US08403037B2
A method of dissolving a tool includes exposing an outer surface of the tool to an environment reactive with the tool, reacting the tool with the environment, and applying stress to the tool. The method also includes concentrating stress on the tool at stress risers in the outer surface, and initiating fracturing the tool at the stress risers.
US08403036B2
An apparatus for use in a wellbore is provided. The apparatus comprises a mandrel, a sealing element carried on the mandrel, the sealing element being radially expandable from a first run-in diameter to a second set diameter in response to application of axial force on the sealing element, and an extrusion limiting assembly carried on the mandrel and proximate the sealing element. The extrusion limiting assembly comprises a plurality of separate segments and a first circumferential band that retains the plurality of segments in a ring shape and substantially covers an outer circumferential surface of the plurality of segments while in a run-in condition of the apparatus.
US08403027B2
The present invention discloses a method of strip casting an aluminum alloy from immiscible liquids that yields a highly uniform structure of fine second phase particles. The results of the present invention are achieved by using a known casting process to cast the alloy into a thin strip at high speeds. In the method of the present invention, the casting speed is preferably in the region of about 50-300 feet per minute (fpm) and the thickness of the strip preferably smaller than 0.08-0.25 inches. Under these conditions, favorable results are achieved when droplets of the immiscible liquid phase nucleate in the liquid ahead of the solidification front established in the casting process. The droplets of the immiscible phase are engulfed by the rapidly moving freeze front into the space between the Secondary Dendrite Arms (SDA).
US08403005B2
A single-levered rotary pulling tap is used in the kitchen and includes a tap body, a spraying head, a control valve set, a first flowing assembly, and a second flowing assembly used to rotate relative to the first flowing assembly at a predetermined angular range so that user can adjustably move the spraying head to a desired position based on demand, and the pulling tap is operated smoothly to prevent from wearing related parts of the single-levered rotary pulling tap, such as the first flowing assembly, the second flowing assembly, and the control valve set, prolonging service life of the single-levered rotary pulling tap.
US08403002B2
A directional control fluid valve for establishing a first throughflow path, with which fluid is sucked in and supplied under pressure to a consumer, and a second throughflow path with which fluid is sucked out of the consumer. The valve has a housing which has a tank port, a pressure port for connecting to a pressure side of a pump, a suction port for connecting to a suction side of the pump, and a consumer port. The valve has at least one valve flap which is arranged within the housing and which can be moved between a first flap position for establishing the first throughflow path and a second flap position for establishing the second throughflow path. The housing has two parts on which are formed in each case at least two valve seats. The housing has a base part on which the tank port, the pressure port, the suction port and the consumer port are formed, and a cover part which has closed ducts. The closed ducts are connected to the associated valve seats.
US08402997B2
The disclosure relates to a valve with a pivoting lever. This lever pivots around a pivot point and can move between at least three stable positions. In the rest position, this lever is fixed and solidly connected to the body of the valve, and there is zero fluid flow in the internal fluid passage. In the intermediary released position, the axis of the lever is disposed at a positive, non-zero angle in relation to the axis of the lever in the rest position, the lever being now disconnected from the body, but the fluid flow remains zero. In the active position, the axis of the lever is disposed at a positive non-zero angle in relation to the axis of the lever in the intermediary released position, this lever being disconnected from the body, and with fluid now flowing thorough the internal fluid passage at a non-zero rate.
US08402991B2
An improved outlet valve for a frost-preventing faucet substantially employs an axial slot defined at a central top inside the inlet passage for being inserted by an elastic element and an axial post. A first stop ring is disposed around the stop valve. The first stop ring and the stop valve are inserted into a limiting slot of a hollow stop sleeve disposed under the stop valve. A second stop ring disposed around the stop sleeve is inserted into a lower section of an inner wall of the inlet passage. A bottom of the second stop ring is disposed above a top of the top porcelain. Cooperating the subject improved configuration with the top porcelain allows the water to be supplied upward since outlet gates of the bottom porcelain and the top porcelain stay abreast without a blockage. When a water pressure is larger than a rebounding force of the elastic element, the stop valve upwardly compresses the elastic element. Thereby, the water travels through the inlet passage disposed at the middle section of the plug and enters into an outlet hole at the top end of the tubular receiving valve seat. The water is further upwardly guided into a supplying pipe of the faucet. When the water pressure is smaller than the rebounding force of the elastic element, the elastic element compresses the stop valve. Thereby, an axial post of the stop valve is downwardly inserted into the limiting slot of the stop sleeve for impeding the water flow, so that the porcelain valve unit is prevented from freezing, and the water pressure is capable of controlling a feeding of the water flow.
US08402985B2
A thermal release element for valves in the form of a completely enclosed inner space with a container filled with a release liquid in which the release liquid contains a hydrocarbon selected from one of the following substance groups or containing a mixture of the hydrocarbons of an aliphatic bromide, a hydrocarbon with a nitro group, a singly halogenated benzene ring, and an aliphatic ester compound with two double-bonded oxygen atoms.
US08402982B2
A modular outdoor playpen apparatus including a room-sized enclosure, having an area in a range of 10 square feet to 20 square feet, the enclosure having a cushioned bottom wall, an open top, four side panels releasably hingedly attached to each other, a unitary cushioned padding removably disposed over all of the entire inner walls of the side panels, and a padded covering removably disposed over the bottom wall between the side panels. The apparatus also provides a canopy that attaches to the cushioned padding.
US08402981B2
The invention relates to a protective element, especially a suspended protective element for using as a parasol or an umbrella, comprising a vertical pole, a protective cover element, and a holding structure connected to the vertical pole. The holding structure is rotatably mounted in relation to the vertical pole, and the rotational axis of the support extends at least approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vertical pole.
US08402980B2
In an apparatus and method of generating an ultrasonic vibration, an ultrasonic vibration generated in an ultrasonic vibration generator is transmitted through a material layer to control the intensity and the direction of the ultrasonic vibration. In an apparatus and method of cleaning a wafer, a cleaning solution supplier supplies a cleaning solution for cleaning the wafer onto the wafer. An ultrasonic vibration generator generates an ultrasonic vibration. The ultrasonic vibration is transmitted through a material layer of a transmission member to control the intensity and the direction of the ultrasonic vibration. The ultrasonic vibration is applied to the cleaning solution.
US08402972B2
A forehead cushion for a forehead support of a breathing mask arrangement includes a cushion element including a contact surface adapted to contact a patient's forehead and provide a distribution of contact force and a coupling element provided to the cushion element. The coupling element is adapted to couple the cushion element to the forehead support. The cushion element is movable with respect to the coupling element to achieve different contact positions on the patient's forehead.
US08402967B2
A gas blender with auxiliary mixed gas outlet for mixing a primary gas, generally air, and a secondary gas, generally oxygen, to obtain a mixed gas having several controlled characteristics. The gas blender may be incorporated into a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device. The gas blender controls the mixing to produce the mixed gas having a predetermined mixture setpoint, generally an oxygen percentage, and a predetermined control setpoint, generally a pressure setpoint or flow rate setpoint. The gas blender provides an auxiliary mixed gas source for use by an auxiliary piece of equipment such as a nebulizer or resuscitation bag. The gas blender includes a primary gas inlet passageway, a secondary gas inlet passageway, a gas mixing apparatus, a mixed gas distribution passageway with an auxiliary mixed gas outlet, a gas sensor, a delivery sensor, a mixed gas delivery control valve, a mixed gas controlled passageway, and a controller.
US08402954B2
When an ECU applies to an igniter a plurality of pulse signals, the duty ratio of which is lower than a predetermined duty ratio, as a lock release signal, a latch circuit of a lock inhibition circuit stops applying a shut-off signal to a shut-off circuit thereby to release a lock condition of an IGBT. A drive main circuit thus restarts current supply to the IGBT. A condition detection circuit outputs to the ECU a condition signal corresponding to the current supplied while the IGBT is turned on.
US08402950B2
In a fuel injector, a body has formed therein a spray hole and a fuel supply passage. Fuel supplied to the fuel supply passage is delivered to the spray hole. A fuel pressure sensor produces a signal indicative of a pressure of the fuel. First terminals are attached to the fuel pressure sensor, and include a terminal for outputting the signal. The fuel pressure sensor is threadedly installed in the body while the plurality of first terminals are rotated about a preset axis. A connector includes a housing attached to the body, and second terminals supported by the housing for external electric connection of the fuel pressure sensor. Electrodes are each arranged to extend around the preset axis in a circular arc. Each of the electrodes electrically connects a corresponding one of the first terminals to a corresponding one of the second terminals.
US08402949B2
A fuel injector for an internal combustion engine is provided. The fuel injector is equipped with a fuel pressure sensor which is installed in a metallic injector body. The fuel injector also includes an amplifier working to amplify an output of the fuel pressure sensor and a thermal insulating member disposed between the metallic injector body and the amplifier to shield the amplifier thermally, thereby ensuring the accuracy in measuring the pressure of fuel within the fuel injector.
US08402942B2
The present invention relates to system and methods for improving efficiency of an internal combustion engine. This system may include a fuel processor. The system receives instructions for a desired engine output and operating conditions. The system may then determine an operational state corresponding to the desired output. The operational state includes designating the cylinders into one of three categories: working, deactivated and passive. The number of working cylinders is calculated by dividing the desired output by the power provided by one cylinder operating at substantially optimal efficiency. Then the system substantially disables fuel flow to and air flow to the deactivated cylinders, substantially disables fuel flow to and firing of the passive cylinders, and substantially regulates fuel flow to, air flow to and firing of the working cylinders. Firing of the working cylinders is synchronized with engine speed to reduce unwanted engine vibrations. The number of working, passive and deactivated cylinders may be continually altered in response to changes in desired output or operating conditions.
US08402938B2
An internal combustion engine comprises a rotating connector engaged rotatably in the rotatable receptacle. The rotating connector includes two rotational axles, two radial arms extending from the rotational axles, and an off-center middle axle connected to the two radial arms, and the two rotational axles share a common axis and are parallel to the off-center middle axle. The upper end is rotatably connected to the off-center middle axle of the rotating connector and the lower end is rotatably connected to the crankshaft. The internal combustion engine goes through an engine cycle comprising an intake phase, a compression phase, a expansion phase, and a exhaust phase. During the intake and compression phases the piston travels between a top dead center and a first bottom dead center. During the compression and exhaust phases the piston travels between a second bottom dead center to the top dead center.
US08402937B2
An intake duct cast as a recess in a combustion engine cylinder head that opens into a combustion chamber thereof at its lower end via an annular valve-seat housing. The intake duct, over part of its length, includes a substantially planar underside connected to the housing via a transition region that defines a shrinkage void of rounded shape within the mass of the cylinder head.
US08402931B2
Various embodiments of the present invention are directed toward a linear combustion engine, comprising: a cylinder having a cylinder wall and a pair of ends, the cylinder including a combustion section disposed in a center portion of the cylinder; a pair of opposed piston assemblies adapted to move linearly within the cylinder, each piston assembly disposed on one side of the combustion section opposite the other piston assembly, each piston assembly including a spring rod and a piston comprising a solid front section adjacent the combustion section and a gas section; and a pair of linear electromagnetic machines adapted to directly convert kinetic energy of the piston assembly into electrical energy, and adapted to directly convert electrical energy into kinetic energy of the piston assembly for providing compression work during the compression stroke.
US08402928B2
A method for operating an engine with a fuel reformer is presented. In one embodiment a first fuel is reformed into a gaseous fuel comprising H, CO, and CH4. The engine is operated by injecting the gaseous fuel and a second fuel to a cylinder of the engine in response to an available amount of gaseous fuel, engine speed and engine load. Further, an engine actuator may be adjusted to vary cylinder charge in response to the available amount of gaseous fuel.
US08402926B1
A pet cap having an integrated cap base gathering member attached about a perimeter of a cap body. The pet cap is placed over a pet's head, covering the pet's ears and ear canals. A grooming party baths the pet. The cap provides a barrier between water and other fluids and the pet's ears and ear canals. A securing strap is provided, spanning across an opening of the pet cap. The securing strap is positioned under the pet's snout to maintain the pet cap in position. The securing strap can be removably attached to the pet cap. The cap can include optional ear cover flaps extending downward from a lower edge of the cap body.
US08402924B2
Systems and methods for training animals not to pull excessively on leads. Some systems include a tension detector, a first stimulator adapted to emit a first stimulus, a second stimulator adapted to emit a second stimulus that is different than the first stimulus, and a controller adapted to actuate the emission of the first stimulus in response to the tension in the lead exceeding a predetermined force and to actuate the emission of the second stimulus in response to the tension in the lead exceeding the predetermined force for a predetermined length of time. Some methods include detecting that a tension in the lead exceeds a predetermined force, automatically emitting the first stimulus, and if the tension in the lead exceeds the predetermined force for a predetermined length of time, automatically emitting the second stimulus.
US08402919B2
An arrangement for housing a large number of milking animals, each of which belongs to one of a plurality of groups, comprises a resting area (1) wherein the milking animals are allowed to rest; a feeding area (3) wherein the milking animals are fed; and a milking area (5) housing at least one milking robot for milking the milking animals, wherein the resting area (1) or the feeding area (3) is partitioned in sections (7, 9, 11, 13; 41, 43, 45, 47), the number of which corresponds to the number of the groups; and a device (19; 53) is provided for directing each of the milking animals moving towards the resting area (1) or the feeding area (3), which is partitioned in sections, into one of the sections depending on the group, to which the respective milking animal belongs, so that that each of said sections will house milking animals belonging to one of said groups.
US08402917B2
A mask frame assembly for thin film deposition including a frame having an opening portion and a support portion, and a mask having a deposition area in a position corresponding to the opening portion, wherein the mask includes a first layer including the deposition area and a peripheral portion disposed outside the deposition area and a second layer including a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, at least a part of the first surface of the second layer faces the first layer and contacts the peripheral portion, and the second surface is welded to the support portion of the frame.
US08402914B2
A dip coating apparatus includes a container, a separating plate, an air intake, at least one driving module, and at least one carrying base. The separating plate separates the container into a first chamber and a second chamber, and defines a through opening communicating the two chambers. The first chamber is configured for drying workpieces, and the second chamber is configured for carrying coating liquid to coat the workpieces. The air intake takes drying air into the first chamber. The driving module is mounted on the separating plate. The carrying base carries the workpieces, and is connected to the driving module and positioned in the second chamber. Driven by the driving module, the carrying base is able to dip the workpieces into the coating liquid for coating, and is able to cover the through opening and expose the workpieces to the first chamber for drying.
US08402907B2
A movable cleat assembly is provided. The movable cleat includes a support base, a face plate positioned adjacent the support base and a retractable cleat. The retractable cleat includes a handle portion and at least one leg extending through the support base and the face plate. The face plate further includes an edge that is adapted to deform or otherwise embed a portion of itself into a boat when installed. At least one of the support base and face plate includes at least one tube to receive the leg therein. The at least one tube is composed of a corrosion-proof material.
US08402906B2
A ship-body frictional resistance reducing device for reducing frictional resistance of a sailing ship body by forming an air bubble curtain on a ship's bottom by generating air bubbles includes an air chamber provided on the ship's bottom inside the ship including an air supply port formed thereon, a plurality of air ejection holes formed in an array on the ship's bottom that serves as a bottom of the air chamber, and a diffusion plate provided inside the air chamber intervening between the air supply port and the air ejection holes. The diffusion plate is formed in a manner that it includes at least a supply-port facing area covering the air supply port and a pair of ejection-hole facing areas covering air ejection holes located at both edges of the air ejection holes in an arrangement direction.
US08402904B2
A sewing machine includes a housing portion, a bed, a needle plate, an image capture device, a moving device, a command acquisition device, and a moving control device. The housing portion houses at least one needle bar. The needle plate is provided on the bed and includes a needle hole. The image capture device is adapted to capture an image of the needle hole. The moving device moves the image capture device in relation to the housing portion. The command acquisition device acquires a command to move the image capture device in relation to the housing portion. The moving control device controls the moving device in accordance with the command that has been acquired by the command acquisition device to move the image capture device in relation to the housing portion.
US08402903B2
A feed dog device for a sewing machine includes a feed dog mount mounted under a needle plate and having a feed dog mounted thereon to permit the feed dog to extend through slots in the needle plate. The feed dog mount is coupled with a lever through a force transmitting unit to couple an increased torque generated by a pivotal movement of the lever to the feed dog mount so as to enable a weight end of the lever to drive the feed dog mount to move reciprocatingly in a transverse direction perpendicular to a normal feeding direction of a fabric. The lever is actuated by a cam follower with a torque generated as a result of transmission through a rotary cam member which is rotated with an output shaft of the drive member. Since the feed dog can be reciprocatingly moved in the transverse direction, the sewing machine can perform a variety of sewing operations.
US08402900B2
A workstation system (1) comprising with a plurality of desktops e.g. (3a), each desktop (3a) comprising a primary work area (33) and at least one recessed portion e.g. (34b) providing an auxiliary work area e.g. (36b). The recessed portions (34b) of adjacent desktops (3a-3d) can be arranged to provide an interactive work area (6a-6d) for multiple people.
US08402884B2
In a toaster, a toasting carriage is latched during toasting by an electromagnet actuated by a timer control circuit, and released when toasting time has elapsed. One of two rectifying circuits is always live and supplies a DC current to the timer control circuit and another, separate rectifying circuit supplies a DC current to energise the electromagnet when the toasting cycle is initiated. A first switching module switches a current flow through the heating element, while a second switching module isolates the always live rectifying circuit from the heating element. Switches of the first and second switching modules are disposed in an array and are closed by movement of the toasting carriage to the toasting position. More responsive and stable electromagnetic latching contributes to reducing risks associated with a fire that could occur during use of the toaster.
US08402880B2
A retaining system for securing a closure at an installed position within a bore. The bore being in a portion of a housing and having screw threads along at least a portion thereof. The closure having an internally threaded hold extending therein. The closure in the installed position closes the bore. The retaining system comprising a retaining cover for obstructing removal of the closure from the bore. The retaining cover being receivable in the bore in a position generally adjacent the closure. The retaining cover having external threads interengageable with the screw threads of the bore such that the cover is rotatable relative to the housing in a tightening direction for movement of the cover into the bore toward the closure and rotatable in an opposite, loosening direction for movement of the cover out from the bore away from the closure. The cover having a central axis of rotation.
US08402875B2
An armor plated assembly (20) and a protective wall system (120) containing a protective material. The armor plated assembly (20) comprises of a container (22) having opposing walls (26) for encompassing the protective material. The assembly (20) includes an armor device (24) having a first plate (48) and a second plate (50) with one of the opposing walls (26) sandwiched between the first plate (48) and the second plate (50) securing the armor device (24) to the container (22). The armor device (24) impedes the penetration of a projectile through the armor plated assembly (20). The protective wall system (120) includes at least two of the armor plated assemblies (20) with a mechanical connection (140) between the armor devices (126, 134) of the armor plated assemblies (20) for aligning and securing the assemblies (20) in a stacked orientation. A second embodiment of the protective wall system (220) includes at least two containers (222, 234) and a bib (232, 236) adhered to each of the containers (222, 234) such that the bibs (232, 236) overlap in a shingle-like engagement between the stacked containers (222, 234).
US08402869B2
Woodworking machines are disclosed having cutting tools adapted to cut workpieces. The machines include a detection system adapted to detect one or more dangerous conditions between a person and the cutting tool. The machines also include a brake mechanism having one or more braking components adapted to engage and stop the cutting tool in response to the detection of a dangerous condition.
US08402859B2
A shift mechanism for a dual clutch transmission employs a rotating barrel cam having at least three tracks which are engaged by and translate at least three associated cam followers. The cam followers extend from shift fork bodies which slide on rails and include shift forks which bi-directionally translate at least three synchronizer clutches which engage at least five forward gears or speeds and reverse. A single electric motor and gear train drive the barrel cam.
US08402858B2
A gearshift device for a change-speed gearbox of a motor vehicle, includes, but is not limited to a gearshift lever guided movably between positions corresponding to different gears, on which a locking member is displaceable between a locking position in a first degree of freedom in which it blocks any movement of the gearshift lever from a forward gear position into a reverse gear position, and a release position in a first degree of freedom in which it allows movement from the forward gear position into the reverse gear position. The locking member on the gearshift lever is movable in a second degree of freedom between a normal position in which movement between release position and locking position is possible and an alignment position in which it fixes the gearshift lever free from play.
US08402854B2
A linear actuator capable of setting a bed to a flat state in emergencies is provided.A linear actuator 10 contains a shaft 16 with a feed male screw section 17, a worm gear reduction device for transmitting the rotation of a motor 40 to the shaft 16, a nut 19 that is coupled by a screw to the feed male screw section 17 and advances or retreats by the forward rotation of the shaft 16 and advances or retreats by the reverse rotation of the shaft 16, and a moving cylinder 12 that is fixed to the nut 19 and advances and retreats relative to a housing 11, wherein a sub-shaft 52 linking to the worm gear reduction device, an inner race 59 spline-coupled to the sub-shaft 52, an engaging male section 82 and engaging female section 83 for free engaging, provided between a collar 55 of the shaft 16 and the inner race 59, an operating ring 66 fitted to allow free rotation on the outer circumference of the housing 11, and a function ring 72 for converting the rotation of the operating ring 66 to an axial movement and transmitting it to the inner race 59 are installed. The shaft 16 can be freely rotated in emergencies by releasing the engaging between the engaging male section and the engaging female section.
US08402847B2
A hydrophobic property demonstrator (100) comprises an inclinable sample support (10) and an upper tank (20) for producing droplets (GA, GB) that fall onto a sample (A, B) placed on the support. The droplets are produced regularly with a constant size by selecting a profile and diameter of a hole (23, 24) at the bottom of the tank, and by maintaining a constant water level (N) in said tank. Such a demonstrator is particularly suited for demonstrating the efficiency of the hydrophobic behavior of spectacle lenses.
US08402844B2
A health and usage monitoring system for use in monitoring health and usage of one or more components of a vehicle. In various embodiments, the present invention uses at least one roving wireless sensor that can be temporarily placed in a first position to monitor one or more components of the vehicle and then moved to another position to monitor one or more other components of the vehicle, thus reducing the total number of sensors used to monitor the vehicle. In some embodiments, a system according to the present invention may comprise at least one or more roving wireless sensors. Other embodiments may comprise one or more roving wireless sensors used in conjunction with one or more wired sensors. The present invention also provides similar embodiments for a method of monitoring the health and usage of one or more components of a vehicle.
US08402837B1
A system for field testing the bearing behavior of a test helical pile employs a plurality of anchor helical piles driven into the ground at angles around the test helical pile and a head assembly to form a support structure over the test pile. The head assembly includes attachments for engaging the upper ends of the anchor helical piles, and a vertical passageway extending through the head assembly. A hollow-core hydraulic jack having a vertical passageway is inserted between the upper end of the test helical pile and the head assembly to exert a test load on the test helical pile. A vertical member is placed through the vertical passageways in the head assembly and jack to the upper end of the test helical pile to measure movement of the test helical pile in response to the test load.
US08402836B2
A pressure difference measuring cell for registering pressure difference between a first pressure and a second pressure, comprises: an elastic measuring arrangement having at least one measuring membrane, or diaphragm, that comprises silicon; a platform, which is pressure-tightly connected with the elastic measuring arrangement; a first hydraulic path for transferring a first pressure onto a first surface section of the elastic measuring arrangement; and a second hydraulic path for transferring a second pressure onto a second surface section of the elastic measuring arrangement. The first pressure opposes the second pressure, and the elastic deflection of the measuring arrangement is a measure for the difference between the first and the second pressure, wherein the pressure difference measuring cell has additionally at least one hydraulic throttle, characterized in that the at least one hydraulic throttle comprises porous silicon.
US08402832B2
Pressure measurement and recording mediums and devices that can respond accurately and reliably to uniform pressure conditions including non-gaseous environments and industrial processing environments are disclosed. Also discloses are methods of making and using the devices.
US08402831B2
Low temperature wafer bonding (temperature of 450° C. or less) is employed to fabricate CMUTs on a wafer that already includes active electrical devices. The resulting structures are CMUT arrays integrated with active electronics by a low-temperature wafer bonding process. The use of a low-temperature process preserves the electronics during CMUT fabrication. With this approach, it is not necessary to make compromises in the CMUT or electronics designs, as is typical of the sacrificial release fabrication approach. Various disadvantages of sacrificial release, such as low process control, poor design flexibility, low reproducibility, and reduced performance are avoided with the present approach. With this approach, a CMUT array can be provided with per-cell electrodes connected to the substrate integrated circuitry. This enables complete flexibility in electronically assigning the CMUT cells to CMUT array elements.
US08402830B2
A method for nondestructive testing of a test object by means of ultrasound, and a corresponding device, the method including radiating directed ultrasonic pulses into the test object 100 at an irradiation angle β, whereby the irradiation angle β is set electronically, recording of echo signals that result from the ultrasonic pulses radiated into the test object 100, determining an ERS value of an error 102 in the volume of the test object from echo signals, which can be associated with the error 102.
US08402824B1
A precision gyroscope includes a semiconductor substrate, a gyroscope integrated on the substrate, and a quartz resonator clock integrated on the substrate. In another embodiment the substrate is a quartz substrate.
US08402822B2
The invention is a process tank containing a direct level magnetostrictive measurement system disposed directly in the tank, where the level system preferably communicates to a remote location. One embodiment of the invention embodies an internal well guide chamber, which exactly replicates the actual vessel's internal conditions (pressure and temperature), and also prevents the float from being affected by turbulence from a two phase condition, such as might occur if boiling or flashing is present inside the vessel. The process tank should have a fluid temperature different by more than 50° C. from the ambient environment, or alternatively, be a flashing tank.
US08402821B2
A method and a monitoring unit for monitoring a tire of a vehicle record a first measured value of revolutions of a tire with a first sensor. In addition, a second measured value of the revolutions of a tire is recorded with a second sensor. Alternatively, a second measured value of a second, different measured variable of a tire can also be recorded. In a further step, the directly measured or derived measured values of a measured variable are compared and an error signal is generated if a determined deviation is greater than a predefinable tolerance value.
US08402815B2
The invention relates to an air pollution sensor system (1) comprising an air inlet (11), an air outlet (12), a sensor unit (2), and an air displacement device (3). The air displacement device is arranged to establish an air flow (4) from the air inlet through the sensor unit to the air outlet. The sensor unit comprises, a filter (22) for removing airborne pollutants from the air flow. The sensor unit is arranged to generate an output signal (21) based on the amount of airborne pollutants removed from the air flow by the filter. The air displacement device is arranged to be controlled by the output signal, thereby improving the lifetime of the air pollution sensor system by minimizing the amount of pollutants that will be deposited inside the sensor unit when the air pollution sensor system is operated under predetermined conditions.
US08402814B2
A method for the analysis of isotope ratios, wherein at least one sample gas and/or at least one reference gas are supplied to at least one analytical device via at least one open split, the addition of a carrier gas also being possible. According to the invention, the concentration of the sample gas and/or reference gas passing into the analytical device is controlled by the supply of the respective carrier gas or by direct supply of the sample gas into the analytical device. In the device according to the invention for supplying gases to at least one analytical device, two or more capillaries are provided for sample gases, the capillaries in each case having their own drive for the movement between mixing zone and waiting zone.
US08402810B2
The present invention provides a method for testing the water hammer strength of a glass bottle. The method includes the steps of providing a holding device on a fixing stage with a cushion material therebetween, holding the bottle filled with a content and fitted with a cap with the holding device at a position above the center of gravity thereof and suspending the bottle in the air, and dropping a weight directly or indirectly onto the cap to apply an impact to the bottle. The weight is repeatedly dropped while gradually increasing a drop energy thereof. The water hammer strength of the bottle is tested based on the drop energy of the weight at the time when the bottle is damaged.
US08402809B2
A method and apparatus for determining the work required to expel a tampon from a tampon applicator having a barrel containing the tampon and a plunger for expelling the tampon from the barrel. The method includes the steps of selecting and applying an applicator gripping test force to a grip zone on the barrel of the tampon applicator and selecting a tampon expulsion test rate and applying a force to the plunger sufficient to expel the tampon from the barrel of the tampon applicator at the selected tampon expulsion test rate. Further, the method includes the step of calculating the force on the plunger required to expel the tampon from the barrel at the selected tampon expulsion test rate as a function of the distance the tampon travels during expulsion.
US08402801B2
A helical cord having an elliptical shape and the like is manufactured so that a length-to-width ratio or a dimension of a shaped form of the cord to be shaped in a longitudinal direction can be changed. A cord (C) is sequentially passed through through holes (21H, 22H) of stationary and movable shaping bodies (21, 22) opposing each other of a shaping device (20). At that time, the movable shaping body (22) is moved along the stationary shaping body (21) by a moving device so that the through holes (21H, 22H) become eccentric with respect to each other, and the cord (C) passing between the eccentric through holes (21H, 22H) is bent and deformed so as to be shaped. Also, a first and a second displacement mechanism that displace the movable shaping body (22) in X- and Y-directions are provided in the moving device, the movable shaping body (22) is thereby reciprocatingly displaced in the both directions in synchronization by displacement amounts which were set, respectively, the movable shaping body (22) is continuously moved in response to the displacements in the both directions, and thus the passing cord (C) is shaped.
US08402800B1
A key assembly with a releasable shackle allows a key to be attached and released from a closed loop or key chain. The key is similar to convention keys but does not have a closed shackle. A gap is formed in the shackle to define an opening. A gate that can be opened or closed releasable closes the gap. The gate is opened to add or remove the key from the loop. The gate is closed to lock the key on the loop. The gate can be formed in a number of manners including a wire gate, as flexible resilient gate, a hinged gate, or as a cuff.
US08402783B2
An ice-making device for a refrigerator, which is designed to separate ice through a simple process is provided. The ice-making device for a refrigerator includes an ice tray defining an ice-making space, an ice core member that is partly received in the ice-making space to make ice at an end thereof, a driving unit moving and rotating at least one of the ice tray and the ice core member, and a power transmission unit for transferring power from the driving unit to the ice core member. The ice on the ice core member starts being separated in a state where the ice is spaced apart from an outer surface of the ice tray.
US08402782B2
An ice-making device designed to make and separate ice from an ice tray through a simple process is provided. The ice-making device includes an ice tray defining an ice-making space, a freezing core that is partly received in the ice-making space to make ice at an end thereof, a driving unit moving and rotating the freezing core, and a power transmission unit for transferring power from the driving unit to the freezing core. The power transmission unit including a cam unit rotatably connected to the driving unit and a moving member that moves in vertical and rotational direction by a driving force of a motor transferred by the cam unit.
US08402766B2
A process for production of electric energy and CO2 from a hydrocarbon feedstock includes steam reforming of the feedstock, separation and combustion of hydrogen, and separation of CO2.
US08402751B2
Systems and methods for controlling regeneration of a particulate filter downstream of an engine in a vehicle are provided herein. One exemplary method includes, during an engine shutdown, increasing a throttle opening and regenerating a particulate filter downstream of a three-way catalyst. The method also includes, during an engine start following an engine shutdown, setting one or more engine parameters based on whether the particulate filter was regenerated during a last engine shutdown before the engine start.
US08402750B2
A reagent injection system for reducing emissions from an engine includes a reagent container. A heating element is positioned in a heat transfer relationship with reagent stored within the container. An interchange tube includes a first end in receipt of a recirculated liquid reagent and a second open end positioned in the container. The interchange tube includes a bleed-off tube branching off of the interchange tube between the first and second ends. A terminal end of the bleed-off tube is positioned within a vapor dome above a surface of the reagent.
