US09155033B2
A user equipment device, removable storage module and method for accelerating network selection by a wireless user equipment (UE) device without having to perform a full band scan (FBS). In one exemplary embodiment, the UE device sends location information of the wireless user equipment device to a home network node. The UE device receives appropriate network list information and associated frequency data from the home network node, the network list information comprising network identities comprising a combination of a core network with at least one of an access network and a service network, and locates a network using at least one of the appropriate network list information and associated frequency data without having to do a full band scan.
US09155031B2
A method, system, and device for network selection are provided. The method for network selection includes the following steps. After network selection is triggered, a network selection list stored in a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) and a network selection list stored in a Mobile Equipment (ME) are read, where the UICC is embedded in the ME and accessible to the ME. Network selection is performed according to the network selection list stored in the UICC and the network selection list stored in the ME. Also, a method for network selection through a network selection policy is added and methods for implementing a type and a data structure of a network selection policy as well as a method for network selection based on a network selection policy are provided, so that network selection can be controlled more flexibly, a terminal can locate a target network faster, and time consumed for the network selection is reduced.
US09155015B2
A radio terminal (100) according to a present invention stores a handover threshold in association with an application being executed, when the communication quality of the application is degraded, the handover threshold being based on a piece of radio state information equivalent to that at a time when the communication quality is determined to be degraded. The radio terminal (100) stores the amount of variation of the radio state information in association with the radio communication system. The radio terminal (100) executes handover to a different radio communication system on the basis of the radio state information, the stored handover threshold and the stored amount of the variation.
US09155004B2
A method and mechanism for operating user equipment to enable efficient reselection from a first cell conforming to a first wireless standard to a second cell conforming to a second wireless standard. The second standard may require a higher transmission rate for packet-switched data than the first standard. While camping on the first cell, the user equipment makes measurements of received power from the second cell. A reselection timer is started when a measurement is detected that is sufficiently strong. In response to an access state transition to a non-active protocol state (such as UMTS-PCH), the UE saves the timer value. When data becomes available for transmission, an additional measurement is made on the second cell, and reselection to the second cell may be performed immediately if the additional measurement and the saved timer value pass one or more reselection criteria.
US09155002B2
A method and apparatus for performing a handover during a device-to-device communication in a wireless access system are disclosed. More particularly, the method comprises: a first device sensing a handover state by considering a link quality with a second device while performing device-to-device communication with the second device; the first device measuring channel quality with respect to neighboring devices by using a reference signal that is transmitted from the neighboring devices; the first device transmitting a handover request message to a relay device in order to start handover the relay device selected from the neighboring devices based on measuring channel quality; the first device receiving from the relay device a handover completion message indicating the completion of resource allocation; and the first device performing the device-to-device communication with the second device by using a resource that is allocated by the relay device.
US09154996B2
A method includes receiving link quality information associated with multiple wireless connections in a wireless network. The method also includes identifying at least one asymmetric communication path in the wireless network using the link quality information. The link quality information could include a statistical value for each of the wireless connections. Identifying the at least one asymmetric communication path could include identifying a first and a second of the statistical values associated with a first and a second of the wireless connections, respectively, and determining whether a difference between the first and second statistical values exceeds a threshold. The method could further include applying a heuristic to indicate that the first and second wireless connections do not form an asymmetric communication path even if the difference between the first and second statistical values exceeds the threshold.
US09154993B1
Systems and methods are provided for an optimized mobile-IPv6 encapsulation. A mobile node sends packets to a correspondent node by encapsulating a packet using an IPv6 routing extension header, and reverse tunneling the packet to a home agent. The home agent modifies the packet and forwards it to the correspondent node. When the correspondent node sends packets to the mobile node's home address, the home agent intercepts the packet, encapsulates the packet with an IPv6 routing extension header, and tunnels the packet to the mobile node. Consequently, because packets are tunneled using IPv6 routing extension headers, the amount of overhead in each encapsulated packet is reduced, thus increasing the available bandwidth in a network.
US09154991B2
Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) of updating a policy and charging control (PCC) rule. The method includes: receiving a filter update request comprising a new filter and a reference filter; matching the reference filter with a previously requested PCC rule; determining a set of filters associated with the service data flow; determining whether any filter of the set of filters is removed; and authorizing quality of service (QoS) information based on the remaining filters of the set of filters. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor for performing the method.
