US08771135B2

[Subject]In a hybrid drive power apparatus, loss of drive power caused by drag torque of a friction clutch is decreased to reduce fuel consumption rate.[Solution]A hybrid drive power apparatus of the type which comprises a first gear-shift mechanism assembled with a first input shaft to be applied with drive power from an engine through a first friction clutch, a second gear-shift mechanism assembled with a second input shaft to be applied with the drive power of the engine through a second friction clutch, a motor-generator in drive connection with the second input shaft, a final output shaft in drive connection with each output shaft of both the gear-shift mechanisms, and a driven mechanism to be driven by drive power transferred from the final output shaft, wherein drive torque of the motor-generator activated as an electric motor is transferred to the final output shaft through a gear set as a shift step selected in the second gear-shift mechanism, wherein the hybrid drive power apparatus includes control means for activating the motor-generator as the electric motor in a condition where the first friction clutch is brought into engagement to transfer drive torque of the engine to the final output shaft through the first input shaft and the first gear-shift mechanism and for engaging the second friction clutch after activation of the motor-generator so that the final output shaft is applied with drive torque of the motor-generator activated as the electric motor and the drive torque of the engine through the first input shaft and the first gear-shift mechanism.
US08771125B2

A continuously variable transmission apparatus includes an input shaft, an output shaft, a continuously variable transmission mechanism, a differential gear mechanism and a bypass shaft. The continuously variable transmission mechanism is placed between the input shaft and the output shaft and is adapted to conduct rotation of the input shaft to the differential gear mechanism after changing a speed of the rotation. The bypass shaft is placed coaxially with the input shaft and the output shaft and is adapted to conduct the rotation of the input shaft to the differential gear mechanism while bypassing the continuously variable transmission mechanism. The differential gear mechanism is adapted to conduct the rotation from the continuously variable transmission mechanism and the bypass shaft to the output shaft.
US08771123B2

A planetary gear assembly includes a ring gear configured for connection to a rotor of an electric motor when in a first position and configured for connection to a housing of the electric motor when in a second position, a sun gear configured for connection to the housing when the ring gear is in the first position and configured for connection to the rotor when the ring gear is in the second position, and a plurality of planet gears configured to mesh with the ring gear and the sun gear.
US08771114B2

A baseball capable of being tested under ASTM F1887-09 wherein the baseball is projected at a strike plate at a speed of approximately 60 mph to measure the COR of the baseball. The baseball includes a core formed of a diene-based rubber composition, at least one layer of yarn surrounding the core, and a cover assembly surrounding the one layer of yarn. The core has a diameter of less than 2.0 inches and a weight less than 1.5 ounces. The baseball has a circumference of less than 9.5 inches and a weight of less than 5.5 ounces. The baseball has an initial COR value when tested in accordance with ASTM F1887-09 and a second COR value measured after the baseball has undergone at least 60 impacts of approximately 60 mph against the strike plate. The second COR value is greater than 95 percent of the initial COR value.
US08771112B2

An arrow broadhead having a pair of cutting blades held in a retracted position during arrow flight and extending outwardly in an expanded position upon arrow contact. The subject broadhead includes a pair of pivot arms or sliding arm received in an elongated groove in a cutting blade housing body. The pivot arms or sliding arm are attached to one end of the cutting blades. At least a portion of the cutting blades are folded into the groove during arrow flight. Upon target contact, the pivot arms or sliding arm pivot the cutting blades outwardly from opposite sides of the groove into an expanded position for increased cutting and penetration in the target.
US08771109B2

A rebounding panel apparatus for adding a further playable surface for a table tennis table. The rebounding panel apparatus comprises a support member, having table attachment means thereon to permit attachment to a side edge of the table tennis table. A substantially flat rebounding panel is provided, pivotably coupled to an upper portion of the support member. The support member when attached to the table is adapted to support said rebounding panel member above a plane in which said table lies, and the pivotable coupling means is adapted to permit adjustable inclination of the rebounding panel, preferably about each of the pitch, yaw, and skew axis. A table tennis apparatus, comprising a table and a pair of rebounding panel apparatus as described above, is further disclosed.
US08771108B2

A training device which includes a face with a first region and a second region, said first region adapted to provide an first auditory output when struck by a tennis ball and said second region adapted to provide a second auditory output when struck by a tennis ball, wherein said first auditory output and said second auditory output are different, a circumferentially grooved region adjacent said face, and a ringlet engageable with said grooved region.
US08771102B2

A high forgiveness wood-type golf club head comprises a body and a face. The body defines an interior cavity and comprises a sole that forms a bottom portion of the golf club head, a crown that forms a top portion of the golf club head and a skirt that forms a periphery of the golf club head between the sole and the crown. The face place is positioned at a front portion of the golf club head opposite a rear portion of the golf club head. The body defines an outer periphery having a generally triangular shape in plan.
US08771099B2

Embodiments of a mesh golf tee are disclosed having a shaft and an upper mesh portion for supporting a golf ball. The upper mesh portion may provide less resistance to a club to allow greater power applied to the ball. The mesh portion may also flex such that the ball is not deflected by any portion of the tee upon impact by a golf club, allowing for greater consistency.
US08771083B2

An entertainment device comprises a display generator arranged to generate for display a representation of an on-line virtual environment comprising one or more avatars corresponding to users of one or more remote entertainment devices each interacting with that online virtual environment, a network communicator operable to receive data representative of the actions of other users within the on-line virtual environment and to receive content sourced from one or more users of the one or more remote entertainment devices interacting with that online virtual environment, an input device operable by the user to instigate a reporting event and a content identifier operable to generate information indicative of content sourced from one or more users of the one or more remote entertainment devices and that was available to the entertainment device when the reporting event was instigated, and in which the network communicator is operable to transmit a report to a remote device comprising said generated information.
US08771080B2

A flash sale mechanic of a virtual game may perform a flash sale transaction based on transaction details for the flash sale transaction. These transaction details may indicate an item for sale, invitation requirements applicable to a player of the virtual game, and transaction requirements applicable to participants of the flash sale transaction. The flash sale mechanic may selectively provide an invitation request to a first player of the virtual game based on the invitation requirements of the flash sale transaction, and may receive acceptance responses from players that choose to participate in the flash sale transaction. The flash sale mechanic may complete the flash sale transaction if it determines that it has received an acceptance response from at least a minimum number of players that are needed to complete the flash sale transaction, and that these players have satisfied the transaction requirements.
US08771047B2

A game machine determines the reference timing included in a predetermined time range and the crossing direction position corresponding to the reference timing based on the sequence data (30). And, the game machine causes an instruction path (R) extending from one end side (UP) in depth direction (TD) toward the other end side (DP) while passing through each crossing direction position corresponding to each reference timing at a position on the time axis corresponding to each reference timing and the reference line (TL), to be displayed on the game screen, and decreases a distance between each position and the reference line (TL) with a decrease in a time difference between the reference timing and the current time.
US08771046B2

An electric charging apparatus (5) has a charge mechanism for charging a power supply device inside plural power supply assemblies (30) respectively attached to plural pieces of traveling equipment (10). Furthermore, the electric charging apparatus (5) has an electric power source assembly swapping mechanism (200). The electric power source assembly swapping mechanism (200) dismounts the first electric power source assembly (30) from the traveling equipment (10) and moves it to the charge mechanism, and moves it to mount the second electric power source assembly (30) on traveling equipment from charge mechanism. In addition, the electric power source assembly swapping mechanism (200) dismounts the second electric power source assembly (30) from traveling equipment (10) and moves it to the charge mechanism, and moves it to mount the first electric power source assembly (30) on traveling equipment (10) from charge mechanism.
US08771041B2

A scraper and sandblaster assembly including a sandblaster and a scraper is presented. The sandblaster has a gun-like configuration, including a handle portion having a trigger mechanism; an air inlet portion operably coupled to the handle portion and to an air supply source; a nozzle portion distally disposed with respect to the handle portion; and a granular particle container mounted thereon for holding granular particles. The scraper is in cooperative engagement with the sandblaster, the scraper configured to operate concurrently or simultaneously with the sandblaster. The assembly also includes a debris collection cover encompassing at least a distal portion of the sandblaster and the scraper, the debris collection cover supported on the nozzle portion of the sandblaster.
US08771040B1

The process and apparatus for mobile separation and recovery of used abrasive blasting material from a work site. Entrained contaminants within used blast material are removed by a self-contained mobile platform process using multiple stage cleaning system including dual cyclonic separation, multiple stage dust filters with airwash and vibratory separation in a flow through containment and blast media separation process.
US08771039B2

A polishing jig is provided that is capable of being used with different types, styles, and numbers of optical axes. For example, the polishing jig may be used with a variety of simplex connectors and with duplex connectors of at least first and second types. The first and second types of duplex connectors have different distances between the optical axes of their respective ferrules. The polishing jig may also be used with optical connectors having three or more ferrules having three or more respective optical axes.
US08771018B2

A card edge connector includes a housing having a mating end and a mounting end with a card edge slot configured to receive a circuit card therein. Signal contacts are held by the housing and have mating portions configured to be electrically coupled to corresponding signal pads of the circuit card and tail portions configured to be electrically coupled to a corresponding circuit board. Ground contacts are held by the housing and have tail portions configured to be electrically coupled to the circuit board, bifurcated portions extending from corresponding tail portion, first mating portions extending from corresponding bifurcated portions, and second mating portions extending from corresponding bifurcated portions.
US08771000B2

An electrical connector forms electrical contact by tightening of a movable, electrically-conductive spiral around un-insulated wire or wires. The spiral coils around the wire multiple times and tightens on the wire(s) when either one or the other end, or both ends, of the spiral is/are rotated relative to the other. Various housing portions may be provided for connection to different portions of the spiral, to facilitate the tightening of the spiral and to cooperate with a latch/lock system to retain the spiral in tightened condition. Multiple spirals may be provided in one connector, including spirals that tighten around separate wires at opposite ends/side of the connector and/or in spiral ports extending transversely from a main spiral(s). Terminal ends or additional spiral units/ports may be connected to a given spiral, either permanently, semi-permanently, or detachably, for producing a wide variety of configurations and modular connection devices.
US08770998B2

Electrical connection systems and methods are disclosed. An electrical system includes an electrical plug and an electrical receptacle. The electrical plug has at least one prong having at least one opening. The electrical receptacle has at least one socket, an electrical contact positioned within the at least one socket, a light source positioned to transmit light through the at least one socket, and a photodetector positioned to receive the light transmitted by the light source through the at least one socket. The electrical receptacle further has a microprocessor programmed to selectively couple the electrical contact with the power source based on the light received by the photodetector.
US08770993B2

A connector assembly for installing a device to a ceiling grid, the ceiling grid having conductors provided therein. The connector assembly includes a housing with contact arms mounted in the housing. Contact portions of the contact arms extend from the housing and are placed in electrical engagement with the conductors when the connector assembly is mated with the ceiling grid. Mounting members extend from the housing. Mounting sections of the mounting members are placed in mechanical engagement with the ceiling grid to provide a mechanical connection between the ceiling grid and the connector assembly. A polarity protection/correction member is provided in the housing. The polarity protection/correction member protects the device from failure or damage when the polarity orientation of the device does not match the polarity orientation of the conductors of the grid.
US08770986B2

Kits, devices, and methods are provided for increasing a retaining force on a first device configured to mate with a second device to establish an electrical connection between the first and second devices. The first device can be, for example, a plug-type electrical connector (15), and the second device can be, for example, a receptacle connector. Magnets (100) can be mounted on or proximate one of the connector (15) and receptacle (16), and a ferromagnetic element in the form of a plate member (14) can be mounted on or proximate the other of the connector (15) and receptacle (16) so that magnetic attraction between the magnetic elements (100) and the ferromagnetic element (14) urges the connector (15) toward the receptacle (16) when the connector (15) and the receptacle (16) are mated. Existing electrical connectors can thus be retrofit so as to increase the retaining force thereon.
US08770979B2

An aircraft control system for a user of a simulated aircraft. The system includes input devices for controlling the simulated aircraft, a video display having three-dimensional graphics, modeling software for determining position and orientation information based on desired direction of flight obtained through the input devices. User controls desired direction of flight through the input devices, thus controlling aircraft. The aircraft control system may be embodied as a flight game.
US08770968B2

An injection molding tool includes a first mold die having a first tool face and a second mold die having a second tool face. The second mold die is configured to abut the first mold die, wherein the first tool face and second tool face are configured to partially define a part cavity between the first mold die and the second mold die. An induction heating element is embedded into the first mold die such that the induction heating element defines a portion of the first tool face. The induction heating element includes an electrical conductor, an electrically insulating material disposed about the conductor, and a ferromagnetic material disposed adjacent the electrical conductor and electrically insulating material.
US08770967B2

A device for blow-molding containers, the device comprising a structure and a platform mounted to rotate on the structure about an axis of rotation, the platform being provided with blower members and with molds that are mounted under the blower members, each of which comprises a stationary mold portion and a movable mold portion that is movable by control means between an open position and a closed position for the mold, wherein the device includes blocking members for blocking the molds in the closed state, each blocking member comprising a strut mounted on the platform to move between a retracted position and a blocking position.
US08770962B2

The invention provides a method for moulding three-dimensional products from a mass of foodstuff starting materials which are suitable for consumption, in particular a meat mass. The method comprises the steps of filling a mould cavity, which is open on one side, with the mass of foodstuff starting materials which are suitable for consumption, which mould cavity is defined by a boundary comprising walls and base, in order to mould a moulded three-dimensional product, and the removal of the moulded three-dimensional product from the mould cavity. In the method according to the invention, during removal the adhesion forces between the moulded product and the boundary are eliminated virtually simultaneously along all the interfaces.
US08770961B2

Disclosed is a molding device for a machine for manufacturing containers, including: two half-molds; two mold carriers, each of which is provided with a recess for receiving a corresponding half-mold; and at least one retractable attachment bolt that is slidably mounted in at least one mold carrier between an operative position, in which the bolt is extended to removably attach the corresponding half-mold in a clampingly mounted position against the back wall of the corresponding recess, and a retracted position, in which the bolt releases the half-mold, characterized in that each bolt and/or the corresponding half-mold include a clamping strip that is angled so as to cause the half-mold to bear against the back wall of the recess during the sliding of the attachment bolt from the retracted position thereof to the operative position thereof.
US08770958B2

A pattern forming method for forming an imprinted pattern on a coating material disposed on a substrate with a pattern provided to a mold. The method includes preparing a mold provided with a first surface including a pattern area, a second surface located opposite from the first surface, and an alignment mark provided at a position at which the alignment mark is away from the first surface, contacting the pattern area of the mold with the coating material disposed on the substrate, obtaining information about positions of the mold and the substrate by using the alignment mark and a mark provided to the substrate in a state in which the coating material is disposed on the substrate at a portion where the alignment mark and the substrate are opposite to each other, and effecting alignment of the substrate with the mold in an in-plane direction of the pattern area, on the basis of the information in a state in which the pattern area and the coating material contact each other.
US08770957B2

A blow molding machine for shaping plastics material pre-forms into plastics material containers, has a plurality of blow molding stations with blow mold carriers for holding blow molds, including a clean room for arranging or conveying the blow molding stations under aseptic conditions and having an installation access to the clean room for installing the blow mold carriers with blow molding station components. The installation access includes at least one sterile room which is positioned in front of the clean room with the plurality of blow molding stations on the environment side.
US08770955B2

A rotary pump having a variable delivery volume, including: a casing; a delivery chamber formed in the casing; at least one delivery rotor which is rotatable in the delivery chamber; an actuating member which is arranged facing a front face of the delivery rotor or surrounds the delivery rotor, and is moveable in the casing for adjusting the delivery volume; the actuating member chargeable with an actuating force which is dependent on a fluid requirement; a track which is formed in the casing and guides the actuating member on an actuating member sliding surface in a sliding contact; and a sliding material which forms at least one of the track and the actuating member sliding surface.
US08770953B2

Disclosed is a motor driven fluid pump (e.g., water pump) including a pump body having a motor chamber and a pump chamber; a bearing supporting a rotary shaft of a motor which extends from motor chamber to pump chamber in pump body; a mechanical seal disposed between rotary shaft of the motor and pump body and blocking motor chamber from pump chamber; a bearing guide integrally fixed to rotary shaft of the motor between bearing and mechanical seal; a fluidproof plate fixed to pump body to overlap bearing guide, perpendicular to rotary shaft of the motor; and a leachate exhaust aperture and a vapor exhaust aperture which are formed through pump body to communicate with the space between fluidproof plate and mechanical seal.
US08770949B2

A ceiling fan comprising: a fan motor and blade assembly, a mounting tube for suspending the fan motor and blade assembly from a ceiling, and a power supply mounted within the mounting tube configured to power the fan motor. Also a ceiling fan comprising a moulded stator frame, a raised turret integrally moulded within the frame configured to enclose and mount a motor controller, and an external user changeable auxiliary module. Also ceiling fan comprising: a totally enclosed safety extra low voltage fan motor assembly configured to be suspended from an upper side, and a sealing arrangement within the assembly providing a substantial degree of ingress protection against dust and water incident from at least an under side. Also a method comprising providing a ceiling fan comprising moulded stator frame, and mounting an external user changeable auxiliary module to a raised turret integrally moulded within the frame.
US08770948B2

A motor-driven compressor is to be mounted to a first mounting of a vehicle. The compressor includes a housing having therein a compression mechanism that is electrically powered to draw fluid into the housing for compression and to discharge the compressed fluid out of the housing, and a second mounting for securing the housing to the first mounting. The second mounting includes a first cylindrical member, a damping member made of a resin and provided between the first cylindrical member and the housing, a first fastening member extending through the first cylindrical member and the damping member for securing the first cylindrical member and the damping member to the housing, and a second fastening member inserted through the first cylindrical member for securing the first cylindrical member to the first mounting.
US08770945B2

In this centrifugal blood pump apparatus, one permanent magnet is provided in one surface of an impeller, a second permanent magnet is provided in an inner wall of a blood chamber, a third permanent magnet is provided in the other surface of the impeller, and a fourth permanent magnet and a rotor for driving the impeller to rotate are provided, with an diaphragm being interposed. An amount of change in attractive force between the first permanent magnet and the second permanent magnet and an amount of change in attractive force between the third and fourth permanent magnets when the impeller is eccentric are made substantially equal to each other. Therefore, a levitation position of the impeller can always be maintained at a substantially central position in a housing.
US08770944B2

A component such as a turbine bucket or blade, and method for making the component, are presented. One embodiment is an article that comprises an airfoil casting portion comprising a plurality of integral regions, wherein the plurality of integral regions comprises a single-crystalline region and a columnar-grained region. Another embodiment is a method for fabricating an article. The method comprises providing a quantity of molten metal; providing a mold defining an airfoil portion having an axial direction and a transverse direction, wherein the airfoil portion of the mold comprises a single-crystal growth region and a columnar growth region disposed along the transverse direction from the single crystal growth region; introducing the molten metal into the mold; and solidifying the metal such that a solidification front progresses in the axial direction to produce an airfoil casting portion comprising a single-crystalline region and a columnar-grained region.
US08770939B2

In a turbine rotor blade assembly 1, a length h2 in the radial direction of a bucket dovetail 15 of a notch blade 10 is configured to be shorter than a length h3 in the radial direction of an effective blade portion 13 of a adjacent notch blade 30 and a length h4 in the radial direction of the bucket dovetail 15. Thus, during an insertion of the notch blade 10 in the axial direction, the rotational movement Rf around the radial direction and the circumferential movement of the notch blade 10 can be secured.
US08770937B2

A fan comprises a rotatable hub assembly having an inner anchor assembly, a plurality of fan blades, a motor assembly, and a plurality of cables. The outer ends of the cables are coupled to the outer ends of the fan blades, and the inner ends of the cables are coupled to the inner anchor assembly. The inner anchor assembly may further include a disc-shaped plate and a plurality of inner anchor members to which the cables may be coupled. The inner anchor members may include a rear anchor portion and fore anchor portion, and these anchor portions may be angularly offset. A plurality of winglets and/or outer anchor members may be coupled to the outer ends of the fan blades to which the outer ends of the cables may be coupled. The outer ends of the cables may further comprise swaged tips outboard of the winglets and/or outer anchor members.
US08770929B2

A supersonic compressor rotor. The supersonic compressor rotor includes a substantially cylindrical disk body that includes an upstream surface, a downstream surface, and a radially outer surface that extends generally axially between the upstream surface and the downstream surface. The disk body defines a centerline axis. A plurality of vanes are coupled to the radially outer surface. Adjacent vanes form a pair and are oriented such that a flow channel is defined between each pair of adjacent vanes. The flow channel extends generally axially between an inlet opening and an outlet opening. At least one supersonic compression ramp is positioned within the flow channel. The supersonic compression ramp is selectively positionable at a first position, at a second position, and at any position therebetween.
US08770925B2

A fan module includes a fan, and an air duct. The air duct includes a mounting bracket mounted to the fan, and a number of guiding plates pivotably mounted in the mounting bracket. Each guiding plate comprises a latching piece mounted to the guiding plate, The mounting bracket defines a number of groups of positioning holes, with each group of positioning holes corresponding to the latching piece of each guiding plate. The latching piece is selectively positioned by one of the corresponding group of positioning holes.
US08770923B2

One embodiment of a fan assembly includes a housing having a base member and a lip member extending outwardly from the base member for defining an enclosure. The fan assembly may further include a toothed track assembly, a wheel assembly, a first motor, a second motor, and a fan member. The toothed track assembly includes a toothed track member disposed within the enclosure. The wheel assembly includes a pair of toothed wheels adapted to move on the toothed track member. The first motor is operatively coupled to the wheel assembly and is capable of rotating the pair of toothed wheels. The fan member is coupled to the wheel assembly, such that the fan member moves along the toothed track member when the first motor rotates the pair of toothed wheels on the toothed track member. The second motor is operatively coupled to the fan member for rotating the fan member.
US08770921B2

An aircraft jet engine with a longitudinal axis, including a wall enclosing a gas flow ejected from a downstream end of the wall in the longitudinal axis, plural ducts being distributed around the periphery of the downstream end of the wall each including a terminal section, including an outlet opening. Each duct can eject a fluid jet through the outlet opening thereof. The ducts are configured to eject the fluid jets essentially parallel to each other, each fluid jet ejected through the corresponding outlet opening forming a lateral angle with the longitudinal axis in a projection view in a plane with the longitudinal axis.
US08770915B2

A hydraulic power generation motor includes a tubular body (4) including a pair of coupling flanges (12) formed at opposite ends thereof and an impeller housing (8) formed in an intermediate portion thereof, the coupling flanges (12) being connectable to fluid conduits (10) through which fluid flows. An impeller (38) is rotatably installed within the impeller housing (8) of the tubular body (4), the impeller (38) being designed to be rotated by the fluid and operatively connected to a generator (40) for generating an electric power.
US08770911B2

A collating conveyor (4, 6) receives products (2) sequentially from a delivery point and collates them into groups (8). A pusher (9) transfers groups (8) of products from the collating conveyor (4, 6) to a receiving trough (10), where they are turned through a predetermined angle B. The collating conveyor (4, 6) is inclined to the horizontal and is provided with lugs (5, 7), each of which supports a stack (8) of products under the effect of gravity. A pick-and-place head (11) picks up a group (8) of products from the trough (10) by gripping and clamping the products (2) together.
US08770910B1

An automatic stacker with a hydraulically operated pivoting fork assembly for receiving beams from a continuously moving production line using a fork assembly, a drive assembly that operates automatically, a pair of moving bidirectional members in strands using various sensors and a control assembly with computer instructions that can engage a remote control and other live decks and roll cases, to allow automatic stacking of beams into tiers and into bundles, including stacking from a remote location while allowing monitoring and management of multiple stackers from a remote location.
US08770905B2

The anthropomorphic force-reflective master arm is a light, anthropomorphic, back-drivable, six degree of freedom (DOF) master arm designed to control the motion of a remote slave device having arbitrary structure. Three of the link members are rotationally coupled to each other to form a handle, such that axes of rotation of each of the handle link members intersects at the user's hand position. The kinematics of the master arm is simplified to two independent sub-systems, which are the hand position and hand orientation.
US08770896B2

A reamer has a center axis and includes a single cutting edge, provided for a cutting part that is arranged at a leading end side. The reamer includes three guide pads in the cutting part. The first guide pad is formed so as to project to the side almost opposite that where the single cutting edge is formed. The second guide pad is arranged in one area of areas, along a peripheral face of the cutting part, that are located between the first guide pad and the single cutting edge and that are directed toward sides opposite each other, and the third guide pad is arranged in the other area.
US08770895B2

A cutting insert having excellent chip discharge performance is provided. In the cutting insert of the present invention, a bottom surface of a concave groove 21 includes a first bottom surface 211 continuous with a cutting edge part 5, and a second bottom surface 212 which is located on a side further remote from the cutting edge part 5 than the first bottom surface 211, and is located at a lower position than a virtual extension line L1 of an end portion of the first bottom surface 211 on a side remote from the cutting edge part 5. Further, a pair of inclined surfaces 23 are located on a side further remote from the cutting edge part 5 than the end portion of the first bottom surface 211 on the side remote from the cutting edge part 5 in a top view. Therefore, the diameter of generated chips decreases by the fact that the chips are curled while sinking in space formed at a lower position than the virtual extension line L1 of the first bottom surface 211. Consequently, the chip discharge direction is stabilized, thus achieving satisfactory chip discharge performance.
US08770893B2

An apparatus, system and method for recovery of artifacts and eradication of invasive species in aquatic environments. The structure may comprise an elongate flexible bladder blanket divider having first and second ends. The structure may have an open bore vertical support operably coupled to the first and second ends. Each end extends into the open bore vertical support and rests on at least one apron bladder of an apron bladder bundle. The at least one apron bladder is contained in the open bore vertical support and at least one apron bladder is between the end of the vertical support and the bottom of the body of water. A method of using the apparatus, comprising providing an apparatus having variable volume first and second compartments separated by a flexible bladder blanket divider; and introducing agents through openings in the bladder to control the growth of or kill the invasive organisms.
US08770889B2

A method is provided for preventing water from entering a containment sump of an underground storage tank. After accessing an interior of the sump and interrupting the flow paths of piping, a form is positioned in the sump. An annular open space formed between the sump's sidewall and the form is substantially filled with a settable material. An inside wall of the form next has applied to it a polymeric material to seal off an source of water seepage. The piping flow paths are reestablished to create a waterproof containment sump.
US08770885B2

A wedge clamp providing for a positive attachment to structural angles, I-beams, H-beams, T-bars, plates, boards, conventional angles, bulb angles, channels, plates and other similar structural shapes comprises a clamp wedge and body that capture objects with two opposing surfaces securing the objects against each other using a fastener or other means to engage both parts of the clamp to pull the wedge through the body and causing the objects being attached together to be squeezed together. The wedge clamp is also used to support other members using a bolt or threaded rod attached to the wedge clamp which in this case normally attaches to a single flange of the structure.
US08770884B2

The invention relates to an elastomeric joint, comprising a housing with a through-opening which extends axially along the longitudinal axis of the elastomeric joint, a pivot pin which extends through the through-opening of the housing, an elastomeric body which is fastened to the pivot pin and is arranged radially between the pivot pin and the housing, and with at least one supporting ring which is fastened to the elastomeric body on one end face of the through-opening, wherein a wire ring locks the supporting ring with respect to the housing, with the result that the pivot pin is held in the housing in an axially secured manner.
US08770874B2

A thermal transfer printer incorporating a tape drive comprising a first torque-controlled motor and a second position-controlled motor, two tape spool supports on which spools of tape may be mounted, each spool being drivable by a respective one of said motors, and a controller for controlling the energization of the motors such that the tape may be transported in at least one direction between spools mounted on the spool supports. The controller is arranged to determine a control signal to be provided to the torque-controlled motor to set the tape tension, and to provide said control signal to the torque-controlled motor, determination of the control signal including determination of a component intended to compensate for the inertia of a spool of tape driven by the torque-controlled motor.
US08770873B2

An ink ribbon cassette is used in a printing apparatus. The cassette is able to prevent dual movement of an ink ribbon from moving across a lengthways embankment even if the ink ribbon is extended. In the ink ribbon cassette, a lengthways embankment is furnished near an ejecting opening of ink ribbon cassette in an ink ribbon lodging section. The lengthways embankment makes a portion of a space that the ink ribbon passes through narrower. Dual embankments may also be furnished on the ink ribbon movement path at the downstream side of ink ribbon lodging section. The dual embankments respectively protrude from an upper cover and a lower cover. Protruding portions may also be respectively furnished near an entering opening and an ejecting opening of ink ribbon lodging section.
US08770870B2

A printer performs printing by transferring ink of an ink ribbon on which a plurality of color inks is sequentially arranged to paper, and the printer includes a paper conveyance unit configured to convey paper, an ink ribbon conveyance unit configured to be driven by the same drive source as that of the paper conveyance unit and convey the ink ribbon only in a printing direction, and a detection unit configured to detect a marker for detecting the top of color inks provided on the ink ribbon, wherein a marker of a specific color ink of the ink ribbon includes marker pieces, the number of which is greater than that of the other markers.
US08770862B2

The present disclosure relates to a fiber optic connector for use with a fiber optic adapter. The fiber optic connector includes a connector housing having an end defining a plug portion. A ferrule assembly is mounted at least partially within the connector housing. The ferrule assembly includes a ferrule located at the plug portion of the connector housing. A sealing member is mounted about an exterior of the connector housing for providing a seal between the connector housing and the adapter. The fiber optic connector further includes first and second separate retaining mechanism for retaining the fiber optic connector within the fiber optic adapter.
US08770859B2

The optical adapter includes a first housing 3, a second housing 5, and a sleeve 7. The first housing 3 includes a connector holding part 31, a first holder portion 33, an alignment part 35, and coupling portions 36. The first holder portion 33 is integrally formed with the connector holding part 31. The alignment part 35 includes an alignment part main body 351, a second holder portion 352 integrally formed with the alignment part main body 351, and a plurality of guide portions 352, 354, and 355, integrally formed with the alignment part main body 351. Protrusion-shaped coupling portions 36 for coupling the connector holding part 31 and the alignment part 35 are integrally formed with one of the connector holding part 31 and the alignment part main body 35.
US08770853B2

A split cage for a rolling bearing includes a plurality of cage segments formed of synthetic resin and arranged annularly in a circumferential direction. Each cage segment includes: a first rim portion and a second rim portion that are spaced from each other by a predetermined interval and face each other; and a plurality of bar portions extending from the first rim portion to the second rim portion. Spaces, each of which is surrounded by the bar portions adjacent to each other and the first and second rim portions, are formed as pockets that house rolling elements. Projections for reinforcement are formed at radial end portions of boundaries between the bar portions and the first rim portion and/or boundaries between the bar portions and the second rim portion.
US08770848B2

An axle bearing system includes a bearing portion which includes an inner ring, an outer ring and a plurality of rolling elements which are interposed between the inner ring and the outer ring and which is installed on a hub shaft with seal portions which are each formed by a slinger, a core metal and a non-conductive seal provided therebetween mounted in annular opening portions formed between the inner ring and the outer ring. A conductive body is attached to the seal portion so as to provide an electrical conducting state between the outer ring and the inner ring.
US08770845B1