US08402748B2
A fuel control system for a vehicle comprises a fuel control module, a heat release determination module, and a detection module. The fuel control module supplies fuel to a cylinder of a diesel engine for combustion within the cylinder. The heat release determination module determines a heat release value based on a pressure within the cylinder during the combustion. The detection module selectively indicates that the fuel is a diesel fuel alternative when the heat release value is less than a predetermined heat release value. The predetermined heat release value is less than a second predetermined heat release value associated with diesel fuel.
US08402736B2
A method of operating an aircraft, and the aircraft itself, comprising a gas turbine engine that exhausts a plume of gases in use, the aircraft is characterized by comprising an electromagnetic radiation generator and a waveguide to direct electromagnetic radiation at the exhaust plume to avoid the formation of contrails.
US08402735B2
The amount of water to be injected in an intercooler is controlled to cool the compressed gas to the saturation temperature. It is difficult to adjust the amount of the water to be injected, however, since the temperature of the compressed gas at an intercooler outlet is actually higher than the saturation temperature. An intercooling system is configured so as to cool a gas to the saturation temperature without controlling the amount of water injection and thereby maintain the reliability of the compressor while improving the cooling efficiency. The intercooling system is located between a plurality of compression stages of a gas compressor to cool the gas that has been in the compressor. A desired amount of liquid is sprinkled to cool the compressed gas while restraining inflow of the liquid into the compression stages.
US08402714B2
The system includes a plurality of mullion retrofit adaptors, each having a rear side configured and disposed to fit over the front side of at least some mullion of the existing supporting framework. It also includes a plurality of new mullions, each having a rear side configured and disposed to fit over at least some of the retrofit adaptors. A method for refurbishing an existing curtain wall attached to a base structure is also presented. This proposed concept can significantly reduce the time and costs for refurbishing an existing curtain wall.
US08402698B1
A housing structure for erecting on a ground surface includes a generally helical ramp having at least two lanes for accommodating vehicular traffic in opposing directions, a loop at the highest level of the ramp connecting the at least two lanes. The ramp includes a plurality of habitable units, each at one of a plurality of radial positions with respect to a center of the ramp. The habitable units that share any particular radial position but that are vertically offset are each generally vertically co-aligned in a common multi-level building. In one embodiment, at least one habitable unit includes more than one floor or story. Each habitable unit preferably comprises at least a private garage connected to the ramp with a driveway, and a private living space that may include a rear balcony connected to a front porch by a breezeway.
US08402689B2
A method and a device are disclosed for capturing sea crustaceans, such as crab, lobster, and shrimp. In various embodiments, the disclosed crustacean trap has a tapered body and collapsible trap doors usable for stacking multiple crustacean traps to reduce space requirements for storage, transportation and deployment. Foldable entry doors allow pre set up of traps for commercial and sport fishing fishing applications. The disclosed crustacean trap is configured for single-step and/or single-hand setting up of bait, trap doors, and deployment. The disclosed crustacean trap further includes a body-attached hook, which reduces line and rope tangling during setup and operation.
US08402675B2
A footwear construction including a portion of an upper and/or sole, a strap defining a sleeve, and a cord joined with the upper and/or sole portion, extending toward the strap and slidably housed in the sleeve. An adjustment element is selectively locatable along a part of the cord. By sliding the cord relative to the sleeve and optionally adjusting the location of the adjustment element, the spatial relationship between the strap and the upper and/or sole portion can be selectively adjusted to accommodate a particular dimension of a wearer's foot and/or ankle. A method is also provided for manufacturing footwear including the above components.
US08402672B2
A method of controlling a spray dryer apparatus having a spray dryer chamber (1), an air inlet (2), an inlet air control system (11) including a fan (13) and an air heater (14), a feed inlet (3), and an exhaust air outlet (4), comprising determining a content (Y) of moisture of inlet air, determining an inlet air temperature set value (Tinlet) in dependence of the inlet air moisture content (Y), determining an inlet air temperature measured value of inlet air between the air heater (14) and the spray dryer chamber (1), and regulating the inlet air temperature in dependence of the inlet air temperature set value and the inlet air temperature measured value, and determining an outlet air temperature of the exhaust air and regulating an inlet air flow rate in dependence of the outlet air temperature.
US08402670B2
The present invention provides an apparatus and method to accurately scribe benchmarks into a tensile test sample bar. The apparatus includes a base having a planar surface allowing a tensile test sample bar to rest thereupon. The apparatus further includes a guide having two spaced apart edges separated by a predetermined width. The planar surface of the base further includes a plurality of grid lines to properly align the tensile test sample bar. The base further includes at least one securing member adapted to abut and secure the guide during scribing of the tensile test sample bar. The method includes the steps of aligning a tensile test sample bar on the planar surface having a plurality of grid lines and securing the tensile test sample bar on the planar surface by means of the securing members. The guide then provides for an accurate predetermined width of the spacing of the benchmarks scribed onto the tensile test sample bar. By means of a scribe, the user runs the scribe along each of the edges of the guide and scrapes two benchmarks onto the tensile test sample bar.
US08402668B2
An improved coordinate measuring apparatus is provided. The coordinate measuring apparatus has a device that holds a CMM adapter plate in a way that simulates the locating points on the electromagnetic device in the CMM. Once in place, the threaded cube on the adapter plate is aligned to the CMM machine axes by holding a sliding V-block on the device against any corner of the cube. The screws that hold the threaded cube in the adapter plate are then tightened, and the adapter plate is released from the device. The threaded cube is now square to the CMM X-Y-Z axes.
US08402663B2
A tool such as a knife or other hand tool has only two pieces, a handle and a blade or other implement. The blade is movable from a fully retracted position to an extended position and the blade may be locked in both the retracted and extended positions.
US08402662B1
A removable knife opening assist for a folding knife. The removable knife opening assist includes a hook and an attachment portion. The folding knife is configured to be stored in a folded condition in a container. The removable knife opening assist is configured to snag the container so that the folding knife is automatically opened for use when the folding knife is withdrawn from the container, without the need to manipulate the knife, other than the simple withdrawal of the folding knife from the container.
US08402661B2
A raceway member 6 of a wheel support hub unit, having wheel or vehicle body fixing portions 7 extending radially outward from a solid or hollow shaft portion, and a wheel or vehicle body positioning cylindrical portion 9 extending concentrically with the shaft portion, the fixing portion 7 being formed by the cold side extrusion so that the fixing portion is integral with the shaft portion 5.
US08402660B1
Exemplary methods are provided for installing a ramp assembly into a vehicle. The vehicle includes a floor, a vehicle well disposed in the floor, and inboard and outboard ramp support members. In one embodiment, ramp assembly mounts, such as movable mounting blocks, are utilized for installing the ramp assembly into the vehicle.
US08402659B2
A method for producing an at least partially surface-densified metallic toothed element comprising a densified sintering material, in order to improve a strength profile, a preform of the toothed element being produced with a locally selective oversize profile relative to a final size of the toothed element and being rolled to the final size by means of at least one rolling die, the toothed element being densified in locally varied manner at least in the region of at least one flank and/or one root of a tooth of the toothed element to produce a densified outer layer.
US08402656B2
A method of producing a diaphragm damper 1 having a high pressure chamber 3 comprised of two diaphragms 2 with flanges 6 welded together and charged inside with a high pressure gas. The diaphragms 2 are made of magnetically attractable thin metal sheets. A pair of jigs 30, 40 provided to face each other inside the pressure vessel 20 hold the diaphragms 2 by magnetic force. The pressure vessel 20 is sealed and evacuated, then the pressure vessel 20 is charged and pressurized by a mixed gas including helium. After this, the pair of jigs 30, 40 are made to approach each other to make the flanges 6 of the pair of diaphragms 2 come into close contact. Inside the pressure vessel 20, the jigs 30, 40 are simultaneously rotated to rotate the pair of diaphragms 2 and a laser beam is fired at the flanges 6 of the diaphragms 2 to weld the flanges 6 over their entire circumferences.
US08402650B2
A method for producing a built-up cam shaft and a built-up cam shaft having a shaft are provided. A functional component is produced in a separate manufacturing process and has an internal orifice to receive the shaft. The orifice in the functional component is substantially round to receive the shaft, and an insertion mechanism is provided on the raised areas and/or at the orifice in the functional component, which allow the functional component to be pushed onto the raised areas substantially without shavings being produced. The raised areas partially dig into the orifice and in so doing connect the functional component to the shaft in a non-positive and positive manner substantially by deformation of the material of the functional component in the region of the orifice in the functional component.
US08402649B2
A method of manufacturing a scroll member includes a casting step and a cutting step. In the casting step an iron casting having a spiraling part is formed. In the cutting step, the iron casting obtained in the casting step is cut to obtain a final shape of the scroll member. Preferably the iron casting obtained in the casting step has a fixing part with the spiraling part extending from one side and a protruding part extending from an opposite side. A specified portion of the spiraling part, a central portion of the fixing part and/or the protruding part has a larger dimension before the cutting step is performed than after the cutting step is performed.
US08402647B2
Methods of manufacturing light panels having at least one re-entrant turning feature. In one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a light panel includes providing a base layer, providing a cover layer, and coupling the cover layer to the base layer to form at least one re-entrant turning feature between the base layer and the cover layer. In another embodiment, a method of manufacturing a light panel includes providing a base layer, forming at least one receiving space in the base layer, providing at least one prismatic block, and coupling at least a portion of the prismatic block into the receiving space such that re-entrant turning features are formed between the prismatic block and the base layer.
US08402643B2
A gas cartridge loading mechanism has a sensor member movable toward a collar retaining portion and mounted to undergo pivotal movement between a locked position and an unlocked position, and a stopper configured to prevent movement of the sensor member when the sensor member is disposed in the locked position and to allow movement of the sensor member when the sensor member is disposed in the unlocked position. The sensor member is configured to move in the locked position when a gas cartridge is set with improper orientation, and to move in the unlocked position when the gas cartridge is set with proper orientation.
US08402641B2
A connector system for connecting first and second elongate conductors includes a wedge connector and a hydraulic power drive tool assembly. The wedge connector includes: a sleeve member defining a sleeve cavity and mountable on the first and second conductors; a wedge member; and a lubricant coating disposed on at least one of the sleeve member and the wedge member. The hydraulic power drive tool assembly is adapted to drive the wedge member into the sleeve cavity when the sleeve member is mounted on the first and second conductors to secure the wedge connector to each of the first and second conductors. According to some embodiments, the lubricant is a wax.
US08402640B2
An opposing first plate and second plate are slideably disposed with respect to each other using self-aligning plate registration means. Circuit board registration means and component registration means are provided for the initial X-Y alignment and registration of the circuit board and socket contact elements with one or more electrically conductive leads of an electronic component such as a focal plane array (FPA). A non-contact portion is provided on the first plate to eliminate plate contact with the first component surface which may comprise the lens of an FPA. The first and second plates are urged together such that an even, controlled and substantially planar compressive force is applied, permitting the efficient insertion of the electrically conductive leads into the socket contacts.
US08402637B2
A fixturing system (10) for use with a frame-straightening repair bench (30) that assists in properly positioning fixture bases and providing verification of repairs. The fixturing system includes fixture bases, support assemblies (14), locating members (16), designed to couple with specific control points, and securing mechanisms to secure the vehicle during repair. The alignment targets and verification system provide proof that the fixturing system and replacement parts are properly positioned. If a repair cannot be made by pulling, the damaged areas of the vehicle can be removed and the fixturing system can help position and hold replacement parts until the repair is made substantially permanent, and the alignment targets and verification system provide proof that the repair is accurately made.
US08402635B2
A method of manufacturing a magnetic head, including a magneto resistance effect (MR) element that reads a magnetic recording medium, is disclosed. A multilayer film is formed on a shield layer. Unnecessary portions of the multilayer film are removed from both sides of the MR element in a first direction orthogonal to a lamination direction of the multilayer film and parallel to the MR element surface facing the magnetic recording medium. An insulating layer is formed on a surface exposed by removal of the unnecessary portions. An integrated soft magnetic layer covering both sides of the MR element in the first direction and an upper side of the MR element is formed, thereby configuring a second shield layer. An anisotropy application layer is formed on the second shield layer, thereby providing exchange anisotropy to the soft magnetic layer, and magnetizing the soft magnetic layer in a predetermined direction.
US08402634B2
A method of continuously mounting clips to first and second rods, which are abutted and crossed with each other, includes the steps of a) providing a clip dispensing gun; b) providing clips each having a first rod clipping portion fittable with the first rod and a second rod clipping portion fittable with the second rod; c) loading clips into a clip guiding portion of the clip dispensing gun; d) pushing one of the clips by a clip feeding member of the clip dispensing gun to advance one clip to a ready-to-be-fired position, and e) ejecting the clip in the ready-to-be-fired position out of the clip dispensing gun by using a striker of the clip dispensing gun for enabling first and second rod clipping portions of the ejected clip to be fitted with the first and second rods respectively.
US08402627B2
A puller tool and method for pulling a component from another component are provided. The puller tool can include a cross bar, a pair of puller legs that are movable along the length of the cross bar and a forcing screw. The puller legs can be quickly positioned anywhere along the length of the cross bar through a quick release mechanism. The cross bar can include notches on its outer surface to ensure that the puller legs are equidistant from each other during use.
US08402625B2
A system for modifying a slot in a rotor includes a drill, a clamp connected to the drill and configured to engage with an interior surface of the slot, and means for supporting the drill from a stationary platform adjacent to the rotor. A method for modifying a slot in a rotor includes connecting a coupling to a stationary platform adjacent to the rotor, connecting a drill to the coupling, and locating the drill proximate to the slot. The method further includes inserting a clamp into the slot, engaging the clamp with an interior surface of the slot, and operating the drill to create a cavity in the slot.
US08402616B2
A carabiner equipped with a swivelling gate formed by a rigid metal wire of smaller diameter than that of the body. The wire is provided with a protuberance at one of the ends to form a male latching element and an articulation loop at the opposite end for passage of the swivel-pin. A flexible return device for returning the gate to the closed position comprises a compression spring operating in conjunction with an intermediate transfer stirrup inside a housing of the body.
US08402603B1
A vacuum cleaner nozzle to clean a stair structure that includes a horizontal tread that meets a vertical riser at an inward corner includes a nozzle body having a business end formed with opposed upper and lower extremities forming an angle with one another and meeting at an outward corner. The opposed upper and lower extremities and the outward corner are to be concurrently applied to the vertical riser, the horizontal tread, and the inward corner, respectively. An unbroken front suction opening is formed in the upper extremity, the lower extremity, and the outward corner to assure a concurrent suction along substantially the entire height of the vertical riser, substantially the entire width of the horizontal tread, and the inward corner.
US08402601B2
The invention relates to a vacuum cleaner nozzle for cleaning of surfaces such as floors, comprising a rotatable, elongated brush (5), which is provided with brush means and located close to an air inlet opening to the vacuum cleaner. The brush is rotatably driven and adapted to rotate during cleaning to brush off debris and dust from the surface or to accomplish agitation of the surface. A first end of the brush is adapted to be mounted in the vacuum cleaner nozzle by moving the brush in an axial direction, while a second end of the brush is adapted to be mounted in the vacuum cleaner nozzle by moving the brush in a lateral direction, wherein the second end of the brush is maintained in a recess (13) by means of a releasable blocking element (7). The blocking element (7) is quick releasable without any need for a tool.
US08402598B2
An upright-type vacuum cleaner is provided. The upright-type vacuum cleaner includes a cleaner body comprising a motor chamber in which a suction motor is mounted, a brush assembly connected to the cleaner body, a discharge filter unit mounted on a first surface of the cleaner body, to filter out impurities from an air stream discharged from the suction motor, and a cord reel assembly mounted on a second surface of the cleaner body and having a power cord. The discharge filter unit includes a filter member mountable and demountable to and from the cleaner body by a user outside the vacuum cleaner, and at least a part of an air stream filtered by the filter member shifts a direction to pass through the cord reel assembly.
US08402594B2
A windscreen wiper device comprising an elastic, elongated carrier element, as well as an elongated wiper blade, which can be placed in abutment with a windscreen to be wiped, which wiper blade includes at least one longitudinal groove, in which groove a longitudinal strip of the carrier element is disposed, wherein ends of the longitudinal strip are connected to a respective connecting piece, which windscreen wiper device comprises a connecting device for an oscillating arm, wherein the wiper blade comprises an elongated upper holding part and an elongated lower wiping part of a flexible material, wherein the holding part comprises downwardly extending side arms for holding the wiping part from the outside in a lateral region thereof, wherein the holding part is provided with an elongated reinforcement element, and wherein the holding part and the reinforcement element are mutually connected through co-extrusion.
US08402589B2
Novel cleaning implements and novel components of cleaning implements are provided. Aspects relate to novel wringers having convex regions with a plurality of drain exits. In some embodiments, concave regions are also provided. The concave regions are substantially devoid of any drain exits. An upper portion of the wringer may be substantially cylindrical or conic-cylindrical and a lower portion may be neither cylindrical nor conic-cylindrical. The bottom perimeter of the bottom may define a square-like shape. Further aspects relate to novel connection assemblies. Certain assemblies may have a top portion with a vertical wall that is configured to position mop fibers along a vertical axis.
US08402577B2
A bed base and bed base kit includes four side members, each being symmetrical about its longitudinal axis. The side members are assembled into a rectangular structure with the members positioned to stand vertically upright on their edges. Opposed side members are of the same length and are connected at adjacent ends by a two-component connector. A first component of the connector is attached to the opposed ends of each one of a first pair of opposing side members and a second component is attached to the opposed ends of each one a second pair of opposing side members. The second components are offset from the longitudinal axis of the one side member to which they re attached. Thus, when the side members are assembled to form the rectangular structure, the respective edges of the side members are substantially flush with each other.
US08402566B2
A seam joining structure (1) includes a first material web (10) with a first barrier layer (42) and with a first edge (14) on an outer boundary of the first material web (10), a second material web (30) with a second barrier layer (42) and with a second edge (34) on an outer boundary of the second material web (30), as well as at least one seam (21) that joins the first and second material webs (10, 30) in a seam area (3) to form a first seam allowance (13) between the seam (21) and the first edge (14) of the first material web (10) and to form a second seam allowance (33) between seam (21) and the second edge (34) of the second material web (30). The first and second material webs (10, 30) are arranged one above the other in seam area (3) and the second seam allowance (33) is folded around the first edge (14) of the first material web (10) and covers the at least one seam (21) to form a seam cover (2), whereby the seam cover (2) is joined in the seam area (3) to the first material web (10). This seam-joining structure can contribute to creating waterproof functional clothing with high wearing comfort.
US08402564B2
A fitting system for a hat includes a band configured to be coupled to the hat; and a resilient member disposed within at least a portion of the band. The resilient member includes a first end, a second end, and an intermediate portion between the first and second ends. A crown extension and a crown extension bottom edge extend downwardly below a circumferential bottom edge of the hat wherein the resilient member is only positioned within a front band portion, a first side band portion, a second side band portion, and the crown extension. The first side band portion and the second side band portion are adapted to attach to the crown to form side gaps. Each of the side gaps are designed to receive the top portion of the user's ear so that the hat is designed to sit lower on the user's head without impinging upon the user's ears while the hat is being worn. A system and method are provided.
US08402563B1
Camouflage apparel for a hunter or solder or the like comprising a cape or sheet composed of camouflage material. The cape may be separate or attached to a pouch or hood of camouflage material. The cape and hood may be separate or attached to a portion of a vest which extends across the back of the neck of the wearer thereof such that the cape is receivable in the hood for stowage and such that the cape may be removed from the hood to drape across the front of the wearer. The vest has a seat which is stowably securable to the rear of the vest by straps which are fastened by buckles which are manipulatable at locations in front of the vest.
US08402562B1
A garment comprises a body portion formed from a first, body panel. The body portion has an exterior and an interior, a neck opening, a waist opening and two arm openings. The garment includes a pocket system having an interior pocket formed by a portion of the first, body panel and a second, middle panel attached to the interior of the first body panel. The interior pocket has an opening on the interior of the garment. The pocket system includes an exterior pocket formed by at least a portion of the second, middle panel and a third, innermost panel. The second and third panels have opposed edges attached to the first, body panel. The exterior pocket has an access opening on the exterior of the garment. An electronic connection from an electronic device can be made through an opening when the electronic device is placed inside the exterior pocket.
US08407810B2
A KVM switch is connectable to a plurality of information processing apparatus and a plurality of consoles used for operating the plurality of information processing apparatus. A storing portion stores first user-limiting information which defines access permission or access no-permission to each information processing apparatus for each user. An acquiring portion acquires second user-limiting information which defines access permission or access no-permission to each information processing apparatus for each user, from each information processing apparatus. A controlling portion controls access to each information processing apparatus for each user based on the first user-limiting information and the second user-limiting information.
US08407807B2
Architecture that employs dynamic assertion providers in logic-based security policy languages. The dynamic assertion providers provide a mechanism by which data can be processed in an efficient, goal-directed manner. The application of dynamic assertion providers enables the inferencing over type hierarchies, including hierarchies of personally identifiable information and also for file systems which are hierarchal in nature. When searching for facts to bind against for a given subgoal, dynamic assertion providers are also queried. These objects follow an interface which can implement an arbitrary method to provide facts to the logic engine in a goal-directed, on-demand manner. Hierarchical types can be implemented using a hierarchy provider.
US08407799B2
A software behavior modeling device which forms a model of a behavior of software includes; an event information acquisition unit configured to acquire event information indicating a specific event which occurs during execution of the software; a stack information acquisition unit configured to acquire stack information stored in a call stack at a time of occurrence of the specific event; a score setting unit configured to set a score in accordance with a storage location in which each element included in the stack information is stored in the call stack; and a model generating unit configured to form a model of a relationship between the specific event and the element by using the score, and to generate a behavior model of the software.
US08407797B1
In some embodiments, antivirus/malware behavior-based scanning (emulation) is accelerated by identifying known code sequences and executing pre-stored native-code routines (e.g. decompression, decryption, checksum routines) implementing the functionality of the known code sequences before returning to the emulation. During emulation, target machine code instructions are compared to a set of known signatures. If a known code sequence is identified, the emulator calls a native code routine and caches the current instruction address. If the emulator subsequently reaches a cached address, a native code routine may be called without scanning the data at the address for known signatures. Signature scanning may be performed selectively for instructions following code flow changes (e.g. after jump, call or interrupt instructions). The emulator may also call native-code routines implementing virtual operating system calls, and native-code unpacked file reconstruction routines that reconstruct unpacked files from the contents of virtual memory for scanning by a content-based malware scanner.
US08407794B2
A method of and apparatus for searching for a signature in a packet according to a signature location. The method may include extracting a sub-payload to be compared with a signature from a payload of a packet, generating an offset that is location information about a location of the sub-payload in the payload, generating a search key that includes the extracted sub-payload and the generated offset, and performing ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) matching to check if the generated search key matches a TCAM entry.
US08407784B2
A system and method for identifying infection of unwanted software on an electronic device is disclosed. A software agent configured to generate a bait and is installed on the electronic device. The bait can simulate a situation in which the user performs a login session and submits personal information or it may just contain artificial sensitive information. Parameters may be inserted into the bait such as the identity of the electronic device that the bait is installed upon. The output of the electronic device is monitored and analyzed for attempts of transmitting the bait. The output is analyzed by correlating the output with the bait and can be done by comparing information about the bait with the traffic over a computer network in order to decide about the existence and the location of unwanted software. Furthermore, it is possible to store information about the bait in a database and then compare information about a user with the information in the database in order to determine if the electronic device that transmitted the bait contains unwanted software.
US08407772B2
A system for issuing a license includes a Content Issuer (CI) configured to receive a Cooperate-RORequest from a Rights Issuer (RI). The CI encapsulates, according to the information carried in the Cooperate-RORequest, content related information by using a key of a destination entity to obtain an encapsulation key, and generates a Message Authentication Code (MAC) on part of information of a license. The CI sends the generated MAC and obtained encapsulation key to the RI, so that the RI sends the license that includes the MAC and the encapsulation key to the destination entity.
US08407770B2
A user token management system in a client device on a network comprises an obtaining module, a web controller and a processing module. The obtaining module obtains a user token from a database in response to a retrieving request for retrieving authorization of a web service provider on the network. The web controller transmits an authenticating request for authenticating the user token to the web service provider and receives an authentication result authenticating the user token. The processing module deletes the user token from the database when that user token is not authenticated by the web service provider.
US08407768B1
An apparatus conveniently provides a user with access to applications and data that the user accesses on other devices in a secure and authenticated manner. The apparatus detects the presence of a second device, such as a mobile phone. The apparatus authenticates a user based at least on identifying information provided by the second device. The apparatus locates one or more applications based on resource access information provided by the second device. While the second device remains present, upon authenticating the user, and further upon successfully locating the one or more applications, the apparatus provides the user with access to the one or more applications. User data for the one or more applications is made available from the second device and/or a server. The data is synchronized across all sources. The data is encrypted at the apparatus, and rendered unreadable when the second device is no longer present.
US08407764B2
Provided are a user authentication apparatus and method for supporting PMIPv6 (Proxy Mobile Internet Protocol version 6) in next generation networks. Authentication and mobility signaling protocol can be performed without having an additional signaling process when a mobile terminal moves by extending user profiles of the next generations to support the PMIPv6.
US08407763B2
An interface device for a protected workstation or host has a network interface for connection to a multi-level secure network, a first address corresponding to a guard control port, and a second address corresponding to a guard data port. A transport guard in the device has a control component coupled to the guard control port for processing configuration data sent to the first address and producing a desired security configuration, a guard component coupled to the output of the control component and to the guard data port of the network interface, and a host interface coupled to the guard component for exchanging data with the protected host. Only when permitted by the desired security configuration, the guard component passes network data addressed to the second address of the network interface to the host interface, and passes outbound data from the host interface to the network through the guard data port.
US08407761B2
A method of and system for encrypting and decrypting data on a computer system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the system comprises an encrypting operating system (EOS), which is a modified UNIX operating system. The EOS is configured to use a symmetric encryption algorithm and an encryption key to encrypt data transferred from physical memory to secondary devices, such as disks, swap devices, network file systems, network buffers, pseudo file systems, or any other structures external to the physical memory and on which can data can be stored. The EOS further uses the symmetric encryption algorithm and the encryption key to decrypt data transferred from the secondary devices back to physical memory. In other embodiments, the EOS adds an extra layer of security by also encrypting the directory structure used to locate the encrypted data. In a further embodiment a user or process is authenticated and its credentials checked before a file can be accessed, using a key management facility that controls access to one or more keys for encrypting and decrypting data.
US08407757B2
The present invention provides a method and system of specifying and enforcing at least one run-time policy for at least one computer process executing on a computer system, where the computer system includes a computer operating system. In an exemplary embodiment, the method and system include (1) relating the policy with an executable file of the process, (2) associating the policy with a running instance of the process, and (3) enforcing the policy on the running instance.
US08407734B2
A method of transmitting/receiving a broadcasting signal and a broadcasting receiver are disclosed. A rating region table (RRT) including a rating value identifier identifying rating information is stored, and, when broadcasting contents are received, the rating value identifier is obtained from a descriptor (or service discovery information) including the rating information of the contents. Then, the received broadcasting contents can be blocked according to the rating value identifier obtained from the descriptor and the rating value identifier of the RRT. Accordingly, although the RRT is changed, the broadcasting contents can be conveniently blocked using the unchanged rating value identifier.
US08407730B2
An objective lens actuator 25, for driving an objective lens 1 for focusing lights upon a recoding surface of an optical disc, comprises a moving part 2, which comprises the objective lens 1 and a coil; a magnet, which is fixed on a yoke and drives the moving part 2; a plural number of elastic support parts, each of which supports the moving part 2 at an end thereof; a first fixing portion 5a and a second fixing portion 5b, which fix other ends of the plural number of elastic support parts 4 and are disposed opposite to each other in a focus direction; and a moving mechanism 6, which is provided on the first and second fixing portion 5a and 5b, so that the first and second fixing portions 5a and 5b can move in the focus direction, relatively, and thereby providing the objective lens actuator 25 enabling to reduce the dynamic relative tilt between the optical disc and the objective lens 1 (i.e., reducing the tilt of the objective lens 1 in the tangential direction when operating), as well as, an optical pickup and an optical disc drive.
US08407729B2
The present invention avoids a case in which a pickup lens and a lens protector come into contact with a structure of a disk cartridge and are damaged. When an operation distance is short and there is a disk cartridge 203 and the disk cartridge 203 is not an exclusive cartridge, a moving range of the pickup 107 is restricted or an actuating operation thereafter is stopped depending upon whether the optical disk medium 101 loaded into the optical disk apparatus is an optical disk medium having a short operation distance, whether there is a disk cartridge 203, and whether a structure of the disk cartridge 203 is prevented from coming into contact with a pickup lens or the lens protector which is exclusive for the optical disk medium having the short operation distance.
US08407728B2
A compositional model referred to as a source-target pattern for connecting processes into process networks in a general, flexible, and extensible manner is provided. The model allows common process algebra constructs to be combined with data flow networks to form process networks. Process algebraic operations may be expressed in terms of the compositional model to form data flow networks that provide fully interoperable process algebraic operations between processes.
US08407727B2
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for driving a printer driver based on a determined type of application, and driving one of an extensible markup language (XML) paper specification (XPS) driver and a legacy driver in accordance with the determined type of application. The most appropriate printer driver may be automatically selected in accordance with the determined type of application. Thus, a user does not have to inconveniently select a printer driver whenever the user prints data and the data may be printed using the most appropriate printer driver. Furthermore, an optimized printing operation may be performed even when a user does not check whether an application to be used is a particular type of application, or whether a printer driver corresponding to the application is an XPS driver or a legacy driver.
US08407724B2
This disclosure describes, generally, methods and systems for implementing agile and dynamic help, defect tracking, and support frameworks for composite applications. The method includes implementing, on a computer system including a storage database, a composite application including a plurality of application components and establishing, in the computer system's storage database, a storage container for each of the plurality of application components. The storage containers are configured to store support information for each of the component applications. The method further includes storing, in the storage database, support data for each of the plurality of component applications, removing at least one of the plurality of component applications from the composite application, and maintaining, in the storage database, the support data for the remaining component applications of the composite application.
US08407722B2
A network routes update messages containing updates to properties of live objects from input sources to clients having the objects. When the clients receive live objects, the clients identify the object IDs associated with the objects and register the object IDs with the routing network. The routing network is adapted to selectively send update messages to nodes in the network and the nodes forward the messages to the clients. One implementation uses a hierarchy of registries to indicate which nodes and clients receive which update messages. Another implementation assigns update messages to one or more of N categories and nodes to one or more of M types, and the gateways maintain mapping between categories and types. To ensure that clients receive all of the update messages for which they register, the clients connect to client proxies that in turn connect to at least one node of each type.
US08407721B2
Configurable selection of communication interfaces on a multi-homed computing device. Application programs executing on the computing device define preferences, policies, and/or restrictions for use of the various communication interfaces. Responsive to a request from one of the application programs to communicate with a destination computing device, a list of the communication interfaces is created based on the preferences defined by the application program. The application program iteratively attempts to establish a connection to the destination computing device using each of the communication interfaces on the list.
US08407719B2
A software platform is provided for a hospital for example, wherein software modules (program code packages) are assigned in groups to different levels. In at least one embodiment, the presence of software interfaces allows software modules of different levels to be stored and run on different computer units with a data processing facility and storage unit, thus allowing communication between different levels by way of a data line. In at least one embodiment, this allows tasks to be moved out of the hospital, thereby saving costs.