US09154982B2
A system for collecting traffic information that includes at least one first mobile node; at least one second mobile node; at least one data collection node; and a central processing station. At least one packet is transmitted between the first mobile node and the second node. The data collection node includes a packet search analyzer to determine an identifier that identifiers the first mobile node or the second mobile node from the at least one packet. The central processing station is linked to the data collection node and communicates traffic information associated with the identifier.
US09154979B2
A system for scalably simulating multiple LTE UE devices includes an LTE multi-UE simulator. The simulator includes a common public radio interface (CPRI) module for receiving downlink data from an evolved node B (eNode B) under test and a downlink signal chain processing module including a common section for performing UE agnostic processing of the downlink data and a UE specific section for performing UE specific processing of the downlink data. The simulator further includes a control digital signal processor (DSP) for receiving the downlink data from the common section of the downlink signal chain processing module, for processing downlink data to obtain control information, and for forwarding the control information to the downlink signal chain processing module. The UE specific portion of the downlink signal chain processing module performs the UE specific processing using the control information.
US09154973B1
A method of testing a mobile phone maintenance channel is provided. The method comprises transmitting a plurality of mobile phone activation set-up messages to an open mobile alliance (OMA) platform, the OMA platform storing activation set-up information in a data store, and generating test activation request messages. The method further comprises transporting the activation request messages over a mobile phone maintenance channel, the OMA platform retrieving activation set-up information from the data store, the OMA platform transmitting activation response messages, the activation response messages comprising at least a portion of the mobile phone activation set-up information associated with the test activation request, transporting the activation response messages over the maintenance channel, and the computer, in response to receiving the activation response messages, determining a first test result based on comparing the plurality of activation request messages to the activation response messages.
US09154971B2
Disclosed are systems, methods and devices for obtaining round trip time measurements for use in location based services. In particular implementations, a fine timing measurement request message wirelessly transmitted by a first transceiver device to a second transceiver device may permit additional processing features in computing or applying a signal round trip time measurement. Such a signal round trip time measurement may be used in positioning operations.
US09154967B2
An apparatus and a method for beam selection and inter-beam scheduling using beam scanning in a beamformed wireless communication system are provided. A method for transmitting a signal in a transmitting stage includes transmitting a reference signal through at least one transmission beam, receiving channel information of at least one transmission beam from a receiving stage, selecting a first transmission beam for sending a signal to the receiving stage, by considering the channel information of the at least one transmission beam provided from the receiving stage, and performing inter-beam scheduling for the receiving stage by considering ID information of the first transmission beam.
US09154964B2
Techniques are generally described for determining locations of a plurality of communication devices in a network. In some examples, methods for creating a location discovery infrastructure (LDI) for estimating locations of one or more of a plurality of communication nodes may comprise one or more of determining a plurality of locations in the terrain to place a corresponding plurality of beacon nodes, determining a plurality of beacon node groups for the placed beacon nodes, and determining a schedule for the placed beacon nodes to be active. Additional variants and embodiments are also disclosed.
US09154960B2
A wireless communication network construction terminal includes: a vibration generating module configured to generate vibration; a wireless communicator; a construction unit configured to construct a wireless communication network; a selector configured to select one of a plurality of wireless communication protocols; a vibration controller configured to cause the vibration generating module to generate vibration indicating a wireless communication protocol selected by the selector; and a communication controller configured, when a communication connection request message corresponding to the wireless communication protocol selected by the selector is wirelessly received by the wireless communicator after an operation in accordance with the wireless communication protocol selected by the selector is started, to cause the wireless communicator to wirelessly transmit a message of permitting a communication connection request to a wireless communication network participation terminal that has wirelessly transmitted the communication connection request message.
US09154956B2
Disclosed are a system and method for managing access to a mobile telecommunication account by disabling use of a mobile device associated with a mobile telecommunication account or sub account when the mobile network detects that a restriction contained in a restriction database is violated.
