadband IP network, after the OAM IWF configured in the DSLAM performing the protocol conversion of performance management message, performing the end-to-end performance management between an RG and a BRAS according to the performance management message with the converted protocol. This invention can not only enhance the accuracy of the statistics of the traffic flow, but also enhance the accuracy of the SLA test.
US07706292B2
A test packet generator of an entry device generates a delay test packet including priority information. A test packet transmitter of the entry device transmits the delay test packet to an exit device through a route corresponding to the priority information. A test packet receiver of the exit device receives the delay test packet. A reply packet transmitter of the exit device returns a reply-delay test packet toward the entry device through the same route in the counter direction. A reply packet receiver of the entry device receives the reply-delay test packet. A delay calculator of the entry device calculates a delay time on the basis of the time of transmitting the delay test packet and the time of receiving the reply-delay test packet. A route changer of the entry device changes routing appropriately on the basis of the delay time.
US07706291B2
A system and method for monitoring quality of experience includes forwarding a data packet flow carrying content between first and second endpoints. The data packet flow is forwarded at an intermediate point between the first and second endpoints so that the first and second endpoints are communicatively coupled over one or more networks through the intermediate point. The data packet flow is analyzed at the intermediate point and an intermediate point quality of content rating of the content received at the intermediate point is generated. A report detailing one or more attributes about the data packet flow based at least in part on the intermediate point quality of content rating is further generated.
US07706288B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate monitoring RF channels in a wireless communication environment to determine whether one or more channels comprise a forward-link-only (FLO) signal. A receiver can receive a first RF channel with a FLO signal and can monitor other RF channels for FLO signals. Upon a determination that a monitored RF channel comprises a FLO signal, the receiver can switch between the first RF channel and the monitored RF channel to facilitate providing seamless reception of the FLO signal, which can be superframe synchronized between RF channels. FLO signal detection can be performed using one or more of a wide-area identification channel energy detection protocol and a wide-area overhead information symbol decoding error detection protocol.
US07706287B2
The present invention provides an optimum ADSL line configuration parameter to a subscriber line and improves performance quality of an ADSL line.An ADSL line performance test portion implements an ADSL performance test before starting ADSL line service operation and grasps a subscriber line state. Test results are stored in a database and are referred to for the sake of maintenance of ADSL line service. In addition, the ADSL line performance test portion operates in a maintenance mode as required and also implements the ADSL line performance test in an ADSL line service operation state so as to constantly hold in the database a current optimum ADSL line configuration parameter for the subscriber line.
US07706282B2
A method is disclosed for routing data packets in a wireless network, preferably a Bluetooth™ network. The method includes estimating a link bandwidth of at least one network node, calculating a connectivity metric based on the estimated link bandwidth, distributing information concerning the calculated connectivity metric and, using the calculated connectivity metric, determining a route having a maximum link bandwidth and a minimum traffic load. Preferably, estimating uses a model of a Bluetooth network medium access control MAC algorithm. The connectivity metric is defined as a ratio of a maximum link bandwidth to the estimated link bandwidth, where the maximum link bandwidth is the link bandwidth between a Master node and a Slave node when there is only one Slave node connected to the Master node (i.e., when there is one Slave node in the piconet with the Master node).
US07706270B2
In a communication system, transmission/reception of data can be performed between end hosts connected to a relay switch in a subnet even in an improper connection at a L2 level in the relay switch in a communication. Communication failure due to a packet loop generated by the improper connection of the L2 level is recovered by wherein the packet loop is stopped by continuously transmitting long-size MAC packets longer than a packet generating the packet loop into the subnet, which have destinations as a broadcast MAC address or multicast MAC address.
US07706268B2
A transmission device capable of detecting and discarding duplicate data transmitted over Work and Protection paths of a ring network. An add/drop multiplexer adds/drops and cross-connects signals. When an FS-R control signal, for example, is received, a bridge distributes the signal output from the add/drop multiplexer to the Work and Protection routes of the ring network. When the signal distribution is executed by the bridge, a discard information inserter inserts discard information into the signal output to the Work route by the bridge. A discard information detector determines whether or not the discard information is included in the signal dropped by the add/drop multiplexer. A signal discarder discards the dropped signal, depending on whether the discard information is detected by the discard information detector.
US07706264B2
A mobile Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) phone communication system and method allows users to make mobile communication via mobile VoIP phones. A local mobile VoIP server is established in at least one specific communication zone and at least a central mobile VoIP server for coordinating the local mobile VoIP server in each zone is established. The mobile VoIP phone logins to the local mobile VoIP server in a specific communication zone to which the mobile VoIP phone enters, so the local mobile VoIP server identifies the mobile VoIP server in the zone and stores identification information of the identified mobile VoIP phone. If the mobile VoIP phone moves from a first specific communication zone to a second specific communication zone, the identification information of the mobile VoIP phone is recorded in the local mobile VoIP server in the second specific communication zone and the local mobile VoIP server transmits the identification information to a central mobile VoIP server, such that the central mobile VoIP server stores the identification information.
US07706257B2
A ring network protection method for an optical transmission network relates to digital information transmission, and includes using the overhead byte APS/PCC in the ODUk to transmit the protection information of the APS. The method adds fields in the APS/PCC and further includes: (a) the network element in which the protection switching takes place in the OTN sends the protection switching information to other network elements through the fields set in the APS/PCC of the ODUk; and the network element which received the ODUk performs corresponding processing according to the fields carried by the APS/PCC in the ODUk and implements the protection switching for the OTN ring network.
US07706254B2
A method is provided for providing protection of a local area network (LAN) connection that includes providing first and second LAN cards in a multi-service platform. The first and second LAN cards each include at least one port. The first and second LAN cards are coupled to a network edge device through their respective ports to communicate LAN traffic. The method also includes designating the first LAN card as an active card and the second LAN card as an inactive card. The method further includes detecting a network failure associated with the first LAN card. The method further includes protecting LAN traffic communicated between the second LAN card and the LAN by designating the second LAN card as an active card and the first LAN card as an inactive card.
US07706252B2
A fault location system (FLS) for a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) cable network. The FLS comprises an interactive map, a datastore, an object generator, and a display server. The datastore receives identifying information and status information of customer premises equipment (CPE) units connected to the HFC cable network. The object generator associates the identifying information and the status of CPE units with an object and further associates graphical attributes with the object. The display server graphically displays the object on the interactive map at location coordinates indicative of the street address, and graphically displays the object according to its graphical attributes. When used with a processor, the FLS applies algorithms to non-responsive CPE units selected from the interactive map to identify possible common sources of a fault.
US07706249B2
A method and apparatus is provided for transmitting an orthogonal frequency domain multiple access (OFDMA) signal including a synchronization channel signal transmitted within a localized portion of a bandwidth of the OFDMA signal (818), the synchronization channel signal having predetermined time domain symmetry within the localized portion of the bandwidth (816). The synchronization channel signal enables an initial acquisition and cell search method with low computational load which provides OFDMA symbol timing detection and frequency error detection by differential processing of sequence elements of the synchronization channel signal (1112) and frame boundary detection and cell specific information detection (1114) in an OFDMA system supporting multiple system bandwidths, both synchronized and un-synchronized systems, a large cell index and an OFDMA symbol structure with both short and long cyclic prefix length.
US07706242B2
An optical disk includes a recording surface on which a plurality of pits, corresponding to multilevel (three level or higher) information, is formed as a spiral or concentric pit array. The pit array wobbles periodically. A plurality of predetermined reference marks, corresponding to a period of the wobble, are included in the pit array.
US07706241B2
An information recording apparatus (300) is for recording record information onto an information recording medium (100) comprising a first recording layer (L0 layer) and a second recording layer (L1 layer) to record therein the record information by irradiating laser light. The information recording apparatus is provided with: a recording device (352) for recording the record information into at least one of the first recording layer and the second recording layer by irradiating the laser light; and a controlling device (354) for controlling the recording device to record the record information into a target area (115a), which is a recording area of the second recording layer corresponding to a recording area (105a) of the first recording layer in which the record information is recorded, if the record information is recorded into the second recording layer.
US07706237B2
An objective lens is provided for an optical pickup apparatus at least reproducing information for a first optical disc, and recording and/or reproducing information for second and a third optical discs. The objective lens includes an optical surface including a common area including a diffractive structure having a cross section in a serrated shape and divided into a plurality of ring-shaped zones. Refractive index differences between media arranged at both side of the optical surface for a light flux with one and the other wavelength satisfy a predetermined condition, and the objective lens satisfies a predetermined conditions defined by using an approximate coefficient which makes a Pearson's correlation coefficient R satisfy 0.99998≦R when a depth parallel to the optical axis of step differences between the ring-shaped zones at a vertical distance from the optical axis is approximated by a least squares method.
US07706234B2
In an optical scanning device (10) capable of scanning an information plane of an optical record carrier (5) of different types such as BD, DVD and CD, the diameter of the radiation spot on the detector (7) is dependent on the numerical aperture of the objective system (4) that is used for scanning the record carrier An optimal design of the optical detection system for scanning a BD, result in a small radiation spot for the other types such as DVD and CD. By implementing an optical element (13) that increases the diameter of the radiation spot in the situation a DVD or CD is scanned, the influence of stray light is reduced and the tracking signals are improved
US07706213B2
An arrangement of material layers designed and utilized as a filter to mechanical waves entering a sensor. To isolate the sensor, the filter can be designed to attenuate specified frequencies that could propagate from the environment and into the sensor. Provided there is a difference in the mechanical impedance between the environment and the sensor case, then a filter can be designed to amplify a specified range of frequencies, enhancing the coupling of the sensor to its environment. The filters work by altering the transmission and reflection of incident waves. Dissipative mechanisms are not required. Test data is included that demonstrates the effectiveness of layered isolation mounts developed to block inputs that would excite the resonance frequency an accelerometer's seismic mass.
US07706206B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a first buffer and a second buffer having different operational timing, a first voltage power supply for generating a first power supply voltage supplied to the first buffer in accordance with the operational timing of the first buffer, and a second voltage power supply for generating a second power supply voltage supplied to the second buffer in accordance with the operational timing of the second buffer.
US07706205B2
A static memory cell, composed of cross-coupled MOS transistors having a relatively high threshold voltage, is equipped with MOS transistors for controlling the power supply line voltage of the memory cell. To permit the voltage difference between two data storage nodes in the inactivated memory cell to exceed the voltage difference between the two nodes when write data is applied from a data line pair DL and /DL to the two nodes in the activated memory cell, the power supply line voltage control transistors are turned on to apply a high voltage VCH to the power supply lines after the word line voltage is turned off. The data holding voltage in the memory cell can be activated to a high voltage independent of the data line voltage, and the data holding voltage can be dynamically set so that read and write operations can be performed at high speed with low power consumption.
US07706203B2
A memory system is provided, comprising at least one memory unit and a source power supply circuit. Each memory unit is coupled between a source voltage and a ground voltage and accesses digital data according to a word line signal and a bit line signal. The source power supply circuit provides the source voltage to the memory units. When the memory unit is in a writing status, the source voltage is the first power voltage. When the memory unit is in a reading status, the source voltage is the second power voltage. The second power voltage equals to the first power voltage subtracted by a specific voltage for avoiding rewriting error.
US07706202B2
In fuse program circuits, fuse element FS is implemented using metal interconnect at third or higher layer of multilayer metal interconnect. In each fuse program circuit, program information and fuse select information are sequentially transferred using a scan flip-flops, and fuses are selectively and electrically blown one by one. The fuse program circuit provided with fuse elements that can be programmed even after packaging is implemented with low power consumption and a low occupation area.
US07706200B2
An internal voltage generation device includes a plurality of output nodes; a bit line precharge voltage generation unit for generating a bit line precharge voltage; a first voltage drop unit for transferring the bit line precharge voltage to a first output node after decreasing the bit line precharge voltage by a first voltage drop amount in response to a test mode signal; and a second voltage drop unit for transferring the bit line precharge voltage to a second output node after decreasing the bit line precharge voltage by a second voltage drop amount in response to the test mode signal, wherein the second voltage drop amount is greater than the first voltage drop amount.
US07706198B2
There is provided a repair method of a multi-chip that comprises a plurality of memory chips, each of the memory chips storing information with respect to remaining redundancy cells after repairing at a chip level. The repair method includes testing one of the plurality of memory chips; when the tested memory chip is judged to be defective, checking whether the tested memory chip is repairable, based on the stored information of the remaining redundancy cells; and when the tested memory chip is judged to be repairable, repairing the tested memory chip.
US07706197B2
In a storage device having a redundancy remedy function in a block unit having a memory cells array divided in plural blocks, prior to the access operation to individual memory cells in the block, the block address BA for specifying a block is entered, and block redundancy is determined in the entered block address BA, and hence it is not necessary to determine input or redundancy of the block address BA on every occasion of the access operation. As a result, the time to the access operation start to the memory cell can be shortened, and the access speed is enhanced.
US07706193B2
A voltage regulator connected to a memory cell is configured by identifying at least a first and a second operation regions of the cell and associating the first and second operation regions with respective first and second operation conditions of the memory cell. An operative condition of the memory cell involved in a programming operation is detected, and at least a configuration signal of the regulator according to said detected operative condition is generated, this configuration signal taking a first and a second value associated with the first and second operation conditions.
US07706185B2
A reading circuit in a memory having a first memory cell coupled to a first bit line and a second bit line and a second memory cell coupled to the second bit line and a third bit line, is provided. The reading circuitry comprises a source side sensing circuit, a drain side bias circuit, a first selection circuit and a second selection circuit. The drain side bias circuit provides a drain side bias. The first selection circuit connects the second bit line and the third bit line to the drain side bias circuit in a read operation mode. The second selection circuit connects the first bit line to the source side sensing circuit so that a source current of the first memory cell is sensed.
US07706170B2
A compact dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell and highly efficient methods for using the DRAM cell are disclosed. The DRAM cell provides reading, writing, and storage of a data bit on an ASIC chip. The DRAM cell includes a first transistor acting as a pass gate and having a first source node, a first gate node, and a first drain node. The DRAM cell also includes a second transistor acting as a storage device and having a second drain node that is electrically connected to the first drain node to form a storage node. The second transistor also includes a second source node and a second gate node. The second source node is electrically floating, thus increasing the effective storage capacitance of the storage node.
US07706163B2
The present invention provides a three-level ac generating circuit and the control method thereof. The three-level ac generating circuit includes a three-level boosting circuit connected to an input source and including a positive boosting portion and a negative boosting portion; and a three-level inverting circuit connected to the three-level boosting circuit and including a positive inverting portion and a negative inverting portion, wherein while the input source is a relative low voltage, the relatively low voltage is boosted via the three-level boosting circuit, inverted and output via the three-level inverting circuit; while the input source is a relatively high voltage, the relatively high voltage is inverted and output via the three-level inverting circuit and wherein the output of the three-level ac generating circuit is power grid.
US07706158B2
An amplifier is driven by DC voltage from a switchmode power supply, whereby the switchmode power supply includes on the primary side a primary winding and bias supply winding. The bias supply winding supplies a reflected voltage from a secondary winding to a bias supply capacitor. The bias supply capacitor drives the control circuit and provides a sensing to the control circuit. The power supply further includes an active clamp circuit for controlling the voltage stress on a main switch. In another embodiment, boost inductors and a balancing transformer are added on the primary side of the transformer to prevent overvoltage conditions at light loads.
US07706156B2
The present invention provides a resonant converter with a synchronous rectification drive circuit. The resonant converter with the synchronous rectification drive circuit includes a switch circuit, a resonant circuit, a transformer, a full-wave-rectifier circuit and a synchronous rectification drive circuit, wherein the switch circuit at least includes a half-bridge circuit, the resonant circuit is coupled to the switch circuit and has a resonant frequency, the transformer has a primary side coupled to the resonant circuit, the full-wave-rectifier circuit is coupled to a secondary side of the transformer and includes two switches, the synchronous rectification drive circuit includes four voltage-clamped drive circuits having output terminals coupled to the switch circuit and the corresponding switch of the full-wave-rectifier circuit, and each voltage-clamped drive circuit includes a transmission/discharge circuit for reducing the turn-off period of the coupled switch during turning off the coupled switch.
US07706152B2
A power conversion unit and method for converting DC power. The power conversion unit includes a self-oscillating device configured to convert a DC voltage into a self-oscillating alternating current AC signal, a transformer connected to the self-oscillating device and configured to transform the self-oscillating AC signal into a transformed AC signal, and an AC-to-DC converter configured to convert the transformed AC signal into a DC signal. The method generates a self-oscillating current, transforms the self-oscillating current into a transformed AC signal, and converts the transformed AC signal into a DC signal.
US07706142B2
An electronic built-in system for installation in a support structure mounted in a passenger compartment of a vehicle. The system includes at least one electronic module and a housing for receiving the electronic modules. The housing is mounted to the support structure of the vehicle and includes a front control panel with operating elements for operating the electronic system. The front control panel faces the passenger compartment. A cooling unit is provided in the housing for guiding cooling air through the housing for cooling the electronic module. At least one first opening in an outer wall portion of the housing supplies cooling air to the housing. At least one second opening in an outer wall portion of the housing removes the cooling air from the housing. The first and second openings are arranged at different wall portions of the housing, which are separated from the passenger compartment by the support structure when the built in system is installed in the support structure.
US07706137B2
An electronic apparatus includes a first housing; a second housing; and a coupling unit that openably/closably and rotatably couples the second housing with the first housing. The coupling unit is a biaxial coupling unit having: a rotation axis that vertically extends when the first housing is placed on a horizontal table, and is rotatably coupled to the first housing; and an opening/closing axis that is fixed to the rotation axis, horizontally extends, openably/closably supports the second housing with respect to the first housing, and rotates as the rotation axis rotates. The coupling unit includes a stopper to rotate the rotation axis-only when the second housing is opened with respect to the first housing within a range of rotation-allowing opening angle that allows for rotation.
US07706136B1
The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or method that facilitates expanding upon an existing universal serial bus (USB). A base component can include a USB host to provide connectivity to at least one device. An expansion module can physically connect in a vertical position to a backside of the base component to provide a replication of the USB host which can allow a device to connect therewith.
US07706132B2
A solid electrolytic capacitor includes a negative terminal, first to fourth capacitor elements coupled to the negative terminal, first and second positive terminals connected to the first to fourth capacitor elements, and a package resin covering the first to fourth capacitor elements. Each of the first to fourth capacitor elements has a first end and a second end opposite to the first end, and each of the first to fourth capacitor elements includes a negative electrode provided at the first end and a positive electrode provided at the second end. The first to fourth capacitor elements are stacked in this order. The positive electrodes of the first and fourth capacitor elements extend in a first direction from the respective negative electrodes of the first and fourth capacitor elements. The positive electrodes of the second and third capacitor elements extend in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, from the respective negative electrodes of the second and third capacitor elements. This solid electrolytic capacitor has a small leakage current.
US07706127B2
A capacitor includes a metal case and a terminal plate. The metal case accommodates a capacitor element together with a driving electrolyte and is joined to one of the electrodes of the capacitor element at its inner bottom surface. The terminal plate is joined to the other electrode at its inner surface so as to seal the opening of the metal case. The terminal plate is provided with a pressure regulating valve also functioning as a driving-electrolyte filling hole. The pressure regulating valve includes a ring-shaped elastic member which is pressed into the wall formed on the terminal plate.
US07706116B2
Methods and apparatuses implement a thermal memory effect for a solid state power controller. A solid state power controller trip apparatus with thermal memory according to one embodiment comprises: a trip module including a first capacitor (156) and a counter (174), wherein the first capacitor (156) charges multiple times, when an over current event occurs, and the counter (174) accumulates a count related to the charging of the first capacitor (156) for the multiple times, to detect a trip condition; and a discharging module connected to the trip module, the discharging module including a resistor (166) and a second capacitor (158), wherein an electrical parameter associated with the count decays with time using the resistor (166) and the second capacitor (158).
US07706107B2
The present invention includes a flexible printed circuit bracket including a crash stop rubber and/or an air block. The air block directs the air flow from the rotating disk surface(s) away from the head gimbal assemblies to minimize positional variance of the read-write heads. The crash stop rubber contacts the crash stop stub on the actuator arm block, stopping actuator assembly swinging away from the disk. The invention includes making an actuator assembly with the invention's flexible printed circuit bracket, as well as making the hard disk drive. The invention includes both the actuator assembly and the hard disk drive as the products of these processes. The invention also includes the actuator assembly and the hard disk drive containing the invention's flexible printed circuit bracket.
US07706101B2
An actuator assembly is provided for positioning a transducer with a primary frame and a secondary frame mounted thereto for transverse translation. A coarse actuator is connected to the frames for translating the secondary frame incrementally. A carriage with a transducer is mounted to the secondary frame for transverse translation. A fine actuator is connected to the secondary frame and the carriage. The coarse actuator provides coarse adjustment and the fine actuator provides fine adjustment of the transducer for following tape. A method for positioning a transducer is provides a transducer connected to a coarse actuator and a fine actuator. Tape is conveyed across the transducer and lateral motion of the tape is monitored. The transducer is positioned by the fine actuator relative to a lateral tape position, and if the position exceeds a predetermined range, then the transducer is positioned by the actuation of the coarse actuator.