US08407717B2
The present invention relates to a parallel processing method for a dual operating system, comprising building a main operating system and a sub operating system on an operating system kernel; executing a first application program in the main operating system and executing a second application program in the sub operating system; the operating system kernel transmitting an instruction or command received from a piece of hardware to the first application program; the first application program converting the instruction or command into program codes to be executed by the second application program; the first application program transmitting the program codes to the second application program; the second application program executing the program codes and saving the executed result in a memory or a file system; the first application program reading the executed result of the second application program from the memory or the file system; and the first application program transmitting the read result to the operating system kernel.
US08407714B2
An arithmetic device simultaneously processes a plurality of threads and may continue the process by minimizing the degradation of the entire performance although a hardware error occurs. An arithmetic device 100 includes: an instruction execution circuit 101 capable of selectively executing a mode in which the instruction sequences of a plurality of threads are executed and a mode in which the instruction sequence of a single thread is executed; and a switch indication circuit 102 instructing the instruction execution circuit 101 to switch a thread mode.
US08407712B2
Provided a method, system, and article of manufacture for updating workflow nodes in a workflow. A workflow program processes user input at one node in a workflow comprised of nodes and workflow paths connecting the nodes, wherein the user provides user input to traverse through at least one workflow path to reach the current node. The workflow program transmits information on a current node to an analyzer. The analyzer processes the information on the current node to determine whether there are modifications to at least one subsequent node following the current node over at least one workflow path from the current node. The analyzer transmits to the workflow program an update including modifications to the at least one subsequent node in response to determining the modifications.
US08407706B2
The present disclosure relates to methods, systems, and software for performing parallel processing on a set of business object actions forming a batch process. The batch process may be performed by compiling a group of independent work packages, each work package representing a discrete business object action. The work packages are clustered and an individual session for each work package is created. The work packages are then executed in parallel by a framework for parallel processing, external of an application requesting the batch process. Each session is closed after processing of the work package is completed, and the cluster is closed after processing of the work packages is completed.
US08407705B2
Systems and processes may be implemented to receive threads of execution and assign priorities to the threads of execution. Threads of execution may include nonvolatile memory input/output threads, other input/output threads, and/or other non-input/output threads. A lower priority may be assigned to nonvolatile memory input/output threads than other input/output threads. An algorithm may determine an order of execution of the threads of execution. An order of execution may be at least partially based on assigned priorities.
US08407704B2
The present invention provides a method and system for providing multi-level memory protection. The method includes defining a hierarchy of one or more parent process and their respective child processes. The method further includes building a data structure for defining access rights of each of the parent process and their respective child processes in the defined hierarchy.
US08407699B2
A computing system is configured to use a trampoline to isolate sensitive code in a virtual environment and in other applications. An import table may describe the entry points of a privileged code module or driver that generates privileged code. A system and method loads a shadow kernel to facilitate isolating the linkage between drivers and the rest of the system. The shadow kernel may be a copy of the operating system kernel that does not have the same integral position in the operation of the computing device. The shadow kernel may be used as a template for creating a jump table to redirect more critical privileged resource access requests from specially loaded kernel mode drivers to the PVM. All requests may pass through the PVM, which redirects non-critical functions to the original kernel. Multiple copies of a given driver or code module may be loaded in a given session.
US08407697B2
A mechanism is provided for sharing an application among multiple server systems. In one embodiment, the application is stored on a fast disk paging device. The paging device is in communication with each of a plurality of servers so that each server may be given access to the application. Virtual real memory (VRM) is allocated to a first virtual client of the first server. A portion of this VRM is allocated to the application. The application is executed by a virtual client of a first server. During execution a condition may occur that requires taking the first server off line. In that event, VRM is allocated to a second virtual client of a second server. A portion of this VRM is allocated to the application. The application is then executed by the second virtual client of the second server.
US08407696B2
A method for updating an application on a host system includes steps or acts of: installing an application on the host system; installing a virtual machine monitor on the host system, installing a first virtual container on the host system, wherein the first virtual container comprises at least one update to the installed application; and instantiating the first virtual container under the virtual machine monitor in a mode wherein the host system can be accessed but not modified and wherein instantiating the first virtual container includes updating the installed application in the first virtual computer and running the updated application in the first virtual container. The method may also include a step of confirming that the updated application runs properly. Optionally, the virtual container may be devirtualized.
US08407684B2
A memory card includes a bus a central processing unit (CPU) connected to the bus, a volatile memory connected to the bus, a nonvolatile memory, and a host interface. The host interface receives a first command signal from a host and outputs a reset signal for resetting the CPU, receives an update application program from the host and outputs it to the volatile memory, receives a second command signal from the host and outputs a reset release signal for releasing a reset state of the CPU, and receives an update program from the host and outputs it to the nonvolatile memory. The CPU executes the update application program stored in the volatile memory to output the update program to the nonvolatile memory in response to the reset release signal.
US08407683B2
A system, method and computer program product are provided for uninstalling software on a computer. In use, a plurality of software products identified on a computer is displayed. Further, a first user instruction to uninstall at least a portion of at least one of the software products from the computer is received. Such first user instruction is received via an interface. Still yet, the at least a portion of the at least one software product is uninstalled from the computer, in response to the receipt of the first user instruction. Also, a second user instruction may be received to cancel the uninstallation. Thus, the uninstallation may be cancelled, in response to the receipt of the second user instruction.
US08407675B1
A technique for transferring binary instructions from a computer system to an external platform is described herein. The process extracts binary instructions from the computer system. The instructions include a function at a register location. The process disassembles the binary instructions to produce an intermediate representation of the function. An interruption is inserted at the register location linked to a routine call. The process analyzes the intermediate representation for data dependency to identify internal data references for the routine call and external data references to produce a data dependence representation. The process reconfigures the data dependence representation to produce a reconfigured representation, whose control flow logic produces a logic hierarchy representation for the function. The process then translates the logic hierarchy representation to produce a source code of the function that compiles on the external platform to produce an object code to be linked with the binary code upon execution.
US08407673B2
A method, system and computer program product for handling errors in trace logs is presented. In an exemplary manner, the method includes detecting, in an error log, an error line entry for an error that is associated with a software execution. The error line entry includes a variable component and a static component. The variable component is associated with a real-time description of the software execution that changes every time the software execution occurs, and the static component is a fixed error descriptor of the error. The fixed error descriptor is parsed out from the error line entry to create a parsed static component, which is correlated with a resource that can be used to correct the error.
US08407665B1
Content owners (e.g., Website publishers) are provided with a simple mechanism to automatically summarize and display information (news, images, maps, etc.) related to inferred interests of a user or users visiting their Website. The targeting can driven by a variety of mechanisms including, for example, an automated contextual understanding of the content of the Web page, profile-based information derived from personal data supplied by, or inferred from actions by, the user visiting the Website, location-targeted information (e.g., inferred by the Website visitor's current geography), etc. “Related Content Units” may be used to help content owners render useful, related, content by allowing for a variety of targeting methods to gather related pieces of Internet content and present them integrated into an HTML iFrame or a JavaScript/XML feed which can be easily integrated by the Website publisher onto the Web pages of their Website.
US08407664B2
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for defining a software model business object are described. A plurality of business objects and interactions between these business objects are defined. Each business object is operable to encapsulate business data and can be associated with exactly one process component. Each of the process components characterizes software implementing a respective and distinct process and defines a respective at least one service interface for communicating and interacting with business objects in other process components. Moreover, all communication and interaction between process components takes place through the respective interfaces of the process components. Additionally, the interactions among business objects in different deployment units occur solely via the process component interfaces.
US08407655B2
Systems and techniques for fixing design requirement violations in a circuit design in multiple scenarios are described. During operation, a system can receive a scenario image and a multi-scenario ECO database. The scenario image can store parameter values for circuit objects in a scenario, and the multi-scenario ECO database can store a subset of parameter values for a subset of circuit objects in multiple scenarios. Next, the system can determine an engineering change order to fix one or more design requirement violations, which can involve estimating parameter values for circuit objects in multiple scenarios using parameter values stored in the scenario image and the multi-scenario ECO database.
US08407650B1
In various embodiments, each possible different instance of a repeated block can be concurrently modified for chip routing. Repeated blocks can be implemented where all instances of a repeated block are identical or substantially identical. Pin placement may be determined based on analysis of the I/O for all instances. The pin placement may be generated to be identical or substantially similar for all instances. Flyover blockages can be designed into repeated blocks to enable the global router to wire through the repeated block. Buffers and associated pins can be inserted into repeated block within the flyover space where the global router wires to the needed buffer through area pins.
US08407647B2
A method for designing and making an integrated circuit is described. That method utilizes statistical models of wire segments to accurately estimate the expected length of minimum-length, orthogonal wire segments within a block. From these estimates, the method accurately estimates an ratio between the horizontal and vertical routing resources required, termed the “H/V Demand Ratio.” From the H/V Demand Ratio, an accurate estimate of the height and width of the block may be determined. Thereafter, placement and routing may be performed quickly and accurately, thereby allowing the block to be designed and manufactured quickly and cost effectively. A method for designing an integrated circuit with efficient metal-1 resource utilization is also described.
US08407646B2
A computer system identifies active nets in a netlist of a circuit design by performing simulation of the netlist. Active nets are interconnections between circuit components showing a level of activity during the simulation. The computer system extracts, from a layout of the circuit design, a parasitic netlist of a part of the circuit design, where the part determined by the active nets. The parasitic netlist is a list of parasitic nets, or unwanted circuit interconnections that are unavoidable adjuncts of the active nets. The computer system performs simulation of the circuit design including the netlist of a circuit design and the parasitic netlist of the part of the circuit design.
US08407643B1
Techniques for generating an integrated circuit (IC) design configuration file are provided. The techniques include compiling a design file to generate a compiled IC design. The design file may include multiple constraints that are associated with the design. Status reports are generated based on the compiled IC design and the associated constraints. At least a portion of the generated status reports is encoded. A configuration that includes the encoded portion of the status reports is generated based on the compiled IC design is generated.
US08407632B2
A method, system, and computer usable program product for detecting dose and focus variations during photolithography are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A test shape is formed on a wafer, the wafer being used to manufacture integrated circuits, the test shape being formed using a dose value and a focus value that are predetermined for the manufacturing. A capacitance of the test shape is measured. The capacitance is resolved to a second dosing value and a second focus value using an extraction model. A difference between the dosing value and the second dosing value is computed. A recommendation is made for dosing adjustment in the manufacturing based on the difference.
US08407626B2
The use of gestures to organize displayed objects on an interactive display. The gesture is used to move the displayed object to the edge of the interactive display so that the displayed object is only partially displayed after being moved. The size of the displayed object may be reduced and/or the displayed object may be rotated such that an identified portion of the displayed object remains in the display after moving. A gesture may also be used to move multiple displayed objects to the edge of the display.
US08407617B2
Systems and methods for providing graphical representations of resources related to passages of classic literature are provided. According to one implementation, a graphical user interface (GUI) is provided in which the GUI includes a search field configured to enable a user to enter a search term. The search term may be recognized as a subject focus element. The GUI also includes a bloom diagram window configured to display an initial bloom diagram having the subject focus element at a center location and resource elements related to the subject focus element at locations surrounding the center location. A passage window is configured to display one or more passages of a classic literary work, wherein the passages related to the subject focus element. Also, the GUI includes a resource window configured to display a description of the resource elements.
US08407608B1
A user interface of an electronic content rendering device implements input assistance to enhance user experience when browsing linked content. As a touch input moves along a trajectory, an input assistance application provides enhanced fields associated with various navigation elements as the touch input draws toward the navigation elements. Responsive to detecting deceleration of the touch input within a threshold distance of a navigation element, the input assistance application enhances the associated field.
US08407607B2
Techniques are disclosed for helping users of virtual worlds and social networking applications to control personal identity data that other users have access to and to determine the type of identity data that users know about each other. Generally, identity awareness records may be used to store the personal identity data that a user has revealed to other users. When the user sends information to another user, personal identity data is mapped to appropriate aliases, depending upon which user is receiving the information. When the user is in the presence of other users, a visual dashboard indicates the types of personal identity information that the user knows about each other user, as well as the types of personal identity information that each other user knows about the user. The visual dashboard may also indicate the types of personal identity information that the other users know about each other.
US08407606B1
A multi-touch display device is configured to enable control of a displayed object by less than all of the input mechanisms determined to be engaging the displayed object at the same time.
US08407599B1
Methods, media, and systems are provided for presenting potential matches for address book entries across multiple online applications. Interaction between a web site provider, telecommunications network provider, and third-party data sources enable presentation of an input form that can be utilized across applications for a number of different types of information. Potential matches are automatically displayed based on the information provided in an application-independent user-input form. The retrieval of data is for any type of information that may be applicable to the particular software application for which the retrieval is taking place. Computer-readable media and systems are provided for performing methods of presenting potential matches in address book information across a plurality of internet software applications. Computer-readable media for performing methods of facilitating requests for information from one or more user address book databases are also provided.
US08407584B1
A rendering engine may be configured to execute, within a first execution environment, a page script of a page to be rendered within a browser interface, the page script configured to interact with a page model to implement the rendering. An extension manager may be configured to execute an extension file which modifies a functionality of a browser application in association with the rendering of the page, including detecting a content script associated with the extension file which, during execution, interacts with the page model. An environment manager may be configured to create a second execution environment for execution of the content script file therein by the rendering engine.
US08407576B1
A method of assembling situational Web-based dashboard from a wide array of web pages, digital media and components with just a few clicks and no programming, so a user can view scattered information from disparate sources on a single web-based screen. The components that can be included into dashboard pages are: live-area components created on-demand from any sub-region of any web page or web application; any rich media component such as rich text, video, picture, widget; and any office document (Microsoft Office documents and PDF etc.). Each dashboard page can contain any number of components. The size, position, location and layout of the components in the dashboard can be easily configured using a computer mouse, or through a touch screen interface. Each component in the dashboard can do auto-refresh from the source with a specified time interval, which also prevents user session timeout for secured web sites. The resulting dashboard can also be shared with others for collaboration. A set of dashboard pages can also be bundle together, and automatically display in a slideshow mode on-screen to auto display and monitor large number of information.
US08407575B1
Among other disclosed subject matter, a computer program product is tangibly embodied in a tangible program carrier and includes instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method. The method includes obtaining a plurality of layouts generated from video content, each of the layouts comprising a visual summary of the video content at a respective zoom level, each visual summary including a plurality of frames selected from the video content and blended into the corresponding layout without borders between the frames. The method includes creating an animation between the plurality of layouts so that a user can zoom continuously between the zoom levels to view the visual summaries of the video content.
US08407572B2
A Viterbi decoder includes a survival memory unit, for storing a plurality of survivor metric into a writing column of a writing bank of a plurality of banks in alternating intervals of a clock according to a writing bank order and a writing column order, and a trace back unit, for reading a reading column of each bank not performing storing operations according to a reading bank order and a reading column order in every interval of the clock.
US08407566B2
An Unequal Error Protection (UEP) transmission apparatus comprises a bit separator unit configured to, when video data are received, separate pixels of the video data into Most Significant Bits (MSBs) and Least Significant Bits (LSBs) according to a degree of importance on a pixel-component basis; a header generation unit configured to create an MSB sub-frame and a LSB sub-frame based on the respective MSBs and LSBs and create an MSB Medium Access Control (MAC) sub-frame and a LSB MAC sub-frame to which respective headers are added; and a channel coding unit configured to create a channel-encoded MSB data and a channel-encoded LSB data by performing error correction encodings corresponding to the respective MSB MAC sub-frame and LSB MAC sub-frame and add padding bits, corresponding to the respective channel-encoded MSB data and channel-encoded LSB data, to the channel-encoded MSB data and channel-encoded LSB data.
US08407554B2
Data extracted from fluorosphore responses of fluorophore labeled bases in genetic material used in sequencing of unknown fragments from a defined set of for example a model system are converted into a class of block codes that are then employed in a computer-based process to compare and correct preliminary calls of calls of the categorically known genetic material. In a specific embodiment, the Reed-Solomon codes are employed to identify one or more errors as may occur in a finite block of codes. The methodology is also useful to identify elements of a real system containing known elements in the form of a tag. Reed-Solomon sensors may be employed with and in addition to other types of genome sensors.
US08407551B2
A technique for low-density parity-check (LDPC) coding involves utilizing a fixed point implementation in order to reduce or eliminate reliance on floating point operations. The fixed point implementation can be used to calculate check node extrinsic L-value as part of an LDPC decoder in an LDPC system. The technique can include one or more of linear approximations, offset approximations, and node-limiting approximation. A system constructed according to the technique implements one or more of linear approximations, offset approximations, and node-limiting approximation.
US08407541B1
Integrated circuits with dynamic pin routing capabilities are provided. An integrated circuit may include circuitry under test and a dynamic signal routing controller. The dynamic signal routing controller may include multiplexers, a test register, and a signal select register. The circuitry under test may be connected to internal test lines that receive static test signals and dynamic test signals. The internal test lines that receive static test signals may be selectively routed to the test register (e.g., test registers store static test signals) while the internal test lines that receive dynamic test signals may be selectively routed to test pins (e.g., dynamic test signals are driven through the test pins). Each multiplexer may have a given input that is connected to the test register and additional inputs that are connected to the test pins. The signal select register stores control bits that configure the routing performed by each multiplexer.
US08407535B2
The present invention provides a method for generating random jitter test patterns by generating a sequence of maximum-size asynchronous packets according to the P1394b standard and transmitting the sequence to the device under test. The present invention provides a method for generating jitter test patterns by disabling the transmitter data scrambler of the second device; clearing the port_error register of the device under test; and sending a test pattern to said device under test. The present invention provides for a method for generating supply noise test patterns comprising: transmitting a test pattern to the DUT comprising a maximum length asynchronous packet containing alternate 0016 and FF16 bytes.
US08407533B2
A digital data recording/reproducing method includes the steps of: interleaving data on a PI code for each PI code of a 208-row ECC block; and converting a short burst error into random errors by dispersing errors on the PI codes. Moreover, the digital data recording/reproducing method increases correction capability against several bytes to several tens bytes of errors generated at random without changing burst error correction length by performing this processing for respective PI codes by using interleave rules that are different as much as possible from one another.
US08407527B1
Hardware faults in data storage systems are diagnosed. User I/O errors are received. Disk drive port error counters, primary port error counters, and expansion port error counters are read. A user I/O error threshold is modified based on the error counter readings. Depending on the type of errors counted, the user I/O error threshold may be increased or decreased. Once a first quantity of user I/O errors exceeds the modified user I/O error threshold, a faulty component is identified.
US08407526B1
Systems, methods, and computer-readable media provide for updating a firmware image during a debugging sequence using a firmware debugger application without re-flashing each updated firmware image on a non-volatile memory device. Embodiments include a debugger application operating on a host computer system and a debugger driver located within a firmware image undergoing the debugging sequence on a target computer system. The debugger application and debugger driver may communicate and transfer data between one another. Upon detecting an error in a firmware image, the debugger driver notifies the debugger application. The debugger application sends an updated firmware image to the debugger driver on the target computer system. The debugger driver loads the updated firmware image and passes control to an entry point of the updated firmware image for continued debugging from the new entry point.
US08407525B2
A method for debugging reconfigurable hardware is described. According to this method, all necessary debug information is written in each configuration cycle into a memory, which is then analyzed by the debugger.
US08407515B2
A method and apparatus for transparently handling recurring correctable errors and uncorrectable errors in a mirrored memory system prevents costly system shutdowns for correctable memory errors or system failures from uncorrectable memory errors. When a high number of correctable errors are detected for a given memory location, a memory relocation mechanism in the hypervisor moves the data associated with the memory location to an alternate physical memory location transparently to the partition such that the partition has no knowledge that the physical memory actualizing the memory location has been changed. When a correctable error occurs, the memory relocation mechanism uses data from a partner mirrored memory block as a data source for the memory block with the uncorrectable error and then relocates the data to a newly allocated memory block to replace the memory block with the uncorrectable error.
US08407513B2
This disclosure relates to providing an information signal to one or more sub-systems within a wireless communications device, where the information signal enables the sub-systems to operate based on virtually corrected reference frequency clock signal(s).
US08407512B2
An apparatus for upgrading a standard PC system to a fail-safe computation system, comprising a plug device for plugging into the computation system, a memory module, a microcontroller, and a first device for generating a first time signal, wherein the microcontroller and the first device interact such that the computation system is provided with the first time signal through the plug device device.
US08407502B1
A computer-implemented technique is presented. The technique can include determining, at a computing device including one or more processors, a power remaining in a battery of the computing device. The technique can include determining, at the computing device, a selected operating mode from a plurality of operating modes for the computing device based on the power remaining in the battery. Each of the plurality of operating modes can correspond to a different range of power remaining in the battery of the computing device. The technique can also include adjusting, at the computing device, operation of the computing device based on the selected operating mode. The selected operating mode can be associated with one or more display functions of the computing device, and adjusting operation of the computing device can include adjusting operation of the one or more display functions to adjust power usage of the computing device.
US08407498B2
A method comprising: sensing an ambient temperature at an electronic apparatus; and switching between a first processing mode of the electronic apparatus and a second processing mode of the electronic device, in response to an increase in the ambient temperature above a threshold.
US08407496B2
A computer system includes a monitor, and a motherboard. The monitor includes a display screen, a switch set on the monitor, and a first video connector. The first video connector includes a first monitor identity pin, and a first ground pin. The motherboard includes a second video connector. The second video connector includes a second monitor identity pin electrically connected to the first monitor identity pin, and a second ground pin electrically connected to the first ground pin. The second monitor identity pin and the second ground pin are correspondingly connected to a power signal line and a ground line of the motherboard. The switch is connected between the first monitor identity pin and the first ground pin, to control the motherboard to power on or power off.
US08407494B2
When a reception of a data signal is detected, a power supply control start signal is generated and the data signal is outputted to a signal processor in a fixed time. A power supply control signal for suppressing an output voltage variation of a power supply of the signal processor is generated until a processing completion signal from the signal processor is received after the power supply control start signal is generated. Alternatively, data signals received are separated by type and outputted to respective signal processors. After validity setting signals by type are received, a power supply control start signal is generated when the validity setting signals become valid in an overlapped manner. Such a power supply control signal is generated until one of the validity setting signals which have been valid so far becomes invalid after the power supply control start signal is generated.
US08407486B2
Releasing pending messages is provided. An electronic message is received via a network from a sending client device. The electronic message includes a request to place the electronic message in a pending file and an authorization to release data. The electronic message is placed in the pending file and the authorization to release data is stored in a storage device. An authorization is received to release the electronic message from the pending file. Then, it is determined whether the authorization to release the electronic message matches the stored authorization to release data. In response to determining that a match is found, the electronic message is released from the pending file. Then, the released electronic message is sent to a receiving client device via the network.
US08407485B2
Provided is an information updating apparatus that suppresses performance deterioration due to switching between writable recording areas in which information elements are to be written and readable recording areas from which the information elements are to be read. Also, the information updating apparatus updates a plurality of information elements recorded in a non-volatile recording medium with robustness against power discontinuity ensured. In order to achieve such effects, two groups of recording areas that are identical in number are allocated in the recording medium. The information elements are written in either group of the recording areas indicated by judgment information as the writable recording areas. Each time all the information elements have been written, the judgment information is updated. Thus, the writable recording areas are switched between the two groups of the recording areas.
US08407480B2
A method and system for securely enrolling personal identity credentials into personal identification devices. The system of the invention comprises the manufacturer of the device and an enrollment authority. The manufacturer is responsible for recording serial numbers or another unique identifier for each device that it produces, along with a self-generated public key for each device. The enrollment authority is recognized by the manufacturer or another suitable institution as capable of validating an individual before enrolling him into the device. The enrollment authority maintains and operates the appropriate equipment for enrollment, and provides its approval of the enrollment. The methods described herein discuss post-manufacturing, enrollment, backup, and recovery processes for the device.
US08407476B2
An article of manufacture is provided for securing a region in a memory of a computer. According to one embodiment, the article of manufacture comprises a machine-accessible medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to: halt all but one of a plurality of processing elements in a computer, where the halted processing elements enter into a special halted state; load content into the region only after the halting of all but the one of the plurality of processing elements and the region is protected from access by the halted processing elements; place the non-halted processing element into a known privileged state; and cause the halted processing elements to exit the halted state after the non-halted processing element has been placed into the known privileged state.
US08407474B2
A pre-authentication method and an authentication system related to the mobile communications field are disclosed. The pre-authentication method includes: when a mobile node (MN) enters a visited network other than a home network, the MN obtains the identity information of the visited network, selects, according to the identity information of the visited network, a first pre-auth-key-file corresponding to the visited network and a first ticket corresponding to the visited network, where the first ticket carries the first pre-auth-key-file, and authenticates the visited authentication, authorization and accounting (VAAA) server according to the first pre-auth-key-file.
US08407461B2
A plug-in framework is invoked within a plug-in, where the plug-in framework includes a software library configured to define, register, and configure plug-ins, where the plug-in includes a software module that extends or customizes functionality of a software application that is external to the plug-in, and where the plug-in includes a mapping name. A plug-in instance declaration is searched, by the plug-in framework, for a mapping that includes the mapping name, where the plug-in instance declaration is located within a plug-in file, and where the plug-in declaration comprises one or more mappings. When a mapping of the mapping name to the value is found, the value is returned, by the plug-in framework, to the plug-in based on the mapping. The plug-in framework also allows a plug-in provider to associate a plug-in with metadata.
US08407457B2
A system has a pipelined processor for executing a plurality of instructions by sequentially fetching, decoding, executing and writing results associated with execution of each instruction. Debug circuitry is coupled to the pipelined processor for monitoring execution of the instructions to determine when a debug event occurs. The debug circuitry generates a debug exception to interrupt instruction processing flow. The debug circuitry has control circuitry for indicating a number of instructions, if any, that complete instruction execution between an instruction that caused the debug event and a point in instruction execution when the exception is taken.
US08407447B2
Systems, methods and computing components are provided for dynamically reallocating a plurality of computing components among one or more logical partitions. A first computing component that is allocated to a first partition may have a management processor. A second computing component may be allocated to a second partition. The management processor of the first computing component may be configured to reallocate the first computing component to a third partition without affecting the second computing component.
US08407444B2
A memory allocation message for each primary memory allocation in a primary memory made by a primary processor is received at a hardware memory management module, including an indication of whether a finalizer routine is associated with each primary memory allocation. A representation of each primary memory allocation is allocated within a second memory in response to each memory allocation message, including the indication of whether there is the associated finalizer routine. A determination is made, based upon the allocated representations of each primary memory allocation within the second memory, to free a primary memory allocation in the primary memory. A call object finalizer message is sent to the primary processor instructing the primary processor to call the finalizer routine associated with the primary memory allocation in the primary memory in response to determining that the primary memory allocation has the associated finalizer routine.
US08407438B1
A method for managing virtual disk data storage may include: 1) identifying first and second virtual storage disks on a physical storage system; 2) identifying relocatable data in the first and second virtual storage disks; 3) comparing the relocatable data from the first and second virtual storage disks to identify one or more data objects in the first virtual storage disk that are identical to one or more data objects in the second virtual storage disk; 4) physically relocating the data objects from the first virtual storage disk to create a first chunk of data without changing a logical state of data in the first virtual storage disk; and 5) physically relocating the data objects from the second virtual storage disk to create a second chunk of data that is identical to the first chunk of data without changing a logical state of data in the second virtual storage disk.
US08407428B2
Intercepting a requested memory operation corresponding to a conventional memory is disclosed. The requested memory operation is translated to be applied to a structured memory.
US08407427B2
A method, apparatus and system for reducing memory latency is disclosed. In one embodiment, data between a host computer system and a memory is communicated via a port or a group of ports at the memory over multiple time intervals, wherein the host computer is coupled to the memory. Further, a command associated with the data is communicated between the host computer system and the memory via the port or the group of ports over a single time interval.
US08407424B2
A method and apparatus for maintaining data coherency in a computer system having a plurality of nodes forms a directory by grouping the nodes into a plurality of hierarchical groups of two or more levels. The method and apparatus also 1) set the directory to have data relating to a first set of groups within a first level, and 2) determine if a requesting node requesting data is a member of one of the first set of groups. The directory then is set to have data relating to a second group of nodes if the requesting node is determined not to be a member of the first set of groups within the first level. The second group of nodes is in a higher level than the first level.
US08407414B2
A management computer includes a communication device for communicating with a storage system and a plurality of computers. The management computer also includes a processor executing to: store relation information between the storage system and the plurality of computers; collect a plurality of computer performance information about computer-side I/O loads generated by programs on the plurality of computers, from the plurality of computers; identify a storage resource from a plurality of storage resources in the storage system; and identify at least one computer performance information from the plurality of computer performance information based on the relation information; and output the at least one computer performance information to a display. The at least one computer performance information corresponds to a certain computer-side I/O load that generates a load to the identified storage resource.
US08407413B1
The techniques introduced here provide a system and method for hardware implemented storage service flow classification using content addressable memory. The techniques described here allow for classification and handling of storage service requests according to service level agreement (SLA) or quality of service (QoS) parameters without consuming valuable storage server resources.
US08407405B2
A semiconductor storage device, includes a plurality of flash memories and a controller for the flash memories. The flash memory includes a data cache operable to hold data for at least one record page in writing, the flash memory includes a plurality of erasure blocks each having a plurality of record pages, the record page is classified into a first record page and a second record page of which write time is longer than a write time of the first record page, and the controller for the flash memories is configured to: divide the plurality of flash memories into at least two groups; perform write control by interleaving data in the groups for each record page; determine whether a page to be written data is of the first record page or the second record page; and when it is determined that the page to be written data is the first record page, after a lapse of a first predetermined time from start of writing data of one of the groups, the controller starts writing data of another one of the groups, and when it is determined that the page to be written data is the second record page, after a lapse of a second predetermined time being longer than the first predetermined time from start of writing data of one of the groups, the controller starts writing data of another one of the groups.
US08407385B2
A bus arbitration system, a method of connecting a master device and a peripheral over a bus system of an IC and an IC is provided. In one embodiment, the bus arbitration system includes: (1) a bus system configured to couple master devices to peripherals, port arbiters coupled to the bus system, wherein each of the port arbiters uniquely corresponds to one of the peripherals and is configured to manage access to the uniquely corresponding peripheral and a request splitter configured to receive connection requests from the master devices for the peripherals and direct the connection requests to a specific one of the port arbiters according to a port identifier associated with each of the connection requests.
US08407384B2
This disk array subsystem includes a data input/output unit for inputting and outputting data in and from the network, a connecting unit for connecting the data input/output unit and a plurality of storage apparatuses, and a control unit for controlling the input and output of data in and from the network. The control unit includes a logical link setting unit for zoning at least one or more physical links among a plurality of physical links for inputting and outputting data between the data input/output unit and the connecting unit, or between the connecting unit and the connecting unit into at least one or more logical links, and setting a plurality of logical links to one physical link; and a link unit for simultaneously multiplexing the data to a plurality of the logical links set with the logical link setting unit, and linking the data to the physical link.
US08407383B2
A system and method for a establishing a data connection between peripherals through a global computer network. The global computer network having at least two computerized addressable stations connected to a network, and each of the stations including at least one input and at least one output. A computerized server with a storage assembly with software that includes sufficient data and instructions to communicate with the stations to keep a database with information of the station's peripheral resources updated. Each station includes a service software that initiates upon booting the station and keeps track of the peripheral resources and assigned address (ex. IP address) for periodically updating the server's database with changes. Users with friendly interfaces have access to the subscribed stations and their resources as requested and target stations.
US08407375B2
A disclosed information processing apparatus is equipped with a built-in display unit and a built-in input unit. A display signal supplied from an external information processing apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus is combined with a display signal supplied from a core processing unit in a part of a screen of the display unit displaying the signal supplied from the core processing unit. An input signal received from the input unit is output only to the external information processing apparatus or only to the information processing apparatus depending on whether the part is determined as being activated or inactivated.
