US08666089B2
A vehicle has a lighting control module and a HD radio receiver. The lighting control module provides an indication of daytime operation of the vehicle and an indication of night-time operation of the vehicle. The HD radio receiver is configured for selecting between outputting digital format audio content of a radio signal and outputting analog format audio content of the HD radio signal dependent upon a HD signal sensitivity threshold. The HD radio receiver sets the HD signal sensitivity threshold to one of a plurality of different night-time HD signal sensitivity threshold values as a function of a signal strength characteristic of the HD radio signal when the lighting control module provides the indication of night-time operation thereto. The HD radio receiver sets the HD signal sensitivity threshold to a daytime HD signal sensitivity threshold value when the lighting control module provides the indication of daytime operation thereto.
US08666083B2
A headset is able to be coupled via a cable to an intercom system, is able to be wirelessly coupled to a wireless device via a wireless transceiver of the headset, and is able to be connected to a wired device via another cable. A controller of the headset separately monitors the microphone conductors and audio conductors by which the headset may be coupled to the intercom system to detect whether or not one or both of a communications microphone and an acoustic driver of the headset are coupled to the intercom system, and monitors the operating state of the wireless transceiver to detect whether or not the wireless transceiver is inactive, on standby or in use; and selectively couples a system ground conductor to one of the microphone conductors, and selectively provides a local microphone bias voltage in response to what is observed through such monitoring.
US08666082B2
A method includes associating a spatially separate audio sensor and/or a vibration sensor with an audio processing system having one or more audio sensor(s) associated therewith. The spatially separate audio sensor is on a remote location distinct from that of the one or more audio sensor(s). The method also includes capturing information uniquely associated with an external environment of the audio processing system through the spatially separate audio sensor and/or the vibration sensor and the one or more audio sensor(s), and adapting an audio output of the audio processing system based on the captured information uniquely associated with the external environment thereof.
US08666080B2
Wearers of hearing apparatuses and in particular of hearing device systems having two speakers are to be able to enjoy the experience of spatial multi-channel reproduction. Provision is accordingly made to generate a dual-channel audio signal for a binaural hearing apparatus comprising a multi-channel audio signal having at least three individual channels. Accordingly at least one spatial impression-influencing signal level in at least one of the individual channels is changed, and a signal of at least one of the individual channels is connected with signals of the remaining individual channels to the dual-channel audio signal. A corresponding hearing apparatus and in particular a corresponding hearing device have a transformation system that takes over this preprocessing from the multi-channel audio signal to the dual-channel audio signal.
US08666078B2
A method and a system for generating a key in a handover process, wherein the method comprises the following steps of: according to an evolved Node-B (eNB) (102) of a User Equipment (UE) (101), i.e. a source eNB, a mobility management entity (MME) (103) learning all adjacent eNBs of the source eNB (S130), and generating keys for the source eNB and each of the adjacent eNBs respectively (S140), encrypting the keys with a corresponding eNB public key respectively to obtain cipher texts (S150), and sending all cipher texts, keys and eNB identifiers to the UE (S160); in a handover process of the UE, a target eNB obtaining a cipher text corresponding to the target eNB from the UE and decrypting the cipher text with its own private key to obtain the key (S260).
US08666071B2
The disclosed embodiments relate to a system and method for delivering satellite services at multiple security levels. More specifically, there is provided a method comprising determining a level of security supported by a first set top box, encoding a first IP packet containing a satellite service using the level of security supported by the first set top box, transmitting the first IP encoded packet to the first set top box, determining a level of security supported by a second set top box, wherein the level of security supported by the second set top box is different from the level of security of the first set top box, encoding a second IP packet containing a satellite service using the level of security supported by the second set top box; and transmitting the second encoded IP packet to the second set top box.
US08666067B2
A method of protecting a circuit from attacks aiming to discover secret data used during the execution of a cryptographic calculation by the circuit, by, executing a transformation calculation implementing a bijective transformation function, receiving as input a secret data, and supplying a transformed data, executing a cryptographic calculation receiving as input a data to process and the transformed data, and executing an inverse transformation calculation receiving as input the result of the cryptographic calculation, and supplying a result that the cryptographic calculation would have supplied if it had been applied to the data to process and directly to the secret data, the data to process belong to a stream of a multiplicity of data, the transformed data being supplied as input to the cryptographic calculation for all the data of the stream.
US08666059B2
A method and a device process data transmitted via a channel. The channel is at least partially represented by a symmetrical transfer matrix, wherein at least one off-diagonal matrix element of the transfer matrix is determined by its symmetric and/or transposed off-diagonal matrix element and its corresponding diagonal matrix elements of the transfer matrix. In addition, a communication system is provided containing such a device.
US08666048B2
Implementing a location and historical trend based quality of session in unified telephony can begin with establishing a conference call. The location of each end-user device can be determined and a query of a previously established data store with historical trend data for quality of session for each end-user device based on the location of an identifier for the end user device can be performed. If the results of the querying indicate that an end-user device has a relatively low quality of session below a baseline established for the conference call, a corrective action designed to ensure the conference call is conducted with a quality of session at or above the baseline can be performed. Alternatively, the location and historical trend data and analysis for the collaboration session can be presented to a human moderator, who can be prompted to select a desired corrective action.
US08666046B2
Method for providing caller information during a telephony ringing signal, including the procedures of storing caller information, associated with at least one of a caller and a callee, on a caller information server, installing a client application on a callee device, dialing a callee device CLI by the caller, identifying a caller device CLI by the callee device, contacting the caller information server by the callee device and providing the caller information server with at least one of the caller device CLI and the callee device CLI, retrieving, by the callee device, from the caller information server the caller information associated with at least one of the caller and the callee according to at least one of the caller device CLI and the callee device CLI, and presenting, on the callee device, the retrieved caller information.
US08666042B2
Techniques are provided for sending and receiving key frames and key frame request messages. At a video conference bridge, a key frame request message is received from a first endpoint device. The key frame request message comprises a request for a key frame from a second endpoint device. When a prior key frame request message is received before the key frame request message, a key frame request time value is determined that corresponds to an amount of time between receiving the key frame request message and receiving the prior key frame request message. This value is compared to a threshold time value. When the key frame request time is greater than the threshold time, a key frame request forwarding message is generated, and the key frame request forwarding message is sent to the second endpoint device to request the key frame from the second endpoint device.
US08666040B2
A method of analyzing speech application performance can include determining a call path for each of a plurality of calls from a log of an interactive voice response system having a speech application. Each call path can be defined by an ordered set of dialog nodes of the speech application. A number of occurrences of at least one selected type of event for the dialog nodes of the plurality of calls can be counted. At least one call path from the plurality of call paths can be indicated according, at least in part, to the number of occurrences of the selected type of event within the at least one indicated call path.
US08666033B2
A system and method for providing private information content to a voice telephone call parties prior to, during or following a call. In one aspect, the system and method may be implemented in a voice telephone communication apparatus that is adapted to hold information content in an information store on behalf of the call party, gather information that is private to the call party and add it to the information store as part of the information content, and retrieve the information content from the information store and present it to the call party in response to an information presentation initiation action. In another aspect, the system cooperates with a premises or equipment monitoring system, such as a security system, to provide monitoring information to a telephone call party.
US08666025B2
An anti-scatter grid for an x-ray imaging system. The grid has substrate having a first face and a second face. The substrate has a plurality of grooves opening onto the first face of the substrate and not opening onto the second face. The substrate has high X-ray absorption properties. Each groove has an orientation such that the planes of all the grooves are convergent and intersect along a line situated on the side of the second face where the grooves do not open.
US08666021B2
A radiation therapy system including a radiation therapy apparatus for generating a therapeutic treatment beam, with which an object is irradiated, an imaging apparatus for generating a medical image of the object, and a positioning apparatus, with which the object is positioned in the radiation therapy system for irradiation and imaging purposes, is provided. The imaging apparatus and the radiation therapy apparatus are both rotatably mounted so that the object is positioned in a first rotation state in the imaging apparatus and is positioned in the radiation therapy apparatus in a second rotation state.
US08666019B2
A shift register unit and a gate drive device for a liquid crystal display are disclosed. Both gate and drain of the tenth thin film transistor are connected to the source of the fifth thin film transistor, a source thereof is connected to a low voltage signal input terminal, threshold voltages of the eighth thin film transistor and the ninth thin film transistor are equal to or less than threshold voltage of the tenth thin film transistor. The shift register unit and the gate drive device for liquid crystal display provided in the present invention, could enable the thin film transistor used to suppress the noise in the shift register unit to maintain turning on, therefore it guarantees the reliability of the shift register unit.
US08666014B2
A reproduction apparatus includes a setter configured to set at least one language, a separator configured to separate and output a video signal and an audio signal, a video signal processor configured to decode and encode the video signal, a first decoder configured to output a first center channel signal and a multi-channel signal generated by extraction of the first center channel signal, a second decoder configured to output a second center channel signal, and a selector configured to receive the first and second center channel signals and assign, according to a setting in the setter, the first and second center channel signals respectively to different outputs.
US08666013B1
A clock data recovery circuit includes a phase detector circuit, a filter circuit, a parts per million (PPM) detector circuit, a PPM decoder circuit, a summation circuit, and a phase interpolator circuit. The phase detector circuit generates a phase error signal based on a periodic signal and a data signal. The filter circuit generates a filtered signal based on the phase error signal. The PPM detector circuit and the PPM decoder circuit generate control signals based on the filtered signal. The phase interpolator circuit generates the periodic signal. The clock data recovery circuit adjusts a phase of the periodic signal based on the filtered signal and the control signals in response to variations in a data rate of the data signal using spread-spectrum clocking in order to track changes in the data rate of the data signal.
US08666011B1
A system and method are provided for generating a jitter-attenuated clock using an asynchronous gapped clock source. The method accepts a first reference clock having a first frequency. Using the first reference clock, an asynchronous gapped clock is generated having an average second frequency less than the first frequency. A dynamic numerator (DN) and dynamic denominator (DD) are iteratively calculated for the gapped clock. Then, DN and DD are averaged. In response to the averaging, an averaged numerator (AN) and an averaged denominator (AD) are generated. Finally, the first frequency (first reference clock) is multiplied by the ratio of AN/AD to create a jitter-attenuated second clock having the second frequency.
US08666008B2
An efficient synchronization procedure applicable to mesh WLAN based on the 802.11s standard is proposed. A first and second stations initiate the process and establish a communication link between them. Next, the first station transmits to the second station a synchronization element that contains: a capability information element indicative of a capability of the first station to synchronize, and a status information element indicative of whether the first station has established a synchronized peer link with another station. One of the two stations may then initiate the actual handshake for synchronization. The initiator transmits a request for synchronization and receives a response from the other station representative of the acceptance by the other station of the synchronization, the request and the acceptance being restrained in that the stations may not entertain conflicting synchronization procedures with different links. The request may include a set of the synchronization profile.
US08665990B2
Method and apparatus for uplink transmission using multiple antennas are disclosed. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) performs space time transmit diversity (STTD) encoding on an input stream of a physical channel configured for STTD. Each physical channel may be mapped to either an in-phase (I) branch or a quadrature-phase (Q) branch. The WTRU may perform the STTD encoding either in a binary domain or in a complex domain. Additionally, the WTRU may perform pre-coding on at least one physical channel including the E-DPDCH with the pre-coding weights, and transmitting the pre-coded output streams via a plurality of antennas. The pre-coding may be performed either after or before spreading operation.
US08665987B2
The present invention relates to space-time or space-frequency coding in cellular systems. The same data is transmitted from different antennas with different coverage areas, corresponding to different cells. The different data streams have different parts of the space-time block codes applied. A mobile terminal can combine the different parts of the space-time block codes in different received signals. This provides better performance than the known techniques for single frequency networks. The invention can also be applied to antennas with different coverage areas from the same site, and different beams formed with antenna arrays.
US08665986B2
A method of operation of a communication system includes: calculating a shift distance of a received signal having a distortion; calculating an approximate likelihood of the received signal matching a transmitted signal from the shift distance; determining a bias factor from the distortion; and selecting a determined modulation maximizing a combination of the approximate likelihood and the bias factor for communicating with a device.
US08665976B2
An Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) receiver system for improved pilotless detection of symbol boundary of a received OFDM symbols using M-ary Phase Shift Keying (M-PSK) modulated carriers as a cost function. The OFDM receiver includes a symbol boundary detection block that detects a symbol boundary of the received OFDM symbols. The symbol boundary detection block detects the symbol boundary by computing a cost function of a second order moment of the M-PSK modulated carriers. The receiver system detects the symbol boundary for unknown information on the received OFDM symbols.
US08665967B2
A method and a system for bit reorganization and packetization of uncompressed video for transmission over wireless communication channels. The bit stream of the uncompressed video is reorganized according to importance levels of video bits. Then, various unequal protection methods such as encoding are applied to bits at different video importance levels. The reorganized and encoded information is then transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver over a wireless channel. The receiver performs the reverse steps of the transmitter, along with error detection/correction as needed, to recover the uncompressed video information.
US08665960B2
A video codec having a modular structure for encoding/decoding a digitized sequence of video frames in a multi-core system is described. The video codec comprises a memory unit; a multithreading engine. and a plurality of control and task modules organized in a tree structure, each module corresponding to a coding operation. The modules communicate with each other by control messages and shared memory. The control modules control all coding logic and workflow, and lower level task modules perform tasks and provide calculations upon receiving messages from the control task modules. The multithreading engine maintains context of each task and assigns at least one core to each task for execution. The method of coding/decoding comprises an error resilient algorithm.
US08665959B2
A video block syntax element indicates whether all of the partitions of a video block are predicted based on a same reference list and no greater than quarter-pixel accuracy is used. If the video block syntax element is set, partition-level signaling of the reference lists is avoided. If the video block syntax element is not set, partition-level signaling of the reference lists occurs. If the video block syntax element is set, partition-level syntax elements may be used for each of the partitions of the video block, wherein the partition-level syntax elements each identify one of the reference lists and motion vector accuracy for a given one of the partitions.
US08665950B2
Disclosed are a method and a apparatus for encoding a video, and a method and apparatus for decoding a video, in which neighboring pixels used to perform intra prediction on a current block to be encoded are filtered and intra prediction is performed by using the filtered neighboring pixels.
US08665945B2
To improve the encoding compressibility of prediction residuals. An encoder performs prediction analysis of input time-series signals to generate prediction residuals expressed by integers, and sets an integer separation parameter that depends on the amplitude of the prediction residuals for each certain time segment. The encoder selects a side information code table corresponding to an index representing the prediction effectiveness of the time-series signals from a set of side information code tables including a side information code table used for variable length coding of side information corresponding to the separation parameter. A decoder selects a side information code table corresponding to the index representing the prediction effectiveness of the time-series signals from a set of side information code tables including a side information code table used for decoding of a code corresponding to the side information corresponding to the integer separation parameter corresponding to the magnitude of the prediction residuals.
US08665943B2
The present invention relates to an encoding apparatus, an encoding method, an encoding program, a decoding apparatus, a decoding method and a decoding program for adaptively controlling an encoding bit rate. Coefficient data obtained using wavelet transform is quantized, and segmented into bit planes. The coefficient data is entropy encoded from the bit plane of the MSB in a direction from an upper bit position to a lower bit position. Entropy encoding is stopped at a bit position where an amount of code has reached a target amount. On the bit plane, the coefficient data is entropy encoded from a lower frequency region to a higher frequency region. Data greatly affecting subjective image quality of a decoded image is selectively output while the amount of code is easily controlled.
US08665942B2
Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for predicting high dynamic range image blocks, wherein the systems and methods comprise a first image block and a second image block, where a received first prediction data of the first image block and a received prediction difference data of the second image block may be combined to determine a second prediction data for the second image block.
US08665934B2
An alternative approach to coping with the ever increasing demand for faster communications hardware is to design modems that are capable of operating its speeds at a higher data rate than a speed required for a single port of the standard communication rate for that modem. Basically, by utilizing a resource manager, that directs the data in and out of the various portions of the modem in an orderly manner, keeping track of which of the ports is being operated at any given point in time, a standard single port modem can be reconfigured, for example, at an over clocked rate, to manipulate the data input and output of a modem.
US08665930B2
A method for user equipment operation in a wireless communication system, the wireless communication system having an base station, the method comprising measuring a channel between the UE and the base station, determining a quantized estimate using a codebook to approximate the measured channel, computing an error measure for the quantized estimate and transmitting the error measure and the quantized estimate to the base station for use by the base station in reconstructing an actual channel vector.
US08665929B1
Assuring acquisition of symbol timing in a full-duplex data transceiver under inter-symbol interference conditions. One embodiment includes a transmitter comprising a first local clock having a first free running frequency, and a receiver comprising a second local clock having a second frequency initially set to a value higher than the first free running frequency. A first type decision-directed timing recovery mechanism is intentionally limited to only decreasing the frequency of the second local clock. A second type decision-directed timing recovery mechanism is not limited to only decreasing the frequency. The receiver receives symbols, decrease the frequency of the second local clock to a third frequency value using the first type decision-directed timing recovery mechanism, disables the first type mechanism after reaching the third frequency, and then phase-lock the second local clock to the optimal phase under MMSE criteria using the second type decision-directed timing recovery mechanism.
US08665926B2
In a closed-loop TPC for a channel using a wireless resource, to which frequency hopping is applied, a high quality reception is achieved for all RBs without applying another technique to each RB. This transmission power control method, in a mobile communications system that transmits signals by frequency hopping in a plurality of resource blocks, includes a transmission power control method that transmission-power controls a channel in a closed loop using a wireless resource to which frequency hopping is applied, measures a reception channel quality of received signals for each resource block (RB1 and RB2), and transmits a TPC command-bit via a downlink so that the reception quality that is independently measured at each resource block among the resource blocks is made equal to a target reception quality.
US08665925B2
The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for generating a scrambling code, and the method includes: acquiring initial sequences X0, Y0; extending the initial sequences X0, Y0 for (└N/M┘+1) times, and obtaining extended sequences X*, Y*, wherein, the N is a positive integer, 0
US08665924B2
The invention relates to an electronic circuit and a method for feeding power to at least one electrode of an alternating-current electric-arc furnace, particularly for melting metal. Known circuits of this type typically comprise a series connection with a transformer for providing a supply voltage for the electric-arc furnace from a power grid (1) and a AC power controller (8) connected between the transformer (6) and the electrode (11) for regulating the current through the electrode (11). According to the invention, a further development for such electronic circuits is proposed, which development has a simple design, is inexpensive and prevents overload of the AC power controller (8) even in operating modes of the electric-arc furnaces at high electrode currents. This further development provides to bypass the AC power controller with a bypass switch (9) that is opened or closed with the help of a controller as a function of the amount of current flowing through the electrode (11).
US08665923B2
A laser pulse from an ultrashort pulse laser (USPL) is fired into the atmosphere. The USPL pulse is configured to generate a plasma filament at a predefined target in the atmosphere, in which free, or “seed,” electrons are generated by multi-photon or tunneling ionization of the air molecules in the filament. A second pulse is fired into the atmosphere to form a heater beam that impinges on the plasma filament and thermalizes the seed electrons within the plasma filament, leading to the collisional excitation of the electrons in the filament. The excited electrons collisionally excite various electronic and vibrational states of the air molecules in the filament, causing population inversions and lasing, e.g., exciting the C3Πu→B3Πg(v=0→0) transition of the N2 in the atmosphere to cause lasing at 337 nm.
US08665921B2
An apparatus of automatic power control for burst mode laser transmitter and method are provided. In one implementation a method includes: generating an output current with a modulation pattern determined by a transmit data and a transmit enable signal, and a modulation level determined by a first control code and a second control code, wherein a light signal is generated in response to the output current; generating a first decision based on a comparison between a photodiode current and the first reference current, a second decision based on a comparison between the photodiode current and the second reference current, wherein the photodiode current is generated in accordance to the light signal; and generating the first control code and the second control code in response to the first decision and the second decision.
US08665910B2
A concept for estimating interfering channels in a multicellular radio communication system including a plurality of base stations and at least one mobile station is suggest, wherein pilot signals are transmitted from the base stations to at least a mobile station, additional pilot sequences are generated, a pattern is provided which defines a rule for distributing the pilot sequences to the base stations, the pilot sequences are modulated and superposed onto said pilot signals, and a pilot signal received at a mobile station is used for estimating interferences in the communication channel from the base station which transmits the pilot signal.
US08665909B2
More customization and adaptation of coded data streams may be achieved by processing the information signal such that the various syntax structures obtained by pre-coding the information signal are placed into logical data packets, each of which being associated with a specific data packet type of a predetermined set of data packet types, and by defining a predetermined order of data packet types within one access unit of data packets. The consecutive access units in the data stream may, for example, correspond to different time portions of the information signal. By defining the predetermined order among the data packet types it is possible, at decoder's side, to detect the borders between successive access units even when removable data packets are removed from the data stream on the way from the data stream source to the decoder without incorporation of any hints into the reminder of the data stream.
US08665905B1
A system for provisioning virtual circuit information in packet has a plurality of access modules that are inserted into slots of a chassis at a network facility. Each access module is provisioned with sets of Ethernet virtual circuit (EVC) attribute data in order to provide the access module with sufficient information to handle data packets carried by EVCs serviced by the access module. Rather than manually provisioning each access module with EVC attribute data, the sets of attribute data are stored at a central location. Each access module has logic that is configured to automatically retrieve, from the central location, sets of attribute data associated with the EVCs to be serviced by the access module. The logic then automatically provisions the access module to handle data packets carried by such EVCs.
US08665902B2
Aspects of a method and system for reducing transceiver power via a variable symbol rate are provided. In this regard, an Ethernet transmitter may be enabled to transmit data at a variable symbol rate, wherein the symbol rate is determined based on a state of a link coupled to said Ethernet transmitter and/or resources available to said Ethernet transmitter. In this regard, link state may comprise one or more of, for example, available bandwidth, bit error rate, packet error rate, and link utilization; and resources may comprise one or more of, for example, power, buffer space, and processor time. Accordingly one or more threshold for link state and/or resources may be determined and the symbol rate may be adjusted when those thresholds are exceeded. Aspects of the invention may enable defining and/or transmitting unique symbols to identify possible symbol rates and/or a change in symbol rate.
US08665901B1
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for performing reverse auto-negotiation, in which one network device establishes a link with another network device at a preferred operating mode (e.g., the lowest speed) common to both devices without linking twice. The physical layer of a local network device (local PHY) may stall the normal auto-negotiation process with the link partner, while receiving the abilities of the link partner. The local PHY may then transmit a signal having only the preferred common operating mode (e.g., the lowest speed) encoded within. The link partner may then conclude that the local PHY is only capable of the preferred common operating mode (e.g., the lowest speed) and a link between the two devices may be established at that common mode.
US08665898B2
A method and apparatus for adaptively obtaining bandwidth requests in a broadband wireless communication system. The method and apparatus includes dynamically varying technique combinations enabling a plurality of users to efficiently request bandwidth from a shared base station. A user may “piggyback” a new bandwidth request upon, or set a “poll-me bit” within, presently allocated bandwidth. A base station may poll users, individually or in groups, by allocating unrequested bandwidth for new requests. Polling may respond to a “poll-me bit,” and/or it may be adaptively periodic at a rate based on communication status parameters, such as recent communication activity and connection QoS levels. Group polling permits a possibility of collisions. Polling policies may be established for dynamically varying user groups, or may be determined for each user. Dynamic selection of appropriate polling techniques makes use of efficiency benefits associated with each technique.
US08665895B2
Advanced and dynamic physical layer device capabilities utilizing a link interruption signal. The physical layer device can use a link interruption signal to signal to a media access controller device that the link has temporarily been interrupted. This link interruption signal can be generated in response to one or more programmable modes of the physical layer device that are used to support the advanced and dynamic physical layer device capabilities.
US08665887B2
A number automatic routing method, an updating method, a withdrawing method, a router and a device is provided wherein the number automatic routing method includes: converting to-be-distributed number into number routing information to add to dynamic routing protocol; generating a dynamic routing protocol message according to the number routing information; transmitting the dynamic routing protocol message through an Internet Protocol (IP) network and distributing the number through the dynamic routing protocol message and the IP network. The method supports automatic routing of numbers such as E.164 and E.214 and SP through expanding current Multi-Protocol Border Gateway Protocol (MP-BGP) that optimizes network structure and improves efficiency.
US08665884B2
A system comprises a plurality of nodes, at least one of the plurality of nodes configured to insert, on a per-virtual link basis, a delay value into a dynamic delay field of a frame corresponding to the respective virtual link, wherein the dynamic delay value represents latency of frames of the respective virtual link. The system also comprises a switch having a plurality of ports, each port coupled to one of the plurality of nodes. The switch is configured to route frames received from the plurality of nodes to one or more of the plurality of nodes. At least one of the plurality of nodes is configured to store frames received from the switch in a buffer and to update the value in the dynamic delay field to reflect the end-to-end system delay.
US08665880B2
This disclosure describes techniques for scheduling distribution of content to a plurality of devices in a communication network, such as a cellular-based wireless network. According to this disclosure, two or more distribution techniques may be used, and scheduling techniques are performed to determine which distribution technique to use for different content. For example, content can be broadcast to all devices on the network (broadcast), multicast within several cells of the network (multi-cell multicast), multicast in a specific cell of the network (single cell multicast), or unicast to one or more specific devices within specific cells of the network (unicast). The scheduling techniques described in this disclosure may improve content distribution by substantially maximizing the number of content requests that are satisfied, particularly when bandwidth is limited.
US08665878B2
Systems are provided for sequencing, delivery acknowledgement, and throttling of data packets over a network layer, such as UDP and SMS. To support devices with limited battery resources, the invention incorporates asymmetric retry logic and/or acknowledgements with overlapping ranges, to minimize the transmissions required for the device. The sender of a data-bearing frame does not need to wait for a frame to be acknowledged before sending the next, such that many frames can be “in flight” at once.
US08665870B2
The described embodiments include a first electronic device that sends one or more dummy packets to a second electronic device to cause network hardware in a network connection between the first and second electronic devices to forward buffered push messages and/or acknowledge messages.
US08665860B2
A relay device that relays a message transmitted from a terminal device to a server through a communications network. When a message is received from the terminal device, the relay device obtains attribute information related to the user of the terminal device, obtains an identifier to be inserted into a message to the terminal device by a server that generated a session in response to the message from the terminal device, the identifier being for identifying the session, stores the obtained identifier that is associated with the attribute information, determines whether or not the attribute information coincident to the attribute information obtained by receiving the message from the terminal device is to be stored when a message was received from the terminal device, inserts the identifier associated with the attribute information into the message received from the terminal device when the coincident attribute information is stored, and relays the message.
US08665855B2
A method and an apparatus for transmitting uplink information items having various characteristics by using a single Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block. The method includes determining whether uplink signaling information exists to be transmitted when uplink data exists to be transmitted; multiplexing the uplink data and control information for the uplink data and transmitting multiplexed data through a first frequency resource allocated for the uplink data, when no uplink signaling information exists; multiplexing the uplink data, control information for the uplink data, and the uplink signaling information, and transmitting multiplexed data through a first frequency resource allocated for the uplink data, when the uplink signaling information exists; and transmitting the uplink signaling information through a second frequency resource allocated for the uplink signaling information, when no uplink data is to be transmitted and the uplink signaling information exists to be transmitted.
US08665843B2
Embodiments of systems and methods for providing single MPDU frame signaling are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08665829B2
A method for controlling a service device through a smart terminal based on near field communication (NFC) includes the steps of: activating NFC between the smart terminal and the service device; handing over the communication between the smart terminal and the service device to a secondary network through the NFC; executing, by the start terminal, a web contents execution program; providing, by the service device, control codes to the smart terminal; preparing, by the smart terminal, to utilize the control codes; displaying, by the smart terminal, a control/service screen of the service device on the web contents execution program by utilizing the control codes; detecting, by the web contents execution program, a user manipulation on the control/service screen; and transmitting, by the web contents execution program, a request defined in the control codes to the service device in response to the user manipulation.
US08665824B2
A reproduction speed of an application being executed is controlled with changing an upper limit of accumulation of a jitter buffer based on a radio state during communication by a first wireless communication network. If it is determined to start handover preparation from the first wireless communication network to a second wireless communication network, a preparation time before handover and an absolute delay time of each of the first wireless communication network and the second wireless communication network are obtained from the handover control unit. Based on such information obtained and a data amount in a jitter buffer at a time when it is determined to start the handover preparation, the reproduction speed of the application being executed is controlled to be slowed down. Thereby, it is possible to perform handover to a different wireless communication network without deteriorating reproduction quality and real-time property.
US08665818B2
The disclosure is directed to a mobile communication device that is capable of accessing different types of networks such as a circuit-switched network and a packet-switched network. Anchoring of a circuit-switched initiated session is useful when the session is transferred to a packet-switched network. Accordingly, a dynamic anchoring technique is used that relies on the mobile device to determine when, during on ongoing session, a handoff condition exists. The mobile device then sends a trigger signal that initiates the anchoring process.
US08665817B2
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, discloses a method and an apparatus for mode switching between a multi-cell coordinated communication mode and a single-cell MIMO communication mode. A method for dynamically switching a communication mode according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a step of generating and transmitting first feedback information in accordance with a first communication mode; a step of switching the first communication mode into a second communication mode interlocked with the first communication mode; and a step of generating and transmitting second feedback information in accordance with the second communication mode. The first communication mode is one of a multi-cell coordinated multi-point (CoMP) communication mode and a single-cell multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communication mode, and the second communication mode is the other of the multi-cell coordinated multi-point (CoMP) communication mode and the single-cell multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communication mode. The switching step can be performed without signaling from a base station.
US08665806B2
A system and method for passive coordination of base stations in a closed-loop multiple-input multiple-output wireless communication system, includes a first step 400 of allocating a subframe zone to be used by a serving base station and a neighboring base station to provide synchronized communications. A next step 402 includes defining at least one beam combination for the base stations, the beam combination to be used over at least one resource block of the allocated zone. A next step 406 includes reporting feedback on measured channel conditions for the zone at a first time for the at least one beam combination and associated resource block of the zone. A next step 408 includes providing synchronized communications using the feedback by the base stations over the zone at a second time by repeating the same associated at least one beam combination and associated resource block of the zone.
US08665800B2
The specification and drawings present a new method, system, apparatus and software product for implicit signaling and defining uplink allocations for an acknowledgment of downlink data using user downlink resource allocations, e.g., combined with user equipment detection of other user's allocations for data-non-associated signaling of hybrid automatic request process (HARQ) control information. Sequences of the downlink resource allocations are used to pre-define associated uplink control signaling resources.
US08665797B2
The present invention discloses an information feedback method. The method comprises steps of a serving cell and/or a user equipment determining a cooperating cell set participating multi-antenna-multi-cell cooperation, the cooperating cell set including the serving cell and non-serving cells, the user equipment and/or the serving cell selecting transmit-ports of the serving cell and non-serving cells according to the determined cooperating cell set, the user equipment obtaining channel state information of the selected transmit-ports, and the user equipment feeding back identification information and the channel state information of the selected transmit-ports. The present invention provides also a serving cell, a cooperative cell and a user equipment for feeding back the identification information and channel state information of the selected transmit-ports. The present invention has advantages of simple implementation and less signaling overhead.