A bearing assembly and method of construction that provides a bearing having a plurality of individual flat bearing disc inserts, such as carbide inserts, supported directly upon a flat insert support surface. The method of construction utilizes a mold for simultaneously brazing the inserts to the bearing surface.
US08770844B2

This bush is made out of a composite material that has a modulus of elasticity of between 500 and 6000 N/mm2, said bush having at least one lip formed directly at the time of manufacture as an overrun edge of its bore to act as a leak-tight or protective barrier after mounting on the shaft by creating a tightening effect between the inside diameter of said lip or said lips, and the outside diameter of said shaft.
US08770839B2

A diagnostic imaging system, which can be a mobile or stationary surgical CT imaging system or an MRI system, comprises an internal airflow cooling system that includes an air intake opening and an air outtake opening that are positioned near the ground and direct air flow away from the sterile surgical field.
US08770833B2

The musical or striking watch includes a watch case, which is formed of a middle part and a back cover, provided with side apertures and removably secured in a sealed manner to the middle part. A crystal closes the case in a sealed manner. A timepiece movement is held inside the watch case and provided with a striking mechanism that can be actuated at determined times to produce notes or music. The watch further includes at least one removable acoustic radiating membrane, which is arranged in the watch case. The removable membrane includes, in a central position, a retaining member. This retaining member is arranged with play in a housing in an inner stop member of the back cover. Owing to the cooperation between the retaining member and the stop member, the bending of the membrane is limited following excess pressure or vacuum pressure according to environmental conditions.
US08770828B2

An oscillator system (30) of a mechanical timepiece, comprising: at least one balance wheel (35) that is free to rotate about an axis; and at least one hairspring (31) connecting the at least one balance wheel (35) to a fixed point or to another balance wheel (36), the hairspring (31) including: a first coil (32) connected to the at least one balance wheel (35); and a second coil (33) connected to the fixed point or to the another balance wheel (36); and a transition section (34) connecting the first coil (32) to the second coil (33), wherein an approximately linear restoring torque for the at least one balance wheel (35) is primarily provided by elastic deformation of the transition section (34) and the coils (32, 33), in order to generate an oscillatory motion for the at least one balance wheel (35).
US08770825B2

A kneading apparatus has a pair of rotary shafts mounted to undergo rotation in different directions of rotation and at different rotational speeds from one another. Stirring members are helically arranged on outer peripheries of the rotary shafts at predetermined helical and angular pitches for kneading an object during rotation of the rotary shafts. The helical pitch of the stirring members of one of the rotary shafts has an inverse helix from that of the stirring members of the other rotary shaft. The stirring members have surfaces with a first phase configured to move the kneaded object in a feed direction or a second phase symmetrical to the first phase and configured to move the kneaded object in a direction reverse to the feed direction. The stirring members are arranged so that the first and second phases cyclically repeat in a predetermined sequence in axial directions of the rotary shafts.
US08770824B2

The invention relates to a twin screw extruder for preparing a polymeric solution. The extruder includes an elongated housing having an inlet end, an outlet end, an extruder shaft length L and a pair of interconnecting bores disposed within the housing, a pair of elongated extruder shafts, each having an axis of rotation, the pair of elongated extruder shafts disposed within the pair of interconnecting bores and drivable in at least one direction of rotation, a plurality of extruder screw segments positioned along the pair of elongated extruder shafts in a fixed angular relationship therewith, the plurality of extruder screw segments selected to form multiple extruder stages. The invention also relates to a process for extruding a mixture of polymer and diluent.
US08770822B2

The utility model relates to a technology field of liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a backlight module and a backlight device. The backlight module provided by the utility model comprises a light guide plate, a printed circuit board, a heat-dissipating bracket and a first retaining member. There has an optical-coupling distance between a light incidence surface of the light guide plate and the printed circuit board. The light incidence surface of the light guide plate disposes more than two light guide plate protrusions thereon. The first retaining member retains the heat-dissipating bracket, the printed circuit board and the light guide plate together to form an independent module. The technical solution of the utility model can enhance the stability of the optical-coupling distance in the backlight module, realize a simple modularization assembly, simplify a mounting process of the back plate, and improve the assembly convenience.
US08770814B2

An optical assembly comprises light sources and a light emitting panel member having an input edge to which each of the light sources is optically coupled at a different location along the input edge. Different sets of individual optical deformities on or in at least one of the sides of the panel member each have at least one surface that is shaped or oriented to extract light propagating in the same direction through the panel member in different directions for viewing from different angles through one of the sides of the panel member.
US08770804B2

An architectural light fixture with a mounting includes a rigid yoke with opposed mounts aligned with external cavities located on a housing. The cavities have conical inner surfaces and bottoms with fastener engagements. Yoke pins include conical outer surfaces to operate as yoke locks. Fastener associated with the yoke pins engage to draw the yoke locks into interfering fit with the truncated conical inner surface of the mounting cavity. The light fixture housing has a port with a plug of porous water repellant material. A cover is employed to protect the plug. The light fixture housing also has a flat mounting surface with a wire access hole. The fixture includes a cover to enclose a photocell biased toward the mounting surface and retains an O-ring against the fixture housing.
US08770792B2

A lighting variable configuration apparatus comprises a plurality of ring-shaped bodies, arranged about a central axis and provided with respective plurality of lighting sources, in particular LEDs, and connected to one another by means of joints in such a way to be differently oriented with respect to one another; the bodies are connected to one another by means of pins made of electric conductive material which contact respective pairs of terminals arranged on adjacent bodies, so that the adjacent bodies are rotational with respect to one another by means of the pins and are electrically connected by means of the same pins.
US08770791B2

A light bar structure includes a circuit board and a plurality of light emitting units. A plurality of holes is formed on the circuit board. Each light emitting unit includes a main body and a plurality of leads. The main body is disposed in one of the holes. The main body has a light emitting surface and a non-light emitting surface opposite to the light emitting surface. Each lead has a first connecting portion, a second connecting portion and an extending portion. The first connecting portion is connected to the non-light emitting surface. The extending portion is extended from the first connecting portion toward the light emitting surface. The second connecting portion is extended from the extending portion and connected to a surface of the circuit board.
US08770781B2

It is expected to provide a lighting apparatus that can improve the radiation performance. In a lighting apparatus that includes a light source unit and a heat sink radiating the heat generated by the light source unit and is recessed and installed to an attaching hole opened on a mounted portion, the heat sink is exposed at least partially to a side where the light from the light source unit is emitted from the attaching hole. For example, when installed to a ceiling having a heat insulated structure, the heat generated by the light source unit and transferred to the heat sink is transferred inside the heat sink and radiated from one part to the air at the side where the light from the light source unit is emitted from the attaching hole. Therefore, the radiation performance can be improved.
US08770776B1

The present invention provides a water lantern with flashing light which mainly comprises a water lantern body, a holder, and a graphics card unit. The water lantern body is provided above the holder. The water lantern body comprises a plane portion backward. The holder is provided with a slot backward corresponding to the plane portion. The bottom of the slot is provided with at least one flashing light-emitting element. The graphics card unit is inserted in the slot of the holder, and corresponding to the plane portion of the water lantern body. The graphics card unit obtains the light source from the light-emitting element from the bottom. Therefore, looking back from the front of the water lantern body, the patterns on the graphics card unit allows the water lantern body having enlarged brilliant effects visually.
US08770771B2

The disclosed inventions comprise a device that may be mechanically and electrically associated with a typical lighting fixture found in a building or home, has low power consumption, provide a typical lighting when such lighting fixture is providing power to the device and comprises a battery backup to provide an emergency lighting feature when the power is out. The device may further be removed from the lighting fixture and used as a typical flashlight. The device may further be electrically and remotely associated with devices such as cell phones and systems such as alarm systems to provide emergency services.
US08770768B2

Spherical mechanical linkages may include a yoke defining a first axis and a second axis, a crank rotatably coupled to the yoke about the first axis; a deflecting member that defines a plane and that is coupled to the crank along a third axis, and a rocking frame slideably coupled to the yoke in the plane defined by the deflecting member and rotatably coupled to the yoke about the second axis. Such spherical mechanical linkages may further include a stub shaft coupled to the deflecting member and rotatably coupled to the crank along a fourth axis. One or more components of the spherical mechanical linkage may be symmetric about an axis. A payload, such as a mirror or a camera, can be mounted on the linkage as part of a multi-axis tracker.
US08770762B2

The present invention relates to an illumination device comprising a number of light sources and a number light collecting means, where the light collecting means collect light generated by the first light sources and convert the light into a source light beam propagating primarily along a primary optical axis. At least one light modifier is positioned along the primary optical axis and reflect at least a part of the light. A first light source comprises a light converting material capable of converting light into longer wavelengths and a second light source generates light having at least one spectral component which can be converted by the converting material of the first light source. The first and said second light source are mutually positioned in relation to the primary optical axis such that at least a part of a the second source light beam hits the first light source after being reflected by said light modifier.
US08770761B2

An illumination unit includes one or more light sources each including a solid-state light-emitting device configured to emit light from a light emission region including a single or a plurality of light-emitting spots. The solid-state light-emitting device includes a single chip or a plurality of chips each emitting a light beam. Three or more of the light-emitting spots are provided within the whole of one or more light sources, to allow the whole of one or more light sources to emit light beams in two or more wavelength bands different from one another, and the solid-state light emitting device in a first light source which is at least one of the one or more light sources, has a plurality of light-emitting spots which emit light in the same wavelength band.
US08770757B2

Devices, systems, and methods for measuring wave fronts generated by a lens for an eye are provided. In some embodiments, a device for measuring wave fronts generated by a lens for an eye includes a radiation source for emitting test radiation to be directed at the lens and a sensor device for detecting wave fronts of incident test radiation after interaction with the lens, wherein the sensor device scans the test radiation after interaction with the lens at a scanning frequency which is at least equal in size to the frequency at which changes in wave fronts occur in the test radiation after interaction with the lens.
US08770742B2

Eyewear having radiation monitoring capability is disclosed. Radiation, such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation, infrared (IR) radiation or light, can be measured by a detector. The measured radiation can then be used in providing radiation-related information to a user of the eyewear. Advantageously, the user of the eyewear is able to easily monitor their exposure to radiation.
US08770733B2

Disclosed is an inkjet ink which provides a high-quality image in that whitening of the recorded image film is inhibited, durability of the image is good, and there is no banding, and the like; inkjet injection stability and ink shelf life are excellent; and head maintenance returnability is excellent. Also disclosed are a method for producing an inkjet printed product using the same, and a method for producing a water-based inkjet ink. This inkjet ink comprises at least a) a pigment, b) a polymer dispersant comprising polyethylene oxide groups having an acid value of less than 50 mgKOH/g (c) acrylic copolymer resin, and (d) at least one water-soluble organic solvent selected from glycol ethers and 1,2-alkanediols having 4 or more carbons.
US08770732B2

A container for storing phase-change ink includes a housing that is comprised primarily of a thermally insulating material and an inductive heater element positioned within the housing. The inductive heater element is formed in a manner that increases the surface area of the heater and enables frozen ink in the vicinity of a reservoir outlet to melt quickly to enable printing operations.
US08770731B2

A liquid container and an apparatus in which the liquid container is mountable are provided, the liquid container and the apparatus enabling the presence or absence of remaining liquid to be checked without the need for a power source and even after the liquid container is removed. The pressure in a communication path is maintained while ink in a containing section is not supplied to the exterior. Thus, the displacement state of a detection valve which is displaced depending on the pressure in the communication path can be maintained even after removal of an ink tank.
US08770724B2

A piezoelectric element including: a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer formed above the first electrode to have a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction, and a second electrode formed above the piezoelectric layer, wherein at least a part of a side surface of the piezoelectric layer in the transverse direction is a concavo-convex surface, and a width of the piezoelectric layer in the transverse direction from the second electrode to the first electrode changes with the concavo-convex surface.
US08770721B2

A liquid discharge head includes a liquid discharge substrate including a discharge port; a flow path for supplying liquid to the liquid discharge substrate; an absorption member capable of absorbing a laser beam, wherein a first flow path portion constituting a portion of a wall of the flow path is formed on a surface thereof; and a transparent member transparent to a laser beam, wherein a second flow path portion constituting another portion of the wall of the flow path is formed on a surface thereof; wherein the flow path is formed by welding the surfaces of the absorption and transparent members with each other at a periphery of the first flow path portion using a laser beam, and wherein the second flow path portion is constituted by a depression including an inclined surface capable of reflecting a laser beam directed toward the first flow path portion.
US08770720B2

A liquid ejecting apparatus has a head component that ejects a liquid through nozzle openings to attach the liquid to an object. The liquid contains a particulate material having a particle size of 200 nm to 1 μm, both inclusive, and the head component discharges the liquid in droplets weighing 1 ng to 7 ng, both inclusive, in a way that the droplets reach the object at a velocity of 5 m/s to 9 m/s, both inclusive.
US08770715B2

An ink-jet printer including: (i) a recording head which has an outer surface and includes at least one nozzle opening in the outer surface; (ii) a carriage which carries the recording head and which is reciprocateable in a main scanning direction; and (iii) a waste-ink retaining device which retains a waste ink forcedly ejected from the at least one nozzle of the recording head when a flushing operation is performed by the recording head. The waste-ink retaining device includes an ink receiving portion which is provided below a flushing position to which the recording head is moved to perform the flushing operation, and which receives the waste ink ejected by the recording head, and a first ink retaining portion which receives the waste ink from the ink receiving portion and retains the waste ink and which extends upward such that a top end thereof is positioned higher than a height position of the ink receiving portion.
US08770713B2

A nozzle surface cleaning apparatus cleans a nozzle surface of an inkjet head. The nozzle surface cleaning apparatus includes: a wiping device which performs a wiping operation on the nozzle surface with a wiping member having permeability; an observation device which observes a soiled state of the wiping member having been used in the wiping operation; and a judgment device which makes a judgment on appropriateness of a setting of the wiping operation on a basis of the soiled state observed by the observation device.
US08770709B2

An image forming apparatus includes a recording head oriented upward so as to eject a recording liquid upward. The recording head includes an ejection face, an ejection port, and a waste-liquid port. The ejection port is disposed at the ejection face to eject the recording liquid. The waste-liquid port is disposed separately from the ejection port at the ejection face. The waste-liquid passage is connected to the waste-liquid port and has an opening connected to an outside of the recording head. A residual of the recording liquid on the ejection face is discharged to the outside of the recording head via the waste-liquid port and the waste-liquid passage.
US08770699B2

A medium convey apparatus including: a convey mechanism including an endless belt having a medium-placed face; and a first adsorbing mechanism which includes first and second electrodes each facing a face of the convey mechanism opposite to the medium-placed face, and which adsorbs a recording medium to the medium-placed face by applying a specific voltage to between the first and second electrodes; wherein a surface layer member covers the first and second electrodes; and wherein at least one of the endless belt and the surface layer member has at least an area facing the first and second electrodes, wherein the area is formed of a resin material containing an ion conductive resistivity control material, and wherein a volume resistivity of the resin material ranges from 1010 to 1014 Ω·cm when the specific voltage is applied in an environment at a temperature of 22.5° C. and a relative humidity of 50%.
US08770692B2

Crosstalk in a piezo printhead is reduced by storing a coefficient that expresses an amount of crosstalk between a first nozzle and an adjacent nozzle. A drive waveform voltage is pre-biased using the coefficient, and the pre-biased waveform is applied to a piezoelectric material of the first nozzle.
US08770685B2

A fluid-ejection device includes physical data lines, a controller, and a fluid-ejection mechanism. The physical data lines communicatively connect the controller and the fluid-ejection mechanism. The controller is to assert a logical and virtual nozzle-fire-restart line to denote that a first data sub-packet of a new data packet of nozzle data for a predetermined sequence of fluid-ejection nozzles of the fluid-ejection mechanism is being transmitted over the physical data lines. The fluid-ejection mechanism is to listen for the controller to assert the logical and virtual nozzle-fire-restart line, to discern that the first data sub-packet of the new data packet is being transmitted over the physical data lines.
US08770680B1

A lock device for two-way travel drawers of a support body, including in combination pegs each on one side of the drawer; a plurality of two slides each on either side of the drawer; and a lock assembly longitudinally mounted on one side of the support body and including a groove member, a sliding member, a biasing member, a lock, and snapping members. The groove member includes front and rear flanges, and an upward bend on an upper portion. The sliding member is slidably disposed in the groove member and includes longitudinal sets of two flush openings, and an upper hook. The biasing member interconnects the bend and the hook. The lock is on an upper portion of the support body for stopping the sliding member. The snapping member includes a central bottom trough and two inclined surfaces each extending from the trough to either end latch.
US08770679B2

A container data center includes a container, and a number of cabinets arranged in the container. A shockproof device is mounted to the bottom of the cabinet. A supporting apparatus is mounted between the top of the cabinet and the container. The supporting apparatus includes a first sleeve fixed to the top of the container, and a second sleeve, wherein a first end of the second sleeve is slidably engaged in the first sleeve, and a second end of the second sleeve is fixed to the top of the top wall of the cabinet.
US08770678B2

A representative work station comprises a center console module having front, rear, top, and bottom walls. The front wall includes at least one hole for storing at least one nail drying device. The top wall includes a first airflow device for producing airflow from the outside to the inside of the center console module. The center console module further comprises a tray that is positioned below the first airflow device and receives particles from the first airflow device. At least two end modules are coupled to the center console module. The at least two end modules include a first end module that receives the particles from the tray.
US08770673B2

In a brake device for a motor vehicle having a first and a second hydraulic brake circuit, the second brake circuit is decoupled from the main brake cylinder in partial braking operations, and is operated with the aid of a pressure accumulator controlled by a control device, which takes an additional deceleration effect due to an active power component, e.g., a generator, into account.
US08770671B2

An automotive wheel includes a wheel disc in which a hat section is provided outside a hub mounting section. A hat inner inclined surrounding section of the hat section includes an inner convex surrounding section protruding to a surface side in a curved shape, and an inner lower concave surrounding section continuously formed with an inner peripheral edge of the inner convex surrounding section, continuously formed with an outer peripheral edge of a hub surface rounded section, and protruding to the back side in a curved shape.
US08770667B1

Methods and equipment have been developed that combine the use of continuous miners, flexible conveyor trains, and longwall mining techniques to provide flexible and efficient removal of resources from subterranean formations. Some methods for use in a mining operation include advancing a continuous miner towards an angled face that extends from a headgate to a tailgate; and performing an angled cutting turn in which the continuous miner turns less than 90°.
US08770666B2

An object of the invention is to provide molded urethane foam pads and vehicle seats that can contribute to the reduction of environmental load and have appropriate impact resilience and hardness and excellent durability with good balance, and also have high comfort. A molded urethane foam pad for vehicle seats including a polyurethane is obtainable by foaming and curing materials including a plant-derived polyol (A), a non-plant-derived polyol (B), water, a catalyst, a foam stabilizer and a polyisocyanate, and has a core density of 55 to 65 kg/m3 as measured in accordance with JIS K6400; the plant-derived polyol (A) is a polyol which is obtained by condensing a polyhydric alcohol of 6 hydroxyl groups with a plant-derived, C15 or higher hydroxycarboxylic acid and which has a hydroxyl value of 45 to 55 mg KOH/g; the non-plant-derived polyol (B) is a polyol having a hydroxyl value of 18 to 26 mg KOH/g, and/or a polymer-dispersed polyol in which fine particles of a polymer of a compound having an unsaturated bond are dispersed in the polyol; and the polyurethane contains a plant-derived molecular structure and the content of the plant-derived molecular structure is 15 to 20 wt % based on 100 wt % of the molded urethane foam pad.
US08770661B2

A vehicular underseat storage assembly includes a rigid first side wall pivotally connected to a first stanchion. A rigid second side wall is pivotally connected to a second stanchion. A rigid front wall couples a forward end of the first side wall to a forward end of the second side wall. The first side wall, second side wall, and front wall define a storage cavity operable between a collapsed condition and a deployed condition. Substantially all of an inside surface of the first side wall is in abutting contact with an inside surface of the front wall when the storage cavity is in the collapsed condition.
US08770651B2

A truck body floor includes a truck body floor frame and a floor plate attached to and supported by the truck body floor frame. The truck body floor frame includes two frame rails extending along a longitudinal length of the truck body floor, and a plurality of bolster structures attached to both of the two frame rails and extending across a width of the truck body floor. The plurality of bolster structures includes at least one layered bolster structure having an inner bolster and an outer bolster that is at least partially flush with and attached to the inner bolster.
US08770649B2

A system and methods for reducing aerodynamic drag and mitigating detrimental side wind effects on vehicles moving through air or water with a plurality of new subsystems disposed in a plurality of locations on the vehicles. Each one of the subsystems includes a sub-set of small-scale vortex generators that have an intake for air from airflow around the vehicle and that produce intensive small-scale vortices with large lifespan, and/or a new fairing device that streamlines airflow and produces a sheet of small-scale-vortices. The subsystems direct the vortices with large lifespan and/or sheets of vortices into the vehicle's drag-producing volumes. The vortex generators have one or several air channels preventing airflow from bypassing vortex-producing elements and the elements inside the channels that produce small-scale vortices. The novel fairing devices are of bluff shape and/or with bluff obstructions and/or slots for generating sheets of intensive small-scale vortices in surrounding airflow.
US08770643B2

Motor vehicles assembled using a cutaway truck chassis may contain one or more batteries. These batteries may be accessible presenting potential for harm. The tamper resistant compartment for a battery in a passenger vehicle reduces access and visual interest that some may have in the batteries, while simultaneously providing easy access to mechanics. The tamper resistant compartment encompasses a box that is securely mounted to the chassis. The batteries inside the box may be connected to a remote battery stud and a battery shut-off switch. A movable panel integrated to the vehicle body serves as a covering and a door integrated to the movable panel provides access to the remote battery stud and battery shut-off switch.
US08770640B2

A robot hand having a suction holding unit on one face side holds a plate-shaped work by suction. An outer circumferential edge of the plate-shaped work is held, without contact with a surface of the plate-shaped work, by an outer circumference holding unit provided on the other face side. The robot hand can be used to hold the plate-shaped work yet to be worked by the suction holding unit, and to hold the plate-shaped work having been worked by the outer circumference holding unit. This prevents working debris from being deposited on the plate-shaped work yet to be worked and prevents defective working from occurring. In addition, since the plate-shaped work having been worked is held by the outer circumference holding unit, the robot hand does not make contact with surfaces of the worked plate-shaped work, and, accordingly, no contact marks are formed on the surfaces of the work.
US08770637B2

The invention relates to a module for absorbing energy from an impact to which the module (3) has been subjected, via deformation, comprising a core (5) made of a polymer foam with a density of at most 0.2 g/cm3 and with a compressive modulus of elasticity of at most 200 MPa measured to DIN EN 826, wherein the core (5) has an at least to some extent enclosing shell (7) made of a polymer material, and/or comprises an insert (15) made of a polymer material, where the density of the polymer material of the shell (7) and/or of the insert (15) is at most 2.0 g/cm3 and its tensile modulus of elasticity is at least 700 MPa, measured to DIN EN ISO 527.
US08770633B2

The latch actuating mechanism uses both an electric motor and a cylinder lock as alternative means for selectively locking a handle to a cam that in turn can operate a latch mechanism in order to allow the handle to be used to open the latch mechanism. A biasing means urges the handle to the closed position.
US08770608B1

A bicycle including a bicycle frame that has a main frame and a rear frame coupled to the main frame for pivotal movement about a pivot axis, and a derailleur mount that is coupled to the bicycle frame. The derailleur mount has a first mounting portion that is concentric with the pivot axis and defining a plane, a second mounting portion that is secured to the rear frame at a location spaced laterally from the plane, and a support portion. A derailleur is attached to the support portion.
US08770607B2

The invention relates to an embarking/disembarking device (1) for a vehicle. The embarking/disembarking device has an extension (2) that can be moved back and forth between a retracted position and an extended position, a driven carrier (4), which carries along the extension, a motor and an associated transmission (3) in order to drive the carrier (4), braking means (5) in order to at least brake the extension (2), wherein the embarking/disembarking device is characterized in that the extension (2) is supported so as to be movable relative to the carrier (4), and the braking means (5) are moved at least from the released position thereof to the braking position thereof by the relative motion between the extension (2) and the carrier (4).
US08770603B2

A divided roll stabilizer of a motor vehicle between whose two stabilizer parts (2a) an actuator (1) can be arranged for a torsion of the stabilizer parts (2a). At least one of the stabilizer parts (2a) is provided with a torsion transmitting connecting part (4a) for connection to the actuator (1), and the connecting part (4a) is magnetically coded.
US08770602B1

An improved structure for a steering linkage adapted for use in a vehicle steering system and method for producing the same. According to one embodiment, the steering linkage includes a first member having a first longitudinal axis, a second member having a second longitudinal axis, and a third member operatively coupling together the first member and the second member together with the first and second longitudinal axes in alignment with each other.
US08770596B2

The invention is made up of an intact interiorly hollow body portion unit having a flat posterior side, a flat topside and a flat, laterally curvaceous bottomside together with correspondingly curvaceous lateral sides extending from the locus of the posterior side and tapering to frontal edging. It has a pair of arched handle units affixed to the topside and three elongated runner units affixed to the bottomside thereof. There is an elongated strut glued to interior walling of the bottomside that runs from the posterior side to the frontal edging collinearly with the medially positioned one of the three runner units. The handle units are affixed to the flat topside via screws into centerholes within each one of each of two pairs of support stud units located interiorly within the body portion unit, and; the three runner units are adhesively affixed parallelwise to exterior walling of the flat bottomside.
US08770594B2

An electric suspension device includes a cylinder, a sub-tank, a first oil passage and a second oil passage, a damping force adjusting valve, and a damping force adjusting motor. The cylinder is rotatable about a mounting axis. The first oil passage connects a first inner oil chamber and an outer oil chamber. The second oil passage connects the first inner oil chamber of the cylinder and an oil chamber of the sub-tank. The first and second oil passages are disposed outside an inner tube and an outer tube, and share a portion with each other. The first and second oil passages are entirely disposed on the same side with respect to a reference plane.
US08770590B2

An oil scraper piston ring includes a ring body having two radial outer running webs on the ring body, which are arranged one behind the other in relation to the run direction of the piston and are spaced apart from one another by an external depression. Each running web respectively has two scraper lips and a wear protection coating is provided on each scraper lip.
US08770587B2

A multi-purpose reversible target includes a target body having a first side and a second side, a plurality of target areas printed on the first side of the target body, and a plurality of tabs integral with the target body and on the second side of the target body. A stand includes an elongated body having a top end and an opposite bottom end, the bottom end configured for insertion into ground and at least one holder comprising a first loop and a second operatively connected to the first loop to thereby allow for friction fit of an edge of signage between the first loop and the second loop.
US08770585B2

A gaming apparatus which, for each of a plurality of plays of a primary game: randomly generates one of a plurality of different primary game outcomes, displays the generated primary game outcome, and displays any award associated with the displayed primary game outcome. If a bonus triggering event occurs, the gaming apparatus: determines a first part of a constant value, causes the determined first part of the constant value to be provided to a first player, determines a second part of the constant value, wherein the determined first part of the constant value and the determined second part of the constant value form the constant value, and causes the determined second part of the constant value to fund a designated award.
US08770584B1

Described is a picture game which utilized bingo-style game cards having images depicted thereon. As random images and photos are selected and displayed, matching images on the game cards are identified until one or more players hold a game card having a pre-established pattern marked. During the display of images and photos, messages, including advertisements or trivia questions, may be displayed as well. In another version, the game may also be used to facilitate memory exercises.
US08770573B2

To provide a recording device that can inhibit the occurrence of a recording media jam state in a shared passage part that is shared as a recording media shared path with a plurality of media supply paths, this is equipped with a plurality of conveyance paths for supplying paper, a shared passage part, a moving unit that moves the paper, a printing unit that performs printing on the paper, an insertion port that is able to insert paper in the conveyance path by paper being inserted, an opening and closing lid provided so that the insertion port can be opened and closed, a detection sensor for detecting an open lid state when the opening and closing lid opens the insertion port, and a movement control unit that, when the detection sensor detects the open lid state.
US08770564B2

A key clamping device includes a first key clamp, a second key clamp and a rotational device connected to the first and second key clamps. The rotational device may facilitate rotation of the first and second key clamps.
US08770562B1

A cutting board has two opposed longitudinal edges, two opposed transverse edges, a first diagonal edge between the first transverse edge and a first longitudinal edge, a second diagonal edge between the first transverse edge and a second longitudinal edge. The edges define broad upper and lower cutting board surfaces. A permanent magnet is affixed to each of the diagonal edges. Two elongate ferromagnetic fences have first and second legs disposed at right angles. In a dispensing trough position the second leg is engaged by the magnet to hold the second leg tightly against the diagonal edge with the first leg lying flat against the lower broad surface to thereby provide two fence members extending above the cutting surface to guide cut items toward an opening defined by a space between the fence members at a transverse edge. The size of the opening is adjusted by moving the fences.
US08770561B2

A method, process and apparatus for repairing and repainting vehicles and vehicle components, specifically auto body repair and vehicle body components. The method and process reduce vehicle painting preparation time and eliminate material and waste material in the repair and repainting process. The apparatus is directed a vehicle component support stand which simulates the mounting of the body components on a vehicle to reduce time and expenses in the component repair and replacement process.
US08770556B2

“LIQUID OR PULP AERATION DEVICE” that projects liquid or pulp (P) through a spreading nozzle on a chain curtain (C) and captures air bubbles from the liquid or pulp (P) while the fluid outflows through the curtain links (C) by gravity forming films by virtue of an interaction of the surface strain and wettability between the three surfaces in question. As far as the outflow is concerned, these films end up interacting between themselves capturing the remaining air between them, thus forming profuse bubbles, resulting in the formation of liquid or foaming pulp (P) by virtue of the chain discharge (C).
US08770551B2

A waveform beam guardrail plate and a waveform beam steel guardrail are provided. In which, the guardrail plate includes a main body (15) and two rings (16, 17) with a same structure installed axial symmetrically on an upper and a lower edges of the main body; furthermore, a transverse section of the main body has an arc shape, and the upper and lower edges of the main body of the guardrail plate are curled inwardly and helically toward a protruding direction of the main body of the guardrail plate for forming the two rings (16, 17). The waveform beam steel guardrail includes numbers of guardrail plate units (1, 11), upright posts (2) and preventing blocks (3), and the guardrail plate units (1, 11) are connected with the upright posts (2) by the preventing blocks (3).
US08770550B2

A method for laying an elongated element in a duct using a fluid injected under pressure through a fluid inlet in a pressure housing disposed at the elongated element inlet extremity of the duct. A mechanical drive placed before the pressure housing and the duct pushes the elongated element into the pressure housing and the duct. The method includes installing a first front end pulling pig at the front end of the elongated element and installing at least one subsequent pulling pig around the elongated element. The distance between each pulling pig is mainly constant. The method also includes applying the same maximum pressure drop to each pulling pig. The total pressure of the fluid injected being mainly equally shared by all the pulling pigs.
US08770544B2