US08407372B2
A voltage detecting device is provided to detect voltage value of a voltage identification (VID) module on a motherboard. The VID module has a plurality of VID module pins. The voltage detecting device includes a signal transforming module and a main control circuit. The signal transforming module is couple with the VID module. The main control circuit is connected to the signal transforming module. The main control circuit is capable of causing the signal transforming module to read voltage signal at each VID module pin, transforming each voltage signal to a group of binary data, decrypting each group of binary data to a corresponding binary level code, constructing a binary level code combination, and determining actual voltage value corresponding to the binary level code combination.
US08407365B2
A method and apparatus for discovering network paths sets a bit, normally used for purposes other than tracing a network path, in an overhead portion of a signal for causing state changes at nodes along a network path. The state changes are correlated with information about the signal to determine link connectivity between nodes to identify the network path. In a network of DS3 circuits, a non-critical alarm bit is set in a signal to transmit Remote Alarm Indications (RAI) which activate alarms at nodes of the network path. A response signal from the nodes can be sent through a network to a main node for correlation purposes. The method of discovering network paths can be used to update network path databases of network carriers and can be offered as a service to network carriers.
US08407361B2
A media player implements an integrated parallel source download technology to receive a media file from streamed and segmented media file sources. A first source streams delivery of streamed media packets of the media file in sequential packet number order to the media player, while a second source provides segmented delivery of segmented media packets of the media file in random order to the media player. The media player combines the streamed media packets and the segmented media packets to produce the media file.
US08407352B2
A method and an Application Server for enabling a non-SIP device to use a SIP service are described. The method is executed in an Application Server and comprises the steps of receiving a request for a SIP service from a non-SIP device. The method comprises retrieving a contact card corresponding to the non-SIP device from a Contact Server, the contact card containing at least one identity. The method also comprises inserting the at least one identity retrieved from the contact card in the request for the SIP service and forwarding the request for the SIP Service to the Service Server.
US08407338B2
Systems and methods for automatically polling for data changes in an on-demand database service environment. A polling server communicates with application servers and client systems. Application servers send update messages to the polling server identifying which database objects have been updated, and client systems communicate with the polling server on a regular basis, rather than with the application server, to determine whether updates to a data object may have been made. When it has been determined that an update may have been made, the client system then sends a refresh request to the application server to request an update to the data object, thereby controlling (e.g., reducing) the number of refresh requests sent to the application server.
US08407336B2
Processing time required from transmission of a request packet including a processing request from a client, until return of a reply packet in which internal information including an operation status of a plurality of servers is added to an execution result of processing corresponding to the processing request, obtained by the servers in cooperation with each other, is calculated by a function incorporated beforehand in the respective servers. Moreover, the internal information added to the reply packet is extracted and stored in an internal information DB in association with the calculated required time of the processing. Furthermore predetermined statistical processing is performed with respect to the internal information and the required time associated with the internal information stored in the internal information DB to analyze the operation status of the plurality of servers.
US08407334B2
An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity.
US08407332B1
A system and method are provided for in-network power management of network-connected devices. A first computing device, having a power management module, is able to access an in-network computing device table stored in a local memory, of network-connected computing devices cross-referenced to computing device processing capabilities. The power management module retrieves processing capabilities from the in-network computing device table for a network-connected second computing device, and sends a Wake-on-Local Area Network (LAN) message to the second computing device. Subsequently, the power management module sends a server-on-cloud power management message (power management packet) to the second computing device, with instructions for enabling capabilities related to processing or memory management.
US08407329B2
For achieving device management, the terminal may select certain command execution results and transmit such to the network instead of always sending all command execution results. Accordingly, resources of the terminal and radio communication resources can be more efficiently utilized when compared to previously used device management procedures. Furthermore, since a record that is relevant to operations performed within the terminal is saved, even if a certain result of executing a particular command is not successfully transmitted to the network due to an error, the network may still be able to verify the command execution result by accessing the record that was stored in the terminal.
US08407324B2
In certain embodiments, a method includes receiving, at a first address of a proxy, a first request for access to a network from an application on an endpoint and forwarding, by the proxy, the request to the network on behalf of the application from the first address of the proxy. The method also includes determining, by the proxy, to change the address of the proxy from the first address to a second address and determining, by the proxy, the second address. Even further, the method includes changing, by the proxy, the address of the proxy to the second address. Moreover, the method includes receiving, at the second address of the proxy, a second request for access to the network from the application. The method also includes forwarding, by the proxy, the second request to the network on behalf of the application from the second address of the proxy.
US08407321B2
This patent application pertains to capturing web-based scenarios. One example detects execution of a web application. This example also automatically captures non-deterministic events of the execution in a manner that is transparent to a user of the web application.
US08407320B2
A method and system for establishing a delivery context for channel subscription in a mobile network comprising the steps of: establishing, from a mobile device in the mobile network, a subscription with a content provider; and passing a delivery context to a delivery server.
US08407318B2
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for providing real-time, two-way transactional capabilities on the Web. Specifically, one embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for enabling object routing, the method comprising the steps of creating a virtual information store containing information entries and attributes associating each of the information entries and the attributes with an object identity, and assigning a unique network address to each of the object identities. A method is also disclosed for enabling service management of the value-added network service, to perform OAM&P functions on the services network
US08407316B2
There is disclosed a system and method of processing a document converted, by a print driver, from a first format to a second format. The system includes a workstation with a browser communicating with both a user interface (having a display) and a network. The browser is used to access a services interface, the services interface including at least one selectable service available by way of the network. The browser, responsive to the print driver converting the document in the first format into the document in the second format, is opened to display the at least one selectable service of the services interface on the user interface display. Responsive to selecting the at least one selectable service from the displayed services interface, the at least one selectable service is applied to the document corresponding in the second format.
US08407314B2
An improved system and method are used for sharing a document between two communication devices that do not have an application that can display the document. In one example, the document is sent by the communication device that is sharing the document to a document server for processing into pages of one or more different document types, and both communication devices retrieve the stored pages as needed for display. The sharing communication device updates the other communication device when a new page is to be retrieved from the document server.
US08407308B2
Described is a method for adapting an application sharing system for a network of computers according to user specific requirements. The method includes dynamically configuring system components and manually implementing user specific preferences to achieve a better user experience than is possible in typical application sharing systems. Users can configure the application sharing system based on their individual needs, and may need to modify their settings based on changing operating environments or usage patterns. The application sharing system can be dynamically configured based on content, current tasks, and changes in network conditions. System administrators can configure the application sharing system according to their general needs without preempting the needs of an individual user.
US08407305B2
An embodiment of a mobile computer includes a component configured for generating a command, responsive to a user's input, to a host system to commence redirection of user data items from the host system to the mobile computer. Also included is a component for detecting an event trigger at the mobile computer as well as a redirector component, responsive to detecting the event trigger at the mobile computer, for pushing at least a portion of a user data item received from the host system to another device from the mobile computer.
US08407303B2
A user can control a CE device such as a TV using another CE device to send email or text message commands to an Internet server, which relays the commands to the device to be controlled when polled.
US08407302B2
A computer implemented method manages meeting invitations to sub-invitees. A meeting coordinating computer detects a meeting invitation being sent from a meeting moderator's computer to a primary invitee's computer. The meeting coordinating computer intercepts a response from the primary invitee's computer. This response contains a request for a sub-invitee to accompany the primary invitee to the meeting. If the sub-invitee is initially authorized by the meeting coordinating computer to attend the meeting, then a request is transmitted to the meeting moderator's computer for additional authorization to invite the sub-invitee to the meeting.
US08407294B2
A unified web-based voice messaging system uses an application server, configured for executing a voice application defined by XML documents, that accesses subscriber attributes from a standardized information database server (such as LDAP), and messages from a standardized messaging server (such as IMAP), regardless of message format. The application server, upon receiving a request from a browser serving a user, accesses the standardized database server to obtain attribute information for responding to the voice application operation request. The application server generates an HTML document having media content and control tags for personalized execution of the voice application operation based on the attribute information obtained from the standardized database server. The application server also is configured for storing messages for a called party in the standardized messaging server by storing within the message format information that specifies the corresponding message format. Hence, the application server can respond to a request for a stored message from a subscriber by accessing the stored message from the standardized messaging server, and generating an HTML document having media content and control tags for presenting the subscriber with the stored message in a prescribed format based on the message format and the capabilities of the access device used by the subscriber.
US08407286B2
A method and apparatus are provided for utilizing social network information to show reviews written by others. In one example, the method includes uploading at least one review written by an entity other than a particular user; filtering the at least one review according to criteria specified by the particular user; and integrating into one central location reviews written by others, wherein the reviews include the at least one review.
US08407285B2
An information management and distribution system is disclosed. The information management and distribution system includes a client-side application and a server application that interact to facilitate the controlled exchange of contact information over a network. The client-side application can provide creation and design, rolodex, exchange, and update features. The information management and distribution system can also include a corporate administrator application. Still another aspect of the invention is that contact information can be distributed to registered users in a common format.
US08407281B2
Input devices such as satellites, field sensors, electronic pads, cellular phones, and/or radio transmitters communicate information representing queries, reports, and/or instructions to an intention determination system that is accessible by a user interface with a display. The intention determination system includes an input module for processing the information received from the input devices; a language converter for converting the information from a natural language format to a restructured form in a position-based format; a database system for storing the received information, the restructured information, and reference information; and a rule-based analyzer for periodically retrieving and processing the stored information. The analyzer sends an alert to the user interface to notify the user if execution of one the instructions creates a potential conflict with the other stored information. The user interface can include a node-based navigation system that allows user customization of how the alert is displayed.
US08407276B2
Provided is an apparatus for calculating an absolute difference capable of efficiently performing an absolute difference using an adder. The apparatus for calculating an absolute difference includes a comparator comparing values of two integers, first and second selectors each selecting and outputting one of the two integers according to the comparison results of the comparator, an inverter complementing the result value selected by the second selector; and an adder adding up the result value selected by the first selector, the value complemented by the inverter, and 1.
US08407261B2
An information processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a generation section configured to generate an ordered tree structure by defining transition edges between nodes using, as transition conditions, respective constraints from one or more constraint pattern each including plural constraints, a search section configured to search for a second substructure K similar to a first substructure P from a root node by determining a set relation between transition conditions of respective transition edges, and a transition defining section configured to define an additional transition link from a tail node sKn of the second substructure K to a child node sPn+1 of the first substructure P, the additional transition link adding a constraint to be met by an indeterminant identified from the set relation, wherein a data structure for pattern matching is defined.
US08407256B2
Each data file of a distributed file system is identified by a corresponding globally-unique object identifier that is independent of any attribute of the data file. A node in the distributed file system has a file system that includes a plurality of directory entries, where each directory entry has a file name field, an attributes field, and an object identifier field configured for specifying a globally-unique object identifier. The globally-unique object identifier is universally reachable by any node of the distributed file system and uniquely identifies the data file, enabling the data file to be universally identifiable by any node based on the corresponding object identifier. The data file can be stored independently of a device file system based on providing a resolution between the data file name and its object identifier, followed by a resolution between the object identifier and a selected location for the data file.
US08407247B2
A watchdog system for identifying failures in uniform resource locators (URLs) respective of advertized content. The system comprises a database containing at least campaign information, the at least campaign information containing at least a URL to be monitored by the watchdog system, the URL directs to advertized content; and a server connected to the database and operative to monitor the at least URL for identification of a failure in the URL providing the advertized content, and performing a corrective action for correcting the URL based on definitions in the at least campaign information.
US08407244B2
Management of virtual packages of medical data in interconnected content-addressable storage systems
Some of the embodiments herein provide a seamless cloud of storage. This storage may be content-addressable storage. An end application may or may not be exposed to the fact that content-addressable storage is used. Various embodiments herein provide event notification, which may allow applications or users to subscribe to particular events (such as storage of an X-ray by a particular entity). Some embodiments provide for a shared archive. A shared archive may provide homogeneous access to medical data, etc. that was previously stored into the CAS cloud by heterogeneous applications, varied data types, etc. Additionally, embodiments herein allow for the creation and distribution of virtual packages. For example, a user may create a virtual package for all images related to a patient so that she may have a virtual package of all of her medical data to present to a referring physician.
US08407242B2
Described are techniques to facilitate temporal features in a semantic data store. Information about lifetimes of facts in a semantic store is maintained. Even when a fact is logically deleted, a physical record is kept available. The record of a logically deleted or invalid fact has associated lifetime information. For example, valid-from and valid-to time values. The record of a fact not yet deleted may have a valid-from time value indicating when it was created, became valid, etc. Queries against the semantic store may specify a timeslice (a point in time or a time range). The lifetime information can be used to satisfy such time-specific queries. Because records are maintained after they are logically deleted, it is also possible to accurately query a past state of the semantic store. Even if such a query is run at different times, same results may be obtained.
US08407237B1
A system and method of connecting legacy database applications and new database systems. The method includes parsing SQL scripts by a connector program. In this manner, the legacy application system does not have to be replaced to work with the new database system.
US08407226B1
Systems, methods, and apparatus, including computer program products, for collaborative filtering are provided. In one implementation, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes receiving a shard of data representing a subset of a set of entities and a subset of a set of items, generating an iteration of a maximum likelihood estimate of a probability distribution model of a relationship between the set of entities and the set of items, the probability distribution model comprising a probability distribution of the set of items with respect to latent variables and a probability distribution of the latent variables with respect to the set of users, and generating statistics from results from the generating step which are passed to different shards for use in a next iteration of the maximum likelihood estimate.
US08407220B2
The disclosure details the implementation of apparatuses, methods, and systems for ambiguous code triggered information querying and serving on mobile devices. Information and/or advertisement providers may use a code triggered information server to serve context, demographic, and behavior targeted information to users via mobile devices. Users, in turn, trigger the provision of information by scanning or observing codes or information. Often, codes scanned by novice users and/or using mobile devices may be ambiguous and/or obscured. Consequently, the present system may implement disambiguation processes to the code scans so as to clarify their identity. The disambiguated scans, together with geographic, temporal, and user-specific information, are obtained by the server that receives, processes, and records the message. Based on these messages and a user profile—which may include continuously updated user-specific behavior information, situational and ambient information, an accumulated history of scanned code messages, and integration with outside database information—the server selects information to serve to the users' mobile devices from an information base. The code triggered information server allows for the serving of information that is demographic, interest, location, and time specific. It also allows providers to track user behavior and provide anticipatory information.
US08407218B2
A computing device includes a processing unit, and a system memory connected to the processing unit. The system memory includes instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to create: a demographic identification module that retrieves demographic profile information associated with a user and identifies a relevant demographic category based on the demographic profile information; a population search module that categorizes search information from other users within the relevant demographic category as the other users search for information, the search information including search terms used by the other users and destination content reviewed by the other users; and a search result module that filters a search query from the user by applying the categorized search information for the relevant demographic category and presents filtered search results to the user.
US08407214B2
To construct a classifier, a data structure correlating queries to items identified by the queries is received, where the data structure contains initial labeled queries that have been labeled with respect to predetermined classes, and unlabeled queries that have not been labeled with respect to the predetermined classes. The data structure is used to label at least some of the unlabeled queries with respect to the predetermined classes. Queries in the data structure that have been labeled with respect to the predetermined classes are used as training data to train the classifier.
US08407207B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining a video score for a domain. In one aspect, a method includes determining video resources hosted on devices assigned to a domain, determining a quality metric for the video resources, generating a quality score from the quality metrics for video resources hosted on the domain, generating a quantity score based on counts of video resources hosted on the domain, determining a domain video score from the quality score and the quantity score, and adjusting, based on the domain video score, one or more video search operations on the video resources hosted on the domain.
US08407203B2
A computer system and method are provided to promote the creation of a dynamically alterable taxonomy supporting query based database investigations is select fields. The system operates seamlessly and transparent to the underlying system search functions. A query that uses search terms unrecognized by the then extant taxonomy triggers a series of operations that test the new terms and updates the taxonomy as appropriate. To facilitate speed and accuracy, the system creates incentives to promote the enhancement of the taxonomy for an emerging technology.
US08407201B2
A digital image search and retrieval system includes a query parser and a response composer. The query parser is configured to parse a query obtained from a client, the query including at least one metadata criterion, search a metadata database for one or more digital images satisfying the metadata criterion, and search a digital image database for the one or more digital images. The response composer is configured to compose a response including the one or more digital images from the digital image database and their corresponding metadata from the metadata database, and enable the client to render the response in accordance with one or more user preferences.
US08407197B2
A method and system for storing and searching digital documents, such as digital catalogs, are described. The method in one embodiment comprises inputting digital documents, extracting content from the digital documents, and storing the extracted content in a database so that the content is searchable. The method can include generating a hierarchy of unique database and CMS objects from document covers and pages plus meta data. The method can further include receiving a search query from a user and, in response, identifying content extracted from one of the digital documents and stored in the database, which satisfies the query. The method can further include causing a result set to be output to the user, where the result set includes the identified content which satisfies the search query and an image of a particular page of the digital document from which the identified content was extracted.
US08407194B1
A data classification and privacy repository for creating a secure and accurate database to inventory an organization's private or sensitive personally identifiable information includes at least one Meta Data Registry which links with an organization's enterprise database. The Meta Data Registry, scans, analyzes and classifies the files stored on an enterprise database and then hosts the metadata associated with those files in an indexable format. In one embodiment, the metadata is transported to a service provider/system administrator Aggregate Meta Data Repository where the metadata is validated, monitored, and assessed for risk. When a breach occurs, notifications to the appropriate individuals, companies, regulatory bodies and government agencies are automatically generated.
US08407193B2
Data deduplication compression in a streaming storage application, is provided. The disclosed deduplication process provides a deduplication archive that enables storage of the archive to, and extraction from, a streaming storage medium. One implementation involves compressing fully sequential data stored in a data repository to a sequential streaming storage, by: splitting fully sequential data into data blocks; hashing content of each data block and comparing each hash to an in-memory lookup table for a match, the in-memory lookup table storing all hashes that have been encountered during the compression of the fully sequential data; for each data block without a hash match, adding the data block as a new data block for compression of fully sequential data; and encoding duplicate data blocks using the in-memory lookup table into data segments.
US08407189B2
A method for assisting an administrator to identify files suspected of causing instability on a personal computer comprises periodically creating file content sharing logs concurrently with archiving files of a plurality of personal computers by de-duplicating, when a notification is received regarding instability of a personal computer, then analyzing archive file content sharing log of the personal computer made immediately after receiving the notification for unique system and program files, missing files and newly installed files to generate an instability report. A missing or corrupted file can be restored back on the unstable personal computer by performing a backup restore operation on the unstable personal computer.
US08407187B2
Data records in files may be validated by sequentially accessing the data records while allowing random data access within a sliding window. The data records may also be validated by caching record values. Variable-length record lists in one or more files may be reduced to fixed length record lists while accessing arbitrary record list items.
US08407181B2
An email system may include an email server(s) configured to store email messages in a plurality of mailboxes, where the email messages are organized into different conversations and the conversations are organized into different categories. A plurality of mobile wireless communications devices may each be configured to store email messages from respective mailboxes also organized into the different conversations and the different categories. Each of the mobile wireless communications devices may also associate respective conversation IDs with the different conversations, and associate respective category IDs with the different categories. An email synchronization server(s) may be configured to synchronize email messages between the mobile wireless communications devices and respective mailboxes, translate an email search request in the form of a conversation ID(s) and a category ID(s) from a given mobile wireless communications device, and cooperate with email server(s) to retrieve email messages based upon the translated email search request.
US08407180B1
A query is received. It is determined that the query includes an inner join between a parent table and a child table. It is determined that the following relationships exist between the parent table and the child table: referential integrity (“RI”) between a primary key attribute (pk) in the parent table and a foreign key attribute (fk) in the child table, where “attribute” is defined to mean one or more columns, and a temporal relationship constraint (“TRC”) between a period attribute in the parent table and a TRC-attribute in the child table, the TRC-attribute being a date or time attribute. It is determined that the query does not access any attribute in the parent table other than the pk. It is determined that the query specifies an equality predicate of the form pk=fk. It is determined that the query selects a snapshot from the parent using a predicate of the form parent.[period attribute] contains a point in time (t1). It is determined that the query selects from the child those rows whose TRC-attribute is equal to or prior to t1. The inner join is eliminated when planning execution of the query. The query is executed to produce a result. The result is saved.
US08407178B2
A recommendation system increases the diversity of item recommendations provided to a target user by using item similarity data to filter an initial recommendation set. In one embodiment, selected items are filtered from the initial recommendation set based on similarity scores that represent degrees of similarity between particular items. The similarity scores may be generated based on an automated comparison of item attributes or content, or based on another measure of item similarity.
US08407177B2
A computer system and associated method are provided for evaluating a sociocultural event associated with a target human subject. An analytical processing device analyzes a communication sample associated with the sociocultural event involving the target human subject to determine an apparent cultural data element, an apparent linguistic data element, a contextual data element, and/or a communicative data element associated with the communication sample. A correlative processing device correlates the contextual data element with a projected cultural data element and/or a projected linguistic data element expected of a corresponding hypothetical human subject. A comparative processing device compares the apparent cultural data element and/or the apparent linguistic data element with the corresponding projected linguistic data element and/or the projected cultural data element to determine whether the sociocultural event is consistent with the target human subject.
US08407171B2
Similarities between simplex projection with upper bounds and L1 projection are explored. Criteria for a-priori determination of sequence in which various constraints become active are derived, and this sequence is used to develop efficient algorithms for projecting a vector onto the L1-ball while observing box constraints. Three projection methods are presented. The first projection method performs exact projection in O(n2) worst case complexity, where n is the space dimension. Using a novel criteria for ordering constraints, the second projection method has a worst case complexity of O(n log n). The third projection method is a worst case linear time algorithm having O(n) complexity. The upper bounds defined for the projected entries guide the L1-ball projection to more meaningful predictions.
US08407166B2
A temporal pooler for a Hierarchical Temporal Memory network is provided. The temporal pooler is capable of storing information about sequences of co-occurrences in a higher-order Markov chain by splitting a co-occurrence into a plurality of sub-occurrences. Each split sub-occurrence may be part of a distinct sequence of co-occurrences. The temporal pooler receives the probability of spatial co-occurrences in training patterns and tallies counts or frequency of transitions from one sub-occurrence to another sub-occurrence in a connectivity matrix. The connectivity matrix is then processed to generate temporal statistics data. The temporal statistics data is provided to an inference engine to perform inference or prediction on input patterns. By storing information related to a higher-order Markov model, the temporal statistics data more accurately reflects long temporal sequences of co-occurrences in the training patterns.
US08407162B2
The present invention relates to an arrangement for network management and adapted to be provided in or associated with a network node to be managed. It comprises, or is in communication with, modeling means adapted to, using substantially non-formal descriptions, model network domain and behavior using formal ontologies comprising inference capabilities by means of an inference engine, thus providing a formal ontology model describing domain and behavior. It also comprises annotating means adapted to add semantic information to the formal domain and behavior ontology model, generating means adapted to, using said formal ontology model and said inference engine, elaborate an algorithm adapted to generate and update a probabilistic causal network graph structure representing the domain and its behavior.
US08407161B2
An information processing device includes a first learning unit, a first error modeling unit, a first error generation unit, and a first estimation unit. The first learning unit learns a first estimation formula for estimating a first target variable of content on the basis of the feature quantity of the content. The first error modeling unit determines a first model of an error generated in the estimation of the first target variable based on the first estimation formula learned by the first learning unit. The first error generation unit generates, with the use of a random number, an error according to the first model determined by the first error modeling unit. The first estimation unit estimates the first target variable of the content by using the first estimation formula learned by the first learning unit and the random number generated by the first error generation unit.
US08407143B2
According to the invention, a method for purchasing a negotiable instrument from an online payment system by a payor to compensate a payee in relation to a listing on a vending site is disclosed. In one step, a payment currency and/or a drawee bank nationality is selected for the online payment system to use when issuing the payment instrument. Payment information is received from the payor and comprises at least two of: a payee identifier, a payee name, a payee address, and a payment amount. A money handler associated with the payor is debited for at least the payment amount. The payment instrument payable to the payee name for the payment amount is generated. That payment instrument is based on at least one of the payment currency and the drawee bank nationality. The payment currency is different from a currency used by the money handler. The payment instrument is delivered to the payee.
US08407138B2
An apparatus for resolving a debt transaction is provided. The apparatus includes a server having means for contacting the debtor by transmitting a communication to the debtor using one of a number of available communication channels, a credit information seeking module configured to obtain information from a financial information source other than the server and the debtor, and a rules based decision module configured to analyze information to determine a potential resolution strategy for the debt transaction comprising a transaction settlement offer based on creditworthiness of the debtor based on rules established by the creditor. The server is configured to provide the debtor with the transaction settlement offer, and to attempt to obtain agreement from the debtor to settle the debt transaction based on the at least one transaction settlement offer, and process at least a portion of a payment.
US08407136B2
A system and method for providing starter credit card products to selected customers of a credit card issuer is disclosed. Methods, systems and articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention enable a credit card issuer to identify a group of customers that may not eligible to obtain standard credit card products offered by the credit card issuer. The credit card issuer may rank these customers and present offers for starter credit card accounts with adjusted account parameters tailored to these customers. The credit card issuer monitors the activities of each starter card account during a trial period to determine whether each respective account has met predetermined criteria. Based on the results of the monitor process, the credit card issuer may adjust the parameters associated with each starter credit card account. The adjustment may include increasing a credit limit of the starter credit card account if the predetermined criteria has been met, or conversely, restarting the trial period if an account has not met the predetermined criteria during the trial period. Once a starter card account that meets selected criteria during the trial period will graduate and receive new parameters and benefits defined by the credit card issuer.
US08407135B2
A system and method for optimizing the frequency of market information updates in an electronic trading environment are described herein. According to one example embodiment, by optimizing the frequency of market information updates, the burden on the client device to update the graphical user interface may be reduced, while still providing an accurate portrayal of the market to the user. An example method includes associating different precedence levels with messages comprising market information. Messages containing market information related to the inside market may be associated to a higher precedence level. Whereas messages containing market information relating to the quantities at prices outside the inside market may be associated with a lower precedence level. Based on the precedence level associated with a message, a client device may update the graphical user interface or the message may be stored in a data structure until a pre-defined condition is satisfied.
US08407122B2
Methods and systems for processing financial market data using reconfigurable logic are disclosed. Various functional operations to be performed on the financial market data can be implemented in firmware pipelines to accelerate the speed of processing. Also, a combination of software logic and firmware logic can be used to efficiently control and manage the high speed flow of financial market data to and from the reconfigurable logic.
US08407121B2
The invention provides various systems and methods for performing money transfers using location information. The method includes staging, at computer system, a money transfer transaction from a sender to a receiver. The method further includes providing the receiver's mobile number to the computer system, and tracking the receiver's location using a location tracking computer system. Further, the method includes determining if the receiver is within a proximity threshold to an agent location. The agent location is configured to distribute funds from the money transfer. The method then, in response to the receiver being within the proximity threshold to the agent location, notifies the receiver of the agent location's address, and dispenses the funds from the agent location.
US08407118B1
A method for generating an economic indicator involves obtaining financial data from multiple data sources, where the data courses include multiple business applications and/or multiple personal financial management applications. The method further involves aggregating financial data to obtain aggregated financial data, and generating the economic indicator using aggregated financial data.
US08407116B1
A collector facility for an electronic market is described. The collector facility includes an interface for coupling order delivery systems to the order collector facility and a quote manager that manages multiple quotes/orders received from the interface at multiple price levels. The facility also includes a montage manager to display quotes received from the quote order manager in an aggregate montage or a current quote montage consistent with parameters specified in the multiple quotes.
US08407115B2
A system and method for monitoring, controlling, and displaying utility information is provided. A collar communicatively connected to the utility meter monitors power usage and provides usage data, power quality data, and other data to the utility and the customer. The system provides for pre-pay power, and the collar relay can automatically connect or disconnect power to a customer as required. The system provides intelligent remote control of utility meters via wireless or other communications means. A display unit communicatively coupled to the collar displays customer utility usage data. In one embodiment, the system allows reconnect after disconnect upon receiving a confirmation to restore power from a customer input device at the customer premises.
US08407112B2
A transaction authorization system allows a customer to authorize transactions relating to at least one account associated with an institution. Data storage means enable access to customer identification data, a customer's remote communication device (RCD), and security identifier data associating the account with the identification data. Communication means receive an authorization request, referenced to the security identifier data, relating to the transaction and enable communication with the customer via the RCD to authorize a transaction or to indicate that a transaction is fraudulent. Data processing means identify the customer and RCD using the identification data and determine if the transaction is authorized, or has been indicated as being fraudulent, and if the transaction is fraudulent, to determine the type of fraud. The communication means provide an indication, referenced to the security identifier data, to the institution of whether the transaction is authorized.
US08407106B1
Systems and methods for making recommendations to a consumer, including, accessing a first and a second consumer profile database; allowing a consumer to request information regarding a product from a product database; selecting all products in the product database; removing all of the products that are not included in a similar product area with the requested product; establishing an initial product recommendation value for each remaining selected products; transforming the initial product recommendation value for each of the remaining selected products based on a comparison of the subjective product evaluation information and at least some consumer profile information and/or supplemental consumer profile information to produce a final recommendation value for each of the remaining selected products; creating a ranked list of the remaining selected products by each remaining selected product's final recommendation value; and displaying data regarding the ranked list of the remaining selected products to the consumer.
US08407104B2
A catalog based price search method comprises, among other things, associating a price search data with a particular data classifier of the set of data classifiers using a processor; creating a database having the price search data associated with the particular data classifier of the set of data classifiers, and different price search data associated with different data classifiers of the set of data classifiers; automatically rendering a structured view in a structured format of the set of data classifiers having the particular data classifier and different data classifiers; and processing a payment of an interested party when the structured view develops a patron base above a threshold value; and offering a subscription service on the structured view associated with the interested party when the patron base is above the threshold value.
US08407097B2
The invention is a transaction terminal configured to perform a financial transaction intermediated by an RFID bearing payment token. The financial transaction is of a general type.
US08407096B2
The present invention relates to a method of sourcing orders for groups of products. The method includes arranging a plurality of products into several distinct groups of products based on a variety of factors, such as product demand and product configuration. In some forms, the method includes calculating more of the relevant costs that are associated with shipping groups of products from a plurality of sources. The method may also include assigning orders to sources based on the capacity of the sources to fill orders for groups of products. The method may also be used to ensure that one or more sources ship a minimum number of products per time period (e.g., a month, a year). In some forms, the method includes determining a storage capacity range for a plurality of containers and assigning orders for groups of products onto the containers based on the storage capacity of the containers.
US08407087B2
An online reward exchange system and method of operation, which includes an exchange computer that interoperates via a computer network with user computers, reward point issuer computers, and merchant computers. The merchants' products may be purchased by a user by requesting via a user computer, merchant's point of sale device, or mobile device an issuer(s) to redeem reward points in exchange for payment to the merchant for the product. The exchange computer is the gateway to the system and manages various transactions such as providing online product catalogs to users that list the merchants products, as well as displaying to the user the reward points he has available in his reward programs with the issuers. Once a user selects a desired product the exchange computer can mediate or manage the purchase transaction in which reward points are redeemed by the selected issuer and consideration is conveyed to the merchant in exchange for the merchant providing the product to the user.
US08407085B1
A three-dimensional taxonomy server is operative to identify the location of a client device based on three-dimensional positional information received from the client device. The three-dimensional positional information may include global positioning system coordinates, an Internet Protocol address, cellular network information, or any other type of three-dimensional positional information. The three-dimensional taxonomy server may operate in conjunction with another server, such as an advertising server or business search server, to deliver contextual content based on the location of the client device. The contextual content may include a targeted advertisement, a targeted search result, or other type of contextual content.