US08665796B2
A method and apparatus for dynamic acknowledgement repetition for a downlink medium access control packet data unit transmission ‘MAC PDU’ requiring multiple acknowledgements, the method having the steps of: receiving the downlink MAC PDU requiring multiple acknowledgements; and utilizing a differentiating factor and acknowledgement scheme, sending the multiple acknowledgements.
US08665793B2
The present invention discloses a method and a system for implementing single radio voice call continuity (SRVCC), and said method includes: an ALG sending number information and/or identifier information if the ALG to a SCAS via a signaling message; said SCAS judging whether the number information and/or identifier information of the ALG are identical with the last used REFER number information or not, and if not, said SCAS notifying a PS or CS network control entity of the number information and/or identifier information of the ALG; alternatively, said SCAS notifying the PS or CS network control entity of the number and/or identifier information of the ALG. The present invention implements to dynamically select the ALG as a REFER operation entity to implement SRVCC, and solves the problem that a REFER request cannot be sent to an appropriate ALG since this ALG cannot be dynamically determined.
US08665792B2
A method and apparatus for performing Inter-User Equipment Transfer (IUT) across any internet protocol (IP) based network. This framework allows for preparation, execution and completion of data transfer at a target device through registration with a Local Mobility Anchor (LMA) and receipt of an IUT request. The target device receives and stores an IP address or a source device. The IP address is used to transmit session information.
US08665790B2
In a radio system where wireless nodes are in contact, the wireless nodes are enabled to exchange information with adjacent nodes. In addition, in one embodiment distant nodes out of range for direct communication can be communicated with by forwarding data over multiple hops. When a user, in particular a primary user, is detected by a node, a spectrum access blocking message is sent, to other nodes in the vicinity of the node thereby enabling blocking of the radio resource in a geographical area in which the other usage is detected. This means that the radio resource is blocked in that area from being accessed by other users than the primary user. The blocking message can be distributed in any suitable manner and can be tailored for the application at hand.
US08665781B2
A user equipment, for use in a wireless communication system, includes a unit operable to measure a received signal quality in a receiver, a unit operable to report the measuring received signal quality to the transmitter, or a unit operable to report a selected modulation and coding scheme to the transmitter.
US08665780B2
The present invention relates to a router, computer program products and a method in a Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). The router resides in an Internet Protocol (IP) based UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) Transport Network. The UTRAN transport network carries Dedicated Channel (DCH) frames on DCHs between a RNC and at least one Node B, wherein the router comprises means for splitting one DCH traffic flow into at least two DCH traffic flows by using an IP multicast protocol.
US08665776B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for data transmission. The method for data transmission includes: sending, according to a mapping relationship between a first H-RNTI of a user equipment and a second H-RNTI of a relay node accessed by the user equipment, data to the user equipment corresponding to the first H-RNTI by using the relay node corresponding to the second H-RNTI. By using the technical solutions of the embodiments, the coverage capability of a cell edge is enhanced, and the efficiency in transmitting data to a UE at the cell edge is further improved.
US08665763B2
Provided is a method of controlling power of a downlink channel in a wireless communication system, the method including: transmitting at least one data to a user equipment; receiving feedback information for the data from the user equipment; and controlling downlink transmission power using the feedback information. It is possible to control the power without time delay and additional use of radio resources in a VoIP service which is responsible for satisfying a fixed transmission rate in real time. Moreover, it is possible to control the power without waste of control channels to perform PDCCH link adaptation.
US08665759B2
A system, method, and device for use in videoconferencing. The method typically includes installing a videoconferencing services switch at an access point to an IP network, and registering a plurality of subscribers for videoconferencing services. Each subscriber typically has a plurality of endpoints. The method further includes receiving subscriber-specific settings to be applied to multiple videoconferencing calls from the plurality of endpoints associated with each subscriber. The method further includes storing the subscriber-specific settings at a location accessible to the switch, and configuring the switch to connect calls from the plurality of endpoints at each subscriber based on the corresponding subscriber-specific settings.
US08665751B2
A network upgrade tool identifies at least one new digital subscriber line (DSL) path pre-provisionable elements associated with the at least one new DSL path. The tool provisions the identified pre-provisionable elements prior to transition from at least one existing DSL path to the at least one new DSL path; receives a notification that physical network changes associated with a target digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) have been made; and provisions non-pre-provisioned elements following receipt of the notification.
US08665746B2
An apparatus comprising a first node configured to couple to a second node, wherein the first node is further configured to exchange a plurality of timestamps recording transmission times and at least one of a plurality of octet counts and a plurality of frame counts with the second node to perform throughput measurements, and wherein the at least one of the plurality of octet counts and the plurality of frame counts correspond to a packet flow between the first node and the second node and are used to calculate throughput for the packet flow based on a time interval of the exchanged at least one of the plurality of octet counts and the plurality of frame counts that is determined using the timestamps.
US08665744B2
A WiFi-enabled embedded device boots as a first access point. The WiFi-enabled embedded device communicates with a first wireless station to receive configuration parameters while continuing to operate as an access point. The WiFi-enabled embedded device then applies the configuration parameters internally to cause the WiFi-enabled embedded device to operate as a second wireless station. In an embodiment, the first wireless station discovers a configuration service advertized by the WiFi-enabled embedded device using mDN/DNS-SD, and automatically provides the configuration parameters to the WiFi-enabled embedded device. Convenient provisioning of the WiFi-enabled embedded device is thus made possible.
US08665743B2
A statistical transition map is built based on mobile wireless device user mobility history data. This data is useful to assist various wireless local area network applications. Received signal strength and location trace information associated with movements of mobile wireless devices in a wireless network is collected. The received signal strength and location trace information is converted to a sequence of natural language pseudo-location word labels representing pseudo-locations of each mobile wireless device as each mobile wireless device moves about with respect to a plurality of wireless access point devices in the wireless network. A statistical transition map is generated for each mobile wireless device from the sequence of natural language pseudo-location word labels using a natural language model. A probability of a next pseudo-location for a particular mobile wireless device is computed based on its current location and its statistical transition map.
US08665737B2
An apparatus (300) and method (400) provides an adaptive end-to-end (E2E) delay threshold (DT) for one-way transmission of information blocks in an information stream of a conversation. Information streams of the conversation are monitored (410), and the E2E DT duration is determined based on detected occurrences of one or more interactive properties 5 associated with the information streams of the conversation (412). Using the adaptive E2E DT duration value, a determination is made as to whether to perform at least one Quality of Service (QoS) function (416).
US08665736B2
A device in a wireless network receives signals and determines media access control (MAC) slot boundaries of the received signals. The MAC slot boundaries are averaged in time, and a local slot boundary is modified in response thereto. The local MAC slot boundary is modified by less than ten percent of a short interframe space until the local MAC slot boundary is within one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) cyclic prefix duration of the averaged MAC slot boundaries.
US08665731B1
A computer-based method for determining a probability that no path exists from a starting node to a target node within a network of nodes and directional links between pairs of nodes. The nodes and directional links form paths of a reliability graph and the method is performed using a computer coupled to a database. The method includes selecting a set of paths between the starting node and the target node that have been determined to be reliable, calculating a reliability of the union of the selected path sets, setting an upper bound for unreliability of the set of all paths, selecting a set of minimal cutsets from all cutsets that lie between the starting node and the target node, calculating the probability of the union of the minimal cutsets, and setting a lower bound for the unreliability of the set of all cutsets.
US08665717B2
A base station for an Internet protocol (IP) wireless access network receives an initial attach request from a user device. Based on the initial attach request, a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) device provides to the base station, a subscriber bearer policy that includes a particular quality-of-service control indicator (QCI) value, an uplink data rate limit, and a downlink data rate limit. The base station calculates an uplink bandwidth allocation, based on the QCI value and the uplink data rate limit, that is proportionate to the total maximum data rate of all uplink traffic with the same QCI value. The base station also calculates a downlink bandwidth allocation, based on the QCI value and the downlink data rate limit, that is proportionate to the total maximum data rate of all downlink traffic with the same QCI value.
US08665716B2
A method is provided that includes causing transmission of a first mobility management (MM) message from a UE to a core network including packet-switched (PS) and circuit-switched (CS) domains. The method may include causing transmission of the first MM message to a PS-domain component, and receiving a rejection message from the PS-domain component in response thereto. The rejection message indicates congestion as a cause for rejection of the first MM message. In response to receipt of the rejection message, the method may include running a back-off timer. While the back-off timer is running in an instance in which the rejection message indicates that circuit-switched services are permitted, the method may include causing transmission of a second MM message from the UE to a CS-domain component. A corresponding apparatus and computer-readable storage medium are also provided.
US08665715B2
Network management for providing and managing Quality of Service (QoS) in converged networks, and particularly management of bursty, short-lived data loads, in an opaque network where knowledge of or control over network elements is not required. Preferential treatment is provided to some subset of the network users that require better QoS assurances from the underlying network by applying probabilistic admission control decisions in conjunction with estimated network state provides improved performance for high priority data with bursty data loads.
US08665708B2
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for acquiring protocol messages by a ring-network node, including: using dual fields to identify different protocol messages; if a node supporting G.8032v1 receives a Force Switch (FS) or Manual Switch (MS) protocol message, determining that message is a Signal Fail (SF) protocol message according to an identifier; a node supporting G.8032v2 determining that the received protocol message is an SF or MS or FS protocol message according to the identifier. The method of the present invention enables the nodes in a ring network to accurately control the state of their own ports, thereby avoiding the case that multiple blocking points appear in the ring network and improving the network performance.
US08665702B2
The present invention discloses a method for refreshing a single ring address of an Ethernet ring, which method comprises: achieving address refresh on an on-ring port at one side of a same node by the control of a refresh timer. The present invention further discloses a system for refreshing a single ring address of an Ethernet ring, which system comprises: an address refresh achieving unit configured to achieve address refresh on an on-ring port at one side of a same node by the control of a refresh timer. The method and system of the present invention reduces the number of refreshes of the address forwarding table and improves the efficiency and stability of Ethernet ring protection, thus greatly promoting the performance of the Ethernet ring.
US08665699B2
Failure detection and traffic redirection are implemented in an OpenFlow switch. Link failure detection packets, such as Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) packets, are periodically sent out on links to peer OpenFlow switches, such as via the Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Transport Profile (MPLS-TP). Link failure detection packets are received from the peer OpenFlow switches on the links, and monitored. A link failure is detected if no incoming link failure detection packets are received on a link for a predetermined interval. In the event of a link failure, traffic is redirected from the failed link to a backup link by altering entries on a flow table of the OpenFlow switch.
US08665695B2
A communications apparatus is provided. A receiving module receives a signal with a predetermined signal bandwidth. A low pass filter filters the signal to obtain a filtered signal. A filter bandwidth of the low pass filter is wide enough to pass the regular sub-carrier frequency components and at least half of the guard sub-carrier frequency components of the signal. An analog to digital converter samples the filtered signal with a sampling rate exceeding a standard sampling rate defined in accordance with the predetermined signal bandwidth of the signal to obtain a plurality of digital samples. A Fast Fourier Transform module performs a fast Fourier transform on a predetermined number of points of the digital samples to obtain a plurality of transformed samples. The predetermined number exceeds a standard number defined in accordance with the predetermined carrier bandwidth. A sub-carrier collector collects the data from the transformed samples.
US08665693B1
A system and method are provided for Soft Interference Cancellation (SIC) in receiving Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) Multiple-Input Multiple Output (MIMO) signals. A receiver with Mr antennas accepts multicarrier signals transmitted simultaneously, with N overlapping carrier frequencies. The receiver removes a cyclic prefix (CP), and fast Fourier transforms (FFT) the multicarrier signal from each antenna, supplying Mr number of N-tone signals y. Using either parallel SIC (P-SIC) or successive SIC (S-SIC), interference is canceled in each of the Mr signals, and soft symbols are supplied for each of U layers. Interference is canceled using the P-SIC process by parallel processing the U layers in an i-th iteration, in response to feedback from an (i−1)th iteration. Alternatively, interference is canceled using the S-SIC process by sequentially processing the U layers in an i-th iteration, in the order of u0,u1, . . . , uU−1, using feedback generated from previously processed layers.
US08665692B2
A method includes receiving signaling from a base station, where the signaling includes information descriptive of a muted resource element pattern configuration when operating in a cell that is associated with at least one multi-cell cooperation area. The method further includes making at least one measurement according to the received information for at least one of the cooperation areas for making an interference estimate and transmitting measurement results to the base station. Another method includes transmitting signaling that contains information descriptive of a muted resource element pattern configuration to a user equipment operating in a cell that is associated with at least one multi-cell cooperation area. This method further includes muting resource element transmissions in accordance with the information descriptive of the muted resource element pattern configuration; and receiving from the user equipment at least one measurement made according to the transmitted signaling for at least one of the cooperation areas. In these methods different cooperation areas are associated with mutually orthogonal muted resource elements. Corresponding apparatus and computer programs stored on non-transitory computer readable medium are also disclosed.
US08665689B2
[Problem] In a conventional multilayer optical disc, management information needs to be retrieved from the control area of its reference layer to find how many information layers there are in the optical disc.[Means for Solving the Problem] A multilayer optical disc according to the present invention has multiple information layers that are stacked one upon the other. The information layers include at least one layer on which layer number information, indicating its own place in the multiple information layers, and information about the total number of information layers included are both stored.
US08665681B2
There is provided an optical disc drive comprises an optical pick-up including a laser diode (LD) and a laser diode driver (LDD) for driving the laser diode, a digital signal processor (DSP) including a write strategy circuit and low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) drivers for transmitting a produced write strategy signal, a circuit board having the DSP mounted thereon and including a line for transmitting the write strategy signal, a transmission line connecting the circuit board and the LDD and transmitting a write strategy signal, and differential resistors connected between differential lines of outputs of the LVDS drivers. Especially, a resistor having a resistance value in a range of 80 to 500Ω is inserted between the differential lines of outputs of the LVDS driver inside the DSP.
US08665679B2
In one embodiment, the optical read/write apparatus includes a plurality of optical pickups arranged to cross tracks of an optical storage medium and a control section. On finding the data that has been written by any of those optical pickups inaccurate or on detecting any defect at a location where data is going to be written by any of the optical pickups, the control section instructs another one of the optical pickups to write that data on a different track from a track on which the data should have been written.
US08665670B2
A method of deterring mammals comprising configuring an acoustic deterrent system to emit an acoustic signal having characteristics which repel the mammals by eliciting an acoustic startle response reflex in said mammals.
US08665668B2
Technologies are generally described for an integrated circuit that is designed to serve as the basis of SONAR sensors that provide high sensitivity, low noise, low cost, and electronically adjustable gain in a small package may incorporate transducer drivers and signal sensing functions. Electronically programmable gain of the circuit may provide flexibility in system designs for gain management, and eliminate a need for manual gain adjustments in production. Power may be supplied to the sensor(s) over a power line of the circuit from a direct current source through a resistor. The same line may also be used for communicating with the sensor(s). Data from the microcontroller may be transmitted to the sensor(s) using an open-drain driver transistor and received through another transistor isolating the micro-controller's input from potentially high voltages present on the power line.
US08665663B2
A memory circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a clock driver and an ODT timer. The clock driver is configured to provide a system clock signal based on a root clock signal when the memory circuit is in a read mode, and is configured to stop providing the system clock signal when the memory circuit is not in the read mode. The ODT timer is configured to provide a system ODT signal when the memory circuit is not in the read mode, wherein the transition edge of the system ODT signal is aligned with the transition edge of the root clock signal.
US08665662B2
A memory device, system and method for allowing an early read operation after one or more write operations is provided according to an embodiment of the present invention. The memory device comprises an interface for providing a first write address, a first write data, and a read address. A memory core is coupled to the interface and includes a first memory section having a first data path and a first address path and a second memory section having a second data path and a second address path. In an embodiment of the present invention, the first data and first address path is independent of the second data and second address path. The first write data is provided on the first data path responsive to the first write address being provided on the first address path while a read data is provided on the second data path responsive to the read address being provided on the second address path.
US08665658B2
A semiconductor memory includes a memory array having at least one bit line, a tracking bit line, and a global tracking circuit. The tracking bit line is configured to emulate a voltage transition of the at least one bit line. The global tracking circuit is configured to generate a timing signal for generating a negative voltage with respect to ground on the at least one bit line of the memory array.
US08665656B2
A semiconductor memory apparatus includes: a skew monitoring unit configured to receive a reference voltage and monitor a voltage characteristic of a corresponding MOS transistor; a voltage sensing unit configured to provide a sensing voltage corresponding to the monitoring result of the voltage characteristic; a coding unit configured to multiplex an output signal of the voltage sensing unit and provide a skew control signal; and an internal voltage regulation unit configured to provide an internal voltage by regulating an internal bias voltage in response to the skew control signal.
US08665651B1
The present invention discloses a reference cell circuit which is applied to a non-volatile memory. The reference cell circuit includes a reference cell array, a first current mirror circuit, and a second current mirror circuit. The reference cell array includes at least one row of floating gate transistors. The first current mirror circuit is arranged to generate a mirror current according to a reference current generated by the reference cell array. The second current mirror circuit is arranged to receive the mirror current and generate an adjusted reference current according to the mirror current and a selected one of a plurality of enable signals, wherein the plurality of enable signals correspond to a plurality operations of the non-volatile memory and the adjusted reference current is arranged to determine logical state of a plurality of memory cells of the non-volatile memory.
US08665650B2
Embodiments provide a method for reading a target memory sector of a memory. The method comprises, based on read data corresponding to a plurality of memory sectors of the memory, estimating first one or more reference voltages and, using the first one or more reference voltages, performing a first read operation on the target memory sector. The method further comprises determining an error correcting code (ECC) decoding failure of the first read operation and, in response to determining the ECC decoding failure of the first read operation and based on read data corresponding to the target memory sector, updating the estimate of the first one or more reference voltages to generate second one or more reference voltages. The method also comprises using the second one or more reference voltages, performing a second read operation on the target memory sector.
US08665644B2
A stacked semiconductor memory device comprises a semiconductor substrate having a functional circuit, a plurality of memory cell array layers, and at least one connection layer. The memory cell array layers are stacked above the semiconductor substrate. The connection layers are stacked above the semiconductor substrate independent of the memory cell array layers. The connection layers electrically connect memory cell selecting lines arranged on the memory cell array layers to the functional circuit.
US08665635B2
Methods, and circuits, are disclosed for operating a programmable memory device. One method embodiment includes storing a value as a state in a first memory cell and as a complementary state in a second memory cell. Such a method further includes determining the state of the first memory cell using a first self-biased sensing circuit and the complementary state of the second memory cell using a second self-biased sensing circuit, and comparing in a differential manner an indication of the state of the first memory cell to a reference indication of the complementary state of the second memory cell to determine the value.
US08665630B2
Methods, devices, and systems associated with memory cell operation are described. One or more methods of operating a memory cell include charging a capacitor coupled to the memory cell to a particular voltage level and programming the memory cell from a first state to a second state by controlling discharge of the capacitor through a resistive switching element of the memory cell.
US08665629B2
An integrated circuit and method for manufacturing an integrated circuit are described. In one embodiment, the integrated circuit includes a memory cell that includes a resistivity changing memory element. The resistivity changing memory element is electrically coupled to a select transistor that includes a FinFET including a source, a drain, and a fin structure formed above a surface of a substrate between the source and the drain. The fin structure includes a channel area extending in a direction substantially parallel to the surface of the substrate, and a dielectric layer formed around at least a portion of the channel area such that an effective channel width of the select transistor depends at least in part on a height of the fin structure.
US08665628B2
A ferroelectric memory device has word, bit, plate lines; memory cells having access gate and ferroelectric capacitor; latch amplifier for latching stored data; and write amplifier for driving bit lines according to write data. The bit lines are precharged to a reference potential before an active period. In active period, at a first time, selected word line and plate line are driven to a high-level potential so that ferroelectric capacitor output electric charge to selected bit line, and at a second time, selected bit line is brought to reference potential regardless of write data so that first data is written to selected memory cell, and at a third time, plate line is driven to reference potential and is maintained; and in a precharge period, the write amplifier drives selected bit line to high-level potential according to write data so that second data is written to selected memory cell.
US08665624B2
According to an embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a substrate, a connector, a volatile semiconductor memory element, multiple nonvolatile semiconductor memory elements, and a controller. A wiring pattern includes a signal line that is formed between the connector and the controller and that connects the connector to the controller. On the opposite side of the controller to the signal line, the multiple nonvolatile semiconductor memory elements are aligned along the longitudinal direction of the substrate.
US08665620B2
A timing circuit of a controller generates a clock signal having a switching period for use by a pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit to control a switch of a power supply. The switching period of the clock signal is based on a charging time plus a discharging time of a capacitor included in the timing circuit. A first current source charges the capacitor while the timing circuit is in a normal charging mode. A second current source charges the capacitor while the timing circuit is in an alternative charging mode that is when the on time of the switch exceeds a threshold time. The current provided by the second current source is less than the current provided by the first current source such that the switching period of the clock signal is increased in response to the timing circuit entering the alternative charging mode.
US08665617B2
A plant for transmitting electric power includes a direct voltage network (100) and at least one three-phase alternating voltage network (101) connected thereto through a station (102). This station includes a Voltage Source Converter (103). A unit (104) is configured to control the converter according to a PWM pattern for generating an alternating voltage having a third harmonic voltage part added to a fundamental voltage part. No transformer is arranged between phase outputs (106) of the converter and the alternating voltage network (101). An arrangement (107) is configured to block the third harmonic voltage part and prevent it from reaching the alternating voltage network.
US08665608B2
The circuit board packaging structure capable of inserting and extracting an interface part of a circuit board into and from a connector part of the processing equipment in a direction different from a direction of attaching and detaching the circuit board to and from the processing equipment includes: an operating part which turns on receiving force; a plate part which is fixed to the circuit board to be rotatable in a direction reverse to a turning direction of the operating part, and converts the force received by the operating part to force in a direction different from the attaching and detaching direction to move the circuit board in that direction; a link part which connects the operating part with the plate part to transmit the force received by the operating part to the plate part; and a fastener which fastens the circuit board and the operating part with play.
US08665602B2
A bus bar device 1 includes a bus bar 2 connected to a battery post 52 provided in a battery 50, an insulative housing 3 that covers the bus bar 2, a circuit board 5 attached to the housing 3 and an electronic parts 4 mounted on the circuit board 5. The bus bar 2 includes a first flat plate part 9 having a battery attaching part 13 to which the battery post 52 is attached, a second flat plate part 11 having a first parallel part 16 parallel to the first flat plate part 9 and an electric wire connecting part 21 extended from the first parallel part 16 to connect a terminal fitting of an electric wire connected to a load and a third flat plate part 10 provided between the second flat plate part 11 and the first flat plate part 9 and arranged in parallel with the circuit board 5. The third flat plate part 10 is provided in a direction intersecting the first flat plate part 9.
US08665600B2
A feed circuit for connecting adjacent components includes: a printed circuit board having a first portion and an axis of symmetry extending along a longitudinal direction of the first portion, second portions extending in substantially opposite directions from one end of the first portion, and third portions extending in substantially opposite directions from another end of the first portion; at least two circuits electrically connecting respective ones of the second portions with corresponding ones of the third portions; and connection areas at each of the second portions configured to be connected to one of the adjacent components, and at each of the third portions configured to be connected to another one of the adjacent components.
US08665598B2
An substantially planar information device is provided comprising: a memory module including a memory device and an electrical interface to connect the memory device to a complementary interface of a computing device; and a housing including a recess in which the memory module can be removably received, a receptacle to receive the electrical interface when the memory module is received in the recess, wherein the memory module and the housing are substantially planar such that the information device can be affixed to a planar substrate without substantially changing the profile of the planar substrate.
US08665589B2
A peripheral input device capable of carrying a tabular electronic device is disclosed. The peripheral input device includes a base, an inputting module, a supporting mechanism, and a retaining structure. The inputting module, the supporting mechanism, and the retaining structure are disposed on the base. The retaining structure is disposed between the inputting module and the supporting mechanism. The supporting mechanism can provide a plurality of supporting angles for supporting the tabular electronic device stably with the retaining structure. Therefore, the peripheral input device according to the invention can provide functions of supporting and inputting simultaneously, provide a plurality of supporting angles for satisfying view demand of a user to the tabular electronic device during operation, and further can be regarded as a protection cover for the tabular electronic device.
US08665584B2
A tablet holder including a frame configured to hold a tablet. A barrel is defined in the frame and opens through one side of the frame. A mounting post is pivotally and retractably received within the barrel, and a locking mechanism is provided for locking the mounting post against relative movement. A tablet stowage system includes a tablet holder, a container for stowing a plurality of tablet holders, and a galley cart for stowing the container.
US08665579B2
There is proved a variable capacitor that includes a substrate, a signal line disposed on a surface of the substrate for feeding a signal, a ground electrode disposed on the surface, and a movable electrode opposed the signal line and the ground electrode, the movable electrode operable to move toward and away from the signal line and the ground electrode. The movable electrode can be displaced by an electrostatic attraction between the movable electrode and the signal line and between the movable electrode and the signal line. An amount of displacement of the movable electrode varies according to an amount of the voltage which generates the electrostatic attraction.
US08665577B2
A safe area voltage regulator is provided that includes a loss element, a distributed shunt regulator and an output terminal. The loss element component is directly connected to the distributed shunt regulator and includes a plurality of loss elements connected in series. The distributed shunt regulator is made up of a plurality of shunt regulators connected in parallel and is configured to regulate a peak voltage of a voltage signal to below a maximum voltage threshold. The output terminal is directly connected to the distributed shunt regulator and configured to output the voltage signal with the regulated peak voltage. The safe area voltage regulator is configured to ensure that the voltage signal with the regulated peak voltage does not exceed a maximum voltage threshold when a fault occurs to a signal power amplifier inputting the voltage signal to the safe area voltage regulator or when a fault occurs to one of the plurality of shunt regulators or when a fault occurs to one of the plurality of loss elements.
US08665570B2
Diodes, including gated diodes and shallow trench isolation (STI) diodes, manufacturing methods, and related circuits are provided without at least one halo or pocket implant thereby reducing capacitance of the diode. In this manner, the diode may be used in circuits and other devices having performance sensitive to load capacitance while still obtaining the performance characteristics of the diode. Such characteristics for a gated diode include fast turn-on times and high conductance, making the gated diodes well-suited for electro-static discharge (ESD) protection circuits as one example. Diodes include a semiconductor substrate having a well region and insulating layer thereupon. A gate electrode is formed over the insulating layer. Anode and cathode regions are provided in the well region. A P-N junction is formed. At least one pocket implant is blocked in the diode to reduce capacitance.
US08665561B1
A method and system provide a magnetic read and/or write transducer for use in disk drive. A read transducer has an air-bearing surface (ABS) and includes a read sensor, a nonmagnetic gap, a heater, and an expander. The nonmagnetic gap is adjacent to a portion of the read sensor and has a first coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). The heater heats a portion of the magnetic read transducer. The expander is adjacent to a portion of the nonmagnetic gap and has a second CTE greater than the first CTE. The write transducer includes a pole, a coil, an insulator adjacent to and for insulating the coil, a heater and an expander. The expander has a CTE greater than the insulator's CTE.
US08665552B2
Controlling positions of storage media heads is disclosed. An example storage media head position controller includes a position error filter to filter a media head position error based on a target position for a storage media head relative to a storage medium and a present media head position to generate a position signal, and a media speed monitor to modify an integration factor in the position error filter based on a media speed to adjust a phase margin of the position control loop.
US08665550B1
A method for reducing a disturbance associated with repeatable runout associated with a removable disc loaded into a storage system. The method includes, at the storage system: logically partitioning the removable disc into sectors; for each of the sectors, obtaining a corresponding profile of repeatable runout contained in the sector; and applying a runout control algorithm to each of the sectors to generate a repeatable runout control (RROC) waveform that is usable to suppress the repeatable runout in the sector as indicated by the profile corresponding to the sector. The method also includes, at the storage system: assembling each RROC waveform to generate a single RROC waveform that is useable to suppress repeatable runout as contained in an entire revolution of the removable disc; and storing, in a memory, the single RROC waveform.
US08665526B2
The present invention relates generally to an arcuate liquid meniscus lens, some specific embodiments include a liquid meniscus lens with a front curve arcuate lens and a back curve arcuate lens. Embodiments may also include a lens of suitable size and shape for inclusion in a contact lens.
US08665525B2
One embodiment provides for a gradient lens having a first substantially hemispherical member comprising a first convex surface and a base and a second substantially hemispherical member projecting away from the base of the first hemispherical member and comprising a second convex surface. The gradient lens also includes a plurality of gradient layers disposed within the first hemispherical member, each gradient layer concentrically aligned to the first hemispherical member and comprising an index of refraction different than that of adjacent gradient layers.
US08665518B2
A display method and system are described for displaying a stereo image comprising a first image and a second image. A light valve array comprising an array of light valve elements is driven according to an image and a light source is provided for generating a shaped light beam which can illuminate a portion of the light valve array. A scanning device is provided which is arranged to scan the shaped light beam across the light valve array. Light valve elements of the same light valve array are caused to sequentially adopt a state representative of the first image of the stereoscopic image and a state representative of the second image, and to cause the light valve elements to adopt a new state representative of one of the first and second images in advance of the scanning by the shaped light beam and to change to a new state representative of the other of the first and second images during a period between successive scans of the shaped light beam.
US08665516B2
The various laser architectures described herein provide increased gain of optical energy as well as compensation of optical phase distortions in a thin disk gain medium. An optical amplifier presented herein provides for scalable high energy extraction and gains based on a number of passes of the signal beam through a gain medium. Multiple, spatially separate, optical paths may also be passed through the same gain region to provide gain clearing by splitting off a small percentage of an output pulse and sending it back through the amplifier along a slightly different path. By clearing out the residual gain, uniform signal amplitudes can be obtained.
US08665514B2
A fiber laser apparatus includes an optical amplification fiber with a multi-core structure composed of a first waveguide that pumping light enters and that transmits the pumping light; a second waveguide composed of a core containing a laser medium and for generating laser, and a clad for transmitting pumping light; and a third waveguide containing the first waveguide and the second waveguide. The optical amplification fiber is wound while the curvature radius is being changed to provide a small-size, high-power fiber laser apparatus.
US08665489B2
A light controlled laser imaging method includes exposing a surface layer of an imaging member substrate to a first expose source to render the surface layer uniformly hydrophilic, wherein the surface layer comprises a compound having reversible light controlled wettability whereby the surface layer is reversibly hydrophilic and hydrophobic; exposing the surface layer to a second expose source in an image-wise fashion to render image areas of the surface layer hydrophobic; exposing the surface layer to a polar liquid wherein the polar liquid attracts to non-image hydrophilic areas; exposing the surface layer to a hydrophobic liquid colorant wherein the hydrophobic liquid colorant attracts to hydrophobic image areas; contacting the surface layer with an image receiving substrate to transfer the image thereto; fixing the image; and optionally, treating the surface layer to remove residual hydrophobic liquid colorant.
US08665483B2
In one embodiment, an option to restrict printing to a first print media source is presented to a user of a printer that is configured to access a plurality of print media sources. An instruction to restrict printing to the first print media source is received from the user. The printer is restricted from printing to the first print media source.