US07706097B2
Embodiments of the invention improve utility of a magnetic disk drive in which a head is retracted if the magnetic disk drive is in a dropping state. In one embodiment, an HDC/MPU provided in a magnetic disk drive judges whether the magnetic disk drive is in a dropping state based on an output from an acceleration sensor which may detect an acceleration and performs a retraction operation of a head. After the HDC/MPU judges that a drop is occurring, the HDC/MPU detects whether the drop judgment is incorrect according to whether a shock sensor detects a shock occurrence and changes the drop judgment condition based on a detection history of detected incorrect judgments.
US07706094B2
A storage device receives and holds a storage medium that is subjected to first servo writing processing for writing servo information, a Gray code of which is offset, from an inner cylinder or an outer cylinder to a predetermined cylinder and, after the first servo writing processing, subjected to second servo writing processing for writing servo information from an opposite direction to the predetermined cylinder and in which Gray codes are written to be offset not to overlap in the first or second servo writing processing and the pieces of servo information having different mark patterns are written in the first servo writing processing and the second servo writing processing. The storage device acquires cylinder information and mark patterns from the servo information written in the held storage medium and controls a position of a head based on the acquired cylinder information and mark patterns.
US07706091B2
The present invention relates to a magnetic disk device and provides a magnetic disk device in which data recording areas are separately set based on the inner recording boundary or outer recording boundary of the head measured for each magnetic disk device. When the recording linear (angular) density that has to be attained to ensure a prescribed capacity cannot be attained by the head, the recording linear (angular) density that has to be attained by the head is reduced and the prescribed capacity is realized by expanding the data recording area. A method using a counter-electromotive force generated when the head is moved toward a stopper or ramp load or a method by which the measurements are conducted based on the head position information from the servo signal can be used for measuring the positions of the inner recording boundary and outer recording boundary of the head.
US07706088B2
A lens drive assembly includes a pair of electrically conductive springs (2) disposed on the base (1), a metallic yoke (6) disposed on the electrically conductive springs (2), magnets (5) mounted within the yoke (6), a movable unit (M1) inserted into the yoke, a leaf spring (7) disposed on the yoke (6), and an upper cover frame (8) coupled to the base (1) while being superimposed on the leaf spring (7). The conductive springs (2) include spring body (2b), spring piece (2a) and a spring wire. The spring wire has U-turn curvilinear portions connected between the outer spring body (2b) and the spring piece (2a) in a sole plane. The leaf spring (7) has a spring frame (7a), a thin circular spring ring (7b), and a spring wire. The spring wire has U-turn curvilinear portions between the spring frame (7a) and the spring ring in a sole plane.
US07706086B2
An imaging lens includes: in order from an object side, an aperture diaphragm; a first lens of a positive lens having a convex surface on the object side; a second lens of a meniscus lens having a concave surface on the object side; and a third lens. The imaging lens satisfies: f/f3<0.95 and BR2<0. BR2 satisfies BR2=A/D4, A represents a distance from a vertex position on a object-side surface of the second lens and on an optical axis to a position on a image-side surface of the second lens through which a light ray passes toward a corner of an image height, provided that a traveling direction of the light ray is taken as appositive direction, and D4 represents a center thickness of the second lens. f represents a focal length of the imaging lens. f3 represents a focal length of the third lens.
US07706061B2
A method and apparatus for automating microscopic analysis of a plurality of data-encoded microscope slides. In embodiments, the data written to or read from the slides may comprise images, analysis protocols, analytic results and other pertinent data. Embodiments also encompass a magazine that contains a plurality of data encoded slides.
US07706053B2
A light source can have a conversion element disposed at one end of an optical waveguide and a semiconductor light source disposed at the other end. The optical waveguide can include a heat-conducting layer at its end proximate the converter.
US07706043B2
A device for confocal observation of a specimen, having a mask, which is located in the illumination beam path and the image beam path and is rotatable around a central axis, the mask being provided with openings for generating an illumination pattern moving on the specimen, an arrangement of a plurality of focusing microoptics which is adjusted to the geometric arrangement of the openings of the mask and to the rotation of the mask in order to concentrate the illumination light by each of the microoptics into a respective one of the openings of the mask, and a beam splitter for separating light from the specimen from illumination light, wherein the beam splitter is arranged in the beam path between the mask and the arrangement of the microoptics, and wherein an optical arrangement is provided in the beam path between the mask and the arrangement of the microoptics.
US07706029B2
A mobile display apparatus using an optical modulator is disclosed, comprising: a sensor sensing a light reflected from a side of a scanning device and then generating a scanning device reference signal specifying a position of the scanning device; and a driving signal control unit generating such scanning device control signal and optical modulator control signal that allow a light emitted from an optical modulator to be reflected in a predetermined area of the scanning device, by synchronizing the scanning device reference signal transferred from the sensor with an image synchronization signal.
US07706025B2
Provided herein are teachings directed to the creation of moiré-based auto-stereoscopic watermarks in rendered images. By choosing different halftone structures, which differ by having different spatial frequencies for each of two delineated partitions in an image, it becomes possible to embed arbitrary binary patterns into printed documents as digital watermarks. The invisible watermarks become moiré auto-stereoscopic images when the prints are viewed through an overlaid transparency “decoder” suitably prepared by virtue of being rendered with a uniform halftone structure having the correct special frequency in relationship with the partition frequencies employed in the printed document.
US07706021B2
To suppress jaggies in second image data on the basis of first image data, the second image data obtained by executing halftoning processing for the first image data, and attribute data representing an attribute of each pixel contained in the first image data, a judgment signal indicating whether to execute smoothing processing is output on the basis of the attribute data. Edge correction data is generated from the first image data by executing smoothing processing in accordance with the judgment signal. The pixel data of the second image data is compared with the pixel data of the edge correction data. The pixel data having a higher density is output. Jaggies generated by halftoning processing can be suppressed with a simple arrangement at a low cost.
US07706014B2
A printing device enables a laid-out and drawn image to be printed without any subsequent rotation. In the presence of an orientation change command, the printing device receives a layout command and determines a layout of each object in each page on the medium with conversion of coordinates at a preset position of the object. In the presence of the orientation change command, the printing device receives a print command, fetches an object according to the stored layout in each page, and draws and prints the fetched object in response to the orientation change command. No subsequent orientation change of drawing data, which has been laid out and drawn in the specified page orientation, is required to generate converted drawing data corresponding to the specified medium orientation.
US07706012B2
A data processing apparatus includes a storage unit that stores print history data, and a display unit that displays a screen for introducing recommended software based on the print history data.
US07706010B2
A method for printing a web page is provided. The method includes requesting for printing a web page of a web site connected to a web server after a user executes a web browser, downloading a web printing exclusive viewer on a personal computer of the user from the web server of the corresponding web site after requesting for printing the web page, and operating the web printing exclusive viewer, thereby generating from the web page an initial web page image to be sent to the printer and printed on the printing paper by the printer, wherein a size of the initial web page is adjusted such that an entire width of the initial web page image fits into a width of the printing area of the printing paper.
US07706008B2
An output system includes a network device for performing an output on the basis of output data and an output data managing device for managing the output data, wherein: the network device and the output data managing device are communicably connected and the network device performs the output.
US07706004B2
An apparatus for predicting when maintenance is required for a scanner comprises a tracking module configured to track a quality parameter history, a prediction module configured to predict when maintenance is required based on the quality parameter history, and a notification module configured to notify a user when maintenance is predicted to be required based on a quality parameter trend. The quality parameter is selected from a group consisting of an average brightness, a maximum brightness, a video gradient, and a contrast.
US07706002B2
The present invention realizes resource saving and energy saving by grasping and managing a usage efficiency of an image forming apparatus. To accomplish this, a method in accordance with the present invention is an information processing method of managing usage information on a job which is issued from an information processing apparatus to an image forming apparatus, which includes: a step of acquiring the usage information from the information processing apparatus or the image forming apparatus; a step of deriving the number of logical pages and the number of physical sheets from the usage information acquired in the acquisition step; and a step of outputting usage efficiency information of the image forming apparatus using the number of logical pages and the number of physical sheets derived in the derivation step.
US07706001B2
In order to allow any device to use a graphics device interface (GDI) driver without having to modify it once the GDI driver has been developed, the GDI driver is configured to create a spool format in a next-generation print path (NGPP) graphics engine specification and to convert drawing data in the spool format in the NGPP graphics engine specification into a page description language (PDL) by using an NGPP driver.
US07705999B2
A displacement sensor employs an electromagnetic radiation source that generates a beam of electromagnetic radiation for measuring a feature of an object. The displacement sensor includes a displacement probe, a multi-dimensional diffraction grating and a plurality of photon detectors. A reflection surface, which is changed when the probe interacts with the object, interacts with the beam from the electromagnetic radiation source and reflects a beam from the reflection surface. The multi-dimensional diffraction grating interacts with the reflected beam and generates a pattern of diffracted beams. Each photon detector senses a different diffracted beam, thereby providing information about the state of the probe.
US07705991B2
A gas concentration measuring apparatus is in miniaturized form and permits the measurement of anesthetic gas components. A variable interferometer is provided on the basis of a Fabry Perot interferometer (1) wherein the mirrors (2, 3) can be changed in spacing with respect to each other. The mirrors (2, 3) have coatings which make possible the transmission in two spectral ranges (Δλ1, Δλ2).
US07705985B2
The present disclosure relates to a method for measuring the maturity or cell wall thickening of a sample of cellulosic fiber. The method at least includes exposing the sample of fiber to polarized light, capturing one or more images of the sample through crossed polar lenses and a compensator plate so that the image(s) include interference colors from the sample; and conducting computer analysis on the captured image(s) to determine the maturity or degree of cell wall thickening of the cellulosic fiber by comparing the image(s) to reference color interference data.
US07705984B2
A spectroscope includes a diffraction grating having a plurality of ruled parallel lines; and a plurality of spectroscopic paths, each of which has a collimator for collimating incident light, emits the collimated light to the diffraction grating, and emits return light, which returns from the diffraction grating, through a slit provided on the path. In the spectroscope, measured light is emitted through the plurality of spectroscopic paths so as to extract light which is included in the measured light and has a predetermined wavelength; and the collimators of the spectroscopic paths are arranged so that irradiation areas of light emitted from the collimators are offset from each other at least in a direction along the ruled parallel lines. The collimators of the spectroscopic paths may be arranged so that incident angles of light emitted from the collimators coincide with each other.
US07705982B2
This relates to methods and apparatus for analyzing samples by fluorescence spectroscopy. In one embodiment, the methods and apparatus use a fluorescence detection unit (FDU) of a composition fluid analyzer (CFA™) module to detect variations in fluid properties (gradients) within an oil bearing column. Some embodiments enable efficient downhole fluid analysis in heavy oils where water/oil emulsions are present (water in dispersed phase and oil in the continuous phase). The principles described herein may also be applied when there are fine particles in the oil such as from unconsolidated sands.
US07705976B2
A Fourier transform optical detection system for use with a test assay that has a sensitivity pattern, the detection system including a lens having a Fourier transform plane and detectors located in the Fourier transform plane positioned in an arrangement of a Fourier transform pattern of the sensitivity pattern.
US07705974B2
An optical system includes both a microspot broadband spectroscopic ellipsometer and a photoacoustic film thickness measurement system that are supplied laser light by the same laser light source. One of the systems makes a measurement, the result of which is used to adjust a parameter of the other system; e.g. the ellipsometer measures thickness and the photoacoustic system uses the thickness result to measure the speed of sound. In one version, the ellipsometer converts the laser beam to a broad-spectrum beam that provides higher intensity.
US07705973B2
Provided are methods and systems for monitoring a state of a plasma chamber. In the method, an optical characteristic of plasma generated in a plasma chamber including a window is measured in a predetermined measurement wavelength band. A process status index (PSI) is extracted from the measured optical characteristic. A state of the plasma chamber is evaluated by analyzing the extracted PSI. The optical characteristic of the plasma is measured in the predetermined measurement wavelength band in which a transmittance of light passing through the window is substantially independent of a wavelength of the light.
US07705972B2
An optical method and apparatus are described for the measurement of properties of a travel vehicle or a travel surface upon which the travel vehicle travels, which includes providing an incident light from a light source to the travel surface, collecting light reflected from the travel surface, determining a surface induced Doppler shift from the incident and collected light and determining at least one of a motion property of the travel vehicle and a surface property of the travel surface based on the determined surface induced Doppler shift.
US07705961B2
A fabricating method of a liquid crystal display panel provides a first substrate and a second substrate in a chamber. Liquid crystal with a predetermined weight is dropped on the first substrate at a predetermined temperature higher than room temperature. The first substrate and the second substrate are assembled at the predetermined temperature to seal the liquid crystal with the predetermined weight within a liquid crystal cavity formed between the first substrate and the second substrate.
US07705951B2
A liquid-crystal display device is provided which is improved in image quality by supplying a reference voltage signal to a liquid-crystal display panel through a multiplicity of distributed supply paths. The liquid-crystal display device includes a liquid-crystal display panel and a semiconductor device connected to a part of a periphery of the liquid-crystal display panel. The liquid-crystal display panel has a plurality of signal lines for supplying various signals to address pixels, on one of a pair of substrates arranged oppositely through a liquid crystal. The signal lines include a common bus line for supplying a reference voltage signal. The semiconductor device is structured with a semiconductor chip mounted on a flexible board. The flexible board at least has a line leading to a terminal for supplying a signal to the signal line of the liquid-crystal display panel through the semiconductor chip. The reference voltage signal is to be supplied to the common bus line of the liquid-crystal display panel through at least a common line formed on the flexible board of the semiconductor device. The common line on the flexible board is formed in an area outside a mount area of the semiconductor chip and in an area passing through the mount area of the semiconductor chip.
US07705947B2
A liquid crystal display device having a simplified manufacturing process is disclosed. The liquid crystal display device includes a gate line and a common line having a first conductive layer group having at least double conductive layers. A common electrode is formed by an extension of at least one transparent conductive layer of a common line. A portion of the common electrode is formed of one conductive layer of the first conductive layer group, while a remaining portion of the common electrode is formed of the first conductive layer group. The gate line, a source electrode and a drain electrode have a second conductive layer group having at least double conductive layers, and the pixel electrode is formed by an extension of at least one transparent conductive layer of the drain electrode.
US07705944B2
A method of fabricating a liquid crystal display device includes in a first mask process, forming a first mask pattern group including a gate line, a gate electrode connected to the gate line and a common line parallel to the gate line that have a first conductive layer group structure having at least double conductive layers. A second mask process forms a gate insulating film on the first mask pattern group and a semiconductor pattern thereon. A third mask process forms a third mask pattern group including a data line, a source electrode connected to the data line and a drain electrode opposite the source electrode that have a second conductive layer group structure having at least double conductive layers, and a protective film interfacing with the third mask pattern group on the gate insulating film.
US07705933B2
A liquid crystal display apparatus includes a viewing-angle controlling liquid crystal layer that, when in a horizontal alignment state, exhibits a slow axis that is parallel to a polarized-light transmitting or absorbing axis of a polarizing layer that is disposed opposite to the displaying liquid crystal layer from the viewing-angle controlling liquid crystal layer.
US07705928B2
A small-sized display device having a holder for holding a liquid crystal display panel and a frame for accommodating the holder is disclosed. Projecting portions 41 are formed in part of the holder 4 and are used as horizontal stoppers against the liquid crystal panel. Cutout portions 71 are formed in the frame 7 at positions corresponding to the projecting portions 41 of the holder 4. The outer surfaces of the projecting portions 41 of the holder are made almost flush with the outline of the frame 7 or are made somewhat inside the frame outline. With this configuration, the frame thickness is reduced, and tolerance dimensions in assembling the frame and the holder need not be taken into account, thus making it possible to reduce the outline size of the display device.
US07705927B2
A pixel structure including a scan line, a data line, a first sub-pixel, a coupling electrode and a second sub-pixel is provided. The first sub-pixel includes a first thin film transistor (TFT) and a first pixel electrode, and the first pixel electrode is electrically connected to the scan line and the data line via the first TFT. The coupling electrode is disposed above the data line and electrically insulated from the data line. The second sub-pixel includes a second thin film transistor and a second pixel electrode. The second pixel electrode is electrically connected to the second TFT, and the second TFT is electrically connected to the coupling electrode. When seeing an image from a slant direction, color shift of image can be solved by utilizing the pixel structure. Besides, a liquid crystal display panel having the described pixel structure is also provided.
US07705922B2
A duct was configured such that an incident side and an outgoing side of each of liquid crystal panels 34r, 34g, and 34b are formed with discharge ports r1 and r2, g1 and g2, and b1 and b2 to discharge the air from fans 41 to 43 through ducts 411 to 431, and at the same time, a PBS 28 for aligning the polarizing direction of the light from a light source lamp is formed with a discharge port p1 to discharge the air from the fan 43 through the duct 432, and an incident side discharge port b1 and an outgoing side discharge port b2 of the liquid crystal panel 34b corresponding to the blue light are formed with the ducts so as to discharge the air from the fans 43 and 41 which are different from each other. As a result, even when an amount of light per unit area of high luminance is increased, the liquid crystal panels and the polarizing plates and the PBS can be effectively cooled by three sets of the fans.
US07705915B1
Video filtering using a programmable graphics processor is described. The programmable graphics processor may be programmed to complete a plurality of video filtering operations in a single pass through a fragment-processing pipeline within the programmable graphics processor. Video filtering functions such as deinterlacing, chroma up-sampling, scaling, and deblocking may be performed by the fragment-processing pipeline. The fragment-processing pipeline may be programmed to perform motion adaptive deinterlacing, wherein a spatially variant filter determines, on a pixel basis, whether a “bob”, a “blend”, or a “weave” operation should be used to process an interlaced image.
US07705913B2
A method for film mode detection is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) detecting if a plurality of fields in a video signal are in a 3:2 pull-down pattern to control a plurality of first flags based on a plurality of statistics gathered from the fields, (B) detecting if the fields contain moving interlaced text to control a second flag based on both (i) the statistics and (ii) a repeat-field flag of the first flags that indicates repeating consecutive same polarity fields and (C) deciding among a plurality of inverse telecine processes to de-interlace the fields based on all of (i) a 3:2 mode flag of the first flags, (ii) a 3:2 direction flag of the first flags and (iii) the second flag.
US07705912B2
A method of decoding audio data, encoded in multiple DIF blocks in a Digital Video (DV) data stream, and outputting said audio data as a PCM frame, includes fetching a single Digital Interface Frame (DIF) block from the DV data stream. A first byte in the single DIF block is de-shuffled to determine its index (n) in the PCM frame. Each byte in the in the single DIF block is de-shuffled to determine its respective index (n) in the PCM frame. The de-shuffled data is written into the PCM frame for output if the present DIF block is the last in the present DV frame. Subsequent DIF blocks in the DV frame are processed in the manner described above.
US07705904B2
Object images taken for a predetermined period before a shutter key is pressed are stored in a buffer. During the period, past object images taken at every one second are read from the buffer, the read images are displayed in predetermined areas in a through image, and the images in the areas are updated. When the shutter key is pressed, a moving image for the predetermined period is generated from the object images stored in the buffer. Thereby, in a digital camera which records images for a predetermined period acquired just before as the moving image, it is possible to precisely determine a timing to perform the recording and saving instruction.
US07705901B2
In an image pickup apparatus, photosensitive devices each are allocated to particular one of pixels bidimensionally arranged on a photosensitive cell array and is divided into two photosensitive regions having substantially equal photosensitive area. Signal charges stored in the two photosensitive regions each are transferred over particular one of vertical transfer paths arranged at both sides of the photosensitive regions. The signal charges are read out in an interlace read mode such that in a first field signal charges are read out from pixels corresponding to green, and in a second field signal charges are read out from pixels corresponding to red and blue.
US07705898B2
A solid-state imaging apparatus including: an electronic shutter scanning circuit for outputting to a pixel section a second line select signal for selecting second lines to which an operation setting corresponding to exposure time is effected; and a scanning control section for executing a first control for controlling selection of first lines through a read scanning circuit in a read region consisting of a plurality of lines within the pixel section and a second control for controlling selection of the second lines through the electronic shutter scanning circuit with taking the read region and an unread region in the vicinity of the read region as subject of selection and controlling timing for resetting the pixel cells belonging to the second liens in accordance with the exposure time.
US07705895B2
An image obtained as a result of an image-taking process carried out at a screen rate higher than a standard screen rate is stored in a recording medium in the contemporary video format. To put it more concretely, the image obtained as a result of an image-taking process is supplied at a first screen rate to first compression/coding means for carrying out a compression/coding process at the first screen rate and image data obtained as a result of the compression/coding process is temporarily stored in temporary storage means. After image data output by the first compression/coding means during a predetermined period of time is stored in the temporary storage means, decompression/decoding means reads out the image data from the temporary storage means at a second screen rate lower than the first screen rate, carries out a decompression/decoding process on the image data and stores a result of the decompression/decoding process in recording means.