Provided is an electric waste gate actuator for a turbocharger, in which the inside of a housing is divided into an upper portion and a lower portion to thereby prevent foreign particles generated in a decelerator from being introduced into a driving motor. The electric waste gate actuator for a turbocharger includes: a housing having an installation space inside; a decelerator installed in an upper portion of the installation space; a lever coupled to an upper end of the decelerator and installed outside the installation space; a driving motor installed in a lower portion of the installation space; a blocking plate dividing the installation space into the upper portion, where the decelerator is installed, and the lower portion, where the driving motor is installed, and preventing foreign particles generated in the decelerator from being introduced into the lower portion of the installation space; and a sensor unit installed under the blocking plate to measure a rotation angle of the decelerator.
US08770535B1

A musical instrument stand includes a frame unit, and at least one support unit. The frame unit includes two side modules, a top bar mounted between the side modules, and a bottom bar mounted between the side modules. The support unit includes a supporting seat for supporting a musical instrument, and a mounting sleeve connected with the supporting seat and rotatably mounted on the bottom bar of the frame unit. Thus, the support unit is pivotally mounted on the frame unit, so that a user only needs to place the musical instrument on the support unit and to push the musical instrument toward the top bar of the frame unit, so as to pivot the support unit and to support the musical instrument between the top bar of the frame unit and the supporting seat of the support unit.
US08770533B2

An, adjustable, retractable hanging system that enables hangers to be easily attached, moved, and removed from a ceiling or wall rail. The hanger, which houses a spring-loaded reel and a retractable cable, is backed with a pressure-clip or in an alternate embodiment, a raised platform. The hanger affixes to a ceiling or wall rail by means of a pole and cup assembly. Once attached to a ceiling or wall, the retractable cable within the hanger extends to receive the object to be hung. The cable is reached by means of a hook that is affixed to the pole and cup assembly and is lowered to within arm's reach. An adjustable cable-stop, which is also attached to the cable, allows individuals the ability to adjust the suspending height of the object to be hung.
US08770530B2

The present general inventive concept provides an adjustable accessory bracket assembly having an adjustment mechanism to adjust one or more axes of rotation of a bracket assembly in order to adjustably position accessory devices, such as a bracket for a mirror or other accessory device. The adjustable accessory bracket assembly can include a handle member, a push rod assembly, and a mounting member such that the handle member pivots with respect to the mounting member. In some embodiments, adjustment of a single rotation axis is provided; other embodiments may be configured to simultaneously adjust multiple axes of freedom for multi-position bracket assemblies.
US08770529B2

The adjustable angle bracket of the present application includes a plurality of tangs configured to engage a mounting device such that a top shelf support surface supports a shelving unit and provides a desired angle for the shelving unit. The device further includes a plurality of shelf coupling apertures compatible with various types of shelving units. The devices further include a cam that rests against the mounting device, providing variable positions of the device relative to the mounting bracket effectuating a variable angle of the shelf support surface.
US08770528B2

A bracket assembly for a rack is provided. The rack has a plurality of holes. The bracket assembly includes a bracket having multiple bracket holes, a base securely connected to the bracket, and a fastening member pivotally connected to the bracket. The base includes multiple connection members corresponding to the bracket holes. The fastening member includes a resilient leg and a fastening arm. The fastening arm has at least one fastening portion. One of the connection members is inserted into one of the holes of the rack. The fastening portion of the fastening arm is hooked to the rack so as to connect the bracket to the rack.
US08770526B2

An electrical box support assembly for mounting an electrical box between a pair of studs is provided. The electrical box support assembly includes, but is not limited to, a pair of telescoping overlapping struts and a pair of engaging tabs detachably coupled with each end of the pair of telescoping overlapping struts. Each strut has a face to which the electrical box may be secured. Each of the pair of engaging tabs includes a first engagement member for primarily engaging a closed face of one of the studs and a side engagement member connected generally perpendicular with the first engagement member. Each end of the pair of telescoping overlapping struts may be detachably coupled at one of two positions on each engaging tab in order to accommodate electrical boxes of varying depths.
US08770519B2

In the case of a structural component of an aircraft or spacecraft comprising a fuselage portion connection region for connecting to an associated fuselage portion and having a thermal expansion coefficient which is approximately matched to the associated fuselage portion; an inner connection region for connecting to an associated installation element and having a thermal expansion coefficient which is approximately matched to the associated installation element; and a separation region for connecting the fuselage portion connection region and the inner connection region, at least one of the regions has a high heat conduction resistance.
US08770516B2

An overhead luggage compartment for a passenger aircraft is provided. The overhead luggage compartment has a receptacle which has a base and two side walls extending from the base. The receptacle can be moved from a closed position into an open position. A device for adjusting a maximum opening width of the receptacle is provided on at least one of the side walls.
US08770514B2

In the retracted position, aircraft landing gear of an aircraft is supported by an uplock hook. The deployment of the aircraft landing gear includes the steps of supporting at least part of the weight of the landing gear by a releasable catch in the form of an uplock hook, applying a lifting force to the landing gear to remove at least part of the load sustained by the releasable catch, releasing the catch and effecting the downward movement of the landing gear to the deployed position.
US08770509B2

In one embodiment of the present invention, a device for supporting and storing wound material thereon may include a substantially cylindrical, hollow bobbin having a thickness defined by an inner and outer diameter for supporting and storing material wound around the exterior surface thereof, and a reinforcing apparatus located at one end of the bobbin, the apparatus having generally a cylindrical shape and a length comprising two zones, the outside surface of the first zone being in contact with a portion of an inner surface of the bobbin, and the second zone of the apparatus extending beyond the end of the bobbin.
US08770508B2

A recording apparatus includes a roll paper holder including a shaft portion which holds a roll paper such that the roll paper is capable of being fed, a temporal placement portion on which the roll paper is temporarily placed, and a roll paper lifting device which includes a placement portion on which the roll paper is placed, and lifts the roll paper to a height position of the shaft portion of the roll paper holder while an end of the roll paper in the temporarily placed state is placed on the placement portion so as to position a core port of a roll core of the roll paper and the shaft portion.
US08770504B1

A variable speed motor driven fishing reel is powered by a brushless DC motor and adapted for remote control operation by adapting a salt water bait-casting reel with a motorized drive assembly including an end plate having an environmentally sealed cover removably connected thereto, and mounted on the opposite side of the reel from the manual crank, the drive assembly including a brushless DC out-runner motor having an output shaft connected to a planetary gear system configured to power rotation of the fishing reel spool axel for driving the spool. A power cable provides 12.0 volt DC power from a suitable on-board vessel power source. An electronic motor control system allows for variation of DC motor speed via a manually actuated speed control knob. A remote control device is adapted for wireless communication with the electronic motor control system to allow for remote activation of the DC motor in low and high speed modes.
US08770500B2

The present invention provides spherical shaped crystals of common salt having size distribution in the range of 100-500 μm and a process for preparation of the said salt. The above mentioned size range is relevant for many important edible and non-edible applications of salt. The salt is demonstrated to have superior flow properties compared to the cubic counterpart. The free flow property of the salt can be further enhanced through surface treatment with additive such as glycine. The salt is produced by cost-effective mechanical means and such production is amenable to scale up.
US08770499B2

A method for manufacturing a powder includes a mixing step in which a powder and a liquid additive are mixed together, a drying step in which the powder mixed in the mixing step is dried, a loading step in which the powder dried in the drying step is loaded into a pulverizer, a heating step in which a high-pressure gas is heated, a supplying step in which the high-pressure gas heated in the heating step is supplied to the pulverizer, and a pulverizing step in which the powder is pulverized by the pulverizer.
US08770493B2

A system configured to provide cooling of electronic equipment in a shelter in combination with an air conditioning (A/C) system. The system includes one or more blowers for drawing air into the shelter, a damper arrangement for controlling air exhaust. The system further includes a DC powered controller coupled to the one or more blowers, the damper arrangement, and the A/C system. The controller is configured to receive at least a first analog input signal associated with a shelter-interior temperature, a second analog input signal associated with a shelter-exterior temperature, and a plurality of alarm input signals and to generate the one or more first control signals to control blower rotational speed, the second control signal to open/close the damper arrangement, and a third control signal to inhibit/activate the A/C system based on at least the first analog input signal, or the second analog input signal, or a plurality of alarm input signals, or a combination of these.
US08770491B2

A thermostat includes a plurality of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) wire connectors including a connection to at least one call relay wire. The thermostat may also include a powering circuit, including a rechargeable battery, which is configured to provide electrical power to the thermostat by power stealing from a selected call relay wire. The power stealing may comprise an active power stealing mode, in which power is taken from the same selected call relay wire that is used to call for an HVAC function, and an inactive power stealing mode in which, in which no active call is being made. The powering circuit may be configured to substantially suspend (or at least reduce the level of) power stealing for at least a first time period following each transition of the thermostat from between operating states.
US08770488B2

In the case of a method for the production of punched parts in web- or sheet-like print substrates, wherein the punched parts are punched in the pass of the print substrates through a punching tool and thereafter provided in the pass through a further tool with a feature which requires a positioning within predetermined limits on them, it is suggested according to the invention that markings are punched out with the punching tool in the print substrates in each case arranged in a tolerance-free manner in terms of their position relatively to the punched parts and that these markings are used in the subsequent processing of the punched parts for guiding the feature mentioned.
US08770487B2

In an information recording medium according to the present invention, in which an information recording medium has diffraction grating cells arranged therein, a plurality of types of the diffraction grating cells make up one information recording area. At least one type of the diffraction grating cells included in the diffraction grating cells making up the information recording area are information recording elements, while the other types of the diffraction grating cells included in the diffraction grating cells making up the information recording area are information hiding elements. The information is recorded by two-dimensional arrangement of the diffraction grating cells constituting the information recording elements in the information recording area.
US08770485B1

An actuation method of virtual laser barcode scanner, in which a light spot emitted from a laser module is formed into a linear laser beam, after passing through a fixed type refractive lens, for user to align to an one dimension barcode position. When the barcode is been reading, the laser beam is switched off and a linear CCD or linear CMOS receives directly the environmental light reflected from the one dimension barcode so as to finish the barcode reading. If the reading is failed, the laser beam is switched on again. As the ON-OFF of the laser module is faster than the speed of visual persistence of human's eyes, the virtual laser barcode scanner is used as if a conventional laser barcode scanner were used.
US08770484B2

A system and method for data exchange between a first device and a second device includes encoding data as a series of barcode frames on the first device and then successively displaying each barcode frame of the series of barcode frames on the first device. The second device captures the barcode frames being displayed by the first device to obtain the series of barcode frames and then decodes the captured series of barcode frames to complete the data exchange.
US08770481B2

A ballistic nomograph for determining a firing solution for small arms fire includes a first member and a second member. Alignment of first indicia on the first member with the first indicia on the second member aligns the value of a range to a target with a first environmental condition to align a first adjustment value with an indicator positioned on the first member to provide a firing solution adjustment to a user. A method of determining a firing solution for a small arm by manually manipulating a ballistic nomograph includes determining environmental conditions and aligning the value of a range to a target with a value of environmental condition. The method also includes visually identifying a firing solution adjustment value that corresponds to the particular combination of the range to the target and environmental condition, and making a firing solution adjustment based on the firing solution adjustment value.
US08770480B2

A fuel management system for use by operators of temporary and/or permanent inventories of vehicles such as vehicle dealerships. Fuel vouchers are issued by authorized issuing personnel to authorized recipients if a validation procedure is passed using a database incorporating employee and vehicle inventory information. At the time of delivery, the fueling station will verify the vehicle and individual presenting the voucher. If verification occurs, the authorized quantity of fuel is dispensed. The voucher and sales receipt are returned to the dealership for future auditing and report generation. The system stores information to enable reports to be generated concerning fuel voucher issuance, actual fuel usage and to detect fraud or misuse, allowing more effective fuel expense management. In the event a report generates a fraud alert, appropriate management personnel are immediately notified by email, text messaging or other means.
US08770478B2

A “no-touch” mobile checkout experience frees consumers from the need to manually locate and activate a mobile payment application in order to complete a transaction. The consumer simply brings his mobile device within close range of an interface console, which in various embodiments prompts the device to launch an application that causes display of a payment token without user action. If the consumer's device is not NFC-capable, the interface console can read a displayed token optically in the usual fashion.
US08770475B2

A system for setting a connection between information processing devices, according to the present invention includes: a server apparatus which is arranged on a network, collectively manages setting information necessary for a connection between other devices, and distributes requested setting information according to a request from another apparatus; and a communication apparatus which transmits information to the server apparatus. The communication apparatus includes: a first reading unit which makes displayed or printed code information readable, the code information indicating a location of setting information necessary for a connection to another device; a second reading unit which reads the code information; a converting unit which converts the code information into the location of the setting information; an acquiring unit which acquires the setting information from the location of the setting information; and a connection setting unit which performs a connection setting based on the setting information.
US08770474B2

A bill validator for a vending machine including a bill validator housing having a pair of wing deflectors associated therewith in a sliding arrangement and a bezel having at least two indicator apertures in a faceplate portion thereof and further comprising a pair of opposing mounting wings, the mounting wings comprising retainer portions, the retainer portions comprising ramped surfaces and retainer surfaces on inner surfaces of the wings. The retainer portions cooperate with bezel mount apertures formed in the bill validator housing to retain the bezel upon the bill validator housing. The wing deflectors comprise tapered surfaces at an end adjacent to the mounting wings, the tapered surfaces when brought into contact with the mounting wings resiliently force the mounting wings outwardly to disengage the retainer portions from the bezel mount apertures to allow disassociation of the bezel from the bill validator housing.
US08770468B2

A folding box for receiving a group of containers includes a cuboid-shaped external packaging made of cardboard. The external packaging has side walls, bottom walls and top walls. The folding box also includes a lining on the inside of the external packaging at least in the corner region between the side walls, top walls and/or bottom walls.
US08770465B2

A rigid packaging container having an integral locking assembly is a rigid U-board having a bottom wall, a first sidewall, and a second sidewall, the bottom wall, the first sidewall and the second sidewall forming a channel. The first and second sidewalls each have a cut therethrough, forming a first channel section and a second channel section. An integral tab in the first sidewall of each of the first channel section and the second channel section is configured to form an integral locking assembly which may be pushed inwardly or pulled outwardly to secure the first channel section at an angle relative to the second channel section.
US08770464B2

A method for manufacturing welded lap joints comprising the following steps: Providing of two components each having at least one base; allocating the components in such a way that the bases face each other and the components overlap in an overlapping area, which extends at least partially over both components; joining the components by welding in the overlapping area such that a weld joint is formed, wherein at the edge of the overlapping area non welded areas are formed; removing of the non welded areas whereby outer cutting areas are formed at the components, which are arranged at obtuse angles to the overlapping area.
US08770462B2

A solder paste transfer process is provided and includes defining multiple arrangements of solder pad locations on a surface, applying solder paste onto multiple transfer tools coupled to a fixture in a pre-defined configuration reflective of the multiple arrangements, disposing the fixture such that the multiple transfer tools are disposed in an inverted orientation proximate to the surface and reflowing the solder paste to flow from the multiple transfer tools to the solder pad locations.
US08770460B2

A surgical stapler that may have a head assembly, a stapling assembly, a shield, a base head, a handle assembly, and a shaft assembly. A head assembly may have an anvil and anvil shaft, as well as a stapling assembly. A stapling assembly may have a trocar that can be removeably detachable with the anvil, a cannula extension, and a plurality of staples. A shield may be configured to retract from a first extended position where the shield generally covers the stapling assembly or the head assembly, to a second retracted position where the shield generally exposes the stapling assembly or the head assembly. The shield may be integral with the stapler, or provided after-market as an add-on. A surgical stapler may additionally or alternatively include an air or gas pump assembly that can be used to insufflate the rectum and intestinal tract during insertion and advancement of the stapler.
US08770441B2

A spike for dispensing fluids from a flexible bag, wherein the spike includes multiple fluid channels which transfer liquids from the bag to an enclosed dispensing chamber and air from the enclosed chamber to the bag to permit and control fluid flow within the system.
US08770440B2

A countertop automatic foam soap dispenser includes an automatic foam soap dispenser body, a soap liquid container, a circular connecting tube and a battery compartment. The soap liquid container is filled with an appropriate quantity of liquid soap. The battery compartment supplies electric power to the automatic foam soap dispenser body. The automatic foam soap dispenser body is passed through the circular connecting tube by a soap transmission tube and installed to the bottom inside the soap liquid container. The automatic foam soap dispenser body includes a foam soap valve, a control circuit board, a sensor, a motor controlled by the control circuit board, and a transmission gear set. When a user's hand approaches a sensor of the automatic foam soap dispenser body, the motor drives a cam of the transmission gear set to rotate and compress a foam soap valve to supply the appropriate quantity of foam soap.
US08770437B2

An apparatus for dispensing solid articles includes a housing and at least one vacuum source. The housing defines a hopper chamber to hold the articles and a dispensing channel fluidly connected to the hopper chamber. The dispensing channel has an inlet and an outlet defining a dispensing flow path therebetween. The vacuum source is adapted to provide a vacuum pressure and induce a gas flow in the housing. The apparatus is configured to generate a forward drive gas flow from the vacuum pressure and induced gas flow, and the forward drive gas flow conveys articles through the dispensing channel along the dispensing flow path in a direction from the inlet to the outlet to dispense the articles.
US08770436B2

A vending machine integrated table with a game function attached to automatically dispense product, or to sell product by causing the product to be acquired through manual operations by the user. The vending machine integrated table is provided with at least a top plate, and a vending machine beneath the top plate. The top plate is provided with one of either a displaying and accepting mechanism for displaying products that can be sold by the vending machine, and accepting instructions from users, or a window portion through which a product housing section that houses products can be visually confirmed. A product conveyor conveys product contained in the product housing section to a product dispensing slot provided at the product housing section.
US08770434B2

A self righting floating insulating beverage container consists of a double walled beverage container which is adequately buoyant and balanced to remain upright in a body of water.The adequate buoyancy and balanced is achieved by the buoyant forces available from an annular cavity created by the double wall container configuration and the balance by the non-buoyant or ballasted bottom of the container. The double wall annular space and ballasted weight are determined to maintain the drink container upright in a body of water, without sinking when filled with beverage, and not capsizing when empty. The double wall configuration also provides insulation for the beverage due to the void between the inner and outer walls.
US08770430B2

The present invention provides a container for holding product therein during shipment and being returned for reuse that has a body, tracks attached to opposite sides of the body, and a plurality of support members supported by the tracks. Rollers are located at the ends of the support members which roll in the tracks to move the support members. The support members have product receptacles whereby products may be suspended between adjacent support members, portions of the products residing in the product receptacles.
US08770429B2

This disclosure provides a disposable mug liner fitting inside any mug or cup. The mug liner is preferably made of paper impervious to hot or cold liquids and it has a bottom and a wall. The wall is higher than the wall of the cup inside which the liner is inserted. The liner has two downward tearing lines which when torn open allow a formation of a flap that is bent over the mug handle, a hem that is bent down over the mug rim and an aperture to fit the mug handle. The liner according to this invention allows the user to keep the mug clean, protects the user from touching the mug rim and combines the convenience of a disposable cup and the sturdiness and insulation of a regular coffee mug.
US08770427B2

There is described a rigid or semi-rigid container assembly 10 (110) for the packaging of food products. The container assembly 10 (110) comprises a support 20 (120) and a frame 30 (130). Support 20 (120) comprises an outwardly extending peripheral flange 21 (121) which is shaped to cooperate with frame 30 (130) so that the frame can be snap-fit closed onto support 20 (120). The rim 32 (132) of frame 30 (130) extends only over a fraction of flange 21 (121) leaving part 22 (122) of the flange and the central part (5, 105) of support 20 (120) uncovered.
US08770421B2

A collapsible refuse bin which has two ends walls and two side walls atop a base. The end walls, side walls and base are twinned wall plastic components. The side walls are made of two panels which are pivotally attached to one another along vertical axis. The end walls are pivotally attached to the base. The side walls engage a base along a tongue and groove means. Side walls and end walls have mutually engaging edges. Removal of the side walls followed by folding down the end walls converts the refuse bin to a collapsed position.
US08770413B2

An inspection system is configured for use with a conveyer apparatus including carrier bars. Each carrier bar conveys pellet-shaped articles along a predetermined path. The inspection system includes at least one camera unit for sensing a predetermined characteristic of the pellet-shaped articles, a removal unit, and a controller. The removal unit, downstream from the at least one camera unit, removes selected pellet-shaped article(s) from the carrier bar(s) depending on whether the characteristic is sensed by the at least one camera unit. The controller is in communication with the at least one camera unit and the removal unit. The controller provides a signal to the removal unit in accordance with the sensed characteristic. The removal unit includes a rotatable ejection drum having extended vacuum nozzles along its length, equal to the number of articles conveyed in each carrier bar. Each vacuum nozzle selectively removes article(s) from the carrier bar(s) by suction.
US08770406B2

Disclosed herein, in certain embodiments, are methods, devices, and systems for dispensing bandages comprising: a dispenser body defining an interior compartment with an open or partially open top and comprising a front wall with an exposed upper edge and at least one interior compartment divider; at least one bandage pack disposed in the interior compartment, wherein the bandage pack comprises at least one individually wrapped bandage; and at least one retaining clip, wherein the clip retains a bandage pack in the dispenser body.
US08770404B2

A wrapping paper for a roll having two opposed roll ends, the wrapping paper includes: a paper layer; and at least one exposed strip having adhesive properties. The at least one exposed strip is proximate to a side edge of the paper layer and covers at least a portion of one of the roll ends when wrapped around the roll. A method for wrapping a roll having a pair of spaced roll ends and an outer roll surface extending between the roll ends.
US08770403B2

A holding aid of the present invention includes an attachment mechanism, two masks, and a hand holding structure. The attachment mechanism is used for attaching on an electronic product. The masks are connected to the attachment mechanism for covering the electronic product. The hand holding structure includes one or several gashes which are formed on the masks. Thus, user's hand can penetrate through the gashes for holding. Therefore, it is realized that functions of covering and sheltering and easy holding are provided by single accessory.
US08770401B2

A packaging for at least one ball includes at least one opening that is configured to expose a portion of the ball. The openings are configured to restrict movement of the ball by engaging a surface of the ball. This packaging reduces the amount of the packaging material needed to produce the packaging while maximizing the amount of shelf space needed to display the packaging to increase visibility of the packaging.
US08770396B2

The invention provides a new method for the safe storage and drying of a helmet and related accessories (spare helmet face shield, sunglasses, goggles, primary gloves, secondary gloves, chin curtain, breath deflector/guard, helmet screws, neck brace, knee pads, elbow pads, chest protector, keys, and remote control gate/garage openers) employed in activities in which a helmet is utilized. The device is suspended utilizing various length interchangeable hanging straps possessing varied attachment methods to accommodate various hanging locations. The side connected hanging straps attach at an angle to the front opening so that the front opening is directed at an upward facing angle off of the vertical plane and a center angle adjustment and interlocking strap is utilized to set a preferred angle and interlink multiple devices hung vertically one under another. The angled orientation enables the device to be bumped or swung without concern that the helmet or other items stored therein will fall out. The shape and flexible nature of the device allows the sides to close in toward the helmet under the weight of a resting helmet. The device employs multiple attachment points and pockets to accommodate the related accessories and their related locations are such that they provide for the easy access to storage and removal based on frequency of use and order in which stored and removed.
US08770394B2

A conveyor belt includes first and second conveyor belt portions and each one of the conveyor belt portions includes top and bottom layers made of elastomer material. A reinforcement layer is sandwiched between the top and bottom layers and includes mutually parallel steel cords. Each conveyor belt portion further includes an end section whereat the top and bottom layers are removed to expose the steel cords. First and second part hinges are assigned to respective ones of the end sections and each includes a hinge plate having bores to accommodate the exposed steel cords. The hinge plates are pressed to fix the cords securely in position. The part hinges each include a plurality of crenellated projections at a free end thereof. The part hinges are assembleable to conjointly define a hinge connecting the first and second connecting belt portions to each other.
US08770393B1

A convertible track system for providing additional support to a conveyor belt. The system includes convertible track sections which may be added/removed from the conveyor belt apparatus without disassembly of the existing track supporting structure.
US08770385B2

The present invention relates to a device and a method for transferring goods (6) from a first (2) to a second conveyor (4), comprising a substantially upright extending frame (8), —an endless drive arranged on the frame (8) and • drivable by a motor; at least one support member which is connected to the endless drive (24) and which is drivable in a circuit by means of the endless drive (24), —at least one product carrier (28) connected to the support member, wherein the product carrier (28) is connected to the support member for rotation about a lying shaft extending transversely of the frame, wherein the product carrier (28) is connected drivably to no more than one endless drive.
US08770384B2

A transportation unit includes a transportation member and a cleaning member for cleaning foreign matters attached to a surface of the transportation member. The transportation member has the surface with a contact angle θ relative to n-dodecane between 10° and 45° (10°≦θ≦45°) and a mirror index M between 60 and 200 (60≦M≦200).
US08770374B2

A braking system for escalators and moving walkways, includes a braking device (3) with a main brake (30) of the type which is released when there is no voltage in its electric activator, and an auxiliary brake (31) of the type which is closed when there is no voltage in its electric activator. A controller (1) controls the braking device (3), prepared for obtaining the load of the escalator or moving walkway, and calculates the braking torque required for each braking device (3) depending on the load and activating the braking device (3) for obtaining the corresponding torque while braking when a braking command is received. The auxiliary brake is activated (32) for taking the escalators or moving walkway to a safe position when there is a system failure.
US08770373B2

A side shifting conveyor is provided for a surface mining operation. The conveyor generally includes conveyor sections and conveyor translation devices. Each conveyor translation device includes a drive operable to move the associated at least one conveyor section in a direction substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction. The conveyor further includes a controller operatively coupled to each drive for controlling operation of the drive and coordinating movement of the conveyor sections. A method for moving a conveyor in a surface mine generally includes sensing that a surface miner operable to deposit material onto the conveyor sections has moved beyond one of the conveyor sections, fixing a position relative to the surface mine of a conveyor translation device associated with one of the conveyor sections, and operating the conveyor translation device to move one of the conveyor sections in a direction substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction.
US08770368B2

A wet friction plate is constructed such that a carbon based friction material is placed on an outer peripheral side of a friction plate and a paper based friction material is placed on an inside of a carbon based friction material. A transmission torque occupied by the paper based friction material is smaller than that occupied by the carbon based friction material. The wet friction plate can prevent a sudden unexpected slip at low temperature.
US08770351B2

A disk brake device for rail vehicles includes a brake disk for attachment to a chassis and a brake assembly for providing a braking force. The brake assembly has a brake cylinder and a brake caliper that carries a brake pad for cooperating with the brake disk. A sensor is provided on a force transmission path from the brake cylinder to the brake pad. The sensor is configured and arranged to detect a force transfer to the brake disk.
US08770345B2

An acoustical panel for forming a monolithic ceiling or wall, the panel extending across a rectangular area, and having a core made primarily of gypsum, the core being essentially coextensive with the panel area such that it has two opposed sides, each of an area substantially equal to the area of the panel, the core having a multitude of perforations extending generally between its sides, the perforations being distributed substantially uniformly across the full area of the core and being open at both sides of the core, the face side of the core being covered by a porous layer, the perforations being optionally restricted at a rear side of the core, the porous layer at the face side of the core being suitable for adherence of drywall joint compound and a water-based non-blocking paint.
US08770341B2

A muffler for a feed air system of a compressor assembly. The muffler can be a product of a blow molding process and used in a method of sound control for a compressor assembly. A method of controlling sound in a compressor assembly can have the step of providing a feed air and the step of providing the muffler an outlet in communication with an inlet of a pump assembly which can compress the feed air fed through the muffler and into the pump assembly. Sound control for a compressor assembly is also accomplished by adapting a feed air system to have sound control of a feed air path by dampening the sound emitted from a pump system through the feed air path.
US08770338B1

The present disclosure relates, according to some embodiments, to devices, systems, and methods for modifying received and/or perceived sound. For example, a device for altering sound received at a subject's ear may comprise an elongated earpiece having a proximal portion and a distal portion and defining a longitudinal axis (e.g., together defining a longitudinal axis). A proximal portion may comprise an insert configured for at least partial insertion in the canal of the subject's ear. A distal end may comprise a handle configured to guide insertion of the insert in the subject's ear canal.
US08770335B2

Assist force that assists an operation of a steering system of a vehicle is applied to a rack shaft by transmitting driving force of a motor to the rack shaft via a motor shaft and a ball screw nut. A step is formed on the outer periphery of the ball screw nut. An end portion of a third housing is arranged to face a bearing such that the distance that the ball screw nut is able to move relative to the motor shaft in axial direction and the relative movable length is longer than a predetermined length.
US08770329B2

An engine cooling system includes a first heat exchanger receiving a first fluid and a second heat exchanger receiving a second fluid. The second heat exchanger is located adjacent the first heat exchanger, thereby creating a stacked heat exchanger. The engine cooling system also includes a third heat exchanger receiving a third fluid. The third heat exchanger is located apart from the stacked heat exchanger. A venturi is located between the stacked heat exchanger and the third heat exchanger. An air mover is mounted to the venturi and located within the venturi. The air mover is configured to move air through the stacked heat exchanger and through the third heat exchanger. In a specific embodiment, the engine cooling system is incorporated into a vehicle, such as a skidder vehicle.
US08770325B2

A bulldozer is provided with an engine, a pump assembly, an engine auxiliary, and a connecting member. The engine has an output axis which extends in a front and back direction of the bulldozer. The pump assembly includes a plurality of hydraulic pumps. The hydraulic pumps are disposed behind the engine and are disposed to line up with each other in the front and back direction. The pump assembly is connected to the engine. The engine auxiliary is disposed behind the engine and is mounted to the engine. The connecting member connects the engine and the engine auxiliary.
US08770323B2

An apparatus and method for forming a borehole in an earthen formation includes a side cutting device comprised of a laterally extendable side cutting element that can be actuated from a retracted position to an extended position in which the side cutting element is selectively employed to create a larger borehole diameter in a down hole location than the remaining portion of the borehole that is closer to the borehole opening.
US08770322B2

A latch body for use in a drilling head assembly including a fluid control subassembly, a check valve element, and/or a hollow spindle. A distal end portion of the latch body includes a port section that defines a chamber for receiving the check valve element and promoting movement of the check valve element between a blocking position and an open position. The hollow spindle of the fluid control subassembly is operatively coupled to the chamber of the port section and supports the check valve element in the blocking position. A proximal end portion of the latch body supports the fluid control subassembly of the drilling head assembly in an operative position. The latch body includes male protrusions extending inwardly toward and spaced from a longitudinal axis of the latch body. A plurality of channels extend radially outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the latch body, spanning between adjacent male protrusions.
US08770311B2

A ripper shank assembly including a ripper shank and a ripper tip mounted to a front end of the ripper shank. The ripper tip includes an upper surface with a first ridge extending upward from the upper surface. The ripper shank assembly further includes a ripper shank protector mounted to a front edge of the ripper shank rearward of the ripper tip, the ripper shank protector including a second ridge on a center face of the ripper shank protector, wherein a portion of the second ridge adjacent a front end of the ripper shank protector has a height greater than a height of the first ridge.
US08770301B2

A firing head embodiment of the invention confines a connected capacitance cartridge, explosive detonator, and wireline connection switch within an independent, cylindrical housing tube that is environmentally capped at both ends by threaded closures for secure transport to a well site.
US08770297B2