US08665480B2
A server device includes a print history database; an information adding unit for adding, as invisible information, first information for specifying image data and second information about a server address; a first print data transmitting unit for transmitting, to a print server, the image data to which the invisible information is added; an image storage unit for storing image data which corresponds to the first information; a list generating unit for generating a list of the print product based on a print history of the image data specified by the first information read from the invisible information by a terminal device; a selected information receiving unit for receiving product specifying information that specifies the print product selected from the list of the terminal device; and a second print data transmitting unit for transmitting the print data on the print product specified by the product specifying information.
US08665472B2
A method of making a digital image file from a visible first digital image and from a visible second digital image of a machine-readable optical code, wherein the machine-readable optical code encodes information associated with or derived from the first digital image includes using a scanner to scan the visible first digital image and using the scanner to scan the visible second digital image and using a processor to make the digital image file by storing in a memory the scanned first digital image in an image portion and storing the scanned second digital image in retrievable association with the first digital image in an information portion.
US08665470B2
The user of an electronic device can easily know when a replaceable unit needs replacing (the service life). A host computer 100 connected to a media processing device 1 (electronic device) executes a step (S4) of acquiring maintenance counter information that is stored in the media processing device 1, steps (S5, S7) of calculating based on the acquired maintenance counter information A=(the total open/close count of the media tray of the media drive 41 (51))/(an assured media tray open/close count), B=(the cumulative CD writing time of the media drive 41 (51)/(the assured CD writing time), and C=(the cumulative DVD writing time) of the media drive 41 (51)/(the assured DVD writing time), and steps (S6, S8) of displaying the maximum value of values A, B, and C as the expected service life of the media drive 41 (51) on a display unit.
US08665469B2
Systems and methods are described that facilitate distributing a raster image processing task for an input file (e.g., an electronic document) across a plurality of nodes (e.g., computers) in a network. The input file is received at a first node, which becomes the controlling node and splits the pages of the input file into interleaved chunks such that adjacent pages are allocated to different chunks (i.e., no chunk contains adjacent pages in the document). Chunks are then assigned to different nodes for concurrent raster image processing. Once complete, the processed pages are returned to the controller node, which logically orders the pages into their original sequential order, and outputs the logically ordered, raster image processed pages to a printer, where they are printed.
US08665468B2
Various apparatus and methods are disclosed relating to an identifying sensor that interprets a first identifier and a printing device that prints a second distinct image based upon the first identifier.
US08665466B2
An image forming apparatus which executes a program and updates the program, and is provided with an updating part configured to store a program prior to updating or a copy of the program prior to the updating and to generate an updating program by executing an updating process of the program, to thereby set the updating program as a boot target, a boot judging part configured to judge whether or not a booting of the updating program was successful and to record information indicating a result of judgement in a storage part, and a restoring part configured to confirm whether or not the booting of the updating program was successful based on the information, and to set the stored, program prior to the updating, as the boot target, if the booting of the updating program failed.
US08665463B2
An apparatus and method share and manage passcodes across multiple printing device drivers. The method can include providing, on the electronic device, a first printing device driver for a first printing device and a second printing device driver for a second printing device. The first printing device driver and the second printing device driver can access a common secure printing device passcode storage location for secure printing device passcodes. The method can include storing at least one secure printing device passcode in the common secure printing device passcode storage location. The method can include displaying secure print information to the user in response to receiving a secure print input. The method can include sending a secure printing device passcode over the network interface to a printing device to securely print the document.
US08665462B2
Disclosed is a printer driver which acquires a file in which a printing condition has been stored, creates a print job based on the file, and instructs printing. The driver includes a first function which reads out the printing condition stored in the file, a second function which determines whether the file has been acquired from an external apparatus, and a third function which, (1) when it has been determined that the file has been acquired from an external apparatus, (1-1) checks with a user whether to change the printing condition, (1-2) displays a screen for setting the printing condition, or (1-3) sets a default printing condition in the print job, and (2) when it has been determined that the file has not been acquired from an external apparatus, sets in the print job, the printing condition stored in the file as the printing condition for the file.
US08665461B2
A system for managing job tickets includes a first device that is in communication with a server. The first device is adapted to receive as input job parameters for managing a print job. The image forming device is further adapted to encode the job parameters into a job ticket. The first device is further adapted to send the job ticket to the server. The server is adapted to store the job ticket in a folder and obtain the job ticket from the folder when a request for a print job is received at the server. The server is further adapted to apply the job ticket to the print job and transmit a print file including the print job and the job ticket to an image forming device when a print job request is received.
US08665456B2
An image processing apparatus including a selecting unit adapted to select an information processing apparatus displayed by a displaying unit, and a transmitting unit adapted to transmit data generated when the reading unit reads an original document in accordance with a reading setting specified by the selected information processing apparatus in accordance with identification information included in notification information transmitted from the information processing apparatus.
US08665455B2
On the +X and −X sides of a projection unit, a plurality of Y heads are arranged in parallel to the X-axis by a distance half or less than half the effective width of the scale, so that two heads each constantly form a pair and face a pair of Y scales. Similarly, on the +Y and −Y sides of the projection unit, a plurality of X heads are arranged in parallel to the Y-axis by the distance, so that two heads each constantly form a pair and face a pair of X scales. Of the pair of heads consisting of two heads which simultaneously face the scaler measurement values of a priority head is used, and when abnormality occurs in the measurement values of the priority head due to dust and the like adhering on the scale surface, measurement values of the other head is used. By using the two pairs of Y heads and the pair of X heads, a position of a stage within a two-dimensional plane is measured in a stable manner and with high precision.
US08665453B2
An apparatus and method for measuring the engagement state of two mating work pieces, such as two parts of an electrical connector, includes a 2D scanning profile laser sensor. The laser sensor is located in a measurement position relative to the work pieces being scanned. The laser generates a two axis surface profile of the joined work pieces. The measured surface profile is compared by a controller with a reference surface profile to determine complete or non-complete engagement of the work pieces.
US08665452B2
Measuring refractive index of air based on laser synthetic wavelength interferometry. The Apparatus includes a dual-frequency laser that emits orthogonal linear polarized light of wavelengths λ1 and λ2, a beamsplitter, two polarizing beamsplitters, two corner-cube retroreflectors, a quartz vacuum cavity of length L disposed in the measuring optical path in parallel to the light propagation direction, and two detectors. The apparatus is used to measure the refractive index of air using the dual-frequency laser to emit orthogonal linear polarized light with wavelengths λ1 and λ2, using the beamsplitters, corner-cube retroreflectors, quartz vacuum cavity, and detectors. The integer N and fraction ε of interference fringes of wavelength λ2 are determined. The refractive index of air n is obtained by using the length L of the vacuum cavity, integer N and fraction ε of the interference fringes of wavelength λ2. The measurement is accurate up to 10−9 or higher, and has strong anti-disturbance ability to the environment.
US08665451B2
A biological sensing apparatus comprises an excitation source configured to induce waves in a biological target, and an optical waveguide interferometer configured to sense the induced waves in the biological target. The optical waveguide interferometer comprises a probe segment having a probe segment end, and an adjustable coupler configured to permit setting a gap between the probe segment end and the biological target. A controller is coupled to the adjustable coupler and configured to set the gap between the probe segment end and the biological target.
US08665450B2
An optical coherence analysis system comprising: a first swept source that generates a first optical signal that is tuned over a first spectral scan band, a second swept source that generates a second optical signal that is tuned over a second spectral scan band, a combiner for combining the first optical signal and the second optical signal to form a combined optical signal, an interferometer for dividing the combined optical signal between a reference arm leading to a reference reflector and a sample arm leading to a sample, and a detector system for detecting an interference signal generated from the combined optical signal from the reference arm and from the sample arm.
US08665443B2
Atomic sensor physics package with integrated transmissive and reflective portions along light paths
In one embodiment, a block for a physics package of an atomic sensor is provided. The block comprises one or more sections of optically transparent material defining a vacuum sealed chamber, and including a plurality of transmissive and reflective surfaces to define a plurality of light paths intersecting the vacuum sealed chamber. The one or more sections of optically transparent material include a first monolithic section defining at least a portion of the vacuum sealed chamber. The first monolithic section includes a first portion disposed across a first light path of the plurality of light paths such that light in the first light path is incident on the first portion of the first monolithic section.
US08665442B2
Systems and methods for measuring the isotope ratio of one or more trace gases and/or components of gas mixtures such as different gas species present in a gas mixture. The system includes a resonant optical cavity having two or more mirrors and containing a gas, the cavity having a free spectral range that equals the difference between frequencies of two measured absorption lines of different gas species in the gas, or of two different isotopes, divided onto an integer number. The system includes a continuous-wave tunable laser optically coupled with the resonant optical cavity and a detector system for measuring an absorption of laser light by the gas in the cavity. The detector system includes a photo-detector to measure an intensity of the intra-cavity light, or both a photo-acoustic sensor to measure photo-acoustic waves generated in the cavity and a photo-detector to measure an intensity of the intra-cavity light.
US08665441B2
A device and method for measuring an optical characteristic of a fluid. The device, typically a densitometer includes a set of optical elements that include a light source, a collimating lens, a focusing lens, and a receiver, wherein a gap exists between the collimating lens and the focusing lens so as to allow the fluid to pass in between the lenses, and wherein at least one of the optical elements is tilted with respect to an optical axis.
US08665439B2
A method and apparatus for performing cell cytometry mitigate or eliminate the effects of refraction that result from interfaces between materials having different refractive indices. Solid materials, such as the walls of a flow path, which materials are disposed between a nominal focal point and an objective lens, are formed of a material having a refractive index between 1.30 and 1.40 inclusive. The refractive index of a liquid material, such as an immersion fluid or a fluid carrying, suspending, or bathing an analyte, may be adjusted to have a refractive index closer to that of surrounding solid materials and, in particular, within 0.02 of the refractive index of the surrounding solid materials.
US08665434B2
A system and method for performing Raman spectroscopy using a heterodyne detection scheme are described. The heterodyne detection scheme can combine a modulated portion of radiation having passed through a sample to be analyzed with a reference radiation to produce a combined frequency signal. At least a portion of the reference radiation can be filtered out of the combined frequency signal, resulting in a filtered frequency signal. Information related to the sample can be determined based upon the filtered signal. The determined information can then be analyzed to determine a chemical composition of the sample.
US08665428B2
A method for analyzing a laser system, which has a focused laser beam and a controllable deflection assembly for controlling the transverse and/or longitudinal position of the beam focus, said method comprising the steps of directing the laser beam or a partial beam branched therefrom downstream of the deflection assembly toward an optically nonlinear medium for the purpose of generating frequency multiplied radiation, the wavelength of which corresponds to an uneven higher harmonic of the wavelength of the laser beam, activating the deflection assembly, and measuring a power of the frequency multiplied radiation while the deflection assembly is activated. The conversion efficiency of the nonlinear process by which the frequency multiplied radiation is produced is dependent upon the focusability of the laser beam. By evaluating the measured power of the frequency multiplied radiation, dynamic impairments of focusability can be detected, which can be caused by inertia-induced deformations of optical scan components of the laser system.
US08665424B2
An optical absorption gas analyzer is provided for determining the concentration of a target gas in a sample, comprising: a chamber for containing the sample in use; an optopair, comprising a light emitting diode (LED) arranged to emit radiation into the chamber and a photovoltaic radiation detector arranged to detect radiation transmitted through the chamber from the LED and to output a corresponding detection signal SS; a temperature sensor arranged in thermal contact with the LED and the photovoltaic radiation detector, and to output a temperature signal T representing the temperature of the optopair; a memory having stored therein data representative of the baseline detection signal ST output by the optopair in the absence of the target gas as a function of the temperature of the optopair across a range of temperatures; and a processor adapted to generate a differential detection signal SA indicative of the concentration of target gas in the sample by retrieving from the memory the baseline detection signal ST corresponding to the temperature signal T and calculating the difference between the detection signal SS and the baseline detection signal ST.
US08665421B1
A laser-based infrared countermeasure (IRCM) system is disclosed. The IRCM system includes a set of receive optics, a dichroic filter, first and second detectors, a lens module and a laser. Receive optics are configured to receive optical information. The lens module reflects the optical information from the receive optics to the dichroic filter. The dichroic filter selectively splits the optical information to the first and second detectors. The first and second detectors, each of which is formed by a single-pixel detector, detects a potential missile threat from the optical information. Based on information collected by the first and second detectors, the laser sends laser beams to neutralize any missile threat.
US08665413B2
Provided are a thin film transistor display panel, a liquid crystal display, and a manufacturing method therefor, that can prevent errors or omissions in rubbing due to a step between a pixel electrode and a data line, and the resulting light leakage, as well as increase the effective area ratio of a spacer and prevent shorts from occurring during at least some repair processes. The thin film transistor array panel includes: a first substrate; a gate line and a data line formed on the first substrate; a step preventing member formed on the data line to at least partially fill a volume positioned between the data line and a pixel electrode; and a spacer formed on the first substrate, wherein the spacer and the step preventing member comprise the same material.
US08665412B2
A display device which can ensure sufficient adhesive strength between each pair of substrates of a liquid crystal display panel and a sealing material includes: a first substrate having a predetermined integrated circuit; a second substrate on one surface of the first substrate in an overlapping manner; and an adhesive material between the first substrate and the second substrate that has an annular planar shape. The adhesive material adheres the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein an outer periphery of the adhesive material includes a zone which includes a plurality of first portions passing substantially the same position as an outer periphery of the surface of the first substrate and a plurality of second portions each connected with the two neighboring first portions and having a center portion thereof in a peripheral direction retracted toward an inner peripheral side of the adhesive material.
US08665411B2
Techniques are provided for unifying steps of sealing material so that the yield and the reliability of a liquid-crystal display device become high. A starting film of scanning lines is patterned so that prismatic dummy wirings 301 for the first layer which are not electrically connected are formed in regions R1 and R2, and wirings 302 extending from the pixel section are formed in a region R3, and wirings 303 having connection end portions 303a are formed in a region R4. After an interlayer insulation film is formed, the starting film of the signal lines is patterned so that the dummy wirings 304 for the second layer are formed to embed the gaps between the wirings 301 to 303, and also the wirings 305 and the wirings 303 which extend from the pixel portion are connected to each other. This permits unification of the cross-sectional structure of the sealing material formation region.
US08665407B2
A chip on film (COF) structure for a liquid crystal panel is disclosed, and comprises a flexible substrate, an output edge, a first wire bonding portion, two second wire bonding portions, a fan-out trace portion, and two array trace portions. A long direction of lead strips of the second wire bonding portion is parallel to the output edge, and the array trace portions connect one end of the lead strips of the second wire bonding portion to the output edge. The design of the second wire bonding portions parallel to the output edge and turning traces of the array trace portions can lower the length of the fan-out trace portion, so that it is advantageous in a design trend of narrow frame edge of a liquid crystal panel.
US08665398B2
An apparatus includes a chassis assembly; a liquid crystal display panel; a light guide plate configured to guide light to the liquid crystal display panel; a light emitting diode (LED) module including a printed circuit board (PCB), a plurality of LED packages which are mounted on the PCB and emit light to a lateral side of the light guide plate, and a connector connected to the PCB such that the connector is located behind the light guide plate; and a white strip member disposed between the PCB of the LED module and the light guide plate. An edge portion of a bottom surface of the light guide plate is supported by the PCB.
US08665394B2
A liquid crystal display and a method for fixing a circuit board thereof are provided in the present invention. The liquid crystal display includes: a back plate having a back plate body, at least one elastic piece disposed at the back plate body, the elastic piece including at least one supporting portion; a circuit board having a grounding area, the circuit board located on the outside of the back plate body, and the grounding area contacting with the supporting portion of the elastic piece; a liquid crystal display panel electrically connected with the circuit board; and a plastic housing having a plurality of sidewalls and a top wall, the circuit board located on the inside of the sidewall, the sidewall having at least one hook, and the hook engaged with the elastic piece for elastically clipping and fixing the circuit board. The present invention has advantages of few parts, simple structure and convenient for assembly.
US08665390B2
The present invention provides a flat panel display device, which includes a backlight system and a display panel. The backlight system includes a light source, a light homogenization mechanism, and a back frame. The back frame carries the light source and the light homogenization mechanism, and the light homogenization mechanism guides light from the light source into the display panel. The back frame includes at least two primary assembling pieces and also includes secondary assembling pieces and a bracing piece for fixing a circuit board. According to practical needs of the main frame structure, different materials are used for different parts at different locations. The back frame is provided with the bracing piece for fixing a circuit board, and the bracing piece includes a bracing body, a first suspension section, a first bearing section, and a first resilient bent section. The present invention also provides a stereoscopic display device and a plasma display device. The flat panel display device, the stereoscopic display device, and the plasma display device of the present invention have a back frame having a simple structure, overcome the problem that a circuit cannot be easily fixed, reduce the expenditure of a back frame mold, and save the material used for back frame so as to lower down the cost of flat panel display device.
US08665388B2
A display assembly and a method of making a display assembly are disclosed. A display assembly is disclosed including a display unit 1 and two transparent plates 2, 3 bonded respectively to the front and rear surfaces of the display unit 1 by an adhesive. A tape is secured along at least one side of at least one of the plates 2, 3 on its inner surface such that the adhesive inner region of the tape bonds with the tape and not directly with the surface of the plates 2, 3.
US08665387B2
A liquid crystal display includes: first and second substrates; a liquid crystal layer; first and second gate lines; a data line and a voltage supplying line disposed on the first substrate; and a pixel. The pixel includes a first switching element connected to the first gate line and the data line, a second switching element connected to the first gate line and the voltage supplying line, a third switching element connected to the second gate line, a first pixel electrode connected to the first switching element, and a separate second pixel electrode connected to the second switching element. The voltage supplying line is supplied with a first voltage, which has a substantially uniform magnitude.
US08665373B2
A method for use with content includes analyzing a sequence of frames of the content, determining whether an area exists in a scene depicted by the sequence of frames where additional content such as advertising can be inserted without obstructing activity in the scene, for any such area, determining an amount of time that the area is available when the sequence of frames is being played, and for any such area, determining a size of the area. A storage medium storing a computer program for causing a processor based system to execute these steps and an apparatus for use with content are also disclosed.
US08665372B2
A video processing device can determine whether an input pixel includes a keyed video parameter prior to filtering the input pixel. A non-keyed substitute pixel can be generated for the input pixel that includes the keyed video parameter. The non-keyed substitute pixel can be filtered if the input pixel included the keyed video parameter, otherwise the input pixel can be filtered.
US08665368B2
A receiver comprises a first signal acquisition unit for acquiring a first type of signal block formatted according to a first format, where the first signal acquisition unit includes one or more parameter estimation units for estimating from the received signals one or more signal parameters related to acquisition of the first type of signal block. The first type of signal block is interleaved with a second type of signal block formatted according to a second format, and one or more parameter estimation units are arranged to conduct signal parameter estimation based upon one or more respective properties of the received second type of signal block prior to continuation of the estimation based upon one or more respective properties of the received first type of signal block.
US08665357B2
An imaging apparatus includes light-transmitting substrate; a plurality of lenses which faces a first surface of the substrate; a light shielding layer which is formed on the second surface of the substrate and has an opening section through which optical axes of each lens pass; and a plurality of light sensing elements which is placed so that the optical axes of the lenses pass through a light sensing surface facing the second surface at an interval. An efficient diameter of the lens, a diameter of the opening section, a distance between the light sensing surfaces and the light shielding layer, a diameter of the light sensing surface, and a distance between the light sensing surface and center of the lens satisfy a<(h·D+h·d−s·d)/s and tan−1{(p−a/2−d/2)/h}>sin−1(1/n).
US08665354B2
In a solid-state image pickup device, each pixel at a selected row outputs to a corresponding column signal line a first analog signal in accordance with an amount of electric charges at an electric charge accumulation section in an initial state and a second analog signal in accordance with an amount of photoelectric charges transferred to the electric charge accumulation section. An A/D converter provided at each column performs A/D conversion on the first and second analog signals to output first and second digital signals, respectively. Of first to third latch circuits provided at each column, the first latch circuit takes in and holds the first digital signal outputted from the A/D converter. The second latch circuit takes in and holds the first digital signal held at the first latch circuit. The third latch circuit takes in and holds the second digital signal outputted from the A/D converter.
US08665347B2
An image processing device comprises: a brilliance gradient computation unit computing a brilliance gradient within an image based on an image information; a color phase value computation unit computing a first color phase value and a second color phase value, the first color phase value representing a color phase inside a candidate region determined based on the brilliance gradient computed by the brilliance gradient computation unit, the second color phase value representing a color phase in a region surrounding the candidate region; and a region extraction unit extracting a region from the candidate region such that a difference between the first color phase value and the second color phase value is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold value.
US08665345B2
A digital video camera system that provides a video summary using a method that includes: specifying reference data, wherein the reference data indicates a feature of interest; capturing a video sequence of the scene using the image sensor, the video sequence including a time sequence of image frames; processing the captured video sequence using a video processing path to form a digital video file; during the capturing of the video sequence, analyzing the captured image frames using a feature recognition algorithm to identify a subset of the image frames that contain the feature of interest; forming the video summary including fewer than all of the image frames in the captured video sequence, wherein the video summary includes at least part of the identified subset of image frames containing the feature of interest; storing the digital video file in the storage memory; and storing a representation of the video summary in the storage memory.
US08665343B2
An image processing apparatus including: a scene recognition section recognizing a scene captured by an image; an assigning section selecting a change-target parameter being an adjustment parameter whose parameter value is to be changed from a plurality of adjustment parameters adjusting the image in response to the scene of the image, and assigning the parameter to a specific operation section being a specific operation section out of user-operable operation sections; and a parameter setting section setting a parameter value of the change-target parameter assigned to the specific operation section in response to operation of the specific operation section by a user.
US08665339B2
An optical image stabilizer for a camera lens module, including a housing fixed to a case of the camera lens module, at least one piezoelectric actuator fixed to the housing, and an image sensor assembly housed in the housing. A driving tip of the piezoelectric actuator is curved in shape and makes a point contact with the image sensor assembly. If the piezoelectric actuator is driven, the image sensor assembly freely moves on a plane perpendicular to a photographing direction as the driving tip rubs against the image sensor assembly. This optical image stabilizer is simple in structure and easy to control, so it can be mounted in devices in which installation spaces are limited, like small digital cameras and mobile terminals.
US08665334B2
Embodiments of a system and method for blur-calibration of an imaging sensor using a moving constellation are generally described herein. In some embodiments, blur-calibration of an imaging sensor includes moving a known target pattern across the field-of view (FOV) of the imaging sensor to present the target pattern across different frames at different pixel phases. Frames of images of the moving target pattern as seen in the FOV of the imaging sensor are captured to generate image data output. The image data output may be subsequently processed to generate data products representative of a shape of a point-spread function (PSF) from a high-resolution composite image generated from the captured frames. A chopper modulation may be applied to the moving target sequence and separate chopper-open and chopper-closed composite images are created. The PSF may be determined based on the difference between the chopper-open and chopper-closed composite images. The PSF may specify the shape of blur at one or more locations in the FOV.
US08665333B1
The present invention is a method and system for optimizing the observation and annotation of complex human behavior from video sources by automatically detecting predefined events based on the behavior of people in a first video stream from a first means for capturing images in a physical space, accessing a synchronized second video stream from a second means for capturing images that are positioned to observe the people more closely using the timestamps associated with the detected events from the first video stream, and enabling an annotator to annotate each of the events with more labels using a tool. The present invention captures a plurality of input images of the persons by a plurality of means for capturing images and processes the plurality of input images in order to detect the predefined events based on the behavior in an exemplary embodiment. The processes are based on a novel usage of a plurality of computer vision technologies to analyze the human behavior from the plurality of input images. The physical space may be a retail space, and the people may be customers in the retail space.
US08665331B2
An in-vehicle image display apparatus includes an image capture device and a display. An image generator is configured to combine the plurality of images captured by the image capture device and to generate a bird's eye view image in which a point of view has been changed. An operatio n device is capable of being operated by a vehicle occupant. An operation device includes a first switch provided in a central area of the operation device in a front view to be used to display the bird's eye view image in the display. The second switches are provided at positions around the central area to be used to display the plurality of images in the display. The positions correspond to the plurality of areas around the vehicle in a case in which the central area is considered as a vehicle position of the vehicle when viewed from above.
US08665328B2
An apparatus for determining an overtravel time of a machine, which has a moveable machine part and an optoelectronic protection device, has a light source designed to produce a defined light spot. The protection device for the machine comprises a camera having an observation area in which at least one protection zone having a protection zone boundary is defined. The protection device produces a stop signal when an object enters the protection zone. The light spot simulates an object within the protection zone. The light source is supported by a support element designed to position the light source in the area of the protection zone boundary. An evaluation and control unit of the apparatus is designed to switch on the light source at a defined starting time, and to determine a time interval between the defined starting time and the reception of an “end” signal indicating that the machine part has come to rest.
US08665324B2
Embodiments of this document provide a stereoscopic image display device and a driving method capable of preventing the reduction in resolution when 3D images are displayed on a stereoscopic image display device including a patterned retarder. According to an exemplary embodiment, in odd numbered display lines of a display panel, left eye image data input during an N-th (where N is a positive integer) frame period is displayed during the N-th frame period, and left eye compensation image data generated based on the data input during the N-th frame period is displayed during a (N+1)-th frame period, and in even numbered display lines of the display panel, right eye compensation image data generated based on data input during a (N−1)-th frame period is displayed during the N-th frame period, and right eye image data input during the (N+1)-th frame period is displayed during the (N+1)-th frame period.
US08665316B2
A large format digital camera has a primary camera system configured for collecting panchromatic image data and two or more secondary camera systems configured for collecting color image data. Each of the secondary camera systems has an optical system that has a longer focal length than the optical system of the primary camera system. The resolution of each of the secondary camera systems is also greater than the resolution of the primary camera system. The footprint of images produced by the primary camera system is larger in size than the footprint of images produced by the secondary camera systems. Images produced by the primary camera system offer information for performing image-based georeferencing by means of photogrammetric triangulation. Images produced by the secondary camera systems offer a high-resolution narrow angle color image suitable for use in ortho image production.
US08665315B2
There is provided a signal processing device which includes a change position detection unit that detects stepwise change positions of an n-bit quantized signal generated from an input signal; a density detection unit that calculates a value indicating a degree of density of the stepwise change positions detected by the change position detection unit; and a first low-frequency component extraction unit that extracts a desired low-frequency component from the input signal based on the value indicating the degree of density of the change positions calculated by the density detection unit.
US08665310B2
Techniques to provide active lighting control for video teleconferencing systems are described. In an embodiment, a video teleconferencing (TVC) device receives lighting data from cameras in a room where a VTC is taking place. The VTC device may access lighting profiles for the lights in the room from a lighting control system. The VTC device may compare the current lighting conditions to a target model. The VTC device may use the lighting profiles to select lights to turn on or off via the lighting control system to improve the lighting. The VTC device may monitor the lighting conditions during the conference and may re-adjust the lights if a large change occurs. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08665300B2
One or more arrays of heating elements are configured with insulating regions to prevent the dissipation of heat to unintended regions of a thermochromic substrate. Methods include printing and arranging impressions on a two-sided substrate avoiding bleeding and other problems more-commonly associated with traditional two-sided thermal printing techniques. A simple and reliable thermal printing system is provided for use in ballot marking, including several mechanisms for receiving and detecting the orientation of a substrate within a thermal printing apparatus.
US08665299B2
An exposure control apparatus includes: a plurality of line memories; a processing unit that processes image data by successively recording the image data to the plurality of line memories, and successively reading the image data from the plurality of line memories; and an exposing unit that performs, with an exposure cycle, an exposure process according to the processed image data, and that forms a latent image based on the image data onto an image carrier, wherein the image data is transferred with a cycle which is N times as high as the exposure cycle (N is a natural number), and the processing unit reads the image data N times with the exposure cycle.
US08665294B2
An image layout device including an image alignment unit configured to align an image included in an image group based on an attribute of an image included in an image group, a layout selection unit configured to select a layout frame based on an order of a layout frame, which arranges an image, included in a template which is an arrangement object of an image and an attribute of the layout frame, an image selection unit configured to select an image based on an order of an image aligned by the image alignment unit and on the attribute of the image, and a selected image layout unit configured to arrange an image selected by the image selection unit in a layout frame selected by the layout frame selection unit.
US08665289B2
Improved methods are provided for calibrating color on a color display coupled to a computer, which are useful for obtaining calibrated data in a virtual proof network for enabling different color devices to render consistent color. Methods involve user interactions with screens on the display to set color display parameters. An apparatus is also provided for calibrating a sensor which may be used for measuring color of a display in one or more of these methods.
US08665288B2
A color tracking method for a panel and an associated modifying module are provided. A set of measured display values are obtained according to a measurement of the panel by a color meter and the measured display values are modified. Display settings of the panel are then calculated according to the modified display values.
US08665284B2
Embodiments herein receive and fragment image data into image data fragments. Each single image data fragment comprises a complete, but lower resolution/quality image. The image data fragments are stored in different hardware devices, and a fragment table that comprises pointers from one image data fragment to locations of additional data image fragments is maintained. The first image data fragment is combined with one or more additional data fragments to produce a higher resolution/quality image.
US08665280B2
A display controller may include a display update controller that may cause a color processing operation to be initiated in response to completion of an image data transmission, or a display update operation to be initiated in response to completion of the color processing operation. The display update operation may include updating display pixels of a display matrix of an electro-optic display device. A collision detector may determine whether a waveform for updating a display state of a particular display pixel has finished. The display update controller may cause the particular display pixel to be omitted from a display update operation if the waveform for updating the display state of the particular display pixel has not finished. A second display update operation may automatically be initiated when the waveform for updating the display state of the particular display pixel has finished.
US08665269B2
A method of determining features of events or processes having a dynamic evolution in space and/or time using measurements of parameters that calculate the most probable consequences of the event or process at a certain time includes: defining a set of measurable parameters describing the effects of the event or process, characteristic of the event or process, and measurable at a certain time; defining a n-dimensional space where the parameters describing the event or process are represented by entity points; determining, as a function of the measured values of the characteristic parameters describing the event or process at the certain time, a geometrical point in the n-dimensional space forces accumulate that are generated by the evolution of the event of process in time; and displaying or printing the n-dimensional space where the characteristic parameters are shown as entity points and as a geometrical point.
US08665267B2
Various embodiments of a system and methods for generating 3D surface patches from unconstrained 3D curves are described. The system may receive a set of unconstrained 3D wireframe curves that represent a 3D wireframe model. The 3D wireframe curves may be unorganized, may have inconsistent orientations, and may have an arbitrary number and type of curve intersections. The system may automatically generate the 3D surface patches, dependent on the 3D wireframe curves. The 3D surface patches may form a 3D surface that connects the 3D wireframe curves. The 3D surface patches may be generated from faces of the 3D wireframe model. The faces may be elementary cycles extracted from the 3D wireframe model. The system may receive user input which indicates changes to the 3D surface patches. A user may change, create, and/or delete 3D surface patches to achieve a desired 3D surface that represents the 3D wireframe model.
US08665266B2
A process for optimizing a tile mesh for a surface in a level-of-detail hierarchy includes obtaining a plurality of elevation values for an elevation grid of the surface, downsampling the elevation grid to a resolution based on a minimum edge size for triangles of the tile mesh as determined by a level-of-detail parameter, encoding the elevation grid into a linearized quadtree of virtual nodes, iteratively optimizing the quadtree according to an adaptive sampling pattern based on one or more prioritized split tests; and converting the optimized linearized quadtree into a tile mesh.