US07705891B2
An image captured utilizing a digital camera and a flash is processed by locating distortions of said captured image due to said flash such as “red-eye” effects and removing them. The process includes the steps of determining if the flash is on 11, if so, determining any faces within the captured image 12, locating eyes within said faces 13, determining if “red-eye” removal is required 14, and if so, correcting for such effects 15 and storing corrected image 16 in a memory device of the digital camera.
US07705886B2
An information processing apparatus for controlling a display device, includes: an acquisition unit acquiring an image of a subject formed in an image capture area made of a plurality of pixels performing an image capture operation, based on outputs from pixels constituting an image capture area; a transmitter transmitting data of the acquired image data to an other information processing apparatus controlling an other display device having the same construction as the display device; a receiver receiving data of an image of other subject transmitted from the other information processing apparatus; and a display controller displaying the image of the other subject in a display area based on the received image data.
US07705884B2
Video data of successive image frames are processed in a digital camera or other video image data acquisition device immediately after acquiring the video data, or during post-processing of the video data at some time after acquiring the video data, to reduce the effects of unintended motion (jitter) of the hand-held devices by stabilizing the images. A processing circuit used to calculate an estimate of motion between components of successive image frames as part of a MPEG-4 or other compression algorithm is also used to estimate motion upon which the video data are altered to stabilize the images. The individual images may be pre-stabilized by using the results of stabilizing a prior image in order to reduce the amount of processing necessary to stabilize a current image.
US07705879B2
A system for and a method of synchronous acquisition of pulsed source light performs monitoring of aircraft flight operation. Diode sources of illumination (18, 108, 208) are pulsed (16, 106, 206) at one-half the video frame rate of an imaging camera (36, 136, 236). Alternate frames view the world-scene with lights of interest pulsed on, and then off, respectively. Video differencing (34, 134, 234) eliminates the background scene, as well as all lights not of interest. Suitable threshholding over a resulting array of camera pixel-differences acquires the desired lights and represents them as point symbology on a display (40, 140, 240). In an enhanced vision landing system embodiment, the desired lights (symbols) overlay or are fused on a thermal image of the scene; alternatively, the symbols overlay a visible scene (TV) image.
US07705869B2
A line head, includes: a head substrate that includes a plurality of light emitting element groups as groups of light emitting elements; a lens array that includes a plurality of lenses each of which faces the corresponding light emitting element group in a first direction; and a light shielding member that is disposed between the head substrate and the lens array and includes a plurality of light shielding plates which are arranged side by side in the first direction while defining a space layer therebetween, wherein each of the plurality of light shielding plates is provided with a plurality of light guide holes penetrating in the first direction and facing the plurality of light emitting element groups in the first direction respectively, the plurality of light guide holes facing each of the light emitting element groups are arranged in the first direction respectively to form a plurality of light guide portions, and lights from the plurality of light emitting element groups are incident on the plurality of lenses through the plurality of light guide portions respectively.
US07705864B2
A display controller system is controlled to provide a display surface zoom using hardware scaling from user input at the operating system, application program or hardware level. User input defining coordinates of a frame portion within a frame buffer memory is obtained, and a resolution of the zoom display device is determined. An aspect ratio of the zoom portion defined by the user input is adjusted to correspond to the zoom display device resolution. The display controller system is programmed to implement the display surface zoom to provide a full screen view of the zoom portion on the zoom display device. In the display controller system, the zoom portion of the frame buffer memory is scaled, converted into a display signal and output.
US07705859B2
A method of transitioning between two high resolution video signals includes replacing a first image which is a frame of a first video signal with a lower resolution copy of the first image; and fading out the lower resolution copy of the first image to reveal a second image from a second video signal. A system for displaying video signals includes a video monitor configured to communicate with at least one video signal source. The system is configured to replace a first image which is a frame of a first video signal with a lower resolution copy of the first image; and fade out the lower resolution copy of the first image to reveal a second image from a second video signal.
US07705853B2
Graphics resources are virtualized through an interface between graphics hardware and graphics clients. The interface allocates the graphics resources across multiple graphics clients, processes commands for access to the graphics resources from the graphics clients, and resolves conflicts for the graphics resources among the clients.
US07705849B2
A computer implemented method and computer usable program code for interacting with a system schematic. A system schematic having a plurality of components is graphically displayed. In response to receiving a selection of a control component, a state of the control component is altered. A set of effector components from the plurality of components are animated using a cause-and-effect relationship between the control component and the set of effector components are animated.
US07705826B2
A flat panel display has a linear array of switchable light emitting diodes (“LEDs”) to emit bands of light across the display, providing a light pattern programmable at video frequencies and a two-dimensional electropolymeric shutter array to convert the light pattern into a video image. The light pattern can be varied or controlled spatially, with respect to both hue and intensity, by suitable drive signals, at points along the array determined by the location of individual LEDs, or groups of LEDs, and temporally as the shutters in the array are opened and closed to provide a pleasing full color gamut for every pixel in the display. Closed shutters, displaying a reflective appearance, can be employed for background or other effects. The shutter array can be flexibly constructed and supported on a flexible substrate to provide a flexible display.
US07705818B2
An electro-optical device includes a plurality of scanning lines that extends in a row direction, a plurality of data lines that extends in a column direction, a plurality of pixels which are provided at intersections of the scanning lines and the data lines and whose gray-scale levels are designated by data signals supplied through the data lines, a common electrode that is provided so as to be opposite to pixel electrodes, a shift register that outputs sampling signals to sequentially select a plurality of blocks each composed of a plurality of the data lines, in a period where the scanning lines are selected, a sampling circuit that samples the data signals to the plurality of data lines belonging to the block selected by the sampling signal, respectively, a data signal supply circuit that changes the potential of the data signal into a higher level and a lower level than a predetermined potential in every predetermined period and then alternately outputs the potentials, and a correction circuit that superimposes, on the data signals, correction signals for correcting potential errors that are generated in the data lines belonging to each of the blocks, corresponding to the potentials of the data lines.
US07705812B2
A liquid crystal display apparatus including a glass substrate having a liquid display part formed thereon and a plurality of flexible boards connected to a periphery of the glass substrate. The apparatus also includes a liquid crystal drive IC mounted on each of the flexible boards so as to generate liquid crystal drive signals based on input signals. Additionally, the glass substrate has first internal lines and second internal lines. The first internal lines supply the input signals supplied from a first one of the flexible boards to a second one of the flexible boards, and the second internal lines return the input signals supplied from the first one of the flexible boards back to the first one of the flexible boards without any change.
US07705806B2
A method for driving a plasma display panel, including a plurality of display electrode pairs and a plurality of address electrodes, and which includes at least an address period and a sustain discharge period. In the address period, performing address processing, between the address electrodes and a display electrode configured as either a set of odd or even numbered display electrodes, sequentially to all of one of the sets of display electrode pairs, and thereafter address processing, between the address electrodes and a display electrode configured as the other set of display electrode pairs, sequentially to all of the other set of display electrode pairs. In the sustain discharge period, supplying at least one first sustain discharge pulse to the one set of display electrode pairs, and supplying at least one second sustain discharge pulse to the other set of display electrode pairs.
US07705798B2
An antenna system includes a fractalized element that may be a ground counterpoise, a top-hat located load assembly, or a microstrip patch antenna having at least one element whose physical shape is at least partially defined as a first or higher iteration deterministic fractal. The resultant fractal element may rely upon an opening angle for performance, and is more compact than non-Euclidean ground counterpoise elements or the like. A vertical antenna system includes a vertical element that may also be a fractal, and a vertical antenna can include vertically spaced-apart fractal conductive and passive elements, and at least one fractal ground element. Various antenna configurations may be fabricated on opposite surfaces of a substrate, including a flexible substrate, and may be tuned by rotating elements relative to each other, and/or by varying the spaced-apart distance therebetween. Fractalized ground counterpoise elements and/or microstrip patch antenna systems may be fabricated on a flexible printed circuit substrate, and/or placed within the support mount of a cellular telephone car antenna.
US07705790B2
A method of mounting an antenna assembly into computer apparatus including forming a mounting bracket on an interior surface of a housing of the computer apparatus, the mounting bracket including at least two upstanding surfaces defining a gap therebetween, and inserting a first portion of the antenna assembly into engagement with the mounting bracket and adhering a second portion of the antenna assembly to the interior surface.
US07705789B2
Herein disclosed is a portable wireless device, comprising: a first case 11 having a metal portion; a second case 12; a hinge portion 13 operative to rotatably connect the first case with the second case; a circuit board 18 having a ground pattern, the circuit board accommodated in the second case; and a feed portion connected to the circuit board, the hinge portion 13 having a rotating shaft 23 formed by a conductive metal, and the first case, the rotating shaft 23 and the ground pattern collectively function as an antenna element, wherein the portable wireless device further comprises a first conductor element 25 accommodated in the first case 11 in spaced-apart relationship with the rotating shaft 23 with a predetermined gap, the first conductor element having an electrical length substantially equal to a half wavelength of a wireless frequency.
US07705787B2
A coupled slot probe antenna for use with antenna structures in mobile communication devices, such as cellular telephones and other wireless communication devices. The coupled slot probe antenna includes at least one first conductive element, and a second conductive element coupled between the first conductive element and the printed circuit board (PCB) ground plane of the mobile communication device. The first and second conductive elements define a tunable coupled slot area and the coupled slot probe antenna is coupled to the PCB ground plane in such a way that the coupled slot area is near a low-impedance point of the antenna structure, wherein coupling therebetween improves the bandwidth and the efficiency of the antenna structure. The coupled slot area can be tuned by changing the size of the coupled slot area and by changing the position of the coupled slot area relative to the low-impedance point of the antenna structure.
US07705785B2
An antenna has a plurality of metallic patches and a feed network both being spaced apart from a ground plate at different levels to obtain better radiation pattern and gain effects. Each of the metallic patches has a body with an outer edge from which an inclined wing extends upwardly and outwardly. Furthermore, the metallic patches and the feed network are integrally formed by bending a single piece of metal plate, thus the antenna improves the design flexibility and also simplifies the production process.
US07705771B2
The radar apparatus includes an antenna device including a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna, and a main body which generates an FMCW-modulated radar wave, transmits the radar wave from the transmitting antenna at a transmit timing, and receives the radar wave reflected from an obstacle by the receiving antenna at a receive timing, the transmit timing and the receive timing temporally overlap each other at least partially. The radar apparatus further includes a cover member covering the main body and the antenna device on a side of a transmission direction of the radar wave and located out of contact with the main body and the antenna device, the cover member having a transmission portion allowing the radar wave to pass therethrough, a surface of the transmission portion facing the antenna device being out of perpendicular alignment with the transmission direction.
US07705765B1
Circuits and methods for determining component ratios are provided. An analog to digital converter circuit may include comparison capacitors arranged in an upper group and a lower group for quantizing analog signals into the digital domain. In addition to determining the lower bits during an analog to digital conversion of an input sample, the lower group of comparison capacitors may also be used during calibration mode to quantize a ratio signal that represents the capacitor mismatches of the upper group rather than using a dedicated digital-to-analog converter to perform this function.
US07705758B2
A Delta-Sigma DAC and a digital to analog conversion method are provided. A FIR filter receives a shaped digital signal to generate a first current on a first output node, and a second current on a second output node. A current inverter is coupled to the second output node, outputting a reversed current having opposite polarity and identical magnitude of the second current. A current to voltage converter is coupled to the first output node and the output of current inverter, generating an analog signal according to the first and reversed currents. A first current source compensates DC offset for the first current, and a second current source compensates DC offset for the second current. The first and second current sources are implemented by NMOS.
US07705756B2
A system for multi-channel analog-to-digital conversion has a plurality of sampling modules, wherein each of the modules includes an input node and an output node; multiplexing circuitry configured to selectively route at least one of a plurality of electrical signals present on the output nodes to an analog-to-digital converter; and control circuitry in communication with the multiplexing circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is programmatically configured to control a sequence in which the electrical signals are routed to the analog-to-digital converter.
US07705752B2
A method for inputting characters on a terminal, which includes displaying virtual character sets on a display screen of the terminal, in which each of the virtual character sets includes a plurality of virtual characters corresponding to physical keys included on a keypad of the terminal. The method also includes selecting a particular virtual character set among the displayed virtual character sets, and selecting a particular virtual character from the selected virtual character set.
US07705750B2
The invention relates to a system for use with stations for road tolls, comprising a first optical apparatus for recording images of the roadway and a second apparatus for wireless communication with a vehicle apparatus. The height above the roadway and the angle in a lateral and a vertical direction in relation to the roadway are known for the first apparatus, and the second apparatus can determine coordinates for the vehicle apparatuses in at least two directions through its communication with the vehicle apparatuses. The system comprises means for being able to detect one or more number plates from an image taken using the optical apparatus, and means for calculating the positions of the detected number plates in three directions, and means for being able to determine any associations between number plates and vehicle apparatuses by comparison between the said positions of the number plates and the said positions of the vehicle apparatuses.
US07705745B2
An optical traffic signal column including stacked levels fixed to one another by rotation. The base of each level includes, distributed along its periphery, oblong passages and fixed connectors. The conductors include rods each having two ends angularly offset from one another, and including a common conducting rod and a stage-specific conducting rod. The connector rods are identical and respectively fix the bottom of a conducting rod of the relevant level and the top of the respective conducting rod of an adjacent level, the angular offset between the two fixing points corresponding to that of ends of the conducting rods. The conducting rods are mutually arranged and mounted to effect, from one level to the next level, an essentially identical angular position of the common conducting rods and an angular offset of the stage-specific conducting rods.
US07705743B2
A low power self-organizing network is made up of a plurality of wireless communication nodes communicating wirelessly with each other. The nodes each have a sensor providing a respective sensor data value indicative of a physical parameter in the environment of that node. The wireless network discontinues communication with any nodes in which the sensor data value is outside a range of network sensor data values. The network is preferably a group of vehicles moving together, especially a train in which each node is associated with a respective wheel of a railroad car. The nodes are low-power devices that communicate using wireless communications according to a Zigbee protocol. The nodes each have an additional sensor sensing a physical parameter the respective wheel thereof and determines from said electrical signal a degree of degradation of a bearing of the wheel, and transmits data of the degree of degradation to the main node. The main node communicates with another computer system using a higher power communication system and transmits thereto data indicative of degradation of said bearings.
US07705741B2
A system and method for detecting a broken wire in a communication cable coupling a powered device to power sourcing equipment. Powered Devices (PDs) may be powered by power sourcing equipment via communication cables as in power over Ethernet systems. A current share technique is employed at the Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) side or the PD side of the Ethernet cable to force currents in twisted pairs of the communication cable to be equal. In one embodiment, first and second power supplies within a PSE are coupled to first and second powered device controllers (PDCs). A characteristic within the system that is indicative of first and second PDC input voltages is measured and the two measured characteristics are compared. If the two measured characteristics are not substantially the same, such indicates the presence of a broken wire. In another embodiment, a broken wire is detectable as an imbalance in voltage drops across resistors disposed in series with wires of a twisted pair at either the PSE or PD end of the twisted pair.
US07705735B2
Agricultural data collection and management, such as for tracking a product in a supply chain. A data collection interface is established between a first supply management device and a transaction database, the data collection interface providing the transaction database with access to identification data and event data, the identification data uniquely identifying the product, and the event data relating to a supply chain process step for the product. A product tracking request for formatted identification data and/or event data is received from a second supply management device. A data conversion interface is established between the second supply management device, and the identification data and/or the event data, the data conversion interface providing the second supply management device with access to the identification data and/or the event data, according to the product tracking request.
US07705733B2
A coiled RFID tag that includes an RFID transponder circuit that is formed over a generally cylindrically-shaped substrate core so that portions of the antenna of the transponder circuit circumscribe the substrate core. With this configuration, the tag may be applied to objects without regard to antenna orientation. The transponder circuit and substrate core are encased in a protective material that will prevent ingress of moisture and dust, insulate from heat and cold but will allow radio frequency waves to pass without significant attenuation. The tag may be attached various items by an overmolding process in the formation of a grip of other portions. Alternatively, the tag may be attached to objects by forming it into a flexible sleeve-like portion that is pulled over objects and maintained in position by the resilient properties of the sleeve.
US07705731B2
An inspection system including a first subsystem including a first identity verification system and a passenger screening system each configured to receive information from a passenger and store the verified information in a database, and a second subsystem including at least a second identity verification system configured to receive information from the passenger, the second subsystem configured to compare the verified identity information to the information received from the passenger at the second subsystem to verify the identity of the passenger.
US07705718B2
There is provided a tire information detector to promptly and accurately detect tire information such as pressure of a tire. The tire information detector includes a transponder including a resonator and disposed in a tire of a vehicle; and a controller disposed in a vehicle body, transmitting an excitation signal allowing the resonator to resonate to the transponder, receiving a resonance signal concerning a resonance frequency of the resonator, and calculating a measurement value in accordance with the resonance frequency of the resonator. The controller determines a frequency of the excitation signal based on the resonance frequency of the resonator obtained from previous communications with the transponder.
US07705717B2
A tire pressure monitoring system (12) for an automotive vehicle (10) has a receiver circuit (28). The vehicle (12) has a plurality of wheels (14A-14D). A plurality of antennas (31A-31D) are adjacent to one of the wheels (14A-14D). The plurality of antennas receive RF signals from a pressure sensor (16A). An adder circuit (30) is coupled to the receiver circuit and the plurality of antennas. The adder circuit receives the RF signals and adds them together to form a sum signal. The sum signal is coupled to the receiver circuit.
US07705708B2
A varistor has a varistor element body, and an external electrode disposed on the varistor element body. The varistor element body contains ZnO as a principal component, and a rare-earth metal. The external electrode has an electrode layer. The electrode layer is formed on an external surface of the varistor element body by simultaneous firing with the varistor element body. The electrode layer contains Pd.
US07705700B2
An electromagnetic relay has an overtravel adjustment to set the gap in the contact arrangement. The armature is actuated by a relay coil and linked to a pusher to drive the pusher to operate the contact system. The pusher includes a rotary dial disposed in a slot on the pusher adjacent to the armature. The rotary adjustment increases or decreases a gap of the contacts to provide an over-travel adjustment. The pusher includes bifurcated tines defining the slot for receiving an armature linkage and the rotary adjustment. The rotary adjustment includes a head and a post depending from the head. The post is disposed within the slot and the head portion in contact with the armature linkage portion. The rotary adjustment sets the distance between the forward edge and the armature to achieve the desired overtravel for the contact arrangement.
US07705698B2
A field effect transistor comprising a substrate; an electrically conducting channel within the substrate; an electrically conducting source on the substrate comprising a source finger; an electrically conducing drain on the substrate comprising a drain finger; the source and drain fingers being separated to define a path therebetween; at least one electrically conducting source/drain strip extending along the path; at least one rectifying gate strip extending along the path on each side of the source/drain strip, each gate strip being adapted to control the current flow in the conducting channel.
US07705692B2
A high-frequency circuit for use in a dual-band wireless communications apparatus selectively using first and second frequency bands, comprising a diplexer connected to the output of a power amplifier for sending either one of transmission signals in the first and second frequency bands to an antenna, a coupler having a primary line connected to a common end of the diplexer and a secondary line, a detector comprising a detection diode for detecting a transmission power of a high-frequency signal sent from the secondary line of the coupler, and a harmonics-suppressing circuit disposed between the secondary line of the coupler and the detection diode.
US07705691B2
A substrate for power decoupling and a method of forming a substrate for power decoupling. The substrate comprises one or more decoupling capacitors; and one or more interconnections to the decoupling capacitors. At least one of the interconnections comprises a lossy material.
US07705690B2
A serpentine guard trace for reducing far-end crosstalk of a micro strip transmission line is provided. The serpentine guard trace reduces receiving-end crosstalk caused by an electromagnetic interference of a signal of a nearby transmission line when transmitting a high speed signal through a micro strip transmission line on a printed circuit board. The serpentine guard trace is located between two nearby transmission lines and has a line width narrower than that of transmission lines for an effective serpentine structure. A characteristic impedance of the serpentine guard trace increases due to the narrow line width. Termination resistors having impedance which is the same as the characteristic impedance of the serpentine guard trace are located on both ends of the guard trace to minimize a reflection wave generated in the serpentine guard trace. The receiving-end crosstalk can be effectively reduced by using the serpentine guard trace instead of a linear guard trace. Accordingly, the serpentine guard trace can be effectively used when a high speed signal is transmitted on a printed circuit board.
US07705688B2
A period signal generator comprises a first period signal generating unit for generating a first period signal of which period changes according to a temperature, a second period signal generating unit for generating a second period signal which has a constant period regardless of a temperature, and a period signal output control unit for comparing the first period signal with the second period signal and selecting and outputting the first period signal in case that the period of the first period signal is shorter than that of the second period signal.