An RCD is used to provide a system and method for sealing a marine riser having a rotatable tubular. A bypass internal channel or external line may be used to allow fluid to bypass the RCD seal. An RCD holding member seal could be a mechanically extrudable seal or a hydraulically expanded seal to seal the RCD with the riser.
US08770290B2

A gravel pack assembly gravel packs a horizontal borehole. Operators wash down the borehole using a tool in a first position by flowing fluid from the tool through the apparatus' toe. Operators then gravel pack by moving the tool to a first flow port between a screen and the toe. Slurry flows into the borehole from the first flow port, and returns from the borehole flow through the screen. The gravel in the slurry can pack the borehole in an alpha-beta wave from toe to heel. When the tool has a sleeve, operators can break any bridges by flowing fluid from the passage of the assembly into the tool. In another condition, operators can move the tool to a second flow port. Slurry can flow into to the borehole through a shunt extending from the second flow port. Meanwhile, returns can flow from the borehole through a bypass in the assembly.
US08770288B2

Systems and methods for creating high-pressure mixtures of steam and one or more noncondensable gas species, which may be injected into deep, high-pressured oil reservoirs to supply heat and aid oil recovery. These systems and methods may include generating these mixtures, also referred to as a combined stream, controlling the total pressure of the combined stream, controlling the partial pressure of steam within the combined stream, supplying the combined stream to a subterranean formation that includes hydrocarbons, such as viscous oil, reducing the viscosity of the oil, and/or producing oil from the subterranean formation. In some embodiments, the total pressure of the combined stream may approach or even exceed the critical pressure of water while still retaining significant amounts of latent heat for delivery. In some embodiments, the partial pressure of steam may be less than the critical pressure of water.
US08770287B2

A method of servicing a wellbore in a subterranean formation comprising placing a foamed wellbore servicing fluid into a wellbore; flowing the foamed wellbore servicing fluid back to the wellbore surface; and contacting the foamed wellbore servicing fluid with an immobilized defoaming agent structure comprising an inert substrate and a defoamer. A system comprising a foamed wellbore servicing fluid in contact with a de-foaming structure, wherein the de-foaming structure comprises a defoamer covalently bonded to an inert substrate.
US08770284B2

Systems and methods of detecting an intersection between a wellbore and a subterranean structure that includes a marker material. The systems and methods include drilling the wellbore and determining that the wellbore has intersected a portion of the subterranean structure that includes the marker material by detecting the marker material. The systems and methods also may include distributing the marker material within the subterranean structure, aligning the marker material within the subterranean structure, determining one or more characteristics of the marker material, ceasing the drilling, repeating the method, and/or producing a hydrocarbon from the subterranean structure. The systems and methods further may include forming an electrical connection between an electric current source and a granular resistive heater that forms a portion of the subterranean structure, forming the granular resistive heater, and/or forming the subterranean structure.
US08770274B2

A shear/seal ram provides a knife edge at the shearing edge and the knife edge is inclined to minimize the cutting force required and to leave a clean cut edge. The knife edge is presented in an opening of the ram, thus the opening is positioned at the axis of the BOP, and consequently the coiled tubing, before the coiled tubing is run through the BOP. A biasing means, such as for example a Bellville spring, forces a sealing sleeve against the underside of the ram to prevent leakage of pressure from below the BOP. Similarly, a plurality of biasing means, referred to herein as “skates”, forces the ram down against the sealing sleeve to seal pressure from above the BOP.
US08770261B2

A method of making a degradable alloy includes adding one or more alloying products to an aluminum or aluminum alloy melt; dissolving the alloying products in the aluminum or aluminum alloy melt, thereby forming a degradable alloy melt; and solidifying the degradable alloy melt to form the degradable alloy. A method for manufacturing a product made of a degradable alloy includes adding one or more alloying products to an aluminum or aluminum alloy melt in a mold; dissolving the one or more alloying products in the aluminum or aluminum alloy melt to form a degradable alloy melt; and solidifying the degradable alloy melt to form the product. A method for manufacturing a product made of a degradable alloy includes placing powders of a base metal or a base alloy and powders of one or more alloying products in a mold; and pressing and sintering the powders to form the product.
US08770254B1

A tire changer machine includes a control system that monitors a rotational position of a sensitive feature associated with a wheel rim and tire during a tire change procedure. The system adjusts operation of the machine to avoid damaging the sensitive feature, which may be a valve stem or a wheel sensor such as a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensor.
US08770244B2

The present invention relates to a runflat device arranged to be disposed within a wheel well of a wheel having a rim (5) for securing a tire (1), the device comprising a valve assembly (7, 8, 9, 10) arranged to be secured to the wheel and a plurality of part-annular components, said runflat device arranged to be drawn onto the wheel by a retraction mechanism when air pressure is applied to said valve (7, 8, 9, 10).
US08770241B2

A pneumatic tire includes a plurality of circumferential grooves and a first land portion. The circumferential grooves extend continuously in a tire circumferential direction. The first land portion extends in the tire circumferential direction between a pattern end and one of the circumferential grooves in a shoulder region located outside the circumferential grooves in a tire width direction. The first land portion has first lug grooves extending from the pattern end in the tire width direction and closed without communicating with the circumferential grooves are arranged in the tire circumferential direction. At least one circumferential groove is wave-shaped with a constant groove width in the tire width direction at a tread surface and formed in a wave shape in the circumferential direction at the tread surface and groove bottom. The wave-shaped circumferential groove has a shorter cycle length of waves at the groove bottom than at the tread surface.
US08770239B2

A funnel for use in juice making processes and related method of using the funnel are disclosed.
US08770237B2

A method of operating a vapor recovery system that recovers vapors expelled from a vehicle during refueling at a fuel dispensing point and returns the vapors to an underground storage tank through a vapor flow path that is in fluid communication with an air to liquid regulator valve and a vapor pump. The method includes dispensing fuel into the vehicle through the fuel dispensing point, regulating an amount of vapor that is recovered through the fuel dispensing point with the air to liquid regulator valve in proportion to the fuel dispensed into the vehicle, detecting a parameter of the vapor recovery system, and maintaining a substantially constant pressure level in a first portion of the vapor return path that is disposed between the vapor pump and the air to liquid regulator valve.
US08770233B2

A flexible hose structure includes at least one inner tubular layer of a first polymeric material defining a longitudinal axis, at least one meshed intermediate reinforcement layer arranged on the inner layer and having at least one first series of yarns defining first chained wales and first courses arranged according to a helical progression with a first pitch of predetermined length, and at least one second series of yarns defining second chained wales and second courses arranged according to a helical progression with a second pitch of predetermined length. The first pitch is a multiple of the second pitch, and the first wales (and the second wales are mutually interlaced with respective meshes not in a chain to exert an independent resistance to radial expansion on the inner layer.
US08770230B2

A tubular component with an end section has a profile, wherein the profile comprises a plurality of holding elements axially offset in longitudinal direction of the end section. The holding elements comprise at least one first azimuthal contour region and at least one second azimuthal contour region, wherein the outer contour of a holding element in the first contour region at least in sections is lowered or raised relative to the second contour region and wherein the first contour regions of at least two holding elements are offset relative to each other in azimuthal direction.
US08770225B2

The present invention relates to a four-way reversing valve for refrigerating cycle system, in particular to an end cover for fitting with a valve body of a main valve of a four-way reversing valve, a four-way reversing valve using the same and an assembling method thereof. The end cover has a larger diameter section and a smaller diameter section sequentially provided in an axial direction, wherein an outer periphery of the larger diameter section of the end cover is adapted to be tightly connected with the valve body, and an end portion of the smaller diameter section of the end cover is adapted to be fitted with a piston of the main valve, so as to define an operating position of the piston, characterized in that the larger diameter section of the end cover has a frustum shape with a larger outer end and smaller inner end, or an end portion of the larger diameter section of the end cover has radially projected flange for abutting against and fitting with an end surface of the valve body. The present invention may meet the requirement for the position precision between the valve body and the end cover and improve the welding precision therebetween.
US08770219B2

A device for regulating the gas supply in a gas storage system of a biogas system, wherein the gas storage system has gas stores connected in series in a cascade-like manner with an intermediate chamber between a gas store membrane and a protective cover. The device comprises gas supply mechanisms, intermediate chamber pressure measuring mechanisms and at least one regulating mechanism, each gas store is assigned at least one gas supply mechanism, each gas store is assigned at least one intermediate chamber pressure measuring mechanism with which the gas pressure in the intermediate chamber of the respective gas store can be measured, and the measured values of the intermediate chamber pressure measuring mechanisms are transmitted to at least one regulating mechanism, and the regulating mechanism is designed to regulate the gas pressure in the intermediate chambers of the gas stores by controlling the gas supply mechanisms assigned to gas stores.
US08770213B2

A floating canopy shade is constructed from a standard fixed or pop-up canopy by adding a set of floats adapted to hold the canopy legs and to provide drag to resist drifting and lifting in a small breeze. A kit converts a standard canopy assembly to a floating one.
US08770212B2

A method of operating a portable, foldable, and multifunctional mobility aid apparatus that assists a user in standing, sitting, and/or walking process. The apparatus has an integrated power source and is based on 4 wheels. Users can stand on it and drive it as an electric mobility device, or disable it and use it as a passive walker. The apparatus has a pair of supporting beams with adjustable width to be placed under the user armpits and support the user in standing up, sitting down, and/or moving around. The apparatus can be controlled by a control panel mounted on a pair of handles, and its functions can be controlled by the user with no need for help from another person. The apparatus can be minimized by a combination of multiple telescopic vertical minimization mechanisms and multiple folding mechanisms.
US08770210B1

A travel mouth-cleaning device contains a roll of floss, a plurality of teeth, a pick and a brush. The device may be used in a travel or non-travel capacity. The invention may be placed on a keychain that can be carried in the pants pocket or in a purse or other carrying container. The invention is small enough that it will not protrude the container while being transported. The invention can clean the tongue faster and easier than most conventional tongue scraper devices currently on the market, with a scraping action on the surface of the tongue from the plurality of teeth on the device. Moreover, all the necessary tools to clean the whole mouth are included within the device. Furthermore, the invention is easily transported so a person can clean their mouth after each meal while away from a place like their home bathroom or other facility. Moreover, to facilitate transportation the invention may be constructed of a material like a plastic polymer. Furthermore, the invention can be used in capacities like in the military in a pack called a MRE, (Meal Ready to Eat), while camping, or while traveling.
US08770207B2

An applicator (100) for applying a treatment agent to one's hair includes a container connector (110) for connection with a dispensing container (ST) accommodating therein the treatment agent, an upper guide member (120) formed in a hollow shape so as to extend forward from the container connector (110) and including an outlet formed in a lower face for dispensing the treatment agent, a lower guide member (130) disposed parallel to the upper guide member so as to oppose the outlet, and a parallel supporting body (140) that displaces at least one of the upper guide member (120) and the lower guide member (130) up and downward, while maintaining the guide members parallel to each other. With the applicator (100) an individual user can easily apply the treatment agent uniformly to the hair.
US08770206B2

A smoking article such as a filter cigarette includes a rotary flow control device (2) in its filter assembly that comprises first, second and third body portions (3, 4, 5). The first body portion (1) contains a plug (6) of filter material and is attached to a tobacco rod (1). The second portion (4) contains different smoke flavorants in different sectors (18), which can be aligned by manual rotation individually with a smoke flow passageway (13, 35) to impart different flavors to the smoke that passes to the mouth of the consumer. The second body portion (4) is rotated through the agency of the third body portion (5). First and second ratchet mechanisms (14,19; 20, 24) are disposed between the second body portion (4) and the first and third body portions respectively to allow assured rotation of the second portion to select individual flavorants for the smoke passing to the consumer.
US08770194B2

A gas assisted re-breathing device is provided for life support of individuals venturing into harsh environments, particularly the underwater environment, which results in reduced work of breathing. In the pressurized gas assisted re-breathing device, pressurized gas, actuated by the breathing pressure local to the mouthpiece, acts to move a flexible gas storage container on behalf of the individual and a loop seal valve is forcibly shut during assisted breathing, which seals the assisted breathing loop to prevent premature venting of breathing gas to the surrounding environment, unless the assisted breathing loop is full, whereupon the loop seal valve opens to allow excess breathing gas to escape into the surrounding environment through forcible exhalation by the individual through one or more conventional one way valves that prevent backflow from the surrounding environment back into the loop.
US08770184B2

A collapsible unit for supporting food items over a heat source comprises a collapsible frame enclosure wherein at least one side of the frame is reconfigurable to enable various types of cooking and heating arrangements.
US08770181B2

An infrared emitter at least partially defines an interior space that at least partially contains convective products of combustion. A burner provides a mixture of combustible gas and primary air to the combustion, while secondary air is also provided to the combustion. A first side of the infrared emitter is in opposing face-to-face relation with the interior space so that the first side of the infrared emitter is exposed to, and heated by, the convective products of combustion. As a result, a second side of the infrared emitter emits infrared radiation. Static gauge pressure, measured at a location that is within the interior space and adjacent to the first side of the infrared emitter, may not exceed about 0.009 inches water column while the burner is operating. Excess air present in gasses exhausted from the interior space may be less than 300% while the burner is operating.
US08770177B2

Disclosed is a power system comprising a mount, a heat exchanger, and a corrugated strap positioned about the heat exchanger for securing the heat exchanger to the mount. The heat exchanger comprises a separation edge, and the corrugated strap may comprise a first corrugated section and a second corrugated section. A separation bend may be positioned between the first corrugated section and the second corrugated section, and the separation bend may overlap the separation edge.
US08770171B2

A combustion engine has a fuel supply unit, an ignition unit and a controller controlling the amount of fuel and the ignition time. An adjustable throttle element controlling the amount of combustion air to the engine and an adjustable idling stop for the throttle element are provided. The controller includes a regulating unit regulating the rotational speed of the motor to a set-point rotational speed (nsoll) when idling. To adjust the idling stop, the regulating unit is switched off when idling. A diagnostic unit switches off the regulating unit. A method for adjusting a combustion engines provides that the regulating unit is switched off, the amount of fuel supplied is adjusted during idling and a rotational speed is evaluated, and that on the basis of the rotational speed value, it is determined how the idling stop is to be adjusted to reach a set-point rotational speed maximum (nsollmax).
US08770170B2

A method of constructing a bedplate assembly for retention of a crankshaft in an internal combustion engine having an engine block includes forming a bedplate insert in a first pattern tool. The bedplate insert is defined by a height, a width, and a thickness. The bedplate insert also includes a shape having a variation in the width along the height. The method also includes arranging the formed bedplate insert in a second pattern tool. The method additionally includes forming in the second pattern tool a bedplate frame around the formed bedplate insert to generate the bedplate assembly. During forming of the bedplate frame, the variation in the width of the bedplate insert generates an internal rib in the bedplate frame that is configured to fix and retain the bedplate insert inside the bedplate frame and decrease deflection of the bedplate frame under crankshaft loads during operation of the engine.
US08770157B2

A cylinder cooling apparatus for an air-cooled engine is equipped with a cooling fan provided on one end section of a crankshaft; a pair of pushrod insertion holes for air intake and exhaust valves formed in a cylinder outer circumferential wall section; a fan shroud for covering the cooling fan and for covering the cylinder outer circumferential wall section in which the pushrod insertion holes are formed; a cutout ventilating section formed in the cylinder outer circumferential wall section between the pair of pushrod insertion holes; and tunnel-shaped ventilating holes formed in the cylinder outer circumferential wall section between the pushrod insertion hole disposed on the side of the cooling fan and a cylinder bore and extending from the cylinder outer circumferential wall section on the side of the cooling fan to the cutout ventilating section.
US08770153B2

A first period during which drain is not substantially generated on a surface of a water tube (4) of a heat exchanger (B1), and a second period as a transition during which an amount of drain on the surface of the water tube (4) is increased are provided. There are a plurality of kinds of fan-controlling data in which operation control contents of the fan (13) in the first and second periods in correspondence with change of conditions of entering water temperature or combustion level of the burner (1). The fan-controlling data are stored in a data table (90) of a controller (9). The controller (9) controls the fan (13) in accordance with the data, and an initial air-fuel ratio of combustion driving of the burner (1) is stabilized.
US08770149B2

The invention provides a breeding system for aquatic fauna that includes a chamber (2) having a wall (4) made from a water impermeable material. In one embodiment the chamber is provided with one or more hatches (20) in the wall where each hatch can be opened to a selectable extent. In another embodiment, the chamber has a selectable volume. The breeding system according to another embodiment includes one or more of the life support systems (30) adapted to be submerged in water.
US08770146B2

Methods and apparatus are used at the end of a dairy animal milking process to stop milking pulsation in an off position and then applying a teat dip into a milker unit teat cup liner to improve dip coverage on the teat.
US08770141B2

A substrate coating device is provided which is capable of reducing non-uniform film thickness areas that take place in a coating start portion and a coating end portion during coating using a slit nozzle coater.The substrate coating device (10) includes at least a slider driving motor (4), a pump (8), a delivery state quantity measuring section (82), and a control section (5). The slider driving motor (4) scans a slit nozzle (1) over a substrate (100) at an established velocity relative to the substrate (100). The pump (8) controls the supply of the coating liquid to the slit nozzle (1). The delivery state quantity measuring section (82) is configured to measure a state quantity indicative of a delivery state of the coating liquid from the tip of the slit nozzle (1). The control section (5) corrects control information to be fed to the slider driving motor (4) in such a manner as to cancel out a difference between control information fed to the pump (8) and measurement information fed from the delivery state quantity measuring section (82) based on difference information indicative of the difference.
US08770140B2

Marking information relating to use of a marking device to perform a marking operation may be acquired from one or more input devices, logged/stored in local memory of a marking device, formatted in various manners, processed and/or analyzed at the marking device itself, and/or transmitted to another device (e.g., a remote computer/server) for storage, processing and/or analysis. In one example, a marking device may include one or more environmental sensors and/or operational sensors, and the marking information may include environmental information and operational information derived from such sensors. Environmental and/or operational information may be used to control operation of the marking device, assess out-of-tolerance conditions in connection with use of the marking device, and/or provide alerts or other feedback. Additional enhancements are disclosed relating to improving the determination of a location (e.g., GPS coordinates) of a dispensing tip of the marking device during use, a group/solo mode, and tactile functionality of a user interface.
US08770127B2

A coupling device for a semi-continuous composite rigging system is provided including a first body portion and a second body portion. The first body portion comprises a first end and a second end. A first passage and a second passage extend from the first end to the second end, where the second passage is coextensive with the first passage at the first end and at the second end. The first body portion is configured to receive a continuous shroud and to allow the continuous shroud to pass therethrough. The second body portion is coupled to the first body portion and is configured to receive an end portion of a discontinuous shroud.
US08770125B2

A ship or floating support for transporting/storing liquid constituted by a liquefied having a plurality of beacon devices for detecting roughness of liquid within the tank, each beacon having a vibration sensor for measuring amplitude of the acceleration (g) as a function of time (t) of the vibratory movements of a wall on which the beacons are fastened, and an electronic calculation unit having a microprocessor and memory for processing a signal as measured by the vibration sensor, and a device for transmitting the signal to a supervisor or central unit.
US08770122B2

The invention relates to a control system for a tufting machine configured for forming tufted carpet. The tufting machine can have a system controller in communication with the tufting machine and with a plurality of yarn feed controllers for controlling operation of yarn feed motors that are configured to supply yarn from a source of yarn to the tufting machine. The system controller is programmable to enable input of a plurality of predetermined yarn feed profiles for selected stitches of a programmed pattern to be tufted such that, although at least two of the predetermined yarn feed profiles can be different, substantially the same feed length of yarn is used from each of the plurality of yarns.
US08770116B2

A safe includes a body that has an opening for receiving and holding an object. A door is rotatably interfaced to the body, whereas the door obstructs the opening in a first position of rotation, and the door provides access to the body of the safe through the opening when the door is in a second position of rotation. A locking mechanism engages between the door and the body when the door is rotated to the first position of rotation thereby holding the door in the first position of rotation until the locking mechanism is released and, upon releasing by the locking mechanism, the door is free to rotate towards the second position of rotation.
US08770115B2

A pallet assembly includes an upper portion and a lower portion. The upper portion includes an upper deck for supporting items thereon and upper column portions extending downward from the upper deck. The upper column portions include a first upper column portion having a slot defined by a pair of slot walls. The lower portion includes a plurality of lower column portions including a first lower column portion. The first lower column portion includes a peripheral wall and a support structure having a pair of walls extending inward from the peripheral wall. One of the first upper column portion and the first lower column portion is received within the other, with the support structure received in the slot between the slot walls.
US08770113B2

An auto rack rail road freight car is provided for carrying low density, relatively high value, relatively fragile lading. The car has trucks that have multiple dampers in a four corner arrangement in the sideframes. The dampers may include damper wedges having primary and secondary wedge angles. The spring groups in the side frames are relatively soft, giving a low vertical bounce natural frequency. In an articulated embodiment, differentially placed ballast is mounted in a biased arrangement to load the coupler end trucks to encourage a dynamic response similar to the dynamic response of the internal trucks.
US08770110B2

A warhead 10 with selectable output can provide either a high-yield mode for a wide area of damage or a low-yield mode for restricting damage to a confined area. The warhead 10 includes a casing 14 having one or more partitions 16 that separate the casing 14 into multiple compartments. Each compartment includes an explosive charge. The multiple compartments include at least a first compartment 20 with a first explosive charge 22 and a first igniter 30, and a second compartment 24 separate from the first compartment 20 with a second explosive charge 26 and a second igniter 32. The second compartment 24 has a deflagration charge 34 for selectively destroying the second explosive charge 26 without detonation.
US08770108B2

A coupling device which is configured such that respective explosives for blasting work are coupled to front and rear sections thereof. The coupling device includes cylindrical bodies, one of the bodies being movable away from or close to another one of the bodies, a partition provided inside a predetermined one of the bodies to divide an inner space of the predetermined body, and an expandable support section provided between the bodies to connect the bodies to each other. The expandable support section forms a cylindrical shape together with the bodies when one body is moved away from the other body and is radially expanded when one body is moved close to the other body. The explosives can be easily inserted into a blasting hole and be positioned in the center of the blasting hole, thereby increasing the efficiency of blasting work.
US08770107B2

Device for producing flexographic printing sleeves starting from photopolymerizable sleeves comprising at least a clean-out unit, a drying unit, and a post-exposure unit, wherein the flexographic printing sleeves are transported within the apparatus by means of a transport device, wherein the sleeves are mounted dually translationally in the longitudinal direction in the transport device, and a method for the production of flexographic printing sleeves using said device.
US08770105B2

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and method for forming a thin film pattern using the printing apparatus which can form a multi-layered thin film pattern on a substrate.
US08770090B2

A piston engine may include a non-contact bearing between a piston assembly and a cylinder. The piston may be configured to translate in a bore of the cylinder, and a non-contact bearing may be included in a clearance gap between the piston assembly and the bore. A bearing fluid may be supplied to the clearance gap via the piston assembly and/or cylinder to create the non-contact bearing. A bearing element may be used to direct or otherwise manage the flow of bearing fluid in the clearance gap. The bearing element may include one or more holes, porous portions, and/or passages to direct the bearing fluid to the clearance gap.
US08770088B2

A reciprocating compressor having an aperture control valve for an inlet passage. Sectional area of the inlet passage is maintained near the outlet holes of the aperture control valve, distribution of flow rates of refrigerant gas drawn into the cylinder bores during inlet stroke is even. A cylinder block is provided with cylinder bores, a valve plate opposing one end of the cylinder block having inlet and outlet hole pairs, and a cylinder head forming an annular outlet chamber and a cylindrical inlet chamber radially inside the outlet chamber. The cylinder head has an inlet passage and an outlet passage, and an aperture control valve with an inlet hole connecting with the inlet passage and outlet holes controlling the aperture of the inlet passage. The aperture control valve is disposed in the inlet chamber.
US08770086B2

A blast structure and system for use as an outer blast protection component for a personnel cabin for a vehicle, is disclosed. The blast protection system comprises a personnel cabin adapted for receiving a blast structure, the cabin comprising a space forming an interior of the cabin, a floor within the interior of the cabin, the floor having a perimeter section and a removable floor panel centrally disposed therein, a blast structure comprising at least one outer blast panel attachable to the perimeter when the floor panel is removed, and means for attaching and detaching the blast panel to the perimeter section, providing an outer blast protection component to the interior space of the cabin. The attaching/detaching means include fasteners which are accessible through the interior of the cabin, without breaching the exterior surface of the blast structure.
US08770078B2

A sheet hole punching device has a device frame bearing-supporting a plurality of punching members, a driving rotation shaft, a drive motor, a gear mechanism transmitting a rotation of the driving rotation shaft, cam mechanisms converting the rotational movement into vertical movement, and a motor control device. The gearing mechanism includes drive gears fixed on the driving rotation shaft and receiving gears to engage with the drive gears to transmit the rotational movement to the punching members. The cam mechanism includes cylindrical cams formed integrally to the punching members and cam followers fixed to the device frame. The cylindrical cams are provided with V-shaped groove cams to reciprocate the punching members between an upper dead point and a lower dead point. The punching members are rotated in one direction to punch holes in a sheet, and subsequently rotated in a reverse direction to punch holes in a following sheet.
US08770077B2

A punch press device has a lift that can move up and down with respect to a workpiece and a punch that is supported by the lift and can move up and down with respect to the lift. Further, the punch press device has a switching member that reciprocates between a position where the punch is constrained so that it moves down together with the lift and a position where the punch is released so that it moves up with respect to the lift. The punch press device has two electromagnetic solenoids for reciprocating the switching member. The first electromagnetic solenoid moves the switching member in a first direction, and the second electromagnetic solenoid moves the switching member in a second direction opposite to the first direction.
US08770068B2

A screw driver for a screw having a drive socket having an axially extending shaft with a bifurcated tip, the tip having a cross-sectional profile for insertion into a cross-sectional profile of the screw socket. The shaft has a tapered section adjacent the bifurcated tip. A bushing is mounted on an outer surface of the shaft for axial movement therealong. The bushing has inwardly extending protrusions for engaging the tapered section on the shaft upon movement in the axial direction along the shaft in a direction away from the tip. This allows the selective capture or release of the screw by the shaft tip by axial movement of the bushing away from and towards the shaft distal tip.
US08770065B2

A rotary workpiece indexing apparatus including a spindle supported in a housing for rotation about a spindle axis and including a workpiece-mounting surface coaxially disposed at one axial end of the spindle. A spindle lock releasably secures the spindle against rotational motion relative to the housing and includes clamps carried by the housing in circumferentially-spaced locations around the spindle. The clamps are driven to respective clamped positions securing the spindle against rotational motion by clamping the spindle to the housing through the application of clamping forces at respective spaced-apart locations around the spindle.
US08770062B2

A pulser plate mounting structure is provided in which a key groove (14) is formed in a mounting face (10) of a rotating wall portion (9) formed from a crank arm (3) and a counterweight (4), a key portion (16) for engaging with the key groove (14) is formed on a pulser plate (P) that is superimposed on the mounting face (10), and this pulser plate (P) is secured to the rotating wall portion (9) by means of a securing member (18), wherein the key portion (16) is formed from an arched band-shaped portion (16a) projecting in an arched shape from the pulser plate (P) on one end face side thereof and engaging with the key groove (14), and a pair of connecting portions (16b) for providing integral connection between the pulser plate (P) and opposite ends of the arched band-shaped portion (16a). This provides a high precision of positioning of the pulser plate relative to the crankshaft and a good productivity for the pulser plate.
US08770060B2

Disclosed is a reaction force pedal device provided with pedal members operated by a driver, a motor which applies a reaction force to the pedal members through an arm member which is always connected to the pedal members, and a clutch arranged between the motor and the arm member. When the pedal members are displaced, the clutch is temporarily released.
US08770057B2

The mechanism for emergency release of a parking lock of an automatic transmission. The mechanism comprises and is connected, in a rotationally fixed manner, with the selector shaft (1) of the shifting device of the transmission. A lever (2), which is positioned facing the transmission housing (3), at the side of the shifting device, can be activated by an unlocking tool (5) that is inserted from the outside through an opening (4) in the transmission housing (3) to release the parking lock.
US08770056B2

In a joystick device where a tilting operation direction of an operation shaft is detected based on positional change of a magnet relative to a magnetic sensor, the magnet being moved with tilting of the operation shaft, a slider is arranged between a base facing a board fixed to a case and a magnet holder to which the operation shaft is swingably coupled; the magnet holder is joined to the slider such that the slider guides relative movement of the holder in a first linear direction orthogonal to the axis of the operation shaft but prevents relative movement of the holder in a second linear direction orthogonal to the first direction; and a guide mechanism configured to guide movement of the slider in the second direction is provided between the slider and the base. This prevents variation in the detection accuracy regardless of tilting of the shaft.
US08770055B2

Multi-axis pivot assemblies for control sticks and associated systems and methods are disclosed herein. A multi-axis pivot assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present technology can include, for example, an input shaft, a first axis output shaft coupled to the input shaft, and a second axis output shaft coupled to the input shaft via a series of linkages and pivoting joints. The first and second axis output shafts rotated about corresponding first and second fixed bearing sets to capture a first axis output and a second axis output. The series of linkages are configured to decouple first axis movement of the input shaft from second axis movement of the input shaft such that the second axis output is substantially independent of the first axis output.
US08770045B2

A purpose is to provide a sensor assembly and a sensor module having a flexible sensor element that uses polymer material and having a component such as the sensor element and the like that hardly deteriorates and is superior in durability. A sensor assembly includes a sensor element and an exterior packaging bag enclosing the sensor element. The sensor element includes a sensor thin film made of resin or elastomer, and at least one pair of electrodes connected to the sensor thin film. The exterior packaging bag is made from laminate films having a metal foil and two resin layers arranged sandwiching the metal foil.
US08770038B2

The invention relates to a cell for testing geomaterials on cylindrical specimens, of rock, ground or materials manufactured on sampling sites, including at least one piston for subjecting a specimen to a stress directed along the longitudinal axis of the specimen. According to the invention, the cell has, in addition, means for shearing the specimen, capable of cracking the specimen while it is being compressed in said at least one piston.
US08770037B2

In at least one implementation, a method for determining the stiffness of a structure may include connecting a test member to the structure, directing a beam of light at a measurement surface carried by at least one of the test member or the structure, impacting an impact surface carried by the test member with a known impact force, and determining the movement of the measurement surface that is caused by the impact. The movement of the measurement surface may be determined as a function of changes in the length of the beam of light and the stiffness of the structure may be a function of the magnitude of the measurement surface movement.
US08770030B2

An ultrasonic transmitter and receiver includes a MEMS composite transducer. The MEMS composite transducer includes a substrate. Portions of the substrate define an outer boundary of a cavity. A first MEMS transducing member includes a first size. A first portion of the first MEMS transducing member is anchored to the substrate. A second portion of the first MEMS transducing member extends over at least a portion of the cavity and is free to move relative to the cavity. A second MEMS transducing member includes a second size that is smaller than the first size of the first MEMS transducing member. A first portion of the second MEMS transducing member is anchored to the substrate. A second portion of the second MEMS transducing member extends over at least a portion of the cavity and is free to move relative to the cavity. A compliant membrane is positioned in contact with the first and second MEMS transducing members. A first portion of the compliant membrane covers the first and second MEMS transducing members. A second portion of the compliant membrane is anchored to the substrate.
US08770024B1