US08665258B2
A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium for determining a depth map from a single image. An image is displayed on a computer display, where the displayed image corresponds to image data. User input via is received via one or more tools applied to the displayed image, where the user input specifies one or more depth constraints for at least a portion of the image. A depth map for the image data is automatically determined subject to the one or more depth constraints, and a representation of the depth map is displayed on the computer display.
US08665249B2
An organic light emitting display device capable of ensuring the drive stability. The organic light emitting display includes a plurality of pixels; first signal supply lines respectively coupled to the pixels disposed in at least two horizontal lines; and second signal supply lines being lower in number than the first signal supply lines and respectively coupled to the pixels disposed in the horizontal lines includes a scan driver driving the first and second signal supply lines; a data driver driving data lines disposed in a direction that is crossed to the first and second signal supply lines; and a dummy pattern block providing dummy patterns so that loads of the second signal supply lines are identical to loads of the first signal supply lines.
US08665247B2
A flat panel display includes a flexible substrate; a passive matrix display having an array of pixels formed on a side of the flexible substrate, and row and column electrodes formed on the same side of the flexible substrate and connected to the pixels for providing data and selection signals to the pixel elements; a plurality of electrical contacts formed on the same side of the substrate and electrically connected to the row and column electrodes; and discrete data and selection drivers located on the same side of the flexible substrate around the periphery of the passive matrix display and electrically connected to the electrical contacts for driving the pixels of the passive matrix display.
US08665246B2
A pointing device includes a first ground potential electrode; a second electrode for applying a voltage; a third electrode for measuring an electrical potential; a printed circuit board on which the first through the third electrodes are provided; a location pointing driving body that is provided on the printed circuit board and that is configured with a conductive part and that contacts the first and second electrodes, and a spherical part; a slide member that is located to cover a top part of the location pointing driving body and that is configured to drive the location pointing driving body by being slidable within a plane parallel to the printed circuit board; and a pressing force restriction member that is configured to restrict pressing force from the spherical part to the printed circuit board by receiving force from the slide member in the pressing direction.
US08665245B2
New methods and apparatus are provided for efficiently and safely providing controls and displays therefore, particularly, but necessarily to be used within the center stack region of a vehicle instrument panel. The apparatus utilizes, in most embodiments, a rear projection display and machine vision sensing of control position and, optionally, finger touch. A very stylistic and easy to use instrument panel results which can be programmed or otherwise provided in many different forms to suit different users or option package designs.
US08665230B2
A sensing display device including a display panel and a sensing element is provided. The display panel includes at least a plurality of pixel units, and the pixel units are arranged along a primary direction. The sensing element is disposed on the pixel units and includes at least a plurality of sensor units. Each of the sensor units includes a mesh-pattern electrode, and the mesh-pattern electrode includes a plurality of first traces having conductivity. At least one of the first traces is substantially extended along a first direction, wherein a first angle is formed between the first direction and the primary direction, and the first angle is an acute angle.
US08665225B2
A portable device with a touch screen display detects a finger-in-contact event at a first position on the touch screen display and identifies a user interface object associated with the first position. The portable device determines whether the identified user interface object is moveable across the touch screen display. For an identified object that is determined to be moveable across the touch screen display, the portable device detects a sequence of one or more first finger-dragging, a first finger-out-of-contact, one or more second finger-dragging, and a first finger-out-of-range events and performs a first operation associated with the identified moveable user interface object at least in part in accordance with the first and second finger-dragging events. For an identified not moveable object, the portable device detects a second finger-out-of-contact event and performs a second operation, different from the first operation in response to a second finger-out-of-contact event.
US08665219B2
A display device is provided comprising a housing, a communication means within the housing configured to receive content from a local content source device external to the housing and to transmit messages to the local content source device, wherein the content comprises a static screen image, a storage means configured to store the content having been received from the content source device, wherein the storage means stores no more than a single static screen image and a display configured to display the content. A method for use with the display device is further provided.
US08665211B2
A position detecting device is provided, which is configured to minimize leakage of magnetic flux in an electromagnetic induction system. The position detecting device includes: a sensor unit including a plurality of first loop coils arranged in a first direction and a plurality of second loop coils arranged in a second direction intersecting with the first direction; a yoke sheet provided on a side of the sensor unit that is opposite to a side that faces a position indicator; an auxiliary loop coil provided at a corner part of the sensor unit; a signal transmitter configured to transmit a signal to one of the coils in order to generate a magnetic field to induce an induced current in a coil of the position indicator; and a controller configured to select one of the coils, and to control whether to transmit a signal from the signal transmitter to the selected one of the coils or to make the selected one of the coils receive a signal from the position indicator.
US08665203B2
An electronic device having a display unit, an indicator, an illuminance sensor and a controller is provided. The indicator is configured to be turned on for emitting light and to be turned off. The illuminance sensor is configured to sense ambient illuminance. The controller is connected to the display unit, the indicator and the illuminance sensor. The controller is configured to turn on and off the indicator. The controller is configured to set brightness of the display unit depending on a value of the ambient illuminance sensed by the illuminance sensor while the indicator continues to be off.
US08665202B2
Provided is an active matrix substrate for use in a liquid crystal display device in which two scan signal lines (16i and 16j) are scanned simultaneously; pixel regions including two pixel electrodes each are arranged in the row and column directions when the column direction is the scanning direction; one scan signal line is provided for one pixel region row; and a shielding conductive body (41p) is disposed to cover the gap between two adjacent pixel electrodes (17ib and 17ja), one of which is a pixel electrode included in a given pixel region (101) and the other is a pixel electrode included in a pixel region (102) adjacent to said given pixel region (101) on the downstream side of the scanning direction. By using the present active matrix substrate, the display quality of a liquid crystal display device in which two scan signal lines are selected simultaneously can be improved.
US08665201B2
A display device includes: a source driver; a plurality of gate drivers which share a plurality of scan signal lines to which they are connected; a gate output judging section for judging whether or not each of the plurality of gate drivers has a failure, on the basis of timing at which a gate signal Gout is outputted from a corresponding one of the plurality of gate drivers; and a control section for, in a case where the gate output judging section judges that the gate driver has a failure, switching over to the gate driver. This makes it possible to extend a lifetime of the display device with not a complicated arrangement but a simple arrangement.
US08665196B2
A display apparatus including: a pixel section having a plurality of pixel circuits arranged two-dimensionally by being each provided at an intersection of a scan line and a signal line as a circuit including a switching device, a display element and a storage capacitor; and a correction circuit for correcting a storage-capacitor voltage supplied to the storage capacitors, wherein the correction circuit employs a comparator for detecting the difference between electric potentials received from a portion of the pixel section as a pixel electric potential having a positive polarity and a pixel electric potential having a negative polarity and for comparing the difference in electric potential with a reference voltage, and an output-voltage control circuit for converting a comparison result output by the comparator into a correction signal used for correcting the storage-capacitor voltage to be asserted on a storage-capacitor line used for supplying the storage-capacitor voltage.
US08665193B2
An OCB (Optically Compensated Bend) liquid crystal display in which impulse driving is performed such that an impulse data voltage is applied between normal data voltages used for displaying an image. The impulse data voltage is divided into a first impulse data voltage and a second impulse data voltage having a voltage value that will not break a bent alignment of the OCB liquid crystals. Referring to the application of the first impulse data voltage between the normal data voltages as first impulse driving and the application of the second impulse data voltage between the normal data voltages as second impulse driving, the second impulse driving is performed at every two or more of the first impulse drivings, so as to not break the bent alignment of the liquid crystals and to thereby improve luminance of the LCD.
US08665184B2
A driving circuit is adapted to drive a current-driven device. The driving circuit includes a first power supply circuit and a second power supply circuit. The first power supply circuit is for supplying a first positive voltage to a first terminal of the current-driven device. The second power supply circuit is for enabling a current flowing along a first current flow direction in a first time period and thereby a second terminal of the current-driven device is given a second positive voltage. The second power supply circuit further is for enabling a current from the current-driven device flowing out of the second power supply circuit along a second current flow direction. The first current flow direction and the second current flow direction are different directions in the second power supply circuit. Moreover, a light emitting device using the above-mentioned driving circuit also is provided.
US08665171B2
A diversity antenna apparatus includes a feed line through which radio communication power is transmitted, antennas connected in cascade through the feed line, and a first rectifier device placed in the feed line, wherein a first one of the antennas and a second one of the antennas each include a second rectifier device having an input terminal thereof connected to the feed line, an antenna device connected to an output of the first rectifier device, and a third rectifier device having an input terminal thereof connected to a connection point between the second rectifier device and the antenna device, and having an output terminal thereof grounded, wherein the first rectifier device placed in the feed line connects between the input terminal of the second rectifier device of the first one of the antennas and the input terminal of the second rectifier device of the second one of the antennas.
US08665166B2
The inventive device enables to ensure its compactness, that is, a minimum thickness at a high antenna efficiency of an antenna in the frequency range 10.7-12.75 GHz. This technical effect can be achieved because the antenna comprises a main reflector (1), at least two feeds (2) and at least two sub-reflectors (3). Each sub-reflector is provided with such a shape of its external surface that ensures reflection of the feed directional pattern central beam to the edge of the main reflector and reflection of a lateral beam to the central area of the main reflector, the sub-reflector adjoining surfaces being truncated.
US08665163B2
An extremely thin embedded antenna for an armor-carrying vehicle utilizes a dipole driven element to the inside of the armor plate and a parasitically-driven dipole element on top of the armor plate, with the parasitic element providing appropriate forward gain and antenna matching characteristics such that there need be no aperturing of the armor plate in order to feed the antenna. In one embodiment, the bowtie antenna elements are elongated, extended or expanded by outboard antenna sections which are spaced from the distal ends of the corresponding bowties, with a meanderline choke bridging the gap between a bowtie element and its extended portion.
US08665159B2
A handheld device and a disposition method of a planar antenna are provided. The handheld device includes an appearance, a system ground plane, and the planar antenna. The appearance includes a via. The system ground plane is disposed inside the appearance. The planar antenna is disposed on the appearance and extended to an inner surface of the appearance through the via so as to be coupled to the system ground plane. Thereby, the performance of the planar antenna is improved.
US08665153B2
Provided is an array signal processing device capable of, when a spatial averaging method is applied to array signal processing, reducing the number of antennas constituting an array antenna while making use of the spatial averaging method. In the array signal processing device (300), an array antenna (310) comprises four antennas (311-1 to 311-4) disposed at the four vertices of a parallelogram. Correlation calculation units (341-1, 2) calculate, based on a received signal, spatial correlation matrices for respective sub-array antenna (312-1) and sub-array antenna (312-2), the sub-array antenna (312-1) comprising the antennas (311-1, 3) disposed at the opposing two vertices and the antenna (311-2), the sub-array antenna (312-2) comprising the antennas (311-1, 3) and the antenna (311-4). An array rotation unit (342) converts a first spatial matrix of the calculated two spatial matrices to the complex conjugate thereof. A spatial averaging unit (343) averages the complex conjugate of the first spatial matrix and a second spatial matrix.
US08665146B2
This invention relates to the troposphere delay produced when the electromagnetic waves from a satellite or astronomical body pass through the troposphere, in particular, it is related to a calculation method of an estimated value of the amount of zenith troposphere delay in real time, and troposphere delay of the satellite positioning signal in the case of positioning using the estimated value of this calculated amount of zenith troposphere delay is related with a correcting method.
US08665137B2
A radar system for recording the environment of a motor vehicle includes at least two transmitter antennas for emitting transmission signals, one or more receiver antennas for receiving transmission signals that have been reflected by objects, and signal processing equipment for processing the received signals. The antennas are arranged so that a phase center of at least one receiver antenna, with regard to a spatial direction R, does not lie outside of phase centers of two transmitter antennas that are offset in this spatial direction. The signals received by this receiver antenna are separated according to the two signal portions respectively originating from these two transmitter antennas.
US08665134B2
A rotational antenna includes a stationary feed which is disposed in a substantially vertical orientation. A parabolic dish is rotationally mounted about the stationary feed in a state of being tipped with respect to the stationary, substantially vertically oriented feed. The rotational parabolic antenna may alternatively be provided with a rotating radio frequency (RF) and acoustic feed. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US08665133B2
Systems and methods for improving situational awareness on an in-trails procedures display. A radar system transmits a radar signal and receives and stores weather radar reflectivity values into a three-dimensional buffer. A processor determines whether any of the stored weather reflectivity values indicate the presence of a weather hazard and generates one or more weather hazard icons based on the stored weather reflectivity values. An in-trail procedures display device displays the generated weather hazard icons. Wake vortex information for other aircraft is generated and outputted on the in-trail procedures display. Also, the processor receives a request for an altitude change and generates an alert when the aircraft is determined not to be cleared to transition to the requested altitude based on a projected transition, any existing weather hazards, wake vortices of proximate aircraft, and in-trail procedures.
US08665131B2
Disclosed herein is a method of detecting a target in a sea area based on a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image thereof. The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image is made up of pixels, each having a respective magnitude. The method comprises computing a first reference quantity which characterizes a Poisson distribution assumed for the magnitudes that the pixels in the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image would have if the sea area were free of targets. The method further comprises selecting pixels in the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image, computing a real quantity which characterizes a real statistical distribution of the magnitudes of the selected pixels, and detecting a target in the sea area based on the computed first reference and real quantities. The selected pixels are in a one and the same sub-image of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image, and detecting comprises detecting a target in a sea subarea of the sea area, the sea subarea being represented by the sub-image.
US08665128B2
A sigma-delta (ΣΔ) difference-of-squares LOG-RMS to digital converter for true RMS detection by merging a ΣΔ modulator with an analog LOG-RMS to DC converter based on a difference-of-squares. Chopper-stabilization, implemented through commutators running at two different frequencies, can be employed to reduce sensitivity to DC offsets and low-frequency errors, resulting in an extension of the useful input-referred dynamic range. High-order ΣΔ LOG-RMS converters can be implemented with a loop filter containing multiple integrators and feedforward and/or feedback paths for frequency compensation. The resulting implementations are ΣΔ difference-of-squares LOG-RMS to DC converters with a natural digital output and a logarithmically compressed dynamic range.
US08665123B2
A reliable encoder capable of reducing vibration of a printed board when the encoder is subjected to vibration or shock, by means of a simple structure. The encoder has a housing, a rotating code plate arranged in the housing and configured to rotate in synchronization with an object to be measured, a printed board attached to the housing and positioned above the rotating code plate, wherein the encoder has a reinforcing member configured to contact a portion of the printed board where the displacement of the printed board is large while the printed board is resonated due to vibration or shock applied to the encoder.
US08665115B2
Methods and systems are provided for conflict monitoring and error detection in accessible pedestrian signal systems. A primary conflict monitor and error detector is configured to control output of audible and vibrotactile pedestrian signal indications. The primary conflict monitor and error detector monitors the current traffic state, and verifies audio and vibrotactile control signals against the current traffic state and user settings to determine whether to enable output of audible and vibrotactile pedestrian signal indications. The primary conflict monitor and error detector may transmit information about the audio and vibrotactile control signals to a secondary conflict monitor and error detector, which verifies the information received against the current traffic state and user settings, and inhibits output of audible and vibrotactile pedestrian signal indications in the event of a detected conflict or error.
US08665108B2
In one aspect, a method for assessing quality of a downhole data is provided. The method, according to one embodiment, may include defining a quality criterion based on one or more parameters of interest, determining a quality assessment value for a first data, determining a quality assessment value for each run of a plurality of runs using the quality criterion, determining a quality factor from the computed quality assessment values of the plurality of runs, and determining a quality level of the first data using the quality assessment value of the first data and the quality factor of the computed quality assessment values.
US08665095B2
An EAS tag has an adjustable retention cable for attaching the tag to an irregularly shaped object. A clutch mechanism prevents the retention cable from being released without authorization. The tag may carry electronic components including a circuit board, microprocessor, battery, audible alarm generator, light emitting diode, anti-tamper switches, infrared communication port, and other communication electronics. The tag may also carry an EAS element such as a harmonic element or acousto-magnetic element. An EAS system with which the EAS tag is associated may communicate with the EAS tag and obtain information, arm, disarm, encode information, and otherwise reprogram the tag via the infrared communication port or other means.
US08665091B2
Methods and systems for determining elapsed sensor life in medical systems, and more specifically continuous analyte monitoring systems.
US08665090B2
A multi-modal load control system includes a sensor that operates as an occupancy sensor in a first mode of operation and operates as a vacancy sensor in a second mode of operation. The load control system comprises a load control circuit adapted to be coupled in series electrical connection between an AC power source and an electrical load for controlling the amount of power delivered to the load in response to sensor, which is operable to detect occupancy or vacancy conditions in a space in which the sensor is located. In the first mode of operation, the load control circuit turns the load on when the sensor detects the occupancy condition and turns the load off when the sensor detects the vacancy condition. In the second mode of operation, the load control circuit turns the load off when the sensor detects the vacancy condition and does not turn the load on when the sensor detects the occupancy condition.
US08665053B2
A method for manufacturing a laminated ceramic electronic component enables formation of a plating film as at least a portion of an external electrode which connects exposed ends of internal electrodes. A component main body including a plurality of ceramic layers and a plurality of internal electrodes partially exposed from the component main body is prepared such that the component main body has a conductive region formed by diffusion of a conductive component included in the internal electrodes at the end surfaces of the ceramic layers located between adjacent exposed ends of the plurality of internal electrodes. The ceramic layers are preferably composed of a glass ceramic containing a glass component of about 10 weight % or more. A plating film is formed directly on the component main body by growing the exposed ends of the internal electrodes and the conductive region as nucleuses for plating deposition.
US08665052B2
A transformer-based circuit has at least a first port and a plurality of second ports. The transformer-based circuit includes a first winding conductor and a plurality of second winding conductors. The first winding conductor is electrically connected to the first port, and has a plurality of sectors connected in series to thereby form a plurality of loops, where the loops are arranged in a concentric-like fashion. The second winding conductors are magnetically coupled to the first winding conductor; besides, the second winding conductors are electrically connected to the second ports, respectively. Overall layout patterns of the second winding conductors are identical to each other. The first winding conductor acts as one of a primary winding conductor and a secondary winding conductor, and each of the second winding conductors acts as the other of the primary winding conductor and the secondary winding conductor.
US08665050B2
A transformer includes a bobbin, an iron core assembly, and a first sleeve. The bobbin includes a main body and a channel passing through the main body. The iron core assembly includes a first iron core and a second iron core. The first end of the first iron core and the second end of the second iron core are disposed near the periphery of the bobbin. The first sleeve is disposed at a first gap between the first end and the second end, so as to make the first end and the second end to be accommodated within the first sleeve. And, the first end is aligned opposite to the second end.
US08665041B2
A micro-relay that overcomes some of the limitations and drawbacks of the prior art is disclosed. The micro-relay comprising: (1) a first substrate comprising one or more monolithically integrated planar coils for generating a magnetic field; and (2) a second substrate comprising a magnetically actuated switch having a moving contact that selectively moves in a plane parallel to its substrate. The first and second substrate are aligned and bonded to collectively provide a closed magnetic circuit that efficiently channels the generated magnetic field through the switch.
US08665040B1
A field programmable filter array with high spectral isolation and reconfigurability. A bank of resonators can be programmed at will and on the fly to give any type of filtering response. The order, type and bandwidth of the filter are electronically reconfigured. Each subset of resonators can switch between bandstop and bandpass configurations and form custom filter shapes consisting of combinations of bandstop and bandpass filters. The filter can include a unit cell of a resonator with a series of switches to enable coupling to any of its nearest neighbors. The path in which the flow of energy takes through the array of resonators is dynamic, and the filtering function which is created is dialable on demand.
US08665035B2
Systems and methods for generating pulsed output signals that employ a gated RF oscillator circuit having an output that is switchably grounded through the emitter of a transistor and including feedback from the output of the circuit to the base of the transistor to create oscillations and to allow a digital input pulse of a desired length to control the start and stop of oscillations created by the transistor.
US08665025B2
An amplification system is provided that comprises a push-pull amplifier system having a first power transistor series coupled with a second power transistor that alternately switch between a push-pull amplifier mode of operation and a single-ended amplifier mode of operation. In the push-pull amplifier mode, both the first power transistor and the second power transistor alternately conduct to provide an amplified output signal to an output load in response to an input signal having an amplitude that is greater than or equal to a threshold level. In the single-ended amplifier mode of operation, the first power transistor conducts and the second power transistor is disabled for amplification purposes in response to the input signal having an amplitude that is less than the threshold level.
US08665017B2
An amplifier circuit of envelope tracking scheme has a timing adjusting unit having a finite number of adjustment values for adjusting time by which the output is delayed from the input, and capable of adjusting a time difference between an input signal and a power supply voltage which reach an amplifier, by making a selection from the adjustment values; a test signal output unit capable of repeatedly sending out a test signal serving as the input signal at predetermined cycles; and an adjustment value determining unit sequentially measuring output power for m (≦k) periods from the amplifier while changing an adjustment value of the timing adjusting unit to a different value every k periods of the test signal, searching for an adjustment value at which a total sum of the output power form periods is maximum, and setting the adjustment value on the timing adjusting unit.
US08665014B2
An I/Q demodulation apparatus and method with phase scanning are provided. The demodulation apparatus includes a ring oscillator, a first latch unit, a decoding unit, a counter unit, a second latch unit, a first arithmetical unit and a second arithmetical unit. The first latch unit samples phase signals outputted from the ring oscillator. The decoding unit decodes the output of the first latch unit to correspondingly generate fine code of a first, a second, a third and a fourth codes. The counter unit counts the phase signals. The second latch unit samples the output of the counter unit to correspondingly generate coarse code of the first, the second, the third and the fourth codes. The first arithmetical unit performs an addition/subtraction operation by using the first code and the second code. The second arithmetical unit performs the addition/subtraction operation by using the third code and the fourth code.
US08665005B2
The transition frequency of an inverter can vary with the transconductance of its internal transistors as a function of temperature and bias level. To maintain consistent transition frequency across temperatures, and therefore reduce the phase noise variation introduced by the inverter, systems, methods, and circuits are disclosed for biasing the inverter with a temperature varying current such that the transconductance of transistors remains constant across temperatures, while maintaining the lowest possible power consumption to do so. Various embodiments can include using current sources that have proportional-to-absolute-temperature (PTAT) devices.
US08665002B2
In a general aspect, an apparatus can include a first switch configured to be coupled to a power source and configured to switch in response to an edge of a control signal. The apparatus can include delay circuit can be configured to produce a delay signal that has an edge corresponding to the edge of the control signal, the edge of the delay signal being offset from the edge of the control signal. The apparatus can also include a second switch can be configured to be coupled to the power source in parallel with the first switch and configured to switch in response to the edge of the delay signal, the second switch having a size smaller than a size of the first switch.
US08664997B2
Systems and methods for providing a rapid switchable high voltage power transistor driver with a constant gate-source control voltage have been disclosed. A low voltage control stage keeps the gate-source voltage constant in spite of temperature and process variations. A high voltage supply voltage can vary between about 5.5 Volts and about 40 Volts. The circuit allows a high switching frequency of e.g. 1 MHz and minimizes static power dissipation.
US08664994B1
Embodiments of the disclosure relate to an all-digital technique for generating an accurate delay irrespective of the inaccuracies of a controllable delay line. A sub-sampling technique based delay measurement unit capable of measuring delays accurately for the full period range is used as the feedback element to build accurate fractional period delays based on input digital control bits. The delay generation system periodically measures and corrects the error and maintains it at the minimum value without requiring any special calibration phase. A significant improvement in accuracy is obtained for a commercial programmable delay generator chip. The time-precision trade-off feature of the delay measurement unit is utilized to reduce the locking time. Loop dynamics are adjusted to stabilize the delay after the minimum error is achieved, thus avoiding additional jitter.
US08664992B2
A duty cycle controlling circuit for adjusting duty cycle of a target clock signal to a desired value, comprises: a first duty cycle adjusting cell, for receiving a first duty cycle control signal to adjust duty cycle of an input clock signal to generate a first output clock signal as the target clock signal; and a duty cycle detecting module, for generating the first duty cycle control signal according to the first output clock signal.
US08664991B1
Apparatus and methods for phase-locked loops (PLLs) are provided. In certain implementations, a PLL includes a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) including first and second frequency control circuits, which are coupled to first and second frequency control inputs, respectively. Additionally, the PLL can further include a loop filter, a high frequency pole circuit, and a low frequency pole circuit. The high frequency pole circuit can be electrically connected between the loop filter's output and the VCO's first frequency control input, and the low frequency pole circuit can be electrically connected between the loop filter's output and the VCO's second frequency control input.
US08664984B2
A pulse synchronizer circuit converts an input data signal generated under a source-clock domain into an output data signal under a destination-clock domain, where the destination clock is independent of the source clock. The pulse synchronizer circuit successfully converts each data pulse in the input data signal into a corresponding data pulse in the output data signal when the source clock is faster than the destination clock, when the source clock is slower than the destination clock, when an input data pulse has a duration of one source-clock cycle, and when an input data pulse has a duration of multiple source-clock cycles. The pulse synchronizer circuit has source-domain circuitry and destination-domain circuitry. The source-domain circuitry detects input data pulses and determines whether they are single- or multi-cycle data pulses. The destination-domain circuitry generates output data pulses based on the processing of the source-domain circuitry.
US08664982B2
A buck-boost power converter includes a power stage to convert an input voltage to an output voltage, an error amplifier to generate an error signal according to a reference voltage and a feedback signal proportional to the output voltage, a ramp generator to provide two ramp signals, and two comparators to generate two control signals according to the error signal and the two ramp signals to drive the power stage. By using feed-forward technique, one of the two ramp signals has a peak varying with the input voltage and the other ramp signal has a valley varying with the input voltage, so that the power converter has fast line response.
US08664981B2
It is an object to suppress deterioration in characteristics of a transistor in a driver circuit. A driver circuit includes a first transistor, a second transistor including a gate and one of a source and a drain to which a second signal is inputted, a third transistor whose gate is electrically connected to one of a source and a drain of the first transistor and which controls whether a voltage state of an output signal is set or not by being turned on/off, and a fourth transistor whose gate is electrically connected to the other of the source and the drain of the second transistor and which controls whether a voltage state of an output signal is set or not by being turned on/off.
US08664956B2
An antenna arrangement for magnetic resonance applications includes antenna elements substantially parallel to a common central axis, distributed around the central axis at a distance from the central axis, and enclosing an essentially cylindrical volume. The antenna arrangement includes intermediate connections that connect to immediately adjacent antenna elements at connection points that lie between the ends of the antenna elements. A preamplifier connects to each of the intermediate connections and has an output that, in a receive mode, corresponds to a respective feed-out point. In send mode, the antenna arrangement injects radio-frequency signals into the antenna elements using the injection points. The antenna arrangement is also configured to adjust the intermediate connections to a higher resistance when the antenna arrangement is in the send mode and at least some of the intermediate connections to a lower resistance when the antenna arrangement is in the receive mode.
US08664955B1
The present invention provides an apparatus and a corresponding method useful for electron paramagnetic resonance imaging, in situ and in vivo, using high-isolation transmit/receive (TX/RX) coils, which, in some embodiments, provide microenvironmental images that are representative of particular internal structures in the human body and spatially resolved images of tissue/cell protein signals responding to conditions (such as hypoxia) that show the temporal sequence of certain biological processes, and, in some embodiments, that distinguish malignant tissue from healthy tissue. In some embodiments, the TX/RX coils are in a surface, volume or surface-volume configuration. In some embodiments, the transmit coils are oriented to generate an RF magnetic field in directions substantially orthogonal to a static gradient field, and the receive coils are oriented to sense RF EPR signal in directions substantially orthogonal to the transmitted field and to the static field, to minimize coupling of the transmitted signal to the receive coils.
US08664949B2
A resolver includes: a resolver rotor attached to a rotational shaft; an annular resolver stator that is provided on a radially outer side of the resolver rotor and that has a plurality of teeth each opposed, across a clearance, to an outer peripheral face of the resolver rotor and circumferentially arranged at given intervals; and a case member having a cylindrical fit portion to which an outer peripheral face of the resolver stator is fitted. At least three protrusions, each protruding radially outward, are formed at given circumferential intervals on the outer peripheral face of the resolver stator, so that the outer peripheral face of the resolver stator is press-fitted to an inner peripheral face of the fit portion at positions at which the protrusions are formed.
US08664937B2
Devices, methods, and systems for non-invasive energy consumption monitoring are described herein. One or more device embodiments include a transformer configured to couple the device to a circuit conductor that is coupled to an additional device, a detection module configured to detect a change in a power signal over the circuit conductor, and a transmission module configured to transmit a unique signal associated with the additional device over the circuit conductor if the change in the power signal meets or exceeds a particular threshold.
US08664936B2
The invention relates to an electronic motor vehicle control system having at least one valve actuating circuit which controls a load current by means of pulse width modulation. The actuating circuit has at least one electronic current measuring circuit which has at least one measurement path with at least one analog/digital converter. The analog/digital converts an analog measurement signal of the load current into a digital measurement signal of the load current and is actuated or designed in such a way as to carry out a plurality of current measurements per PWM period. The at least one measurement path of the current measurement circuit has a signal conservation circuit which provides the analog measurement signal of the load current substantially unchanged, and independent of the actual load current, for at least a defined hold time (toff->on, ton->off).
US08664931B2
A self-optimizing energy harvester comprises a thermoelectric generator coupling to a thermal source, producing a source voltage greater than a minimum start-up voltage, where the thermoelectric generator drives a boost circuit and a feedforward circuit, delivering power to a load. A conventional boost circuit has a maximum output power only at the input voltage for which a fixed set point resistor is chosen. The feedforward circuit dynamically optimizes the boost circuit according to a dynamic set point resistance, thus increasing output power for a wide range of input voltages, relative to using a fixed reference resistor. The dynamic set point resistance is the sum of a variable resistance and a reference resistance. A sample element forms a differential voltage between the source and input voltage elements, and the variable resistance corresponds to the differential voltage. A reference resistor is chosen to establish the minimum start-up voltage.
US08664924B2
A standalone solar energy conversion system includes a first DC-DC conversion apparatus, a second DC-DC conversion apparatus, and a control apparatus. The first DC-DC conversion apparatus receives a DC voltage and converts a voltage level of the DC voltage to provide a capacitance voltage. The second DC-DC conversion apparatus receives the capacitance voltage and converts a voltage level of the capacitance voltage. The control apparatus includes a first comparison unit and a second comparison unit. The capacitance voltage is compared to a first capacitance voltage command and a second capacitance voltage command through the first comparison unit and the second comparison unit, respectively, thus controlling output powers of the first DC-DC conversion apparatus and the second DC-DC conversion apparatus.
US08664922B2
A snubber circuit comprises a first energy storage device and circuitry coupled to the first energy storage device to facilitate capturing, by the first energy storage device, energy of a switching circuit. The snubber circuit also comprises a second energy storage device coupled to the first energy storage device to store the captured energy. The circuitry additionally facilitates resetting of the first energy storage device.
US08664918B2
A plurality of current control MOS transistors and a plurality of current detection systems are provided, each of the current detection systems including a current detection transistor current-mirror connected to the current control MOS transistor and a current-voltage converter connected in series to the current detection transistor. The current detection systems are switched between one another for operation in response to the intensity of a charging current flowing through the current control transistors.