US07705687B1
A digital ring oscillator outputting a toggled clock signal. The clock signal is generated by a plurality of electronic cells that are arranged in series. At least one of the plurality of electronic cells receives a feedback of the clock signal. Control signals are received at an input for the plurality of electronic cells. Each electronic cell includes a first logic gate, a second logic gate, and an inverted logic gate coupled between the first logic gate and the second logic gate. For each electronic cell, a respective control signal controls whether an output signal received from the first logic gate of a preceding electronic cell is transferred through the first logic gate to the first logic gate in a succeeding electronic cell, or is inverted and transferred through the second logic gate to the second logic gate in a preceding electronic cell, based on the control signal.
US07705686B2
An injection-locked frequency divider includes a ring oscillator, a signal injection circuit, a first adjustable load circuit and a second adjustable load circuit. The ring oscillator generates an oscillation signal according to a differential signal outputted by the signal injection circuit. According to an adjustable voltage, the first and second adjustable load circuits can respectively change equivalent impedances of the first adjustable load circuit and the second adjustable load circuit so that a free-running frequency of the oscillation signal of the ring oscillator is adjusted and an injection-locked frequency range of the injection-locked frequency divider is expanded.
US07705685B2
An oscillator operates at a very low voltage yet has a duty cycle that is set by a ratio of capacitors that are charged and discharged. Sub-threshold p-channel transistors conduct sub-threshold currents below the normal threshold voltage, and drive set and reset inputs of a set-reset S-R latch. The S-R latch drives the oscillator outputs. The oscillator outputs feed back to charging p-channel transistors that charge one plate of the capacitors. During half of the cycle, the charging p-channel transistor is off, allowing one plate of the capacitors to discharge through an n-channel discharge transistor. After a period of discharge determined by the capacitance of the capacitor, the gate of a sub-threshold p-channel transistor falls enough for sub-threshold current to flow, triggering the set or reset input of the S-R latch. Since sub-threshold currents are needed to toggle the S-R latch, the oscillator begins to oscillate below the threshold voltage.
US07705684B2
An integrated CMOS power amplifier system to improve amplifier performance, the integrated CMOS power amplifier system including a plurality of differential main amplifier cores, a plurality of ground pads, and a plurality of routes to connect the plurality of differential main amplifier cores to the plurality of ground pads. Each differential main amplifier core includes a pair of collocated main amplifier core transistors. Each ground pad is connected to a subset of the differential main amplifier cores. Embodiments of the integrated CMOS power amplifier system decrease parasitic inductance to ground and increase the transconductance and amplification of the integrated CMOS power amplifier system, thus improving performance.
US07705679B2
An operational amplifier includes a first differential stage, a second differential stage, a second cascade amplifier stage, an output unit, a first switching control unit and a second switching control unit. When an external signal for stopping operation is input, the first switching control unit shuts off a connection between a non-inverting input terminal and a control electrode of one input transistor at each first and second differential stage, and shuts off a connection between an inverting input terminal and a control electrode of another input transistor at the first and second differential stages, and the second switching control unit connects the negative-side power supply voltage terminal to each control gate of the input transistors at the first and second differential stages and to the substrate gates of the input transistors at the first differential stage.
US07705673B2
Two transistors of a class D output stage are driven by complementary, variable duty cycle signals PWM+ and PWM−. When the pulse width of the PWM+ signal becomes too narrow for reliable operation of prior art over-current protection circuits sensing the drain to source voltage of FET1 driven by PWM+, a Narrow Pulse Detector generates a signal indicative of this narrow pulse condition. A Negative Current Sense circuit measures the drain to source voltage across FET2 during the much longer conduction time of FET2 driven by PWM−. Because of the energy stored in the series inductor coupled to the output of the class D stage, a negative current flows through this FET2 during its conduction time. The resulting drain to source voltage of FET2 is measured and compared to a threshold. If the voltage indicative of current is over the threshold, and the Narrow Pulse Detector output indicates a narrow pulse condition, then an inhibit signal is generated which reduces current. A second Negative Current Sense circuit is utilized to similarly detect over-current conditions when the pulse width of PWM− becomes too narrow for reliable operation of prior art over-current protection circuits, thus protecting both FETs in the class D output stage from excessive current.
US07705670B2
A first gain stage and a second gain stage having different gains are linked in cascade to construct a wide range and high resolution programmable gain amplifier. The second gain stage can be used only for low gain and low power consumption. Furthermore, two pairs of chopper circuits are used to shift flicker noise when the programmable gain amplifier is operated.
US07705666B1
A filler circuit cell is disclosed. The filler circuit cell includes a decoupled capacitor, a tie low circuit and a tie high circuit. The decoupled capacitor includes a first NMOS transistor and a first PMOS transistor, in which the source/drain of the first NMOS transistor is connected to a second voltage source and the source/drain of the first PMOS transistor is connected to a first voltage source. The tie low circuit includes a second NMOS transistor and a second PMOS transistor and the tie high circuit includes a third NMOS transistor and a third PMOS transistor.
US07705659B1
Power regulator circuitry is provided for powering loads such as memory element arrays on integrated circuits. The power regulator circuitry may have a regulated power supply circuit and a switch-based power supply circuit. Control circuitry can control the regulated power supply circuit and the switch-based power supply circuit. The control circuitry may include a power supply power-on-reset control circuit. The power supply power-on-reset control circuit may receive a system power-on-reset control signal from a system power-on-reset control circuit. Based on the system power-on-reset control signal and monitored power supply voltages, the power supply power-on-reset control circuit may apply power-on-reset control signals to depletion mode transistors in the power regulator circuitry to ensure that nodes within the power regulator circuitry have defined values during power-up operations.
US07705657B2
This patent specification describes a backflow prevention circuit which includes a first switch configured to conduct or to shut down a current path from an input terminal to an output terminal, a logic circuit configured to binarize an input voltage at the input terminal based on an output voltage at the output terminal and to output a binary signal and a shutdown circuit configured to cause the first switch to shut down independently of a switching control signal in accordance with the binary signal output from the logic circuit. The switching control signal performs a switching control of the first switch. The logic circuit outputs a shutdown signal to shut down independently of the switching control signal when the input voltage becomes smaller than the output voltage.
US07705654B2
A fast active DCAP cell which has a short turn-on time, achieves a high capacitance density, and which minimizes leakage overhead during its normal operation mode is disclosed. The DCAP cell has a pair of PMOS transistors that have their drains connected to a gate of a PMOS transistor and their sources connected to the VDD rail. The drain and source of the PMOS transistor are connected to the VSS rail. Likewise, the DCAP cell has a pair of NMOS transistors that have their drains connected to a gate of an PMOS transistor and their sources connected to the VSS rail. The drain and source of the PMOS transistor are connected to the VDD rail. None of the gates of the transistors is connected to the VDD or VSS rail. This protects the gate oxide from being damaged by ESD surge currents.
US07705653B2
An interface system delivers an output signal having a first signal characteristic in response to first and second input signals having the first signal characteristic and a second, different signal characteristic. The interface system includes a signal input for receiving a first signal having a first signal characteristic and a second signal having a second signal characteristic which is different from the first signal characteristic, a detector circuit for detecting whether the signal at the input is the first signal or the second signal, and a translator circuit for translating either of the first signal or the second signal into the output signal.
US07705652B2
A clock generating apparatus has an integral ratio divider for, according to frequency-dividing parameters for generating a second clock signal including a second frequency by using a first clock signal including a first frequency, outputting the second clock signal, and a frequency-dividing parameter generating portion for comparing program clock reference inputted from outside with an STC value based on the second clock signal and outputting the frequency-dividing parameters so as to converge a discrepancy between the program clock reference and the STC value within a predetermined range, and wherein the frequency-dividing parameter generating portion generates new frequency-dividing parameters each time the program clock reference is inputted from outside.
US07705649B1
A duty cycle correction circuit (10) for receiving an input clock signal (11) and generating an output clock signal (13) having a predetermined duty cycle includes a clock trigger circuit (12) generating the output clock signal (13) having a first clock edge triggered from the input clock signal and a second clock edge triggered from a delayed clock signal (22); a charge pump circuit (14) receiving the output clock signal and generating charging and discharging currents for a capacitor (C1) where a control voltage develops on the capacitor indicative of the duty cycle error of the output clock signal; a self-track bias circuit (18) receiving the control voltage and generating first and second bias voltages (23, 24) in response to the control voltage; and a delay-locked loop circuit (20) receiving the output clock signal and the first and second bias voltages and generating the delayed clock signal.
US07705648B1
A circuit for monitoring a PWM signal and providing an output indicating a condition of the PWM signal. The circuit also uses condition based hysteresis to maintain an output value at a previous state until the condition of the PWM signal has remained unchanged for a given duration. In addition, the circuitry may be used in conjunction with a switching regulator to reduce switching noise during high duty cycle operation.
US07705644B2
A broadband multi-phase output delay locked loop (DLL) circuit can be operated in a wide range of frequencies and generate various phases. Unlike conventional voltage control delay lines in which delay cells are connected in series, the DLL circuit utilizes a delay matrix in which a resistant network is used so that the number of delay cells connected in series is reduced, various phases can be outputted, and a delay interval error (phase error) due to the resistant network is minimized. The current of the delay cells is controlled so that the delay cells in the delay matrix can operate in a wide range of frequencies, and load capacitance values of capacitors connected in parallel in the delay cells can be controlled.
US07705643B2
The phase controller device according to the invention comprises a hardware core that is formed by a signal detector, a voltage-controlled oscillator, a phase comparator, and an integration unit, where the hardware core, by controlling the working clock pulse frequency of the microcontroller, brings an output clock pulse signal that is generated by a microcontroller into phase with the input clock pulse information that is received from the input data stream, and does so in such a manner that the jitter is low. The microcontroller executes a program with this working clock pulse, where with that program the microcontroller generates the output clock pulse signal with an output clock pulse frequency that is in a predetermined division ratio to the control clock pulse frequency that is generated by the voltage-controlled oscillator and is given to the microcontroller as a working clock pulse frequency. In this way the program enables the phase controller device according to the invention to process, with a microcontroller, external periodic signals, data, or events, where the software processes taking place in the microcontroller are always locked in phase with the periodic occurrence of these external signals, data, or events.
US07705641B2
Phase-locked loop charge pump driven by low voltage input. In one aspect, a charge pump for a phase-locked loop circuit includes a sourcing current transistor providing a sourcing current, wherein the sourcing current transistor is coupled to a high-voltage operating voltage supply. A sourcing control circuit uses low-voltage sourcing control signals to selectively cause the charge pump to source the sourcing current to an output of the charge pump, and a sinking control circuit uses low-voltage sinking control signals to selectively cause the charge pump to sink the sinking current from the output.
US07705637B2
A semiconductor switch, is provided that comprises a semiconductor element having a control terminal and two load terminals forming switching contacts of the semiconductor switch, a temperature measuring device for measuring the temperatures of the semiconductor element at two measurement locations spaced apart from one another, and also a control circuit connected between the temperature measuring device and the control terminal of the semiconductor element and having a control input forming the control contact of the semiconductor element, wherein provision is made for: measuring the temperatures of the semiconductor element at two measurement locations spaced apart from one another; providing a signal representing the difference between the two temperatures; driving a driving current of specific intensity into the control terminal of the semiconductor element if a corresponding signal is present at the control input in order to control the semiconductor element in the conducting state between its load terminals; increasing the intensity of the driving current if the semiconductor element is controlled in the conducting state and the temperature difference exceeds a first limit value.
US07705630B1
A negative voltage level shifter having simplified structure includes a first inverter, a pass unit, a voltage-dividing unit, a second inverter, and a third inverter. The first inverter is powered with a positive supply voltage. Both the second and third inverters are powered with a negative supply voltage. The first inverter inverts an input signal for generating a first internal signal. The pass unit functions to forward the first internal signal to become a second internal signal when the first internal signal has a voltage greater than a threshold voltage. The voltage-dividing unit is employed to generate a third internal signal having a voltage divided from the negative supply voltage and the second internal signal. The second inverter inverts the third internal signal for generating a fourth internal signal. The third inverter inverts the fourth internal signal for generating an output signal.
US07705629B1
In one embodiment, the integrated circuit has a L-level permutable switching network (L-PSN) comprising L levels of intermediate conductors. The integrated circuit can be used in electronic devices, such as switching networks, routers, and programmable logic circuits, etc.
US07705627B1
A semiconductor device using power gating includes a circuit unit and a current blocking unit. The circuit unit is connected between a first voltage node and a virtual voltage node. The current blocking unit is connected between the virtual voltage node and a second voltage node, and can block a leakage current of the circuit unit in a standby mode. Also, the current blocking unit controls whether or not to connect the virtual voltage node and the second voltage node in response to a plurality of random signals whose logic states are randomly transited when the standby mode is switched to an active mode. The semiconductor device can minimize ground bounce noise and can stably apply a voltage to a circuit storing data in a data retention mode.
US07705623B2
A method for determining a short circuit between at least two stator laminates in an electrical machine having a rotor mounted on a shaft and a stator, includes rotating the rotor on the shaft relative to the stator so to pass a magnetic stator flux, varying over time, through the stator, determining, during the rotation, a measurement variable sensitive to a short-circuit current caused by the magnetic stator flux between the at least two stator laminates, and determining the magnetic stator flux. In addition, a theoretical model is provided describing a relationship between the magnetic stator flux and the measurement value or an auxiliary variable derived from the measurement value, and the measurement variable or the auxiliary variable is compared with the theoretical model. A device for carrying out a method for determining a short circuit is also provided.
US07705618B2
Disclosed herein are a composite conductive sheet that has rigid conductors movable in a thickness-wise direction of an insulating sheet without falling off from the insulating sheet and is easy to handle by itself, a production process thereof, and an anisotropically conductive connector, an adaptor device and an electrical inspection apparatus for circuit devices, which are each equipped with this composite conductive sheet.The composite conductive sheet of the invention has an insulating sheet, in which a plurality of through-holes each extending in a thickness-wise direction of the sheet are formed, and rigid conductors arranged respectively in the through-holes in the insulating sheet so as to protrude from both surfaces of the insulating sheet, wherein each of the rigid conductors has terminal portions formed on both ends of a body portion inserted into the through-hole in the insulating sheet and each having a diameter greater than a diameter of the through-hole in the insulating sheet, and is movable in the thickness-wise direction of the insulating sheet.
US07705615B2
An extruded capacitive sensor assembly includes multiple sense conductors of unequal length disposed in an upper section of a non-conductive jacket, and a ground conductor disposed in a lower section of the jacket adjacent a panel or carrier to which the strip is affixed. A sensor strip with three sense conductors is formed by extruding a non-conductive jacket having first and second sense conductors in the upper section of the jacket, and severing the first sense conductor to create three unequal length sense conductor segments. Electrical termination to the sense and ground conductors can be made at the point where the first sense conductor is severed, or at the end of the sensor strip. In cases where only two sense conductor segments are needed, the third sense conductor segment is removed or simply un-used.
US07705611B2
A sensor device for detecting a positional relationship between a first member and a second member, includes a first charge-holding electrode provided on a surface of the first member and holding a charge, a second charge-holding electrode provided on the surface of the first member and holding a charge differing from the charge held by the first charge-holding electrode, a first charge-induced electrode provided on a surface of the second member, the first charge-induced electrode having a charge induced therein in accordance with the charge held by the first charge-holding electrode, when the first charge-holding electrode approaches the first charge-induced electrode, a second charge-induced electrode provided on the surface of the second member, the second charge-induced electrode having a charge induced therein in accordance with the charge held by the second charge-holding electrode, when the second charge-holding electrode approaches the second charge-induced electrode.
US07705610B2
Wet and dry film thickness can be measured non-invasively on structures, such as surfaces associated with vessels, aircraft and buildings, using calibrated microwave sensors. The film is measured by directing microwave energy toward the film. The microwave energy passes through the film and is reflected by a reflective or semi-reflective substrate surface below the film. Properties of the reflected wave are compared with properties of reflected waves that were passed through calibration samples of known thicknesses to determine the unknown thickness of the film. In some embodiments, one or more sensors are maintained at a fixed altitude above the conductive/semi-conductive substrate for measurement, and in other embodiments, one or more sensors are maintained at a fixed altitude above the film. In one embodiment, sensors are associated with a coating applicator, with a first sensor preceding the applicator and a second sensor following the applicator to measure the thickness of the film applied by the applicator by comparing measurements before and after coating.
US07705598B2
The present invention provides systems and methods which can be employed to locate or detect presence of various materials, including nonferrous metals. These systems include new and useful sensors, circuits, systems and devices which power and/or interoperate with the sensors, and methods of making, operating and using such systems. Any or all of the systems, devices or processes can be combined with other systems, devices or processes disclosed.
US07705594B2
A system and method are provided for designing RF pulses which have improved magnetization profiles. By utilizing an optimal control approach as an alternative to, or in combination with, non-iterative approximations, RF pulses generated by the system and method described herein will exhibit less deviation from that of “ideal” Bloch solutions. Consequently, the magnetization profiles produced by the RF pulses generated by the system and method described herein will be closer to the desired profiles. In addition, limitations of non-iterative approximations, such as maximum tip angle limits and linearity constraints, can be avoided.
US07705593B1
A system and method for detecting atherosclerotic plaque hemorrhage includes a controller programmed to apply a non-selective inversion recovery RF pulse to a region of interest, apply a plurality of encoding sequences to the region of interest to cause generation of a plurality of echoes during application of each encoding sequence. The controller is further programmed to acquire three dimensional MR data from the region of interest during generation of each of the plurality of echoes, identify a hemorrhage based on the three dimensional MR data, characterize a type of the hemorrhage, and reconstruct an image based on the three dimensional MR data, the image comprising the characterized hemorrhage.
US07705586B2
In an example embodiment, a magnetic sensor has a magnet and a magneto-resistive, arranged on a substrate such that magnetic field lines through the magneto-resistive element are substantially parallel to a plane of the substrate. Movement of a movable magnetically permeable element MMPE near the substrate is detected as it alters the number of field lines through the element. The MMPE can be more sensitive than devices arranged with perpendicular field lines, and can be easier to manufacture and integrate. Applications include analog pointers, pressure sensors and microphones. The MMPE can use magnets placed either side of the element to detect changes in size of a gap above the element. As the gap closes, less of the parallel oriented field passes through the magneto resistive element.
US07705585B2
A detector for measuring relative position along a measurement path comprising: a passive, laminar electrical intermediate device extending along the measurement path wherein the extent of the said electrical intermediate device in an axis normal to the measurement path varies along the measurement axis; at least one laminar transmit winding and at least two laminar receive windings wherein the said at least two laminar receive windings are displaced from each other along the measurement path wherein each laminar receive winding is substantially electrically balanced with respect to the at least one laminar transmit winding; arranged such that the mutual inductance between at least one laminar transmit winding and at least two laminar receive windings indicates the relative position of the electrical intermediate device.
US07705576B2
A current mode control circuit uses a current comparing module to control a switching signal according to one of a plurality of current feedback signals. The current mode circuit comprises a voltage control module that generates an output voltage according to an input voltage and the switching control signal, and that generates the plurality of current feedback signals. The current comparing module outputs a control current signal that is indicative of a greater one of the plurality of current feedback signals. A current mode control module receives the control current signal and generates the switching control signal according to the control current signal.
US07705575B2
A standby regulator circuit includes a standby bias circuit and a standby operational amplifier. The standby regulator circuit provides a standby regulated control voltage to a multiplexer. A regular operational amplifier provides a regulated control voltage to the multiplexer. During regular operation, the multiplexer selects the regular operational amplifier and selects the standby regulator circuit in a low-power mode. The multiplexer couples to a native pass transistor gate having a threshold voltage about equal to 0 V. The native pass transistor provides a regulated output voltage with relatively low-level input control voltages. In low-power mode, a power-down signal, provided to the multiplexer, smoothly transitions regulated control voltage from the regular operational amplifier to regulated control voltage sourcing from the standby operational amplifier. In low-power operation regular operational amplifier power is saved and the standby operational amplifier is appropriate for regulating the low threshold voltage native pass transistor.
US07705574B2
A direct current (DC) remote power controller for remotely controlling DC power between a DC power source and a DC load, comprises: a current sensor for sensing the level of current that the power source supplies to the load and generating a current feedback signal representative of the sensed current level; a current limit controller that compares the current feedback signal to a reference current level and generates a current regulation signal representative of the value of sensed current level above the reference current level; a current limiting device that is responsive to the current regulation signal to limit load current to the reference current level up to a first predetermined level of potential difference across the current limiting device; a load resistance; and a switched-mode DC-to-DC converter in parallel with the current limiting device that senses potential difference across the current limiting device and diverts a portion of the load current from the current limiting device through the load resistance above the first predetermined level of potential difference to reduce power dissipation of the current limiting device and maintain the load current at the reference current level.