A fiber optic accelerometer has a hollow body that supports an optical fiber therein so as to form a cantilever section, a fiber optic splitter coupled to a first end of the optical fiber and a light source for directing light into the optical fiber via a first branch of the optical splitter. A photo detector receives light conveyed through the optical fiber via a second branch of the optical splitter and measures an intensity of the received light. A reflective target supported at a second end of the hollow body is axially aligned with the second end of the optical fiber in the absence of force. Upon acceleration the cantilever section moves such that its position relative to the reflective target changes thereby reducing the instantaneous intensity of light reflected by the target into the second end of the optical fiber and measured by the photo detector.
US08770020B2

Systems and methods for testing a sleep support member. A system including at least one pressing structure, wherein the at least one pressing structure includes at least one of a heater and a moisture device; and a controller configured to control pressing of the pressing structure onto the sleep support member, wherein the controller is configured to control at least one of heat provided by the heater and moisture provided by the moisture device. A method including controlling pressing of at least one pressing structure onto a sleep support member, wherein the at least one pressing structure includes at least one of a heater and a moisture device; and controlling at least one of heat provided by the heater and moisture provided by the moisture device.
US08770017B2

A method of producing an insert molded sensor assembly having at least one sensor element accommodated on a first side of a circuit board of the sensor assembly. During a first step, a plurality of pins are introduced and penetrate through the circuit board. The circuit board, including the at least one sensor element, is then disposed, during a second step, into a two-part insert mold tool so that the pins are supported on both sides of the circuit board in a direction transverse to a plane defined by the circuit board. A defined spacing distance, between a surface of the sensor element and the insert mold tool, is produced by the pins. During a third step of the method, the insert mold tool is filled with insert molding material, particularly a duroplast.
US08770014B2

A control system and method for detecting a hydraulic system leak in an engine includes a pressure sensor that senses a first pressure reading of a hydraulic fluid supply at a first time and a second pressure reading of said hydraulic fluid supply at a second time. A comparison module calculates a pressure ratio based on the first and second pressure readings and signals a fault condition based on a relationship between the pressure ratio and a pressure threshold.
US08770008B2

The function of a measuring device can be tested using a healthy person as an external control, provided that this person fulfils certain criteria and that particular method steps are adhered to.
US08770001B2

The invention relates to a remote control device with a stowable key, in particular for an automobile, which comprises a remote control casing including two lower (1) and upper (2) shells, an insert (3) defining a key-bit pivotally mounted between an extended use position and a stowed position inside the casing, and an elastic return mechanism for returning the insert to the extended position, which comprises a push button (4) provided on the upper shell (2). According to the invention, the insert (3) rotates directly about said button (4) which is rotatingly connected with the upper shell (2), and includes rotational indexing means with said insert (3) that can be declutched by pushing said button (4).
US08769993B2

Provided is a silicon electromagnetic casting apparatus that is capable of stably producing polycrystalline silicon used as a solar cell substrate material, having a bottomless cold mold and an induction heating coil, the apparatus for pulling down the silicon melted through electromagnetic induction heating by means of the induction coil and solidifying the silicon melt; further including a plasma torch for generating a transferable plasma arc and a top heater configured so as to face a top surface of the molten silicon, the top heater for generating heat through electromagnetic induction by means of the induction coil. The apparatus enables, upon production of a high quality polycrystalline silicon ingot as a solar cell substrate material along with plasma heating, stable production thereof without cracking in a final solidification portion.
US08769989B2

A cleaving apparatus holds at least one surface (effective surface) of a band-like glass film in a non-contact state to suppress a situation that wavy portions reach a region in which the band-like glass film is to be cleaved. The cleaving apparatus cleaves the band-like glass film, which is being conveyed in a longitudinal direction thereof, along a conveyance direction thereof using a thermal stress generated through localized heating and cooling of a heated region. The localized heating and the cooling is performed on a preset cleaving line extending along the conveyance direction of the band-like glass film. The cleaving apparatus includes an air knife for supplying air to a front surface of the band-like glass film to retain the film on a conveyor at a position on an upstream side of a cleaving region in the conveyance direction.
US08769967B2

A heat pump, including first and second chambers enclosing phase change material, each chamber having an evaporator end with hydrophilic material and a condenser end with a hybrid hydrophobic/hydrophilic material. Each chamber is also operably connected to a respective electrocaloric element.
US08769964B2

A syngas cooler that includes an outer wall defining a cavity. A first membrane water wall is positioned within the cavity. A thermal siphon is positioned between the first membrane water wall and the outer wall and is configured to channel a flow of syngas therethrough to facilitate cooling the channeled syngas.
US08769963B2

A combustor-to-transition seal (301) includes a spring clip assembly (322, 422, 522) and a first spring metal ring (340, 441) or a ring assembly (440,540) that includes the first spring metal ring (441) and a second spring metal ring (442). Such combustor-to-transition seal (301) provides a first seal (321) and a second seal (331, 531) when at a junction of a combustor (108, 308, 508) and a transition (114, 314, 514). In an embodiment, the first spring metal ring (340) has a plurality of apertures (342) through the ring (340) that provide effusion cooling of the ring (340). The plurality of apertures (342) regulates a flow of cooling fluid to maintain an acceptable temperature of the ring (340). In an alternative embodiment, the second spring metal ring (442) has grooves (446) that regulate a flow of cooling fluid to maintain an acceptable temperature of the ring assembly (440).
US08769960B2

A combustion chamber device having a field static pressure gradient adapted to expel a flame kernel or hot spot from a fuel-air mixing duct. The swirling flow passing through an annular mixing duct is turned from a radial direction to an axial direction before entering the combustion chamber. An ignition source located within the fuel-air mixing duct can then be used to start the combustion process in the gas turbine.
US08769958B2

A flame-holder device for an afterburner of a turbofan, the turbofan including a first inner annular casing and a second inner annular casing, these defining a passage for a primary flow, and an outer annular casing defining with the first inner annular casing a passage for a secondary flow, including at least one arm-support made of metallic material configured to be fixed to the outer casing by an upper plate and at least one flame-holder arm of a one-piece structure of composite material including two mutually attached walls arranged to define a groove whose profile is approximately a V. The walls support, on their upper part situated in the secondary flow, a fixing mechanism for fixing to the arm-support. The upper parts are approximately planar and are positioned facing each other.
US08769954B2

A fluid manifold apparatus includes: (a) an array of spaced-apart manifold fittings, each manifold fitting aligned in a predetermined angular orientation. Each manifold fitting includes: (i) a tubular neck; (ii) a pair of spaced-apart tubular arms extending away from a first end of the neck; and (iii) a coupling connected to a second end of the neck; and (b) a plurality of curved tubes, each tube being coupled to one arm of each of two adjacent manifold fittings.
US08769953B2

A power plant includes a power machine and a flue gas flow path following downstream of the power machine. A flue gas flow path is scavenged with fresh air before the flue gas flow path is acted upon with flue gas. To carry out the scavenging operation, air is extracted from a pressure accumulator and the air is introduced into the flue gas flow path downstream of the power machine. The power machine can be an exhaust gas heat exchanger.
US08769951B2

[Problem to be solved] To achieve a reduction in facility costs in a geothermal power-generation system.[Solution] To provide a compressor 11 that compresses air, a heating device 14 that heats compressed air compressed by the compressor 11 by geothermal heat, a turbine 12 that obtains a rotational force by heated compressed air heated by the heating device 14, and a generator 13 that generates power by the rotational force inputted from the turbine 12.
US08769946B2

A cooling system configured for converting thermal energy to mechanical energy includes a source of thermal energy provided by a temperature difference between a heat source having a first temperature and a coolant having a second temperature that is lower than the first temperature. The cooling system includes a cooling circuit configured for conveying the coolant to and from the heat source. The cooling circuit includes a conduit and a pump in fluid communication with the conduit and configured for delivering the coolant to the heat source. The cooling system also includes a heat engine disposed in thermal relationship with the conduit and configured for converting thermal to mechanical energy. The heat engine includes a first element formed from a first shape memory alloy having a crystallographic phase changeable between austenite and martensite at a first transformation temperature in response to the temperature difference between the heat source and coolant.
US08769936B2

A method for monitoring a regulated emissions concentration C, in the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine is provided. The method comprises directing the exhaust gas through an exhaust-gas turbocharger, directing at least a portion of the exhaust gas through an exhaust-gas recirculation system, measuring an air ratio λmeas in the exhaust gas with a lambda probe, measuring a rotational speed nT of the exhaust-gas turbocharger with a sensor, and determining the regulated emission concentration Ci based on the air ratio λmeas and the rotational speed nT. In this way, the emission concentration of the exhaust may be determined as a function of the rotational speed of the turbine.
US08769932B2

A cold start NO2 generation system includes a catalyst control module that identifies a portion of a three-way catalyst that corresponds to a nitrogen dioxide zone. A diagnostic module determines a temperature in the nitrogen dioxide zone, and a fuel control module adjusts an air/fuel ratio based on the temperature in the nitrogen dioxide zone. A cold start NO2 generation method includes identifying a portion of a three-way catalyst that corresponds to a nitrogen dioxide zone. The method further includes determining a temperature in the nitrogen dioxide zone and adjusting an air/fuel ratio based on the temperature in the nitrogen dioxide zone.
US08769931B2

A low pressure exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooler efficiency diagnosis method for an EGR system includes measuring speed and load of an engine, setting a difference threshold between model temperature and detected temperature downstream of the low pressure EGR cooler according to speed and load of the engine, measuring a pressure difference between upstream and downstream sides of the EGR valve, calculating a mass flow rate of an exhaust gas passing through the low pressure EGR cooler based on the measured pressure difference, calculating the efficiency of the low pressure EGR cooler based on the calculated mass flow rate, calculating the model temperature downstream of the low pressure EGR cooler based on the calculated efficiency, and comparing the model temperature downstream of the low pressure EGR cooler with the detected temperature downstream of the low pressure EGR cooler. A low pressure EGR system is also disclosed.
US08769927B2

A method and system for controlling recirculated exhaust gas composition and quantity provided to an internal combustion engine, which has one or more separately controllable combustion cylinders, a main exhaust line and an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) loop. A first exhaust valve is connected to the main exhaust line, and a second exhaust valve is connected to the EGR loop. The operation of the exhaust valves is controlled such that exhaust does not flow through both exhaust valves at the same time. Control of the exhaust valves is coordinated with the main fueling event used to control the exhaust composition exiting each valve for every cylinder on every cycle. During each engine cycle, a post-combustion fuel injection event is also used to add fuel to the exhaust in-cylinder, which flows only through the second (EGR) exhaust valve.
US08769925B2

A thrust vectorable fan variable area nozzle (FVAN) includes a synchronizing ring, a static ring, and a flap assembly mounted within a fan nacelle. An actuator assembly selectively rotates synchronizing ring segments relative the static ring to adjust segments of the flap assembly to vary the annular fan exit area and vector the thrust through asymmetrical movement of the thrust vectorable FVAN segments. In operation, adjustment of the entire periphery of the thrust vectorable FVAN in which all segments are moved simultaneously to maximize engine thrust and fuel economy during each flight regime. By separately adjusting the segments of the thrust vectorable FVAN, engine trust is selectively vectored to provide, for example only, trim balance or thrust controlled maneuvering.
US08769923B2

Disclosed is a liquid-fuel storage vessel for use in a vapor jet system to store liquid fuel, wherein the vapor jet system is adapted to jet the fuel in a state after being vaporized inside the liquid-fuel storage vessel, outside the liquid-fuel storage vessel, to obtain a thrust. The liquid-fuel storage vessel comprises: a hollow tank for storing the liquid fuel, wherein the tank has an ejection port for ejecting the vaporized fuel, outside the liquid-fuel storage vessel therethrough; a heating device for heating the tank; and a porous metal formed to have a plurality of interconnected cells and provided inside the tank, wherein at least a part of the liquid fuel is held in the cells of the porous metal, and heat energy given from the heating device to the tank is transferred to the liquid fuel through the porous metal to cause vaporization of at least a part of the liquid fuel. The liquid-fuel storage vessel of the present invention can obtain a stable thrust level and ensure spacecraft attitude control.
US08769920B2

A hydraulically driven swather tractor can move in a cab forward orientation in a working mode with a header on the forward end and can be rotated to engine forward in the transport position for more stable higher speed travel. A system is provided for transferring the header from field to transport position automatically from the cab and includes an arm which permanently connects to the header from the tractor independently of the lift and float mounting system such that in the working position the arm remains connected to the tractor and the header while allowing movement of the header relative to the tractor. Also in the transport position, with the header disconnected from the mounting system, the arm extends from the tractor to the mounting system of the header for supporting the forward end of the header for towing the header longitudinally.
US08769919B2

A crop harvesting header with a cutter bar and a draper assembly has a draper which includes a front edge of the upper run of the draper arranged at a position adjacent to but spaced from the cutter bar and there is provided a sealing member extending along the cutter bar. The sealing member is co-extruded to form a constant cross-sectional shape along the full length and to define a first portion of a stiffer plastics material attached to the cutter bar and a second blade portion of a more flexible plastics material which extends rearwardly from the first portion at the cutter bar to lie over and in contact with a bead along a front edge portion of the draper.
US08769907B2

Construction elements and methods of using and making them in a structurally strong manner are disclosed. The construction element and the method of making it may be in the form of an elongated beam, a post or other. The element may include a generally tubular open frame formed of a series of conjoined octahedral sections constructed and arranged in a side by side manner joined together by conjoined pairs of tetrahedral sections disposed intermediate the octahedral sections. Each pair of octahedral sections may be constructed and arranged such that they are conjoined together by a common member, also common with the intermediate tetrahedral sections. The method may include forming an upright structure, using at least one large construction element having a plurality of octahedral and tetrahedral sections, and positioning at least one small construction element within an opening within the sections of the large construction element and affixing thereto.
US08769903B2

Disclosed herein are various embodiments of a batten system comprising thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) membranes. In an embodiment, a batten may comprise a plurality of TPO membranes heat sealed together. The heat sealed TPO membranes may include a plurality of unsealed areas between the membranes for engaging one or more coupling devices. Slate shingles may be hung from the one or more coupling devices.
US08769896B2

An artificial stone is disclosed for use in creating a covering for a supporting surface. The artificial stone includes a body for placement on the supporting surface, which is shaped for mating engagement with like stones with intermediate perimeter joints to produce a continuous surface covering. The stone has a facing surface on the body, which facing surface has a contour defining a surface area and is subdivided by at least one simulated joint into a major surface portion and at least one minor surface portion. The major surface portion is free of simulated joints and extends over at least about 60% of the total surface of the facing surface. The stone further includes at least one perimeter recess in the body for generating a gap between the stone and another like stone in mating engagement therewith, which gap is wider than adjacent the adjoining perimeter joint. Stones of this construction can easily be arranged in a regular, repeated pattern to generate a continuous covering for the supporting surface with the surface of the resulting covering having an irregular, natural appearance. The irregular top contours of the stones, the uneven division of the facing surface and the perimeter recesses and the resulting gaps between mating stones simulate the appearance of a natural stone surface covering for walkways, roadways, pavements or walls.
US08769889B2

A method for the production of a frame-shaped spacer for insulating glass panes which includes individual glass plates spaced by adhering the spacer to them, including the steps of selecting a metallic hollow profile bar, which includes an outer wall, an inner wall opposite the outer wall and two flanks which are parallel to one another, the inner wall and the outer wall being narrower than the hollow profile bar, and forming the spacer from the hollow profile bar, so that their flanks face the glass plates.
US08769885B2

An apparatus and system to removably install, or replace, an awning panel. The awning panel is mounted on a wall or structure or similar vertical surface by insertion into a pair of mounting brackets that have been affixed to the wall. The mounting brackets may be mounted at any distance apart, and thus may accommodate awnings of different sizes. The mounting brackets comprise a right and left bracket, each comprising an angled support art, a holding member, a vertical support member, and a top support member. Supporting members along the sides of the awning panel slide into the space or slot formed by the angled support arm and the holding piece, and is further supported by the angled support arm extending along the underside of the supporting members. The angled support arm may be fixed at a set angle, or may be adjusted to different angles. A cover panel may be used to shield the awning panel, with the cover panel mounted on separate brackets or on the same brackets with the awning panel.
US08769876B2

A weatherstrip for use with a T-slot. The weatherstrip includes a scaling element, such as a pile of yarn, on one side thereof and a bead on the opposite side thereof. The bead includes a curved surface for engaging an interior surface of the T-slot. Preferably, the bead is a material which adheres to the weatherstrip and comprises a hot melt glue such as ethylene vinyl acetate.
US08769868B2

The invention relates to a microbial biomass composition produced from a heterotrophic fermentation whose fatty acid profile exhibits: an eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) to arachidonic acid (ARA) ratio of about 11:1 or more; an EPA to total co-concentrating fatty acid ratio of about 8:1 or more, extract compositions, and methods of producing such compositions.
US08769867B2

Systems, methods and media for generating fluid flow in an algae cultivation pond are disclosed. Circulation of fluid in the algae cultivation pond is initiated via at least one jet. The circulation of fluid generates a velocity of fluid flow of at least ten centimeters per second in the algae cultivation pond. A head is provided to the at least one jet that overcomes a head loss associated with the velocity of fluid flow of at least ten centimeters per second in the algae cultivation pond.
US08769865B2

A rodent management station includes a housing having a base and a lid together at least in part defining an interior space of the housing. The base has a floor panel and an upstanding wall extending up from the floor panel about at least a portion of the circumference thereof. The upstanding wall has an upper edge and at least one gutter disposed in and extending along at least a portion of the upper edge of the upstanding wall to facilitate water drainage from the upstanding wall. The lid is positionable relative to the base between a closed configuration and an opened configuration. The housing has an entry opening through which rodents enter the interior space of the housing. The rodent management station further includes least one of a trap and a bait positionable within the interior space of the housing.
US08769856B2

A universal rail for a firearm has a plurality of through holes and a plurality of attachment points for ancillary equipment along a length of the universal rail, a fastener so as to be fastenable to the firearm, and a power or signal connection point arranged in at least one attachment point of the plurality of attachment points. The power or signal connection point has at least two contact pins surrounded by a seal, and a resilient portion and inner contact faces. The power or signal connection point is further connected to conductors arranged in the universal rail. The resilient portion ensures that the at least two contact pins and contact points are out of contact with each other when the ancillary equipment is not mounted on the universal rail.
US08769853B1

A detachable handguard for firearms having a receiver defining a handguard mounting flange. Clamp members have hook-like ends that engage the handguard mounting flange and are attached to clamp actuating levers that are pivotally mounted to the handguard. The clamp members are positioned in clamping engagement with the mounting flange and are pivoted to clamping positions to force the handguard into tight assembly with the receiver and to move the connection of the clamp members with the actuating levers over-center, thus causing the clamp actuating levers to remain at their clamping positions. Lock members secure the clamp actuating levers at their clamping positions.
US08769850B1

A display apparatus for a medallion, challenge coin, or the like, provides a generally circular or other shape holder with an integral recess on the front surface thereof for receiving and retaining the medallion for display. The rear surface of the mount is preferably secured to the desired mounting surface by adhesive, and may includes a reservoir for the adhesive material in the form of a pair of arcuate channels. The display apparatus may be installed on a variety of surfaces, including several locations on a motorcycle, by shaping the rear surface of the mount to correspond to the shape of the surface of the desired mounting location.
US08769848B2

An excavation system employing a high-pressure pulsed air jet in combination with a low-pressure high velocity blower for excavating improvised explosive devices or other buried objects. The excavation system may also be employed to operate a pneumatic tool such as a cut-off tool or a chisel. The high velocity blower may incorporate a bifurcated fan duct having two air outlets. The system may include a pressure control module for regulating the from a high-pressure air source to an evacuation valve. The evacuation valve employs first and second valves where the second valve controls the operation of the first valve.
US08769837B2

The device relates to a device for marking, during nighttime riding through a transport vehicle such as bicycles, two-wheeled vehicles, electric wheelchairs, etc., a rider's temporary dedicated road lines by laser-emitting means mounted at the rear side of the transport vehicle, thereby ensuring the safety of the rider of the transport vehicle. The device includes: laser-emitting modules adapted to form luminous lines spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance on the road beside or behind the transport vehicle; a power supply module adapted to supply power to the laser-emitting modules; an external housing adapted to accommodate the laser-emitting modules thereinto; and a fixing module adapted to fix the external housing to the transport vehicle.
US08769829B2

The invention relates to a portable electric tool having an active head motor-driven by an actuator and provided on the top end of a head-mounting shaft, the bottom portion of which has a handle, characterized in that a second shaft, or auxiliary shaft, is attached or arranged to be attachable onto the head-mounting shaft underneath and remote from said active head while forming, at least in the proximal portion thereof, an acute angle with said head-mounting shaft. The size of said auxiliary shaft being such that the free end thereof, provided with a handle, is located at or substantially at the handle being provided with the bottom part of the head-mounting shaft, one of said handles constituting the control handle of said actuator.
US08769822B2

Dental prostheses may be manufactured based on electronic models of the prostheses. Manufacturing aids may be used to check manufacturing quality of the dental prosthesis and components thereof. For example, a jig may be used during and after the manufacture of the dental prostheses and systems and methods for using the same. A customized tooth die may be designed and fabricated to fit a dental prosthesis or components thereof in a jig for inspection. A customized jig may be designed and fabricated for inspecting a dental prosthesis or components thereof throughout the manufacturing process.
US08769819B2

Three methods of fabricating an intermediate, center or combination gear for a stacked planetary gear assembly are presented. A first method comprehends forming male splines on the outer surface of the inner (ring) gear and female splines on the inner surface of the outer (sun) gear. The gears are then heat treated and assembled. A second method comprehends broaching internal splines in the outer (sun) gear as well as end milling, broaching or polygon turning face splines on one end of the outer gear and an opposing, adjacent end of the inner (ring) gear. A third method includes fabricating and heat treating the inner and outer gears. A small area of the hardened case is then removed by, for example, machining. The gears are mated, heated rapidly by a pulse of electric current and upset in the heated region.
US08769816B2

A method of assembling a seal in a horizontal split plane gas turbine engine including providing a rotor assembly including a turbine blade assembly defining a forward face and a seal ring extending axially from the forward face. The rotor assembly is positioned extending through a lower compressor casing and a lower turbine casing, the positioning including tilting the rotor assembly at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis for the engine. An upper turbine casing is positioned over the tilted rotor assembly, and the upper and lower turbine casings define a circumferentially extending seal groove. The rotor assembly is moved in an axially forward direction to position the seal ring in axially overlapping relation within the seal groove. The longitudinal axis of the rotor assembly is then aligned with the longitudinal axis of the turbine engine to further position the seal ring within the seal groove.
US08769800B2

A process for making spare parts for refiners used for producing paper, in particular for making refiners for preparing paper pulps, where the pulp enters at one end and exits on the other side, passing through a rotary body or rotor or male component equipped with bars (or grooves) and a casing or stator or female component bearing fixed counter-bars. This process includes mechanical machining of unmachined sectors; routing or mechanical machining of the machined sectors to obtain a set of bars or grooves or holes; putting together the cone (rotor or stator by joining all of the sectors to the supporting flanges; mechanical machining (turning and grinding) to finish the cone; and balancing of the rotor or stator.
US08769799B2

A self locking fastener is disclosed herein which is self-contained and resists loosening even when used in applications and environments where the fastener is exposed to vibration. In one form the present invention provides a self locking screw-type fastener, methods of manufacturing and/or assembling such fasteners, and methods of fastening using such fasteners. In another form, the invention provides a self locking nut-type fastener, methods of manufacturing and/or assembling such fasteners, and methods of fastening using such fasteners. In still other forms, the invention provides components for creating self locking fasteners using at least in part conventional materials and/or fasteners, methods of manufacturing and/or assembling such fasteners, and methods of fastening using such fasteners. In another form, the invention provides prepackaged kits for customizable fasteners that purchasers can buy and use to assemble customized fasteners in accordance with the invention.
US08769797B2

Method for mounting a bush round a part (2) of a shaft with a force fit, which method comprises the following steps: providing a guide element (7, 23) with an outer surface (8) which is at least partly conical; providing the guide element (7, 23) in the extension of the aforesaid part (2) of the shaft (1); pushing the bush (5) over the guide element (7, 23) on the part (2) of the shaft (1).
US08769784B2

A portable apparatus is removably and communicatively connectable to a network device to communicate authentication or authorization credentials of a user in connection with the user logging into or entering into a transaction with a network site. The apparatus includes a communications port to connect and disconnect the apparatus to and from the network device and to establish a communication link with the network device when connected thereto. A processor receives a secure message from the network security server via the port. The message has a PIN for authenticating the user to the network site, and is readable only by the apparatus. The processor either transfers, via the port, the received PIN to an application associated with the network site that is executing on the network device or causes the apparatus to display the received PIN for manual transfer to the application associated with the network site.
US08769783B2

A buckle includes a male member having a pair of flexible arms mutually facing each other and disposed extending from a base part, and a female member to connect to the male member by coupling with the pair of arms. The male member has a flexible bridge connecting the pair of arms. The bridge is connected to an opposing face of each of the pair of arms facing the other arm. At the connecting portion where each of the pair of arms and the bridge are connected, the bridge is placed projecting toward the other arm from the opposing face on the arm following a tangential direction to a circle being centered on the base end of the arm and having a distance from the base end to the connecting portion as a radius.
US08769778B2

A tether clip apparatus preventing an A pillar from completely separating from a car body at the time of deploying an airbag, may include a pillar fixing clip fixed to the A pillar, a car body fixing clip configured to be fixed to a car body panel, inserted with the pillar fixing clip, and preventing the A pillar from completely separating from the car body panel while moving within the pillar fixing clip at the time of deploying the airbag, and a metal clip elastically supporting the pillar fixing clip and the car body fixing clip so as not to separate from each other.
US08769776B2

Cable adjusting devices are presented including: a base plate; a pair of walls connected with the base plate along a top surface, where each of the pair of walls includes an outer surface and an inner surface, where the inner surfaces of the pair of walls form a v-groove, and where the inner surfaces include, a number of gripping ridge pairs, and a locking ridge pair disposed alongside one end of the number of gripping ridge pairs at the distal end of the base plate; a keeper bar extending between the pair of walls at the proximal end of the base plate; and an attachment point disposed along the bottom surface of the base plate along at least the distal end or the proximal end.
US08769754B2

Disclosed is an electric toothbrush including a toothbrush plate having a cleaning brush installed thereon; a toothbrush head having a storage within which the toothbrush plate is stored; a toothbrush body that is connected to the toothbrush head and has a storage space formed therein; a flat type vibration motor that is disposed between the toothbrush plate and the toothbrush head; and a power supply unit that includes a power supply that is disposed in the storage space of the toothbrush body and supplies the vibration motor with power, a power supply switch connected to the power supply and a wire that is electrically connected to the vibration motor and the power supply switch and supplies the vibration motor with power.
US08769749B2

A cleaning device for cleaning a mixing vaporizer is provided. The mixing vaporizer includes a first hole that a raw material flows in therethrough, a second hole that carrier gas flows in therethrough, a mixing space that generates mixed gas by mixing the raw material and the carrier gas, a carrier gas nozzle that is connected to the second hole for supplying the carrier gas to the mixing space, and a third hole that discharges the mixed gas. The cleaning device cleans the mixing vaporizer by circulating a cleaning solution through at least one the first hole, the second hole, and the third hole.
US08769739B1

An easy-installable bracket for retaining a bed mattress is provided. The bracket is adapted to be disposed on a bed frame having a head portion and a feet portion. The bracket includes two seats and a bracket member. Each of the seats has a bottom plate for fixed at the feet portion of the bed frame, and an arcuate portion extended from the bottom plate. Two passages are respectively defined between the arcuate portions of the seats and the feet portion. The bracket member has a vertical portion, two front-extending sections respectively extended from two bottom ends of the vertical portion toward the head portion of the bed frame, and two parallel rear-extending sections respectively extended from distal ends of the front extending sections toward the feet portion. The rear-extending sections are slidably received in the passages respectively.
US08769738B2

A bassinet set is used for hanging on a playard. The bassinet set includes a bassinet and a placing device. The bassinet has at least one first angle adjusting sleeve formed on an inner wall of the bassinet. The placing device is removably disposed on the bassinet. The placing device includes a holding body and a tubular frame. The holding body is used for holding an infant. The tubular frame is disposed around the holding body. The tubular frame includes a first end portion and the second end portion. The second end portion is used for detachably connecting to the first end portion after the first end portion passes through the first angle adjusting sleeve, so as to make the holding body oblique to the bassinet.
US08769737B1

An infant bed system having a base, a mattress with a top surface having a half-pipe indentation, the mattress is shaped and sized to be snugly placed atop the base, legs that extend downwardly from the base, and raised side walls that extend upwardly from the side wall of the base. A vibrating component in the base is adapted to provide vibrations to the mattress. A speaker produces womb sounds or heartbeat sounds. A control panel on the base allows for turning on and off of the system.
US08769736B2

An overflow plate concealing device for bathtubs that is associated with a plate of an overflow system of the bathtub. This aspect of the invention allows the overflow plate to be concealed to allow the user to alter the aesthetic appearance of their bathtub or repair the same.
US08769734B2

A remote-controlled vehicle for collecting and transporting bio-waste that is capable of compacting bio-waste, dumping the waste in a variety of ways, and that has a rechargeable battery, among other functions, is disclosed. A system for collecting the bio-waste material also is provided. The system includes a plurality of collection receptacles associated with a structure, each of the plurality of collection receptacles receiving the bio-waste material without the use of water as a carrier. A transport network extends from each of the plurality of collection receptacles to at least one storage receptacle located at the structure. A plurality of vehicles, or carts, is disposed within the transport network and collect the bio-waste material.
US08769729B2

A linear heater is formed of an enamel wire composed of a heating wire and an enamel layer. The heating wire is made of a copper alloy containing silver, for example. The enamel layer is made of polyester imide (PEI), polyimide (PI) or polyamide imide (PAI), for example. The enamel layer is coated with an insulating coating layer. The insulating coating layer is made of fluororesin such as perfluoroalkoxy mixture (PFA), polyimide (PI), or polyamide imide (PAI). The linear heater is bonded to the lower surface of an upper toilet seat casing such that it is sandwiched between a metal foil and a metal foil made of aluminum, for example.
US08776260B2

A mesh grid protection system is provided. The system includes grid lines forming a mesh grid proximate to operational logic and assertion logic configured to transmit a first set of signals on a first set of grid lines. The system also includes transformation logic coupled to the grid lines and configured to receive the first set of signals and transform the first set of signals to generate a second set of signals and transmit the second set of signals on a second set of grid lines. The system further includes verification logic coupled to the transformation logic and configured to compare the second set of signals to an expected set of signals.
US08776255B2

The formulation of a security token that specifies role information corresponding to one or more roles of a requesting entity that is to request an action to be performed on a resource. The formulation begins by accessing one or more claims, each having an expression regarding the requesting entity. The expression for at least one of the claims is evaluated to thereby assign the requesting entity to one or more identities. The identities are then used determine role information to include in a role-based security token that may be submitted to the computing system that manages the resources.
US08776249B1