US08664915B2
A system includes a control module, a network interface module, and a charging module. The control module stores a first set of charging parameters for charging a battery in a vehicle. The network interface module transmits the first set of charging parameters to a utility company and receives a reply from the utility company. The control module generates a charge control signal based on the reply and the first set of charging parameters. The charging module charges the battery of the vehicle based on the charge control signal.
US08664913B2
The present invention discloses a battery powered apparatus with the circuit of integrated power management and charger unit. It mainly comprises a power management and charger unit, a battery powered device, a battery and an adaptor. By integrating the charger unit, the power switch and the programmable current source to the micro-processor, the micro-processor can properly control the power supplied from the adaptor to the battery under the charging mode operation, which further derives a smoother curve of charging current.
US08664910B2
The present invention provides an electronic device with a secondary cell which has a simple structure and is capable of extending a continuous operating period by compensating for power consumption through effective utilization of a light source and external light. On a rear face of a casing 201 of a mobile phone, a light source 204, a conductive key sheet 203 having a plurality of operation keys 206 and a solar battery 202 are layered. Each of the operation keys 206 is exposed outwards through a through-hole 208 of the solar battery 202 and a through-hole 207 of the casing 201. The key sheet 203 guides the light from the light source 204 and the light from the outside of the casing 201 to the solar battery 202 and guides the light from the light source 204 onto the operation key 206. The solar battery 202 receives the light from the light source 204 and the outside of the casing 201 through the key sheet 203 and converts the light into electric energy to be charged into a secondary cell.
US08664897B2
A motor drive apparatus includes a rectifier which converts AC power to DC power and DC power to AC power, an inverter which converts the DC power output by the rectifier to AC power and supplies the AC power to a motor, and which converts regenerative power from the motor to DC power and returns the DC power to the rectifier, a DC voltage detection unit which detects a DC output voltage of the rectifier, an AC voltage detection unit which detects an AC output voltage of the rectifier, a frequency calculation unit which calculates the frequency of the AC voltage; a storage unit which stores as a reference value the DC voltage at the start of the regenerative operation, and a power failure detection unit which determines the presence or absence of a power failure by using the DC voltage, the reference value, and the AC voltage frequency.
US08664895B2
A controller for controlling power to a light source includes a first sensing pin, a second sensing pin, a third sensing pin, and a driving pin. The first sensing pin receives a first signal indicating an instant current flowing through an energy storage element. The second sensing pin receives a second signal indicating an average current flowing through the energy storage element. The third sensing pin receives a third signal indicating whether the instant current decreases to a predetermined current level. The driving pin provides a driving signal to a switch to control an average current flowing through the light source to a target current level. The driving signal is generated based on one or more signals selected from the first signal, the second signal and the third signal.
US08664886B2
Timer-based switching circuit synchronization in an electrical dimmer is provided. The energizing of a switching circuit in a dimmer is synchronized with an AC wave to facilitate providing by the dimmer electrical power to a load. The synchronizing includes starting a timer having a predetermined timeout, responsive to receipt of a zero-crossing signal. Responsive to receipt of a subsequent zero-crossing signal prior to reaching the timeout, the timer is restarted, and responsive to expiration of the timeout, a switching circuit is energized at a predetermined firing angle with respect to the zero-crossing signal to supply electrical power to the load.
US08664881B2
A two-wire load control device (such as, a dimmer switch) is operable to control the amount of power delivered from an AC power source to an electrical load (such as, a high-efficiency lighting load) and has substantially no minimum load requirement. The dimmer switch includes a bidirectional semiconductor switch, which is operable to be rendered conductive each half-cycle and to remain conductive independent of the magnitude of a load current conducted through semiconductor switch. The dimmer switch comprises a control circuit that conducts a control current through the load in order to generate a gate drive signal for rendering the bidirectional semiconductor switch conductive and non-conductive each half-cycle. The control circuit may provide a constant gate drive to the bidirectional semiconductor switch after the bidirectional semiconductor switch is rendered conductive each half-cycle. The bidirectional semiconductor switch may comprise, for example, a triac or two field-effect transistors coupled in anti-series connection.
US08664879B2
Proposed is a circuit for driving a fluorescent lamp and a light-emitting diode. The circuit may include an inverter; a fluorescent lamp driving branch for driving a fluorescent lamp; a light-emitting diode driving branch for driving a light-emitting diode; a starting branch; and an alternate control branch. By using a simple circuit structure, various embodiments may realize a circuit capable of conveniently and alternately driving a fluorescent lamp and a light-emitting diode.
US08664872B2
An apparatus for operating a gas discharge lamp. The apparatus includes an electronic ballast and a controller. The electronic ballast includes a half bridge configuration, a full bridge configuration, a first network, and a second network. The electronic ballast is controlled by a controller that causes the half bridge configuration to ignite an arc between electrodes of the gas discharge lamp in an igniter function that uses the first network, to switch the electronic ballast from the half bridge configuration to the full bridge configuration after the arc is ignited so that a buck inverter function using the second network sustains the arc between the electrodes of the gas discharge lamp, and to provide a transient operation function to the buck inverter function to produce a spike voltage that is used to re-ignite the arc between the electrodes of the gas discharge lamp when the arc extinguishes.
US08664870B2
A cascoded current regulator, including: a first load circuit, having a first load and a current source unit; and a second load circuit, being cascaded with the first load circuit and having a second load and a current mirror unit, wherein a first current flowing through the first load and a second current flowing through the current source unit are controlled by a control voltage, and a third current flowing through the second load and a fourth current flowing through the current mirror unit are generated according to the second current.
US08664868B2
An image processing circuit and a light illumination module are provided. The light illumination module has an integrated circuit and a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) strings connected in parallel. The integrated circuit could be the image processing circuit. Each of the LED strings has a plurality of LEDs connected in series. The integrated circuit has a driving circuit coupled to the LED strings. The driving circuit supplies a driving voltage to first ends of the LED strings to drive the LED strings. The driving circuit is also configured to maintain a voltage value of the driving voltage obtained while all of the strings of the light emitting diodes are turned on, until all of the LED strings are turned on again. Accordingly, the interference of the LED strings is decreased, and the LED strings operate more stably.
US08664860B2
This disclosure provides a device for heating a cathode of a magnetron, which includes a heater for heating the cathode of the magnetron, a heater current detecting module for detecting a value of heater current that flows into the heater, and a control module for determining the completion of preheating of the magnetron based on a change in the heater current.
US08664845B2
A discharge tube includes a reflective film formed on an outer periphery of a cylindrical glass bulb by metal deposition. The reflective film is deposited in a range of 240° or more in the circumferential direction, and the range being larger in a center part than at each end in the axial direction. A stroboscopic device is equipped with this discharge tube.
US08664828B2
There is provided a method for testing a piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator, wherein the displacement of a piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator is estimated on the basis of the relations between one or more frequency characteristic values selected from the group consisting of the heights and areas of the peaks of the resonance waveforms and the difference of the maximum and minimum of the first order or first to higher orders of the resonance frequency characteristic values of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator and the k-th order (k=1 to 4) of the first or first to higher orders of resonance frequencies. According to this piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator testing method, a piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator can be tested with high precision without actually driving the same as a product and without being accompanied by any disassembly/breakage.
US08664826B2
An electric motor (1) has a stator (2) and a radially symmetric, permanent magnet excited rotor (4) coaxial with the stator (2). The rotor (4) rotates relative to the stator (2) about a common motor axis (X). The stator (2) has a radially symmetric iron core (6) with a defined number (N) of stator teeth (10) which are each adjacent to one another via stator slots (8) and slot openings (8a) in the circumferential direction. The rotor (4) has pole magnets (14) adjacent to one another. A circumferential gap (18) is formed radially between the pole magnets (14) and the stator teeth (10). Each stator tooth (10) has on its surface (20) facing the gap (18) and adjacent to the slot openings (8a) on both sides in the circumferential direction a relief-like topographic region (22) radially enlarging the gap (18) with least one concave recess (24) and a smooth profile.
US08664824B1
A Halbach array is radially disposed in an environment optimized for efficiency and controlled for efficient generation and use of power in order to generate, establish, and maintain a desired level of rotational energy with enhanced efficiency and in order to make the most efficient use of electromotive forces and magnetic fields which are either intentionally created for the operation of the apparatus or which result from the operation of the apparatus.
US08664822B2
A rotor for an interior permanent synchronous machine. A rotor core structure includes an outer cylindrical wall juxtaposed to an air gap. A plurality of arcuately-shaped cavities is formed within the rotor core structure. The plurality of arcuately-shaped cavities is substantially concentrically layered with respect to an outer cylindrical wall of the rotor core structure. Each arcuately-shaped cavity extending between first and second end sections is juxtaposed to the outer cylindrical surface wall of the rotor structure and includes an intervening center section. A plurality of permanent magnets is inserted within the plurality of arcuately-shaped cavities. Each first end section retains a respective first permanent magnet having a first magnet field strength. Each second end section retains a respective second permanent magnet having the first magnetic field strength. Each center section retains a respective third permanent magnet having a second magnet field strength less than the first magnetic field strength.
US08664821B2
An arrangement for attaching a permanent magnet to the rotor of an electrical machine and such a rotor are provided. The rotor is assembled of sheets and includes at least two magnetic poles and a magnetic core. Permanent magnets are installable on a surface of the magnetic core, and a pole piece assembled of sheets is installable on a side of the permanent magnet that faces an air gap. At least one channel passing through the pole piece is built in the pole piece and magnetic core. A tightening strip is installable in the channel. The tightening strip is attachable to the pole piece using locking parts, and an end of the tightening strip facing the magnetic core includes fixing parts for attaching the tightening strip to the magnetic core.
US08664820B2
Disclosed is an electric motor-driven compressor having a structure capable of improving the performance of an electric motor of the electric motor-driven compressor for the vehicle. The electric motor-driven compressor has an angle which is formed by two straight lines passing through a center of the rotor and making contact with both end portions of one permanent magnet, and is in a range of about 48.7° to about 51°. The cogging torque and the torque ripples are minimized, the power of the electric motor is improved, and the electric motor is easily controlled.
US08664817B2
Electric submersible well pumping systems operable in well temperatures of above about 180° C. (356° F.) utilize high temperature electrical insulation. The electrical insulation includes E-base polyimide films or perfluoropolymer TE films on various components. The insulation films are employed around magnet wires that are threaded through slots in the stator. Slot insulation of E-base polyimide or perfluoropolymer TE film surrounds the magnet wires in the stator slots. Sheets of E-base polyimide or perfluoropolymer TE film extend around and between phase loops of the magnet wire at the lower end of the stator. The motor contains a PAO oil having additives to dissipate acid generated by epoxy used in the motor.
US08664813B2
The phase ring assembly includes a support ring carrying a plurality of phase rings provided with connection arms that are bent to the phase rings. The connection arms are placed between the phase rings and the support ring. The support ring has recessed seats housing the connection arms.
US08664800B2
Power inverters are controlled in response to reactive power support commands received from a power grid such that at least one power inverter provides reactive power to the power grid. The reactive power provided is based on each power inverter's reactive power capacity only while the total power capacity of each power inverter providing the reactive power is not exhausted in generating real power.
US08664798B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit device includes a power supply circuit that generates one or more internal supply voltages from an external supply voltage, and one or more functional circuits that operate on the one or more internal supply voltages. A step-down converter in the power supply circuit generates one or more stepped-down voltages from the external supply voltage. A control circuit in the power supply circuit compares the external supply voltage with a reference voltage and selects the internal supply voltages from among the external supply voltage and the stepped-down voltages according to the result of the comparison. The semiconductor integrated circuit device can accordingly operate on different external power supplies, and can continue to operate on battery power even if the battery voltage drops.
US08664792B2
A drive shaft for a wind turbine is shaped so as to allow for increased bending of the shaft, while being suitable for transferring torque in a wind turbine system. An example of such a shaping is a drive shaft having a helical rib defined on the surface of the shaft. A wind turbine incorporating such a shaft, and a method of manufacture of such a shaft are also described.
US08664790B2
A power generation apparatus for generating power from water flows is described. The power generation apparatus includes: a generator; a first blade set operatively mounted to the generator for rotation in a selected direction in response to flowing water from a selected direction; a second blade set operatively mounted to the generator for rotation and operatively connected to the first blade set, the second blade set being disposed coaxially with, and downstream of or in a wake zone of, the first blade set; wherein the generator is adapted to be driven by at least one of the blade sets, the generator being disposed generally coaxially between the first and second blade sets.
US08664781B2
A system for generating energy from waste includes a generator device and an ejector device integrated in a pipe line unit. The generator device includes nozzle venture inlets. The ejector device is coupled with the generator device and includes a slit venture outlet to restore any velocity pressure loss in the pipe line unit and eliminate any back pressure buildup in the generator device.
US08664767B2
An integrated circuit structure includes a first conductive layer and an under bump metallization layer over the first conductive layer. The first conductive layer has a first conductive region and a second conductive region electrically isolated from the first conductive region. The under bump metallization layer has a first conductive area and a second conductive area electrically isolated from the first conductive area, the first conductive area substantially located over the first conductive region and the second conductive area substantially located over the second conductive region. At least one of the first conductive area or the first conductive region includes a first protrusion extending toward the second conductive area or second conductive region, respectively. Conductive vias connect the first conductive region to the second conductive area and connect the second conductive region to the first conductive area, and the vias include at least one via connected to the first protrusion.
US08664765B2
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, an insulating substrate mounted on the substrate, a metal pattern formed on the insulating substrate, an electronic part mounted on the metal pattern across a bond, and a wire member, separate from a wiring wire, which contains a material repellent to the bond and is formed on the metal pattern and around the electronic part.
US08664762B2
In one embodiment, a semiconductor package may include a semiconductor chip having a chip pad formed on a first surface thereof, a sealing member for sealing the semiconductor chip and exposing the first surface of the semiconductor chip, a conductive wiring overlying a part of the first surface of the semiconductor chip and directly contacting a part of an upper surface of the sealing member. The conductive wiring further contacts the pad. The semiconductor package may also include an encapsulant covering the conductive wiring and having openings for exposing parts of the conductive wiring.
US08664748B2
An integrated circuit apparatus is provided with package-level connectivity, between internal electronic circuitry thereof and contact points on a package substrate thereof, without requiring top metal pads or bonding wires.
US08664745B2
The invention provides advances in the arts with useful and novel integrated packaging having inductor elements and adjacent magnetic material enhancing the inductance characteristics of the packaged inductor. Preferably the integrated packages also contain one or more ICs operable coupled to the inductor(s).
US08664740B2
A semiconductor device improves a Schottky-barrier field-effect transistor. In a semiconductor device including a gate electrode formed with interposition of a gate insulating film on a channel formed on a semiconductor substrate, and a Schottky source/drain formed within a top surface of the substrate to be positioned on both sides of the gate insulating film so that end portions of the Schottky source and the Schottky drain do not cover a lower end portion of the gate insulating film and so as to form Schottky junctions with the semiconductor substrate, a Schottky barrier height at an interface between the end portion of the Schottky source and the semiconductor substrate and a Schottky barrier height at an interface between the end portion of the Schottky drain and the semiconductor substrate are different from Schottky barrier heights at interfaces between portions except the end portions of the Schottky source/drain and the substrate.
US08664737B2
A semiconductor template having a top surface aligned along a (100) crystallographic orientation plane and an inverted pyramidal cavity defined by a plurality of walls aligned along a (111) crystallographic orientation plane. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor template by selectively removing silicon material from a silicon template to form a top surface aligned along a (100) crystallographic plane of the silicon template and a plurality of walls defining an inverted pyramidal cavity each aligned along a (111) crystallographic plane of the silicon template.
US08664735B2
A pumped sensor system includes a substrate with a first layer formed thereon and doped for a first type conduction and a second layer doped for a second type conduction, whereby the first and second layers form a silicon light detector at an up-conversion wavelength. A ternary rare earth oxide is formed on the second layer and crystal lattice matched to the second layer. The oxide is a crystalline bulk oxide with a controlled percentage of an up-conversion component and a majority component. The majority component is insensitive to any of pump, sense, or up-conversion wavelengths and the up-conversion component is selected to produce energy at the up-conversion wavelength in response to receiving energy at the pump and sense wavelengths. The layer of oxide defines a light input area sensitive to a pump wavelength and a light input area sensitive to a sense wavelength.
US08664734B2
A hole-based ultra-deep photodiode in a CMOS image sensor and an associated process are disclosed. A p-type substrate is grounded or connected to a negative power supply. An n-type epitaxial layer is grown on the p-type substrate, and is connected to a positive power supply. An ultra-deep p-type photodiode implant region is formed in the n-type epitaxial layer. Thermal steps are added to insure a smooth and deep doping profile.
US08664727B2
Provided is a semiconductor integrated circuit device capable of realizing an analog circuit required to have a high-precision relative ratio between adjacent transistors, which is reduced in size and cost. A single MOS transistor is provided within each of well regions. A plurality of the MOS transistors is combined to serve as an analog circuit block. Since distances between the well regions and channel regions may be made equal to one another, a high-precision semiconductor integrated circuit device can be obtained.
US08664721B2
A field effect transistor (FET) includes source/drain silicide regions located in a silicon layer; source/drain interfacial layers located in between the source/drain silicide regions and the silicon layer; and a fully silicided gate stack comprising a gate oxide layer located on the silicon layer, a gate interfacial layer located on the gate oxide layer, and a gate silicide located on the gate interfacial layer.
US08664719B2
A semiconductor device is provided which includes a semiconductor substrate, a gate structure formed on the substrate, sidewall spacers formed on each side of the gate structure, a source and a drain formed in the substrate on either side of the gate structure, the source and drain having a first type of conductivity, a lightly doped region formed in the substrate and aligned with a side of the gate structure, the lightly doped region having the first type of conductivity, and a barrier region formed in the substrate and adjacent the drain. The barrier region is formed by doping a dopant of a second type of conductivity different from the first type of conductivity.
US08664717B2
This application is directed to a semiconductor device with an oversized local contact as a Faraday shield, and methods of making such a semiconductor device. One illustrative device disclosed herein includes a transistor comprising a gate electrode and a source region, a source region conductor that is conductively coupled to the source region, a Faraday shield positioned above the source region conductor and the gate electrode and a first portion of a first primary metallization layer for an integrated circuit device positioned above and electrically coupled to the Faraday shield.
US08664708B2
A method of forming a device is disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate prepared with a cell area and forming first and second gates of first and second transistors in the cell area. The first gate includes a second sub-gate surrounding a first sub-gate. The first and second sub-gates of the first gate are separated by a first intergate dielectric layer. The second gate includes a second sub-gate surrounding a first sub-gate. The first and second sub-gates of the second gate are separated by a second intergate dielectric layer. The method also includes forming first and second junctions of the first and second transistors. A first gate terminal is formed and coupled to the second sub-gate of the first transistor. A second gate terminal is formed and coupled to at least the first sub-gate of the second transistor.
US08664704B2
An electronic component is provided on a substrate. A thin-film capacitor is attached to the substrate, the thin-film capacitor includes a pyrochlore or perovskite dielectric layer between a plurality of electrode layers, the electrode layers being formed from a conductive thin-film material. A reactive barrier layer is deposited over the thin-film capacitor. The reactive barrier layer includes an oxide having an element with more than one valence state, wherein the element with more than one valence state has a molar ratio of the molar amount of the element that is in its highest valence state to its total molar amount in the barrier of 50% to 100%. Optionally layers of other materials may intervene between the capacitor and reactive barrier layer. The reactive barrier layer may be paraelectric and the electronic component may be a tunable capacitor.
US08664700B2
A bio material receiving device includes a thin film transistor (“TFT”) including a drain electrode, and a nano well accommodating a bio material. The drain electrode includes the nano well. The TFT may be a bottom gate TFT or a top gate TFT. A nano well array may include a plurality of bio material receiving devices. In a method of operating the bio material receiving device, each of the bio material receiving devices may be individually selected in the nano well array. When the bio material is accommodated in the selected bio material receiving device, a voltage is applied so that another bio material is not accommodated.
US08664696B2
According to one embodiment, a nitride semiconductor device includes a first, a second and a third semiconductor layer, a first and a second main electrode and a control electrode. The first layer made of a nitride semiconductor of a first conductivity type is provided on a substrate. The second layer made of a nitride semiconductor of a second conductivity type is provided on the first layer. The third layer made of a nitride semiconductor is provided on the second layer. The first electrode is electrically connected with the second layer. The second electrode is provided at a distance from the first electrode and electrically connected with the second layer. The control electrode is provided within a first trench via an insulating film. The first trench is disposed between the first and the second main electrodes, penetrates the third and the second layers, and reaches the first layer.
US08664693B2
The present invention relates to a light emitting diode having an AlxGa1-xN buffer layer and a method of fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a light emitting diode having an AlxGa1-xN buffer layer, wherein between a substrate and a GaN-based semiconductor layer, the Al x Ga 1-x N (O≦x≦1) buffer layer having the composition ratio x of Al decreasing from the substrate to the GaN-based semiconductor layer is interposed to reduce lattice mismatch between the substrate and the GaN-based semiconductor layer, and a method of fabricating the same. To this end, the present invention provides a light emitting diode comprising a substrate; a first conductive semiconductor layer positioned on the substrate; and an AlxGa1-xN (O≦x≦1) buffer layer interposed between the substrate and the first conductive semiconductor layer and having a composition ratio x of Al decreasing from the substrate to the first conductive semiconductor layer.
US08664690B1
A bi-directional triode thyristor (TRIAC) device for high voltage electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection may include a substrate, an N+ doped buried layer, an N-type well region and two P-type well regions. The N+ doped buried layer may be disposed proximate to the substrate. The N-type well region may encompass the two P-type well regions such that a portion of the N-type well region is interposed between the two P-type well regions. The P-type well regions may be disposed proximate to the N+ doped buried layer and comprise one or more N+ doped plates and one or more P+ doped plates. The portion of the N-type well region that is interposed between the two P-type well regions may comprise one or more P-type portions, such as a P+ doped plate or a P-type implant.
US08664689B2
A memory device includes a driver comprising a pn-junction in the form of a multilayer stack including a first doped semiconductor region having a first conductivity type, and a second doped semiconductor plug having a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type, the first and second doped semiconductors defining a pn junction therebetween, in which the first doped semiconductor region is formed in a single-crystalline semiconductor, and the second doped semiconductor region includes a polycrystalline semiconductor. Also, a method for making a memory device includes forming a first doped semiconductor region of a first conductivity type in a single-crystal semiconductor, such as on a semiconductor wafer; and forming a second doped polycrystalline semiconductor region of a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type, defining a pn junction between the first and second regions.
US08664685B2
The present invention relates to a resin composition for forming an insulating resin layer for optical semiconductor element housing package having a concave portion in which a metal lead frame and an optical semiconductor element mounted thereon are housed, in which the resin composition includes the following ingredients (A) to (D), and the ingredients (C) and (D) are contained in a blend ratio (C)/(D) of 0.3 to 3.0 as a weight ratio thereof: (A) an epoxy resin; (B) an acid anhydride curing agent; (C) a white pigment; and (D) an inorganic filler.
US08664682B2
A semiconductor light emitting device includes: a light emitting structure including a first conductive type semiconductor layer, a second conductive type semiconductor layer and an active layer between the first conductive type semiconductor layer and the second conductive type semiconductor layer; and a first electrode on the first conductive type semiconductor layer, wherein the light emitting structure includes an outer groove formed at an outer area of the light emitting structure, wherein a thickness of an outmost area of the light emitting structure is smaller than a thickness of an center area of the light emitting structure, and wherein the first conductive type semiconductor layer includes AlGaN layer and the second conductive type semiconductor layer includes AlGaN layer.
US08664673B2
A process for forming a pixel circuit is disclosed comprising: (a) providing a transparent support; (b) forming a multicolor mask having at least four different color patterns; (c) forming integrated electronic components of the pixel circuit having at least four layers of patterned functional material comprising a first conductor, a dielectric, a semiconductor, and a second conductor each layer of patterned functional material corresponding to the four different color patterns of the multicolor mask. The functional material is patterned using a photopattern corresponding to each color pattern.
US08664667B2
An optical waveguide device of the present invention comprises: an optical waveguide including a plurality of cores configured to emit outgoing light from distal ends thereof; and a light-receiving element including a plurality of photo diodes configured to receive the outgoing light. Respective pitches L1 between adjacent cores are greater than pitches L2 between adjacent photo diodes. At least one photo diode on which only outgoing light of each core is incident is present with respect to each of the cores.
US08664664B2
A dimpled substrate and method of making including a substrate of high thermal conductivity having a first main surface and a second main surface opposite the first main surface. Active epitaxial layers are formed on the first main surface of the substrate. Dimples are formed as extending from the second main surface into the substrate toward the first main surface. An electrical contact of low resistance material is disposed on the second main surface and within the dimples. A back contact of low resistance and low loss is thus provided while maintaining the substrate as an effective heat sink.
US08664662B2
A thin-film transistor array includes first and second bottom-gate transistors, a passivation film, a conductive oxide film below the passivation film, and a relay electrode between a first conductive material in a same layer as a first electrode of the first transistor and a second conductive material in an electroluminescence layer. A first line is in a layer lower than the passivation film and a second line is above the passivation film. A terminal to which an external signal is input is provided in a periphery of the substrate in the same layer as the first electrode. The conductive oxide film covers an upper surface of the terminal and is between the relay electrode and the first conductive material. The relay electrode is formed in a same layer and comprises a same material as the second line.
US08664652B2
A semiconductor device which includes an oxide semiconductor layer, a source electrode and a drain electrode electrically connected to the oxide semiconductor layer, a gate insulating layer covering the oxide semiconductor layer, the source electrode, and the drain electrode, and a gate electrode over the gate insulating layer is provided. The thickness of the oxide semiconductor layer is greater than or equal to 1 nm and less than or equal to 10 nm. The gate insulating layer satisfies a relation where ∈r/d is greater than or equal to 0.08 (nm−1) and less than or equal to 7.9 (nm−1) when the relative permittivity of a material used for the gate insulating layer is ∈r and the thickness of the gate insulating layer is d. The distance between the source electrode and the drain electrode is greater than or equal to 10 nm and less than or equal to 1 μm.
US08664648B2
An N-type organic thin film transistor, an ambipolar field-effect transistor, and methods of fabricating the same are disclosed. The N-type organic thin film transistor of the present invention comprises: a substrate; a gate electrode locating on the substrate; a gate-insulating layer covering the gate electrode, and the gate-insulating layer is made of silk protein; a buffering layer locating on the gate-insulating layer, and the buffering layer is made of pentacene; an N-type organic semiconductor layer locating on the buffering layer; and a source and a drain electrode, wherein the N-type organic semiconductor layer, the buffering layer, the source and the drain electrode are disposed over the gate dielectric layer.
US08664646B2
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display according to an exemplary embodiment may include: a substrate and an organic light emitting element on the substrate; a thin film encapsulation layer on the substrate and covering the organic light emitting element; and one or more scattering materials dispersed in the thin film encapsulation layer. According to the exemplary embodiment, light efficiency may be improved by dispersing scattering materials in at least one of an organic layer or an inorganic layer forming a thin film encapsulation layer with a large refractive index difference.
US08664633B2
A non-volatile memory device may include a first wordline on a substrate, an insulating layer on the first wordline, and a second wordline on the insulating layer so that the insulating layer is between the first and second wordlines. A bit pillar may extend adjacent the first wordline, the insulating layer, and the second wordline in a direction perpendicular with respect to a surface of the substrate, and the bit pillar may be electrically conductive. In addition, a first memory cell may include a first resistance changeable element electrically coupled between the first wordline and the bit pillar, and a second memory cell may include a second resistance changeable element electrically coupled between the second wordline and the bit pillar. Related methods and systems are also discussed.
US08664632B2
According to one embodiment, a memory device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a variable resistance film. The variable resistance film is connected between the first electrode and the second electrode. The first electrode includes a metal contained in a matrix made of a conductive material. A cohesive energy of the metal is lower than a cohesive energy of the conductive material. A concentration of the metal at a central portion of the first electrode in a width direction thereof is higher than concentrations of the metal in two end portions of the first electrode in the width direction.
US08664629B2
Boron cage compound-containing materials for shielding and absorbing neutrons. The materials include BCC-containing composites and compounds. BCC-containing compounds comprise a host polymer and a BCC attached thereto. BCC-containing composites comprise a mixture of a polymer matrix and a BCC filler. The BCC-containing materials can be used to form numerous articles of manufacture for shielding and absorbing neutrons.
US08664628B2
A panel for functioning as a barrier to radiation includes at least one layer for restricting the passage of radiation, and the layer for restricting the passage of radiation may be a layer of silicone impregnated with metal, such as tungsten and/or iron. The impregnated silicone layer may be mounted to and supported by at least one other structure of the panel. For example, the impregnated silicone layer may be positioned between, and laminated to, other layers of the panel. In one embodiment, the impregnated silicone layer is positioned between foam layers of the panel to form a core, and the core is positioned between exterior layers of the panel. One or more exterior layers of the panel may be in the form of sheet metal or any other suitable structure.
US08664626B2
There are provided with a respiration induction apparatus that induces respiration, based on a desired respiration waveform; a switching device that switches the orbit of a particle beam; and an irradiation apparatus that controls irradiation, in synchronization with the desired respiration waveform. A controller, which performs synchronization control of the switching device and the respiration induction apparatuses in a plurality of treatment rooms, adjusts the periods and the phases of the desired respiration waveforms of the respiration induction apparatuses in the treatment rooms so that the irradiation times synchronized with the desired respiration waveforms in the treatment rooms do not overlap with one another, and controls the switching device so as to switch the orbits of the particle beam, in accordance with the respective irradiation times of the treatment rooms.
US08664624B2
An illumination delivery system for generating sustained secondary emission that includes at least an illumination source, a waveguide, and one or more energy conversion layers is disclosed. Also disclosed are methods of using the inventive illumination delivery system for generating sustained secondary emission.
US08664618B2
A spherical rotational radiation therapy apparatus (SRRTA) with single spherical rotation center (SRC) is proposed. Referencing a combined X-Y-Z Cartesian and (r-α-β-γ) polar coordinates. The SRRTA includes a multi-axial gantry with rotatable proximal face around gantry bore; the proximal gantry face has at least one rotatable, along α-coordinate, pair of therapeutic level radiation-generating accelerator and image detector defining a therapeutic level radiation axis between the two; at least two arc-shaped sub-rails on the proximal gantry face; at least two rotationally slidable, against the arc-shaped sub-rails thus along α-coordinate, pairs of imaging level radiation-generating accelerators and image detectors defining an imaging level radiation axis between the two; the therapeutic level radiation axes and all imaging level radiation axes are configured to intersect at a single SRC along the longitudinal bore axis; an X-axis gantry pivoting driving mechanism is provided for driving the distal end of the multi-axial gantry.
US08664614B2
A radiation detector for detecting irradiated radiation that includes: a converting layer for converting radiation irradiated from a radiation source capable of irradiating radiation from two imaging directions, which are different from each other, into electric charges; and a plurality of pixel electrodes for collecting the converted charges. In the radiation detector, when at least one of the two imaging directions forms a specified angle θ with respect to the direction that is orthogonal to the detector plane of the radiation detector, the thickness d of the converting layer and the sizes p of the pixel electrodes satisfy the condition: d·tan θ
US08664606B2
An infrared radiation detector includes: a cryostat having a cold finger ensuring heat exchange with a cold source and a window transparent to infrared radiation to be detected; a mechanically fixed cold plane in heat exchange with the cold finger; a detector unit comprising at least a detector circuit sensitive to the infrared wavelength range to be detected, and in direct or indirect heat exchange with the cold plane; and a mechanically fixed cold shield in heat exchange with the cold plane and limiting stray radiation. The cold shield is rotationally symmetrical. An inside wall of the cold shield has a succession of reliefs distributed in at least one helical pattern. A definition axis of the helical pattern coincides with the axis of revolution of the cold shield.