US07705573B2
A voltage change detecting circuit part amplifies an output signal of a differential amplifying circuit so that a slew rate thereof may be larger than that of a control signal output from a first error amplifying circuit to an output transistor, responding to change of an output voltage output from an output terminal quicker than a control signal output from the first error amplifying circuit to a first transistor, and causing a discharging circuit part to carry out discharging operation.
US07705570B2
A power supply trim control signal is produced by integrating differences between monitored and target values of the output voltage of a power supply. Register storage requirements are reduced by producing the target value from a nominal voltage value and one of a plurality of margin offsets selected in accordance with control data. The control data also selects between open and closed loop trim control. Stability is enhanced by changing the target value slowly in response to any change in the control data.
US07705560B2
A voltage controller having an input distribution network with imbedded input switches, a number of charge storage elements such as capacitors, an output distribution network with imbedded output switches, and a switch actuator which controls the input switches and output switches to provide for the controlled charging and discharging of the charge storage elements.
US07705539B2
A tungsten-halogen quartz lamp with a structure for preventing glass-bead supporter from breaking off, which can insure that its glass-bead supporter could not leave and drop from the top of a bulb in any case, so that reliability of a holding-filament structure is greatly improved and the service life of the lamp is prolonged. For this purpose, a concave-baking ring is provided at the circumference of the bulb, which corresponds to a position below the glass-bead supporter which is mounted in the upper of inner-cavity of the bulb in a horizontal direction, to restrict the glass-bead supporter to the upper of the bulb.
US07705537B2
A plasma display device having a panel main body in which a pair of transparent substrates is arranged in opposition so as to form a discharge space between the substrates on at least a front side, barrier ribs are arranged on at least one of the substrates to divide the discharge space into a plurality of spaces, a group of electrodes is arranged on the substrates so as to generate discharge in the discharge space divided with the barrier ribs, and phosphor layers that emit by discharge are provided, in which the phosphor layers are equipped with a green phosphor layer including at least a mixture of Zn2SiO4:Mn and (Y, Gd)BO3:Tb, the surface of the Zn2SiO4:Mn is coated with aluminum oxide, and the ratio of the Al element to the Si element on the surface measured with an XPS apparatus is 0.6 to 7.0.
US07705535B2
A display panel includes a light-emitting-element substrate in which a plurality of pixels each having a light-emitting element are arranged in a matrix shape, and a sealing substrate that is bonded to the light-emitting-element substrate so as to airtightly seal the entire light-emitting elements of the plurality of pixels. In the sealing substrate, a concave portion that houses the light-emitting elements of the plurality of pixels therein is formed. On an inner surface of the sealing substrate facing the light-emitting elements, a reinforcing member that protrudes to maintain a gap between the sealing substrate and the light-emitting elements is formed.
US07705533B2
Provided is a light emitting material in which: a light emitting layer comprising a columnar part of which a cross-sectional shape is column such as cylindrical column, and a light emitting part of which a cross-sectional shape is cone or pyramid; and light generated in the light emitting part is extracted outside through the columnar part. The light emitting material allows light to be efficiently extracted to the outside to improve luminance.
US07705528B2
A halogenated aromatic monomer-metal complex useful for preparing a polymer for electronic devices such as a light-emitting diode (LED) device is described. The aromatic monomer-metal complex is designed to include a linking group that disrupts conjugation, thereby advantageously reducing or preventing electron delocalization between the aromatic monomer fragment and the metal complex fragment. Disruption of conjugation is often desirable to preserve the phosphorescent emission properties of the metal complex in a polymer formed from the aromatic monomer-metal complex. The resultant conjugated electroluminescent polymer has precisely controlled metal complexation and electronic properties that are substantially or completely independent of those of the polymer backbone.
US07705521B2
The present invention relates to mechanical-electrical power conversion systems. The systems comprise one or more electroactive polymers that convert between electrical and mechanical energy. When a voltage is applied to electrodes contacting an electroactive polymer, the polymer deflects. This deflection may be converted into rotation of a power shaft included in a motor. Repeated deflection of the polymer may then produce continuous rotation of the power shaft.
US07705508B2
The invention includes an electric machine having a rotor, a stator and at least one electrical coil disposed in the machine and a source of coolant fluid in communication with the coil. The coil has concentric turns having spaces therebetween adapted to channel coolant flow between the concentric turns.
US07705506B2
In a rotary electric machine, a first group of first and second sets of three-phase windings of a stator coil is disposed in part of substantially circumferentially spaced slots of a stator core, and a second group of third and fourth sets of three-phase windings of the stator coil is disposed in another part of the slots. The first to fourth sets include first to fourth three-phase windings, respectively. Output ends of the first to fourth three-phase windings and input ends of the second and fourth windings are disposed at one of opposing end surface sides of the stator core. The output ends of the first and second three-phase windings of the first and second sets included in the first group are separated from the output ends of the third and fourth three-phase windings of the third and fourth sets included in the second group.
US07705500B2
A vibration apparatus and also a motor assembly are provided to enhance vibrational massage therapy and to improve non-impact exercise. In particular, the motor assembly generates vibrations of differing amplitudes utilizing a single motor to drive a shaft that, in turn, rotates an eccentric weight whose rotational axis is non-coaxial with the shaft's rotational axis. The reversal of the direction in which the motor rotates the shaft changes the amplitude of the resulting vibrations communicated to a platform. Thus, vibrational amplitude most suitable for a particular application or purpose may be selected.
US07705498B2
An electric motor, comprising a shell for a rotor, which is closed by a cover provided with a hole for the passage of a motor shaft; the cover accommodates and supports sliding contact brushes for a commutator for supplying power to the rotor, a sensor for detecting the rotation rate of the rotor, and connections for signal transmission and power supply of the sensor. The sensor and its connections for the transmission of its signals and for supplying it with power are accommodated in a receptacle, which in turn is then inserted in a complementarily shaped seat in the cover.
US07705492B2
A safety switching device comprises a position encoder, such as a potentiometer, for user selection of an operational quantity, such as an operating mode. The position encoder has a first terminal, a second terminal, and a tap moveable through a plurality of positions. A total impedance is defined between the first terminal and the second terminal. A first partial impedance is defined between the first terminal and the tap, and a second partial impedance is defined between the tap and the second terminal. An arrangement for determining an instantaneous position of the tap comprises a first evaluation circuit designed to determine a first measurement value representative of the first partial impedance, and a second evaluation circuit designed to determine a second measurement value representative of the second partial impedance. At least one from the first and second evaluation circuits is designed to determine the instantaneous position of the tap by means of the first and second measurement values.
US07705488B2
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for redundant power supplies. A regulator module receives a first power waveform from a first power supply module and a second power waveform from a second power supply module and provides power to a low voltage, regulated output bus. The power waveforms include high voltage, high frequency, chopped power waveforms. The regulator module includes an interleaved power supply stage that receives the power waveforms as pulse-width modulated power signals and converts the first and second power waveforms to the low voltage, regulated voltage on the output bus. The regulator module includes a feedback module that receives a voltage feedback signal from the output bus, adjusts a duty cycle based on the feedback signal, and transmits a drive signal based on the duty cycle to the power supply modules which use the drive signals to generate the first and second power waveforms.
US07705483B2
An object of the present invention is to provide a DC-DC converter control circuit capable of maintaining, even when any one of a plural number of DC-DC converters enters the abnormal state due to the occurrence of a failure, a voltage relationship between the output voltage of the faulty DC-DC converter and the output voltage of another DC-DC converter. An error amplifier ERA1G has an inverting input, a first non-inverting input, and a second non-inverting input. A first divided voltage VV1 provided from a first voltage divider circuit VD1 is fed into the inverting input; a reference voltage e1G from ground is fed into the first non-inverting input; and a second divided voltage VV2 provided from a second voltage divider circuit VD2 is fed into the second non-inverting input. The error amplifier ERA1G amplifies the error between the lower of the two voltage inputs fed into the two non-inverting inputs (i.e. the lower of the reference voltage e1G and the second divided voltage VV2), and the first divided voltage VV1 fed into the inverting input. The output terminal of the error amplifier ERA1G is connected to the input terminal of a PWM unit P1G.
US07705477B2
An optical target is provided. In one embodiment, the target is formed on a substrate. The target includes a first layer deposited below a second layer on the substrate. The second layer is deposited below a third layer on the substrate. The first layer has a topographic contour formed thereon, the first layer at least partially projecting a patterned topographical contour through the second layer to the third layer.
US07705476B2
Integrated circuit (IC) packages are described. Each IC package includes a die having an exposed metallic layer deposited on its back surface. Solder joints are arranged to physically and electrically connect I/O pads on the active surface of the die with associated leads. A molding material encapsulates portions of the die, leadframe and solder joint connections while leaving the metallic layer exposed and uncovered by molding material.
US07705474B2
A main substrate is provided with a wiring pattern on its surface and in the inner layer. A wiring pattern for connecting the signal line or power line of the main substrate to an external circuit is formed on the flexible printed circuit. A connection terminal to which a corresponding wiring pattern is connected is formed at the tip of the flexible printed circuit. A through-hole is formed between the wiring patterns. Potting resin is potted in each through-hole and around it. When the resin hardens, the potting resin joints the main substrate and the flexible printed circuit.
US07705462B2
A semiconductor IC device which includes a circuit region and a peripheral region on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate, a first insulating film formed over the main surface, external terminals arranged in the peripheral region and formed over the first insulating film, a conductive guard ring formed over the first insulating film and provided around the external terminals, and second insulating films formed in the internal region and the peripheral region, the second insulating film in the peripheral region is formed over the first insulating film and over the guard ring and is contacting the external terminals, the second insulating films of the circuit region and that of the peripheral region are separately formed and are isolated from each other. Separate second insulating film may be formed over the wirings of one or more of existing wiring levels of the semiconductor device.
US07705446B2
A package structure having a semiconductor chip embedded therein and a method of fabricating the same are disclosed. The package structure comprises: an aluminum oxide composite plate and a semiconductor chip. The aluminum oxide composite plate is formed by a stack consisting of an adhesive layer placed in between two aluminum oxide layers. The semiconductor chip having an active surface a plurality of electrode pads disposed thereon can be embedded and secured in the aluminum oxide composite plate. The present invention also comprises a method of fabricating the above-mentioned package structure. The present invention provides an excellent package structure, which can decrease the thickness of the package structure and make the package structure having characteristics of high rigidity and enduring tenacity at the same time.
US07705444B2
A semiconductor device in which a semiconductor chip, a lead frame and metal wires for electrically connecting the lead frame are sealed with sealing resin. The lead frame has a plurality of lead terminal portions, a supporting portion for supporting the semiconductor chip, and hanging lead portions supporting the supporting portion. Each of the lead terminal portions adjacent to the hanging lead portion is a chamfered lead terminal portion having, at its head, a chamfered portion formed substantially in parallel with the hanging lead portion so as to avoid interference with the hanging lead portion.
US07705441B2
A semiconductor module is disclosed. One embodiment provides a first semiconductor chip, a second semiconductor chip and a spacer. The first semiconductor chip has a depression at a first main surface. The spacer applied to the first main surface and at least partly fills the depression. The second semiconductor chip is applied to the spacer.
US07705439B2
A semiconductor chip includes a first integrated circuit chip and a depression substrate attached to the integrated circuit chip, wherein the integrated circuit chip and the depression substrate define a cavity therebetween. The semiconductor chip also includes a stress sensitive material located in the cavity and a chemical located in the cavity, wherein detection of tampering causes a reaction by the chemical such that the semiconductor chip is at least partially destroyed.
US07705437B2
Disclosed herewith is a semiconductor device, which includes a semiconductor chip; a lead device that includes an island for mounting the semiconductor chip and having an area smaller than that of the semiconductor chip at its contact surface, as well as plural hanging leads for supporting the island and coming in contact partially with the semiconductor chip; a mounting material provided on a contact surface between each of the island and hanging leads and the semiconductor chip so as to adhere the semiconductor chip to the island and the hanging leads; and sealing resin for sealing the semiconductor chip. The modulus of elasticity of the mounting material is lower than that of the sealing resin. The mounting material is further coated on the back surfaces of the contact surfaces of the island and the hanging leads.
US07705436B2
A semiconductor chip has at least one first contact and one second contact on its top side and has connecting elements which are arranged jointly on a structure element and which connect the first contact and the second contact of the top side of the semiconductor chip to the external contacts.
US07705430B2
A semiconductor wafer which is generally circular, and which has on its face an annular surplus region present in an outer peripheral edge portion of the face, and a circular device region surrounded by the surplus region, the device region having many semiconductor devices disposed therein. A circular concavity is formed in the back of the semiconductor wafer in correspondence with the device region, and the device region is relatively thin, while the surplus region is relatively thick.
US07705427B2
An integrated circuit includes a bipolar transistor comprising a substrate and a collector formed in the substrate. The collector includes a highly doped lateral zone, a very lightly doped central zone and a lightly doped intermediate zone located between the central zone and the lateral zone 4a of the collector. The substrate includes a lightly doped lateral zone and a highly doped central zone. The dopant species in the zone of the substrate are electrically inactive.
US07705426B2
The present invention provides an integrated semiconductor device that includes a semiconductor substrate, a first device containing a heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) located in a first region of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the HBT includes a base region containing a first portion of a SiGe or SiGeC layer, and a second device located in a second region of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the second device includes an interconnect containing a second portion of the SiGe or SiGeC layer. In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the second device is a memory device including a trench capacitor and a field effect transistor (FET) that are electrically connected together by the second portion of the SiGe or SiGeC layer. Alternatively, the second device is a trench-biased PNPN silicon controlled rectifier (SCR). The present invention also provides a novel reversibly programmable device or a novel memory device formed by a novel trench-biased SCR device.
US07705423B2
One embodiment of the present invention provides advice for providing a low noise power supply package to an integrated circuit comprising a semiconductor die, input/output power supply terminals, and an array of embedded ceramic capacitors selected from discrete, planar and combinations thereof wherein said capacitors are placed in the locations selected from within the perimeter of the shadow of the semiconductor die, partially within the perimeter of the shadow of the semiconductor die, near the perimeter of the shadow of the semiconductor die, and combinations thereof.
US07705417B2
A semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a semiconductor substrate; an isolation region including a liner film formed so as to contact a lower surface and a lower side surface of an inner wall of a trench formed in the semiconductor substrate, a first insulating film formed so that at least a part of a side surface and a lower surface of the first insulating film contact the liner film within the trench, and a second insulating film formed so as to contact an upper side of the first insulating film and formed so as to contact an upper side surface of the inner wall of the trench, the second insulating film having a higher etching resistance than that of the first insulating film; and a plurality of semiconductor elements disposed on the semiconductor substrate so as to be isolated from one another by the isolation region.
US07705416B2
A method of forming buried cavities in a wafer of monocrystalline semiconductor material with at least one cavity formed in a substrate of monocrystalline semiconductor material by timed TMAH etching silicon; covering the cavity with a material inhibiting epitaxial growth; and growing a monocrystalline epitaxial layer above the substrate and the cavities. Thereby, the cavity is completely surrounded by monocrystalline material. Starting from this wafer, it is possible to form a thin membrane. The original wafer must have a plurality of elongate cavities or channels, parallel and adjacent to one another. Trenches are then excavated in the epitaxial layer as far as the channels, and the dividers between the channels are removed by timed TMAH etching.
US07705413B2
A micromechanical component, in particular a micromechanical sensor, having a first wafer and a second wafer is provided, the first wafer having at least one structural element, and the second wafer having at least one mating structural element, and, in addition, the structural element and the mating structural element are designed in such a way that a relative displacement of the first wafer relative to the second wafer parallel to a main extension plane of the first wafer essentially leads to compressive loading or tensile loading between the structural element and the mating structural element.
US07705412B2
According to the present invention, a SOI substrate includes a first silicon substrate having first and second surfaces; a second silicon substrate having first and second surfaces; and a first insulating layer formed between first surface of the first silicon substrate and the first surface of the second silicon substrates. The first surface of the first silicon substrate is partly depressed to form a thin-layer region thereat. The first insulating layer is formed at least in the thin-layer region.
US07705410B2
A circuitry for differential amplifying, logical inversion, NAND and/or NOR operations is provided, which includes at least one depletion mode transistor having JFET characteristics. A method for determining the properties of an electrochemical circuitry is provided, including at least one semi-finished transistor, by applying a solidified electrolyte to selected sets of electrochemically active transistor elements is also provided.
US07705408B2
A MOSFET has a base layer and a source layer in a cell surrounded by a trench gate formed in a semiconductor substrate. A trench contact is formed through the source layer and the base layer. The gate is polygonal such as square. The trench contact is thin and linear so as to increase embedding characteristics. Further, the trench contact is ring or cross shaped so as to reduce a source length.
US07705402B2
A semiconductor device includes an n channel conductivity type FET having a channel formation region formed in a first region on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate and a p channel conductivity type FET having a channel formation region formed in a second region of the main surface, which second region is different from the first region. An impurity concentration of a gate electrode of the n channel FET has an impurity concentration greater than an impurity concentration of the gate electrode of the p channel FET to thereby create a tensile stress in the direction of flow of a drain current in the channel forming region of the n channel FET. The tensile stress in the flow direction of the drain current in the channel forming region of the n channel FET is greater than a tensile stress in the direction of flow of a drain current in the channel forming region of the p channel FET.
US07705393B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor storage device includes a semiconductor substrate, and at least one memory cell formed on the semiconductor substrate, the at least one memory cell having a gate electrode unit in which a floating gate electrode and a control gate electrode are stacked, at least part of the control gate electrode being silicidated. The nonvolatile semiconductor storage device further includes at least one dummy transistor formed on the semiconductor substrate, the at least one dummy transistor having a first dummy electrode, and a second dummy electrode which has a current leakage path and which is stacked on the first dummy electrode.
US07705390B2
Methods for fabricating dual bit flash memory devices are provided. Method steps include forming a charge trapping layer overlying a substrate and fabricating two insulating members overlying the charge trapping layer. A polycrystalline silicon layer is provided overlying the charge trapping layer and about sidewalls of the insulating members. Sidewall spacers are formed overlying the polycrystalline silicon layer and about the sidewalls of the insulating members. A portion of the first polycrystalline silicon layer and a first portion of the charge trapping layer are removed. A first insulating layer is conformally deposited overlying the insulating members and the substrate. A gate spacer is formed between the two insulating members and overlying the first insulating layer. The two insulating members are removed and the charge trapping layer is etched to form charge storage nodes. Impurity dopants are implanted into the substrate to form impurity-doped bitline regions within the substrate.
US07705386B2
A memory cell has an access transistor and a capacitor with an electrode disposed within a deep trench. STI oxide covers at least a portion of the electrode, and a liner covers a remaining portion of the electrode. The liner may be a layer of nitride over a layer of oxide. Some of the STI may cover a portion of the liner. In a memory array a pass wordline may be isolated from the electrode by the STI oxide and the liner.
US07705382B2
A novel lead zirconium titanate (PZT) material having unique properties and application for PZT thin film capacitors and ferroelectric capacitor structures, e.g., FeRAMs, employing such thin film material. The PZT material is scalable, being dimensionally scalable, pulse length scalable and/or E-field scalable in character, and is useful for ferroelectric capacitors over a wide range of thicknesses, e.g., from about 20 nanometers to about 150 nanometers, and a range of lateral dimensions extending to as low as 0.15 μm. Corresponding capacitor areas (i.e., lateral scaling) in a preferred embodiment are in the range of from about 104 to about 10−2 μm2. The scalable PZT material of the invention may be formed by liquid delivery MOCVD, without PZT film modification techniques such as acceptor doping or use of film modifiers (e.g., Nb, Ta, La, Sr, Ca and the like).
US07705375B2
A solid state imaging device includes: a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions formed in a substrate in a matrix arrangement to convert light incident on light receiving portions into electricity; a plurality of vertical transfer registers for reading charges out of the photoelectric conversion portions and transferring the charges in the column direction; and a plurality of shunt interconnections formed above the vertical transfer electrodes in one-to-one correspondence with the columns of the photoelectric conversion portions to supply drive pulses to the corresponding vertical transfer electrodes. Each of the vertical transfer registers includes a vertical transfer channel formed in the substrate in one-to-one correspondence with a column of the photoelectric conversion portions and a plurality of vertical transfer electrodes formed above the vertical transfer channel. Each of the shunt interconnections is configured to surround the light receiving portions and having windows that expose the light receiving portions.
US07705373B2
A MOS-type solid-state image pickup device includes a photoelectric conversion unit having a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type, a second semiconductor region of a second conductivity type forming a pn-junction with the first semiconductor region, a third semiconductor region of the first conductivity type disposed at a light incident side of the second semiconductor region, and a transfer MOS transistor having the second semiconductor region, a fourth semiconductor region of the second conductivity type, and a gate electrode disposed on an insulating film on the first semiconductor region between the photoelectric conversion unit and the fourth semiconductor region to transfer a charge carrier from the second semiconductor region to the fourth semiconductor region. The photoelectric conversion unit and the transfer MOS transistor are disposed on a substrate. A fifth semiconductor region of the second conductivity type is arranged continuously to the second semiconductor region under the gate electrode, and a sixth semiconductor region of the second conductivity type having an impurity concentration lower than that of the fourth semiconductor region is arranged at a side of the gate electrode in the fourth semiconductor region. A drain of the transfer MOS transistor includes the fourth and sixth semiconductor regions, and a bias is applied to the drain, and the fifth semiconductor region is depleted during reading out the charge carrier from the second semiconductor region.