US08407084B2
Systems, apparatus and methods for interacting with a virtual world being displayed on a video display are described. The virtual world includes user selectable tagged images. The tagged images are related to an asset and can include a redemption feature that can be used when acquiring the asset. A user interacting with a game console can select the tagged images. Upon selection of the tagged image the game console can communicate information related to the tagged image, the related asset and/or the redemption feature to a mobile device. The tagged images can also be associated with distribution rules that can be evaluated to determine when and to whom to distribute digital coupons associated with the tagged images.
US08407083B2
A system for managing reward reversal is provided. The system includes a device that is capable of adjusting the accumulation and redemption levels of rewards after a purchase or return transaction.
US08407074B2
A group of participants taking part in an event is formed on the basis of intention of the participants. A grouping system includes a mobile terminal 3 having adjacent terminal communicating units 17, and a management server 1 for performing grouping. The management server 1 includes a member personal information database 51 for recording member ID information of the participants; an ID information combination database 52 for recording a combination of ID information obtained from another mobile terminal and ID information of itself; an event management database 53 for recording content of at least one event; an ID group management database 55 for registering an ID group; and group managing unit 67 for forming the ID group by linking ID information combinations having common ID information, recorded in the ID information combination database 52.
US08407066B2
Disclosed is a computerized method and system for estimating treatment costs for a health care product and/or service for a health care patient. The estimate of health care costs is calculated before the patient is discharged from the facility providing the health care product or service. The estimate of health care costs may also be performed prior to any treatment or admission to the health care facility of the health care patient. The estimate of treatment costs may include a patient payable amount that estimates the cost of the health care product/service that will be the patient's responsibility. The health care patient may be billed for the health care product or service prior to discharging the health care patient and/or prior to providing the health care product or service to the health care patient. If desired, a loan for the estimated patient payable amount may be arranged and/or provided to the health care patient to pay for the patient's portion of the cost for the health care product and/or service.
US08407051B2
A speech recognizing apparatus includes a speech start instructing section 3 for instructing to start speech recognition; a speech input section 1 for receiving uttered speech and converting to a speech signal; a speech recognizing section 2 for recognizing the speech on the basis of the speech signal; an utterance start time detecting section 4 for detecting duration from the time when the speech start instructing section instructs to the time when the speech input section delivers the speech signal; an utterance timing deciding section 5 for deciding utterance timing indicating whether the utterance start is quick or slow by comparing the duration detected by the utterance start time detecting section with a prescribed threshold; an interaction control section 6 for determining a content, which is to be shown when exhibiting a recognition result of the speech recognizing section, in accordance with the utterance timing decided; a system response generating section 7 for generating a system response on the basis of the determined content to be shown; and an output section 8 and 9 for outputting the system response generated.
US08407042B2
A cross-language question answering system includes a server which hosts a plurality of community question answering (CQA) websites for different countries. The websites can generate a graphical user interface on an associated user terminal. A machine translation system translates a user question from a first language into a second language. The system may alert the user to similar questions posted on other CQA websites in other languages. The system may post the translated question on another CQA website and notify the user of answers to the translated question that are posted on the website by other users. The system may include memory which stores a plurality of archives, each including questions and answers posted on a corresponding one of the CQA websites. The system may allow a user to enter a query in the user's language and receive responses to the queries retrieved from the archives of other CQA websites.
US08407039B2
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus of translating a language using voice recognition. The present invention provides a method of translating a language using voice recognition, comprising: receiving a voice input comprising a first language; acquiring at least one recognition candidate corresponding to the voice input by performing voice recognition on the voice input; providing a user interface for selecting at least one of the acquired at least one recognition candidate; and outputting a second language corresponding to the selected at least one recognition candidate, wherein the type of the user interface is determined according to the number of the acquired at least one recognition candidate, and an apparatus of translating a language using voice recognition for implementing the above method.
US08407035B2
Mechanisms are provided for controlling a fidelity of a simulation of a system. A model of the system is received, the model of the system having a plurality of individual components of the system. Fidelity values are assigned to models of the individual components of the system. A required fidelity value is assigned to transactions between components in the plurality of individual components of the system. A simulation of the system is executed using the model of the system and the models of the individual components of the system. The fidelity values of one or more of the models of the individual components of the system are dynamically adjusted during the execution of the simulation based on the required fidelity values assigned to the transactions.
US08407034B2
Method and apparatus for modeling a network are described in which a 1 port measurement is made on the network by inputting an excitation signal at one port of the network and recording the results reflected back to the port. A 1 port parametric model of the network is generated whereby as much information about the topology of the network is included in calculating initial values of the parameters. Then the values of the parameters of the 1 port parametric model are optimized by reducing the difference between the results of the measurement step and results calculated using the 1-port parametric model and the excitation signal.
US08407031B2
Computer based CAE models for simulating the physical behavior of disposable articles during manufacturing processes.
US08407025B2
An apparatus for processing data 2 is provided with a time-to-digital converter 18 which serves to measure signal processing delay through one or more signal paths through a processing stage. This measured delay generates a delay value representing a plurality of instances of the signal processing delay which have been measured. Analysis is performed under software control to estimate a worst case signal processing delay through the processing stage based upon the delay values which have been generated. An adjustment of the operating parameters, such as supply voltage and clock frequency, of the apparatus is made to provide a timing margin through the processing stage sufficient to satisfy the worst case signal processing delay which has been estimated without an excessive margin.
US08407023B2
A method of calibrating a robotic device, such as a cardiac catheter, includes oscillating the device on an actuation axis by applying an oscillation vector at an oscillation frequency. While oscillating, a location of the device is periodically measured to generate a plurality of location data points, which may express the location of the device relative to a plurality of measurement axes. The location data points are then processed using a signal processing algorithm, such as a Fourier transform algorithm, to derive a transfer function relating a position of the device to a movement vector for the actuation axis. The transfer function may be resolved into and expressed as a calibration vector for the actuation axis, which may include one or more components, including zero components, directed along each of the measurement axes. The process may be repeated for any actuation axes on which calibration is desired.
US08407020B1
A computer implemented method for determining frequency and slope of a linear frequency modulated signal. Windowed signal data is collected and used for formulating a search surface function which can be calculated recursively. The function is divided into parts. Part values are calculated at an underspecified number of points corresponding to the number of parts. The search surface function part values are interpolated at values between frequency values. An interpolation geometry is chosen and then the function part values are interpolated at values between frequency values and slopes. Function parts are added together giving a restored search surface function. The frequency and slope values can be searched to find the values that maximize the search surface function. Other embodiments result in faster execution.
US08407019B2
A multi-circuit direct current monitor consists of a plurality of Hall Effect current sensors mounted on a printed circuit board oriented to sense the direct current (DC) flow from power generating devices such as solar arrays, output from the Hall Effect sensors connected to an analog to digital (A/D) converter which in turn is connected to a microprocessor. The multi-circuit direct current monitor continuously monitors instantaneous and average current values for each circuit as well as total instantaneous current and average current for all active circuits. The multi-circuit direct current monitor provides continuous communications via Modbus RTU as well as providing alarm outputs if one or more circuits deviates from the average output by a percentage greater than the user specified threshold for a user-defined period of time to detect failed or underperforming power output devices.
US08407014B2
The present invention is directed to a method for automatic selection of colorants and flakes to produce one or more matching formulas to match color and appearance of a target coating containing flakes. The present invention is further directed to a system for automatic selection of colorants and flakes for producing one or more matching formulas to match color and appearance of a target coating.
US08407007B2
A walkaway VSP survey is carried out using a receiver array. Using a vertical VSP survey and arrival times of surface multiples on the walkaway VSP, vertical interval velocities and the anisotropy parameters δ and ε are estimated. This may then be used to process surface seismic data to do a prestack depth migration of surface seismic data and used for interpretation. For multi-azimuthal walkaway or 3D VSP data, we determine two VTI parameters ε and δ for multi-azimuth vertical planes. Then we determine five anisotropic interval parameters that describe P-wave kinematics for orthorhombic layers. These orthorhombic parameters may then be used to process surface seismic data to give a stacked image in true depth and for the interpretation purposes.
US08407001B2
Information is electronically displayed relating to use of a marking system or a marking tool configured to dispense one or more markers to mark, on ground, pavement, or other surface, a location of an underground utility. Location data and/or time data relating to the use of the marking system or the marking tool are used to control a display device so as to visually display a dispensing of the one or more markers on an electronic representation of an area that is marked and includes the location of the underground utility.
US08406994B1
Improved designs of navigation devices or systems are disclosed. A navigation device presents a digital map resembling an ambient environment with a certain level of realism, where various objects resembling major structures or signs are presented or superimposed in the map. Depending on the time of the day or the weather condition of the time, the map or the objects therein is caused to be altered correspondingly in a tone that reflects the time or weather.
US08406990B2
A navigational device for guiding a vehicle within a network of traffic routes provides, for guidance purposes, a guide object that is shown in relation to the traffic route in such a manner that the guide object's movement represents driving maneuvers to be performed by the driver. The driver emulates the driving maneuvers shown to him/her and thus follows the previously calculated route.
US08406987B2
A cellular-based live traffic service that does not require pre-deployment of infrastructure or GPS-enabled devices uses signals provided by cellular devices to determine course resolution localization and tracking information of the cellular devices. Specialized statistical analysis is performed on the course resolution data to infer the fine resolution positions of the cellular devices. In an example embodiment, the localization and tracking information is provided on a map, or the like, to show relative position and/or trajectory of cellular devices.
US08406983B2
Various methods are described for controlling engine operation for an engine having a turbocharger and direction injection. One example method includes performing at least a first and second injection in response to a driver action. The first and second injection may be performed during a cylinder cycle, the first injection generating a lean combustion and the second injection injected after combustion such that it exits the cylinder unburned into the exhaust upstream of a turbine of the turbocharger.
US08406976B2
Oil pressure detecting means 150 detects a clutch oil pressure in driving a clutch in its engaging direction against a biasing force of a return spring 12 for normally disengaging the clutch. Stroke end detecting means 140 detects that the clutch has reached a stroke end position where clutch disks are in contact with each other when the amount of change in clutch oil pressure becomes larger than a predetermined value. Clutch control correction amount calculating means 130 calculates a work load generated in the return spring 12 according to the clutch oil pressure detected at the stroke end position and then calculates a control correction amount for the clutch according to the difference between the work load calculated above and a predetermined reference value.
US08406970B2
A method for improving drivability of the powertrain system having an accelerator control includes determining a first transmission input speed having an associated first power loss and operating said transmission using said first transmission input speed. An operational parameter relating to said accelerator control is determined and a second transmission input speed responsive to said operational parameter and having an associated second power loss is determined. The value of at least one of said first and second power loss is biased based on said operational parameter. The first power loss is compared to said second power loss subsequent to the biasing. A third transmission input speed is determined and the transmission is operated using the third transmission input speed.
US08406960B2
A vehicle safety system comprising: at least one occupant safety device (6) for protecting an occupant of the vehicle (1) in the event of a side impact; and a control unit (7) operable to receive information from one or more vehicle sensors (2, 3, 4, 5) and to provide a trigger signal to activate the occupant safety device (6). Under normal driving conditions, a default deployment algorithm is used by the control unit (7) to determine whether the trigger signal should be generated; and if it is determined that loss of control of the vehicle (1) is occurring, or is expected to occur, and the longitudinal speed of the vehicle (1) exceeds a first threshold, the control unit (7) employs a first further deployment algorithm to determine whether the trigger signal should be generated. The first further deployment algorithm being adapted to cause the trigger signal to be generated a shorter time after the initiation of a side impact than is the case for the default deployment algorithm.
US08406954B2
An engine control system comprises a torque control module, an air conditioning (A/C) load comparison module, and an A/C load compensation module. The torque control module controls an engine to produce a first torque request based on a first torque maintains a current speed of the engine. The A/C load comparison module compares a transient load to a difference between a torque available to the engine and the first torque request. The A/C load compensation module selectively increases the first torque request prior to a clutch engagement based on the comparison.
US08406949B2
An unmanned conveyance vehicle (11) includes a detecting device (23) that has a plurality of sensing elements (25), first to fourth marker sensors (31-34) arranged on both sides of the sensing elements 25, and a magnetic member (35). The sensing elements (25) detect positions of guide tapes (12, 13) laid down along a road travel surface. The marker sensors (31-34) detect magnetic markers (14A-14D) laid down along the road travel surface. The magnetic member (35) is arranged above the sensing elements (25) and the marker sensors (31-34). When a left end (35a) of the magnetic member (35) moves to a position above the branch guide tape (13), the first marker sensor (31) operates, and the left end (35a) is magnetized to the north pole by the magnetic flux of the branch guide tape (13). A right end (35b) of the magnetic member (35) is magnetized to the south pole to operate the third marker sensor (33). As a result, ON signals are output from the first and third marker sensors (31, 33) to an erroneous determination preventing section (52) of a control unit (22). The erroneous determination preventing section (52) determines the ON signals to be invalid.
US08406938B2
Various embodiments relate to remote operator assistance for one or more user commands at a vehicle. The operator assistance may occur via a vehicle computing system. One or more instances of an unsuccessful attempt to perform a user command may be received by the vehicle computing system. After detection of a predetermined number of instances, a connection may be established, via the vehicle computing system, with a remotely located system. The remotely-located system may be operated by a human operator in order to assist with performance of the user command. An information exchange may be facilitated between the vehicle and the remotely located system operated by the human operator. The information exchange may relate to the user command. The user command may be performed in the vehicle based on information obtained from the remotely-located system.
US08406932B2
An embodiment of a spa control system includes a heater, a pump for circulating water through the pump, one or more sensors for monitoring temperature, and an electronic controller coupled to the heater, pump and sensor(s) for controlling the heater and pump based on the rate of change in temperature at the sensor(s). A method of controlling a heater in a spa with a spa control system is also disclosed.
US08406926B1
Methods and systems for robotic analysis of an ambient environment, as well as a user, are provided. In some examples, a robotic device may provide a personalized interaction or response to a user based on a determined state of the environment (such as local weather), and a state of the user.
US08406924B2
Teaching images are acquired at a plurality of separate teaching points on a running route extending from a running start position to a goal position, respectively, under a first light environmental condition and a light environmental condition different from the first light environmental condition, and the teaching images are stored. A present teaching image serving as a target for a robot body in a running direction at present is selected from the stored teaching images. A driving mechanism is controlled so as to increase the matching degree between the present teaching image and an actual image taken by a camera.
US08406916B2
Blister packs each having a plurality of pockets with individualized assortments of small objects are filled by fitting to each of a plurality of shuttles a respective such blister pack and circulating the shuttles around an annular track through a plurality of filling machines. Each machine has a plurality of supplies each holding a bulk quantity of small objects of a respective type, respective feeders each receiving the objects of a respective supply and advancing same one at a time to a respective picking location, and respective pickers. A memory of each shuttle is programmed with data regarding the intended contents of the pockets of the respective blister pack, and in each of the machines, the memories of the shuttles are read as they pass through the respective filling machine. The respective pickers are operated to move small objects from the feeders to the pockets in accordance with the data for the respective blister pack.
US08406907B2
The invention relates to a method for setting audio parameters in a digital signal processor in an electronic device including at least one auxiliary device connection for connecting at least one auxiliary device. At least some of the audio parameters can be loaded into the digital signal processor during operation of the electronic device either from the auxiliary device or from a writeable mass storage.
US08406903B2
A connection is made to one of a plurality of programmable controllers (hereinafter, “PLCs”) included in a control system in which the plurality of PLCs are connected to one another via one or more networks; the one of the PLCs is specified as an originating PLC; network configuration information of the control system and online connection paths to the PLCs included in the control system are collected; layout relationships among the networks as well as connection relationships of the PLCs and coordinates thereof are calculated based on the network configuration information and the online connection paths; and the results are displayed on a display means as objects.
US08406900B2
This invention relates to an implantable lead, which comprises a conductor; an electrode assembly, arranged at a distal end of the lead, and comprising a housing defining an internal cavity; a helical guide spring arranged in a proximal portion of the cavity and having several spaced turns, and a fixation assembly, which is rotatable relative to the housing, and which includes a shaft extending into the cavity from a proximal end of the housing; and an extendable helical fixation element attached to the shaft at a distal end thereof and protruding beyond the distal end thereof. The fixation assembly has an interaction portion, which interacts with the helical guide spring for causing longitudinal movement of the fixation element when the shaft is rotated.
US08406894B2
The present invention is directed to systems, apparatus, methods and procedures for the noninvasive treatment of tissue using microwave energy. In one embodiment of the invention a medical device and associated apparatus and procedures are used to treat dermatological conditions using microwave energy.
US08406892B2
A method and apparatus implementing the method, which is not dependent on monitoring the electrical impedance of the lead, detects imminent structural failure of an electrical lead in an implanted medical device, such as an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or a pacemaker. The approach is to monitor directly the mechanical load loss of the lead (a measure of the loss of structural integrity of the lead) rather than, as in the prior art, to infer it from the electrical impedance.
US08406890B2
In one example, a device includes a telemetry module configured to retrieve graphics processing data from a device that is not configured to perform a rendering process using the graphics processing data and that is associated with delivering therapy to a therapy target of a patient, and a control unit configured to apply the graphics processing data while performing the rendering process to generate an image of an anatomical feature of the patient, wherein the anatomical feature comprises the therapy target for an implantable medical device, and to cause a display unit of a user interface to display the image, wherein the image of the anatomical feature is specific to the patient. The graphics processing data may include a list of vertices or a transform to be applied to a non-patient-specific anatomical atlas. The data may also include a location of a therapy element of the implantable medical device.
US08406888B2
An elongate hollow device for providing direct access to the cochlea of a recipient. The device has a symmetrical shape about a longitudinal axis through the center of the device, and comprises a first end having an aperture with its geometric center positioned at the longitudinal axis, and a distal end having an aperture with its geometric center positioned at the longitudinal axis, wherein the access device is configured to be at least partially positioned in the mastoid bone of the recipient such that the first end is positioned adjacent the surface of the mastoid bone, and the distal end is inserted into the cochlea.
US08406886B2
The invention provides an implant, system and method for electrically stimulating a target tissue to either activate or block neural impulses. The implant provides a conductive pathway for a portion of electrical current flowing between surface electrodes positioned on the skin and transmits that current to the target tissue. The implant has a passive electrical conductor of sufficient length to extend from subcutaneous tissue located below a surface cathodic electrode to the target tissue. The conductor has a pick-up end which forms an electrical termination having a sufficient surface area to allow a sufficient portion of the electrical current to flow through the conductor, in preference to flowing through body tissue between the surface electrodes, such that the target tissue is stimulated to either activate or block neural impulses. The conductor also has a stimulating end which forms an electrical termination for delivering the current to the target body tissue.
US08406885B2
A method of conditioning a diaphragm of a patient is provided. The method can include the steps of implanting an electrode adjacent a target site in the diaphragm of the patient and operating the electrode to deliver a sufficient amount of electrical stimulation to the target site in the diaphragm of the patient to cause the diaphragm to contract.
US08406884B2
A physiological parameter measuring device (14) is disposed within or near an ear canal of a subject (16) to non-invasively sense at least one physiological parameter of the subject which one physiological parameter is associated with at least one physiological condition of the subject. An analyzing device (48) is operatively coupled to the physiological parameter measuring device (14) to analyze the sensed physiological parameter and detect the physiological condition of the subject (16). Based on the detection and analysis of the physiological condition of the subject (16), a stimulating device (20) stimulates the subject (16) with the physiological parameter measuring device (14) within or near the ear canal of the subject (16) to mitigate the physiological condition of the subject (16).
US08406872B2
A medical device and associated method for discriminating cardiac events includes determining whether a cardiac evidence counter is greater than a predetermined detection threshold, advancing from a concerned state to a convinced state in response to the evidence counter being greater than the predetermined detection threshold, determining whether a reduction in the cardiac evidence counter occurs while in the convinced state, determining whether one of a first rate corresponding to the first sensing vector and a second rate corresponding to the second sensing vector is less than a predetermined rate limit, and determining whether to advance from the convinced state to one of a therapy delivery state, the concerned state and the unconcerned state in response to determining whether one of the first rate and the second rate is less than a predetermined rate limit.
US08406854B2
The present invention relates to a marker to be used inside human or animal body, comprising an elongated wire of a radiation retarding and/or radioactive material, wherein the wire is arranged with at least one bending means, capable of bending the wire upon insertion in human tissue. The invention also relates to a penetration needle to be used with the marker as well as a tool for facilitating the insertion and creation of the marker according to the invention.
US08406853B2
A modular multi-transmit head coil for use in Deep Brain Stimulation procedures includes a mounting frame arranged for attachment to the stereotactic head frame of the patient. An integrated MR stereotactic locating phantom is included as part of the coil structure which has attached MR/CT compatible fiducials on it to correlate pre-op, intra-op and post op images. The frame carries a series of modular removable coil elements in a transceive array that are connected to a set of RF power amplifiers that directly drive the coil elements. A control system including suitable software is arranged to control the signals to the coil elements so as to generate a required RF field with all the coil elements in place and with one or more the coil elements removed to allow access to the patent for the installation of the DBS leads.
US08406842B2
An electrode assembly that includes an electrically conductive layer, a first impedance reduction system, and a second impedance reduction system. The electrically conductive layer forms an electrode portion of the electrode assembly and a first surface to be placed adjacent a person's skin. The first impedance reduction system is configured to dispense a first amount of an electrically conductive gel onto the first surface of the electrically conductive layer in response to a first activation signal. The second impedance reduction system is configured to dispense a second amount of the electrically conductive gel onto the first surface of the electrically conductive layer in response to a second activation signal.
US08406834B2
A superconducting circuit, and a method, are disclosed for generating pulses with stable frequency. The circuit includes an annular Long Josephson Junction (LJJ) capable of producing electrical pulses of a desired frequency due to a steady bias current applied to the LJJ. The circuit further includes an electrical interface for injecting an RF signal of a first frequency into the annular LJJ, resulting in the desired frequency locking onto the first frequency. Typically the first frequency substantially equals the desired frequency. The injection of the RF signal further results in the decrease of the frequency jitter of the desired frequency. The pulses generated in the loop section of the LJJ are outputted through a tail section of the LJJ, and through transmission lines which couple to the tail section.
US08406832B2
A housing for an electronic device comprises a substrate, a base coat, and a transparent top coat. The substrate is a transparent or a translucent plastic substrate and has opposite surfaces. The base coat and the top coat are respectively formed on the opposite surfaces of the substrate.
US08406829B2
A slide hinge includes a first member; a second member connected to the first member, the second member being configured to slide between a first position and a second position; a first terminal part supported at a first member side; and a second terminal part supported at a second member side. By sliding the second member to the first position relative to the first member, the first terminal part and the second terminal part are made conductive with each other.
US08406826B2
A mobile phone, including a modular communicator including a modem for transmitting and receiving voice and data communications, a communicator connector for making electrical connection with a jacket for the communicator, when the jacket is pouched in the communicator, a communicator display screen for displaying information, and a communicator controller (i) for executing programmed instructions for operating the modem, (ii) for transmitting data to and receiving data from the communicator connector, and (iii) for generating the information displayed on the communicator display screen, and a jacket for the modular communicator, including a mechanical jacket housing including a top section and a bottom section connected by a hinge which enables the top section to fold over the bottom section, a pouch including a cavity into which the communicator may be pouched, and a transparent portion through which at least a portion of the communicator display shows when the communicator is pouched in the jacket and when the top section is folded over the bottom section, a jacket connector that mates with the communicator connector to make electrical connection with the communicator, when the communicator is pouched in the jacket, and a jacket controller for transmitting data to and receiving data from the communicator controller, via the jacket connector.
US08406822B2
The operation of a vehicle electronic module is influenced by vehicle-state received on a vehicle communication bus. The electronic module analyzes vehicle-state data that includes information about the vehicle's environment. The electronic module improves or maintains electronic module performance by adjusting communication processing parameters to improve driver or passenger communication.
US08406819B2
A mobile communication device includes an alerting mechanism comprising a light source, wherein the light source is configured to alert the user via a visual alert that an event has, or is, occurring. The event can be an incoming communication, a voice message, an alarm etc. The visual alert can be synchronized with an audible alert also included in the mobile communication device.
US08406817B2
Mobile wireless communications device with first and second alarm function GUI's and related methods
A mobile wireless communications device may include a portable housing, a wireless transceiver carried by the portable housing, an input device carried by the portable housing, a display carried by the portable housing, and a processor carried by the portable housing and coupled to the wireless transceiver, the input device, and the display. The processor may perform a time alarm function having a time alarm value settable via the input device, and generate an alarm indication upon reaching the time alarm value. The processor also may generate a first time alarm function GUI on the display including a first selectable menu list for the time alarm function, and generate a second time alarm function GUI including a second selectable menu list on the display different from the first selectable menu list when a current time is within a threshold time of the time alarm value.
US08406811B2
An antenna and radio frequency unit (ARFU) that is external to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) includes a radio frequency (RF) front end device and an antenna in communication with the RF front end device. The RF front end device is in communication with the WTRU.
US08406807B2
Disclosed is a method for providing multi-screen service of a mobile terminal, the method including requesting and obtaining information on a second display device if the mobile terminal is connected with a cradling stand; activating a predetermined wireless communication interface and searching for a peripheral device using a network manager so as to connect the mobile terminal with the peripheral device; if the multifunctional remote control device is found and is connected with the mobile terminal, managing linkage between the mobile terminal and the multifunctional remote control device using an interaction manager; and if a service request signal is received from the multifunctional remote control device for the mobile terminal, changing screen information of the mobile terminal in accordance with characteristics of the second display device using a display manager and displaying the changed screen information on a display unit of the second display device.
US08406800B2
A method and device enable establishing an inter-radio frequency subsystem interface (ISSI) unit-to-unit call between a calling unit of a calling home radio frequency subsystem (RFSS), and a called unit of a called home RFSS, through a hosted ISSI function (HIF). The method includes processing, at the HIF, a first invite message received from the calling home RFSS, wherein the first invite message includes a first request uniform resource identifier (URI) that designates an alias system unit identification (SU-ID). In response to the first invite message, transmitting, from the HIF to the called home RFSS, a second invite message, including a second request URI that designates a real SU-ID, wherein the HIF acts as the calling home RFSS. The unit-to-unit call is thus established between the calling unit and the called unit through the calling home RFSS, the HIF, and the called home RFSS.
US08406794B2
Aspects include methods and apparatuses for communicating in an ultra-wideband network. For example, some aspects include a method of wireless communications. The method may include receiving information identifying at least one resource of a second electronic device, transmitting resource information of the electronic device, comparing the resource information of the electronic device and the received resource information of the second electronic device. The method may also include transmitting a synchronization signal to the second device based on the comparing. The method may also include receiving a synchronization signal from the second device based on the comparing. Other aspects include apparatus and devices for wireless communications.
US08406793B2
An apparatus for delivering a message from an originating subscriber to a target subscriber across a communication network comprising; means for receiving in a first network a message from an originating subscriber to a target subscriber and an identifier of the target subscriber, the target subscriber being associated with the first network and the originating subscriber being associated with a second network, the message and identifier being received from the second network; means for identifying at least one network node associated with the target subscriber and being responsible for delivering messages to the target subscriber; means for selecting a network node from the at least one network node for delivery of the message; means for receiving from the second network an allowed time period for delivery of the message; means for determining the expected delivery time of the message for the selected network node; means for comparing the expected delivery time with the allowed time period for delivery; and means for forwarding the message to the selected network node for delivery to the target subscriber in dependence on the allowed time period exceeding the expected delivery time.
US08406790B2
A measuring node (700) in a wireless network (100) sets switching points for a plurality of measurement groups, performs measurements of signals transmitted from one or more cells corresponding to a group, and switches, at each switching point, from performing measurements according to one measurement group to performing measurements according to the next measurement group. The signals are transmitted by the cells in measurement occasions that repeat in a pattern. A switching point is a time by which the measuring node (700) node is expected to complete, at least in part, measurements of the one group and be ready to proceed with measurements of the next group. A configuring node (600) sends assistance data to the measuring node (700) to enable the measuring node (700) to determine the switching points for the measurement groups.
US08406789B1
Apparatus and method for recognizing Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) signals are provided. The solution comprises obtaining position and timing information from a satellite positioning system; tuning to a frequency channel with GSM transmission; collecting a group of I/Q samples for the length of 12 GSM frames; performing peak detection using at least two peak detectors over the group of samples wherein the found peak values are the locations of synchronization bursts (SCH). For the found peaks, the timing information, carrier-to-noise ratio, in phase and quadrature values are determined. A group of I/Q samples for the length of 12 or 51 GSM frames are collected. From the found SCH, base station identification code BSIC, frame number and Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) training sequence are determined. BCCHs corresponding to all SCH are decoded; and transmitting base stations identified.
US08406787B2
A method for providing a position determination comprises obtaining (210) of data representing signal properties of a cellular communication network associated with a user equipment and determining of a position for the user equipment based on the signal properties. The method further comprises obtaining (212) of data representing a precoder selection for spatial multiplexing for the user equipment. The determining (214) of a position for the user equipment is based also on the data representing the precoder selection. An arrangement for providing a position determination is also disclosed.
US08406786B2
Generic messaging and protocols are provided for handset-to-handset communications in accordance with, for example, the Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) protocol. A mobile device initiates a geolocation-related session with a second mobile device by sending a message, including a payload, to a server (e.g., an H-SLP server) over a network. A data connection is the established between the second mobile device and the server in response to the message. A message, including the payload, is then sent to the second mobile device. The payload may include geolocation (e.g., GPS) information, such that two mobile devices may collaboratively share information regarding the other's geographical location.
US08406784B2
Capabilities of mobile stations are leveraged to measure operational characteristics of a mobile communications network and capture data regarding those measurements. Information related to where the measurements occurred is also captured. The captured measurement data and the location information are forward to a server for processing. The results of the processing are used to improve the performance of the mobile communications network.
US08406782B2
A solution is provided for dynamic allocation of cell identifiers in a cellular mobile telecommunication system. Cell identifiers being reused in a cellular radio access network of the cellular mobile telecommunication system are managed by a cell identifier manager configured to handle dynamic allocation of the cell identifiers to a plurality of base stations. Upon detection of a new base station or reactivation of an existing base station in the radio access network, the cell identifier manager allocates a cell identifier to the base station in such a manner that two base stations having the same cell identifier do not interfere with one another, i.e. do not cause cell identification problems in the radio access network.
US08406781B2
The present invention provides a method of determining capability of a UE, the method comprising: receiving an indication from a UE during a random access procedure, the indication enabling antennae capability of the UE to be determined; processing the indication in order to determine the number of antennae of the UE; and allocating resources to the UE according the antennae capability of the UE. The invention further relates to a user equipment and a network entity operable to implement such a method.
US08406775B2
A method for selecting beams, a switched beam operation method during an initial synchronization process, and an initial synchronization method using it are provided for selecting beams to minimize the probability of occurrence of interferences between cells by considering a distance between beams within neighboring sectors during an initial synchronization process using switched beams, in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) cellular system employing a smart antenna. The inventive method comprises the steps of dividing each cell into sectors, and counting the number of fixed beams per cell, and selecting a switched beam for minimizing probability of interference, from fixed beams presenting in a corresponding sector, based on distances between a selected beam and beams of all of adjacent cells and the number of cases to be selected in a subsequent time slot, according to the counted number of the fixed beams existing in each sector.
US08406774B2
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods and systems for server selection during feedback channel impairment in wireless communications. The feedback channel may be provided by a data rate control (DRC) channel, transmitted from an access terminal to an access network relating the selected serving sector (DRC cover) and the desired data rate (DRC rate) for transmission on forward link. During DRC cover erasure (e.g., due to channel impairment), a data source control (DSC) channel may be used as complimentary information to assist the DRC erasure mapping decision at the access network.