A method is performed at a computer system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs executed by the one or more processors. The method includes generating a document, including marking one or more portions of the document as private; and sending the document to an intermediary system for transmission to a destination system. Prior to the document being transmitted to the destination system, the marked portions of the document are encrypted by the intermediary system using a key that is unavailable to the destination system.
US08776248B2

Machine-readable media, methods, apparatus and system for booting a processing system are described. In an embodiment, whether to launch an open operating system or a closed operating system to boot a processing system may be determined. A key may be retrieved from a processor register of the processing system and used to decrypt an encrypted version of the closed operating system based at least in part on a determination of booting the processing system with the closed operating system. In another embodiment, the processor register stored with the key may be flushed based at least in part on a determination of booting the processing system with the open operating system.
US08776239B2

In-development vulnerability response management, in one aspect, may detect a code instance that matches a vulnerability pattern; generate one or more hints associated with the code instance in response to the detecting; retrieve an action response to the code instance that matches a vulnerability pattern; and associate the retrieved action response with the code instance.
US08776228B2

Systems and methods are provided for intrusion detection. The systems and methods may include receiving transaction information related to one or more current transactions between a client entity and a resource server, accessing a database storing a plurality of transaction groups, analyzing the received transaction information with respect to information related to at least one of the plurality of transaction groups, and based on said analyzing, determining a possibility of an occurrence of an intrusion act at the resource server. The transaction groups may be formed based on a plurality of past transactions between a plurality of client entities and the resource server. Identity information of a user associated with the one or more current transactions may also be received along with the transaction information. The user may be associated with at least one of the plurality of transaction groups.
US08776227B1

Malware with fake or misleading anti-malware user interfaces (UIs) are detected. Processes running on a computer system are monitored and their window creation events are detected. The structures of the created windows are retrieved to detect presence of UI features that are commonly presented in known fake or misleading anti-malware UIs (“fakeAVUIs”). If a window includes a UI feature commonly presented in known fakeAVUIs, that window is determined suspicious and additional tests are applied to determine the validity of information in the window. If the information in the window is determined invalid, then the process that created the window is determined to be malware and a remediating action is applied to the process.
US08776224B2

According to an aspect of this invention, a method to detect phishing URLs involves: creating a whitelist of URLs using a first regular expression; creating a blacklist of URLs using a second regular expression; comparing a URL to the whitelist; and if the URL is not on the whitelist, comparing the URL to the blacklist. False negatives and positives may be avoided by classifying Internet domain names for the target organization as “legitimate”. This classification leaves a filtered set of URLs with unknown domain names which may be more closely examined to detect a potential phishing URL. Valid domain names may be classified without end-user participation.
US08776222B2

A message screening system includes routing to a supervisory recipient an electronic message directed to an intended recipient. The supervisory recipient then is allowed to screen the electronic message by approving or rejecting the electronic message. The electronic message then is forwarded to the intended recipient if the electronic message is approved by the supervisory recipient.
US08776219B2

Selecting one or more applications from the plurality of similar or near redundant applications to activate. A method includes retrieving information about current characteristics of one or more applications. The method further includes retrieving information about a current computing operational landscape. Based on the information about current characteristics of one or more applications and the information about a current computing operational landscape, the method further includes creating a ranking of applications. The rankings are made available to a system with a plurality of applications with similar or near redundant functionality. At the system, one or more of the applications in the plurality of applications are selected to activate based on the ranking of applications.
US08776218B2

In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for behavioral-based threat detection. An executing computer process is monitored for an indication of malicious behavior, wherein the indication of the malicious behavior is a result of comparing an operation with a predetermined behavior, referred to as a gene. A plurality of malicious behavior indications observed for the executing process are compared to a predetermined collection of malicious behaviors, referred to as a phenotype, which comprises a grouping of specific genes that are typically present in a type of malicious code. Upon matching the malicious behavior indications with a phenotype, an action may be caused, where the action is based on a prediction that the executing computer process is the type of malicious code as indicated by the phenotype. Related user interfaces, applications, and computer program products are disclosed.
US08776212B2

A router is placed between a protected computer and devices with which the computer communicates, including peripherals and other computers. The router includes a list of authorized devices that are permitted to send data to the protected computer, against which requests to send data are checked. The router also communicates with a remote authentication service to authenticate devices requesting such permission. The authentication service may be a cloud-based identity service.
US08776207B2

Methods and systems for balancing load among firewall security devices are provided. According to one embodiment, a switch maintains a session table the session entries of which represent established traffic sessions between a source and a destination and form an association between the traffic session and a particular firewall security device (FSD). Responsive to receiving a packet of a first traffic session on a first port, a determination is made whether there exists a matching session entry. Responsive to a negative determination, a load balancing function is performed to select an FSD with which to associate the first traffic session and a corresponding reverse second traffic session. After processing of the packet by the selected FSD and receipt of the packet at a second port, a session entry is installed within the session table for the second traffic session and which associates the selected FSD with the second traffic session.
US08776203B2

An access authorizing apparatus includes a receiving unit, a first transmitting/receiving unit, a token issuer and a transmitting unit. A receiving unit receives first approval information indicating that access to the resource in the device has been approved by an access approver, from the first application via the network. A first transmitting/receiving unit transmits an access approval request including the first approval information to the access approving apparatus, and receives access enable/disable information indicating whether the access to the resource by the first application is permitted, from the access approving apparatus. A token issuer, when the access enable/disable information indicates that the access to the resource is permitted, issues token information that gives authority to access the resource to the first application. A transmitting unit transmits the token information issued by the token issuer, to the first application.
US08776202B2

A Trusted Routing Point (TROP) generates a signaling message that includes an authorization token used to authorize a firewall to open a pinhole. The signaling message contains a first indicator that indicates whether a data field in the signaling message represents a source address of a media flow. The signaling message also includes a second indicator that indicates whether the firewall should derive the source address of the media flow from the data field. The authorization token is generated using a one-way hash function over information that may be included in the signaling message, including the first indicator and the second indicator.
US08776194B2

Disclosed are various embodiments for authentication management services, where authentication services of network sites may support authentication management clients associated with different authentication management services. An authentication request is obtained by way of an authentication protocol from an authentication management client executed in a client computing device. The authentication request specifies a security credential associated with a user account. The user account at the client computing device is authenticated for access to at least one secured resource of a network site in response to the authentication request and in response to the authentication management client being supported.
US08776180B2

Instrumented networks, computer systems and platforms having target subjects (devices, transactions, services, users, organizations) are disclosed. A security orchestration service generates runtime operational integrity profiles representing and identifying a level of threat or contextual trustworthiness, at near real time, of subjects and applications on the instrumented target platform. Methods and systems are disclosed for calculating security risks by determining subject reputation scores. In an embodiment, a system receives a query for a reputation score of a subject, initiates directed queries to external information management systems to interrogate attributes associated with the subject, and analyzes responses. The system receives a hierarchical subject reputation score based on a calculus of risk and returns a reputation token. In another embodiment, a method provides real time attestation of a subject's reputation to a service provider using an endpoint trust agent, and a trust orchestrator comprising a reputation broker and a trust broker.
US08776178B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus are presented for providing unlimited access to either or both of media content, such as music, and applications. A media server environment can be provided, which maintains an instance of each subscriber account, a central archive of media content, and an application catalog. Selected media content can be downloaded to, and stored locally at, a subscriber device, such as on a secure storage device. Also, selected applications can be locally installed on the subscriber device. Access to the local media content and locally installed applications can be controlled through the media server environment based on the status of the subscriber's account. If the subscriber's account becomes inactive, access to the downloaded media content and installed applications can be disabled. Once the subscriber's account is reactivated, access to the downloaded media content and applications can be restored.
US08776177B2

A remote user persona is received at a computing device. The computing device includes a local user persona having a plurality of subsets relating to preferences of a user of the computing device. The remote user persona is synchronized with the local user persona at the computing device and, accordingly, the behavior of the computing device is adjusted.
US08776169B2

Disclosed herein are systems and methods that allow for secure access to websites and web-based applications and other resources available through the browser. Also described are systems and methods for secure use and retention of user credentials, as well as methods for dynamic authentication of users and integrity checking of service providers in online environments. Thus, described in the present specification are systems and methods for constructing and destroying private, secure, browsing environments (a secure disposable browser), insulating the user from the threats associated with being online for the purposes of providing secure, policy-based interaction with online services.
US08776166B1

A device may include an interface to send authentication information to a plug-in, where the authentication information is related to a client device. The interface may send a policy identifier to the plug-in, where the policy identifier identifies a policy, and may receive a policy result from the plug-in, where the policy result is produced using the authentication information and a policy requirement identified by the policy identifier, and where the policy result identifies whether the client device complies with the policy.
US08776159B2

A content distribution system is provided, in which time-shift viewing among a plurality of devices can be realized. The system includes, a device group management unit which manages a group to which audio-visual devices capable of realizing time-shift viewing mutually belong; a viewing state management unit which acquires viewing information of a content by the audio-visual device, and a time shift control unit which transmits permission information for viewing the content in a time-shifted manner and the viewing information of the content acquired by the viewing state management unit, to the audio-visual device included in the group managed by the device group management unit, in response to a time shift request issued by the audio-visual device.
US08776156B2

According to one exemplary embodiment, a content receiving apparatus includes: a first receiver which receives a first identifier of first content from a first external apparatus; a generator which employs the first identifier to generate a second identifier of second content that corresponds to the first content but has different quality from the first content; a transmitter which transmits a content request including the second identifier to a second external apparatus different from the first external apparatus; and a second receiver which receives data of the second content transmitted from the second external apparatus in response to the content request.
US08776155B2

Embodiments provide solutions to reduce power utilization (either at individual cable modems or in the overall network) in future cable networks. Particularly, embodiments seek to reduce power utilization at individual cable modems and in the overall network, by pre-compensating upstream transmissions according to feedback channel characteristics received from the headend. According to embodiments, pre-compensation is performed using power filtering/amplification and/or bit loading. Pre-compensation can be performed individually per cable modem. Further, pre-compensation can be performed over the entire upstream frequency spectrum and/or over particular sub-hands of the frequency spectrum as appropriate for each cable modem.
US08776135B2

A digital television (DTV) signal for use in a DTV receiver includes an extended text table (ETT) which includes a header and a message body. The header includes a table identification extension field which serves to establish uniqueness of the ETT, and the message includes an extended text message (ETM). If the ETT is an event ETT, the table ID extension field includes an event identification which specifies an identification number of an event associated with the ETT. On the other hand, if the ETT is a channel ETT, the table identification extension field includes a source identification which specifies a programming source of a virtual channel associated with the ETT. A section-filtering unit included in the DTV receiver is able to use table identification extension fields of a plurality of ETTs for section-filtering a pertinent event or channel ETT from the ETTs.
US08776130B2

An apparatus, method and data structure for generating at least one table in a broadcast environment, are provided. The apparatus includes a generator to generate an event information table (EIT) and an extended text table (ETT). The ETT has program guide information for an n-hour span and has a transmission interval. The ETT has a transmission interval and program description information according to the EIT. The transmission interval of the EIT is shorter than the transmission interval of the ETT.
US08776125B2

A system and method for displaying an electronic program schedule guide is provided. The system has areas for displaying program schedule information. In addition, the system also has areas that may be used for advertising programs, products or services. In another embodiment, the system has areas for displaying messages to the user.
US08776123B2

A television apparatus includes a plurality of receiving units. The television apparatus includes a first receiving unit configured to receive a channel which broadcasts a program whose video image is displayed on a display unit, a second receiving unit configured to receive a plurality of channels while the video image is being displayed, a program information management unit configured to store genre information about programs broadcasted on the plurality of channels, and a control unit configured to determine a periodic check order of receiving the plurality of channels based on the genre information about the programs read by the program information management unit and to control the second receiving unit to periodically check and receive the plurality of channels according to the periodic check order.
US08776120B2

Provided are a remote controller and a method of controlling the remote controller, wherein the remote controller is operable to be in one of a first operating mode or a second operating mode, and which is connectable to a docking station, the remote controller including: an internal display screen, which displays at least one digital image; and a controller which may be operable to change between the first and second operating modes, wherein if the remote controller is connected to the docking station and if the remote controller is in the second operating mode, the controller controls the remote controller to change to the first operating mode to provide predetermined multimedia content.
US08776110B1

A terminal device includes a reproducing circuit for audio and video, an input device, a minimum storage medium storing a video slate program, and a network interface. The terminal device receives the audio and video through the network and provides appropriate outputs. The terminal device operates an application program through the network and displays operations of the application program on the display. The terminal device lacks a hard disk drive, large memories, internet browser software and a typical operating system. The video slate program, when executed, causes the terminal device to display one or more content frames on the display. The content frames include an OS frame that shows an image of operations of the application program, a phone frame that shows an image of remotely executing phone operation, a television frame that shows the video, and an advertisement frame that shows an image containing an advertisement.
US08776106B2

A method of monitoring video streams currently being displayed at a customer premises of an Internet Protocol television network. A plurality of Internet Protocol television video streams each currently being displayed by a respective one of a plurality of set-top box devices located at a customer premises and a universal resource locator being accessed at the customer premises are identified. The plurality of Internet Protocol television video streams currently being displayed by the respective set-top box devices are displayed together with the universal resource locator on a display device.
US08776090B2

A device may abstract access to hardware resources in the device to a single operating system (OS) running in the device utilizing an abstraction layer and a software partition. The abstraction layer and the software partition may enable virtualizing the hardware resources during interfacing between the single OS and the hardware resources, such that the actual characteristics and/or number of the hardware resources may be abstracted. The abstraction layer may comprise a hypervisor, which may be optimized to support network abstraction based operations. The software partition may enable managing configuration and/or use of the hardware resources via the abstraction layer. The hardware resources may comprise networking resources. Accordingly, operations of a plurality of virtual drivers within the OS corresponding to each of one or more of the plurality of hardware resources may be supported. Data transfers between the OS and the hardware resources may be performed via the software partition.
US08776072B2

A system management layer changes a current program with a program (door lock failure diagnosis judgment program, security judgment program, door lock judgment program, keyless entry judgment program or the like) to be executed by an application layer, in accordance with an operation mode of on-vehicle equipment. Priorities of programs are previously stored for each operation mode, and a priority judgment program contributes to judge the priority of operation request based on the operation mode. Thus, plural programs of each hierarchal layer are categorized into groups per operation mode, although complicating in the single hierarchal layer. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the priority judgment processing from complicating for the operation request output by each computer program.
US08776056B2

A maintenance system in which a user work made during a maintenance work is not lost is provided. Specifically, a user computing machine includes: a user data determination section determining, in a case that a name of a file received from a software update service is the same as a name of a file included in a VM that a user uses, whether the file included in the VM that the user uses is data created by the user; and a VM merge section copying a file except user data into the VM that the user uses in the received files by calling the user data determination section.
US08776036B2

A mechanism for determining support criteria for shared libraries based on their priority levels is described. A method of embodiments of the invention includes extracting interface provisioning detail relating to interfaces associated with shared libraries provided by an operating system running on a computer system. The interfaces include application binary interfaces (ABIs). The method further includes detecting interface usage detail associated with the interfaces. The interface usage detail is based on a frequency at which one or more interfaces are used by one or more third-party software programs running on the operating system. The method further includes comparing the interface provisioning detail with the interface usage detail to determine an importance level of each shared library, and analyzing comparison results obtained from the comparison. The analyzing includes assigning a priority level to each shared library based on its importance level.
US08776035B2

A compiler may optimize source code and any referenced libraries to execute on a plurality of different processor architecture implementations. For example, if a compute node has three different types of processors with three different architecture implementations, the compiler may compile the source code and generate three versions of object code where each version is optimized for one of the three different processor types. After compiling the source code, the resultant executable code may contain the necessary information for selecting between the three versions. For example, when a program loader assigns the executable code to the processor, the system determines the processor's type and ensures only the optimized version that corresponds to that type is executed. Thus, the operating system is free to assign the executable code to any processor based on, for example, the current status of the processor (i.e., whether its CPU is being fully utilized) and still enjoy the benefits of executing code that is optimized for whichever processor is assigned the executable code.
US08776032B2

Systems and methods that add specifications to procedures in a garbage collector for indicating what each procedure does. Such annotations can be added in the source code, to indicate what the source code is to do when it runs—hence enabling an automatic verification of the garbage collector by a verification component. The specification can be presented as a logical formula that can be readily processed by a theorem prover, which is associated with the verification component. Such logical formulas can further employ regions to specify correctness of the garbage collector.
US08776031B1

Embodiments of the present invention provide computer program products, methods, and systems for extracting and revising data for a resource embedded in a dynamic-link library (DLL) assembly. In various embodiments, the DLL assembly is loaded and data for a resource is extracted from the assembly. In particular embodiments, a manifest is created that includes a path for the extracted data extracted. This path includes information on placing the data for the resource into the assembly to construct a necessary DLL structure compatible with the program application. After the extracted data has been edited to create replacement data, in various embodiments, the replacement data is imported into the assembly based on the path for the extracted data and the assembly is compiled to create a revised DLL that may be read by the program application in place of or in addition to the original DLL assembly to utilize the replacement data.
US08776019B2

A system for the customization of user settings on a target instrument includes a configuration module configured for the customization of user settings on a target instrument, and a representation module communicably coupled to the configuration module. The representation module includes a duplicate of firmware from the target instrument. A method of production of a system for the customization of user settings on a target instrument, includes configuring a configuration module for the customization of user settings on a target instrument, communicably coupling the configuration module to a representation module; and disposing a duplicate of firmware from the target instrument in the representation module.
US08776015B1

A list of constructs is displayed on a user interface screen for a user to select a desired construct. A construct selected by the user is determined. Computing environments are presented on the user interface screen for the user to place the selected construct. The computing environments include at least one textual and at least one graphical computing environment. A selected computing environment into which the selected construct is being placed is identified. A position of the placed construct in the selected computing environment is determined. A template based on the selected computing environment is selected. The selected template is inserted into the selected computing environment.
US08776014B2

A method or software program that provides an analysis of a build, which can provide a developer with views of the build processes, is disclosed. Data is collected from the build. The collected data can include information regarding file access patterns from determining which files are accessed for read and which files are accessed for write by one or more software build tools and project interdependencies. The collected data can also include certain project properties, build configurations, intermediate directories such as logs, and other metadata of the build. The collected data is injected into a relational database that can be queried. Reports can be generated from the information stored in the database by tools that depict built projects and interdependencies. For example, the tools can be used to generate visualizations such as graphs.
US08776010B2

A system and method for facilitating development of a computer program that interfaces with a data store. A system queries the data store to retrieve interface information, including schema information corresponding to a portion of data in the data store relevant to a user application. The system uses the retrieved information to provide an integrated development environment (IDE) to a user. The IDE may include one or more features such as completion lists, tool tips, and quick info. The schema information may be used to create synthetic types for use in the target program. The interface information may be used to create synthetic elements to be inserted into a target program. The synthetic types may be used to perform static type checking during an editing session or a program compilation, or to provide the IDE services. During a build, the synthetic elements may be removed and replaced with data store access code, which is subsequently used during program runtime to access the store. The system enables a user to work with the data store as they would for built-in parts of their program.
US08776007B2

A cost per unit of processed code metric is determined based on a quantity of processed code during a given time period that is attributable to one or more developers, and a cost to develop the quantity of processed code during the time period attributable to the one or more developers. Also, a quality scaling factor is calculated based on quality measurements for the quantity of processed code. Thereafter, the cost per unit of processed code metric is scaled (or discounted) by the quality scaling factor to provide a cost of development index (CDI). Because the inputs to the quality scaling factor may be determined in an automated fashion, this CDI determination permits more rapid response to any adverse assessments. Furthermore, because direct measurement of code quality is employed, more meaningful insight is provided into the likelihood that end product, i.e., the software code, is of good quality.
US08776005B1

Computer-implemented techniques for modeling the mechanical behavior of integrated circuits using layout-dependent material properties are disclosed. The back end of line wiring that connects an integrated circuit to a substrate undergoes stresses and strains due to many heating and cooling cycles during a chip's packaging and lifecycle. Depending on integrated circuit design style, there may be vastly different thermal profiles across the integrated circuit. The mechanical behavior caused by the thermal cycles of the wire, vias, and insulators comprising the BEOL materials is simulated. Extraction of the integrated circuit structural information, regarding the BEOL materials, yields anisotropic information. Layout-dependent material volume fractions are computed using integrated circuit structural information. Anisotropic mechanical properties are determined based on the structural information. Mechanical responses are calculated based on the anisotropic material properties and the calculated material-volume fractions.
US08776003B2

The disclosure provides leakage power recovery that considers side transition times of multi-input cells. In one embodiment, a leakage power recovery system is disclosed that includes: (1) a power recovery module that considers side transitions when making a first conditional replacement of a cell in a path of a circuit design with a lower leakage cell and estimates delays and slack of the at least one path of the circuit design, and (2) a speed recovery module that makes a second conditional replacement of a slower lower leakage cell of the path with a higher leakage cell when there is a timing violation with respect to the path, determines if any other cells of the at least one path has a slower input transition and makes a third conditional replacement of a driver thereof to a higher leakage cell when the driver is one of the slower lower leakage cells.
US08776002B2

A variable Z0 impedance method (“Variable Z0”) for designing and/or optimizing antenna systems. The method provides that the value of an antenna's feed system characteristic impedance or apparatus internal impedance (Z0) changes as a true variable quantity during the antenna system design or optimization methodology. The value is allowed to be determined by the methodology, because different values of Z0 result in different antenna system performance. It is applied to any set of performance objectives on any antenna system wherein apparatus internal or transmission line characteristic impedance is an explicit or implicit parameter. Variable Z0 is applied to any design or optimization methodology. Structures include Yagi-Uda arrays, Meander Monopoles, and transmission line Multi-Stub Matching Networks, and can incorporate Central Force Optimization or Biogeography Based Optimization or other optimization algorithms.
US08775994B2

A method for checking for reliability problems of an integrated circuit that includes determining a total MOS transistor gate area for an entire integrated circuit. Based on the total MOS transistor gate area, a time dependent dielectric breakdown lifetime (TDDB) is calculated.
US08775993B2

A design system for designing an integrated circuit that includes a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and instructions to generate and edit a schematic of the integrated circuit, generate at least one recommended layout parameter of an integrated circuit device within the integrated circuit, extract the at least one recommended layout parameter during a layout stage of the integrated circuit, and calculate a circuit performance parameter of the integrated circuit using the at least one recommended layout parameter, and a user interface configured to display at least one of the circuit performance parameter and layout constraints of the integrated circuit device of the integrated circuit.
US08775991B2

A memory module has an array of connections. The array of connections is arranged in rows and columns such that there are first and second outer columns. Connections in the first and second outer columns can be interchanged to optimize double-side module placement on a substrate. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.
US08775990B1

Techniques for controlling alignment of conditions between modular functional blocks in an integrated circuit having a hierarchical network of modular functional blocks. The output of each functional block can be logically determined by its external inputs combined with internal state feedback and internal state and is derived from a pattern of prior external inputs. Alignment of output conditions from independent and interdependent functional blocks within the hierarchical network of functional blocks is induced to provide unique conditions by modifying internal state and timing alignments with internal data and internal controls within one or more of the modular functional blocks. Functional outputs from one or more of the modular functional blocks can be monitored based on the modified internal state and timing alignments. Pattern results can be generated based on the monitoring. Test results based on the pattern results can be stored.
US08775989B2

In the field of integrated circuit (IC) design it is common to use a plurality of design constraints files to provide the appropriate operational mode when checking the design. Designers typically use the Synopsis® design constraint (SDC) format to describe the constraints in each operational mode. Each time an operational mode is tested a corresponding SDC is used. By merging a plurality of SDCs into a single most pessimistic SDC, designers are able to ensure that the device will properly operate in all the defined operational modes. Only a single run of the merged SDC in the hypothetical mode is required thereby saving time as well as avoiding potential errors from conflicting constraints in different operational modes.
US08775987B1

Approaches are disclosed for testing a module of a circuit design. The module is simulated a first time using a testbench on a programmed processor. Event data is captured to a first file during the simulating. For each event, the event data describes a signal identifier, an associated signal value, and an associated timestamp. The event data of the first file is transformed into a hardware description language (HDL) replay module.
US08775986B1

A method is provided for synthesizing an HLL program. For one or more variables to observe and/or control in a function of the HLL program, a first code segment is added to the function in the HLL program. For each of the one or more variables a respective second code segment is also added to the HLL program. In response to encountering the first code segment during synthesis of the HLL program, a memory is instantiated in a synthesized design. In response to encountering the second code segment during synthesis of the HLL program, a respective interface circuit is instantiated in the synthesized design. Each interface circuit is configured to replicate a state of the corresponding variable in the memory during operation of the synthesized design. A table is generated that maps names of the one or more variables to respective memory addresses in the memory.
US08775985B2

A method and system to automate scan synthesis at register-transfer level (RTL). The method and system will produce scan HDL code modeled at RTL for an integrated circuit modeled at RTL. The method and system comprise computer-implemented steps of performing RTL testability analysis, clock-domain minimization, scan selection, test point selection, scan repair and test point insertion, scan replacement and scan stitching, scan extraction, interactive scan debug, interactive scan repair, and flush/random test bench generation. In addition, the present invention further comprises a method and system for hierarchical scan synthesis by performing scan synthesis module-by-module and then stitching these scanned modules together at top-level. The present invention further comprises integrating and verifying the scan HDL code with other design-for-test (DFT) HDL code, including boundary-scan and logic BIST (built-in self-test).
US08775982B2

The present disclosure provides an integrated circuit design method. In an example, a method includes receiving an integrated circuit design layout that includes an active region feature, a contact feature, and an isolation feature, wherein a portion of the active region feature is disposed between the contact feature and the isolation feature; determining whether a thickness of the portion of the active region feature disposed between the contact feature and the isolation feature is less than a threshold value; and modifying the integrated circuit design layout if the thickness is less than the threshold value, wherein the modifying includes adding a supplementary active region feature adjacent to the portion of the active region feature disposed between the contact feature and the isolation feature.
US08775976B2

An apparatus and method of setting a background screen of a mobile terminal are provided. The method includes receiving a selection of background screen set menu, generating a tag information list by using at least one tag information which classifies a plurality of images stored in the mobile terminal by related image, displaying the generated tag information list, receiving a selection of at least one tag information from among the displayed tag information list, and configuring a background screen with at least one image classified as the at least one selected tag information.
US08775973B2

Various embodiments are described that are related to displaying search requests on an interactive display device. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a method including receiving a search request input via a search request control displayed on the interactive display device, spawning a search result label spaced from the search request control, the search result label being a moveable element, and displaying the search result, the search result being spatially tethered to the search result label so that the search result moves to follow a movement of the search result label.
US08775964B2

The present invention provides a method an a device for mapping a virtual user input interface to a physical user input interface. The method is provided for mapping a virtual user input interface to a physical user input interface on a mobile terminal device. The mobile terminal device comprises a first physical user input interface, a display and a processing unit being connected to said display and said physical user interface, wherein an application is configured for use with a second user interface. The method of the invention comprises detecting an event indicative of an application to be executed that is configured for use with said second user interface and displaying a virtual user input interface representing said second user input interface on said display. If a physical user input is received on said first physical user input interface, it is mapping to said displayed virtual user input interface, and displayed as an indication of a virtual input on said displayed virtual user input interface.
US08775962B2

A graphical user interface (GUI) in which a user may navigate through states of an information technology (IT) management process by selecting or deselecting the selectable objects in the GUI. When the user selects a first object in a first display window of the GUI, the first display window is changed to represent a first state of the IT management process based on the selected object, and the second display window is changed to show computing objects and relationships associated with the selected object. When the user selects another associated object in the first display window, the first display window is changed to represent a second state of the IT management process based on the selected object, and the and the second display window is changed to show computing objects and relationships associated with the selected object.
US08775955B2

A plurality of digital resources are identified in a set of digital resources. An indication of a user selection of at least one criteria is received, the user selection received through a user interface. A degree of correlation is determined between each digital resource in the plurality and each of the criteria. Data is sent that is configured for use in presenting, in a window of the user interface, a plurality of graphical resource objects and at least one graphical attractor object, each graphical resource object representing a digital resource in the plurality of digital resources and each graphical attractor object representing one of the criteria. Each resource object is presented a distance from each attractor object, the distance based at least in part on the corresponding degree of correlation between the digital resource represented by the resource object and the criteria represented by the attractor object.
US08775954B2

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, which displays at least one graphic user interface (hereinafter abbreviated GUI) on a standby picture. The present invention includes a display unit configured to display a plurality of graphic user interfaces and a controller, when a state of a specific one of a plurality of the graphic user interfaces is changed, the controller controlling at least one of a display type, a applied visual effect, a play content and an arranged position of at least one of the rest of the graphic user interfaces except the specific graphic user interface to be changed to correspond to the changed state, wherein the arranged position indicates a position of the corresponding graphic user interface displayed on the display unit.
US08775953B2

Techniques are described for displaying projects of images as “collages”. Collages differ from conventional thumbnail displays of projects in that collages display an entire project as if the project were a single image. Consequently, collages better convey the characteristics of projects as a whole, while de-emphasizing the distinctiveness of individual images within the projects. When displayed as collages, side-by-side comparisons may be readily performed between projects as a whole. For example, a single display may include collages for multiple projects, thereby allowing viewers to quickly tell how the projects differ in a variety of ways, including but not limited to size of shoot or density of shoot, dominant color, mood, time of day, bracketed shots or bursts, location and subject matter. The content of the collage for a project is based on the individual images that belong to the project. However, details of the individual images on which the project image is based may not be readily discernible from the collage. In addition, not all individual images that belong to a project may be used in a collage. Techniques for selecting which individual images of a project to include in the project are also described.
US08775937B2

Various user interface systems and methods are disclosed. A primary software application has one or more primary user interfaces that include a data output region. Some primary user interfaces may also have primary input regions. A control application has one or more control interfaces in which control regions are provided. A user may use the input controls using a preferred input modality such as touch input. A primary user interface and a corresponding control interface are displayed in registration on a display screen of a computing system such that the data output region of the primary user interface and the control region of the control interface a simultaneously visible to a user. A software or hardware component within or coupled to the computing system may be controlled using the control interface. Data relating to the component is displayed in the output region.
US08775936B2

A controller is provided that provides help for applications, wherein the controller is different from all of the applications. The controller receives a command and identifies a location that a user was pointing to on a display device when the command was received. The controller finds on the display device, a first image within a predefined distance of the location where the user was pointing to on the display device when the command was received. The controller determines an identity of an application that generated the first image. The controller searches for help data based upon the identity of the application that generated the first image and based on the first image. The controller displays the help data if the searching finds the help data assigned to the first image and the application that generated the first image.
US08775934B2

A system for automatically generating a schematic user interface of an electrical system is disclosed. The system includes a data acquisition component, a power analytics server and a client terminal. The data acquisition component acquires real-time data output from the electrical system. The power analytics server is comprised of a virtual system modeling engine, an analytics engine, a machine learning engine and a schematic user interface creator engine. The virtual system modeling engine generates predicted data output for the electrical system. The analytics engine monitors real-time data output and predicted data output of the electrical system. The machine learning engine stores and processes patterns observed from the real-time data output and the predicted data output to forecast an aspect of the electrical system. The schematic user interface creator engine is configured to create a schematic user interface that is representative of the virtual system model and link the schematic user interface to the data acquisition component.
US08775932B2