US08664589B2
Spectroscopy data are correlated to physical locations on a sample. A laser beam is scanned along a beam trajectory relative to the sample located in a sample chamber. The laser beam disassociates material from the sample along the beam trajectory to produce an aerosol of the disassociated material within the sample chamber. A fluid is passed through the sample chamber to transport the disassociated material to a spectrometer for determining spectroscopy data values of a selected element along the beam trajectory. The spectroscopy data values are correlated with respective locations of the sample along the beam trajectory, and an image is displayed of at least a portion of the sample including the respective locations along the beam trajectory where the material was disassociated by the laser beam. The image includes indicia of the spectroscopy data values at their correlated locations.
US08664577B1
Various technologies described herein pertain to evaluating a beam reflected by a heliostat. A portable target that has an array of sensors mounted thereupon is configured to capture the beam reflected by the heliostat. The sensors in the array output measured values indicative of a characteristic of the beam reflected by the heliostat. Moreover, a computing device can generate and output data corresponding to the beam reflected by the heliostat based on the measured values indicative of the characteristic of the beam received from the sensors in the array.
US08664570B2
A heatable vehicle window includes a substrate that supports a heatable conductor. The heatable conductor may be in the form of a grid of conductors, or alternatively a substantially continuous sheet. First and second conductive bus bars are electrically connected to the heatable conductor. The first and/or second bus bars are each conductive, and include black color pigment, so that the first and/or second bus bars are substantially black in color.
US08664561B2
A method is disclosed for adjusting the composition of plasmas used in plasma doping, plasma deposition and plasma etching techniques. The disclosed method enables the plasma composition to be controlled by modifying the energy distribution of the electrons present in the plasma. Energetic electrons are produced in the plasma by accelerating electrons in the plasma using very fast voltage pulses. The pulses are long enough to influence the electrons, but too fast to affect the ions significantly. Collisions between the energetic electrons and the constituents of the plasma result in changes in the plasma composition. The plasma composition can then be optimized to meet the requirements of the specific process being used. This can entail changing the ratio of ion species in the plasma, changing the ratio of ionization to dissociation, or changing the excited state population of the plasma.
US08664558B2
A high-voltage power switch has a switch gap surrounded by a nozzle made of insulating material. The nozzle of insulating material is formed with a switching gas channel. The switching gas channel opens up into a storage volume. A flow steering apparatus is disposed within the storage volume. The flow steering apparatus has a switching gas entrance channel. An annular gap is formed between the wall in which the switching gas channel opens up and a switching gas entrance channel wall that borders the switching gas channel.
US08664553B2
A switch device includes first and second contacting portions including first and second fixed contacting portions and first and second movable contacting portions, respectively, the first fixed contacting portion and the second fixed contacting portion being configured to be electrically connected to one of a power source and an electronic device while the first movable contacting portion and the second movable contacting portion are configured to be electrically connected to the other of the power source and the electronic device; a first electric arc runner provided near at least one of the first fixed contacting portion and the first movable contacting portion; and a second electric arc runner provided near at least one of the second fixed contacting portion and the second movable contacting portion.
US08664552B2
An interlockable lock-out handle system for an electrical switching device includes a lock-out rim and a lock-out handle. The lock-out rim is configured to be disposed over an operating shaft of the switching device and fastened to at least one of switch housing and a front plate. The lock-out handle is configured to be fastened by a clamping device in rotational engagement on the operating shaft. The lock-out handle includes a rotary handle having a grippable lateral surface and a lock-out collar. The lock-out collar is vertically displaceable relative to the rotary handle in a direction of a longitudinal axis of the operating shaft into a CLOSED position and an OPEN position. The lock-out collar is engaged with the lock-out rim so as to prevent twisting movement of the lock-out collar relative to the lock-out rim when the lock-out collar is in the CLOSED position.
US08664549B2
A switchgear device including a main unit supporting an operating mechanism, and at least one auxiliary unit, wherein the units each includes a rotary bar mounted in a mobile contact bridge for rotation around an axis of rotation, and two stationary contacts are connected with the mobile contact bridge. The operating mechanism moves a drive rod through an angular path which results in moving all of the mobile contact bridges between an open position and a closed position. A stop, against which the drive rod presses in the closed position, limits movement of the drive rod, and applies a rotational torque to the drive rod to keep it parallel to the axis of rotation.
US08664542B1
An electrical box and frame assembly for mounting an electrical component such as a duplex receptacle in a shallow wall cavity. The electrical box assembly includes a box member, a receptacle frame adapted to receive an electrical component, and a trim plate. The box member includes rotatable flags to enable simple wall installation in old or new work situations. The box member includes sidewalls and a back wall that form a mounting cavity. The sidewalls of the box member include a narrow depth to fit within a shallow wall cavity. The receptacle frame nests substantially within the cavity of the box member and the trim plate secures over the receptacle frame and is mounted to the box member. The receptacle frame secures the duplex receptacle sideways with respect to the box member and wall cavity thereby enabling the electrical box and frame assembly to be mounted in shallow wall cavity.
US08664536B2
A wiring substrate includes a wiring layer made of copper, an electrode layer made of copper, and an insulating layer arranged adjacent to the electrode layer. The wiring layer is stacked on the electrode layer and the insulating layer. The insulating layer and the wiring layer are stacked with an adhesive layer interposed between the insulating layer and the wiring layer. The electrode layer and the wiring layer are stacked with a copper alloy layer formed adjacent to the adhesive layer and interposed between the electrode layer and the wiring layer.
US08664527B2
The object of the invention is a cable interface furniture for a conference table, which cable interface furniture comprises at least a space enabling connections that is disposed below an openable and closable table hatch in the table. The cable interface furniture comprises a casing extending from the bottom upwards that is intended to be placed under and that stands on the floor resting on support means that are adjustable in their height, the top part of which casing contains a bed provided with at least lead-in apertures, above which is a space enabling connections, with at least the connectors of the connecting cables being supported in which bed, and which connecting cables are fitted when free to be disposed in the space below the intermediate bed in the casing.
US08664513B2
Described herein are solar modules including spectral concentrators. In one embodiment, a solar module includes an active layer including a set of photovoltaic cells. The solar module also includes a spectral concentrator optically coupled to the active layer and including a luminescent material that exhibits photoluminescence in response to incident solar radiation. The photoluminescence has: (a) a quantum efficiency of at least 30 percent; (b) a spectral width no greater than 100 nm at Full Width at Half Maximum; and (c) a peak emission wavelength in the near infrared range.
US08664512B2
The present invention provides a photovoltaic module with bypass diodes that has a high electricity generating capacity per unit area and high productivity. This photovoltaic module includes a photovoltaic cell assembly in which a plurality of photovoltaic cells are electrically connected in series, and a diode assembly in which a plurality of diodes are formed on a substrate in the arrangement that is consistent with the arrangement of the photovoltaic cells to which the diodes are to be attached. The diode assembly is disposed on a non-light receiving side of the photovoltaic cells, and the diodes are electrically connected to the photovoltaic cells. The photovoltaic cell assembly and the diode assembly are sealed and united by a sealant.
US08664511B2
Solar module with a plurality of lamellar solar panels, which are mounted on an elongated support to pivot around a common axis and are movable between a first position in which they are superposed to be substantially congruent and parallel to the support, and a second position in which, opened out in a fan formation, they lie substantially adjacent to one another around the said axis, wherein the support can be extended via a closable opening out of a housing, which receives it with the solar panels in the first position.
US08664504B2
A media data format is described along with devices, methods, computer readable media and a propagating signal in relation to the media data format. The media data format comprises a music data portion defining a music track, and a metadata portion defining metadata associated with said music track. Said metadata comprises a tempo metadata type having a tempo class value indicating a tempo class of the music track.
US08664500B2
A drum stand includes a center pipe, a fixed collar, a first movable collar, a second movable collar, legs, and stays. The fixed collar is secured to the lower end of the center pipe. The first movable collar and the second movable collar are slidably fitted to the center pipe. Legs of a first type are pivotally coupled to the first movable collar. A leg of a second type is pivotally coupled to the second movable collar. Stays of a first type are pivotally coupled to the second movable collar. A stay of a second type is pivotally coupled to the fixed collar.
US08664497B2
A double keyboard piano system is provided. The double keyboard piano system may include a first automatic player piano, a second automatic player piano, and a double keyboard console including a first keyboard and a second keyboard mounted above the first keyboard. The first automatic player piano is in communication with the double keyboard console to receive a first signal including first information describing a first key for the first automatic player piano to automatically play based on a first key of the first keyboard being played, and the second automatic player piano is in communication with the double keyboard console to receive a second signal including second information describing a second key for the second automatic player piano to automatically play based on a second key of the second keyboard being played.
US08664492B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV197629. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV197629, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV197629 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV197629 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV197629.
US08664487B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV084705. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV084705, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV084705 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV084705 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV084705.
US08664486B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH332645. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH332645, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH332645 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH332645.
US08664485B1
A novel maize variety designated X7H283 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof, produced by crossing Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. proprietary inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprises crossing hybrid maize variety X7H283 with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X7H283 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X7H283, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X7H283. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X7H283.
US08664479B1
A novel soybean variety, designated XBP19006 is provided. Also provided are the seeds of soybean variety XBP19006, cells from soybean variety XBP19006, plants of soybean XBP19006, and plant parts of soybean variety XBP19006. Methods provided include producing a soybean plant by crossing soybean variety XBP19006 with another soybean plant, methods for introgressing a transgenic trait, a mutant trait, and/or a native trait into soybean variety XBP19006, methods for producing other soybean varieties or plant parts derived from soybean variety XBP19006, and methods of characterizing soybean variety XBP19006. Soybean seed, cells, plants, germplasm, breeding lines, varieties, and plant parts produced by these methods and/or derived from soybean variety XBP19006 are further provided.
US08664472B2
Pygmy sesame plants having the py/py recessive gene and a character selected from non-dehiscence or improved non-dehiscence and a method for breeding the same are disclosed.Methods for improved sesame agriculture comprising growing a pygmy sesame line having py/py gene and a character selected from non-dehiscence or improved non-dehiscence are disclosed.
US08664469B2
A disposable absorbent article has front and back panels, each having an elastic film layer and each having first and second zones. The first zone of each panel is extensible and retractable and the second zone of each panel is non-extensible and non-retractable. Each of the front and back panels has first and second side edges. An absorbent assembly is secured to the front and back panels. The absorbent assembly has a first end secured to the second zone of the front panel and a second end secured to the second zone of the back panel. A pair of seams join the front and back panels together at the first and second side edges to form a disposable absorbent article having a waist opening and a pair of leg openings.
US08664467B2
Absorbent articles incorporating sensory element members are disclosed. The absorbent articles may be disposable pant like garments designed to assist urinary toilet training such as of young children. Upon urination by the wearer, the article produces a feedback response which is transmitted to the wearer by the sensory element member. Wetness based, temperature based and other feedback responses are disclosed. The feedback response should be immediate and unmistakable to the wearer and also be temporary and harmless.
US08664464B2
The invention provides wound dressings comprising an absorbent (porous) hydrogel composition comprising a foam portion which comprises a flexible plasticized hydrophilic polymer matrix having an internal cellular structure, and a continuous portion which comprises a flexible plasticized hydrophilic polymer matrix having relatively continuous internal structure. The continuous portion of the hydrogel composition includes apertures providing fluid flow communication through the continuous portion between an external surface of the continuous portion and the foam portion whereby the foam portion can take up external water or other fluid into the cellular structure through the apertures of the continuous portion. The continuous portion of the hydrogel composition may be tacky to the skin, allowing its use as a bioadhesive.
US08664459B2
A process for hydrogenating olefins is disclosed. The olefins are present in a feed gas which includes H2 and one or more sulfur compounds. The sulfur compounds may include H2S and organic sulfur compounds. The feed gas is passed through a reactor at an inlet temperature from 100° C. to 250° C. The reactor contains a catalyst which is active at the inlet temperature. The reactor may be adiabatic. Saturated hydrocarbons are formed from the olefins. A temperature gradient may be formed in the reactor due to the exothermic nature of the hydrogenation reaction, causing the temperature to increase downstream in the reactor. At temperatures higher than the inlet temperature, H2S may be formed from organic sulfur compounds. A gas mixture including saturated hydrocarbons, H2S and H2 exits the reactor and may be brought into contact with a chemical adsorbent which removes the H2S. The gas stream may then be passed to a steam methane reformer.
US08664447B2
Provided is a process for effectively and efficiently oxidizing alkyl-containing molecules with the use of an oxygen-containing gas. An iridium metal catalyst complex with the iridium being coordinated with the nitrogen atoms of a benzimidazolyl-containing ligand is used as the catalyst. The process generates alcohols, ketones and aldehydes directly from alkyl-containing molecules and/or aromatic molecules.
US08664441B2
The compound of formula (I) is a water-stable, long acting β2-selective adrenoceptor agonist useful as a bronchodilator in the treatment of bronchoconstriction associated with reversible obstructive airways diseases and the like. Processes for making the compound of formula (I), as well as related intermediates, are disclosed.
US08664437B2
A process for producing (meth)acrylic acid, comprising the step of repeating a crystallization operation “n” times (providing “n” is an integer 2 or more) to produce purified (meth)acrylic acid from crude (meth)acrylic acid, wherein a (meth)acrylic acid solution is crystallized and the crystallized (meth)acrylic acid is melted to obtain a (meth)acrylic acid melt in the crystallization operation; wherein a constant amount Ak of the (meth)acrylic acid solution is subjected to the kth crystallization operation (providing “k” is an integer 1 to n−1), and the (meth)acrylic acid melt obtained by the kth crystallization operation is utilized as the (meth)acrylic acid solution for the k+1th crystallization operation without being discharged from a crystallizer or is transferred from the crystallizer to a k+1th storage tank for storing the (meth)acrylic acid solution to be used in the k+1th crystallization operation depending on the stored amount of the k+1th storage tank.
US08664428B2
The present invention relates to a novel process for preparing substituted and unsubstituted (2,4-dimethylbiphenyl-3-yl)acetic acids and their esters of the formula (I) using homogeneous and heterogeneous palladium catalysts, and also the intermediates 4-tert-butyl-2,6-dimethylphenylacetic acid and 4-tert-butyl-2,6-dimethylmandelic acid, and to processes for their preparation.
US08664421B2
A surface modifier comprising an organosilicone compound represented by General Formula (A) and/or General Formula (B): F—(CF2)q—(OC3F4)m—(OC2F4)n—(OCF2)o(CH2)pXX″Si(X′)3-a(R1)a (A) and F—(CF2)q—(OC3F6)m—(OC2F4)n—(OCF2)o(CH2)pXX″(X′)2-a(R1)aSiO(F—(CF2)q—(OC3F6)m—(OC2F4)n—(OCF2)o—(CH2)pXX″(X′)1-a(R1)aSiO)zF—(CF2)q—(OC3F6)m—(OC2F4)n—(OCF2)o(CH2)pXX″(X′)2-a(R1)aSi(B) wherein q is an integer from 1 to 3; m, n, and o are independently integers from 0 to 200; p is 0, 1 or 2; X is oxygen or a bivalent organic spacer group: X″ is a bivalent organosilicone spacer group; X′ is hydrolysable group; and z is an integer from 0 to 10 when a is 0 or 1.
US08664411B2
Disclosed are novel gamma secretase inhibitors of the formula. Also disclosed are methods of inhibiting gamma-secretase, methods of treating neurodegenerative diseases, and methods of treating Alzheimer's Disease. Also disclosed are processes for preparing alkenes in one reaction step using a mixture of an aldehyde (or ketone) and an alkyl substituted with two electron withdrawing groups, and reacting the mixture with: (a) a sulfonyl halide (e.g., a sulfonyl chloride) and a basic tertiary amine, or, (b) a sulfonyl anhydride and a basic amine, or (c) an aryl-C(O)-halide and a basic tertiary amine, or (d) an aryl-C(O)—O—C(O)-aryl and a basic tertiary amine, or (e) an heteroaryl-C(O)-halide and a basic tertiary amine, or (f) a heteroaryl-C(O)—O—C(O)-heteroaryl and a basic tertiary amine.
US08664410B2
The invention relates to a fluorescent dye of general formula I or II wherein R1, R2, R3 and R4 are independently hydrogen or a branched or unbranched, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic or aromatic, functionally substituted, or unsubstituted hydrocarbon radical, wherein at least one of the R1 or R2 radicals and one of the R3 or R4 radicals is not hydrogen and the R1 and R3 radicals and/or R2 and R4 radicals in formula I can be bridged to each other, and X and Y independently represent a substituted or unsubstituted C1 or C2 hydrocarbon radical wherein any one carbon unit can be replaced by an N or S heteroatom. The dye is remarkable for its high fluorescence intensity and large Stokes shift in combination with a long fluorescence lifetime.
US08664407B2
The present disclosure provides drug-ligand conjugates that are potent cytotoxins and include a linker between the drug and ligand where the linker has a single amino acid. The disclosure is also directed to compositions containing the drug-ligand conjugates, and to methods of treatment using them.
US08664398B2
Methods for producing moxifloxacin hydrochloride compounds having very low levels of impurities are provided. Compounds produced using such methods and pharmaceutical compositions including such compounds are also provided.
US08664397B2
The present invention is directed to a novel form of a pyrrolopyridine-2-carboxylic acid amide of formula (I), which is an inhibitor of glycogen phosphorylase, compositions containing it and their use in therapy. The invention is also directed to processes for production of the novel form, novel intermediates used in said processes and processes for the production of said intermediates.
US08664388B2
The present invention relates to substituted amino-quinazolinones of general formula (I) wherein the groups R1 to R14 and A, are defined as in the specification and claims and the use thereof for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and similar diseases.
US08664380B2
Compounds represented by the formulas wherein each symbol is as defined in the specification, and a prodrug thereof have a superior renin inhibitory activity, and are useful as agents for the prophylaxis or treatment of hypertension, various organ damages attributable to hypertension and the like.
US08664377B2
A method and apparatus for efficiently isolating nucleic acids from a nucleic acid-containing sample.
US08664369B2
The invention relates to liquid pharmaceutical formulations of luteinizing hormone (LH) for single- or multi-dose administration.
US08664363B2
Provided herein are chimeric and humanized versions of anti-CD22 mouse monoclonal antibody, HB22.7, which comprise human or humanized framework regions of the immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region (“VH”) and light chain variable region (“VK”). The FW regions may contain one or more backmutations in which a human FW residue is exchanged for the corresponding residue present in the parental mouse heavy or light chain. The human or humanized VH framework regions may comprise one or more of the following residues: a valine at position 24 of FW1, a glycine at position 49 of FW2, and an asparagine at position 73 of FW3, numbered according to Kabat. Further provided are pharmaceutical and immunotherapeutic compositions, and methods using anti-CD22 antibodies that preferably mediate human ADCC, CDC, and/or apoptosis for: the treatment of B cell diseases in humans, including B cell malignancies, autoimmune disease, GVHD, humoral rejection, and post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorder.
US08664360B2
The present invention provides nucleic acids encoding B7-related factors that modulate the activation of immune or inflammatory response cells, such as T-cells. Also provided are expression vectors and fusion constructs comprising nucleic acids encoding B7-related polypeptides, including BSL1, BSL2, and BSL3. The present invention further provides isolated B7-related polypeptides, isolated fusion proteins comprising B7-related polypeptides, and antibodies that are specifically reactive with B7-related polypeptides, or portions thereof. In addition, the present invention provides assays utilizing B7-related nucleic acids, polypeptides, or peptides. The present invention further provides compositions of B7-related nucleic acids, polypeptides, fusion proteins, or antibodies that are useful for the immunomodulation of a human or animal subject.
US08664358B2
Methods are provided for predicting the presence, subtype and stage of ovarian cancer, as well as for assessing the therapeutic efficacy of a cancer treatment and determining whether a subject potentially is developing cancer. Associated test kits, computer and analytical systems as well as software and diagnostic models are also provided.
US08664354B2
The invention provides novel guanylate cyclase-C agonist peptides and their use in the treatment of human diseases including gastrointestinal disorders, inflammation or cancer (e.g., a gastrointestinal cancer). The peptides can be administered either alone or in combination with an inhibitor of cGMP-dependent phosphodiesterase. The gastrointestinal disorder may be classified as either irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, or excessive acidity etc. The gastrointestinal disease may be classified as either inflammatory bowel disease or other GI condition including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and cancer.
US08664353B2
A process for purifying a polyol(per)fluoropolyether derivative [polyol (P)] from a mixture (M) of hydroxyl(per)fluoropolyether derivatives, such polyol (P) comprising one or more hydroxyl(per)fluoropolyether derivatives [PFPEs (OH)] comprising at least one (per)fluoropolyoxyalkylene chain (chain Rf) and at least one end-group having formula (t3): —CF2CH2OCH2CH(OH)CH2OCH2CH(OH)CH2OH, such mixture (M) comprising said polyol (P) and at least one hydroxyl(per)fluoropolyether derivative [PFPE (OH)] different from polyol (P) and comprising at least one chain Rf and at least one end-group selected from end-groups having formula (t1): —CF2CH2OH and formula (t2): —CF2CH2OCH2CH(OH)CH2OH. The process comprises the following steps: 1) reacting the mixture (M) with a ketone, an aldehyde, or a combination thereof to yield corresponding mixture of cyclic ketal/acetal(per)fluoropolyether derivatives [PFPEs (OH)p] [protected mixture (P)]; 2): submitting the protected mixture (P) to adsorption on silica gel to yield an adsorbed protected product [adsorbed product (Pp)] and then recovering a desorbed protected product [desorbed product (Pp)] by subsequent desorption from silica gel of the adsorbed product (Pp); 3) distilling the desorbed product (Pp) under reduced pressure to isolate a protected product residue [product (Pr)]; and 4) hydrolyzing the product (Pr) to obtain polyol (P).
US08664352B2
A polyester polyol made from natural oil feedstocks is disclosed. Methods for making the polyol are also disclosed. The method comprises reacting hydroxylated fatty acid/alkyl esters with a multifunctional ester-reactive initiator compound to form the polyester polyol. In one embodiment, the hydroxylated fatty acid/alkyl esters are made by hydroxylating fatty acid/alkyl esters having up to ninety-five percent by weight monounsaturation.
US08664345B2
This invention describes a process for the preparation of a catalytic composition that can be used for oligomerization, codimerization, or polymerization of olefins. This invention also describes the catalytic composition that can be obtained by said process for the preparation and its use for oligomerization, codimerization, or polymerization of olefins.
US08664342B2
Process for introducing a solid polymerization catalyst into a gas-phase fluidized bed using an injection device having an inner tube of internal cross-sectional area of 10 to 100 mm2 and an outer tube forming an annulus around the inner tube with a cross-sectional area of 1 to 10 times the internal cross-sectional area of the inner tube. The polymerization catalyst and a carrier gas are passed through the inner tube and into the gas-phase fluidized bed at a carrier gas linear velocity of 4 to 14 m/s and a carrier gas mass flow rate of 10-35 kg/h. A shielding gas is passed through the outer tube and into the gas-phase fluidized bed at a linear velocity of 1 to 10 times the carrier gas linear velocity through the inner tube and at a mass flow rate of 100-500 kg/h. No cooled recycle process gas is provided to the injection device.
US08664340B2
An improved polymerization and work-up process makes it possible to produce specific nitrile rubbers which have a particular ion index which is responsible for an excellent vulcanization rate and leads to vulcanizates having an advantageous property profile.
US08664338B2
An object of the present invention is to provide a foaming vinyl chloride resin composition having excellent foaming properties and providing a foam molded product with an excellent appearance by enhancing the melt strength of the vinyl chloride resin composition. A processability improver for foam molding according to the present invention includes a (meth)acrylic polymer powder with a weight average molecular weight of 2,000,000 to 7,000,000, wherein the (meth)acrylic polymer powder includes 1 to 20% by weight of a (meth)acrylic polymer (A) with a weight average molecular weight of 10,000 to 300,000, and 80 to 99% by weight of a (meth)acrylic polymer (B) with a weight average molecular weight of 2,000,000 to 7,000,000.
US08664336B2
A method for forming a fiber, the method comprising charging to a reactive extruder a first polymer and a second polymer to form an initial blend, where the first polymer is a propylene-based elastomer including up to 35% by weight ethylene-derived units and a heat of fusion, as determined according to DSC procedures according to ASTM E-793, of less than 80 J/g and a melt temperature of less than 110° C., where the second polymer is a propylene-based polymer having a melt temperature in excess of 110° C. and a heat of fusion in excess of 80 J/g, and introducing the reactive blend to a spinneret to form a fiber or extruding the reacted blend through a plurality of die capillaries to form molten threads or filaments which are attenuated in a gas stream to form meltblown fibers.
US08664332B2
A process for making substantially uniform oligomeric droplets in an aqueous dispersion comprising preparing an aqueous emulsion of an emulsifying agent, at least one monomer, a chain transfer agent, and an initiator; and mixing the aqueous emulsion with a stabilizer and a plurality of seed particles.
US08664324B2
The present invention pertains to salt modified copolymers wherein one of the monomer units contains a quaternized N-atom structure with a polar substituent. The invention further relates to the use of said copolymers as dispersant especially for color filters. The copolymer is made by controlled polymerization or by conventional polymerization and comprises at least one monomer (MAr) selected from unsaturated monomers out of the group of acrylates, methacrylates, acrylamides, methacrylamides, styrenic monomers, at least one monomer (MBs) selected from unsaturated monomers out of the group of acrylates, methacrylates, acrylamides, methacrylamides, styrenic monomers wherein the monomer MB has a quaternized N-atom structure with a polar substituent selected from polyether, polyamine, nitrile, amide, imine, imide, ester, ketone, nitrile, aldehyde, diketone, ketoester, ketoamide, carbonate, carbamate, carbamide, sulfoxide, sulfone, carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid, phosphoric acid groups; or carboxylic acid anion, sulfonic acid anion or phosphoric acid anion groups which is formed as betaine structure r denotes the total number of monomers MA within the structural element (MAr) and r is >5, preferred 10-1000, most preferred 10-500; s denotes the total number of monomers MB within the structural element (MBs) and s is >1, preferred 2-100, most preferred 2-50.
US08664322B2
Disclosed herein are a thermoplastic resin composition and a plastic article produced from the resin composition. The thermoplastic resin composition comprises a thermoplastic resin, glass fibers having a cross-sectional aspect ratio greater than or equal to about 1.5, and a branched graft copolymer comprising a polyolefin as a main chain.
US08664318B2
A shape memory structure includes, an elastic material, and a viscoelastic material commingled with the elastic material. The shape memory structure is reformable from a first shape to a second shape upon exposure to a change in environment that softens the viscoelastic material thereby allowing the shape memory structure to creep under stress stored in the elastic material.
US08664312B2
The present invention provides a rubber composition for a tire which makes it possible to maintain weather resistance for a long time without damaging the appearance of tires and to reduce the use of petroleum resources, and whose raw materials are easily obtainable; and also provides a pneumatic tire formed from the rubber composition. The present invention relates to a rubber composition for a tire, including a rubber component and a microalgae-derived natural wax.
US08664303B2
In a first aspect, bituminous asphalt binder materials which are modified by the addition of crumb rubber or ground tire rubber are described. In a second aspect, the present invention is directed to methods of producing a modified asphalt binder containing crumb rubber or ground tire rubber. The modified asphalt binders comprise neat asphalt, crumb rubber, one or more synthetic polymers, and one or more acids. The crumb rubber may be obtained from recycled truck and/or automobile tires.
US08664299B2
An exemplary embodiment discloses a polymer system including a shape memory polymer material and a graphene material.
US08664297B2
An ink set for forming multiple layers comprising a colored ink composition comprising a yellow ink composition, a magenta ink composition, a cyan ink composition, and a black ink composition, and a white ink composition, each ink composition comprising (Component A) a radically polymerizable compound and (Component B) a radical polymerization initiator, Component A above comprising (Component A-1) an N-vinyl compound and (Component A-2) a compound represented by Formula (a-2) below, and when the content of the radical polymerization initiator in the white ink composition is X and the content of the radical polymerization initiator in the magenta ink composition is Y, Expression (1) below being satisfied wherein R1, R2, and R3 independently denote a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, or an ethyl group, and X2 denotes a single bond or a divalent linking group. 0.1 ≤ Y X < 1 ( 1 )
US08664293B2
A water based polymeric dispersion for PSA adhesive preparation for transdermal system comprising: a) an aqueous dispersion of a polymer of an acrylate and/or a methacrylate ester, b) a plasticizer c) a shrinkage reducing agent able to reduce the shrinkage of the water PSA dispersion when spread onto a surface to width values lower than 20 mm after 3 minutes rest.
US08664292B2
The invention relates to compositions and articles containing a cross-linked polymer matrix and an immobilized active liquid, as well as methods of making and using the same.
US08664290B2
An antioxidant combined with UHMWPE prior to subjecting the UHMWPE to crosslinking irradiation. In one exemplary embodiment, the antioxidant is tocopherol. After the antioxidant is combined with the UHMWPE, the resulting blend may be formed into slabs, bar stock, and/or incorporated into a substrate, such as a metal, for example. The resulting product may then be subjected to crosslinking irradiation. In one exemplary embodiment, the UHMWPE blend is preheated prior to subjecting the same to crosslinking irradiation. Once irradiated, the UHMWPE blended product may be machined, packaged, and sterilized in accordance with conventional techniques.
US08664284B2
A method of depolymerizing formulated rubbers and polymer solids is described. The method utilizes a solvent at or above the solvent's critical pressure and critical temperature with a low ratio of solvent to the solid material. The resulting depolymerized material in either substantially solid or highly viscous liquid form can be repolymerized with the addition of more monomer.
US08664283B2
In one embodiment, the invention is to an ion exchange resin composition comprising a metal-functionalized exchange resin comprising from 3% to 94% metal-functionalized active sites; and a non-metal-functionalized exchange resin comprising non-metal-functionalized active sites.
US08664281B2
A method for handling asphalt emulsion is provided. The method includes providing the asphalt emulsion. The method also includes employing a first set of diaphragm pumps to transfer the asphalt emulsion from a first container to a second container. The second container represents a first storage tank if the first container is a colloidal mill. The second container represents a transportation tank if the first container is the first storage tank. The second container represents a second storage tank at a job site if the first container is the transportation tank. The second container represents a slurry machine if the first container is the second storage tank at the job site.
US08664280B2
A kit for forming a bioerodible composition is provided with a first aliquot portion of a reaction mixture having an aldehydic polymer solution, and a second aliquot portion of a reaction mixture having solids which include a cross-linking hydrazide. When mixed, the first and second aliquot portions of the reaction mixture react at a pH of 4 to 6 to form a solidified bioerodible composition within about 1 to about 10 minutes, to form a hydrazide cross-linked aldehydic polymer matrix. The bioerodable composition may be usefully employed to seal and/or treat wounds (e.g., a surgical incision).