US08406770B2
Using data from a wireless telephony network to support transportation planning and engineering. Data related to wireless network users is extracted from the wireless network to determine the location of a mobile station. Additional location records for the mobile station can be used to characterize the movement of the mobile station: its speed, its route, its point of origin and destination, and its primary and secondary transportation analysis zones. Aggregating data associated with multiple mobile stations allows characterizing and predicting traffic parameters, including traffic speeds and volumes along routes.
US08406768B1
A mobile station receives forward link signals and transmits reverse link signals for a communication session conducted via a wireless network. A controller maintains a reverse-active set that defines which sectors of the wireless network are used to receive the reverse link signals. When the mobile station transmits a request signal requesting the communication session, the controller may create the reverse-active set to include the sector that received the request signal with the highest signal strength. During the communication session, the signal strengths of the reverse link signals may be monitored in each of a plurality of sectors to obtain reverse-link signal strengths. The controller may maintain the reverse-active set based on the reverse-link signal strengths, adding sectors that report reverse-link signal strengths greater than an add threshold and dropping sectors that report reverse-link signal strengths less than a drop threshold.
US08406763B1
A floating call anchor is used to improve the efficiency of utilization of wireless and backhaul resources in cellular communication systems. For conditions under which soft handoff can be effectively used to conserve wireless resources, data transmitted from a first mobile unit (MU) via a wireless signal are received by one or more base transceiver stations (BTSs) and sent to a base station controller (BSC) or other device remote from the BTSs. The data are then sent from the remote device to the BTS(s) transmitting data to a second MU. If the two MUs engaged in communication are within the same cell or adjacent cells, and the savings of backhaul resources outweighs the additional wireless resource costs associated with performing the call anchor function at a BTS, then a single BTS is used to communicate with both MUs. This single BTS performs the call anchor function.
US08406757B1
What is disclosed is a method of operating a wireless communication device. The method includes receiving home wireless access to communication services over a first wireless communication mode from a home wireless access node associated with a first wireless system identifier, and determining availability of roaming wireless access over a second wireless communication mode from a roaming wireless access node. The method also includes processing the first wireless system identifier to determine a first geographic group associated with the home wireless access node, and determining a network rescan timer for the roaming wireless access over the second wireless communication mode based on the first geographic group and the availability of the roaming wireless access.
US08406756B1
A roaming management computer system comprises a communication interface and a processing system. The communication interface is configured to receive loading thresholds and usage information for each of a plurality of different wireless networks. The processing system is configured to process the loading thresholds and the usage information to determine load balancing requirements for the wireless networks, and process the load balancing requirements to generate preferred roaming lists for wireless communication devices roaming in the wireless networks. The communication interface is further configured to transfer the preferred roaming lists for delivery to the wireless communication devices.
US08406753B2
The location of a wireless mobile device may be estimated using, at least in part, one or more pre-existing Network Measurement Reports (“NMRs”) which include calibration data for a number of locations within a geographic region. The calibration data for these locations is gathered and analyzed so that particular grid points within the geographic region can be determined and associated with a particular set or sets of calibration data from, for example, one or more NMRs. Sets of grid points may be evaluated as a function of parameters of the calibration data, and a set of grid points may be selected as a function of a predetermined criteria. The location of a mobile device in the geographic region may then be determined as a function of the predetermined criteria.
US08406749B1
An electronic device, referred to as a beacon gateway, capable of communicating an incoming call on one phone to a second phone operating on a different telecommunications network is described herein. A landline phone, voice-over-Internet-protocol phone (VOIP phone), cable phone, and mobile phone may be connected to the beacon gateway. When one of the phones receives an incoming call, the beacon gateway rings the other phones with ring tones indicative of the receiving phone. Additionally, a user can elect to make a phone call across one network (e.g., wireless) from a phone that communicates calls across a different network (e.g., landline). Moreover, a thin client operating in a mobile device is configured to handle communicating inbound calls and outgoing calls on mobile device to other phones connected to the beacon gateway.
US08406734B2
When an application activation instruction is input, it is decided whether the application is expected to access a high-level protection resource or low-level protection resource (step S31). If the decision is affirmative, display is done to prompt the user to select whether to permit activation of the application (step S32). When the user inputs an activation permission instruction, the application is activated (steps S33 to S36). As a result, only when the user permits an application, which is expected to access a high-level protection resource or low-level protection resource, to access a predetermined resource immediately before its execution, the application is executed. Hence, the basic processing part and application can operate in cooperation with each other while limiting access to various kinds of resources by the application in a reasonable range.
US08406730B1
A communication system comprises a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service system and a location determination system. The VoIP service system is configured to receive a call request for an emergency service from a user, process the call request to determine a wireless communication device identifier associated with the user, and transfer a location request for delivery to a location determination system in a wireless network serving the wireless communication device. The location determination system is configured to receive the location request, process the location request to determine a location of the wireless communication device and a possession confidence metric that indicates a level of confidence that the user is in possession of the wireless communication device, and transfer a location response for delivery to the VoIP service system. The VoIP service system is configured to, if the possession confidence metric exceeds a threshold, transfer the call request for the emergency service for delivery to an emergency service provider that serves the location.
US08406728B2
An emergency call (e.g., a 911 call, an alarm company call) forwarded by a telematics call center is routed over the switched PSTN to a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call server, where the switched call is converted to a session initiating protocol (SIP) packetized IP call for presentation to an emergency services gateway, which reconverts the call to TDM and connects to a selective router via dedicated circuits, gaining full access to the Enhanced 911 network. This provides a PSAP receiving a call from a telematics call center or other call center with all features available in an Enhanced 911 network, e.g., callback number of the 911 caller, and location of the 911 caller. Location of the caller is provided using a VoIP positioning center (VPC).
US08406727B2
A method of handing an emergency PDN connection when a back-off timer is running for a core network in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method comprises starting a mobile reachable timer when a mobile device enters an idle mode, wherein the mobile reachable timer has a first timer value; accepting the emergency PDN connection; stopping the mobile reachable timer when the mobile device enters a connected mode to establish the emergency PDN connection; resetting the mobile reachable timer to a second timer value when a remaining time of the back-off timer is longer than a periodic area update timer; and restarting the mobile reachable timer according to the second timer value when the emergency PDN is disconnected.
US08406713B2
When switching the mode of a power amplifier between a compressed mode and an uncompressed mode, an accurate transmission power control is realized. A transmission power control method includes calculating an intra-mode output power error from a power setting value in a mode before switching as a comparison standard value error (equal to step ST32), setting a power setting value of a mode to switch to, such that an inter-mode output power error is canceled (equal to step ST33), calculating an intra-mode output power error from a power setting value of a mode to switch to (equal to step ST35), calculating a gain linearity value based on a power setting value of a mode to switch to and the intra-mode output power error (equal to step ST36), and resetting the power setting value of the mode to switch to, that cancels the comparison standard value error in the mode before switching and the output power error in the mode to switch to, based on the gain linearity value (equal to steps ST37 and 38).
US08406706B2
A mobile terminal and method of controlling a driving voltage of a power amplifier therein are provided. The present invention includes a power amplifier module having a plurality of operative modes, the power amplifier module configured to amplify a power strength of an RF signal, a modem configured to deliver the RF signal to the power amplifier module, and to control the operative modes of the power amplifier module, a power detecting unit configured to output a reference voltage by detecting the power strength of the RF signal outputted from the power amplifier module, and a DC/DC converter configured to supply a driving voltage to the power amplifier module by adjusting a detected power value according to a gain corresponding to each of the operative modes of the power amplifier module.
US08406701B2
A method of communicating data between a first transceiver and any of a plurality of second transceivers, wherein areas serviced by each of the plurality of second transceivers either overlap or are adjacent. The method comprises operating the first transceiver and the plurality of second transceivers in an overlapping frequency range. Each of the plurality of second transceivers operates in a time period different from a time period of another of the plurality of second transceivers.
US08406696B2
In a wireless network using directional communication links between devices in the network, when the network controller detects that one or more of the directional links is lost, it may use a beacon to schedule separate antenna training periods for the devices involved in the lost links. In some embodiments, all of the training periods may take place in the same superframe as the beacon.
US08406687B2
A dynamic data pool on ad-hoc networks. The present example provides for a “swarm” of nodes that share or provide a “repository” of shared dynamic data. The swarm is a collection of nodes connected via networks, including but not limited to Wireless personal area network (“PAN”), local area network (“LAN”), wide area network (“WAN”) and/or the like. The dynamic data pool may be implemented by an application program, with network connectivity provided through programs constructed in a layered structure (“network stack”) or the like. Provision is made for initializing the swarm, for nodes entering and leaving the swarm, and other functions for managing the swarm.
US08406676B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier carrying a latent image, a charging device uniformly charging a surface of the image carrier, an exposure device performing, in accordance with image data, an exposure operation on the charged image carrier surface to write the latent image, a development device supplying toner to the latent image to develop a visible image, a transfer device transferring the visible image to an intermediate transfer member or a recording medium, a lubricant application device applying lubricant to the image carrier surface, a cleaning device cleaning the image carrier surface after a transfer operation, a fixing device fixing the transferred image on the recording medium, and a control device controlling, in accordance with recent print information, the operation in a lubricant application mode in which the lubricant application device applies the lubricant to the image carrier surface.
US08406674B2
An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive medium to be charged with a predetermined potential by a charging member, an exposing unit to expose the photosensitive medium to vary a charging level of the photosensitive medium, a developing unit to form an image for one or more colors on the photosensitive medium, a transfer medium to transfer the image from the photosensitive medium, a cleaning unit to clean the transfer medium, and a controller to control an optical power of the exposing unit to be lower than that during forming of the image when a toner band is applied to lubricate at least one of the cleaning unit and the transfer medium.
US08406673B2
In an electrophotographic (EP) printer, a rotatable member includes a deposition area and a non-deposition area. A toner supply supplies toner to the member, and a moving receiving member receives from the deposition area of the rotatable member while the rotatable member rotates. The rotatable member is cleaned with a selectively-retractable blade in mechanical contact with the member so that toner is removed from the deposition area while the rotatable member rotates. An artifact sensor automatically detects a toner image artifact on the receiver. A controller responsive to the artifact sensor causes the blade to retract when an artifact is detected, and a blade cleaner cleans the blade while the blade is not in mechanical contact with the member.
US08406667B2
A fixing device includes: a fixing member that fixes a toner image onto a recording medium; a pressing member that presses the recording medium against the fixing member; an oiling unit that applies release oil onto a surface of the fixing member to clean the surface; a removing member that is arranged between an downstream side of the oiling unit and an upstream side of the pressing member in a rotating direction of the fixing member and movable between an in-contact state where the removing member is in contact with the surface of the fixing member and an out-of-contact state where the removing member is out of contact with the surface; a drive unit that drives the removing member; and an oiling control unit that, when starting earliest fixing, controls the drive unit to gradually move the removing member from the in-contact state into the out-of-contact state.
US08406646B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a transfer roller, a transfer roller position detector and a controller. The transfer roller includes a concaved portion formed on a circumferential surface thereof with the concaved portion having a width in the circumferential direction larger than a width of a transfer nip formation area formed between the image carrier and the transfer roller in the circumferential direction. The transfer roller includes an elastic member disposed on the circumferential surface thereof. The transfer roller position detector is configured and arranged to detect a rotational position of the transfer roller. The controller is configured to stop rotation of the transfer roller in a state in which the concaved portion is located at the transfer nip formation area on the basis of the rotational position of the transfer roller.
US08406644B2
In an image forming apparatus that forms a color image by transferring toner images for respective colors formed on plural rotary photoreceptor drums onto a sheet through an intermediate transfer member, when a controller judges that magnification deviation is generated in a main-scanning direction in superposition of the toner images for respective colors, the controller forms a first color registration deviation detecting mark for detecting at least an amount of deviation in the main scanning direction on the intermediate transfer member, and when the controller judges that the magnification deviation is not generated in the main-scanning direction in the superposition of toner images for respective colors, the controller forms a second color registration deviation detecting mark for detecting only an amount of deviation in a sub scanning direction perpendicular to the main-scanning direction on the intermediate transfer member.
US08406643B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image formation unit, a conveying unit and controller. The image formation unit includes a rotating photoreceptor, a latent image formation unit, a developing unit, a first transfer unit, and a second transfer unit. Regardless of forming or not forming on the photoreceptor a belt-shaped image which is not being transferred onto a recording medium, the controller controls the image forming unit such that formation of an image quality adjusting image that is not transferred to the recording medium starts from a predetermined position in a rotational direction of the photoreceptor, and such that the recorded image is formed further downstream in the rotational direction of the photoreceptor than an image quality adjusting image region.
US08406642B2
Apparatus for removing toner after a selected time interval from a longitudinal member in a dry electrophotographic printer for printing a visible image on a receiver. An end block is disposed at one end of a rotatable development member, and a longitudinal member is disposed adjacent to the development member or photoreceptor and is connected to the end block. A backup bar is disposed adjacent to the photoreceptor and can selectively make physical contact with at least one point on the end block. When a measured time interval of printer operation reaches the selected time interval, a controller causes the backup bar to apply a selected force to the end block to cause toner on the longitudinal member to be removed from the member.
US08406641B2
An image forming apparatus includes a developing device having a toner supply sensor, a toner supply device supplying toner to the developing device, a toner supply controller controlling toner supply from the toner supply device to the developing device based on predetermined conditions, a toner empty determiner determining whether toner is present inside the toner supply device. In the image forming apparatus, the toner supply device includes a storage for recording multiple measured values of toner supply detected by the toner supply sensor, and the toner supply controller corrects the amount of toner supply, based on the moving average of multiple measured values of the amount of toner supply.
US08406639B2
A printing system, comprises a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to a network and including sheet trays and a detecting section provided to each sheet tray and to detect a capacity of empty space of each sheet tray; and a sheet managing section to obtain a capacity of empty space of each sheet tray of each image forming apparatus and to compare the capacity of empty space of each sheet tray with a capacity of one bundle of sheets as a unit of supply. In the case that the capacity of empty space of a sheet tray among the plural sheet trays of the plurality of image forming apparatuses is equal to or larger than the capacity of one plural bundle of sheets, the sheet managing section notifies that sheet supply can be conducted by one bundle of sheets as a unit of supply to the sheet tray.
US08406638B2
In order to reduce the size and simplify the structure of a coherent light receiver, the coherent light receiver includes an optical mixer for coupling local oscillator light and reception signal light, a photoelectric converter for photoelectrically converting light coupled in the optical mixer, a reception data processing unit for extracting reception data included in the reception signal light through digital signal processing for processing the coupled signal converted into an electrical signal by the photoelectric converter, based on a first clock, and a modulator for modulating the local oscillator light or the reception signal light inputted to the optical mixer respectively, by using a clock phase-synchronized with the first clock used for the digital signal processing in the reception data processing unit.
US08406634B2
A method and apparatus for optical signaling. In one embodiment, a laser driver converts a digital voltage sequence to a current signal having a bias mode adjustable by a bias control and a modulation mode adjustable by a modulation control. A laser generates an optical signal responsive to the current signal of the laser driver. In one embodiment, a photo-detector receives an optical signal and generates a single ended current signal. A transimpedance amplifier circuit converts the single ended current signal to a differential voltage signal. A clock recovery circuit generates an aligned clock signal and a sampler circuit uses the aligned clock signal to retrieve a digital voltage sequence.
US08406626B2
An apparatus for designing an optical network having nodes, includes: a parameter holding unit which holds values of one or more optical-transmission parameters corresponding to one or more components constituting the optical network; a part generation unit which generates design candidates for a part to be arranged in each of one or more spans between the nodes so that each of the design candidates contains at least one of the one or more components; a part selection unit which makes a selection, for each of the one or more spans, of one of the design candidates which has at least one value of at least one of the one or more optical-transmission parameters satisfying a design condition; and a construction control unit which constructs the optical network by combining one or more parts each of which is selected by the part selection unit.
US08406613B2
Entry points are managed so they are easy for users to understand. The data recording apparatus has a receiver unit that receives a stream of encoded digital data; an analyzer that detects change in an attribute of the received stream and that outputs the detection information; a controller that generates management information containing the detection information output by the analyzer and time information indicating detection time of the change as a first entry point; a drive that records the management information and the received stream to a data storage medium; and an input unit that defines a second entry point. This second entry point is set relative to the playback path of the stream and is used to access and read from a particular point in the stream. The controller further generates the management information containing the first entry point and the second entry point separately identified.
US08406599B1
A method for creating a composite material for fabricating an optical fiber. The method includes selecting multiple constituents and a concentration for each constituent, conceptually dividing a unit length model rod into a number of segments, computing origin locations for the segments, computing a longitudinal acoustic velocity for an assumed composite material, computing a photoelastic constant for the assumed composite material, computing an acoustic frequency for the assumed composite material, computing an acoustic attenuation coefficient for the assumed composite material, computing a Brillouin Spectral Width for the assumed composite material, and computing a Brillouin Gain Coefficient for the assumed composite material. if the computed Brillouin Gain Coefficient is greater than a preselected value, repeating the above, otherwise, mixing the constituents at an appropriate temperature. The number equals the number of constituents, and each segment is associated with a separate one of the constituents.
US08406597B2
Fiber optic adapter mounting structures include a frame having a front face and a rear face, and at least first and second substantially identically-sized and shaped openings that extend through the frame. A first adapter collar is mounted in the first opening and second adapter collar is mounted in the second opening. The first and second adapter collars each have a fiber optic adapter mounting cavity that includes opposed first and second snap clip engagement surfaces therein. A first fiber optic adapter that includes first and second snap clips is mounted in the first adapter collar, and a second fiber optic adapter that includes third and fourth snap clips is mounted in the second adapter collar. The first and second fiber optic adapters are different types of fiber optic adapters that are designed to mate with different types of fiber optic cable terminations.
US08406596B2
The present invention relates to an optical fiber that includes a glass fiber and three or more coatings that encapsulate the glass fiber, where the three or more coatings include a primary coating in contact with said glass fiber, one or more intermediate coatings that surround the primary coating, and a secondary coating that surrounds the intermediate coatings. Both three-coating and four-coating systems are described that afford improve microbend performance.
US08406591B2
A low cost, high performance, low profile flexible reinforcement member that can be used for both optical and copper communications cable. The reinforcement members made according to the preferred process are more rigid than known reinforcement members, but are less rigid than glass pultruded rods. Communications cables utilizing these members are lightweight and exhibit an improved combination of strength and flexibility compared to traditional communications cables. Further, these communication cables may then be installed into underground ducts using more economical and faster installation techniques.
US08406588B2
An optical connector includes a fiber-support block configured to couple cores of a plurality of optical fibers, and a lens-support block including a contact surface provided with a plurality of openings, the contact surface contacted to a contact surface of the fiber-support block, the cores of the optical fibers projecting from the contact surface of the fiber-support block insertable into the respective openings, the lens-support block having pairs of collimate lenses and convex lenses in the respective openings, each of the collimate lenses and a corresponding one of the convex lenses being spaced apart from each other in an optical-axis direction, the collimate lenses being movable in the optical-axis direction and being pressed by elastically deformable members, respectively, in the optical-axis direction and toward the contact surface of the fiber-support block.
US08406580B2
A transform spectrometer measurement apparatus and method for a planar waveguide circuit (PLC). The spectrometer typically includes an input optical signal waveguide carrying an input optical signal; a plurality of couplers, each connected to the input optical signal waveguide, and each including a coupler output for carrying a coupled optical signal related to the input optical signal; and an array of interleaved, waveguide Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZI), each having at least one input MZI waveguide, each MZI input waveguide receiving a coupled optical signal from a respective coupler output. A phase shifting circuit is applied to at least one arm of the MZIs to induce an active phase shift on the arm to thereby measure phase error in the MZIs. Light output from the MZIs is measured under intrinsic phase error conditions and after an active phase shift by the phase shifting circuit.
US08406578B2
It is intended to suppress the influence of a photorefractive phenomenon or the coupling of stray light to signal light. A Mach-Zehnder waveguide type optical modulator is provided which includes a thin plate 1 with a thickness of 20 μm or less formed of a material having an electro-optical effect, an optical waveguide 2 formed on a front surface or a rear surface of the thin plate, and a modulation electrode modulating light passing through the optical waveguide. The optical waveguide includes an input optical waveguide 21, branched optical waveguides 23 to 28, and an output optical waveguide 30. The branched optical waveguide includes an input branching portion (region B) in which the input optical waveguide is branched into a plurality of optical waveguides, an output merging portion (region D) in which the plurality of optical waveguides connected to the output optical waveguide are merged, and a parallel portion (region C) formed between the input branching portion and the output merging portion. At least one of the input branching portion and the output merging portion has a ratio l/d of a length l along a symmetry axis of the branched optical waveguides to a gap d of the optical waveguide in the parallel portion in the range of 33 to 100.
US08406575B2
An optoelectronic apparatus for controlling a signal includes an optical waveguide having a variable refractive index; an active device formed within the waveguide, the device having three electrodes, a drain, a source and a gate; and wherein the device is located within the waveguide so that current flowing from the drain to the source changes the refractive index.
US08406570B2
The present invention provides an image processing apparatus which processes a scanned image in which a document image is shown, and includes a reliability determining section and a display control section. The reliability determining section determines reliability of coincidences of respective first through fourth directions with a first reference direction, the first through fourth directions being perpendicular to or reverse to each other, the first reference direction being an upward direction of the document image. The display control section creates markers indicating the respective first through fourth directions, and causes a display device to display a preview image in which the markers and the scanned image overlap each other. Further, the display control section causes the markers to be displayed in respective different ways by changing respective densities in accordance with the reliability.
US08406566B1
Methods and apparatus for soft edge masking. A soft edge masking technique may be provided via which, starting from an initial, potentially very rough and approximate border selection mask, the user may selectively apply brush strokes to areas of an image to selectively improve the border region of the mask, thus providing softness details in border regions which contain soft objects such as hair and fur. A stroke may be an additive stroke indicating a particular region in which detail from an original image is to be added to a composite image, or a subtractive stroke indicating a particular region in which detail is to be removed from the composite image. The stroke may also indicate a strength parameter value that may be used to indicate an amount of bias to be used in opacity calculations for the affected pixels.
US08406564B2
Embodiments related to the removal of blur from an image are disclosed. One disclosed embodiment provides a method of performing an iterative non-blind deconvolution of a blurred image to form an updated image. The method comprises downsampling the blurred image to form a blurred image pyramid comprising images of two or more different resolution scales, downsampling a blur kernel to form a blur kernel pyramid comprising kernels of two or more different sizes, and deconvoluting a selected image in the blurred image pyramid according to a Richardson-Lucy deconvolution process in which a bilateral range/spatial filter is employed.
US08406562B2
Various embodiments are described herein for a system and method for calibrating a display device to eliminate distortions due to various components such as one or more of lenses, mirrors, projection geometry, lateral chromatic aberration and color misalignment, and color and brightness non-uniformity. Calibration for distortions that vary over time is also addressed. Sensing devices coupled to processors can be used to sense display characteristics, which are then used to compute distortion data, and generate pre-compensating maps to correct for display distortions.
US08406559B2
A system for enhancing image sharpness includes a minimum unit, a maximum unit, a subtraction unit, a local mean unit, a sharpness calculation unit and a sharpness processing unit. The minimum unit receives pixels in a local area of an image to output a minimum luma value. The maximum unit receives the pixels in the local area of the image to output a maximum luma value. The subtraction unit subtracts the minimum luma value from the maximum luma value to generate a difference value. The local mean unit calculates an average of the luma values in the local area to generate a local mean value. The sharpness calculation unit calculates a sharpness factor for a pixel based on the difference value and an adjustable coefficient. The sharpness processing unit performs a sharpness processing on the pixel according to the sharpness factor and the local mean value.
US08406555B2
A method of modifying color saturation for a display device includes receiving an image data including a brightness data and a saturation data of a frame, generating a brightness statistic result according to the brightness data, comparing the brightness statistic result with a predetermined value for generating a comparison result, and adjusting the saturation data of the frame according to the comparison result.
US08406545B2
Provided are an apparatus for encoding an image and an apparatus for decoding an image. The apparatus for encoding the image includes a grouping unit to group transform coefficients according to layers and generate groups, a pattern encoding unit to generate and encode the pattern information of each group by using the quantized transform coefficients existing in the groups of each layer in an order from an upper layer to a lower layer, and a level encoding unit to encode levels of the quantized transform coefficients corresponding to the pattern information of the groups of each layer and generate bitstreams along with the pattern information of the groups of each layer.
US08406544B2
A method of decoding images including the steps of: extracting motion vector information from input information to be decoded; synthesizing a prediction image by performing motion compensation using the motion vector information and a reference image which is a previously decoded image; and synthesizing a decoded image by adding the prediction image to an error image, wherein the motion compensation includes specifying either a positive rounding method or a negative rounding method for interpolating intensity values of pixels in performing the motion compensation.
US08406540B2
A relatively non-complex signal processor supporting an active pixel sensor imaging system is disclosed. The signal processor only requires the first sample from a group of samples in a multiple sample to be transmitted to the signal processor at full resolution. The subsequent samples in that group can be transmitted using only a subset of least significant bits. The minimum number of required LSBs is based upon the level of noise in the system. In one embodiment, the number of LSBs transmitted is k+2 per sample, where k indicates the number bits corresponding to peak noise. In an alternative embodiment, each subsequent sample is transmitted using only k+1 bits.
US08406527B2
There is provided a matching method, capable of positioning with higher accuracy at higher speed. The method includes the steps of: constructing a pattern model of a registered image in which a plurality of reference points are set on an extracted contour and a corresponding point search line having a predetermined length and passing through each reference point; acquiring an image and acquiring an initial position corresponding to the registered image to arrange the corresponding point search line of the pattern model; finding a corresponding point on the image corresponding to each reference point with regard to each corresponding point search line at a position along the corresponding point search line on the image; and regarding a relation between each reference point and the corresponding point as an evaluation value and performing fine positioning such that an accumulated value of the evaluation values becomes minimal or maximal.
US08406517B2
A tile image including a predetermined number of pixels (e.g., 32×32 pixels) is divided into blocks (pieces) of a size of 2×2 pixels each to compare color data of each pixel in each piece. A pattern flag indicating an arrangement pattern of the color data contained in each piece is identified, and first color data and color data other than the first color data in each piece are identified, where the first color data is color data corresponding to a pixel at a predetermined position in each piece. If it is determined that all the pieces, except for a piece consisting of the same color, included in the tile image consist of the same color, the two colors are set to representative colors for reference in the tile image.
US08406515B2
The present invention is a digital image manipulation system for automatically cropping acquired digital images, including a memory device configured to store at least one acquired digital image, a crop analysis segmentation subsystem configured to divide at least one image into a set of similarly colored regions, a classification subsystem configured to classify each region into one of a set of possible classes which include subject background and distraction at a minimum, an optimization search configured to search possible crop boundaries and a selection module configured to automatically select a highest rated crop boundary determined from the search and based on an optimization criterion that is derived from results of the crop analysis segmentation and classification subsystems.
US08406512B2
A stereo matching method based on image intensity quantization is revealed. The method includes several steps. Firstly, provide computer an image pair of an object for image intensity quantization of the image pair to get a quantization result. Then according to the quantization result, a first extracted image pair is generated and used to get a first disparity map. A second extracted image pair is generated similarly to get a second disparity map. Next the two disparity maps are compared with each other to get an image error data. When an error contained in the image error data is smaller than or equal to an error threshold value, the computer outputs the second disparity map. Moreover, accuracy of disparity maps is improved by iteration processing. Therefore, the amount of information for processing is minimized and efficiency of data access/transmission is improved.
US08406510B2
Methods for evaluating distances in a scene and apparatus and machine readable medium using the same
A distance evaluation method for evaluating distances from an observation point to objects within an arbitrary detectable range in a scene is disclosed. The method includes the following steps. First, a focus distance is set to correspond to a lower or higher limit of a chosen detection range. Next, an image is then captured with an image acquisition system, wherein transfer function of the image acquisition system depends on the focus distance. The captured image of the scene is segmented. A blur metric is computed for each image segment of the captured image. The blur metric is associated with the distance of the objects from the observation point in each image segment.
US08406507B2
A method, system and computer program product for representing an image is provided. The image that needs to be represented is represented in the form of a Gaussian pyramid which is a scale-space representation of the image and includes several pyramid images. The feature points in the pyramid images are identified and a specified number of feature points are selected. The orientations of the selected feature points are obtained by using a set of orientation calculating algorithms. A patch is extracted around the feature point in the pyramid images based on the orientations of the feature point and the sampling factor of the pyramid image. The boundary patches in the pyramid images are extracted by padding the pyramid images with extra pixels. The feature vectors of the extracted patches are defined. These feature vectors are normalized so that the components in the feature vectors are less than a threshold.
US08406506B2
A system and method are disclosed for fast sub-pixel optical flow estimation in a two-dimensional or a three-dimensional space. The system includes a pixel-level optical flow estimation module, a matching score map module, and a sub-pixel optical flow estimation module. The pixel-level optical flow estimation module is configured to estimate pixel-level optical flow for each pixel of an input image using a reference image. The matching score map module is configured to generate a matching score map for each pixel being estimated based on pixel-level optical flow estimation. The sub-pixel optical flow estimation module is configured to select the best pixel-level optical flow from multiple pixel-level optical flow candidates, and use the selected pixel-level optical flow, its four neighboring optical flow vectors and matching scores associated with the pixel-level optical flows to estimate the sub-pixel optical flow for the pixel of the input image.
US08406503B2
A mounted component inspection apparatus according to the present invention includes: a component library holding inspection information; an inspection processing unit for inspecting a component under inspection using the component library; a match rate acquisition unit for acquiring a match rate indicating the degree to which the inspection information is suitable for the inspection by the inspection processing unit, on the basis of the result of the inspection by the inspection processing unit; and a judgment unit for selecting the inspection information having a higher match rate, of the inspection information before updating and the inspection information after updating. The component library can hold the inspection information before and after updating, and the inspection processing unit carries out the inspection using the inspection information before and after updating held in the component library.
US08406495B2
When correcting attenuation in a nuclear image (e.g., PET or SPECT), an MR-based attenuation correction (AC) map (16) is generated using MR image data (14) of a subject (60). The subject (60) is then placed in a nuclear imaging device with a radioactive point or line source (18, 18′) from which transmission data is measured as the patient is imaged. In order to resolve ambiguity between air voxels and bone voxels in the MR-based AC map (16), estimated transmission data (24) is generated from the AC map and compared to the measured transmission data (22) from the point or line source. An error is iteratively calculated for the estimated and measured transmission data, and attenuation values of the AC map (16) are refined to minimize the error. The refined AC map (32) is used to correct attenuation in collected nuclear data (41) which is reconstructed into an attenuation corrected image (99) of the patient.
US08406494B2
A method of detecting an anatomical primitive in an image volume includes detecting a plurality of transformationally invariant points (TIPS) in the volume, aligning the volume using the TIPs, detecting a plurality landmark points in the aligned volume that are indicative of a given anatomical object, and fitting a target geometric primitive as the anatomical primitive based using the detected landmark points.
US08406492B2
There is provided an image detecting system including an image detecting section that detects a moving image of an examination subject into which a radiopaque contrast medium flows through one of an artery and a portal vein, and a change image generating section that generates a change image representing a change in the moving image. Here, the change is caused by movement of the radiopaque contrast medium after a timing at which the radiopaque contrast medium that has flown into one of the artery and the portal vein flows into capillaries.