A guided natural language interface, a method for guiding a user in specifying a color problem with a document image, and a set of templates for use in the interface and method are provided. The interface includes computer readable memory which stores a set of issue description templates, each template being configured for guiding a user in formulating a problem statement characterizing, in natural language, a problem related to color identified in an input document. A natural rendering engine receives information input by a user and/or information input from an associated problem detector, and instantiates one of the templates in response thereto. The natural language rendering engine is configured for presenting the problem statement to the user as it is refined and communicating information based on the refined problem statement to an associated problem corrector.
US08775931B2

An improved spell check function and handheld electronic device provide a spell checking feature that includes provides a preference to a spell check algorithm that based upon extensive selection by the user of spell check results generated by the algorithm.
US08775929B2

An information processing apparatus includes: a storage that stores document information; an image formation processor that receives an instruction to form an image corresponding to target document information selected from the document information stored in the storage, and that performs an image formation processing with respect to the target document information; a recording unit that records first information, which indicates that the image formation processing is performed, and associates the first information with the target document information; and a controller that controls, in a case where a request for processing with respect to the document information associated with the first information is received, to restrict the requested processing.
US08775925B2

Systems and methods for locally managing a user's interaction with content derived from web pages within the user interface of an application executing within a runtime provided by an application platform on a computing device in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In many embodiments, a runtime provided by an application platform enables the execution of a non-natively implemented hosted application in which executing instructions in a scripting language within a background page control the downloading and modification of web content to create user interface pages for the hosted application.
US08775923B1

Methods and systems for web page restoration are provided. A method for restoring web pages includes identifying a root node of a node graph, wherein each node of the node graph represents an object of a plurality of objects that form a last state of a web page, including DOM objects. The method also includes traversing the node graph to a next frontier node and determining an object identifier of the next frontier node. The method further includes storing the object identifier and associated properties into a queue of objects when the object identifier of the next frontier node is not found in the queue of objects. The queue of objects may be used to restore objects with object properties having values according to the last state of the web page. Scripting language objects may also be stored for later restoration.
US08775920B2

A system and method permits design of customized items on a client device using a web page. The client device receives a web page from a web server that includes, among other things, a design document encoding graphic elements that completely characterize a design image. The client device receives edits to the graphic elements, and sends a modified design document back to the server. The server then uses the design document to render an image, and sends to the client the server-rendered image for display in the web page. The web page may define an area in which to display the server-rendered image. The server may use a database to store the rendered image and use it in completing a customer order.
US08775919B2

Tools and techniques are provided to support presentation analytics, such as Flash or Flex analytics, independently of embedded JavaScript web analytics code used in web pages. A presentation analytics engine, which may be implemented in ActionScript, includes code for capturing information about user interaction with a multimedia presentation, code for dynamically generating a string or other data structure reflecting such captured information, and code for sending the data structure to an analytics server without using a getURL( ) call or embedded JavaScript. Functionality is also provided for tracking objects without object-specific code, for dynamically sending such tracking information, and for supporting a visual presentation analytics overlay report illustrating such information. The Flash presentation analytics may use the same visitor ID as standard JavaScript analytics, without synchronizing the two analytics codes.
US08775918B2

A system and method for improving electronic presentations is provided. The system may automatically improve an electronic presentation. An input presentation may be analyzed and various parameters may be computed. Based on text and/or other analysis, images and/or other objects may be selected to be included in a generated electronic presentation. A design scheme may be automatically selected. An improved electronic presentation may be automatically generated based on an original presentation, user selected parameters, text and/or other analysis of the original presentation and a set of rules, criteria and parameters.
US08775917B2

Systems and methods for alert management in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment, a computing device includes a processor, an operating system configuring the processor to create a computing environment, an alert platform application, an alert pop up page file stored within the storage and containing instructions written in the rendering language to render a pop up page, and an alert history database containing alert data including an alert ID, display metadata, and application data, wherein the alert history database is configured to be queried to retrieve alert data, wherein the alert platform application is configured to query the alert history database to retrieve alert data, and wherein the alert platform application is configured to inject at least a portion of display metadata from alert data into the instructions from the alert pop up page file and render an alert pop up page.
US08775915B2

An apparatus for a dual mode low density parity check (LDPC) decoder including edge random access memory (RAM), last-in-first-out/first-in-first-out (LIFO/FIFO) RAM, channel RAM, and parallel datapath engines, where the datapath engines include a standard belief propagation decoding (SBD) datapath and a layered belief propagation decoding (LBD) datapath, where the SBD datapath includes a shifter, an accumulator, multiplexers, and a g( )_sbd calculator, and where the LBD datapath includes the shifter, the multiplexers, and a g′( )_lbd calculator.
US08775914B2

A method for forward error correction decoding. The method generally includes steps (A) to (D). Step (A) may calculate a plurality of metrics of a codeword using a forward error correction process on a trellis having a plurality of stages. Step (B) may update the metrics over each of the stages. Step (C) may permute the metrics in each of the stages. Step (D) may generate a signal carrying a plurality of decoded bits of the codeword.
US08775912B2

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving incoming data in a processor and performing a checksum operation on the incoming data in the processor pursuant to a user-level instruction for the checksum operation. For example, a cyclic redundancy checksum may be computed in the processor itself responsive to the user-level instruction. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08775910B2

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving incoming data in a processor and performing a checksum operation on the incoming data in the processor pursuant to a user-level instruction for the checksum operation. For example, a cyclic redundancy checksum may be computed in the processor itself responsive to the user-level instruction. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08775909B2

A terminal apparatus and a response signal transmitting method wherein the system transmission efficiency can be improved by devising a bundling rule. In a terminal (200), a PDSCH receiving unit (208) receives first and second code words, which comprise code word block (CWB) groups to be mapped to the respective ones of a plurality of downstream unit bands, and detects errors of the CWBs; and an A/N bundling unit (216) transmits, based on a bundling rule in which each CWB is associated with any one of first and second bundling groups, a single bundle of response signals into which the error detection results are bundled for each bundling group. According to the bundling rule, at least one of the first and second bundling groups includes both the CWB belonging to the first code words and the CWB belonging to the second code words.
US08775906B2

Mechanisms are provided for efficient storage of meta-bits within a system memory. The mechanisms combine an L/G bit and an SUE bit to form meta-bits. The mechanisms then determine the local/global state of a cache line on the first cycle of data. The mechanisms forward the data to the requesting cache, and the requesting cache may reissue the request globally based on the local/global state of the cache line. The mechanisms then determine the special uncorrectable error state of the cache line on the second or subsequent cycle of data. The mechanisms perform error processing regardless of whether the request was reissued globally.
US08775901B2

The recovery of data during programming, such as in the case of a broken word-line, is considered. The arrangement described assumes that k pages may be corrupted when the system finishes programming a block. Then these corrupted pages can be recovered using an erasure code. In order to recover any k pages, the system will compute and temporarily store k parity pages in the controller. These k parity pages may be computed on-the-fly as the data pages are received from the host. After programming the block if a problem is detected in a post-write read, and data in up to k pages is corrupt on some bad word-lines, then the missing data is recovered using the k parity pages that are stored in the controller and using the other non-corrupted pages that are read from the block of the memory array and decoded.
US08775900B2

In cable modem termination systems (CMTS) and other information transmission systems, a method for changing the interleave depth associated with each data stream is provided. This may be done dynamically, and for any subset of downstream devices such as modems. The interleave depth may be set on an individual device level. Embodiments may decrease data receiving latency on devices that do not suffer from error rates, such as caused by burst noise, while maintaining throughput on devices with high error rates.
US08775896B2

Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for decoding of non-binary LDPC codes. For example, a low density parity check data decoder is disclosed that includes a variable node processor operable to perform variable node updates based at least in part on check node to variable node message vectors, a check node processor operable to perform check node updates and to generate the check node to variable node message vectors, and a scheduler operable to cause the variable node processor to use check node to variable node message vectors from multiple decoding iterations when performing the variable node updates for a given decoding iteration.
US08775888B2

Methods and structure for correlating multiple sets of test output signals in time are provided. The structure includes an integrated circuit comprising a block of circuitry that generates internal operational signals. The circuit also comprises a test multiplexer (MUX) hierarchy that selects subsets of the internal signals and applies the subsets to a testing element. A clock generator generates a clock signal for the selected signals. A test logic timer receives the clock signal and increments a counter value, and applies the counter value to the testing element. An event detector resets the counter value upon detection of an event, such that a first subset of the internal signals acquired from the test MUX hierarchy acquired responsive to detection of a first instance of the event may be correlated in time with a second subset of the internal signals acquired responsive to detection of a second instance of the event.
US08775887B2

A user may make a digital item available to other users of a computer network, such as an instant messaging system, a chat environment, or a subscription-based computer network. Examples of digital items that may be shared with other users include digital representations of graphic images, photographs, audio segments, songs, video segments, movies, and text (such as lists of favorites (e.g., a list of favorite books, a list of favorite movies, and a list of favorite places to visit)). On-line presence information is provided to indicate the on-line presence of users with whom a digital item has been shared, may be shared or is being shared. For instance, an indication of the on-line or offline status of a user with whom an item has been shared or is being shared may be presented.
US08775885B2

The present invention relates to an IEEE1588 protocol negative testing method, comprises steps of: connecting a IEEE1588 tester and a slave clock DUT to establish a real-time closed-loop feedback mechanism; taking the IEEE1588 tester as a master clock, and establishing a stable time synchronization with the slave clock DUT; obtaining the timing offset or path delay of the slave clock DUT before disturbance; assembling an abnormal message in a frame and sending it to the slave clock DUT; calculating the timing offset or path delay increment after disturbance of the abnormal message; determining whether there is a sudden change in the timing offset or path delay of the slave clock DUT, wherein if there is no sudden change, the test passes; otherwise the test fails. This testing method uses the field of correction field (correction Field) in the IEEE1588 message to “magnify” the response of the slave clock DUT to the abnormal message stimulus, and realizes a real-time closed-loop detection to efficiently verify whether the message processing logic of the slave clock DUT follows the IEEE1588 protocol.
US08775884B2

A position-based scheduling capability supports interaction between one or more user applications and a scheduler for performing testing via a scan chain of a unit under test. The scheduler receives access requests from one or more user applications, where each access request is a request for access to a segment of the scan chain, respectively. The scheduler determines scheduling of the access requests using a circuit model configured to represent an ordering of the segments of the scan chain. The scheduler may provide the access responses to the user application(s) from which the access requests are received, thereby enabling the user application(s) to issue test operations toward a processor configured to generate test data to be applied to the scan chain. The scheduler may obtain the test operations and send the test operations toward a processor configured to generate test data to be applied to the scan chain.
US08775874B2

A data protection method adapted to a rewritable non-volatile memory module having a plurality of physical blocks is provided. The data protection method includes following steps. If the rewritable non-volatile memory module is powered on, a power-off period from last time the rewritable non-volatile memory module is powered off till present is obtained. If the power-off period is longer than a time threshold, whether each physical block satisfies an update condition is determined according to a block information of the physical block. An update procedure is executed on the physical blocks that satisfy the update condition. The update procedure is configured to read data from a physical block and rewrite the data into one of the physical blocks. Thereby, data in the physical blocks is protected from being easily lost, and the lifespan of the rewritable non-volatile memory module is prolonged.
US08775869B2

The present invention relates to a device and a method for coordinating an APS operation and a recovery operation. The device includes a working channel detection unit, a protection channel detection unit, a protection protocol unit and a recovery protocol unit. The method comprises: when the working channel of current service fails, the working channel detection unit reporting a working channel alarm to the protection protocol unit and a recovery protocol unit of current node; the recovery protocol unit starting up a timer after receiving the working channel alarm, and the protection protocol unit determining whether the recovery operation needs to be started up immediately after receiving the working channel alarm, and if yes, the protection protocol unit notifying the recovery protocol unit to start up the recovery operation immediately; the recovery protocol unit starting up the recovery operation immediately after receiving the notification. The present invention reduces the damage time of the service in the case of the APS function failure.
US08775862B2

A multi-tenant system can be switched to a downtime state to implement a transition from a current state to a target state of a core software platform. During a second phase of the transition an error associated with tenant-specific content of a first customer tenant of the plurality of customer tenants of the multi-tenant system can be identified. The second phase can be suspended for the first customer tenant while continuing the second phase for a remainder of the plurality of customer tenants for which an error has not been identified. After a scheduled duration of the downtime state, the multi-tenant system can be reactivated such that the multi-tenant system includes the remainder of the plurality of customer tenants with the transition implemented and the first customer tenant either with the transition implemented if the error has been corrected or without the transition implemented if the error has not been corrected.
US08775860B2

The invention relates to a method and a system for regenerating a failed storage node from one or more storage nodes storing an original file and also reconstructing the said original file. The method involves encoding the file segments using a XOR operation, decoding the encoded file segment using the XOR operation and regenerating the failed node by using the storage nodes which are in active position. The regenerated file segments are further written to a new storage node.
US08775839B2

An electronic circuit including a bus (3521), a peripheral (3510.i/3552.1) coupled to the bus (3521), the peripheral having a storing circuit (3620.i, 3625.i) for a succession-presetting and a parameter setting currently-effective for peripheral operation on the bus (3521); and a power management circuit (3570) operable in response to a power management transition request (GO_bit) to send a first signal (START_bit_i) to the peripheral, and to initiate a bus frequency transition, and to send a second signal (PER_ENABLE_i) to the peripheral after the bus frequency transition; and the peripheral is responsive to the first signal (START_bit_i) to stall peripheral operation on the bus (3521), the peripheral operable to automatically promote the succession pre-setting to currently-effective status for the peripheral after peripheral operations on the bus (3521) are stalled and responsive to the second signal (PER_ENABLE_i) to re-enable peripheral operation on the bus (3521). Other circuits, devices, systems, apparatus, and processes are disclosed.
US08775838B2

Dynamically reducing power consumption by a processor in a computer system by determining a maximum number of times (token count) that the processor can incur a start-up delay after being placed into a low-power mode during a token period of time when executing a task for a token period of time. The processor may be placed into the low-power mode while executing the task in response to an idle indicator only if a current value of the token count assigned to the task is greater than zero. The current value of the token count is decremented each time the processor incurs a start-up delay in response to being awakened from the low-power mode. The current token count is reset to match the assigned token count at the end of each token period. Furthermore, wakeup may be anticipated to allow the processor to be awakened preemptively.
US08775837B2

The systems and methods described herein may enable a processor core to run at higher speeds than other processor cores in the same package. A thread executing on one processor core may begin waiting for another thread to complete a particular action (e.g., to release a lock). In response to determining that other threads are waiting, the thread/core may enter an inactive state. A data structure may store information indicating which threads are waiting on which other threads. In response to determining that a quorum of threads/cores are in an inactive state, one of the threads/cores may enter a turbo mode in which it executes at a higher speed than the baseline speed for the cores. A thread holding a lock and executing in turbo mode may perform work delegated by waiting threads at the higher speed. A thread may exit the inactive state when the waited-for action is completed.
US08775833B2

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for determining a power budget for a multi-domain processor for a current time interval, determining a portion of the power budget to be allocated to first and second domains of the processor, and controlling a frequency of the domains based on the allocated portions. Such determinations and allocations can be dynamically performed during runtime of the processor. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08775832B2

A method for managing the power consumption of an information handling system including a processor and an associated cooling system. The method may include providing power to the cooling system based on a performance/power balance setting, accepting a user input to adjust the performance/power balance setting, and adjusting the power provided to the cooling system based on the adjusted performance/power balance setting. The performance/power balance setting may define a balance between performance of the processor and power consumption of the associated cooling system.
US08775830B2

A method of controlling power within a multicore central processing unit (CPU) is disclosed. The method may include monitoring a die temperature, determining a degree of parallelism within a workload of the CPU, and powering one or more cores of the CPU up or down based on the degree of parallelism, the die temperature, or a combination thereof.
US08775825B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus for digital content management and distribution are provided. In an example, a plurality of unique keys can be provide, wherein each unique key corresponding to one or more docks for accessing digital content. A selection of at least one item of digital content can be received from a user and an indication of a dock corresponding to the user can also be received. A unique key can be selected from the plurality of unique keys corresponding to the dock of the user, and the at least one item of digital content can be encrypted based on the selected unique key.
US08775818B2

An apparatus and a method for validating requests to thwart cross-site attacks is described. A user identifier token, a request identifier token, and a timestamp, are generated at a web application of a server. A Message Authentication Code (MAC) value is formed based on the user identifier token, the request identifier token, and the timestamp using a secret key of the web application. Names of the form elements are enciphered. Fake form elements can also be added to the dynamic form. The entire page also can be enciphered. The dynamic form is sent with the MAC value and the time stamp to a client. A completed form comprising a returned MAC value and a returned timestamp is received from the client. The completed form is validated at the server based on the returned MAC value and the returned timestamp.
US08775810B1

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media provide a requesting device with access to a service. In one implementation, a server stores a token decryption key for validating an encrypted token. The server receives the encrypted token and a digital signature generated using a signature creation key from a client device, and decrypts the token with the token decryption key. The server extracts a signature validation key from the token, and validates the digital signature using the signature validation data. The system provides the client device with access to the service, based on whether the digital signature is validated.
US08775809B2

A method and a device of verifying the validity a digital signature based on biometric data. A verifier attains a first biometric template of the individual to be verified, for instance by having the individual provide her fingerprint via an appropriate sensor device. Then, the verifier receives a digital signature and a second biometric template. The verifier then verifies the digital signature by using either the first or the second biometric template as a public key. The attained (first) biometric template of the individual is compared with the received (second) biometric template associated with the signature and if a match occurs, the verifier can be confident that the digital signature and the associated (second) biometric template have not been manipulated by an attacker for impersonation purposes.
US08775804B2

A matching authentication method for wireless communication equipment comprises that: a device at the transmitting end sends a matching request (S101) to a device at the receiving end; the device at the transmitting end receives the response messages feedback from the device at the receiving end, and the response message carry with feature codes (S102); the device at the transmitting end obtains the feature codes and takes the feature codes as the authentication and authorization codes communicating with the receiving end. The invention also provides a wireless communication device with the function of matching authentication correspondingly. The wireless communication device comprises a memory unit, a communication unit, and an authentication and authorization unit and a feature code updating unit. The invention also provides a wireless communication system with the function of matching authentication correspondingly.
US08775797B2

Systems, methods, and apparatus for validating product keys. In some embodiments, a product key includes security information and identification information identifying at least one copy of a software product. The security information may include a first portion to be processed by a first validation authority using first validation information and a second portion to be processed by a second validation authority using second validation information. The second validation information may be stored separately from the first validation information and may not be accessible to the first validation authority. In some embodiments, the first validation authority randomly determines whether a product key is to be audited by the second validation authority. Alternatively, the first validation authority may determine whether to audit based on a type of the software product associated with the product key and/or a perceived level of security risk.
US08775796B2

A terminal device 4 transmits a certificate issue request including a communication ID thereof and a sub ID to a certificate issuing device 7 via a NW1 (a first network). The certificate issuing device 7 inquires of a communication ID (identifier) checking device 5 whether or not the communication ID included in the certificate issue request is in use or not and inquires of a communication ID/sub ID checking device 6 whether or not the communication ID and the sub ID are associated with each other. If both the check results are OK, the certificate issuing device 7 generates a certificate including the ID of the certificate issuing device 7, the communication ID, the sub ID and a validity period and transmits the certificate to the terminal device 4. In this way, a certificate with a short validity period can be issued only based on the access to the NW1 using the communication ID and the sub ID.
US08775794B2

Systems and methods for end-to-end encryption are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a method for device registration includes (1) an application executed by a computer processor receiving a user password from a user; (2) using the computer processor, the application combining the user password and a password extension; (3) using the computer processor, the application cryptographically processing the combined user password and password extension, resulting cryptographic public information; and (4) providing the cryptographic public information to a server. The user password is not provided to the server. In another embodiment, a method for user authentication includes (1) using a computer processor, receiving a login page from a server; (2) sending a Hash-based Message Authentication Code to the server; and (3) receiving an authentication from the server. In one embodiment, the login page may include a transkey and a value B.
US08775792B2

The invention provides a method of and system for networked security, involving multiple clients and servers. Rather than relying on single server based authentication and/or single stream based data transmission, the invention breaks apart information before if leaves the User's computer so that intercepting any single electronic message does not provide the hacker with sufficient information to gain access. The invention splits the values (i.e. password, User name, card number for authorization; encrypted text for encryption, etc.) at the point of sender/external authorization client. These split values are encrypted with different keys and transmitted to multiple external authorization servers. The invention can be applied to any secure transmission, storage or authentication of data over a data network.
US08775789B2

A multi-mode data card includes at least two mode modules, and also includes an external interface module and an interface control module. The external interface module connects to the interface control module. The external interface is configured to connect with computer for data interaction; the interface control module is equipped with at least two channels, and said at least two channels connects to said at least two mode modules respectively. The interface control module is configured to: when the multi-mode data card is calibrated, connect the external interface module with the channel corresponding to the mode module to be calibrated, and switch the multi-mode data card to the mode to be calibrated. A method for calibrating multi-mode data card is also provided in the present invention.
US08775780B2

A central processing unit capable of multi-boot using disjoint memory spaces. The central processing unit comprises a plurality of internal registers communicably coupled to each of a plurality of disjoint memory spaces. The internal registers may be configured to designate one or more of the memory spaces as an active memory space or a standby memory space.
US08775775B1

A method for reading data from data storage is disclosed. A prefetch hint identifying a chunk of data a requesting node anticipates the requesting node will request that a controller retrieve from data storage is received. The prefetch hint is stored in a buffer at the controller. A determination that the prefetch hint is ready for processing is made. The determination is based at least in part on an offset or other data indicating a place of the chunk of data within a sequence of related chunks of data one or more of which may have been read previously into a cache of the controller. The prefetch hint is processed in response to determining that the prefetch hint is ready for processing, including by reading the chunk of data from a data storage of the controller and storing the chunk of data in the cache.
US08775774B2

The storage system exports logical storage volumes that are provisioned as storage objects. These storage objects are accessed on demand by connected computer systems using standard protocols, such as SCSI and NFS, through logical endpoints for the protocol traffic that are configured in the storage system. To facilitate creation and management of logical storage volumes, special application programming interfaces (APIs) have been developed. The special APIs include commands to create a logical storage volume, bind, unbind, and rebind the logical storage volume, extend the size of the logical storage volume, clone the logical storage volume, and move the logical storage volume.
US08775764B2

A processor-based system includes a processor coupled to a system controller through a processor bus. The system controller is used to couple at least one input device, at least one output device, and at least one data storage device to the processor. Also coupled to the processor bus is a memory hub controller coupled to a memory hub of at least one memory module having a plurality of memory devices coupled to the memory hub. The memory hub is coupled to the memory hub controller through a downstream bus and an upstream bus. The downstream bus has a width of M bits, and the upstream bus has a width of N bits. Although the sum of M and N is fixed, the individual values of M and N can be adjusted during the operation of the processor-based system to adjust the bandwidths of the downstream bus and the upstream bus.
US08775760B2

A system operation method for controlling a rewritable non-volatile memory module is provided. The rewritable non-volatile memory module includes a plurality of physical blocks. The system operation method includes following steps. A first signal is received from a host system through a host interface. Whether a system setting of the host interface is to be modified is determined. If the system setting is to be modified, a system parameter is read from the physical blocks, and the system setting is modified according to the system parameter. A second signal is transmitted to the host system to establish a connection recognition between the rewritable non-volatile memory module and the host system. Thereby, the settings of transmission between the host system and the rewritable non-volatile memory module are made more flexible.
US08775755B2

Various arrangements for utilizing memory of a remote computer system are presented. Two computer systems may allocate a portion of RAM accessible to a memory-access API. A first set of data from the first portion of the first memory of a first computer system may be determined to be moved to memory of another computer system. The first set of data from the first portion of the first memory may be transmitted for storage in the second portion of the second memory of a second computer system. Using the second memory-access API, the set of data may be stored in the second portion of the second memory. Using the first memory-access API, the set of data from the first portion of the first memory may be deleted.
US08775754B2

A memory controller is for controlling access to a memory device of the type having a non-uniform access timing characteristic. An interface receives transactions issued from at least one transaction source and a buffer temporarily stores as pending transactions those transactions received by the interface that have not yet been issued to the memory device. The buffer maintains a plurality of ordered lists (having a number of entries) for the stored pending transactions, including at least one priority based ordered list and at least one access timing ordered list. Each entry being associated with one of the pending transactions, and ordered within its priority based ordered list based on the priority indication of the associated pending transaction. Arbitration circuitry performs an arbitration operation during which the plurality of ordered lists are referenced so as to select a winning transaction to be issued to the memory device.
US08775749B2

Management of a UNIX-style storage pools is enhanced by specially managing one or more memory management inodes associated with pinned and allocated pages of data storage by providing indirect access to the pinned and allocated pages by one or more user processes via a handle, while preventing direct access of the pinned and allocated pages by the user processes without use of the handles; scanning periodically hardware status bits in the inodes to determine which of the pinned and allocated pages have been recently accessed within a pre-determined period of time; requesting via a callback communication to each user process to determine which of the least-recently accessed pinned and allocated pages can be either deallocated or defragmented and compacted; and responsive to receiving one or more page indicators of pages unpinned by the user processes, compacting or deallocating one or more pages corresponding to the page indicators.
US08775741B1

A storage control system includes a prefetch controller that identifies memory regions for prefetching according to temporal memory access patterns. The memory access patterns identify a number of sequential memory accesses within different time ranges and a highest number of memory accesses to the different memory regions within a predetermine time period.
US08775736B2

An information handling system includes a memory controller coupled to a first and a second storage device. The memory controller stores information on the first storage device based upon an access count related to the information, stores other information on the second storage device based upon a another access count related to the other information, and stores access data including the access counts. The information handling system also includes a processing system coupled to the memory controller. The processing system obtains the access data from the memory controller, and determines to perform an operation on the data based upon the access count, and to not perform the operation on the other data based upon the other access count.
US08775731B2

A hybrid storage array one using two or more storage device tiers. In one implementation, two tiers may be provided by solid state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs). Host application access patterns of a certain type determined to be relatively slow, such as random writes, are detected. The random writes are collected and written to a special reserve space, such as a portion of the SSD storage tier, referred to as a write cache extension. The write cache extension absorbs such accesses that would otherwise be written to HDD storage directly. Data structures are created in a cache memory local to an array controller representing the location on SSD reserve space to which the writes were committed and a location in the storage system where they were originally intended to go. The write cache extension can be enabled all of the time, or only when the array controller write cache experiences certain operating conditions, such as when its utilization exceeds a certain predetermined amount. The approach improves the overall performance of the hybrid array.
US08775729B2

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for prefetching data tracks and parity data to use for destaging updated tracks. A write request is received including at least one updated track to the group of tracks. The at least one updated track is stored in a first cache device. A prefetch request is sent to the at least one sequential access storage device to prefetch tracks in the group of tracks to a second cache device. A read request is generated to read the prefetch tracks following the sending of the prefetch request. The read prefetch tracks returned to the read request from the second cache device are stored in the first cache device. New parity data is calculated from the at least one updated track and the read prefetch tracks.
US08775728B2

In one embodiment, a system includes a first storage including track-managed storage and cylinder-managed storage, logic adapted for receiving a request to allocate a target data set on the first storage, logic adapted for determining a size of a source data set on a second storage, wherein data from the source data set will be copied to the target data set, logic adapted for comparing the determined size of the source data set to a break point value to determine if the target data set is to be stored to the track-managed storage or the cylinder-managed storage of the first storage, logic adapted for receiving the data from the source data set, and logic adapted for storing the data from the source data set to the target data set in either track-managed storage or cylinder-managed storage of the first storage based on the comparison.
US08775722B2

Methods and systems are disclosed herein for storing data in a memory device. Data for multiple pages is written in parallel using plane interleaving. For example, in a four plane write, a first set of four pages are written in the following sequence: 0, 1, 2, 3. A second set of four pages, after plane interleaving, are written in the following sequent: 7, 4, 5, 6. After writing the data, the pages of written data are read, page swapped if necessary, and then written into another portion of memory (such as MLC).
US08775719B2

A nonvolatile memory device includes multiple independent nonvolatile memory arrays that concurrently for parallel reading and writing the nonvolatile memory arrays. A parallel interface communicates commands, address, device status, and data between a master device and nonvolatile memory arrays for concurrently reading and writing of the nonvolatile memory arrays and sub-arrays. Data is transferred on the parallel interface at the rising edge and the falling edge of the synchronizing clock. The parallel interface transmits a command code and an address code from a master device and transfers a data code between the master device and the nonvolatile memory device, wherein the data code has a length that is determined by the command code and a location determined by the address code. Reading one nonvolatile memory array may be interrupted for reading another. One reading operation has two sub-addresses with one transferred prior to a command.
US08775709B2

The present invention discloses a method, related to smart card reader field, for recognizing a card reader with multiple card holders. The method includes connecting, by the card reader with multiple card readers, to a host and loading, by the host, card reader device bus driver; obtaining, by the card reader device bus driver, the device information of the card reader with multiple card readers and creating physical device object according to the device information; installing and loading, by the host, smart card function driver for each physical device object and registering a standard smart card driver library for every smart card function driver; creating, by the smart card service of the host, a new smart card device record in the resource manager of the smart card service according to the smart card function driver loaded and the smart card driver library registered and recognizing the card reader with multiple card readers as a plurality of smart card devices. The invention further discloses a method for communicating between the host and the card reader with multiple card holders based on the recognizing method described above and a system thereof.
US08775705B2

An integrated circuit device includes a transmitter circuit including an output driver. The integrated circuit device includes a first register to store a value representative of a drive strength setting associated with the transmitter circuit such that the output driver outputs data in accordance with the drive strength setting. The integrated circuit device also includes a second register to store a value representative of an equalization setting associated with the transmitter circuit such that the output driver outputs data in accordance with the equalization setting. The integrated circuit device further includes a third register to store a value representative of a slew rate setting associated with the transmitter circuit such that the output driver outputs data in accordance with the slew rate setting.
US08775699B2

A gasket of a data processing device controls the number of released storage locations of a buffer where read and write access requests are stored so that more read access requests can be stored without a corresponding increase in the amount of space at the buffer to store write access requests. An interface of the gasket accepts new access requests from one or more requesting modules only when a number of released storage locations at a buffer associated with the interface (referred to as an outbound buffer) is above a threshold number. As long as the number of stored access requests at the outbound buffer are less than a threshold amount, a buffer location can be immediately released. In addition, the gasket is configured to issue read access requests from the outbound buffer without regard to whether the inbound buffer has space available.
US08775697B2

A method and a circuit for checking data transferred between a circuit and a processing unit, in which: the data originating from the circuit transit through a first buffer element having a size which is a multiple of the size of data to be subsequently delivered over a bus of the processing unit; an address provided by the processing unit for the circuit is temporarily stored in a second element; and the content of the first element is compared with current data originating from the circuit, at least when they correspond to an address of data already present in this first element.
US08775689B2

A first slave electronic module and a second slave electronic module are adapted for communicating over the data bus. The first slave electronic module has a first resistor coupled in series with a main power line. The second electronic module has a second resistor coupled in series with the main power line. A master electronic module has a master current measurement circuit for determining an aggregate current level indicative of the total number of slave electronic modules on the main power line. A first current measurement circuits is capable of measuring a node current indicative of a number of other active slaves connected to the main power line and data bus. A master data processor in the master electronic module is arranged to assign a unique module identifier to a first slave electronic module based on the first node current and the aggregate current level, the unique module identifier indicating a respective position of the first slave electronic module on the data bus.
US08775685B1