US07705371B2
A field effect transistor includes a nitride semiconductor layered structure that is formed on a substrate and includes a capping layer made of a compound represented by a general formula of InxAlyGa1-yN (wherein 0
US07705362B2
MOS channel devices and methods of fabricating such devices having a hybrid channel are provided. Exemplary devices include vertical power MOSFETs that include a hybrid well region of silicon carbide and methods of fabricating such devices are provided. The hybrid well region may include an implanted p-type silicon carbide well portion in a p-type silicon carbide epitaxial layer, an implanted p-type silicon carbide contact portion that contacts the implanted p-type silicon carbide well portion and extends to a surface of the p-type epitaxial layer and/or an epitaxial p-type silicon carbide portion, at least a portion of the epitaxial p-type silicon carbide well portion corresponding to a p-type channel region of the MOSFET.
US07705361B2
A heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) has a (In)(Al)GaAsSb/InGaAs base-collector structure. A discontinuous base-collector conduction band forms a built-in electric field to infuse electrons into a collector structure effectively, while a discontinuous base-collector valence band prevents holes from spreading into the collector structure at the same time. Thus, a current density is increased. In addition, the small offset voltage of the base-emitter and base-collector junctions reduce a power consumption.
US07705360B2
An array substrate includes a substrate, a data line formed on the substrate, a passivation layer formed on the data line, a gate line including a gate electrode and a capacitor line formed on the passivation layer, a gate insulation layer formed on the gate electrode and the capacitor line, a semiconductor layer formed on the gate insulation layer, a contact hole formed through the passivation layer and the gate insulation layer to expose the data line and a source electrode and a drain electrode formed on the semiconductor layer. The capacitor electrode is overlapped with the data line. The source electrode is connected to the data line through the contact hole and the source electrode and the drain electrode include a transparent conductive material.
US07705356B2
The invention provides an electronic device configured to prevent or reduce electrostatic discharge from causing a pixel to malfunction. An electronic device manufactured according to the principles of the invention may include multiple conductive layers that cross but do not contact each other, wherein at least one of the conductive layers includes a width change part having a width that changes in a length direction of the at least one of the conductive layers, and a tab connected to at least one of the conductive layers at a region thereof that does not cross a neighboring conductive layer. Alternatively, the width change part may have a width that continuously varies along a length of the at least one conductive layer and may also have obtuse corner edges. The invention also provides a flat organic electroluminescent display (OELD) or LCD display device that includes such an electronic device.
US07705355B2
Methods of forming thin-film transistor display devices including forming a gate line and a gate electrode on a face of a substrate and forming a semiconductor layer that is insulated from the gate line. A data line and a source/drain electrode are formed on the semiconductor layer. The data line and the source/drain electrode are formed as composites of at least two different metal conductive layers. A transparent pixel electrode is formed that is electrically coupled to the drain electrode.
US07705336B2
A typical use of linear or two dimensional spectrometers is to expose the detector area, and then shift the photo-electric charges out of the device in a serial fashion. If the illuminating signal is spatially narrow relative to the size of the array, this will drive down the percent of the detector that is utilized, as only a relatively small number of pixels are used to detect the beam. The present invention proposes a method which capitalizes on this spatial under-utilization, and alters the clocking scheme to maximize the read-out speed of the pixels containing signal information. This type of clocking scheme raises the optical power saturation level of the spectrometer. Such an improvement in optical power handling is beneficial for spectrometer based detection of resonant waveguide grating biochemical binding, since in such systems the performance is frequently limited by spectrometer saturation.
US07705334B2
An extreme ultraviolet radiation source device comprises a vessel; an electric discharge section including a pair of main discharge electrodes; a material supply unit which supplies an extreme ultraviolet radiating species to the electric discharge section; a high voltage generating section which impress high voltage to the pair of main discharge electrodes; a grazing incidence type collector unit which condenses extreme ultraviolet light emitted from high temperature plasma; a light extraction section formed in the vessel; a gas supply unit which supplies gas into the vessel from a light emitting side of the collector unit, an exhaust unit which discharges the gas from a light incidence side of the collector unit; wherein a flow path through which the gas supplied from the light emitting side of the collector unit passes is formed only inside the collector unit.
US07705327B2
A charged-particle beam lithography apparatus includes a charged-particle beam irradiation unit, a deflector which deflects the charged particle beam, a stage which disposes thereon a workpiece for pattern writing and a plurality of marks being regularly laid out in an entire area substantially equal to a pattern writing region of the workpiece, a measurement unit for measuring positions of the marks on the stage through scanning of the charged-particle beam by the deflector, a coefficient calculation unit which uses an approximation equation for correction of a position deviation occurring due to a hardware configuration of the apparatus to perform the fitting of a position deviation amount of each mark by a coordinate system of the apparatus to thereby calculate more than one coefficient of the fitting-applied approximation equation, and a storage unit which performs overwrite-storing whenever the coefficient calculation unit calculates the coefficient.
US07705319B2
A CdZnTe photon counting detector includes a core material of Cd1-xZnxTe, where (0≦x<1), an anode terminal on one side of the core material and a cathode terminal on a side of the core material opposite the anode terminal. At least one of the following is selected in the design of the detector as a function of the maximum sustainable photon flux the core material is able to absorb in operation while avoiding polarization of the core material: electron lifetime-mobility product of the core material; de-trapping time of the core material; a value of a DC bias voltage applied between the anode and the cathode; a temperature of the core material in operation; a mean photon flux density to be absorbed by the core material in operation; and a thickness of the core material between the anode and the cathode.
US07705317B2
A radiation imaging device which, as a whole, can be further reduced in size and thickness with the area of an imaging area sufficiently achieved. A scintillator film 2 emitting light with a predetermined wavelength in response to an incident of radiation is accommodated in a case 5 while being sandwiched between an image sensor 1 and a circuit board 3. The image sensor 1 is provided such that its photodetecting section 11 is in contact with the scintillator film 2 and its electrode section 12 is projected and exposed to the outside from the scintillator film 2. The electrode section 12 is electrically connected by a wire 6 to an electrode section 32 of the circuit board 3.
US07705313B1
An optical sensor is configured to determine an amount of at least one material in a sample without interference from any of the material of interest present in an ambient environment in which the optical sensing is effected. The optical sensor may include a compensation detector positioned a different distance apart from a source of monitoring radiation than the distance that a primary, measurement detector is positioned from the source. Alternatively, the optical sensor may include an optically transparent material that consumes space within the sensor and, thus, eliminates ambient amounts of a material of interest from at least a portion of an optical pathway through the sensor. A calibration element transmits calibration radiation to one or more detectors of an optical sensor to facilitate correction of any changes in the manner in which the one or more detectors sense radiation. Optical sensing methods are also disclosed, as are calibration methods.
US07705309B1
A mechanical-optical transducer comprises a readout illumination source providing light having different wavelengths or different polarization states; an image sensor array for sensing the light from the readout illumination source; and a mechanical-optical device including sensing pixels whose optical property change in response to incident thermal infrared radiation, the mechanical-optical device having a reflective surface disposed to selectively reflect light from the readout illumination source to the image sensor array.
US07705308B2
A plurality of first pixels receive both visible light and infrared light. A plurality of second pixels receive infrared light. A ratio calculation unit calculates the ratio of an output signal of another first pixel different from saturated first pixel and an output signal of a second pixel corresponding to the another first pixel. A signal estimation unit multiplies the output signal of a second pixel corresponding to the saturated first pixel, by the ratio calculated by the ratio calculation unit. A subtractor subtracts the output of a second pixel corresponding to the saturated first pixel, from a signal estimated as an output signal of the saturated first pixel.
US07705303B2
In a defect inspection apparatus which combines a plurality of probes for measuring electric properties of a specimen including a fine circuit line pattern with a charged particle beam apparatus, the charged particle beam apparatus reduces a degradation in resolution even with an image-shift of ±75 μm or more. The defect inspection apparatus has a CAD navigation function associated with an image-shift function. The CAD navigation function uses coordinates for converting an image-shift moving amount to a DUT stage moving amount in communications between an image processing unit for processing charged particle beam images and a memory for storing information on circuit line patterns. The defect inspection provides the user with significantly improved usability.
US07705295B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate in general to methods and apparatus for determining downhole mud flow rates and other downhole parameters. More specifically, but not by way of limitation, an embodiment of the present invention may provide a method for determining a downhole parameter that includes operating a pulsed neutron generator, detecting the activated drilling fluid at at-least one known distance (d) from the pulsed neutron generator, and determining a time-of-flight (t) for the activated drilling fluid slug to travel from the pulsed neutron generator to a detection point, or between detection points
US07705294B2
An apparatus for recording and displaying images of and identifying material types in a target object in a fluid carrying conduit includes a downhole unit. The downhole unit includes a controllable light source, the controllable light source structured to emit high energy photons. The downhole unit further includes a sensor unit structured to detect the high energy photons that are backscattered from the target object and to generate signals in response to the detected high energy photons. The apparatus also includes a control and display unit that includes a signal transmitter and a viewing screen structured to display at least one two-dimensional image that is generated using the signals from the sensor unit.
US07705285B2
A photodetector arrangement has a semiconductor body formed of a substrate, a first layer at a first main surface of the semiconductor body, and a second layer at a second main surface of the semiconductor body. The second main surface is remote from the first main surface. A first and a second measurement terminal are arranged at the second main surface on the edge of the second layer in regions remote from one another and are formed for the electrical contact-connection of the second layer from outside the semiconductor body. A first and a second transistor couple the second layer to the first and respectively the second measurement terminal.
US07705281B2
Disclosed is an information detecting device capable of reducing fluctuation in detection accuracy. A recording sheet P transported through a transport path comes into contact with a displacing member, and, in this state, a motor is driven to rotate a cam, and the resilient force of a coil spring causes a pressurizing member to collide with the recording sheet P. The impact force at that time is detected by a detection sensor, and transmitted to a sheet material information obtaining means. Then, on the basis of the detection result, it is possible to detect the type, density, thickness, surface irregularities, etc. of the recording sheet P. At this time, the recording sheet P is in contact with the displacing member, whereby it is possible to reduce fluctuation in detection accuracy due to positional deviation of the recording sheet P.
US07705279B2
Provided is an image display apparatus, including: a light source for emitting a modulated light beam based on image information; a conversion optical system for converting the light beam from the light source into a convergent light beam; a scanning member for two-dimensionally scanning the light beam from the conversion optical system; a scanning optical system for imaging the light beam scanned by the scanning member onto a surface to be scanned; and an ocular optical system for observing a two-dimensional image formed on the surface to be scanned, in which the scanning optical system includes a reflective surface which is rotationally asymmetric, and the reflective surface of the scanning optical system has a positive power in a position in which a center light beam is incident on the reflective surface.
US07705277B2
A system is provided for maximizing solar energy utilization by moving a solar panel to track movement of the sun from sunrise to sunset. Preferably, the solar panel is inclined from the horizontal plane by a fixed angle of about ten degrees. And, movements of the solar panel are accomplished, daily, in accordance with a programmed schedule of consecutive cycles. In this schedule, each cycle has a start time (i.e. sunrise) and a start point that is determined by the sun's direction from the solar panel.
US07705275B2
A substrate support comprises top, middle and bottom plates which are brazed together. The top plate has a top surface with a plurality of outwardly projecting mesas dispersed across a recessed pocket, a network of recessed grooves, a vacuum port terminating in the recessed grooves, and plurality of gas ports. The middle plate has a plurality of middle feedthroughs aligned to corresponding top feedthroughs of the top plate, and the bottom plate has a plurality of bottom feedthroughs aligned to the middle feedthroughs of the middle plate. The top and middle plates are joined by a first brazed bond layer and the middle and bottom plates are joined by a second brazed bond layer.
US07705270B2
A method of controlling an arc welding system during a welding process is disclosed. The welding process has a plurality of welding cycles in which a consumable electrode is advanced towards a workpiece. The method includes dynamically regulating a rate of advancement and instantaneous melt rate of the electrode during each welding cycle in response to predetermined events occurring during the welding process. The melt rate may be coordinated with the rate of advancement of the electrode to provide a wide range of stable deposition rates with a shielding gas such as CO2. An arc welding system for carrying out the method is also disclosed.
US07705265B2
After bringing a conductor of an electric wire into press contact to connect with a wire caulking portion of a connection terminal, the conductor and the wire caulking portion are welded to connect by irradiating laser beam to a bottom wall of the wire caulking portion. Laser irradiation is carried out intermittently by three times and the laser irradiation at the second time and thereafter which is carried out later is carried out such that during a time period in which a laser welded portion immediately previously is brought into a predetermined state of elevating temperature, portions or welded regions overlap welded regions in laser irradiation irradiated previously.
US07705263B2
An arc chute assembly includes a housing having a lateral axis and a quenching portion disposed within the housing. The quenching portion includes at least two deion plates being spaced along the lateral axis of the housing and each having a cut portion wherein the cut portions are staggered along the lateral axis with respect to one another and are configured to mitigate an arc.
US07705262B2
A first switch (10) has a first pair of contacts (12, 14) that are mounted to move relative to each other in translation. A circuit-breaker second switch (20) has a second pair of contacts (21, 24) that are mounted to move relative to each other in translation, the second switch (20) being put in parallel with the first switch (10). A disconnector third switch (30) has a third pair of contacts (32, 34) that are mounted to move relative to each other. Synchronization means (50, 50′) make it possible, while breaking is taking place, for the contacts of the first switch (10) to separate before the contacts of the second switch (20) separate, the contacts of the second switch themselves separating before the third contacts (32, 34) separate fully. The synchronization means are actuated by a servomotor (40).
US07705261B1
A pull-rotary filter switch with a fool-proof effect to avoid accidentally cut off power supply includes a rotary switch device, a transmission line and a filter. The rotary switch device has a casing, a fixing seat, a substrate, a pull-rotary button and a contact terminal. The casing has an opening and a through hole. The fixing seat has a penetrating hole, a first eccentric hole and a second eccentric hole. The substrate has a conductive point and a board hole. The contact terminal is disposed on one end of the eccentric rod and contacted to the conductive point. The transmission line is electrically connected to the transmission line, which passes through the shaft hole, the penetrating hole, the board hole, and the through hole to electrically connect to the conductive point.
US07705260B2
A switch assembly provides a pressing plate on a pivot contact lever to minimize heat generation at the point between the pivot contact lever and the contact point by providing an additional parallel connection contact plate which is in parallel connection to the pivot contact lever. The switch assembly provides convex contact portions on the internal output ports of the forward/reverse switch mechanism. A supplementary elastic metal plate to the pivot contact lever is provided to solve the problem of loose contact at the pivot connection site where the pivot contact lever and the support unit meet, and provides a supplementary contact unit to the movable contact device at the forward/reverse switch mechanism.
US07705255B2
According to one embodiment, an electronic device includes a housing including an opening, a button disposed in the opening, a switch contained in the housing and operated by using the button, a wall extending in the housing from that part of the housing which surrounds the opening, a sealing member interposed between the button and the switch, covering the opening, and including an edge part extending along a peripheral surface of the wall, and a holder which presses the edge part of the sealing member against the peripheral surface of the wall.
US07705253B2
An electrical linear actuator employs a reversible motor driving a helical wire spring. The coils of the spring engage a follower that moves along the axis of the spring with rotation of the motor to provide linear motion. This actuator may be used as a linear drive in an appliance lock.
US07705252B2
The invention relates to a rotary control device intended, in particular, for being fixed to a handle of a remote control of a heavy-construction machine, comprising: a housing to be fastened to the handgrip in a fixed manner; a moving actuating part that rotates relative to the housing about an axis; first means for generating a rate control signal starting from the angular position of the moving actuating part, comprising a moving part driven by the actuating part and a part fixed to the housing, the moving actuating part being able to be driven by the operator in two opposite directions starting from a home position up to elastic means.
US07705248B2
A module for containing a circuit is provided that attenuates emitted signals without the use of a cover. The module includes a housing and a receptacle. The housing has a front having a certain thickness and the receptacle is accessible from the front of the housing. The receptacle is shaped to receive a circuit component and forms a waveguide.
US07705242B2
A core for an electrical conductor. The core includes an inner core component, an intermediate cladding component and an outer cladding component. The inner core component comprises a plurality of glass based stranded members in a first resin matrix. The intermediate cladding component surrounds the inner core component and comprises a plurality of carbon stranded members in a second resin matrix. The outer cladding component surrounds the intermediate cladding component and comprises a plurality of glass based stranded members in a third resin matrix. The first resin matrix and the second resin matrix are substantially independent of each other, meeting at a boundary. An electrical conductor as well as a manufacturing method is likewise disclosed.
US07705237B2
A silicon solar cell having a silicon substrate includes p-type and n-type emitters on a surface of the substrate, the emitters being doped nano-particles of silicon. To reduce high interface recombination at the substrate surface, the nano-particle emitters are preferably formed over a thin interfacial tunnel oxide layer on the surface of the substrate.
US07705236B2
The present invention is an electrode material comprising at least, a silver powder, a glass frit, and an organic vehicle, wherein a rate of Ag content of the electrode material is 75 wt % to 95 wt %, and a ratio of contents of Ag grains having an average grain diameter of 0.5 μm to 3 μm and Ag grains having an average grain diameter of 4 μm to 8 μm in the electrode material is (the Ag grains having an average grain diameter of 0.5 μm to 3 μm):(the Ag grains having an average grain diameter of 4 μm to 8 μm)=20-80 wt %:80-20 wt %, and a solar cell comprising an electrode formed by using the electrode material. Thereby, an electrode material that can be stably filled in an electrode groove formed on a semiconductor device and that an electrode with narrow line width and small resistance loss can be easily formed by, and a solar cell with high power having an electrode formed by using the electrode material are provided.
US07705234B2
A solar module having a housing and a solar element is described, wherein the housing comprises a connecting element, which is connected to the contact surface of the solar element in an electrically conductive manner. Furthermore the connecting element is connected to electrical connection sockets, by means of which connecting conductors may be connected. A contact element which is biased against the contact surfaces of the solar elements is arranged between the connecting element and the contact surfaces of the solar element as a contact element. As a result of this, soldered, clamped or screwed connections between the solar element and the connecting element are unnecessary. A simple and cost-effective automated production of the solar module is thus made possible.
US07705233B2
A method for producing a filled skutterudite-based alloy includes the steps of melting alloy raw material that includes a rare earth metal R that is at least one species selected from among La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu and Yb, a transition metal T that is at least one species selected from among Fe, Co, Ni, Os, Ru, Pd, Pt and Ag, and metallic antimony Sb to form a melt; and rapidly quenching the melt through strip casting to form a solidified product that is the filled skutterudite-based alloy advantageously usable for a thermoelectric element.
US07705232B2
The hearing device is MIDI-compatible, wherein MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. The hearing device can be adapted to communicating and/or loading and/or storing and/or interpreting and/or generating data compliant with the MIDI Protocol, also referred to as MIDI messages. Acknowledge sounds of the hearing device an be controlled by MIDI data, or music can be played to a user of the hearing device based on MIDI data. The hearing device can be a hearing aid, a headphone, an earphone, a hearing protection device, a communication device or the like.
US07705229B2
A method and apparatus for the construction and teaching of music is described. The method involves a user following a supported sequence of tasks that guide their creativity in order to construct a musical Arrangement. The musical Arrangement constructed from building blocks comprising notes, Ideas, Phrases and a Song Form Template. The described method allows for the concepts such as rhythm, chords, harmony, pitch, repetition, variation, resolution, and phrase structure, that are normally hidden within a final composition to the systematically introduced to a user. Development of keyboard apparatus, a mobile phone environment and related computer software allows for automation of the process for constructing and teaching of music.
US07705221B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV237850. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV237850, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV237850 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV237850.
US07705217B1
Basically, this invention provides for an inbred corn line designated G07-NPFF6309, methods for producing a corn plant by crossing plants of the inbred line G07-NPFF6309 with plants of another corn plants. The invention relates to the various parts of inbred including culturable cells. This invention also relates to methods for introducing transgenic transgenes into inbred corn line G07-NPFF6309 and plants produced by said methods.
US07705216B2
The present invention provides compositions and methods for detecting the presence of the corn event MON863 DNA inserted into the corn genome from the transformation of the recombinant construct containing a Cry3Bb gene and of genomic sequences flanking the insertion site. The present invention also provides the corn event MON863 plants, progeny and seeds thereof that contain the corn event MON863 DNA.