US08664275B2
The crystalline form A of Bimatoprost of formula I, its preparation method and use are provided. There are characteristic peaks where diffraction angles 2θ are 3.2±0.2°, 5.5±0.2°, 11.4±0.2°, 16.7±0.2°, 17.6±0.2°, 19.9±0.2°, 20.8±02° and 22.8±0.2° in the X-ray powder diffraction pattern of the crystalline form A.
US08664271B2
The present invention relates to a novel pharmaceutical formulation comprising an LTB4 agent at an alkaline pH effective to stabilize the LTB4 agent and provide a formulation with an increased shelf-life. The formulation of the present invention has an increased shelf-life of at least 24 months.
US08664270B2
Disclosed are pyrethrin-based insect control compositions which have been formulated to reduce wick clogging. An acetylenic hydrocarbon having at least two terminal alkyne groups, such as 1,8-nonadiyne, together with an antioxidant such as dilauryl thiodipropionate, are used to reduce clogging caused by components of pyrethrum extract.
US08664265B2
The field of the invention relates to stable dosage forms comprising spiro or dispiro 1,2,4-trioxolane antimalarials, or their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, prodrugs and analogues, and processes for their preparation. The water content of the dosage form is not more than 6.5% w/w.
US08664264B2
The present invention provides an antiproliferative compound having a structural formula where X and Y independently are oxygen, nitrogen or sulfur; R1 is alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, heteroaryl, carboxylic acid, carboxylate, carboxamide, ester, thioamide, thiolacid, thiolester, saccharide, alkoxy-linked saccharide, amine, sulfonate, sulfate, phosphate, alcohol, ethers or nitriles; R2 and R3 are hydrogen or R4; R4 is methyl, benzyl carboxylic acid, benzyl carboxylate, benzyl carboxamide, benzylester, saccharide or amine; and R5 is alkenyl; where when Y is nitrogen, said nitrogen is substituted with R6, wherein R6 is hydrogen or methyl. Also provided are methods for treating a cell proliferative disease and for inducing apoptosis in a cell comprising administering this compound is also provided.
US08664263B2
An object is to provide a novel stilbene compound suitable for an organic EL light-emitting material. Provided is a novel stilbene compound represented by a general formula (G1) below. In the formula, Q1 and Q2 separately represent an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom; R1 to R9 and R11 to R17 separately represent any one of a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted phenyl group, and a substituted or unsubstituted biphenyl group; α1 to α6 separately represent a substituted or unsubstituted phenylene group; Ar1 and Ar2 separately represent any one of a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms forming a ring, a substituted or unsubstituted dibenzothiophen-2-yl group, and a substituted or unsubstituted dibenzofuran-2-yl group; and j, k, m, n, p, and q separately represent 0 or 1.
US08664261B2
Provided are compounds of formula (I) wherein m is 0, 1 or 2; R1 is a mono- or bicyclic heterocyclic ring system including one, two or three heteroatoms selected from nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen; R2 is selected from hydrogen, methyl and ethyl; I) R3 is hydrogen, methyl, or ethyl; and R4 and R5 are independently selected from ethyl and isopropyl; and R3, R4 and R5 together have at least 6 carbon atoms; or II) any two or all of R3, R4 and R5 form together with the carbon atom to which they are attached 3-para-menthyl, bornyl, or adamantyl; having cooling properties, their use as cooling agent and compositions including them.
US08664256B2
The invention provides novel compounds having a substituted imidazole ring, and methods of using such compounds for the treatment of certain disorders such as hematological cancers and solid tumors. The compounds of the invention are tri-substituted imidazole derivatives that inhibit KSP. These compounds are also useful for the treatment of drug resistant tumors, such as solid tumors that express elevated levels of P-glycoprotein.
US08664253B2
The present invention is directed to certain Inidazole derivatives which are useful as modulators of Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase (FAAH) and as FAAH imaging agents. The invention is also concerned with pharmaceutical formulations comprising these compounds as active ingredients and the use of the compounds and their formulations in the treatment of certain disorders, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetic neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, skeletomuscular pain, and fibromyalgia, as well as acute pain, migraine, sleep disorder, Alzeimer Disease, and Parkinson's Disease.
US08664251B1
This invention relates to methods of treating T-cell mediated diseases or disorders in human or animal subjects, such as autoimmune diseases and chronic graft versus host disease in humans and animals. In particular, the methods comprise administering to the human or animal patient a pharmaceutical composition comprising a ryanodine receptor inhibitor.
US08664250B1
A wood treatment composition having a synergistic combination of fungicides which may include two or more compounds. These combinations are shown to be especially effective in providing resistance to decay, mold and mildew when wood is treated with these combinations. Also provided is wood treated by these combinations, and a method of treatment for composite wood.
US08664247B2
The present invention provides acyclic, geminal-dinitro organic compounds, methods of synthesizing the compounds, pharmaceutical compositions, therapeutic methods, and medical kits for treating various conditions using such compounds and pharmaceutical compositions. The compounds and compositions are useful in the treatment of cancer.
US08664240B2
Disclosed herein are R-7-(3-aminomethyl-4-methoxyimino-3-methyl-pyrrolidin-1-yl)-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-[1,8]naphthyridine-3-carboxylic acid and L-aspartic acid salt, process for the preparation thereof and pharmaceutical composition comprising the same for antimicrobial. Because the R-7-(3-aminomethyl-4-methoxyimino-3-methyl-pyrrolidin-1-yl) -1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-[1,8]naphthyridine-3-carboxylic acid and L-aspartic acid salt is more soluble and less toxic and has less side effects as an antimicrobial agent than hydrochloride and the other salts (D-aspartate and phosphate) conventionally used, the salt may be useful for oral and injectable administration.
US08664233B2
The invention relates to compounds of general formula 1 to processes for the production thereof, to pharmaceutical preparations containing said compounds and/or physiologically compatible salts and/or solvates which can be produced therefrom as well as to the pharmaceutical use of said compounds, the salts or solvates thereof as inductors of apoptosis in the case of non-solid malignant tumors of the hematopoietic system, in particular in the case of leukemias and lymphomas, more particularly in the case of leukemic B lymphocytes.
US08664228B2
A compound of Formula I in free or salt or solvate form, where R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8 and R9 have the meanings as indicated in the specification, is useful for treating diseases which respond to the blockade of the epithelial sodium channel. Pharmaceutical compositions that contain the compounds and processes for preparing the compounds are also described.
US08664221B2
The object aims to find a novel pharmacological activity of a novel 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoxaline derivative which contains, as a substituent, a phenyl group having a sulfonic acid ester structure introduced therein. A compound represented by general formula (1) or a salt thereof is useful as a glucocorticoid receptor agonist, particularly as a therapeutic agent for diseases against which a glucocorticoid receptor agonist (e.g., a steroid) is believed to be effective, such as inflammatory bone/joint diseases, inflammatory ophthalmic diseases (inflammatory ophthalmic diseases in the anterior or posterior segment of an eye). R1 represents a group represented by general formula (2a), (3a), (4a) or (5a); R2 represents a lower alkyl group which may have a substituent, a lower cycloalkyl group which may have a substituent, or the like; R3 represents a lower alkyl group; R4, R5, R6 or R7 represent a halogen atom, a lower alkyl group which may have a substituent, a hydroxy group, a lower alkoxy group which may have a substituent, or the like; and m, n, p or q represents a number of 0, 1 or 2.
US08664219B2
The present invention relates to compounds useful as inhibitors of protein kinases. The invention also provides pharmaceutically acceptable compositions comprising those compounds and methods of using the compounds and compositions in the treatment of various disease, conditions, and disorders. The invention also provides processes for preparing compounds of the invention.
US08664208B2
Compositions containing micronized tanaproget, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and ethinyl estradiol and methods of preparing the same are provided. Also provided are kits containing the compositions, methods of contraception and hormone replacement therapy including administering a composition containing micronized tanaproget and ethinyl estradiol.
US08664195B2
Novel cyclic phosphoramidate prodrugs of drugs of formula I their use in delivery of drugs to the liver, their use in enhancing oral bioavailability, and their method of preparation are described.
US08664189B2
The present invention relates to RNAi constructs with improved tissue and cellular uptake characteristics and methods of use of these compounds in dermal applications.
US08664184B2
The invention discloses high levels of receptors for Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) have been found in ovarian cancer and uterine cancer tissue samples. In addition, successful in vivo treatment of a mouse model of ovarian cancer with intraperitoneal injection of CPE is disclosed. High levels of Ep-CAM protein is also disclosed in ovarian cancer tissue samples. Thus, the invention provides a method of treating ovarian cancer and uterine cancer by administering CPE. The invention also provides a method of treating cancer in a mammal involving intraperitoneal administration of CPE, where at least some cancerous cells are located in or adjacent to the peritoneal cavity of the mammal. The invention also provides a method of treating ovarian cancer involving administering an anti-Ep-CAM antibody. The invention also provides a method of treating cancers expressing claudin-3 or claudin-4 by administering an antibody against claudin-3 and/or an antibody against claudin-4. The invention also provides a method of protecting a mammal from CPE toxicity involving administering a protective agent that binds to claudin-3 and/or claudin-4 and inhibits CPE binding to claudin-3 and/or claudin-4.
US08664148B2
Use of physical vapor deposition methodologies to deposit nanoscale gold on activating support media makes the use of catalytically active gold dramatically easier and opens the door to significant improvements associated with developing, making, and using gold-based, catalytic systems. The present invention, therefore, relates to novel features, ingredients, and formulations of gold-based, heterogeneous catalyst systems generally comprising nanoscale gold deposited onto a nanoporous support.
US08664147B2
This invention concerns a procedure for the formation of a bimetallic composition by means of the subsequent depositing of Co(0) and Pd(0) on an inert support, a composition obtained by means of said procedure and the use of said bimetallic composition as a catalyst. Another aspect of this invention is a catalytic device that includes said bimetallic composition.
US08664130B2
Crystallizable glasses, glass-ceramics, IXable glass-ceramics, and IX glass-ceramics are disclosed. The glass-ceramics exhibit β-spodumene ss as the predominant crystalline phase. These glasses and glass-ceramics, in mole %, include: 62-75 Si O2; 10.5-17 Al2O3; 5-13 Li2O; 0-4 ZnO; 0-8 MgO; 2-5 TiO2; 0-4 B2O3; 0-5 Na2O; 0-4 K2O; 0-2 ZrO2; 0-7 P2O5; 0-0.3 Fe2O3; 0-2 MnOx; and 0.05-0.2 SnO2. Additionally, these glasses and glass-ceramics exhibit the following criteria: a. a ratio: [ Li 2 O + Na 2 O + K 2 O + MgO + ZnO ] [ Al 2 O 3 + B 2 O 3 ] between 0.7 to 1.5; b. a ratio: [ TiO 2 + SnO 2 ] [ SiO 2 + B 2 O 3 ] greater than 0.04. Furthermore, the glass-ceramics exhibit an opacity ≧about 85% over the wavelength range of 400-700 nm for an about 0.8 mm thickness and colors an observer angle of 10° and a CIE illuminant F02 determined with specular reflectance included of a* between −3 and +3, b* between −6 and +6, and L* between 88 and 97.
US08664129B2
Disclosed is a multilayer fabric and a method of forming a multilayer fabric comprising one or more facing layers and one or more elastic layers adjacent to or sandwiched there between, the one or more facing layers comprising a polypropylene; and a propylene-α-olefin elastomer having and an MFR of less than 80 dg/min; wherein the facing layer is extensible and non-elastic and has a Handle-O-Meter value of less than 60 g and a 1% Secant Flexural Modulus of less than 1000 MPa. In certain embodiments, polyethylenes are absent from the facing layer(s).
US08664128B2
An elastic laminate for use as a tear resistant diaper side panel. The elastic laminate comprises an elastic substrate bonded to at least one layer of a tensioned spunbond nonwoven web comprising thermoplastic filaments comprising at least about 10% by weight polyethylene. The laminate is then incrementally stretched in the transverse direction to provide a service stretch greater than 100% and a strength ratio greater than 0.35. In one embodiment, the elastic substrate is bonded between the tensioned nonwoven webs by point bonding or hot melt adhesives. Also disclosed is a method for making an elastic laminate comprising the steps of providing at least one layer of a tensioned spunbond nonwoven web comprising thermoplastic filaments comprising at least about 10% by weight polyethylene, providing an elastic substrate, bonding the elastic substrate and the at least one layer of nonwoven web to provide an elastic laminate, and incrementally stretching the laminate in the transverse direction to provide a service stretch greater than 100% and a strength ratio greater than 0.35.
US08664127B2
Aspects of the disclosure pertain to methods of depositing silicon oxide layers on substrates. In embodiments, silicon oxide layers are deposited by flowing a silicon-containing precursor having a Si—O bond, an oxygen-containing precursor and a second silicon-containing precursor, having both a Si—C bond and a Si—N bond, into a semiconductor processing chamber to form a conformal liner layer. Upon completion of the liner layer, a gap fill layer is formed by flowing a silicon-containing precursor having a Si—O bond, an oxygen-containing precursor into the semiconductor processing chamber. The presence of the conformal liner layer improves the ability of the gap fill layer to grow more smoothly, fill trenches and produce a reduced quantity and/or size of voids within the silicon oxide filler material.
US08664124B2
A method of etching or removing an organic hardmask overlying a low dielectric constant film in a lithographic process. The method includes providing a dielectric film having thereover an organic hardmask to be removed, the dielectric film having a dielectric constant no greater than about 4.0, introducing over the organic hardmask an ionizable gas comprising a mixture of hydrogen and an oxidizing gas, and applying energy to the mixture to create a plasma of the mixture. The method further includes contacting the organic hardmask with the plasma, with the organic hardmask being at a temperature in excess of 200° C., to remove the organic hardmask without substantially harming the underlying substrate.
US08664118B2
An object is to provide a semiconductor device having excellent characteristics, in which a channel layer includes an oxide semiconductor with high crystallinity. In addition, a semiconductor device including a base film with improved planarity is provided. CMP treatment is performed on the base film of the transistor and plasma treatment is performed thereon after the CMP treatment, whereby the base film can have a center line average roughness Ra75 of less than 0.1 nm. The oxide semiconductor layer with high crystallinity is formed over the base film having planarity, which is obtained by the combination of the plasma treatment and the CMP treatment, thereby improving the characteristics of the semiconductor device.
US08664106B2
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein a first substrate where first electrode pads are formed and a second substrate where second electrode pads are formed are stacked and the first electrode pads and the corresponding second electrode pads are electrically connected thereby forming the semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes steps of performing a first hydrophilic treatment with respect to the first electrode pads; supplying liquid to a surface where the first electrode pads are formed in the first substrate; and placing the second substrate on the first substrate to which the liquid is supplied so that the surface where the first electrode pads are formed opposes a surface where the second electrode pads are formed, thereby aligning the first electrode pads and the second electrode pads by the liquid that gathers in the first electrode pads that have been subject to the first hydrophilic treatment.
US08664096B2
The invention provides a method for producing a flexible barrier sheet (200) comprising a barrier layer (103) and metallic elements (104), said method comprising: a) providing a metallic layer (102) applied on a polymeric support layer (101), the metallic layer having a first surface (105) facing the polymeric support layer and a second surface (106) facing away from said polymeric support layer; b) providing metallic elements on the second surface of the metallic layer; c) providing a barrier layer covering said second surface of the metallic layer and said metallic elements, the barrier layer having a first surface facing the metallic layer and a second surface facing away from the metallic layer; d) releasing the polymeric support layer from the metallic layer; and e) removing the metallic layer from the metallic elements and the barrier layer. The flexible barrier sheet may be used in roll-to-roll fabrication of thin film semiconductor devices requiring a high quality barrier substrate sheet, such as OLEDs.
US08664081B2
A computer readable medium is provided that is encoded with a program comprising instructions for performing a method for fabricating a 3D integrated circuit structure. Provided are an interface wafer including a first wiring layer and through-silicon vias, and a first active circuitry layer wafer including active circuitry. The first active circuitry layer wafer is bonded to the interface wafer. Then, a first portion of the first active circuitry layer wafer is removed such that a second portion remains attached to the interface wafer. A stack structure including the interface wafer and the second portion of the first active circuitry layer wafer is bonded to a base wafer. Next, the interface wafer is thinned so as to form an interface layer, and metallizations coupled through the through-silicon vias in the interface layer to the first wiring layer are formed on the interface layer.
US08664074B2
A MOS transistor has a first stress layer formed over a silicon substrate on a first side of a channel region defined by a gate electrode, and a second stress layer formed over the silicon substrate on a second side of the channel region, the first and second stress layers accumulating a tensile stress or a compressive stress depending on a conductivity type of the MOS transistor. The first stress layer has a first extending part rising upward from the silicon substrate near the channel region along a first sidewall of the gate electrode but separated from the first sidewall of the gate electrode, and the second stress layer has a second extending part rising upward from the silicon substrate near the channel region along a second sidewall of the gate electrode but separated from the second sidewall of the gate electrode.
US08664073B2
A method for fabricating complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: (A) forming a first gate structure and a second gate structure on a substrate; (B) performing a first co-implantation process to define a first type source/drain extension region depth profile in the substrate adjacent to two sides of the first gate structure; (C) forming a first source/drain extension region in the substrate adjacent to the first gate structure; (D) performing a second co-implantation process to define a first pocket region depth profile in the substrate adjacent to two sides of the second gate structure; (E) performing a first pocket implantation process to form a first pocket region adjacent to two sides of the second gate structure.
US08664071B2
A method of fabricating a castellated-gate MOSFET tetrode device capable of fully depleted operation is disclosed. The device is formed on a semiconductor substrate region having an upper portion with a top surface and a lower portion with a bottom surface. A source region and a drain region are formed by ion implantation into the semiconductor substrate region, with adjoined primary and secondary channel-forming regions also disposed therein between the source and drain regions, thereby forming an integrated cascode structure. A plurality of thin semiconductor channel elements are formed by etching a plurality of spaced gate slots to a first predetermined depth into the substrate. The formation of first, second, and additional gate structures are described in two possible embodiments which facilitate the formation of self-aligned source and drain regions.
US08664060B2
A semiconductor structure and a method of fabricating the same comprising the steps of providing a substrate, forming at least one fin structure on said substrate, forming a gate covering said fin structure, forming a plurality of epitaxial structures covering said fin structures, performing a gate pullback process to reduce the critical dimension (CD) of said gate and separate said gate and said epitaxial structures, forming lightly doped drains (LDD) in said fin structures, and forming a spacer on said gate and said fin structures.
US08664057B2
When forming high-k metal gate electrode structures in transistors of different conductivity type while also incorporating an embedded strain-inducing semiconductor alloy selectively in one type of transistor, superior process uniformity may be accomplished by selectively reducing the thickness of a dielectric cap material of a gate layer stack above the active region of transistors which do not receive the strain-inducing semiconductor alloy. In this case, superior confinement and thus integrity of sensitive gate materials may be accomplished in process strategies in which the sophisticated high-k metal gate electrode structures are formed in an early manufacturing stage, while, in a replacement gate approach, superior process uniformity is achieved upon exposing the surface of a placeholder electrode material.
US08664055B2
A fin field-effect transistor structure includes a substrate, a fin channel and a high-k metal gate. The high-k metal gate is formed on the substrate and the fin channel. A process of manufacturing the fin field-effect transistor structure includes the following steps. Firstly, a polysilicon pseudo gate structure is formed on the substrate and a surface of the fin channel. By using the polysilicon pseudo gate structure as a mask, a source/drain region is formed in the fin channel. After the polysilicon pseudo gate structure is removed, a high-k dielectric layer and a metal gate layer are successively formed. Afterwards, a planarization process is performed on the substrate having the metal gate layer until the first dielectric layer is exposed, so that a high-k metal gate is produced.
US08664053B2
A device isolation region is made of a silicon oxide film embedded in a trench, an upper portion thereof is protruded from a semiconductor substrate, and a sidewall insulating film made of silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride is formed on a sidewall of a portion of the device isolation region which is protruded from the semiconductor substrate. A gate insulating film of a MISFET is made of an Hf-containing insulating film containing hafnium, oxygen and an element for threshold reduction as main components, and a gate electrode that is a metal gate electrode extends on an active region, the sidewall insulating film and the device isolation region. The element for threshold reduction is a rare earth or Mg when the MISFET is an n-channel MISFET, and the element for threshold reduction is Al, Ti or Ta when the MISFET is a p-channel MISFET.
US08664049B2
The PN junction of a substrate diode in a sophisticated SOI device may be formed on the basis of an embedded in situ doped semiconductor material, thereby providing superior diode characteristics. For example, a silicon/germanium semiconductor material may be formed in a cavity in the substrate material, wherein the size and shape of the cavity may be selected so as to avoid undue interaction with metal silicide material.
US08664047B2
A method of protecting an electronics package is discussed along with devices formed by the method. The method involves providing at least one electronic component that requires protecting from tampering and/or reverse engineering. Further, the method includes mixing into a liquid glass material at least one of high durability micro-particles or high-durability nano-particles, to form a coating material. Further still, the method includes depositing the coating material onto the electronic component and curing the coating material deposited.
US08664040B2
A method includes performing an etching step on a package. The package includes a package component, a connector on a top surface of the package component, a die bonded to the top surface of the package component, and a molding material molded over the top surface of the package component. The molding material covers the connector, wherein a portion of the molding material covering the connector is removed by the etching step, and the connector is exposed.
US08664036B2
An oxide semiconductor layer with excellent crystallinity is formed to enable manufacture of transistors with excellent electrical characteristics for practical application of a large display device, a high-performance semiconductor device, etc. By first heat treatment, a first oxide semiconductor layer is crystallized. A second oxide semiconductor layer is formed over the first oxide semiconductor layer. By second heat treatment, an oxide semiconductor layer including a crystal region having the c-axis oriented substantially perpendicular to a surface is efficiently formed and oxygen vacancies are efficiently filled. An oxide insulating layer is formed over and in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer. By third heat treatment, oxygen is supplied again to the oxide semiconductor layer. A nitride insulating layer containing hydrogen is formed over the oxide insulating layer. By fourth heat treatment, hydrogen is supplied at least to an interface between the second oxide semiconductor layer and the oxide insulating layer.
US08664029B2
A process for fabricating a capacitance type tri-axial accelerometer comprises of preparing a wafer having an upper layer, an intermediate layer and a lower layer, etching the lower layer of the wafer to form an isolated proof mass having a core and four segments extending from the core, etching the upper layer of the wafer to form a suspension and four separating plates, etching away a portion of the intermediate layer located between the four segments of the proof mass and the plates of the upper layer, and disposing an electrical conducting means to pass through the intermediate layer from the suspension to the core of the proof mass.
US08664023B2
A vapor deposition method of the present invention includes the steps of (i) preparing a mask unit including a shadow mask (81) and a vapor deposition source (85) fixed in position relative to each other, (ii) while moving at least one of the mask unit and the film formation substrate (200) relative to the other, depositing a vapor deposition flow, emitted from the vapor deposition source (85), onto a vapor deposition region (210), and (iii) adjusting the position of a second shutter (111) so that the second shutter (111) blocks a vapor deposition flow traveling toward the vapor deposition unnecessary region (210).
US08664011B2
An upper electrode of a ferroelectric capacitor has a first layer formed of a first oxide expressed by a chemical formula AOx1 (A: metal, O: oxygen) using a stoichiometric composition parameter x1, and expressed by a chemical formula AOx2 using a actual composition parameter x2, and a second layer formed of a second oxide, formed on the first layer, expressed by a chemical formula BOy1 (B: metal) using a stoichiometric composition parameter y1 and expressed by a chemical formula BOy2 using a actual composition parameter y2, which includes at least one of stone-wall crystal and column crystal.
US08664007B2
The invention concerns a method for determining antigen-specific antibodies of a particular immunoglobulin class in a sample by means of an immunoassay in an array format in which various binding partners Bnx are bound on different discrete areas on a support where Bnx in each case contain the various antigens that are able to specifically bind to the antibodies to be detected, by incubating the support with the sample and a binding partner B2 which carries a label and subsequently detecting the label on the respective discrete areas wherein B2 specifically binds antibodies of a certain immunoglobulin class that have been bound in an antigen-specific manner.
US08664005B2
A method of introducing solution into the wells of a multiwell plate comprised of a substrate having multiple wells on at least one principal surface thereof. The wells are imparted dimensions, shapes, and surface configurations such that when said multiwell plate is positioned in stationary fashion with the openings of said wells facing upward, said solution does not enter said wells even when the openings of said wells are covered by said solution, and the solution is positioned on said principal surface of said multiwell plate having wells and a centrifugal force oriented from the well opening toward the bottom is applied to introduce said solution into said wells. Provided is a method for conveniently filling vessels (wells) with a solution such as a reaction solution, even when the vessels (wells) number in excess of 1,000, and even when the dimension, shape, and surface configuration of the vessels (wells) do not permit fluid to flow into the vessels (wells).
US08664002B2
A method of collecting target regions from a target object is described. The method in one embodiment comprises mounting a negatively-charged membrane on a first side of a substrate, mounting a target object on the membrane, positioning a collection material adjacent to the target object, and passing a laser beam from a second side of the substrate, through the substrate, the membrane, and the target object, to dissect target regions from the prepared tissue section, whereby the dissected target regions adhere to the collection material. In another embodiment, the present invention is a system for collecting target regions from a target object. In one embodiment, the system comprises a substrate having a first side and a second side, a negatively-charged membrane adhered to the first side of the substrate, and a collection material mountable adjacent to the membrane. In another embodiment, the system further comprises an inverted microscope, a stage for holding the substrate over the microscope, a generator operable to generate a laser beam to pass through the substrate from the second side and to dissect target regions from a target object mounted on the membrane, whereby the dissected target regions adhere to the collection material. In the preferred embodiments, the target objects are tissues and the target regions are cells.
US08664000B2
Electrospray ionization techniques are used to generate reagents that ionize analytes for mass spectrometric analysis by charge transfer. Such techniques may be performed under ambient conditions. Suitable precursors for such reagents include ionizable nonpolar solvents, such as toluene or xylenes, polar solvents, such as water or alchohols, inert gases, such as helium or nitrogen, or combinations thereof. Environmental conditions in the ionization chamber of the mass spectrograph can be manipulated to generate a selected ion of an analyte in preference to other ions.
US08663994B2
Analysis of compositions that include saccharides having mannosamine residues, such as the capsular saccharide of N. meningitidis serogroup A, is facilitated by a method comprising the steps of: (i) hydrolysing polysaccharide in the sample, to give a hydrolysate; (ii) subjecting the hydrolysate to liquid chromatography; and (iii) detecting any mannosamine-6-phosphate separated in step (ii).
US08663992B2
Process for thermally stabilizing a polymer containing residues of a Sn(II), Sb(III), Pb(II), Bi(III), Fe(II), Ti(II), Ti(III), Mn(II), Mn(III), or Ge(II)-containing catalyst by treating the polymer at a temperature above its melting temperature with a peroxide selected from the group consisting of ketone peroxides, hydroperoxides, peracids, hydrogen peroxide, and mixtures thereof, wherein said peroxide is used in an amount less than 0.2 wt % based on the weight of the polymer and wherein the molar ratio of peroxy functionalities from said peroxide (p) to metal (M) ranges from 1 to 100; said metal (M) being selected from the group consisting of Sn(II), Sb(III), Pb(II), Bi(III), Fe(II), Ti(II), Ti(III), Mn(II), Mn(III), and Ge(II). The invention further relates to a method for determining the metal residue content of a polymer.
US08663989B2
The present invention relates to methods of host cell transduction utilizing ecotropic retroviral vector particles. The retroviral vector particle may comprise an envelope of Friend murine leukaemia virus, in particular the envelope encoded by molecular clone PVC-211 and the host cell may be engineered to recombinantly express the Reel receptor. The retroviral vector particles and methods of the invention can be used to introduce expressible polynucleotide sequences of interest into host cells with high efficiency. This results in protein production methods with higher yield (mg/L) and a reduction in manufacturing costs that could be used in a range of applications including for example, the production of therapeutic proteins, vaccines and antibodies.
US08663988B2
The present invention relates to collagen hydrogels. Particularly, the invention relates to hydrogels comprising a telopeptide collagen (“telo-collagen”) and an atelopeptide collagen (“atelo-collagen”); hydrogels comprising collagen and chitosan; methods of making the hydrogels; methods of reducing gelation of a hydrogel mixture at room temperature; methods of reducing compaction of cells; and methods of culturing cells on such hydrogels.
US08663982B2
The present specification discloses clonal cell lines susceptible to BoNT/A intoxication, methods of producing such clonal cell lines, and methods of detecting Botulinum toxin serotype A activity using such clonal cell lines.
US08663966B2
We disclose a food additive comprising a PS4 variant polypeptide, in which the PS4 variant polypeptide is derivable from a parent polypeptide having non-maltogenic exoamylase activity, in which the PS4 variant polypeptide comprises substitutions at the following positions: G121D, 134, 141, 157, 223, 307 and 334 with reference to the position numbering of a Pseudomonas saccharophilia exoamylase sequence shown as SEQ ID NO: 1.
US08663958B2
The invention provides oxygen-resistant iron-hydrogenases ([Fe]-hydrogenases) for use in the production of H2. Methods used in the design and engineering of the oxygen-resistant [Fe]-hydrogenases are disclosed, as are the methods of transforming and culturing appropriate host cells with the oxygen-resistant [Fe]-hydrogenases. Finally, the invention provides methods for utilizing the transformed, oxygen insensitive, host cells in the bulk production of H2 in a light catalyzed reaction having water as the reactant.
US08663957B2
A non-naturally occurring microbial organism has cyclohexanone pathways that include at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a cyclohexanone pathway enzyme. A pathway includes a 2-ketocyclohexane-1-carboxyl-CoA hydrolase (acting on C—C bond), a 2-ketocyclohexane-1-carboxylate decarboxylase and an enzyme selected from a 2-ketocyclohexane-1-carboxyl-CoA hydrolase (acting on thioester), a 2-ketocyclohexane-1-carboxyl-CoA transferase, and a 2-ketocyclohexane-1-carboxyl-CoA synthetase. A pathway includes an enzyme selected from a 6-ketocyclohex-1-ene-1-carboxyl-CoA hydrolase (acting on C—C bond), a 6-ketocyclohex-1-ene-1-carboxyl-CoA synthetase, a 6-ketocyclohex-1-ene-1-carboxyl-CoA hydrolase (acting on thioester), a 6-ketocyclohex-1-ene-1-carboxyl-CoA transferase, a 6-ketocyclohex-1-ene-1-carboxyl-CoA reductase, a 6-ketocyclohex-1-ene-1-carboxylate decarboxylase, a 6-ketocyclohex-1-ene-1-carboxylate reductase, a 2-ketocyclohexane-1-carboxyl-CoA synthetase, a 2-ketocyclohexane-1-carboxyl-CoA transferase, a 2-ketocyclohexane-1-carboxyl-CoA hydrolase (acting on thioester), a 2-ketocyclohexane-1-carboxylate decarboxylase, and a cyclohexanone dehydrogenase. A pathway includes an adipate semialdehyde dehydratase, a cyclohexane-1,2-diol dehydrogenase, and a cyclohexane-1,2-diol dehydratase. A pathway includes a 3-oxopimelate decarboxylase, a 4-acetylbutyrate dehydratase, a 3-hydroxycyclohexanone dehydrogenase, a 2-cyclohexenone hydratase, a cyclohexanone dehydrogenase and an enzyme selected from a 3-oxopimeloyl-CoA synthetase, a 3-oxopimeloyl-CoA hydrolase (acting on thioester), and a 3-oxopimeloyl-coA transferase. Each these pathways can include a PEP carboxykinase. A method for producing cyclohexanone includes culturing these non-naturally occurring microbial organisms.