US08406487B2
This invention provides a method for contactless fingerprint detection and verification comprising illuminating a fingerprint and directing a reflected light through an imaging system using liquid crystal panels and birefringent elements to polarize the light. A plurality of polarized images are captured and used to calculate the depth of structural features on the fingertip. A means to generate a two-dimensional rolled equivalent image of the fingerprint is also provided which may then be used for verification and authentication. The invention also provides an imaging system for carrying out the method.
US08406476B2
An apparatus and method for processing a captured image and, more particularly, for processing a captured image comprising a document. In one embodiment, an apparatus comprising a camera to capture documents is described. In another embodiment, a method for processing a captured image that includes a document comprises the steps of distinguishing an imaged document from its background, adjusting the captured image to reduce distortions created from use of a camera and properly orienting the document is described.
US08406474B2
A method for identifying barriers in images is disclosed. In the method, images of a current frame and N frame which is nearest to the current frame are obtained, the obtained images of the frames are divided in the same way, and the image of each frame obtains a plurality of divided block regions; the motion barrier confidence of each block region corresponding to the current frame and the N frame which is nearest to the current frame is calculated; whether each block region in the image of the current frame is decided successively according to the motion barrier confidence of each block region corresponding to the current frame and the N frame which is nearest to the current frame; the barriers in the images are determined according to each block region.
US08406467B2
A method and a system for actively detecting and recognizing a placard are provided. In the present method, an image capturing device is moved according to a maneuver rule, wherein the image capturing device captures an image continuously during the movement. Then whether a placard exists in the image or not is determined. If a placard exists in the image, a content of the placard is identified and a corresponding action is executed. The method repeatedly processes the foregoing steps to further continuously move the image capturing device and determine whether the placard exists in a newly captured image so as to achieve a purpose of detecting and recognizing placards actively.
US08406457B2
The present invention relates to a monitoring device, monitoring method, control device, control method, and program that use information on a face direction or gaze direction of a person to cause a device to perform processing in accordance with a movement or status of the person. A target detector 251 detects a target object. A face direction/gaze direction detector 252 detects a face direction and gaze direction of a person, determines a movement or status of the person on the basis of the relationship between the detected target object and the face direction or gaze direction of the person, and notifies face direction/gaze direction information using portions 253-1 to 253-3 of a result of the determination. The face direction/gaze direction information using portions 253-1 to 253-3 cause the device to execute predetermined processing on the basis of the result of the determination. The present invention can be applied to, for example, an on-vehicle system.
US08406452B2
A loudspeaker diaphragm contains polylactic acid, and bamboo charcoal mixed in the polylactic acid. The diaphragm does not affect environment and provides a loudspeaker with high sound quality.
US08406441B2
The invention relates to a hearing aid to be arranged at and/or in an ear, comprising a microphone for converting acoustic signals into electrical signals, a hearing module for providing the electrical signals, a loudspeaker for converting the electrical signals outputted from the hearing module into acoustic signals. The hearing module comprises a means for noise suppression effecting a noise estimation to determine a signal-dependent filter and to provide a noise-reduced output signal.
US08406430B2
An apparatus may include a noise estimation unit configured to determine a noise spectrum associated with a noise signal, and generate a filter based on the determined noise spectrum. The apparatus may also include a noise synthesis unit configured to generate a colored noise using the filter generated by the noise estimation unit. The apparatus may be incorporated in an echo canceller.
US08406429B2
An apparatus for spatially separating sounds from at least two sound sources includes a sound detection unit and a sound control unit. The sound detection unit detects a first sound from a first sound source while a second sound is outputted from a second sound source. The sound control unit performs a head-related transfer function (HRTF) on the second sound to move the second sound to a user's desired position according to the detection result, thereby the second sound is set as a background sound.
US08406414B2
A method for scheduling ringing signals for a plurality of subscriber lines includes maintaining a schedule of ringing signals for the plurality of subscriber lines. A plurality of ringing counts is determined. Each ringing count specifies a number of subscriber lines ringing at a selected point in the schedule. A ringing request for a particular subscriber line is received. A position in the schedule for the ringing request is identified based on the ringing counts that does not exceed a maximum ringing limit. The ringing request is scheduled in the schedule responsive to identifying the position. A ringing signal is generated for the particular subscriber line in accordance with the schedule.
US08406411B2
The invention relates to a method of routing a call made by a calling party to a fixed telephone number of a called party, said method comprising: —checking if the called party is a subscriber to a routing service; —if the called party is a first subscriber: checking if the first subscriber is located in a first area covered by one or more wireless access points; —checking if the calling party is a subscriber to said routing service; —if the calling party is a second subscriber: checking if the second subscriber is located in a second area covered by one or more further wireless access points; —routing said call to one or more mobile terminals associated with said fixed number via an IP network and one of said wireless access points in the case wherein said first subscriber is located in said first area or both said first subscriber and said second subscriber are located in their respective first and second areas, or otherwise routing said call to a predetermined alternative terminating point. A specific Service Control Point is arranged to store a list that comprises alternative terminating points for the calls to the fixed number.
US08406408B2
A call control system for connecting to a callee from a caller for phone call including a connection request receive section for receiving a connection request contains a telephone number of a telephone terminal of the caller and a telephone number of a telephone terminal of the callee from the caller to the callee, from an information terminal equipment of the caller. A call callee section for calling to the telephone terminal of the callee, and settles a callee voice call session to the telephone terminal of the callees a-call caller section for calling to a telephone terminal of the caller, and settling a caller voice call session to a telephone terminal of the caller after the callee voice call session is settled.
US08406401B2
In some embodiments, a method for interfacing an interactive voice response system with a business application comprises receiving a function call from an interactive voice response system. A first function is selected from a first function library in response to the function call. Using the first function, a request for information from a business application is posted to a memory. The request is retrieved from the memory. The information from the business application is retrieved in response to the request. A second function is selected from a second function library. The second function is executed to post the requested information to the memory. The requested information is retrieved from the memory and transmitted to the interactive voice response system.
US08406393B2
A system includes a switch responsive to a control module. The control module that determines whether an incoming telephone call from a telephone number to a telephone line is a facsimile call or a voice call and whether facsimile calls are authorized to be routed to the telephone line. When the incoming telephone call is a voice call, the control module instructs a switch to route the incoming telephone call to the telephone line. When the incoming telephone call is a voice call, the control module instructs the switch to route the incoming telephone call to the telephone line when facsimile calls are authorized, and to deny routing the incoming telephone call to the telephone line when facsimile calls are not authorized.
US08406382B2
A method includes registering a voice of a party in order to provide voice verification for communications with an entity. A call is received from a party at a voice response system. The party is prompted for information and verbal communication spoken by the party is captured. A voice model associated with the party is created by processing the captured verbal communication spoken by the party and is stored. The identity of the party is verified and a previously stored voice model of the party, registered during a previous call from the party, is updated. The creation of the voice model is imperceptible to the party.
US08406381B2
A method for providing law enforcement call preemption of VoIP subscribers may include receiving a call preemption request from a law enforcement agency (LEA) designating at least one subscriber telephone number and at least one LEA telephone number, wherein the at least one subscriber telephone number is associated with a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) calling plan subscriber. An incoming call policy may be generated at a voice application server and configured to allow incoming calls to the at least one subscriber telephone number from only the at least one LEA telephone number. The incoming call policy may be stored in a memory associated with the voice application server. The incoming call policy may be activated. An outgoing call transfer policy may be generated at the voice application server and configured to automatically transfer all outgoing calls from the at least one subscriber telephone number to a designated one of the at least one LEA telephone numbers. The outgoing call transfer policy may be stored in the memory associated with the voice application server. The outgoing call transfer policy may be activated.
US08406379B2
In one embodiment of the present invention, a curvature distribution crystal lens of the present invention is obtained via press-molding. In the case of a Ge single crystal plate, a temperature for the press-molding is in a range 1° C. to 120° C. lower than a melting point. In the case of a Si single crystal plate, a temperature for the press-molding is in a range 1° C. to 200° C. lower than a melting point. The curvature distribution crystal lens has a crystal lattice plane forming a 1D cylindrically curved surface or a 1D logarithmically curved surface whose valley is in a direction perpendicular to a direction having a maximum curvature, the direction having the maximum curvature being within 30° from a [001] or [1-10] direction in a (110) plane. As a result, it is possible to make an integrated reflection intensity uniform and to make a half-value width uniform in a wide range. Consequently, it is possible to achieve a curvature distribution crystal lens having a wide incident angle range and a high light focusing accuracy.
US08406373B2
A method and imaging system for operating imaging computed tomography using a radiation source and a plurality of detectors to generate an image of an object. The method includes: defining a desired image characteristics; and performing calculations to determine the pattern of fluence to be applied by the radiation source, to generate said desired image quality or characteristics. Then, the radiation source is modulated, to generate the intended pattern of fluence between the beam source and the object to be imaged. The desired image characteristics can comprise at least one of desired levels of contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and may provide at least one of: desired image quality in at least one defined region of interest; and at least one desired distribution of said image quality.
US08406371B1
Programmable divider circuitry is disclosed that utilizes two cascaded divider cells to generate division ratios from 4 to 7 and utilizes an output signal from one of the divider cells to sample and synchronize the divider output signal. The operation of the programmable divider circuitry improves the consistency of duty cycles generated across the different division ratios. Further techniques are also applied to make more consistent the duty cycles depending upon the division ratio selected.
US08406369B2
Provided is a fuel assembly 1 for a PWR nuclear reactor capable of stably creating transverse flows of coolant for pressing and securing control rods so as to restrain vibration of the control rods in order to restrain the outer surfaces of the control rods and the inner surfaces of control rod guide tubes from being worn, wherein an upper nozzle arranged above the fuel assembly comprises an adapter plate 6 constituting the lower structure of the upper nozzle, a side wall extended along the periphery of the adapter plate, an overhang projected into a space above the adapter plate from the upper part of the side wall, and apertures for attaching control guide tubes and passage holes, which are formed in the passage surface of the adapter plate, and wherein those 15A, 15B, 15C of the passage holes which are located at positions where the coolant impinges upon the overhang are generally arranged, line-symmetric with respect to diagonal lines of the passage surface serving as symmetric axes Q, and ligaments 21, 23 around the passage holes located inside and outside of those 11a of the attaching apertures which are located on the outer peripheral side are set to be larger than ligaments 22 around the passage holes which are located on opposite transverse sides of those of the attaching apertures.
US08406367B2
An information apparatus switches a display at a predetermined area which includes at least a part of a portion where an electromagnetic-wave emitting unit used for data communications with a data storage device is disposed, according to data communication processing with the data storage device, and emits sound generated according to the processing at corresponding timing.
US08406366B2
Disclosed herein is a synchronization circuit including: a first phase-locked loop circuit; a second phase-locked loop circuit; a first output circuit; a second output circuit; a first detection circuit; a second detection circuit; and a control circuit.
US08406362B2
A communication device includes a current information storage unit 130 that stores the bit boundary signal at each of timings at which a sampling clock is updated, a past information storage unit 140 that takes in and stores a signal stored in the current information storage unit 130 when a variation point of a reception signal is detected, and does not update a signal stored therein when no variation point of the reception signal is detected, and a clock selection unit 44 that selects CLKSEL2 used for the sampling of the reception signal from N-phase clocks based on a signal stored in the current information storage unit 130 when a variation point of the reception signal is detected, and selects CLKSEL3 based on a signal stored in the past information storage unit 140 when no variation point of the reception signal is detected.
US08406358B1
A radio frequency (RF) apparatus has a receiver. The receiver includes a mixer, a clock generator, and a common mode controller. The clock generator couples to the mixer. The common mode controller couples to the outputs of mixer. The mixer, the clock generator and the common mode controller are operated collectively to program linearity and a gain of the receiver.
US08406344B2
A compensator unit compensates frequency-dependent imbalance between a sampled in-phase and a sampled quadrature phase signal. The compensator unit includes a delay channel (381) and a filter channel (382). The delay channel (381) delays an intermediate signal x(t), which is obtained by superposition of the sampled in-phase and quadrature phase signals, by an integer multiple greater than zero. The filter channel (382) includes a filter (320) with a complex conjugated block (321) and with variable filter coefficients determined on base of autocorrelation function values of the intermediate signal x(t). The filter coefficients are determined such that the complementary autocorrelation of a compensator output signal y(t) is minimized for the filter span.
US08406343B2
Methods and systems to resolve cyclic ambiguity of a scattered-pilot based channel impulse response as a function of transmission parameter signalling (TPS), such as in a single frequency network, including to zero-pad a first orientation of the channel impulse response to an interval of an effective symbol duration of the multi-carrier signal, compute a channel frequency response from the zero-padded first orientation of the channel impulse response, and correlate components of the channel frequency response corresponding to frequencies of TPS carriers with raw channel frequency response data of obtained from the TPS carriers. Frequency response components of multiple zero-padded orientations of the channel impulse response may be correlated with the raw TPS carrier data to identify an optimum orientation of the channel impulse response. Frequency response components of subsequent zero-padded orientations may be iteratively computed from components of preceding orientations.
US08406338B2
M/H Groups each begin with a respective trellis-initialization of 2/3 trellis coding used as inner convolutional coding of concatenated convolutional coding (CCC). Concluding each M/H Group with another trellis-initialization of 2/3 trellis coding terminates the inner convolutional coding of the CCC properly, facilitating bi-directional decoding thereof. Properly terminating the inner convolutional coding of the CCC also facilitates wrap-around turbo decoding of that M/H Group beginning after the earlier training sequence with known 8VSB symbols and concluding with the trellis-initialization of 2/3 trellis coding before that earlier training sequence. At least one further trellis-initialization of 2/3 trellis coding can be inserted into an M/H Group for splitting it into first and second portions that can be decoded separately and that can be efficiently packed by portions of RS Frames employing transverse Reed-Solomon codes of a standard length.
US08406337B2
A DC-balanced signal is imposed on the input of a transmission line. Prior to imposing the DC-balanced signal, the input of the transmission line is held at an intermediate DC level that intermediate between the maximum and minimum DC levels of the DC-balanced signal. Alternatively, a compensating pulse is additionally imposed on the input of the transmission line. The compensating pulse compensates for a change in the DC level at the output of the transmission line caused by the imposing of the DC-balanced signal on the input of the transmission line.
US08406334B1
In one embodiment, a circuit for matrix decomposition is provided. The circuit includes an input circuit for receiving a first matrix. A permutation circuit is coupled to the input circuit and configured to interchange columns of the first matrix according to a selected permutation to produce a second matrix. A systolic array is coupled to the permutation circuit and configured to perform QR decomposition of the second matrix to produce a third matrix and a fourth matrix. A reverse permutation circuit is coupled to the systolic array and configured to interchange rows of the third matrix according to an inverse of the selected permutation to produce a first factor matrix and interchange rows of the fourth matrix according to the inverse of the selected permutation to produce a second factor matrix.
US08406332B2
Information transmission in a multiple-input multiple-output (“MIMO”) wireless communication system is provided. In one embodiment, a method for transmitting information in a MIMO wireless communication system, comprising updating channel quality information (“CQI”) values of a plurality of wireless devices, wherein updating said CQI values consider the effects of interference from transmissions to those wireless devices associated with a pre-assigned companion codeword set; pairing said plurality of wireless devices using at least said CQI values, a precoding matrix index (“PMI”) value and said pre-assigned companion codeword set, wherein said pre-assigned companion codeword set, pre-assigned companion codewords associated with said pre-assigned companion codeword set and said PMI value are updated for each of said plurality of wireless devices; precoding the information for each of said plurality of wireless devices using said PMI value; and transmitting said precoded information to each of said plurality of wireless devices.
US08406321B2
In a digital signal transmission method according to the present invention, when N1 is the number of code multiplexes of a first transmit block including an information bit and part of a parity bit, and N2 is the number of code multiplexes of a subsequent transmit block including the remaining parity bit, a spread multiplexer 104 performs spread multiplexing of each block in a relationship of N1>N2.
US08406317B2
The invention relates in particular to a method of adjusting power spectral densities of a plurality of telecommunications lines sending data in a plurality of frequency sub-bands, a power spectral density being assigned to each sub band sending data. The method comprises the following steps: selecting at least one line, called the donor line, whose capacity for sending data is higher than a predetermined reference capacity, selecting at least one sub band of said donor line, and reducing the power spectral density assigned to the selected sub band to a predefined minimum power level in said sub band.
US08406305B2
The invention relates to a method for creating an interpolated image between a previous image and a current image in a video stream. The invention also relates to an image processing system for creating an interpolated image between a previous image and a current image in a video stream. The invention is based on the following principle: a motion estimator generates at least two vector fields, one at a temporal position smaller then 1A, and another at a temporal position greater than 1A. Then occlusion detection is done to detect covering and uncovering areas. A first vector is fetched from the first vector field and a second vector is fetched from the second vector field. If there is covering, the up-conversion vector is the second vector; if there is uncovering, the up-conversion vector is the first vector; if there is no uncovering-covering, the up-conversion may be either the first vector or the second vector. In this way, the up-conversion vector points at the correct original segment values in the previous image and the current image.
US08406304B2
A motion estimator includes a shape, address and vector generator to produce control signals according to a selected size and shape of a search area comprising scan lines. A variable delay reads reference image data of a frame in which a matching macroblock is sought from a store under control of a variable delay control signal from the signal generator to align a current serial input stream of a current scan line with a serial input stream of an immediately preceding scan line. The aligned reference image pixel data is matched against pixel data of a current macroblock using a vector from the signal generator to produce a score representing a quality of the match. A best score together with the corresponding best vector is recorded and the best vector output.
US08406296B2
In general, this disclosure relates to techniques for adaptively determining a rate for intra-coding segments (e.g., macro-blocks) of video data within a sequence of video units (e.g., frames) in response to the receipt of error feedback that is provided by a video decoder. One example method includes receiving feedback from a video decoder that indicates an error associated with coded video data, and, upon receipt of the feedback, determining a rate for intra-coding a specified number of segments of video data for each video unit within a sequence of video units, wherein an intra-coding of segments of video data within one video unit is independent of a coding of segments of video data within other video units within the sequence.
US08406292B2
A moving picture editing apparatus includes a picture extracting unit that extracts pictures of a predetermined range including a picture subsequent to a coupling point from encoded data to be coupled; an adjustment-information generating unit that generates adjustment information for adjusting values of information to be continuous from/to inside to/from outside the predetermined range upon decoding, from among information included in headers of the pictures of the predetermined range extracted by the picture extracting unit; and a re-encoding unit that adds the adjustment information generated by the adjustment-information generating unit to the headers of the pictures of the predetermined range extracted by the picture extracting unit, and re-encodes the pictures of the predetermined range.
US08406287B2
A coding device having a judgment unit configured to judge whether or not a GOP is a GOP where GOP unit flicker is readily visible in an image decoded after encoded the GOP, for each of GOPs forming image data to be coded, and a coding unit configured to apply processing for suppressing the GOP unit flicker when the judgment unit judges that the GOP is a GOP where flicker is readily visible.
US08406276B2
Methods for code-division multiplex communications. The methods involve generating orthogonal or statistically orthogonal chaotic spreading codes (CSC1, . . . , CSCK) using different sets of polynomial equations (f0(x(nT)), . . . , fN-1(x(nT))), different constant values (C0, C1, . . . , CN-1) for the polynomial equations, or different sets of relatively prime numbers (p0, p1, . . . , pN-1) as modulus (m0, m1, . . . , mN-1) in solving the polynomial equations. The methods also involve forming spread spectrum communications signals using the orthogonal or statistically orthogonal chaotic spreading codes, respectively. The method further involve concurrently transmitting the spread spectrum communications signals over a common RF frequency band.
US08406265B2
An optoelectronic component (1) is specified, comprising a semiconductor body (2) with a semiconductor layer sequence. The semiconductor layer sequence of the semiconductor body (2) comprises a pump region (3) provided for generating a pump radiation and an emission region (4) provided for generating an emission radiation. The emission region (4) and the pump region (3) are arranged one above the other. The pump radiation optically pumps the emission region (4) during operation of the optoelectronic component (1). The emission radiation emerges from the semiconductor body (2) with the semiconductor layer sequence in a lateral direction during operation of the optoelectronic component (1).
US08406263B2
A laser diode read driver includes a first transistor producing a first voltage in response to receiving a first current signal. A transconductor has a first input coupled to receive the first voltage and produces a second current signal in response to differences between signals received on the first input and a second input. A second transistor is coupled to the second input and produces a third current signal in response to receiving the second current signal. A third transistor is coupled to the second transistor and the second input and produces an output current signal in response to receiving the third current signal. The first transistor is scaled to the first transistor by the inverse of a gain factor. First and second resistors are coupled between the first and third transistors and a low voltage supply, and are scaled to each other by the gain factor.
US08406257B2
A method and system for synchronizing the rendering of content at various rendering devices. Each rendering device has a device time and a rendering time. The synchronization system designates one of the rendering devices as a master rendering device and designates all other rendering devices as slave rendering devices. Each slave rendering device adjusts the rendering of its content to keep it in synchronization with the rendering of the content at the master rendering device. The master rendering device sends a message with its rendering time and corresponding device time to the slave rendering devices. Each slave rendering device, upon receiving the message from the master rendering device, determines whether it is synchronized with the master rendering time. If not, the slave rendering device adjusts the rendering of its content to compensate for the difference between the master rendering time and the slave rendering time.
US08406251B2
In an RF communication system, aspects for processing multipath clusters may comprise tracking a plurality of received clusters of signals and estimating a phase and amplitude of at least a portion of each of the plurality of received clusters of signals. Each of the plurality of received clusters of signals may be specified in time and an aggregate of received signal paths in a single cluster for a single base station may be processed. At least one cluster path processor may be assigned to process the plurality of received clusters of signals from each transmitting antenna at a single base station. At least one cluster path processor may be assigned to each of a plurality of base stations that are utilized for soft handoff.
US08406245B2
A method of transmitting content to a wireless display device is disclosed. The method may include receiving multimedia data, encoding the multimedia data, and writing encoded multimedia data into a first predetermined memory location of a shared memory. Further, the method may include encapsulating the encoded multimedia data and writing encapsulation data into a second predetermined memory location of the shared memory. The method may also include calculating error control encoding and writing the error control encoding into a third predetermined memory location of the shared memory. Further, the method may include transmitting the encoded multimedia data, the encapsulation data, and the error control encoding to the wireless display device.
US08406240B2
A method of avoiding packet fragmentation. The method includes receiving a data packet belonging to a data connection, determining whether the received data packet was fragmented or determining whether the received data packet is expected to be fragmented on the way to its destination and registering the data connection of the received packet in a list of connections that carried packets that were fragmented or were expected to be fragmented.
US08406228B2
A message generating arrangement determines whether a first communication terminal of a communication system can participate, by means of packet-switching network elements of the communication system, in a communication link in which a second communication terminal of the communication system is participating by means of circuit-switching network elements of the communication system, and generates a message on the basis of the result of the determination.
US08406219B2
A networking device and content transmitting method using the same are provided. The networking device includes a transmission path determining unit to determine a transmission path in order to transmit predetermined content to a device having requested the content, a priority determining unit to determine the priority of the content to be transmitted via the determined transmission path, and a content transmitting unit to transmit the concerned content via the determined transmission path according to the determined priority.
US08406212B2
A robust header compression (ROHC) controller provides for service flow processing of a ROHC channel in a WiMAX wireless communication system. The ROHC controller controls the negotiations of the MS ROHC capabilities during its registration and the negotiations of the ROHC channel parameters during ROHC enabled service flow setup; the MS ROHC capabilities including ROHC compression and decompression capabilities and ROHC channel and feedback strategies; the channel parameter negotiation covers the ROHC profile set and feedback channel information in addition to the 16e/12D standard. The ROHC controller receives a service flow request for a ROHC enabled service flow, wherein the request includes a QoS profile.
US08406209B2
A method of power control in a wireless communications system wherein blocks are transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver via a wireless transmission channel. The method comprises comparing a target signal quality value with a received signal quality value and providing the results of the comparing step to the transmitter to adjust transmit power based on the comparing step. The target signal quality value is set by the following steps: determining an initial target value; determining if received blocks have been successfully decoded; identifying the received blocks as pass or fail blocks; when pass blocks are received, comparing the target signal quality value with the received signal quality value and decreasing the target value only if the target value is greater than the received signal quality value less a margin.
US08406200B2
Techniques to schedule terminals for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink in a MIMO-OFDM system based on the spatial and/or frequency “signatures” of the terminals. A scheduler forms one or more sets of terminals for possible (downlink or uplink) data transmission for each of a number of frequency bands. One or more sub-hypotheses may further be formed for each hypothesis, with each sub-hypothesis corresponding to (1) specific assignments of transmit antennas to the terminal(s) in the hypothesis (for the downlink) or (2) a specific order for processing the uplink data transmissions from the terminal(s) (for the uplink). The performance of each sub-hypothesis is then evaluated (e.g., based on one or more performance metrics). One sub-hypothesis is then selected for each frequency band based on the evaluated performance, and the one or more terminals in each selected sub-hypothesis are then scheduled for data transmission on the corresponding frequency band.
US08406187B2
Provided is a WiBro/WiMAX dynamic bandwidth allocation system. The dynamic bandwidth allocation system according to the present invention enables instant band change and allocation in variable channel environment by disposing a plurality of BPFs each having a different pass band and selectively using the BPFs in order to dynamically allocate bands according to an occupancy state of a current channel detected around a system. Therefore, the transmission quality can be improved.
US08406180B2
A method of performing a random access procedure in a wireless communication system includes transmitting a random access preamble, receiving a random access response from a network as a response to the random access preamble, transmitting a connection request message comprising information on a temporary identifier, and receiving a contention resolution message from the network. The temporary identifier is randomly generated and the contention resolution message is addressed to the temporary identifier. Contentions between user equipments can be resolved through a temporary identifier occupying less radio resources in a random access procedure.
US08406174B2
A method for pruning perimeter walks includes: hashing a name or attributes of an event, when the event occurs, to figure out a destination location of the event; performing greedy forwarding of geographic routing so as to send a packet of the event towards the destination location; checking a distance D between the destination location and a current node where a packet transmission using greedy forwarding mode is impossible, when the packet reaches the current node; checking distances between the destination location and respective neighboring nodes of the current node to obtain a neighboring node having a minimum distance M, when the distance D between the current node and the destination location is same or less than half of radio transmission range; comparing the minimum distance M to the distance D; and determining which node is a rendezvous node, according to the comparison result.
US08406172B2
A mobile communications system includes a radio access network, such as an Enhanced General Packet Radio Service (EGPRS) network, in which mobile stations are able to enter into a discontinuous transmission (DTX) mode. During DTX mode of a first mobile station that is allocated a channel portion (e.g., a time slot of a frame), the radio access network is able to multiplex traffic from another mobile station onto the same channel portion. A mechanism is provided to enable the first mobile station to send a request for re-allocation of the channel portion. The request includes a real-time fast access associated control channel (RTFACCH) resource request message (RTRRM). In response to the RTRRM, the radio access network sends an RTFACCH resource assignment message (RTUAM). An interleaving scheme is also provided for half-rate mobile stations, in which one set of traffic frames are interleaved over plural bursts according to a first algorithm and a second set of traffic frames are interleaved over plural bursts according to a second algorithm.
US08406165B2
Magnetic field communication methods and apparatuses are performed by the coordinator and node of a magnetic field area network, respectively. The method which is performed by the coordinator includes: (a) sending a request packet requesting association with a network, disassociation from a network, network association state checking, data transmission, or group address setting, (b) receiving response packets, (c) selecting one or more response packets from among the received response packets, (d) sending a response acknowledgement packet to nodes corresponding to the selected response packets, (e) receiving response packets resent by nodes which have not received the sent response acknowledgement packet, (f) selecting one or more response packets from among the response packets received at (e), and (g) sending a response acknowledgement packet to nodes corresponding to the response packets selected at (f).
US08406162B2
A transmitter transmits time synchronized data via a pager/WiMax/802.x access to a receiver system, wherein the receiver system is programmed to receive data for specific geographic locations. The geographic locations may be specified by the user or by the receiver system, and includes state, zip codes, towns, counties, towns, or cardinal regions. The receiver is able to find its location when outside its cell region and is able to synchronize to the data transmitted in the new cell region. Further, the receiver system is able to remotely monitor weather data and other information at a different location via wireless Internet or voice over IP. A transceiver may also be used to receive weather or alert data. In response to receiving data, the transceiver transmits the data to low powered devices in a house using a different frequency band than the frequency band it received the data.
US08406161B2
A timing adjustment method for use in a multi-hop communication system is provided. The method includes transmitting information in a first labelled interval from a first apparatus along a plurality of consecutive links of a path via one or more intermediate apparatuses to a second apparatus, said information including a reference to a particular one of said labelled intervals and the transmission of that information incurring a delay such that the transmitted information, or information derived therefrom, is received by said second apparatus in a second labelled interval a number of such intervals after the first labelled interval. The method also includes adjusting said reference to form an adjusted reference referring to a further labelled interval the or another number of such intervals before or after the particular labelled interval.
US08406158B2
Method for transmitting through a bidirectional communication channel at least one conventional frame (CVFR) split into time slots SLI (for j=1 to L) separated from each other by guard intervals G, each time slot SLI being allocated either to a first or to a second direction of communication uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) offered by the bidirectional communication channel. The method according to the invention includes: detecting at least two successive time slots SLj, SLm+1, SLj+2 allocated to a same direction of communication DL, and inserting data in the guard interval separating such successive time slots SLj, SLj+1, SLj+2.
US08406155B1
The present disclosure includes a system and method for handling customer service requests in a virtual computing environment supporting multimedia interactions. In some embodiments, the system includes an automated management tool for receiving a customer service request from a client device, a server for establishing an individualized communication session, and a plurality of available resources capable of being connected to the individualized communication session. In some embodiments, the method includes receiving and establishing a connection between an automated management tool and a client device, receiving a customer service request from the client device, establishing an individualized communication session, and providing resources to the individualized communication session.
US08406153B2
In one embodiment, a node may request to join a parent node in a directed acyclic graph (DAG) in a computer network, and may also notify the parent node of a load associated with the request and whether the node has any other parent node options. The requesting node may then receive a response from the parent node that is either an acceptance or a denial. While the node may join the parent node in response to an acceptance, if a denial is received, the node may divide the load into first and second portions, and may re-request to join the parent node with the load of the first portion. In this manner, by partitioning the load, a load balancing mode of operation across multiple is parents in a DAG is provided.
US08406149B1
A method for the identification of potential internet service customers is provided. The method includes receiving a first internet traffic data for an internet entity corresponding to a first amount of internet traffic exchanged with the internet entity over a first service provider network. The method also includes receiving a second internet traffic data for the internet entity corresponding to a second amount of internet traffic exchanged with the internet entity over a second service provider network. The method also includes determining a volume metric for the internet entity based at least in part on the first and second internet traffic data, determining whether the volume metric meets a criterion, and displaying an identity of the internet entity if the volume metric meets the criterion.
US08406145B2
A DSP checks the traffic on a control channel transmitted to each terminal, and obtains a total of traffic on the control channel for each remote radio unit. The DSP transforms a correlation matrix calculated in an analysis section to a partial orthogonal matrix subjected to partial orthogonalization. The DSP divides one or more remote radio units into the groups in accordance with the sequence of rows or columns of the partial orthogonal matrix so that the total traffic for each group in which the total of traffic is added for one or more remote radio units within the group may be less than or equal to a predetermined threshold, and stores the identification number of the remote radio unit for each group in a memory.