US07705214B1
The invention provides seed and plants of the bean line designated EX08061812. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of bean line EX08061812, and to methods for producing a bean plant produced by crossing a plant of bean line EX08061812 with itself or with another bean plant, such as a plant of another line. The invention further relates to seeds and plants produced by such crossing. The invention further relates to parts of a plant of bean line EX08061812, including the pods and gametes of such plants.
US07705209B2
A soybean cultivar designated S070149 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar S070149, to the plants of soybean S070149, to plant parts of soybean cultivar S070149 and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing soybean cultivar S070149 with itself or with another soybean variety. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to soybean cultivars or breeding cultivars and plant parts derived from soybean variety S070149, to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar S070149 and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants and plant parts produced by crossing the cultivar S070149 with another soybean cultivar.
US07705208B2
A soybean cultivar designated 7143182 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar 7143182, to the plants of soybean 7143182, to plant parts of soybean cultivar 7143182 and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing soybean cultivar 7143182 with itself or with another soybean variety. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to soybean cultivars or breeding cultivars and plant parts derived from soybean variety 7143182, to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 7143182 and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants and plant parts produced by crossing the cultivar 7143182 with another soybean cultivar.
US07705207B2
A soybean cultivar designated 7043182 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar 7043182, to the plants of soybean 7043182, to plant parts of soybean cultivar 7043182 and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing soybean cultivar 7043182 with itself or with another soybean variety. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to soybean cultivars or breeding cultivars and plant parts derived from soybean variety 7043182, to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 7043182 and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants and plant parts produced by crossing the cultivar 7043182 with another soybean cultivar.
US07705205B1
The invention provides seed and plants of the pea line designated 08520702. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of pea line 08520702, and to methods for producing a pea plant produced by crossing a plant of pea line 08520702 with itself or with another pea plant, such as a plant of another line. The invention further relates to seeds and plants produced by such crossing. The invention further relates to parts of a plant of pea line 08520702, including the seed, pod, and gametes of such plants.
US07705201B2
The present invention provides an approach to increase yield and vigor in a plant. The present invention describes expressing a heterologous gene in a plant that control cytokinin expression under the control of a cell cycle regulated promoter.
US07705199B2
Compositions and methods are provided for treatment of autoimmune and other related diseases. 3d, a point mutation of the protein uncoordinated-93b (unc-93B), unc-93A, unc-93B, and unc-93C, polypeptides, nucleic acids encoding them and methods for making and using them, for example, to produce transgenic non-human animals.
US07705193B2
The invention relates to a process for conversion of a gasoline-range hydrocarbon feed into a gasoline fraction with a higher octane rating than that of the feedstream, and a gasoil fraction with a cetane number higher than 45, including the following steps: a) a membrane separation step (B) applied to the hydrocarbon feed under conditions enabling selective separation of the majority of the linear olefins present in said feed and constituting the β fraction, the fraction containing the majority of the branched olefins, termed the γ fraction, constituting a gasoline with a high octane rating, greater than that of the feed; b) an oligomerisation step (C) applied to the linear olefins (β fraction) contained in the effluent stream from the membrane separation step (B) under moderate oligomerisation conditions; c) a distillation separation step (D) applied to the effluent stream arising from the oligomerisation step in at least two fractions; d) a hydrogenation step (E) applied to one of the fractions obtained at step c).
US07705192B2
Hydrotalcites are partially or fully thermally decomposed to provide catalysts useful for the conversion of ethanol plus methanol to a reaction product comprising isobutanol.
US07705188B2
Described herein are novel compounds having antineoplastic and antimicrobial activity, obtained via structural modifications of resveratrol and combretastatin A-4, methods for synthesis of these compounds, and their use in pharmaceutical composition and for use in the treatment of mammals having cancer. Examples of the novel compounds are: (Z)- and (E)-3,4′,5-trimethoxystilbene (4a, 4b); (Z)- and (E)-3,5-dimethoxy-4′-hydroxystilbene (14c, 14d); (Z)- and (E)-3-hydroxy-4′,5-dimethoxystilbene (14g, 14h); (Z)- and (E)-3,5-dihydroxy-4′-methoxy-stilbene (14k, 14l); sodium resverastatin dibenzyl phosphate ((Z)-3,5-dimethoxy-4-[O-bis(benzyl)phosphoryl]-stilbene) (14m); and sodium resverastatin phosphate (14n).
US07705180B2
The present invention relates to an improved process for the preparation of lactic acid and or lactate from a magnesium lactate comprising medium. In said process, magnesium lactate is reacted with a hydroxide of sodium, calcium, and/or ammonium at a pH range between 9 and 12, preferably between 9.9 and 11, to form a lactate of sodium, potassium, calcium and/or ammonia and magnesium hydroxide. With the process according to the invention a lactate salt is formed and magnesium hydroxide. It is essential that said so-called SWAP reaction is conducted within a specific pH range: It was found that when conducting the SWAP reaction at a pH range between 9 and 12 magnesium hydroxide particles are formed which can easily be separated from the lactate salt solution formed.
US07705169B2
A process for the preparation of metal salts of a medium-chain length monocarboxylic fatty acid comprises reacting the precursor free fatty acid, dissolved in a suitable solvent, with the appropriate metal salt. The process uses a relatively high concentration of free fatty acid as a soluble reactant and produces metal fatty acid salts at high purity and high yield at a reasonable cost.
US07705165B2
A method for producing an optically active cyclopropanecarboxylate compound represented by the formula (5): wherein R6, R7, R8 and R9 represent a C1-C6 alkyl group or the like and R10 represents a C1-C6 alkyl group, which comprises reacting an olefin represented by the formula (3): wherein R6, R7, R8 and R9 are as described above, with a diazoacetic acid ester represented by the formula (4): N2CHCO2R10 (4) wherein R10 is as described above, in the presence of an asymmetric copper complex obtained by mixing (A) at least one monovalent or divalent copper compound, (B) at least one optically active bisoxazoline compound represented by the formula (1): wherein R1 and R2 represent a C1-C6 alkyl group or the like; R3 represents a tert-butyl group or the like; and R4 and R5 are the same and represent C1-C3 alkyl groups or the like, and (C) at least one fluorine compound represented by the formula (2): A-MF6 (2) wherein A represents a trityl group or the like, and M represents a phosphorous atom or the like.
US07705152B2
An alcohol oxidation catalyst which is an organic oxidation catalyst to oxidize an alcohol, which contains azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane N-oxyl represented by the following formula (1) having an N-oxyl group incorporated in a bicycle[3.3.1]nonane skeleton: wherein X is H2, O or NOH.
US07705151B2
Disclosed are compounds of formula (I): wherein R3, R5, R7 and R8 are defined herein, which are useful as inhibitors SYK kinase and are thus useful for treating diseases resulting from inappropriate mast cell activation, which include allergic and inflammatory diseases. Also disclosed are pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds and processes for preparing these compounds.
US07705149B2
Benzoimidazole compounds, compositions, and methods of using them in leukocyte recruitment inhibition, in modulating H4 receptor, and in treating conditions such as inflammation, H4 receptor-mediated conditions, and related conditions.
US07705145B2
Chemical processes and intermediates useful in the manufacture of the quinazoline derivative 4-(3′-chloro-4′-fluoroanilino)-7-methoxy-6-(3-morpholinopropoxy)quinazoline, in particular processes for the manufacture of 7-methoxy-6-(3-morpholinopropoxy)-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-4-one of Formula II and 4-methoxy-5-(3-morpholinopropoxy)-2-nitrobenzonitrile of Formula III and their use in the manufacture of the quinazoline derivative.
US07705144B2
Preparing dyes suitable for cosmetic use that start with known dyes and link them, for example, with 1,3,5 triazine to bulky organic groups that control solubility.
US07705142B2
There is provided an improved process for preparing cefixime. Thus, for example, 7-amino-3-vinyl-3-cephem-4-carboxylic acid is reacted with 2-mercapto-1,3-benzothiazolyl-(Z)-2-(2-aminothiazol-4-yl)-2-(methoxycarbonyl)-methoxyimino acetate in tetrahydrofuran and water at 4° C. in the presence of triethylamine. The reaction mass is extracted with ethyl acetate. 7-[2-(2-Amino-4-thiazolyl)-2-(methoxycarbonylmethoxyimino)acetamido]-3-vinyl-3-cephem-4-carboxylic acid triethylamine salt present in the aqueous layer is hydrolyzed with sodium hydroxide in less than 30 minutes and aqueous hydrochloric acid is added immediately to adjust the pH to 4.8 to 5.2. Then, aqueous hydrochloric acid is added at 35° C. to adjust the pH 2.5 and cooled to crystallize cefixime trihydrate in high purity.
US07705141B2
The present application provides novel human genes RNF43 whose expression is markedly elevated in colorectal cancers, as well as CXADRL1 and GCUD1 whose expression is markedly elevated in gastric cancers compared to corresponding non-cancerous tissues. The genes and polypeptides encoded by the genes can be used, for example, in the diagnosis of a cell proliferative disease, and as target molecules for developing drugs against the disease.
US07705140B2
Polypeptide produced from human stromal cell line, the process for the preparation of the polypeptide, DNA encoding the polypeptide, vector carrying the DNA, host cell transformed by the vector, antibody of the polypeptide, and pharmaceutical composition containing the polypeptide or the antibody.
US07705135B2
Pectins having a combination of unexpectedly high molecular weights and low degrees of methylation have been isolated from Aloe vera plants, are superior gel pectins for forming calcium cross-lined gels. Such pectins can be obtained by extracting homogenized Aloe Vera plants or portions thereof. These pectins can be used to prepare pharmaceutical compositions comprising pharmacological agents for application to animals and humans, so as to provide controlled release of the pharmacological agent.
US07705122B2
The invention relates to kinase ligands and polyligands. In particular, the invention relates to ligands, homopolyligands, and heteropolyligands that modulate mTOR activity. The ligands and polyligands are utilized as research tools or as therapeutics. The invention includes linkage of the ligands and polyligands to a cellular localization signal, epitope tag and/or a reporter. The invention also includes polynucleotides encoding the ligands and polyligands.
US07705120B2
The invention relates to newly discovered nucleic acid molecules and proteins associated with breast cancer. Compositions, kits, and methods for detecting, characterizing, preventing, and treating human breast cancers are provided.
US07705119B1
Polypeptides, compositions, and methods for treating shock are described. A isolated polypeptide, Deltorphin-E, can be administered without concomitant fluid resuscitation, before, concurrently with, or after the onset of shock or the occurrence of an event that creates a risk of shock. Deltorphin-E can be administered in accordance with the method as part of a preconditioning strategy, which reduces the extent of ischemic injury. Deltorphin-E can be used in preparation for planned ischemia or in a prophylactic manner in anticipation of further ischemic events.
US07705107B2
An improvement to the phase interface process of preparing aromatic polycarbonate is disclosed. The process is characterized in that the phosgenation is carried out at 0 to 40° C., and in that the temperature of the reaction mixture at the time of addition of the catalyst at 10 to 40° C., and in that the molar ratio of aromatic dihydroxy compounds to phosgene at 1:1.05 to 1:1.20. The polycarbonate thus produced is characterized in its low content of carbamates, making it particularly suitable for the preparation of optical storage media.
US07705106B2
The invention relates to starting compounds which can be used for the preparation of polyurethanes and can be prepared by reaction of hydroxyl-containing oligomers of formaldehyde.
US07705101B2
Branched polydiorganosiloxane polyamide, block copolymers and methods of making the copolymers are provided. The method of making the copolymers involves reacting one or more amine compounds including at least one polyamine with a precursor having at least one polydiorganosiloxane segment and at least two ester groups.
US07705094B2
The present invention relates to a process for controlling the gas-phase co-polymerisation of olefins in a fluidised bed reactor. The present invention further relates to a method for the continuous gas-phase (co-)polymerisation of olefins in a fluidised bed reactor in the presence of a polymerisation catalyst wherein the density SPAN of the polymer powder particles leaving the reactor is maintained below certain values throughout the polymerisation.
US07705092B2
The present invention has its object to provide a process for producing a vinyl polymer which can provide a vinyl polymer in such form that a polymerization catalyst is effectively removed from that. The present invention relates to a process for producing a vinyl polymer wherein a vinyl polymer at the time of completion of the polymerization is treated with oxygen in the presence of a polar solvent. More preferably, the present invention relates to a process for bringing a polymer added with a polar solvent having a relative dielectric constant at 20° C. of not lower than 10 into contact with mixed gases of oxygen and an inert gas such as nitrogen with an oxygen concentration below the explosion limit oxygen concentration of this solvent as in the state of occurrence as a pure component.
US07705089B2
A rubber-modified styrene resin composition having excellent impact resistance, high tensile strength, and good moldability is provided. The present invention is accomplished by a rubber-modified styrene resin composition containing 99.9 to 97 percent by weight of a rubber-modified styrene resin (E) and 0.1 to 3 percent by weight of a polyorganosiloxane-containing graft copolymer (D), the polyorganosiloxane-containing graft copolymer (D) being a specific copolymer prepared with a polyorganosiloxane (A) produced by polymerizing 99.9 to 99.6 percent by weight of a organosiloxane with 0.1 to 0.4 percent by weight of a graft-linking agent.
US07705085B2
A composition includes an elastomeric composition. The elastomeric composition can include a fluoroelastomer composition, and the elastomeric composition is substantially free of an epichlorohydrin composition. The composition can further include a filler material which includes a reinforcement-grade carbon black. The composition can further include a peroxide curative.
US07705077B2
The present invention provides a rubber composition for coating a steel cord in a belt layer which can decrease a decreasing rate of tensile properties caused by deterioration of thermal oxidation, inhibiting peeling from the steel cord and further reducing a rubber flow, and a steel cord coated with a carcass layer comprising the same. The present invention relates to a rubber composition for coating a steel cord comprising (A) at least 3 parts by weight and less than 5 parts by weight of sulfur, (B) 0.1 to 1 part by weight of hexamethylenebisthiosulfate disodium salt dihydrate, and (C) a cobalt salt of an organic acid containing boron based on 100 parts by weight of a rubber component, wherein the amount of cobalt in the cobalt salt of a boron containing organic acid (C) is 0.05 to 0.25 part by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the rubber component, and a steel cord coated with a carcass layer comprising the same.
US07705072B2
A moisture resistant concrete coating composition comprising 20% to 30% by weight, based on the weight of the coating composition, of a water dispersible resin having a non-volatile materials content in the range of 40% to about 60%, an average particle size in the range of 80 nm to 400 nm, and a glass transition temperature in the range of −10° C. to 40° C.; 0.1% to 0.50% by weight of an alkoxysilane; 3.0% to 15% by weight of a mineral aggregate; and 25% to 55% by weight of an extender composition.
US07705068B2
The invention relates to liquid compositions that include an aqueous asphalt mixture and polyurethane dispersion. The polyurethane dispersion includes a polyurethane that is based on an aliphatic polyol backbone based on polytetramethyl ethlene glycol and/or polycaprolactone. The aqueous asphalt mixture in the liquid composition generally constitutes a majority volume percent of the liquid composition. The polyurethane dispersion generally constitutes at least about 0.1 volume percent of said liquid composition.
US07705064B2
The present invention is directed to reaction products prepared from at least one Michael addition donor material including two or more active methylene hydrogens; and at least one material capable of reacting with a Michael addition donor, the material having one Michael addition acceptor and at least one functional group selected from the group consisting of hydroxy, hydroxyalkyl, vinyl ether, amino, aminoalkyl, carboxy, carboxyalkyl, cyano, and cyanoalkyl groups; or reaction products prepared from (a) at least one Michael addition donor material comprising at least one Michael Addition donor group selected from the group consisting of cyano functional groups and phosphono functional groups; and (b) at least one material capable of reacting with the at least one Michael addition donor group, the material having at least one Michael addition acceptor, wherein the above reaction products are capable of forming free radicals upon exposure to actinic radiation; as well as compositions, and processes for making and using the same.
US07705061B2
This invention presents an ion exchange media including a plurality of cation exchange zones and anion exchange zones in flow paths that are contained in a substantially nonporous resin transport framework. During electrodeionization and other potential applications the ion exchange media of the invention prevents unfavorable water splitting at resin-membrane interfaces and encourages water splitting at resin-resin interfaces where the water splitting may be constructively used to regenerate the resin.
US07705048B2
A seven-carbon fatty acid or derivative thereof has been identified as an excellent energy source for humans or human infants. A nutritional supplement suitable for humans or human infants comprising a seven carbon fatty acid chain compound or derivative thereof can be used to increase energy production derived from fatty acid metabolism. For example, administering a seven carbon fatty acid chain compound or derivative thereof can be used to accelerate the growth rate of a prematurely born human infant.
US07705047B2
The invention relates to compounds of the general formula wherein either R signifies C1-C6-alkyl, halo-C1-C6-alkyl, C1-C6-alkoxy-C2-C6-alkyl or halo-C1-C6-alkoxy-halo-C2-C6-alkyl; and X1 signifies a single bond, O, S, S(O) or S(O)2; or R signifies halogen and X1 signifies a single bond; X2 signifies CN, halogen, C1-C6-alkyl, halo-C1-C6-alkyl, C1-C6-alkoxy, halo-C1-C6-alkoxy, C1-C6-alkoxycarbonyl, C1-C6-alkylthio, C1-C6-alkylsulfinyl, C1-C6-alkylsulfonyl, C1-C6-alkylsulfonylamino, halo-C1-C6-alkylsulfonylamino, OH, NH2, COOH, CONH2, C1-C6-alkylaminocarbonyl or C1-C6-alkylcarboxamido, whereby if n is greater than 1, X2 may differ from each other; m signifies 1, 2, 3 or 4; and n is 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, and optionally the enantiomers thereof. The active ingredients have advantageous pesticidal properties. They are especially suitable for controlling parasites on warm-blooded animals.
US07705039B2
A method of ameliorating a sleep-related breathing disorder via administration of at least one cannabimimetic agent, such as oleamide or Δ9THC, to an individual in need of treatment.
US07705037B2
The present invention relates to compounds of formula (I). These compounds are a novel type of peptide deformylase (PDF) inhibitors, and are therefore of great interest especially as new antibiotics.
US07705030B2
The present invention provides a 2-amino-5-heteroaryl-5-phenylimidazolone compound of formula I The present invention also provides methods for the use thereof to inhibit β-secretase (BACE) and treat β-amyloid deposits and neurofibrillary tangles.
US07705024B2
A compound of formula (I): in which A, R1, R2, and R3 are as defined herein. Also disclosed are (1) a pharmaceutical composition containing such a compound, and (2) a method for treating a cannabinoid receptor-mediated disorder using such a compound.
US07705020B2
This invention relates to compounds of the formula (I): wherein R1, R2, R3, A and m are each as described herein or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof, and compositions containing such compounds and the use of such compounds in the treatment of a condition mediated by 5-HT4 receptor activity such as, but not limited to, gastroesophageal reflux disease, gastrointestinal disease, gastric motility disorder, non-ulcer dyspepsia, functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), constipation, dyspepsia, esophagitis, gastroesophageral disease, nausea, central nervous system disease, Alzheimer's disease, cognitive disorder, emesis, migraine, neurological disease, pain, cardiovascular disorders such as cardiac failure and heart arrhythmia, diabetes and apnea syndrome.
US07705015B2
The present invention is directed to novel substituted pyrroline compounds useful as kinase inhibitors and methods for treating or ameliorating a kinase mediated disorder.
US07705009B2
Novel 4-aminopyrimidine-5-thione derivatives are disclosed. These compounds inhibit cyclin-dependent kinases, in particular Cdk1, Cdk2 and Cdk4. These compounds and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts have antiproliferative activity and are useful in the treatment or control of cancer, in particular solid tumors. This invention is also directed to pharmaceutical compositions containing such compounds and to methods of treating or controlling cancer, most particularly the treatment or control of breast, lung, colon and prostate tumors.
US07705006B2
Cyclopenta[g]quinazolines of the formula (I): wherein: A is a group OR or NR0R1 wherein R0 and R1 are each independently hydrogen C1-4 alkyl, C1-4 alkenyl, C1-4 alkynyl, C1-4 hydroxyalkyl, C1-4 halogenoalkyl or C1-4 cyanoalkyl, or R0 and R1 together with the intermediate N form a five- or six-membered heterocyclic ring, p is an integer in the range 1 to 4, R2 is hydrogen C1-4 alkyl, C1-4 alkenyl, C1-4 alkynyl, C1-4 hydroxyalkyl, C2-4 halogenoalkyl or C1-4 cyanoalkyl; Ar1 is phenylene, thiophenediyl, amino, nitro, cyano, trifluoromethyl, C1-4 alkyl and C1-4 alkoxy, and R3 is a group of one of the following formulae: -A1-Ar2-A2-Y1-A5-CON(R)CH(Y4)Y5-A5-X-Ar4 and pharmaceutically acceptable salts or esters thereof are of therapeutic value particularly in the treatment of cancer.