US08663955B2
The invention relates to a method for producing carboxylic acids having 1-3 carbon atoms, characterized in that 2,3-butanediol and/or acetoin are reacted to form carboxylic acids having 1-3 carbon atoms.
US08663954B2
A method for the construction of a moderately thermophilic Bacillus strain capable of utilizing sucrose as a carbon source includes the transformation of a parent moderately thermophilic Bacillus strain not capable of utilizing sucrose as a carbon source with a polynucleotide comprising a DNA sequence that encodes a polypeptide having sucrose-specific phosphotransferase activity and having i) an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or ii) an amino acid sequence with an identity of at least 70% to the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 and/or comprising a DNA sequence that encodes a polypeptide having sucrose-6-phosphate hydrolase activity and having iii) an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 or iv) an amino acid sequence with an identity of at least 70% to the sequence of SEQ ID NO:2.
US08663946B2
A method and a kit for detecting folate are disclosed. The method includes the following steps: (a) mixing a sample and an extraction buffer to form a mixture, heating and then cooling the mixture, and separating a supernatant from the mixture by centrifugation; (b) adding a recombinant γ-glutamyl hydrolase (GGH) and a folate conversion enzyme to the supernatant to drive catalysis; (c) stopping the catalysis; and (d) analyzing the supernatant by high performance liquid chromatography.
US08663934B2
The instant invention relates to the use of 24-hydroxylated vitamin D compounds as therapeutics in mammalian bone fracture repair. In addition, the instant invention relates to novel 24-hydroxylated vitamin D compound receptors which can be employed in the development of compounds capable of facilitating fracture repair in animals. The instant invention also relates to nucleic acids encoding such receptors as well as vectors, host cells, transgenic animals comprising such nucleic acids and screening assays employing such receptors.
US08663933B2
Provided is a recombination protein which binds specifically to troponin I derived from human myocardium. The recombinant protein includes a light chain variable region consisting of the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 63; and a heavy chain variable region consisting of the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 65.
US08663926B2
One major problem in diagnosis methods presently available for anthrax is that these methods require several days to produce a result. The only existing treatment for anthrax requires administration soon after infection at a time when patients are exhibiting only mild flu-like symptoms. Thus, a patient may be days beyond the time when treatment would be effective by the time a diagnosis is made. The present invention reduces diagnosis time to as little as four hours providing same day identification of anthrax radically increasing the odds of delivering proper treatment and patient recovery. The rapid identification of anthrax lethal factor activity exhibited by the instant invention is also amenable to in vivo screening protocols for the discovery and development of anthrax vaccines and lethal factor inhibitors. The instant invention isolates and concentrates lethal factor and lethal toxin from nearly any biological sample. By capitalizing on the endopeptidase activity of lethal factor the present invention amplifies output signals producing reliable detection of picomolar concentrations of lethal factor. The instant invention involves novel purification and detection techniques and substrates for rapid, reproducible, and quantitative measurements of anthrax lethal factor in biological samples.
US08663922B2
To minimize cross talk in systems and methods for detecting two or more different optical signals emitted from each of a plurality of reaction receptacles, an excitation signal associated with each of the optical signals has a known excitation frequency, and any detected signal having a frequency that is inconsistent with the excitation frequency is discarded. The receptacles are moved relative to optical sensors configured to detect each unique optical signal from an associated receptacle, and to further minimize cross talk, the optical sensors are arranged so that only one reaction receptacle at a time is in a signal detecting position with respect to one of its associated optical sensors, and the optical sensors are grouped by the optical signal they are configured to detect so that a first optical signal is detected from each of the reaction receptacles before a second optical signal is detected from the reaction receptacles.
US08663921B2
The invention provides tandem single nucleotide polymorphisms and methods for their use, for example, in diagnosing Down Syndrome.
US08663919B2
Disclosed herein are compositions, methods and kits for analyzing three-dimensional chromatin and/or chromosome conformation. Method are also disclosed for using the methods disclosed herein for diagnosing diseases such as cancer.
US08663908B2
Provided are a method of conveniently and efficiently removing abnormal prion protein from a blood product and a method of removing leukocyte simultaneously with abnormal prion protein. The method of removing an abnormal prion protein from a blood product includes filtering the blood product through a filter filled with a carrier coated with a polymer, which is composed of three units including 20 mol % or more and 40 mol % or less of a unit originating from a hydrophobic polymerizable monomer, 5 mol % or more and 13 mol % or less of a unit originating from a polymerizable monomer containing a basic nitrogen-containing part, and a unit originating from a polymerizable monomer containing a protonic neutral hydrophilic part as the balance, and then recovering the filtered blood product.
US08663905B2
A resist under layer film-forming composition comprises (A) an aminated fullerene having at least one amino group bonded to a fullerene skeleton, and (B) a solvent. The composition exhibits excellent etching resistance, causes an under layer film pattern to bend only with difficulty in a dry etching process, and can transfer a resist pattern faithfully onto a substrate to be processed with high reproducibility.
US08663902B2
A method of forming an image on a substrate, which comprises applying to the substrate an activatable color forming compound wherein said activatable color forming compound is initially unreactive but becomes reactive upon activation; activating said color forming compound in the areas of the substrate where the image is to be formed, and, reacting the activated color forming compound into its colored form to produce an image. A substrate imaged using this method is also provided.
US08663901B2
The present invention relates to a fluorine-free photoacid generator (PAG) and a photoresist composition containing the same. The PAG is characterized by the presence of an onium cationic component and a fluorine-free fused ring heteroaromatic sulfonate anionic component containing one or more electron withdrawing substituents. The onium cationic component of the PAG is preferably a sulfonium or an iodonium cation. The photoresist composition further contains an acid sensitive imaging polymer. The photoresist composition is especially useful for forming material patterns on a semiconductor substrate using 193 nm (ArF) lithography.
US08663900B2
A resist composition having a resin having a structural unit represented by the formula (I), a resin being insoluble or poorly soluble in alkali aqueous solution, but becoming soluble in an alkali aqueous solution by the action of an acid and not including the structural unit represented by the formula (I), and an acid generator represented by the formula (II), wherein R1, A1, A13, A14, X12, RII1, RII2, LII1, YII1, RII3, RII4, RII5, RII6, RII7, n, s and RII8 are defined in the specification.
US08663894B1
Method of adjusting the melt flow index of a toner is described, the method including adjusting the pH of the toner after the toner particles have been coalesced and the adjusting alters the melt flow index of the toner.
US08663893B2
To provide a fixing solution for fixing fine resin particles to a recording medium, the fixing solution including: a diluent which contains water; a foaming agent which allows the fixing solution to be in the form of foam; and plasticizers which soften or swell at least part of the fine resin particles, wherein the plasticizers contain a liquid plasticizer which is liquid at normal temperature and soluble in the diluent, and a solid plasticizer which is solid at normal temperature and soluble in the diluent.
US08663880B2
A polymerizable composition for a color filter, including (A) a polymerizable compound, (B) a polymerization initiator, (C) a coloring agent, and (D) a polymer including at least a group having polymerization inhibiting ability and a group having surface localizability.
US08663871B2
A fuel cell separator is produced by forming a fuel cell separator resin composition including, as essential components, (A) an epoxy resin; (B) a curing agent; (C) a curing accelerator; and (D) a carbon material, in which the content of the (D) is 50 to 85% by mass based on the total amount of the composition, in which the (D) includes high crystalline artificial graphite having an average particle size of 100 μm or more and less than 150 μm in an amount of 5 to 100% by mass based on the total amount of the (D), and in which the content of the (C) is 0.1 to 20 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the (B). The resin composition is excellent in electric conductivity and fluidity and contains little impurities, and can provide a fuel cell separator which is excellent in electric conductivity and dimensional accuracy, and has no fear of causing deterioration in performance of a solid electrolyte.
US08663866B2
A proton exchange membrane and a membrane electrode assembly for an electrochemical cell such as a fuel cell are provided. A catalytically active component is disposed within the membrane electrode assembly. The catalytically active component comprises particles containing a metal oxide such as silica, metal or metalloid ions such as ions that include boron, and a catalyst. A process for increasing peroxide radical resistance in a membrane electrode is also provided that includes the introduction of the catalytically active component described into a membrane electrode assembly.
US08663863B2
An interconnect for a fuel cell is made of pressed metal sheet. The interconnect integrates inlets and outlets, flow distributing inlet and outlet-zones seal surfaces and flow paths on both sides of the interconnect all formed and defined by discrete point or oblong protrusions made by the deformation of the sheet. A protrusion on one side of the interconnect corresponds to an indentation on the other side, but since the interconnect consists of three levels, the first side of the interconnect can be designed substantially independently of the second side.
US08663859B2
A method of operating a fuel cell electrochemical system includes receiving at least one of a cost of electricity and a cost of fuel and adjusting at least one of an operating efficiency and throughput of the fuel cell based on the at least one of the received cost of electricity and the received cost of fuel.
US08663856B2
A fuel cell stack is provided having a plurality of unit cells stacked in a horizontal direction. Each unit cell includes an electrolyte membrane having two surfaces and a peripheral edge, electrodes provided on both surfaces of the electrolyte membrane, frame-shaped members provided on both surfaces of the electrolyte membrane adjacent to the respective electrodes and adjacent the peripheral edge of the electrolyte membrane, separators provided on the electrodes and the frame-shaped members and having a reactant gas passage for supplying a reactant gas to each of the electrodes, and a manifold formed in the stacking direction in fluid communication with the reactant gas passage. The manifold includes a horizontal edge portion in fluid communication with the reactant gas passage.
US08663851B2
A fuel cell system includes a plurality of solid oxide fuel cells arranged in a fuel cell stack, an integrated heat exchanger/reformer operable to partially reform an anode feed prior to entry into the fuel cell stack, an anode tailgas oxidizer, and an offgas flow path extending away from an anode side of the fuel cell stack and having a first branch to selectively combine offgas from the anode side of the fuel cell stack with fuel from a fuel source to comprise the anode feed to the fuel cell stack and a second branch to supply offgas from the anode side of the fuel cell stack to the anode tailgas oxidizer. The integrated heat exchanger/reformer transfers heat from the oxidized offgas from the anode tailgas oxidizer to the anode feed before the anode feed enters the anode side of the fuel cell stack. The offgas from the anode tailgas oxidizer provides the sole heat source for the anode feed traveling through the integrated heat exchanger/reformer.
US08663849B2
Lithium ion battery positive electrode material are described that comprise an active composition comprising lithium metal oxide coated with an inorganic coating composition wherein the coating composition comprises a metal chloride, metal bromide, metal iodide, or combinations thereof. Desirable performance is observed for these coated materials. In particular, the non-fluoride metal halide coatings are useful for stabilizing lithium rich metal oxides.
US08663844B2
The present disclosure describes a rechargeable zinc ion battery, in which anodic zinc will be electrochemically dissolved as Zn2+ ions, diffuses to the cathodic electrode/electrolyte interface through the electrolyte, and zinc ions are subsequently intercalated into manganese dioxide during discharging. In charging, above-mentioned process will be reversed. The rechargeable zinc ion battery comprises a cathode formed from a compressed mixture of alpha manganese dioxide particles, electrically conductive particles and one or more binder(s); a zinc anode separated from cathode; an aqueous electrolyte contains zinc ions in which the pH value may be controlled between 4 and 7.
US08663842B2
Silver positive electrode for alkali secondary batteries having an enhanced cycling capability, and consequently a longer lifetime in cycling of the storage batteries incorporating it, by optimizing, in recharge mode, the conditions for electrochemically reducing the oxidized silver species. The silver electrode according to the invention is of the plasticized type, and a high-porosity collector, such as a woven fabric, a felt or a reticulated cellular metal foam, is used. The active compound introduced into the collector is prepared in paste form, in which the active material consists of metallic silver particles and/or silver monoxide particles, and may advantageously include a metal oxide acting as pore-forming and wetting agent for the electrode. Such an electrode is particularly intended for mounting in silver-zinc storage batteries operating in open mode or sealed mode.
US08663838B2
A cylindrical secondary battery including a center pin having an improved structure is disclosed. The center pin is disposed into a central opening of an electrode assembly of the cylindrical secondary battery. One end portion of the center pin has a larger diameter than a central opening of an electrode assembly, and the center pin is tapered from the one end portion to another end portion of the center pin. The center pin is forcibly pushed into the central opening of the electrode assembly. Because the center pin is coupled by forced insertion with the central opening of the electrode assembly, movement of the center pin is suppressed and noise generation is prevented.
US08663837B2
A secondary battery includes an electrode assembly in which a cathode plate and an anode plate are arranged with a separator being interposed therebetween, a case in which the electrode assembly is received, a cap assembly capable of sealing an open end of the case, a gasket interposed between the case and the cap assembly, and a leakage prevention portion formed at one surface of the gasket and/or one surface of the cap assembly, which is oriented toward the electrode assembly and contacted with the gasket.
US08663834B2
The invention relates to a rechargeable battery pack, in particular for an electrical hand tool device, comprising at least two series-connected rechargeable battery cells (20) and/or rechargeable batter cell blocks and an electronics unit having a printed circuit board (14), wherein sheet metal conductors (16) for electrically connecting the series-connected rechargeable battery cells (20) and/or rechargeable battery cell blocks are provided, wherein the sheet metal conductors (16) are connected directly to the printed circuit board (14).
US08663832B2
Disclosed is a cell with a power-generating element and an outer package. The power-generating element includes a unit cell layer including a first electrode, a second electrode and an electrolyte layer disposed between the first and second electrodes. In the first electrode, a first collector is provided with one of a positive electrode active material layer and a negative electrode active material layer. In the second electrode, a second collector is provided with the other one of the positive and negative electrode active material layers. The first and second collectors have thicknesses such that when a conductor from outside penetrates at least two cells and a short circuit is formed between two cells via the conductor, shorted portions of the first and second collectors are fused by the heat generated by the current before the temperature of the cells reaches a predetermined value so that the short circuit is blocked.
US08663831B2
A rechargeable battery and its fabrication method prevents electrical shorts between the electrode plates by decreasing shrinkage of the separator, the battery includes: an electrode assembly including: a wound electrode jelly roll having a first electrode plate with a first electrode tab attached thereto, a second electrode plate with a second electrode tab attached thereto and a separator interposed between the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate, and an upper tape arranged to surround an upper end of the electrode jelly roll where the first electrode tab and second electrode tab extend outward therefrom; a case having an upper end opening arranged to receive the electrode assembly and an electrolyte; and a cap assembly arranged to seal the upper end opening of the case after the electrode assembly has been received in the case; the upper tape is attached to the upper end of the electrode jelly roll and surrounds the separator adjacent to an end of an innermost electrode plate of the first and second electrode plates.
US08663828B2
Battery systems, a battery module, and a method for cooling the battery module are provided. The battery module includes a housing having a non-conductive oil disposed therein. The battery module further includes a battery cell disposed in the housing. The battery module further includes a cooling manifold disposed in the housing that contacts the non-conductive oil. The cooling manifold is configured to receive a fluid therethrough and to conduct heat energy from the non-conductive oil into the fluid to cool the battery cell.
US08663826B2
A fitting set, including a battery assembly and a receiver having a recess for receiving the battery assembly are disclosed. The battery assembly may include a casing having a top wall, a bottom wall, two first sidewalls, and two second sidewalls. The battery assembly may further include a resilient member and a self-locking block. The first sidewalls may include notches extending to the bottom wall. The recess may include lugs on one or more of the inners walls, each of which may be engaged with a corresponding notch. The second sidewalls may each include a first stopper and one or more second stoppers, the first and second stoppers having a difference in height. The resilient member at both ends may abut against the first stopper and self-locking block, respectively, and may also press the self-locking block against an edge of the recess.
US08663823B2
A communication device, and battery there for, are provided. In at least one of the battery and the communication device is provided a magnetic shield portion for routing magnetic flux away from the receiver when the radio is in operation. The magnetic shield portion can be incorporated into at least one of the battery and the communication device. When the battery is inserted into mobile communication device, the magnetic shield portion is located substantially between a battery portion, in the battery, and the receiver.
US08663822B2
In one embodiment, a magnetic disk medium includes a nonmagnetic substrate, a magnetic recording layer above the nonmagnetic substrate, a protective layer above the magnetic recording layer, and a lubricant layer above the protective layer, the lubricant layer including a mixture of a compound having one or more cyclophosphazene groups and a lubricant formulated R1-OCH2CF2CF2O(CF2CF2CF2O)mCF2CF2CH2O—R2, wherein R1 and R2 are alkyl chains having at least two hydroxyl groups each, and m is an integer indicating a number of repeating units. According to another embodiment, a magnetic disk medium lubricant includes a mixture of a compound having one or more cyclophosphazene groups and a lubricant formulated as above, such that a magnetic head is provided stable flight above the lubricant layer in conditions having relative humidity of greater than about 40%.
US08663811B2
Optically clear adhesives and laminates that include the adhesives are provided. The adhesives and laminates remain haze-free and are cloud point-resistant when placed in environments of high humidity and elevated temperature. The adhesives and laminates are useful in optical electronic display applications.
US08663807B2
An article of manufacture and a process for making the article by generating corrosion-, heat- and abrasion-resistant ceramic coatings comprising titanium and/or zirconium dioxide using direct and alternating current on anodes comprising aluminum and/or titanium. Optionally, the article is coated with additional layers, such as paint, after deposition of the ceramic coating.
US08663805B2
A heat-resistant hose for a vehicle available at a low cost and excellent in interlayer adhesiveness includes: an inner layer; and an outer layer directly formed on an outer peripheral surface of the inner layer, in which the inner layer comprises a fluorine-based rubber composition containing the following components (a) to (e): (a) a fluorine-based rubber; (b) a polyol-based vulcanizing agent; (c) an organic onium compound; (d) magnesium oxide; and (e) calcium hydroxide, and the outer layer comprises an acrylic rubber composition containing the following components (A) to (C): (A) an acrylic rubber; (B) a benzenediol; and (C) at least one of an imidazole compound and a diamine-based vulcanizing agent.
US08663802B2
A single crystal of zinc oxide which is c-axis oriented with use of electrolytic deposition method is formed on an amorphous carbon layer, after the amorphous carbon layer is provided on an inexpensive graphite substrate. The amorphous carbon layer is provided by oxidizing the surface of the graphite substrate.
US08663796B2
A coated article is described. The coated article includes a substrate, a bonding layer formed on the substrate, a plurality of nickel-chromium-nitrogen layers and a plurality of copper-cerium alloy layers formed on the bonding layer. The bonding layer is a nickel-chromium layer. Each nickel-chromium-nitrogen layer interleaves with one copper-cerium alloy layer. One of the nickel-chromium-nitrogen layers is directly formed on the bonding layer. A method for making the coated article is also described.
US08663786B2
Disclosed is a polyester film for optical applications, and more specifically to a polyester film having refractive index of 1.6 to 1.7 and a film having refractive index of 1.4 to 1.6 on both surfaces of the polyester film, wherein a thickness of each coating layer is 0.03 to 0.1 μm and total light transmittance of the entire film is 93% or more. The polyester film according to the embodiment has total light transmittance higher than the polyester film without the coating layer and is more suitable to use the polyester film for optical applications due to the excellent adhesive strength between the polyester film and layer for the post-processing working.
US08663778B2
A three-dimensional preform, composite components formed with the preform, and processes for producing the preform and composite materials. The three-dimensional preform includes first and second sets of tows containing filaments. Each tow of the first set has a predetermined polygonal cross-sectional shape and is embedded within a temporary matrix. The preform is fabricated from the first and second sets of tows, in which the second set of tows are transverse to the first set of tows, adjacent tows of the second set are spaced apart to define interstitial regions therebetween, and the polygonal cross-sectional shapes of the first set of tows are substantially congruent to the cross-sectional shapes of the interstitial regions so as to substantially fill the interstitial regions.
US08663777B2
A ceramic honeycomb structure having a large number of flow paths partitioned by porous cell walls, the cell walls comprising at least main crystals of aluminum titanate, in which MgO and SiO2 are dissolved to form a solid solution, and glass phases, the glass phases containing 40-80% by mass of SiO2 and 1-20% by mass of MgO, the average size of the glass phases being 30 μm or less in a cross section of the cell walls, and the area ratio of the glass phases to the total area of the main crystals of aluminum titanate and the glass phases being 2-12% in a cross section of the cell walls, and its production method.
US08663775B2
A floor cover for protecting a floor from damage caused by pets. The floor cover includes a body having an ingress/egress portion, a doorway portion, and an enclosure portion.
US08663770B2
A method of forming a composite structure can include providing a plurality of composite panels of material, each composite panel having a plurality of holes extending through the panel. An adhesive layer is applied to each composite panel and a adjoining layer is applied over the adhesive layer. The method also includes stitching the composite panels, adhesive layer, and adjoining layer together by passing a length of a flexible connecting element into the plurality of holes in the composite panels of material. At least the adhesive layer is cured to bond the composite panels together and thereby form the composite structure.
US08663762B2
A high-strength, lightweight inflatable structure is formed of at least one flexible fabric member that, in an inflated condition, forms a self-supporting structure. The flexible fabric member is formed from a bare fabric having an areal weight of less than 4.5 oz/yd2. The fabric is coated with air-impervious resin coating comprising a polyurethane resin having a mixture of graphene nanoplatelets and a phosphorus-based flame retardant added thereto. The thermally exfoliated graphene nanoplatelets contain residual graphene oxide. Graphene oxide, which is a polar molecule, has an affinity for the polar molecules that make up the phosphorus based flame retardant. Accordingly, in addition to its inherent flame-retardant properties, the phosphorus based flame retardant acts as a dispersant to improve the uniform dispersion of the graphene nanoplatelets within the matrix, thus reducing or eliminating the need to use additional dispersants.
US08663757B2
An inkjet recording medium includes a support and an ink-receiving layer which is disposed on the support and which contains an alumina pigment and an alkylsulfonic acid having the carbon number of 1 or more and 4 or less. The ink-receiving layer further contains a polymeric compound, a water-soluble zirconium compound, and boric acid or a borate. The polymeric compound is one obtained by cationizing at least one amino group of a product with acid, the product being obtained by the reaction of at least three compounds, that is, (i) a sulfur-containing organic compound containing two or more active hydrogen atoms, (ii) a polyisocyanate compound containing two or more isocyanate groups, and (iii) an amine compound containing two or more active hydrogen atoms.
US08663754B2
A method of forming patterns on transparent substrates using a pulsed laser is disclosed. Various embodiments include an ultrashort pulsed laser, a substrate that is transparent to the laser wavelength, and a target plate. The laser beam is guided through the transparent substrate and focused on the target surface. The target material is ablated by the laser and is deposited on the opposite substrate surface. A pattern, for example a gray scale image, is formed by scanning the laser beam relative to the target. Variations of the laser beam scan speed and scan line density control the material deposition and change the optical properties of the deposited patterns, creating a visual effect of gray scale. In some embodiments patterns may be formed on a portion of a microelectronic device during a fabrication process. In some embodiments high repetition rate picoseconds and nanosecond sources are configured to produce the patterns.
US08663749B2
A process and apparatus for the production of polymer layers or of strand-shaped applications on a substrate, in particular of FIPFG seals, by applying a reactive, foamable polymer material on the substrate, and the polymer material being subjected to a corona treatment or plasma treatment after it has been applied on the substrate.
US08663736B2
Provided is a germanium complex represented by Chemical Formula 1 wherein Y1 and Y2 are independently selected from R3, NR4R5 or OR6, and R1 through R6 independently represent (Ci-C7) alkyl. The provided germanium complex with an amidine derivative ligand is thermally stable, is highly volatile, and does not include halogen components. Therefore, it may be usefully used as a precursor to produce high-quality germanium thin film or germanium-containing compound thin film by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) or atomic layer deposition (ALD).
US08663733B2
A process for preparing water-absorbing polymer particles by spraying a liquid onto water-absorbing polymer particles by means of at least one thermally insulated and/or trace-heated spray nozzle in a mixer.
US08663721B2
A water-like fluid containing safe water and soluble dietary fiber(s). The resulting solution is generally optically clear and has physical properties similar to potable water. The fluid is intended as a replacement for bottled, or other water, as a means to ensure proper hydration. Depending on the soluble fiber used the fluid is either non-caloric or extremely low in calories. The amount of soluble fiber is adjusted to a specific amount of water so that consumption of an adequate amount of fluid ensures hydration. In one embodiment, a flavoring may be added to the resulting solution.
US08663720B2
The present invention provides a process for preparing fermented tea, by which fermented tea is prepared over a short period of time, while maintaining the physiological activity thereof, and yield of the extract is improved, and a composition, which has favorable flavor and excellent stability and is useful as a functional food. Specifically, the present invention provides a process for preparing fermented tea comprising the step of fermenting tea leaves in the presence of tea leave stems and a composition containing fermented tea extract and dietary fiber.
US08663716B2
This is to provide a novel medicine and a food and a drink composition for treating aesthenopia excellent in improved effect of aesthenopia.The composition for the treatment of aesthenopia comprises chondroitin sulfate or a salt thereof.
US08663711B2
Novel Uses of an aromatic ester isolated from Armillaria mellea, particularly, armillaridin, are disclosed herein. The armillaridin is useful for manufacturing a medicament or a pharmaceutical composition for suppressing the growth of cancerous cells or for enhancing susceptibility of esophageal cancerous cells to a radiation treatment, in a subject.
US08663710B1
A cosmetic composition is provided. The cosmetic composition may include pomace olive oil and a first moisturizing oil. The first moisturizing oil may be safflower oil, mango butter, or hemp seed oil. A second oil can also be included and may be coconut oil or grape seed oil. A bacterial control oil can also be present and may be sweet orange oil or lemongrass oil.
US08663700B2
The present disclosure generally relates to methods of making nanoparticles having about 0.2 to about 35 weight percent of a therapeutic agent; and about 10 to about 99 weight percent of biocompatible polymer such as a diblock poly(lactic) acid-poly(ethylene)glycol.
US08663699B2
An aqueous formulation for topical application to the skin comprising water, a water-miscible organic solvent, and benzoyl peroxide, wherein the concentration of the organic solvent is sufficient to provide a stable suspension of benzoyl peroxide in the aqueous formulation without the inclusion of a surfactant in the formulation, wherein the ratio of concentrations of water and organic solvent in the formulation is sufficient to maintain the benzoyl peroxide in saturated solubility in the formulation following application to the skin, and wherein the concentration of benzoyl peroxide in the formulation is less than 5.0% and at least 1.0% w/w. The formulation may further contain a chemical compound in addition to benzoyl peroxide that is effective in the treatment of acne. The aqueous formulations of the invention are useful in the treatment of acne and acne rosacea.
US08663691B2
Provided are a gel composition for a shower filter with viscosity restorability, a method for manufacturing a shower gel filter and a shower filter. More particularly, the gel composition for a shower filter includes dextrin, a fragrance, water and a water-soluble cellulose ether, and may further include vitamin C intended to remove residual chlorine and harmful substances contained in water, and a food coloring intended to allow the users to identify a particular type of fragrance.
US08663690B2
Methods of nanoencapsulation are described herein. Embodiments of the method utilize the coacervation of a cationic polyelectrolyte with an anionic polyelectrolyte to form a novel capsular matrix. In particular, the novel methods may be used to encapsulate a suspension of a hydrophobic material such as a carotenoid. The disclosed methods do not require lengthy pH adjustments nor do they require the use of any toxic crosslinking agents. In one embodiment, a method of encapsulation comprises dispersing a hydrophobic compound in an organic solvent to form a solution. The method also comprises admixing an anionic polyelectrolyte and a cationic polyelectrolyte with the suspension to form a mixture. In addition, the method comprises quiescently cooling the mixture so as to cause self-crosslinking of a capsular matrix encapsulating the hydrophobic particles.
US08663680B2
A transparent transdermal delivery device for delivering nicotine which has an Opacity Index of less than 48.6%.
US08663676B2
The invention relates to a granular composition for a biomaterial, that comprises from 0.1 to 5 wt % of at least one polymer derived from cellulose, 75 to 99.9 wt % of a mineral phase containing hydroxyapatite and/or β tricalcic phosphate, and 0 to 10 wt % of water, preferably 0 to 7 wt % of water, more preferably 0 to 5 wt % of water, and even more preferably approximately 5 wt % of water.
US08663672B2
An osteoimplant is provided which comprises a coherent aggregate of elongate bone particles, the osteoimplant possessing predetermined dimensions and shape. The osteoimplant is highly absorbent and sponge-like in nature. Also provided herein are a method of fabricating the osteoimplant and a method of repairing and/or treating bone defects utilizing the osteoimplant.
US08663667B2
The present invention is directed to a cosmetic composition includes (a) at least one compound selected from a sugar silicone surfactant, a gelling agent, a polyamine and a hyperbranched polyol; and (b) at least one polar modified polymer.
US08663653B2
The present inventors developed hepatitis C virus 2b/2a intergenotypic recombinants in which the JFH1 structural genes (Core, E1 and E2), p7 and the complete NS2 were replaced by the corresponding genes of the genotype 2b reference strain J8. Sequence analysis of recovered 2b/2a recombinants from 2 transfection experiments revealed that 2b/2a was genetically stable. Conclusion: The developed 2b/2a viruses provide a robust in vitro tool for research in HCV genotype 2b, including vaccine studies and functional analysis.
US08663648B2
An amphipathic helix at the approximate N-terminus of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural proteins mediates the association of these proteins with cytoplasmic membranes in infected cells. This association is essential for replication. Thus, assessing the ability of compounds or protocols to disrupt the association of such helices with cytoplasmic membranes permits identification of compounds and protocols which are useful in the treatment of HCV infection. Also useful in the invention are mimics, or function-disrupting ligands, of an amphipathic helix of the nonstructural proteins described herein and antibodies and fragments thereof immunoreactive with said helix.
US08663638B2
The invention describes the use of trifunctional bispecific and trispecific antibodies for destroying tumor cells which e.g. are disseminated intraperitoneally due to a surgical intervention, wherein the antibody is administered intraoperatively, preferably directly locally into the abdominal cavity.
US08663628B2
An enzymatic solid phase reaction for preparing a solid having greater than 40% monoglyceride from a reaction mixture; wherein the reaction mixture comprises: (i) lipase; (ii) at least 14 weight % glycerol; and (iii) glyceride; and optionally (iv) lecithin; such that if (iv) is not present then the glyceride (iii) has an iodine value of between about 5 and about 35, and a solid fat content of more than about 75% at 20° C. The present invention further relates to a process of preparing an enzymatic solid phase reaction mixture for preparing a solid having greater than 40% monoglyceride.
US08663625B2
The present invention relates to a monolithic biomaterial. The monolithic biomaterial has a primary network of convective flow, microfluidic channels that are embedded in a substrate, where the substrate is diffusively permeable to aqueous solutes. The present invention also relates to a method of making the monolithic biomaterial, as well as methods of using the monolithic biomaterial to facilitate healing of a cutaneous wound of a mammalian subject and of regulating cells.