US08406132B2
In one embodiment, a method of monitoring a network. The method includes: receiving, from each host of a set of two or more hosts of the network, a corresponding vector of M components constructed based on data packets received at the host during a time period, M being an integer greater than 1; and, based on the constructed vectors, using an expectation-maximization algorithm to estimate a cardinality distribution for the hosts in the set, wherein constructing a vector includes updating a component of the vector of the corresponding host in response to the corresponding host receiving a data packet, the updating including selecting the component for updating by hashing one or more fields of the data packet received by the corresponding host.
US08406130B2
An information processing device which can communicate with an image processing device on a network is characterized by comprising a search indication unit for issuing a search indication for searching the image processing device on the network, a first transmission unit for transmitting a request for changing a power saving state of the image processing device on the network to a normal state in response to the search indication issued by the search indication unit, a second transmission unit for transmitting a search request for searching the image processing device after the request was transmitted by the first transmission unit, and a designation unit for designating a transmission range of the request transmitted by the first transmission unit, and characterized in that the second transmission unit transmits the search request to the transmission range designated by the designation unit.
US08406127B2
Precedence-based routing/rerouting algorithms or methods that work proactively and locally at each network node that engenders a collective restoral behavior that is uniquely rapid and anticipatory. The algorithms or methods are combined in a novel way with user precedence arbitration to provide superior performance in wireless dynamic ad hoc networks.
US08406122B2
Mesh access point fault reporting. In particular implementations, a method includes receiving a fault indication indicating one or more failures; collecting fault data related to the one or more failures or a state of the mesh access point; and passing the fault data to the RFID tag, which wirelessly transmits messages relating to the fault.
US08406121B2
In one aspect, a method for error detection in a packet-based message distribution system, according to which messages are distributed via a plurality of nodes and other system components, and each node comprises at least two addressable interfaces is provided. For the security of the system, the message distribution paths are designed in a redundant manner and redundancy paths are available in the message distribution system in the event of the breakdown of connections in the message distribution system. The invention topology of the message distribution system is known by the nodes, and the nodes check the accessibility of the other nodes by means of communication tests; interrogate intermediate system components by means of existing interfaces and in terms of the connection status thereof in relation to other nodes and/or system components, and signal optional error configurations, physical errors, and/or missing redundancy paths of the message distribution system.
US08406110B2
An objective lens element having excellent compatibility with optical discs having different base material thicknesses is provided. The objective lens element has optically functional surfaces on an incident side and an exit side. At least either one of the optically functional surfaces on the incident side and the exit side includes a diffraction portion which satisfies at least either one of the following formulas (1) and (2): θ1×θ2<0 (“×” represents multiplication) (1), (sin θ2)/λ22=−(sin θ1)/λ1 (2), where θ1 is the diffraction angle of a light beam having a diffraction order providing the maximum diffraction efficiency at the wavelength λ1, and θ2 is the diffraction angle of a light beam having a diffraction order providing the maximum diffraction efficiency at the wavelength λ2.
US08406109B2
An optical pickup apparatus is provided. Segmented regions included in a focus diffraction region includes focus segmented regions corresponding in number with different light emitted by a light source. Different focus segmented regions are arranged adjacent to each other alternately in a direction perpendicular to a parallel dividing line. Segmented regions included in a tracking diffraction region includes tracking segmented regions corresponding in number with different light emitted by the light source. Different tracking segmented regions are arranged adjacent to each other alternately in a direction perpendicular to the parallel dividing line.
US08406103B1
A data recovery device including a filter, a tilt detection unit, a tilt cancellation unit and a data conversion unit is provided. The filter filters a radio-frequency data stream to generate an original data stream. The tilt detection unit synthesizes a tangential push-pull data stream by employing a first to a fourth data streams, and generates a tilt direction signal according to symmetry of a curve composed by the tangential push-pull data stream. The tilt cancellation unit detects a plurality of rising areas and falling areas of the original data stream, and reconstructs a plurality of data points corresponding to the rising areas or falling areas in the original data stream so as to generate a tilt repair data stream. The data conversion unit recovers the tilt repair data stream to a modulation signal.
US08406090B2
An apparatus, system, and method for measuring thermally induced electric resistance changes in thermally assisted magnetic recording are disclosed for monitoring laser light output in thermally assisted magnetic recording disk drives. An electrical lead is coupled to a read/write head element. A first electrical resistance in the read/write head element is measured. The read/write head is heated by a laser and a second electrical resistance in the read/write head element is measured. The electrical resistance may be monitored at regular intervals when the read/write head element is on the ramp or the electrical resistance measurements may be continuously monitored as the read/write head flies over the magnetic media.
US08406086B2
An electronic timepiece can reduce a burden imposed on a user who performs a manipulation for correcting the positional displacement of a pointer when a position of the pointer is displaced due to the demonstration of the pointer movement. The electronic timepiece includes: a pointer which is rotated in a first direction based on a manipulation signal corresponding to a manipulation from the outside; and a control part which performs the demonstration of the pointer movement in which the pointer is rotated in a second direction opposite to the first direction and the first direction, wherein the pointer is positioned at a position where a rotational angle in the first direction from a preset reference position is smaller than a rotational angle in a second direction from the reference position.
US08406081B2
In at least some embodiments, the system obtains shot gathers for a survey region and migrates the shot gather data with an initial velocity model to obtain angle-domain common image gathers. The system processes the common image gathers to determine depth residuals and corresponding angle-dependent time deviations throughout a seismic survey region. The system solves a set of tomographic equations which employ ray theory to establish a relationship between a travel time deviation and the depth residual of a reflector in the depth-offset ray parameter (z,p) domain. The resulting updates are applied to the velocity model and can be used to re-migrate the shot gather data. The system generates a representation of the survey region that can be displayed to a user.
US08406076B2
A method and apparatus for reducing power consumption during an operation in a non-volatile storage device is disclosed. A non-volatile storage device controller that is in communication with a non-volatile memory in the non-volatile storage device receives a characteristic corresponding to a time duration required for the non-volatile memory to complete an operation. The controller disables a circuit that indicates when an operation by the non-volatile memory is complete. The controller then initiates the operation in the non-volatile memory, and maintains the circuit in a disabled state for a first predetermined time that is a portion of the time duration. The controller enables the circuit upon expiration of the first predetermined time and prior to the completion of the operation. The controller receives an indication of the completion of the operation via the circuit.
US08406069B2
A data writing method for an EEPROM in an electronic device is performed by a writing device. The electronic device includes a system unit generating a system voltage and a write-protection voltage. The writing device includes a processor stored with data to be written, and connected electrically to a connector with the same interface as that of an expansion connector of the electronic device. When the connector is connected electrically to the expansion connector, the processor generates a write-enable voltage greater than the system voltage upon receipt of the system voltage from the electronic device, and outputs the write-enable voltage to the system unit. The system unit raises the system voltage in response to the write-enable voltage such that the write-protection voltage is smaller than the raised system voltage to thereby enable the EEPROM to operate in a write state, where the processing unit writes the data into the EEPROM.
US08406066B2
According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell transistor, a word line, a row decoder, a sense amplifier which determines the data in the memory cell transistor via the bit line, a first bit line clamp transistor connected in series between the bit line and the sense amplifier, a second bit line clamp transistor connected in parallel to the first bit line clamp transistor and having a current driving capability higher than that of the first bit line clamp transistor, and a bit line control circuit which turns on the first bit line clamp transistor and the second bit line clamp transistor using a common gate voltage during a predetermined period from a start of charge of the bit line, and turns off only the second bit line clamp transistor when the predetermined period has elapsed.
US08406063B2
A process for programming non-volatile storage is able to achieve faster programming speeds and/or more accurate programming through synchronized coupling of neighboring word lines. The process for programming includes raising voltages for a set of word lines connected a group of connected non-volatile storage elements. The set of word lines include a selected word line, unselected word lines that are adjacent to the selected word line and other unselected word lines. After raising voltages for the set of word lines, the process includes raising the selected word line to a program voltage and raising the unselected word lines that are adjacent to the selected word line to one or more voltage levels concurrently with the raising the selected word line to the program voltage. The program voltage causes at least one of the non-volatile storage elements to experience programming.
US08406057B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor storage device includes a memory string, a bit line, a sense simplifier, a first MOS, a first charging-circuit, a second-charging circuit, and a controller. The memory string includes memory cells. The bit line is connected to the memory cell. The sense amplifier applies a voltage to the bit line. The first MOS is electrically connected between the sense amplifier and bit line. The first charging circuit has a first current supply capacity and transfers a first current. The second charging-circuit has a second current supply capacity. The controller controls a first timing to switch from the first current to the second current.
US08406048B2
Devices, systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with accessing memory using fractional reference voltage are described. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes comparison logic. The comparison logic compares a threshold voltage of a memory cell to at least one pair of fractional reference voltages to generate comparison results. The apparatus includes read logic to determine a bit value of the memory cell based, at least in part, on the comparison results.
US08406047B2
Memory devices and methods of operating memory devices are shown. Configurations described include a memory cell string having an elongated n type body region and having select gates with p type bodies. Configurations and methods shown can provide a reliable bias to a body region for memory operations such as erasing.
US08406045B1
Techniques and magnetic devices associated with a magnetic element are described that includes a presetting fixed layer having a presetting fixed layer magnetization, a free layer having a changeable free layer magnetization, and a fixed layer having a fixed layer magnetization, where a presetting current pulse applied between the presetting fixed layer and free layer operates to preset the free layer magnetization in advance of a write pulse. Techniques and magnetic devices associated with a magnetic element are described that includes a first terminal, a first magnetic tunnel junction, a second terminal, a second magnetic tunnel junction, and a third terminal, where a current pulse applied between the first and second terminal operate to switch the state of the first magnetic tunnel junction and a current applied between the second and third terminal operate to switch the state of the second magnetic tunnel junction.
US08406040B2
A magnetic tunnel junction stack including a pinned magnetic layer, a tunnel barrier layer formed of magnesium oxide (MgO), a free magnetic layer adjacent to the tunnel barrier layer, and a layer of vanadium (V) adjacent to the free magnetic layer.
US08406037B2
An apparatus including a first electrode; a second electrode including graphene; and a dielectric between the first electrode and the second electrode; input circuitry configured to change a charge state of the dielectric by causing electric charges to be trapped in the dielectric; and output circuitry configured to detect a value dependent upon a quantum capacitance of the graphene of the second electrode, wherein the quantum capacitance of the graphene is dependent upon the charge state of the dielectric.
US08406036B2
According to one embodiment, semiconductor memory device includes: semiconductor substrate; parallel first lines stacked on substrate; parallel second lines intersecting first lines; memory cell array including memory cells at intersections of first and second lines and each including variable resistance element and selecting element series-connected together; first control circuit provided in second region of substrate adjoining first region immediately under array; second control circuit provided in first region of substrate; and dummy lines formed in same layer as second lines, such that they intersect first lines in region above first control circuit. First control circuit applies first voltage to selected first line. Second control circuit applies second voltage lower than first voltage to selected second line, and to dummy lines, third voltage by which potential difference applied to memory cells at intersections of selected first line and dummy lines becomes lower than on-voltage of selecting element.
US08406032B2
Memory devices and methods of operating the same. A memory cell of a memory device may include a ferroelectric layer and a semiconductor layer bonded to each other. The ferroelectric layer may be of a p-type and the semiconductor layer may be of an n-type. The memory cell may have a switching characteristic due to a depletion region that exists in a junction between the ferroelectric layer and the semiconductor layer. The memory device may be a device writing data using a polarization change of the ferroelectric layer.
US08406029B2
In a memory device and in a method for controlling a memory device, the memory device comprises a magnetic structure that stores information in a plurality of domains of the magnetic structure. A read unit reads information from at least one of the plurality of domains of the magnetic structure by applying a read current to the magnetic structure. A position detector unit compares the information read by a read current from the read unit from multiple domains of the plurality of domains of the magnetic structure to identify the presence of an expected information pattern at select domains of the plurality of domains.
US08406027B2
The present disclosure includes devices, methods, and systems for programming memory, such as resistance variable memory. One embodiment can include an array of resistance variable memory cells, wherein the resistance variable memory cells are coupled to one or more data lines, a row decoder connected to a first side of the array, a column decoder connected to a second side of the array, wherein the second side is adjacent to the first side, a gap located adjacent to the row decoder and the column decoder, and clamp circuitry configured to control a reverse bias voltage associated with one or more unselected memory cells during a programming operation, wherein the clamp circuitry is located in the gap and is selectively coupled to the one or more data lines.
US08406023B2
Provided is a discharge loop for power supply and the active control circuit thereof for actively regulating the discharging operation of the discharge loop of the power supply. The inventive active control circuit is able to disallow the current to flow through the bleeder resistor of the discharge loop to cause power loss when the input power of the power supply is applying, and provide a fast discharge path for the bleeder resistor to expedite the discharging operation when the input power of the power supply is interrupted. Therefore, the inventive active control circuit is able to reduce the power loss of the power supply and enhance the power efficiency of the power supply.
US08406019B2
A method of providing reactive power support is proposed. The method includes detecting at least one of a plurality of network parameters in a distributed solar power generation system. The generation system includes a plurality of photovoltaic modules coupled to a grid via inverters. The method further includes sensing a state of the photovoltaic modules coupled to the distributed solar power generation system and determining a reactive power measure based upon the sensed state and the detected network parameters. The reactive power measure is used to generate a reactive power command. The reactive power command is further used to compensate reactive power in the distributed solar power generation system.
US08406018B2
The present invention is to provide a series resonant converter with an overload delay and short-circuit protection mechanism, which includes a voltage sensing circuit for sensing a voltage ripple level on a primary side of a transformer thereof, that corresponds to a load on a secondary side of the transformer, and generating and sending a DC detection level to an overload delay circuit and a short-circuit protection circuit thereof accordingly. The overload delay circuit and the short-circuit protection circuit are able control the converter through a resonant controller chip to output different currents according to magnitude of the load on the secondary side and maintain stable operation for a predetermined delay time even if the secondary side is overloaded, however, once the secondary side is short-circuited, the converter is turned off instantly. Thus, the converter is effectively prevented from damage which may otherwise result from sustained overload or short circuit.
US08406012B2
In a flat panel display (FPD), a conductive heat proof plate is inserted between the back surface of a display panel, on which printed circuit boards (PCBs) and signal lines are formed, and signal lines. A back frame positioned on the back surface of the display panel is provided to cover the printed circuit boards and the signal lines. A shield can is formed in the internal surface region of the back frame corresponding to the printed circuit board on which a timing controller is mounted. The shield can is electrically coupled to the heat proof plate to improve resistance against the electromagnetic compatibility of a large flat panel display and to improve a thermal characteristic.
US08406010B2
A fixing apparatus includes a bottom wall, a circuit board, and a supporting member. The circuit board is mounted on the bottom wall, with a space defined between the circuit board and the bottom wall. A connector is installed on the circuit board adjacent to an end of the circuit board, to be electrically connected to the electronic device. The supporting member is supported on the bottom wall. A first end of the supporting member is inserted into the space between the circuit board and the bottom wall, and engages with the circuit board. A second end of the supporting member is exposed out of the end of the circuit board adjacent to the connector, to support the electronic device.
US08406005B2
A printed circuit board includes first and second transmission lines connected to a first high speed differential signal control chip, third and fourth transmission lines connected to a second high speed differential signal control chip, and fifth and sixth transmission lines connected to a connector pad. To have the first high speed differential signal control chip communicate with the connector pad, the first transmission line is connected to the fifth transmission line through a first connection component, and the second transmission line is connected to the sixth transmission line through a second connection component. To have the second speed differential signal control chip communicate with the connector pad, the third transmission line is connected to the fifth transmission line through the first connection component, and the fourth transmission line is connected to the sixth transmission line through the second connection component.
US08406000B2
An example key fob assembly includes a circuit board having a plurality of circuits in the keypad having a plurality of coupled buttons closing the plurality of circuits. A reinforcement member secures to a key fob housing between the circuit board and the keypad. The circuit board abuts the reinforcement member.
US08405999B2
A flexible wiring board includes a first flexible base material with a conductor pattern formed thereon, a second flexible base material disposed adjacent to the first flexible base material and an insulating layer covering the first flexible base material and the second flexible base material. The insulating layer exposes at least one portion of the first flexible base material. A conductor pattern is formed on the insulating layer, and a plating layer is provided connecting the conductor pattern of the first flexible base material and the conductor pattern on the insulating layer.
US08405997B2
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes an enclosure, printed wiring board, electronic component, fan, duct, fin assembly, and heat pipe. The enclosure has an exhaust port in a sidewall thereof. The electronic component is mounted on the printed wiring board. The fan is placed in the vicinity of the exhaust port. The duct guides an airflow generated by the fan to the exhaust port. The fin assembly constituted of a plurality of fins, is arranged between an exit of the duct and the exhaust port, and includes an extension portion. A part of the extension portion extends to a range configured to overhang the printed wiring board.
US08405994B2
A heat dissipating member is formed so as to be opposed to a reflection type liquid crystal panel. The heat dissipating member includes a heat receiving portion that is opposed to a reflection type light modulation element and has a heat receiving surface for receiving heat from the element, a heat dissipating fin that dissipates heat received on the heat receiving portion to the outside. The heat receiving portion has heat receiving convexes which project to the side at which the element is arranged from the heat receiving surface, and the convexes are formed such that ratios of areas of tip surfaces of the heat receiving convexes with respect to a unit area are larger on a center portion of a heat reception acceleration region rather than on an end of the heat reception acceleration region.
US08405992B2
A power-electronic arrangement comprising semiconductor components (102, 103, 107), a heat exchanger (110), and an electrically conductive element (109) is presented. The heat exchanger comprises evaporator channels (111) and condenser channels (112) for working fluid. The electrically conductive element comprises a contact surface providing a thermal contact to outer surfaces of walls of the evaporator channels for transferring heat from the electrically conductive element to the evaporator channels. A main current terminal of each semiconductor component is bonded to the electrically conductive element which thus forms a part of a main current circuitry of a power system. As the main current terminal is directly bonded to the electrically conductive element cooled with the heat exchanger, the temperature gradients inside the semiconductor components can be kept moderate, and thus the temperatures inside the semiconductor components can be limited.
US08405990B2
A blower includes a fan, an inlet through which air is drawn into the fan, and an outlet through which an air flow from the fan is exhausted. The inlet and the outlet have slits with a specific width or an array of through holes with a specific diameter. The relationship A
US08405972B2
An expansion card holding structure for portable electronic device includes a sliding tray and a computer enclosure. The sliding tray includes a receiving portion for receiving an expansion card. The sliding tray defines an opening allowing a connector of the expansion card to extend through. The computer enclosure includes an expansion slot. The sliding tray is slidably attached to the computer enclosure.
US08405960B2
Disclosed is a wall-mountable display apparatus that is simple in structure and excellent in withstand load. In an inner central portion of a rear cover of the display apparatus, a boss bulged towards a display panel is formed integrally with the cover, with a distal end of the boss being fixedly coupled to a base chassis in such a manner that the boss end is opposed to part of the base chassis. The boss is formed in a substantially central position of a mounting region defined by four mounting holes to which wall-mounting metallic fixtures are to be mounted. Alternatively, the boss is formed in a substantially central position of the mounting region in a horizontal direction.
US08405959B2
An vertical positioning unit for an image display unit includes an elastic member having a biasing part extended in a length direction of the vertical positioning unit to constantly exert an elastic force in a direction across a moving direction of a sliding member which is mounted to a stand member to be movable up and down. Accordingly, a slim structure of the stand member may be achieved.
US08405952B2
A stun gun with finger grip is disclosed. The stun gun is configured to fit and be held firmly within a palm of a user's hand and easily gripped with the user's fingers. A trigger is disposed within a finger grip aperture of a front housing and rear housing of the stun gun, where the trigger causes the stun gun to discharge an electric shock through electrodes mounted above the finger grip aperture to stun an assailant. The finger grip aperture is configured and placed on the stun gun to receive the user's finger therein when the stun gun is being gripped by the user's hand. The finger grip aperture protects the user's finger and prevents the assailant from easily dislodging the stun gun from the user's hand. The user's finger may be placed completely through the finger grip aperture to provide a firm grip on the stun gun. In addition, in a struggle with the assailant, the user's finger can remain firmly on the trigger and continue to depress the trigger to repeatedly shock the assailant.
US08405951B2
An apparatus for tandem cleaning of an emitter electrode and collector electrode in electrohydrodynamic fluid accelerator and precipitator devices via movement of a cleaning mechanism including respective cleaning surfaces positioned to frictionally engage the emitter electrode and collector electrode. The cleaning mechanism causes the respective cleaning surfaces to travel along a longitudinal extent of the emitter electrode and, in tandem, over a major dimension of the collector electrode to remove detrimental material from respective electrode surfaces. Alternatively, the electrodes can be transited in tandem in frictional engagement with a fixed cleaning mechanism in the same or opposite directions. A conditioning material is optionally deposited on an electrode to at least partially mitigate ozone, erosion, corrosion, oxidation, or dendrite formation on the electrodes. The conditioning material can include an ozone reducer.
US08405938B2
A power supply module includes a rectifying and filtering unit, a pulse width modulation (PWM) unit, a voltage transforming unit, a sampling and comparing unit, and an overvoltage protection unit. The rectifying and filtering unit receives an alternating current (AC) voltage, and generates a filtered primary DC voltage. The PWM unit is configured for generating pulses. The voltage transforming unit transforms the filtered primary DC voltage into the DC voltage according to the pulses. The sampling and comparing unit samples the DC voltage, and generates an overvoltage signal when the sampled DC voltage exceeds a predetermined DC voltage. The overvoltage protection unit is coupled between the sampling and comparing unit and the PWM unit. According to the overvoltage signal, the overvoltage protection unit generates a first control signal to disable the PWM unit, and the overvoltage protection unit is self-locked.
US08405935B2
A magnetoresistive effect element (MR element) includes first and second magnetic layers of which relative angles formed by magnetization directions change in relation to an external magnetic field; and a spacer layer positioned between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer. The first magnetic layer is positioned on a side closer than the second magnetic layer in regards to a substrate above which the magnetoresistive effect element is formed, and the spacer layer includes a main spacer layer made of gallium oxide as the primary component, and a first nonmagnetic layer positioned between the main spacer layer and the first magnetic layer and contains copper and gallium.
US08405931B2
A magnetic writer includes a write pole configured such that the easy magnetic axis is parallel to the vertical length direction of the write pole tip and to the ABS of the recording media. The write pole tip can be a multilayer structure comprising alternating magnetic and nonmagnetic layers with a planar orientation substantially perpendicular to the ABS and with magnetic anisotropy parallel to the vertical length direction of the write pole tip. The alternating magnetic and nonmagnetic layers may be formed by electroplating on a conformal seedlayer in a trench, or by static off axis physical vapor deposition.
US08405930B1
A method and system for providing a magnetic recording head is described. The magnetic recording head has an ABS configured to reside in proximity to a media during use. The magnetic recording head includes a main pole, first and second auxiliary poles, a backgap, a nonmagnetic spacer, and at least one coil. The main pole includes a pole tip occupying a portion of the ABS and a back edge distal from the ABS. Each auxiliary pole has a front recessed from the ABS and a back portion. A portion of the main pole distal from the ABS resides between the auxiliary poles. The auxiliary poles are magnetically coupled with the main pole. The backgap magnetically couples the back portions of the auxiliary poles. The nonmagnetic spacer adjoins the back edge of the main pole and is between the auxiliary poles. The coil(s) energize the main pole.
US08405929B2
An information storage system including an enclosure, a rotating data storage medium including a surface, a slider including an ABS and an airborne oxidizable contaminant disposed in the enclosure. The system also includes an antioxidant absorbed onto the surface of the data storage medium. The antioxidant inhibits oxidation of the oxidizable contaminants at an interface between the ABS and the rotating data storage medium.
US08405928B1
Methods, apparatuses, and systems implementing analog techniques to decode signals extracted from servo wedges of computer-readable storage media. A digital representation of at least a portion of a repeatable runout (RRO) signal derived from an analog signal read from a computer-readable storage medium is obtained. An estimate of a magnitude of the RRO signal is determined based on the digital representation. An error signal is generated to represent a difference between the estimate of the magnitude and a specified level of the magnitude of the RRO signal, and a gain value is configured, based on the error signal, for decoding a signal from the computer-readable storage medium.
US08405924B2
A method and apparatus are disclosed for detecting an address mark in a data stream having a preamble followed by the address mark. The end of the preamble is detected in the data stream, which is then used to open a window to search for the address mark. If the address mark is not detected during the window, the search for the address mark is restarted. The window can have a duration based on a length of the address mark. The address mark can be, for example, a servo address mark following a servo preamble or a read address mark following a read preamble. The preamble can have a 2T pattern and the preamble can be detected by determining if energy associated with a 2T frequency is greater than energy associated with a non-2T frequency. The end of the preamble can be performed by an EndOf2T detector that detects a break in an expected bit pattern.
US08405918B2
The present disclosure provides a zoom lens, wherein a first lens group having a negative refractive power, a second lens group having a positive refractive power, and a third lens group having the positive refractive power are disposed from an object side to an image side in order; and when a zooming state is changed from a wide angle end state to a telescopic end state, at least the first lens group and the second lens group are movable.
US08405913B2
An anamorphic projection optical system is disclosed that takes in a relatively low intensity two-dimensional light field, and anamorphically images and concentrates the light field to generate a substantially one-dimensional, high intensity line image extending in a process direction on an imaging surface. The optical system includes a process-direction optical subsystem formed by one or more cylindrical/acylindrical lenses in an all-refractive arrangement, or a combination of cylindrical/acylindrical lenses and mirrors to generate the line image with sufficient energy, for example, to evaporate fountain solution from the imaging surface. The anamorphic optical system also includes a cross-process-direction optical subsystem formed by one or more cylindrical/acylindrical lenses and an optional cylindrical/acylindrical field lens to image the modulated light field in the cross-process direction.The anamorphic projection optical system facilitates simultaneously generating multiple pixel images of the line image, thus facilitating a printing at 1200 dpi or greater.
US08405908B2
A shade assembly for a display panel is provided. The shade assembly includes a frame having a plurality of elongate support members. Each support member has a flange on a first end thereof for being receivably engaged in a recess defined in the panel. A cover is slideably received by the plurality of elongate support members for shielding indirect light from the display panel.
US08405902B2
An imaging apparatus includes an image sensor, a first optical member disposed ahead of a front of the image sensor, a second optical member disposed between the first optical member and the image sensor, and a holder. The holder elastically retains the first optical member and retains the second optical member so that the second optical member is opposed to the elastically retained first optical member. The imaging apparatus further includes a film-like resin filter disposed between the first optical member and the second optical member that is bonded to at least one of the first optical member and the second optical member.
US08405897B2
An electrically controlled optical oscillator for a single subcarrier optical phase-locked loop, which includes: an electrically controlled electrical oscillator having an input, which receives an electrical driving input signal, and an output, which supplies an electrical driving output signal that has a frequency that is a function of the electrical driving input signal; a continuous-wave laser source, which supplies an optical carrier; and an optical modulator, which has an optical input connected to the laser source and receives the optical carrier, an electrical input, which is connected to the output of the electrically controlled electrical oscillator and receives the electrical driving output signal, and an optical output that modulates the optical carrier with the electrical driving output signal and generates an optical modulated signal. The optical modulator generates an optical modulated signal with single optical subcarrier.
US08405887B2
A scanner includes an image scanning mechanism, a foreign object location detector, a foreign object location storage, a correction processor, and a shading correction processor. The foreign object location detector detects a pixel at a location of a foreign object adhered to an optical mirror of the image scanning mechanism by use of a first reference image data obtained by scanning a white reference plate by the image scanning mechanism at an initial operation after power-on of the scanner. The foreign object location storage stores a location of the pixel at the foreign object location in the main scanning direction detected by the foreign object location detector. The correction processor corrects a waveform in a predetermined range including the foreign object location detected by the foreign object location detector so as to be formed in a trapezoidal shape with respect to a second reference image data obtained by scanning the white reference plate by the image scanning mechanism when scanning an original. The shading correction processor performs a shading correction to an original image data by use of the second reference image data corrected by the correction processor.
US08405884B2
A scanner including: a transparent plate; a light emitting unit that emits light to an object on the transparent plate; a sensor to form an image of the object; a focusing lens unit that is arranged on a light path between the transparent plate and the sensor, to focus light from the object onto the sensor; and a controller to determine whether a foreign substance is disposed in the light path, using the image, calculates a position of the foreign substance, and corrects the image on the basis of the calculated position of the foreign substance.
US08405871B2
In one embodiment, a special paper plot (referred to herein as a dynamic plot) for which corresponding metadata is maintained is printed. A mobile appliance obtains corresponding metadata for the dynamic plot. A camera of the mobile appliance computes an image of the dynamic plot. A position of the camera of the mobile appliance with respect to the dynamic plot is calculated from the image of the dynamic plot. Using the calculated position, information or icons are overlaid at particular locations in the image captured by the camera of the dynamic plot. The image captured by the camera of the dynamic with the overlaid information or icons is then displayed on a display screen of the mobile appliance. A user may add annotations beyond what is printed on the dynamic plot. This information may subsequently be shared with other users involved in the project.
US08405870B2
An image processing apparatus includes a determination unit determining, based on a pixel value of a prescribed background color area in image data obtained by inputting a printed image, and based on information regarding a color of a toner used in printing the image, whether or not the background color of the image corresponds to the color of the toner.
US08405869B2
A color conversion device includes an acquisition section and a correction section. The acquisition section acquires first color information of an image to be printed on a specific position in a first side of a recording paper and second color information of an image to be printed on a position corresponding to the specific position in a second side of the recording paper. The correction section corrects the first color information and second color information acquired by the acquisition section, based on combination information on color combination of images on the corresponding positions of the first side and the second side.
US08405857B2
An image processing apparatus that is capable of preventing an unauthorized connection from a host apparatus which is not permitted to use a device by restricting a host apparatus that performs an association process by a method other than password authentication. A processing unit performs an association process with the host apparatus in order to perform the wireless communication. A storage unit stores a permitted host ID indicating the host apparatus that is permitted to perform the association process by the processing unit. A control unit compares a host ID transmitted from the host apparatus with the permitted host ID stored in the storage unit when the processing unit performs the association process, and determines whether the processing unit performs the association process based on a result of the comparison.
US08405854B2
Monitoring device, information processing system and computer readable medium for trouble prediction
A monitoring device includes: a receiving unit that receives information including first use mode information transmitted from a first information processing device; a memory unit that stores the received first use mode information; a creating unit that creates, when the receiving unit receives trouble information together with the first use mode information, a trouble prediction formula corresponding to the trouble information using second use mode information of a second information processing device in which the same trouble as that indicated in the trouble information has occurred; a storing unit that stores the created trouble prediction formula; and a determining unit that determines, when the receiving unit receives third use mode information of a third information processing device, whether or not a trouble in the third information processing device occurs in a high probability based on the stored trouble prediction formula and the received third use mode information.
US08405851B2
An image reading apparatus configured to read a document at a second resolution based on a result of reading the document at a first resolution generates image data with low data amount having small data amount from image data-for-save that has been read at the second resolution and transfers the image data with low data amount taking priority over the image data-for-save to an image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus is configured to notify a user that next reading processing is acceptable when receiving of the image data with low data amount is completed. The image processing apparatus is configured to receive and store the image data-for-save according to the next reading processing instructed by the user.
US08405846B2
A system and method are provided for maintaining a device job history. The method comprises: sending jobs to a device for performance; making a record of the jobs; maintaining the job record after the performance of the job; and, filtering the job record to retain a history associated with a client. The job record may be maintained at the device performing the job, on a server managing jobs sent to the device, or with the client sending the job. The client may choose to monitor such processes as device status, job status, or the communications to the device. In one aspect, the method further comprises viewing the filtered job record. Then, a viewable copy of the filtered job record can be accessed from the client, the server, or a web page associated with the device.