A network packet processor includes a plurality of processing pipelines and a scheduling circuit. Each processing pipeline is configured and arranged to process packets having sizes less than or equal to an associated processing size of the processing pipeline. The respective processing size of one of the processing pipelines is different from the processing size of at least one other of the processing pipelines. The scheduling circuit is coupled to the plurality of processing pipelines and is configured and arranged to determine respective packet sizes of packets input from a bus. The scheduling circuit assigns each packet of the one or more packets for processing by one of the processing pipelines as a function of the respective packet size of the packet and the processing size associated with the one of the processing pipelines.
US08775681B2

A system and method for implementing cross-network synchronization of nodes on a vehicle bus includes periodically sampling a notion of time from a first network, transmitting a message from the first network to a node on a second network, wherein the message includes the notion of time, and updating a local clock on the second network node based on the notion of time in the message.
US08775678B1

An automated wireless synchronization platform allows users to synchronize files and folders between devices, while transparently providing content transformation services. The content transformation services ensure that content is synchronized to target devices in the appropriate format, at a proper balance of size and quality to be ideally output on the target devices.
US08775672B2

In one embodiment, a method includes retrieving a playlist for a video stream of video content for a client. The playlist is for portions of video content for the video stream. A traffic shaping service determines a set of rules for the playlist for a set of portions in the plurality of portions where each rule is associated with a network condition. For each rule, the method performs: dynamically allocating a port and setting a network condition to apply to the port according to the rule. During playback of the video content, the traffic shaping service receives a request for a portion from the client and determines a port associated with the request for the portion. The method then sends a traffic shaped portion through the determined port where the network condition is applied to the traffic shaped portion based on the network condition being set on the port.
US08775669B2

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for enabling software applications running on separate devices to exchange data via multiple data communication methods. In various embodiments, a data communication system is provided comprising multiple data communication devices running one or more software applications and communication manager middleware. In various embodiments, the data communication system permits the software applications to exchange data without knowledge of the actual method and/or protocol used to exchange a given set of data, and intelligently manage the exchange of data between software applications by, among other things, transmitting sets of data using a preferred communication method selected based on one or more message attributes or communication method attributes.
US08775667B2

A message routing system that allows applications at either end of the system to run as-is without modification. The system functions in a multithreaded environment and is capable of handling complex routing rules and message transformation. It is also capable of learning and executing new routing rules and message transformations in formats previously unrecognized by the system. The system enables precise and reliable logging of messages throughout processing and supports publication of enterprise-wide broadcast messages. The system further preferably employs cooperating inbound and outbound transport processes for consuming, routing, processing, safely storing and publishing messages in batches of logical units of work to ensure that the logical units of work are not lost in system transactions. The system also preferably utilizes a replay server for preserving and replaying messages that might otherwise fail to reach their intended destinations.
US08775654B2

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for effectively mediating communications between entities in a computer network. In general, a format preference for a first service is received into a message interchange network. The format preference specifies an expected format for messages received by such first service without specifying a format for any other services. The format preference for the first service is then stored in a repository associated with the message interchange network. Messages sent to the first service are then mediated using the format preference stored for the first service so that the first service receives messages in the expected format specified by the format preference stored for the first service.
US08775652B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide various communication techniques for communication between a mobile computing device and an accessory. An accessory protocol that is generic to the mobile computing device can be used for some communication. An application executing at the mobile computing device can communicate with the accessory using an application communication protocol. In some embodiments, the application communication protocol can be different from the accessory communication protocol. In other embodiments the application protocol may only be recognized by the application and the accessory. In some embodiments, messages conforming to an application protocol can be communicated between the application and the accessory by packaging the messages inside a message conforming to the accessory communication protocol.
US08775649B2

Improved end-to-end server-client communication is achieved, wherein a thin client requests services from a server using a condensed optimized protocol. A mediator is provided on the server, which translates encoded messages from the client into standard web service request formats. Results are re-encoded at the server and returned to the client. A code generator is provided to automatically create optimized and specialized client and server code using templates, in which the code is optimized according to the characteristics of the client and the specified services. Grouped messages are supported. Bandwidth consumption is reduced by the technique, which increases the performance of resource-constrained clients, such as small wireless devices.
US08775638B2

A method for providing scaled applications in a cloud data center is disclosed. The method includes receiving a request from a user to use one of a plurality of applications maintained in a memory of a cloud data center. The method further includes assigning one of a plurality of instantiations of a service manager to the user and establishing, using the assigned instantiation of the service manager, a connection between the user and an instance of the requested application for a duration of a user session.
US08775633B2

Method, apparatus, and computer program product embodiments of the invention are disclosed to automatically advertise a change in service offering of a wireless first device in wireless networks. In an example embodiment of the invention, if there is a change in service offering of the first device that is connected to a wireless second device, the first device automatically generates a reassociation request frame and transmits it to the second device. In addition to the standard processing of the reassociation request frame, the second device considers the received reassociation request frame as a trigger to respond by transmitting a generic advertisement service request to the first device. The first device will then have an opportunity to transmit its updated and up-to-date service description to the second device in a generic advertisement service response frame. The second device buffers the first device's updated service description and makes it available to other wireless devices searching the network for services, to facilitate network selection.
US08775619B2

A distributed proxy server system is operable to receive a request for Internet data from a user, obtain the user's identity, store at least one cookie on the user's web browser identifying the user, and filter undesired content before forwarding requested Internet data to the user. A master cookie is associated with the proxy server including user identity information, and an injected domain cookie is associated with the domain of the requested Internet data including user identity information.
US08775605B2

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computing device having an interface for receiving seed information, and a controller to identify one or more outliers from a reduced sampling of a total population of on-line social network (OSN) users according to the seed information and at least one of a social graph or a generalization of portions of the total population of OSN users. Additional embodiments are disclosed.
US08775588B2

A physical service and policy model of a service-oriented architecture system is generated from a logic model. Web service policies are transformed from the logical model to the physical model. The logical model includes a plurality of logical service components and logical dependency relationships among the logical service components. At least one of the logical service components has been specified with logical policies. The physical model includes physical components and physical dependency relationships associated with the service components and tire logical dependency relationships among the service components in the logical model. Effective logical policies are calculated for each of the logical service components and mapped to associated physical components in the physical model.
US08775585B2

A method, system and apparatus for estimating an SLA breach value. The method can include processing resource data to identify an acceptable SLA breach value; and, displaying the acceptable SLA breach value through a user interface. The processing step can include identifying a best practices SLA breach value based upon resource data for an aggregation of customers. Alternatively, the processing step can include identifying an average SLA breach value for a specific customer. As a further alternative, the identifying step can include identifying an average SLA breach value for a specific customer for a specific resource. As yet a further alternative, the processing step can include identifying an SLA breach value trend based upon past measured historical systems management data; and, predicting a future SLA breach value based upon the trend. In all cases, the acceptable SLA breach value can be increased by a fixed proportion.
US08775584B2

Multiple devices are identified in a network along with connection information associated with the multiple devices. The connection information associated with the multiple devices is converted into a hierarchical structure and communication links between the multiple devices are identified.
US08775579B2

A method for addressing a management object in a management tree of a device management (DM) client and an associated DM system are disclosed to solve the issues encountered in the relative universal resource identifier (URI) addressing of the OMA DM protocol. The method comprises receiving a relative URI including a first part from a DM server, and identifying a root node of the management object according to the first part. The first part comprises a URI parameter for specifying a root node of a sub-tree of the management tree for finding the management object, a management object identifier, and a plurality of attribute conditions for specifying values of a plurality of leaf nodes directly under the root node of the management object.
US08775572B2

Updates for an enterprise's software product are made available to user devices on-line, even when network resources of the enterprise are unavailable. Software update sets and notifications concerning the update sets may be published by an enterprise for consumption by content distribution partners of the enterprise and parties not affiliated with the enterprise. Each abstraction relating to an update, including update notifications and update sets may include a cryptographic signature for later use in authenticating the source of the abstraction. Update notifications also may include information indicative of: available update sets; and network locations at which the update sets can be accessed. Further, an update notification may be configured with a time-to-live (TTL) value indicating a value of time after which the notification expires. TTL values give the enterprise some control over the distribution of update sets by limiting the lifespan of the update notifications corresponding to the update sets.
US08775566B2

A file format supports distribution, presentation, and storage of media presentations (“MPs”). A sequence of a MP is composed of segments of media data referred to by segmentIDs. Segments are defined as movie fragments, pursuant to the “ISO base media file format”. Multiple instances of a segment, each having a unique instanceID, are created by encoding the media data based on different encoding characteristics, referred to as encodingIDs. A sequence map box (“SMB”) stores the arrangement of a sequence's segmentIDs-to-instanceIDs, including encodingIDs. The SMB is distributed to a client-side media processing unit (“MPU”). Information regarding an instance selected for distribution to the MPU is encapsulated in an instance identifier box (“IIB”), along with the arrangement of instanceIDs for the segment, and distributed to the MPU. At the time of distribution and/or playback of the MP, the MPU interchange instances based on the contents of the SMB and/or the IIB.
US08775560B2

Information may be presented to a user by using a first application to receive a character stream of one or more noncompletion characters. The noncompletion characters indicate that additional characters may be received. The character stream is exchanged with a host that analyzes the character stream to generate results that are responsive to the user's predicted interest. Results are received and displayed so that the user may select one of the results to launch a code segment related to the selected result.
US08775559B1

Disclosed are various embodiments for generating network pages using customer-supplied page generation code. A network page request is obtained from a client. The network page is associated with a network site hosted by a hosting provider on behalf of a customer. Customer data is aggregated from multiple data sources. Customer-supplied page generation code is executed to generate the network page. The page generation code may access the customer data through predefined variables, but the page generation code is restricted from accessing the data sources directly. The network page is sent to the client in response to the request.
US08775548B2

A method, system, and medium are provided for sharing items residing on a computing device. Items selected for sharing can be made simultaneously available to users on a local network and to users outside of the local network. A remote sharing service allows access to copies of items based on user identifiers associated. Local attributes associated with items are modified such that the user identifiers are associated with the items for providing access via a local network.
US08775542B2

A method for the user-based processing of electronic messages comprising file attachments is provided. According to the method, a file attachment of an electronic message is replaced by a memory location link to a selected memory location in a user file system and the file attachment of the electronic message is saved in the selected memory location of the user file system. This permits the memory capacity that is required for storing data attachments to be significantly reduced in a user-friendly system.
US08775534B2

A method for enhancing an electronic message, referred to as an e-mail, upon receiving the same in the e-mail inbox of a user, the method includes the following steps: a local application, working with the e-mail inbox and extracting a set of data contained in the incoming e-mail, sends the data set to a remote server, receives a response from the remote server, and attaches the response to the incoming e-mail; and the remote server receives the data set sent by the local application, analyzes the data so as to identify specific elements, and sends the specific elements as a reply to the local application. The invention relates to the exchange of structured information by e-mail, and in particular to scheduling appointments, contact details, and monitoring tasks to be performed.
US08775533B2

A wireless device that automatically forms a connection to a remote device in accordance with a peer-to-peer protocol. The remote device may be designated as an auto-connect device for the wireless device such that, when the wireless device determines that it is in the vicinity of the auto-connect device, it can re-form a connection to the remote device based on stored information for re-establishing connections among a persistent group of devices, but without any express user input. When a user requests that the wireless device perform a function that involves interaction with an auto-connect device, that function may be performed with the delay associated with forming a connection. Any of multiple techniques may be employed for identifying devices designated as auto-connect devices and for determining when the wireless device and a remote, auto-connect devices are in close proximity.
US08775530B2

A communication management method and system. The method includes receiving by a computer processor, user defined data. The computer processor generates an email comprising the user defined data and retrieves an email address associated with a recipient for the email. The computer processor compares the email address to cultural data and determines a cultural region associated with the recipient. The computer processor retrieves content from the email and compares the content to cultural rules associated with the cultural region. The computer processor determines if any of the content conflicts with the cultural rules and performs functions associated with the email.
US08775527B2

A first filter input is received from a first recipient of an email including a plurality of recipients. The first filter input is associated with the email. Further, the first filter input is propagated to at least another of the plurality of recipients of the email.
US08775526B2

A method of controlling an external display using a personal communication device, comprising: providing an external display; processing an iconic message on a personal communication device to generate at least one instruction for said display; transmitting said at least one instruction from said personal communication device to said external display responsive to said processing; and displaying on external display in response to said at least one instruction.
US08775523B2

A computer-implemented method of routing an electronic message. The electronic message is received. A rank, within an organization, of a sender of the electronic message is determined. The electronic message is routed to a destination computer based upon the rank of the sender.
US08775510B2

The invention provides, in one aspect, an improved system for data access comprising a file server that is coupled to a client device or application executing thereon via one or more networks. The server comprises static storage that is organized in one or more directories, each containing, zero, one or more files. The server also comprises a file system operable, in cooperation with a file system on the client device, to provide authorized applications executing on the client device access to those directories and/or files. Fast file server (FFS) software or other functionality executing on or in connection with the server responds to requests received from the client by transferring requested data to the client device over multiple network pathways. That data can comprise, for example, directory trees, files (or portions thereof), and so forth.
US08775503B2

Methods, apparatuses, and systems are provided for improving utilization of a communications system (e.g., a satellite communications system) when handling overlapping content requests. Embodiments use various techniques (e.g., dictionary coding techniques) to create fingerprints of content traversing the links of the communications system. These fingerprints are used to identify and exploit opportunities for using multicasting to share forward-link capacity by collapsing multiple overlapping requests for the same content via multiple content session streams into fewer session streams, including one or more shared session streams.
US08775502B2

System(s) and method(s) are provided to route data within a network of content with specific service constraints to mobile devices. A mobile network management component receives an identifier (ID) of a base station that serves a mobile device that originates a request for data, and relays the ID to a network platform that administers content. A mapping that associates one or more base stations with a deployed content node and the received ID are utilized to identify a content node to serve the request for data via the base station. The received request for data is directed to the identified content node. A service constraint configuration can be allocated for exchange of payload data between the mobile device and the network platform. For a request to consume data and a request to supply data, identified content node delivers data and receives data, respectively, in accordance with the service constraint allocation.
US08775495B2

The present invention involves a sparse matrix processing system and method which uses sparse matrices that are compressed to reduce memory traffic and improve performance of computations using sparse matrices.
US08775490B2

Various methods and devices are provided to address the need for reduced compression complexity in the area of compressive sensing. In one method, a vector x is compressed to obtain a vector y according to y=ΦRDx, where ΦRD=UΦRM·ΦRM is a compressive sensing matrix constructed using a second-order Reed-Muller code or a subcode of a second-order Reed-Muller code and U is a unitary matrix from the real or complex Clifford group G. In another method, vector y is decompressed to obtain vector x also according to y=ΦRDx. In some embodiments, decompression may involve computing y′=U−1y and then determining the vector x using the computed y′.
US08775488B2

Systems, methods, and computer readable mediums. A method includes receiving a first pre-caching rule from a policy database, receiving first data corresponding to the first pre-caching rule, and transmitting the first data to a file server cache (FSC) to be pre-cached on the FSC. The method may also include receiving a request for second data from the FSC and receiving a second pre-caching rule from the policy database. The second pre-caching rule specifies third data to be pre-cached on the FSC when the second data is requested. The method may include receiving the second data and the third data and transmitting the second data and the third data to the FSC.
US08775482B2

Creating and executing a distributed stream processing operator graph based on a query. The operator graph includes movable stream algebra operators for processing events received from high volume data streams. The operators are partially compiled and distributed to computing devices for completion of the compilation and subsequent execution. During execution, the operators maintain minimal state information associated with received events via an expiration time assigned to each of the event instances. Additional events are generated and aggregated by the operators for communication to a service responsible for the query.
US08775473B2

The various embodiments of the invention provide software and metadata structures for a data processing system and method, for applications such as marketing campaign management, speech recognition and signal processing. An exemplary system embodiment includes a first data repository adapted to store a plurality of entity and attribute data; a second data repository adapted to store a plurality of entity linkage data; a metadata data repository adapted to store a plurality of metadata modules, with a first metadata module having a plurality of selectable parameters, received through a control interface, and having a plurality of metadata linkages to a first subset of metadata modules; and a multidimensional data structure.
US08775467B2

A method and a mobile device comprising an address linking module assess a segment of text as comprising an address and create a link. The method comprises: searching a text for a segment of text having at least two character strings satisfying a proximity constraint, each character string being of a different predefined address indicator type; assessing whether or not the segment comprises an address; displaying at least a portion of the text comprising the segment on a display of a mobile device; and if the segment is assessed as comprising an address, including a link for display, the link pointing to at least one application.
US08775458B1

A system and method is disclosed for automatically receiving and displaying search results without navigating from a currently displayed webpage. A web browser stores is integrated with a search toolbar for receiving a search query and transmitting the query to a search engine. A search query may be transmitted and search results received and displayed without navigating from a currently displayed webpage. The toolbar causes to be displayed a search window above and at least partially overlapping the currently displayed webpage, the search window including the search results.
US08775456B2

A method and system for distributing content from a server computer to a number of client computers is disclosed. A file to be distributed to a requesting client computer is identified. If another client computer of the plurality of client computers can distribute the file to the requesting client computer, the requesting client computer requests the file from the other client computer. If no client computer can distribute the file to the requesting client computer, the requesting client computer requests the first file from the server computer. Then the requesting client computer receives the first file from either the other client computer or the server computer. Each client computer can act both as a client and a server to the other client computers, providing content that would otherwise be provided by the server computer.
US08775453B2

A system and method for reducing memory usage is disclosed. The system and method include populating a first container with original data. The first container has a tree-based data structure that includes a plurality of nodes and a plurality of pointers. A block of memory is allocated to a second container that has an array-based data structure. The original data is copied from the first container to the second container. The original data, the plurality of nodes, and the plurality of pointers may be deleted from the first container.
US08775445B2

A request is received via an input device of a computing device for a hypertext link to an item of web content rendered on a display of the computing device. It is determined whether a markup language (ML) document used to render the web content includes an existing page anchor proximate to an item reference within the ML document. The hypertext link is configured based upon the determination of whether the ML document includes the existing page anchor proximate to the item reference within the ML document. The configured hypertext link is returned in response to the request.
US08775442B2

Techniques for providing semantic search of a data store are disclosed. A similarity metric of a document comprising the data store to a concept represented in a semantic model derived at least in part from a reference source that includes content not included in the data store is determined. A relevance metric of a search query to the concept is computed. The similarity metric and the relevance metric are used to determine, at least in part, a ranking of the document with respect to the search query.
US08775432B2

A vehicle navigation system having an input device, a storage device, a processor, and an output device. The storage device stores a database of geographical locations, such as the names of states, cities, streets, or countries. The database has a data list that includes data sub-lists, where the data sub-lists may have one or more data sub-list elements. Each data sub-list may have an assigned unique name. The data sub-lists also may be divided into parts, such that each part is assigned a unique name. The processor is operative to index the data sub-lists or the parts of a divided data sub-list. The processor may be further operative to search the database for a data sub-list element given an input from a user, and the output device may output one or more data sub-list elements from the database based on the search performed by the processor.
US08775425B2

Methods and arrangements for accommodating a query, directing the query to datasets, creating partitions and partitioning the datasets, and returning a response to the query, the response being structured in accordance with the created partitions.
US08775421B2

A search request from a user is received wherein the search request comprises a search framework profile and at least one search term. Scheduling information is accessed from the search framework profile and a search operation is scheduled for execution in accordance with the at least one search term and search scheduling information. An indication that the search request is scheduled for execution is returned to the user.
US08775415B2

A computer-implemented method includes receiving information expressing a user's interest in one or more media programs, obtaining information indicative of popularity for a plurality of media programs responsive to the received information by individuals other than the user, and transmitting one or more recommendations of media programs for display to the user, from the plurality of media programs that relate to the received information.
US08775409B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for query ranking based on query clustering and categorization, are disclosed. In one aspect, search queries are selected and grouped into one or more clusters. A representative query is selected for each cluster. Each cluster is associated with a respective representative category. A rank is assigned to each cluster based on a cluster popularity score of the cluster and a category popularity score of the cluster's representative category. The selected representative queries are presented in order according to the ranks of their respective clusters.
US08775408B2

Devices, methods and systems are disclosed herein to describe a document element indexing system which efficiently organizes different files or the constituent parts of different files into an index, thereby allowing users to easily and efficiently access, annotate and/or review the desired information. The indexing system may be applied to organize components of homogeneous and/or heterogeneous file types.
US08775404B1

A wireless communication device (WCD) may receive a communication from an initiating party. The communication may be associated with a communication application, and may include a communication-application identifier that identifies the initiating party. The WCD may check whether a contacts list for the WCD contains user name data associated in the contacts list with the communication-application identifier. Upon determining that the contacts list does not contain such user name data, the WCD may querying a network server (NS) to request user name data associated with the communication-application identifier, receive from the NS a reply containing particular name data associated with the communication-application identifier along with additional communication-application user identifiers, each of which is also associated with the particular name data. The WCD may update the contacts list such that the particular name data is associated with the communication-application identifier along with the received additional communication-application identifiers.
US08775402B2

Systems and methods for enabling organizations to anonymously share aggregated security assessment results while keeping the raw or private data locally within the organization.
US08775394B2

A network storage server implements a method to perform transactional failover of data sets. Multiple storage objects are organized into primary and secondary data sets, and a disaster recovery policy is configured for failing-over a primary data set to a secondary data set. A failover operation is defined for the disaster recovery policy. The failover operation includes multiple failover actions. During a failover situation, the failover operation is invoked to fail-over the primary data set. The failover operation is transactionally processed to ensure that all failover actions of the failover operation are performed in a single transaction.
US08775372B2

A method for historically synchronizing configuration data of a computer network is provided. A network management server collects from a first database a first plurality of configuration tables corresponding to a plurality of entities in the computer network according to a hierarchy of the entities when an entity in the computer network has changed. The network management server identifies the entity that has changed. The network management server adds a history identifier to an entity configuration table of the first plurality of configuration tables. The entity configuration table corresponds to the entity that has changed. The network management server updates a second plurality of configuration tables in a second database with the first plurality of configuration tables.
US08775368B1

A system for managing data includes providing at least one logical device having a table of information that maps sections of the logical device to sections of at least two storage areas. Characteristics of data associated with a one section of the logical device may be evaluated. The section of the data may moved between the at least two storage areas according to a policy and based on the characteristics of the data. The table of information is updated according to the movement of data between the at least two storage areas. Each of the at least two storage areas may correspond to a different storage tier, and each of the storage tiers may have different characteristic, such as speed of pools of storage devices within the tiers. A write target policy may be applied to store initial writes in a preferred location of the at least two storage areas.
US08775362B2

A disclosed example method involves generating a plurality of wavelet coefficient quantities. Each wavelet coefficient quantity is generated based on items represented by probabilistic data. Each wavelet coefficient quantity represents different ones of the items by multiplying corresponding wavelet vectors. The example method also involves determining an error measure associated with each of the plurality of wavelet coefficient quantities, and selecting at least one of the plurality of wavelet coefficient quantities based on its associated error measure. The method also involves displaying parameter information associated with the one of the plurality of wavelet coefficient quantities to represent the probabilistic data.
US08775359B2

An occupancy estimator calculates an occupancy estimate (x) of a region based on sensor data (z) provided by one or more sensor devices and a model-based occupancy estimate generated by an occupant traffic model (f). The occupant traffic model (f) is based on predicted movement of occupants throughout a region. The occupancy estimation system includes an occupancy estimator algorithm (20) that combines the sensor data (z) and the model-based occupancy estimate generated by the occupant traffic model (f) to generate an occupancy estimate (x) for the region.
US08775348B2

This method for automatic analysis of failure or state messages generated by at least one complex system is characterized in that it comprises the steps for integrating said messages to a database of failure or state messages, and for determining with a computer, for each of said messages, an index of overall interest characterizing a degree of relevance of said message, on the basis of at least one parameter representative of a frequency of occurrence of similar messages in said database, and a correlation between said or each representative parameter and a predefined number of indexes of overall interest. A corresponding analysis system is also provided.
US08775345B2

A method, information processing system, and computer readable article of manufacture model data. A first dataset is received that includes a first set of physical world data. At least one data model associated with the first dataset is generated based on the receiving. A second dataset is received that includes a second set of physical world data. The second dataset is compared to the at least one data model. A probability that the second dataset is modeled by the at least one data model is determined. A determination is made that the probability is above a given threshold. A decision associated with the second dataset based on the at least one data model is generated in response to the probability being above the given threshold. The probability and the decision are stored in memory. The probability and the decision are provided to user via a user interface.
US08775344B2

Techniques are disclosed for determining and validating provenance data in such data stream processing systems. For example, a method for processing data associated with a data stream received by a data stream processing system, wherein the system comprises a plurality of processing elements, comprises the following steps. Input data elements and output data elements associated with at least one processing element of the plurality of processing elements are obtained. One or more intervals are computed for the processing element using data representing observations of associations between inputs elements and output elements of the processing element, wherein, for a given one of the intervals, one or more particular input elements contained within the given interval are determined to have contributed to a particular output element. In another method, intervals are specified, and then validated by comparing the specified intervals against intervals computed based on observations.
US08775331B1

Systems and methods which provide metering of postage value using accumulated postage information are shown. Embodiments implement an accumulated postage register in a postage security device which is incremented each time a postage indicium is generated and which is reset when a postage value settlement operation is performed. Accumulated postage may be paid for using various accounts, including pre-funded or pre-paid accounts, credit accounts, debit accounts, and billing accounts. Accordingly, embodiments may be used with respect to a post-paid metering model, a pre-paid metering model, and combinations thereof.
US08775330B2

Systems, methods and articles of manufacture for accessing data for a fee are provided. Fee schedules are defined for any arbitrary granularity of data, including for fields and data structures (e.g., tables in a database). Fees may be calculated based on the type of operation to be performed. Fees may also be calculated per operation and/or per data item involved in the operation.
US08775322B2

Computerized methods, devices, and systems are provided for facilitating property and service transactions. Characteristics are entered, tracked and updated for potential buyers and potential sellers. Prospective buyers can locate potential sellers based on buyer preferences and seller characteristics. Prospective sellers can locate potential buyers based on seller preferences and buyer characteristics.
US08775319B2

Secure content transfer systems and methods to operate the same are disclosed. An example system includes a content server to encrypt content according to an encryption key, and to transfer the encrypted content, the encryption key and a license to a client that supports a digital rights management technology. The example system further includes a broadcast system headend to determine the encryption key, wherein the broadcast system headend is physically separate from the content server, and a digital rights management license server to provide the license.
US08775318B2

A method and apparatus for updating firmware of terminals in a mobile broadcast system including a Broadcast Service Distribution/Adaptation fragment (BSDA) and a Broadcast service Subscription Management (BSM). The method includes requesting creation of a content fragment, by the BSM, by transmitting a firmware package file for a firmware update of the terminals to the BSDA; creating a content fragment including the firmware package file and broadcasting the created content fragment to the terminals by the BSDA; detecting the firmware package file from the received content fragment; and performing the firmware update using the firmware package file.
US08775312B2

A method for performing payments in remote transactions between a buyer and a vendor is provided. The method includes receiving buyer information from a vendor's network outlet when the buyer indicates a desire to purchase a selection at a later time through an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) center; providing a token to the buyer; receiving information about the token from the buyer through the IVR center; verifying the information about the token; transferring funds from a buyer account to a vendor account. Also provided is a system for processing payments in remote transactions including an IVR center to: receive a request for token from a buyer to purchase products from a vendor, and to receive information about the product; provide the token to the buyer; access a database, the database including information from vendor's and buyer's accounts; transfer funds from buyer's account to vendor's account upon buyer confirmation.
US08775310B2

A recyclable contactless payment device is issued to a first patron of a venue. Use of the contactless payment device at the venue by the first patron is facilitated, as is return of the contactless payment device by the first patron for recycling. The contactless payment device is deactivated and stored. The issuing and facilitation of use are repeated for at least a second patron of the venue, with the same recyclable contactless payment device.
US08775307B2

A computer receives rating information relating to proposed issuance of an insurance policy endorsement. The rating information relates to a proposed insured that employs a number of employees. The computer processes the rating information to generate a premium amount to be charged for the insurance policy endorsement. The endorsement is then issued. The endorsement may provide reimbursement to the insured for losses incurred by the insured arising from absence from work by one or more of the employees.
US08775304B2

A method of transferring money from a first user to another user through a cellular network is disclosed. The method includes a the first user buying a voucher of a specified money from market and sending a USSD string to a cellular network, the cellular network authorizing details provided by the first user, sending a notification to the first user confirming transfer of the money to the second user, sending the second user a notification informing receipt of the money from the first user, sending the second user a secret code, a vendor confirming details provided by second user by contacting the cellular network, the cellular network further confirming the second user, authorizing the vendor to pay the specified money to the second user, crediting the money to the vendor account, and sending a confirmation to the first user notifying the second user has received the cash.
US08775302B2

A method of and system for making purchases over a computer network using an ATM card or the like is provided. In accordance with the invention, a consumer transmits his ATM card number over the network to an on-line merchant. The on-line merchant then forwards the ATM card number to a third party contractor, such as a bank, that will oversee and authorize the transaction. Simultaneously or thereafter, the consumer transmits his PIN over the network to the third party contractor, who verifies that the ATM card number and PIN are valid.
US08775301B2

Share of Wallet (“SOW”) is a modeling approach that utilizes various data sources to provide scores that describe a consumers spending capability, tradeline history including balance transfers, and balance information. Share of wallet scores can be used as a parameter for determining whether or not to accept and/or guarantee a check. The share of wallet can be used to calculate a risk value of a customer. For example, the scores can weight one or more factors related to the check writer and differentiate between a low-risk customer and a high-risk customer.
US08775286B2

A computer-implemented method controls commercial transactions involving a portfolio of financial products by conducting business operations related to commercial transactions between a bank and consumer involving purchase and utilization of the financial products, collecting transactional data related to the financial products, and providing a centralized modeling and optimization tool to predict customer response to changes in an attribute of a financial product under evaluation based on the transactional data and to optimize the variable of the financial product under evaluation. The modeling and optimization tool is configurable to evaluate the financial products in the portfolio under KPIs and business rules selected according to the financial product under evaluation. The optimized variable is transmitted to the bank. The movement and utilization of the financial products between the customer and bank is controlled in accordance with the predicted customer response to changes in the optimized variable of the financial product.
US08775285B1

The disclosure details implementations of apparatuses, methods, and systems directed to facilitating an entity sponsoring a trust. The sponsoring entity contributes a pool of assets (e.g., a pool of real property mortgages) to fund the trust. The system facilitates the creation of one or more classes of certificates that represent a portion of the assets held in the trust. For example, if the trust is funded by mortgages, the certificates will represent rights to different portions of principal and/or interest payments generated by the mortgages held as the asset pool. The sponsoring entity can use the system to sell all or some of the certificates to unrelated parties and to create a market in the certificates. Further, in an implementation, the sponsoring entity may also use the system to facilitate an ongoing certificate exchange program implementing a series of certificate exchange applications.
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