US07704999B2
The 2-phenyl-substituted imidazotriazinones having short, unbranched alkyl radicals in the 9-position are prepared from the corresponding 2-phenyl-imidazotriazinones by chlorosulphonation and subsequent reaction with the amines. The compounds inhibit cGMP-metabolizing phosphodiesterases and are suitable for use as active compounds in pharmaceuticals, for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disorders and/or disorders of the urogenital system, in particular for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.
US07704995B2
This invention relates to compounds for modulating protein kinase enzymatic activity for modulating cellular activities such as proliferation, differentiation, programmed cell death, migration and chemoinvasion, and to pharmaceutical compositions containing such compounds. Even more specifically, the invention relates to compounds that inhibit, regulate and/or modulate kinases, particularly Checkpoint Kinases, even more particularly Checkpoint Kinase 1, or Chk1. Methods of therapeutically or prophylactically using the compounds and compositions to treat kinase-dependent diseases and conditions are also an aspect of the invention, and include methods of treating cancer, as well as other disease states associated with unwanted angiogenesis and/or cellular proliferation, by administering effective amounts of such compounds.
US07704991B2
This invention relates to novel substituted diazabicyclo derivatives useful as monoamine neurotransmitter re-uptake inhibitors.In other aspects the invention relates to the use of these compounds in a method for therapy and to pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds of the invention.
US07704982B2
This invention discloses 2-methylene-19-nor-17-ene vitamin D analogs, and specifically 2-methylene-19-nor-1α-hydroxy-17-ene-homopregnacalciferol and pharmaceutical uses therefor. This compound exhibits pronounced activity in arresting the proliferation of undifferentiated cells and inducing their differentiation to the monocyte thus evidencing use as an anti-cancer agent and for the treatment of skin diseases such as psoriasis as well as skin conditions such as wrinkles, slack skin, dry skin and insufficient sebum secretion. This compound also has little, if any, calcemic activity and therefore may be used to treat autoimmune disorders and inflammatory diseases in humans as well as renal osteodystrophy. This compound may also be used for the treatment or prevention of obesity.
US07704972B2
The invention concerns a 2′,2′-difluoro-2′-deoxycytidine derivative of general formula (I), wherein: R1, R2 and R3, identical or different, represent independently of one another, a hydrogen atom or an at least C18 hydrocarbon acyl radical and of such conformation that it is capable of providing the compound of general formula (I), a compacted form in a polar solvent medium, at least one of groups R1, R2 and R3 being other than a hydrogen atom.
US07704971B2
Uracil reductase inactivators, notably a 5-substituted uracil or 5,6-dihydro-5-substituted uracil, potentiate 5-flourouracil and find use particularly in the treatment of cancer. The 5-substituent is selected from bromo, ido, cyano, halo-substituted C1-4 alkyl, C2-6 alkenyl, 1-halo-C2-6 alkenyl and halo-substituted C2-6 alkynyl.
US07704968B2
Antisense oligonucleotides which hybridize with nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) mRNA and methods of using these oligonucleotides.
US07704959B2
Azithromycin, administered systemically, is an effective treatment for nodules associated with acne vulgaris.
US07704950B2
A soluble receptor that binds to IL-20 having two polypeptide subunits, IL-22R and IL-20RB. The two subunits are preferably linked together. In one embodiment one subunit is fused to the constant region of the light chain of an immunoglobulin, and the other subunit is fused to the constant region of the heavy chain of the immunoglobulin. The light chain and the heavy chain are connected via a disulfide bond.
US07704935B1
An antiseptic cleaning agent, generally, comprising chlorhexidine acetate and a solvent, such as an alcohol and/or water. The chlorhexidine acetate acts as a highly effective biocide. Additionally, the chlorhexidine acetate allows the cleaning agent to dry without leaving a tacky residue. Where the cleaning agent comprises one or more alcohols, the alcohols may comprise any suitable alcohols, including lower alcohols having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, such as ethanol and isopropanol. In addition to chlorhexidine acetate, the cleaning agent optionally comprises another non-alcohol biocide, such as triclosan. The cleaning agent can be used in any suitable manner. For instance, the cleaning agent may be impregnated in an absorbent material, such as a towelette, swabstick, or gauze. Additionally, the absorbent material may comprise a positively charged or a non-ionic substance, such as polypropylene or polyester.
US07704922B2
A thermal transfer image-receiving sheet which comprises a substrate sheet and a receiving layer comprising a polyester resin provided on at least one surface of the substrate sheet, wherein the receiving layer is a layer formed by applying a coating solution comprising 1 to 3% by weight of a modified silicone oil (I) modified with both groups of an aminoalkyl group and a polyalkylene ether group, and 0.1 to 4.0% by weight of a curing agent based on 100 parts by weight of the polyester resin, and drying the solution, 0.2 to 3% by weight of a polyether-modified silicone oil (II) and/or phenol-modified silicone oil (III) being contained in the coating solution, if desired.
US07704901B2
A method for producing an elastic laminate material web that has elastic and non-elastic regions and has non-woven fabric on both surfaces of the web. In between the two surfaces, there are film strips of an elastic film. One surface of the web consists of a planar non-woven fabric layer and is connected with non-woven fabric that is disposed on the opposite surface of the web in areas between the film strips. Each film strip is connected with a non-woven fabric layer to form a laminate strip. The laminate strips are glued to the planar non-woven fabric layer on their film side, and the non-woven fabric that is connected with the planar non-woven fabric layer between the laminate strips is in the form of non-woven fabric strips that run parallel to the laminate strips. The non-woven fabric strips overlap the non-woven fabric layer of the laminate strips in edge regions of the laminate strips.
US07704899B2
An absorbent mixture consisting of an absorbent such as sodium or potassium polyacrylate, a fluent wax and a channeling agent. A product consisting of a porous member containing a mixture including an absorbent such as sodium or potassium polyacrylate, a fluent wax and a channeling agent.
US07704897B2
The present invention pertains to methods of depositing low stress/high index multi-layer films on a substrate using an HDP-CVD process. The multi-layer films include two lining layers and a bulk gap-fill layer and the HDP-CVD process employs a reduced substrate bias power during deposition of at least the second lining layer. Deposition of the three layers occurs at reduced deposition temperatures which further reduces the stress of the multi-layer film. The lower stress results in less defectivity which improves the films ability to maintain optical confinement of radiation.
US07704895B2
A method for depositing a high-k dielectric material on a semiconductor substrate is disclosed. The method includes applying a chemical bath to a surface of a substrate, rinsing the surface, applying a co-reactant bath to the surface of the substrate, and rinsing the surface. The chemical bath includes a metal precursor which includes at least a hafnium compound, an aluminium compound, a titanium compound, zirconium compound, a scandium compound, a yttrium compound or a lanthanide compound.
US07704892B2
A semiconductor device having a local interconnection layer and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. A local interconnection layer is formed in an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer on an isolation layer and a junction layer, for covering a semiconductor substrate, the isolation layer, and a gate pattern. An etch stopper pattern having at least one layer for preventing the etching of the isolation layer is formed under the local interconnection layer. The etch stopper pattern having at least one layer for preventing the etching of the isolation layer can be included when forming the local interconnection layer, thereby preventing leakage current caused by the etching of the isolation layer, improving the electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device, and improving the yield of a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device.
US07704887B2
A plasma cleaning method particularly useful for removing photoresist and oxide residue from a porous low-k dielectric with a high carbon content prior to sputter deposition. A remote plasma source produces a plasma primarily of hydrogen radicals. The hydrogen pressure may be kept relatively low, for example, at 30 milliTorr. Optionally, helium may be added to the processing gas with the hydrogen partial pressure held below 150 milliTorr. Superior results are obtained with 70% helium in 400 milliTorr of hydrogen and helium. Preferably, an ion filter, such as a magnetic filter, removes hydrogen and other ions from the output of the remote plasma source and a supply tube from the remote plasma source includes a removable dielectric liner in combination with dielectric showerhead and manifold liner.
US07704883B2
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. The method comprises depositing a material layer on a semiconductor substrate and patterning the material layer with a patterning material. Patterning forms a patterned structure of a semiconductor device, wherein the patterned structure has a sidewall with a roughness associated therewith. The method also comprises removing the patterning material from the patterned structure and annealing an outer surface of the patterned structure such that the roughness is reduced.
US07704882B2
Example embodiments may provide fine patterns for semiconductor devices and methods of forming fine patterns for semiconductor devices. Example methods may include forming a spacer pattern on a substrate and/or an insulating layer pattern adjacent to sides of the spacer pattern and/or disposed at the same level as the spacer pattern, forming a pair of recesses exposing sides of the spacer pattern by removing a portion of the insulating layer pattern, and/or filling a conductive material in the recesses.
US07704876B2
Methods are disclosed for forming dual damascene back-end-of-line (BEOL) interconnect structures using materials for the vias or studs which are different from those used for the line conductors, or using materials for the via liner which are different from those used for the trench liner, or having a via liner thickness different from that of the trench liner. Preferably, a thick refractory metal is used in the vias for improved mechanical strength while using only a thin refractory metal in the trenches to provide low resistance.
US07704868B2
Methods of fabricating micro-electromechanical system devices from complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS) are provided.
US07704866B2
A method for forming a contact to a substrate is disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate, the substrate being doped with a first dopant; and diffusing a second dopant into at least a first side of the substrate to form a second dopant region, the first side further including a first side surface area. The method also includes forming a dielectric layer on the first side of the substrate. The method further includes forming a set of composite layer regions on the dielectric layer, wherein each composite layer region of the set of composite layer regions further includes a set of Group IV semiconductor nanoparticles and a set of metal particles. The method also includes heating the set of composite layer regions to a first temperature, wherein at least some composite layer regions of the set of composite layer regions etch through the dielectric layer and form a set of contacts with the second dopant region.
US07704865B2
Methods of forming charge-trapping dielectric layer structures in semiconductor memory devices which comprise: (a) providing a semiconductor substrate; (b) forming an oxide layer on at least a portion of the substrate; (c) forming two or more source/drain regions in the substrate below the oxide layer; (d) re-oxidizing the oxide layer; (e) forming a charge-trapping dielectric layer on the oxide layer; and (f) forming an insulating layer on the charge-trapping dielectric layer; as well as methods which comprise: (a) providing a semiconductor substrate; (b) forming an oxide layer on at least a portion of the substrate in a dry atmosphere; (c) forming two or more source/drain regions in the substrate below the oxide layer; (d) forming a charge-trapping dielectric layer on the oxide layer; (e) forming an insulating layer on the charge-trapping dielectric layer; and (f) annealing the insulating layer in an atmosphere having a hydrogen content of less than about 0.01% are described.
US07704861B2
Onto a surface of an AlxGayIn1-x-yAszP1-z (0≦x, y, z≦1) layer including GaAs alone or an InP substrate, an electron beam controlled to an arbitrary electron beam diameter and current density is irradiated so as to selectively substitute or generate Ga2O3 for a natural oxide layer formed on the AlxGayIn1-x-yAszP1-z, layer surface, then the AlxGayIn1-x-yAszP1-z layer surface is dry-etched by a bromide in single atomic layer units, whereby the natural oxide layer other than the part substituted by the Ga2O3 and AlxGayIn1-x-yAszP1-z substrate are removed.
US07704853B2
A method eliminates effects of defects on wafers caused by cavities adjacent to the surface of a semiconductor (e.g., silicon) wafer. A first insulating layer is applied to the surface of the semiconductor wafer and into the cavities adjacent to the surface. The applied first insulating layer is covered with a sacrificial layer. A selective back-etching of the sacrificial layer is carried out, such that the cavities adjacent to the surface remain filled with the sacrificial layer. A second insulating layer is applied directly to the first insulating layer and, in a subsequent method step, a conducting layer is applied to the second insulating layer.
US07704849B2
A method of etching trenches into silicon of a semiconductor substrate includes forming a mask over silicon of a semiconductor substrate, with the mask comprising trenches formed there-through. Plasma etching is conducted to form trenches into the silicon of the semiconductor substrate using the mask. In one embodiment, the plasma etching includes forming an etching plasma using precursor gases which include SF6, an oxygen-containing compound, and a nitrogen-containing compound. In one embodiment, the plasma etching includes an etching plasma which includes a sulfur-containing component, an oxygen-containing component, and NFx.
US07704843B2
In a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same, a conductive structure is formed on an active region defined by a device isolation layer on a semiconductor substrate. The conductive structure includes a gate pattern and source/drain regions adjacent to the gate pattern. A first semiconductor layer is formed on the active region by a selective epitaxial growth (SEG) process. An amorphous layer is formed on the first semiconductor layer. A second semiconductor layer is formed from a portion of the amorphous layer by a solid-phase epitaxy (SPE) process. Elevated structures are formed on the source/drain regions by removing a remaining portion of the amorphous layer from the substrate, so the elevated structure includes the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer stacked on the first semiconductor layer. The device isolation layer may be prevented from being covered with the elevated structures, to thereby prevent contact failures.
US07704835B2
A selective spacer for semiconductor and MEMS devices and method of manufacturing the same. In an embodiment, a selective spacer is formed adjacent to a first non-planar body having a greater sidewall height than a second non-planar semiconductor body in a self-aligned manner requiring no patterned etch operations. In a particular embodiment, a margin layer of a particular thickness is utilized to augment an existing structure and provide sufficient margin to protect a sidewall with a spacer that is first anisotropically defined and then isotropically defined. In another embodiment, the selective spacer formation prevents etch damage by terminating the anisotropic etch before a semiconductor surface is exposed.
US07704822B2
Embodiments relate to a semiconductor device. According to embodiments, a semiconductor device may include a plurality of wells formed on a substrate, threshold voltage control ion layers formed around surfaces of the wells, device isolation layers arranged between the wells, ion compensation layers formed on edges and bottoms of the device isolation layers, and a gate formed on the well.
US07704819B2
An integrated circuit (IC) includes a high voltage first-conductivity type field effect transistor (HV-first-conductivity FET) and a high voltage second-type field effect transistor (HV-second-conductivity FET). The HV first-conductivity FET has a second-conductivity-well and a field oxide formed over the second-conductivity-well to define an active area. A first-conductivity-well is formed in at least a portion of the active area, wherein the first-conductivity-well is formed to have the capability to operate as a first-conductivity-drift portion of the HV-first-conductivity FET. The HV second-conductivity FET has a first-conductivity-well and a field oxide formed over the first-conductivity-well to define an active area. A channel stop region I s formed in at least a portion of the active area, wherein the channel stop region is formed to have the capability to operate as second-conductivity− drift portions of the HV-second-conductivity FET.
US07704816B2
Methods of forming boron-containing films are provided. The methods include introducing a boron-containing precursor into a chamber and depositing a network comprising boron-boron bonds on a substrate by thermal decomposition or a plasma process. The network may be post-treated to remove hydrogen from the network and increase the stress of the resulting boron-containing film. The boron-containing films have a stress between about −10 GPa and 10 GPa and may be used as boron source layers or as strain-inducing layers.
US07704813B2
The present invention provides a high-voltage junction field effect transistor (JFET), a method of manufacture and an integrated circuit including the same. One embodiment of the high-voltage junction field effect transistor (JFET) (300) includes a well region (320) of a first conductive type located within a substrate (318) and a gate region (410) of a second conductive type located within the well region (320), the gate region (410) having a length and a width. This embodiment further includes a source region (710) and a drain region (715) of the first conductive type located within the substrate (318) in a spaced apart relation to the gate region (410) and a doped region (810) of the second conductive type located in the gate region (410) and extending along the width of the gate region (410). In place of or addition to the doped region (810), the high-voltage junction field effect transistor (JFET) (300) may includes a conductive field plate (920) located over and extending along the width of the gate region (410).
US07704810B2
In a display device manufacturing method including a step of forming a semiconductor film above a substrate and a step of implanting an impurity to each of a first semiconductor film in a first region of the substrate, a second semiconductor film in a second region outside the first region, and a third semiconductor film in a third region outside the first and second regions, the implanting step includes implanting an impurity in the third region so as to form a capacitor.
US07704805B1
A fuse structure, an integrated circuit including the structure, and methods for making the structure and (re)configuring a circuit using the fuse. The fuse structure generally includes (a) a conductive structure with at least two circuit elements electrically coupled thereto, (b) a dielectric layer over the conductive structure, and (c) a first lens over both the first dielectric layer and the conductive structure configured to at least partially focus light onto the conductive structure. The method of making the structure generally includes the steps of (1) forming a conductive structure electrically coupled to first and second circuit elements, (2) forming a dielectric layer thereover, and (3) forming a lens on or over the dielectric layer and over the conductive structure, the lens being configured to at least partially focus light onto the conductive structure. The method of (re)configuring a circuit generally includes the steps of (i) irradiating at least one lens on or near a surface of the circuit sufficient to electrically disconnect a corresponding first fuse positioned under the lens and disable a first configuration of the circuit, and (ii) irradiating at least one other lens on or near the surface of the circuit sufficient to electrically disconnect a corresponding second fuse positioned under that lens and enable a second configuration of the circuit. The structure and methods advantageously provide fuse structures having improved reliability and smaller chip area, thereby increasing the yield of the manufacturing process and the numbers of die per wafer (both gross and good).
US07704803B2
A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor region; a plurality of bit line diffusion layers formed in an upper portion of the semiconductor region and each extending in a row direction; a plurality of bit line insulating films formed on the bit line diffusion layers; a plurality of gate insulting films formed between the respective adjacent bit line diffusion layers on the semiconductor region; and a plurality of word lines each formed on the semiconductor region in a column direction and each intersecting with the bit line insulating films and the gate insulating films. Memory cells are formed at intersections of the gate insulating films and the word lines. A plurality of connection diffusion layers including connection parts electrically connected to the bit line diffusion layers are formed in the upper portion of the semiconductor region, and a level of upper faces of the connection parts is lower than a level of upper faces of the connection diffusion layers in the semiconductor region.
US07704788B2
Methods of forming integrated circuit devices include forming at least one non-volatile memory cell on a substrate. The memory cell includes a plurality of phase-changeable material regions therein that are electrically coupled in series. This plurality of phase-changeable material regions are collectively configured to support at least 2-bits of data when serially programmed using at least four serial program currents. Each of the plurality of phase-changeable material regions has different electrical resistance characteristics when programmed.
US07704784B2
Semiconductor apparatus comprising: a substrate having a substrate surface; a layer of a first material overlying a first region of the substrate surface; a layer of a semiconductor overlying the layer of first material and overlying a second region of the substrate surface; a first region of the layer of semiconductor, overlying the layer of first material and having a first conductivity; a second region of the layer of semiconductor, overlying the second region of the substrate surface and having a second conductivity; and the first conductivity being substantially different from the second conductivity. Such semiconductor apparatus further comprising a layer of a second material overlying the second region of the substrate surface, the second region of the layer of semiconductor overlying the layer of the second material.
US07704782B2
Imager devices having an array of photosensors, each photosensor having at least two doped regions. The two doped regions are each independently tailored to a particular wavelength.
US07704780B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit structure and method for fabricating. The semiconductor integrated circuit structure includes a light sensitive device integral with a semiconductor substrate, a cover dielectric layer disposed over the light sensitive device, and a lens-formation dielectric layer disposed over the cover dielectric layer. Light is transmittable though the cover dielectric layer, and through the lens-formation dielectric layer. The lens-formation dielectric layer forms an embedded convex microlens. The microlens directs light onto the light sensitive device.
US07704770B2
The main objective of present invention is to provide a manufacturing method of light emitting diode that utilizes metal diffusion bonding technology. AlInGaP light emitting diode epitaxial structure on a temporary substrate is bonded to a permanent substrate having a thermal expansion coefficient similar to that of the epitaxial structure, and then the temporary substrate is removed to produce an LED having a vertical structure and better performance. The other objective of the present invention is to provide a high performance LED that uses metal diffusion technology and wet chemical etching technology to roughen the LED surface in order to improve light extraction efficiency.
US07704769B2
An optical device manufacturing method including the steps of: forming a groove with a depth corresponding to a finish thickness of the heat sink in a heat sink material at a position corresponding to an associated one of the streets sectioning the plurality of optical devices; joining the optical device layer of the optical device wafer to the heat sink material via a joining metal layer; cutting and dividing the optical device wafer along the streets into individual optical devices; sticking a protection member to the rear surface of the substrate of the optical device wafer; and grinding the rear surface of the heat sink material to expose the grooves to the rear surface to thereby divide the heat sink material into heat sinks corresponding to associated individual optical devices.
US07704722B2
Methods for promoting and suppressing auto-induction of transcription of cloned DNA in cultures of T7 expression strains are disclosed.
US07704717B2
This invention relates to an isolated nucleic acid fragment encoding a protein involved in phenylpropanoid metabolism. The invention also relates to the construction of a chimeric gene encoding all or a portion of the protein involved in phenylpropanoid metabolism, in sense or antisense orientation, wherein expression of the chimeric gene results in production of altered levels of the protein involved in phenylpropanoid metabolism in a transformed host cell.