US09154954B2
[Structure] A mobile phone (10) includes a touch panel (38) and a touch control circuit (36) detecting a touch operation, and can set a lock state that a telephone function or the like is restricted. If the lock state is set and a key operation is performed, a message urging to long-depress a touch is displayed on a display (30), and when the touch is detected, a changing object representing an elapse of time is displayed on the display (30). If five (5) seconds elapse in a touched state, a completion image is displayed on the display (30). Then, if a finger is released from the touch panel (38) within three (3) seconds after the completion image is displayed, the lock state is canceled.
US09154949B1
A method of authenticating a communication device for accessing premium communication services via an untrusted network. The method comprises receiving a request message from a communication device, wherein the request message comprises an identification of a delegated premium service delivery service and a mobile directory number of a mobile communication device, wherein the mobile communication device is different from the communication device. The method further comprises transmitting a code word to the mobile communication device associated with the mobile directory number, receiving a request authentication payload message from the communication device, wherein the request authentication payload message comprises the code word, and sending an authentication payload message to the communication device based on the code word.
US09154941B2
A mobile computing device hosts an operating system and mobile applications. A provisioning application communicates with a secure element and near field communication (NFC) subsystem. It causes display of an interface for users to enter personal attributes for storage in the secure element. Users discriminately select items from their personal attributes for transmission to a third party recipient so only attributes relative to the third party are sent. Software, interfaces, methods, and apparatus typify the embodiments.
US09154931B2
A wearable emergency cellular device for use in a medical emergency alert situation includes an application containing synoptic medical information and other user data, a call module for mobile communication with a call center and a display for selectively controlling information displayed on the cellular device. Only the call center is able to input the synoptic medical and selected other information to the device. The cellular device is usable for emergency situations other than medical, such as for personal security at home or for mobile use. Various access methods are described using panel displays for medical or other emergency personnel to access the stored cellular device information. Initiation of user communication with the call center can be activated manually or by the user's voice. Also described are an electronic emergency call system and methods for handling an emergency alert using the emergency cellular device.
US09154921B2
The disclosed embodiments provide methods and apparatus for detecting or announcing presence and/or location information in a wireless communication network. In one aspect, a method for sharing user information in a wireless communication network includes sending an alert from an originator to a target, the alert including information about the originator and requesting information about the target, receiving information by the originator from the target in response to the alert, and updating information in the originator about the target, based on the received information. In another aspect, a method includes sending at least one alert from an originator, requesting information about at least one target user; receiving information by the originator in response to the alert; and updating information by the originator about the target user, based on information received.
US09154920B2
A vehicle system and method is provided for detecting the location of a portable wireless device. The vehicle system includes the portable device and a plurality of base stations positioned about a vehicle. The portable device is configured to transmit a first wireless signal and a second wireless signal indicative of motion data of the portable device. A main base station of the plurality of base stations is configured to determine a first final position of the portable device in response to each of the plurality of base stations successfully receiving the first wireless signal. The main base station is further configured to determine a second final position of the portable device using the first final position and the motion data of the second wireless signal as received at the first base station and after determining that the second base station has not successfully received the second wireless signal.
US09154915B2
Provided is a process and system for ascertaining the operating hours of a business. The process includes obtaining wireless-environment data indicative of the location of business and a timestamp; determining that a user device is located at the business responsive to both the wireless-environment data and wireless-environment data from checked-in user devices that have checked-in to the business via a social network; storing the timestamp in a timestamp data store; estimating operating hours of the business responsive to stored timestamps; and storing the estimated operating hours in a business-hours data store.
US09154910B2
This provides a terminal location obtaining method, device, and system. The method includes: a first terminal transmitting a location-obtaining request to a second terminal; the second terminal starting a positioning function to obtain the current location information of the second terminal, and transmitting the obtained location information of the second terminal to the first terminal; the first terminal using the location information of the second terminal as the location information of the first terminal, and performing a location-based application operation based on the location information. This can obtain relatively accurate location information of a terminal when the terminal is incapable of determining its own location when location determination is needed. This can also transmit the location information to a corresponding application server to avoid inaccuracy issues with determining a location based on the IP address of a terminal. This can facilitate an accurate location-based push message service.
US09154909B2
A server system configured to communicate with a device that is installable in a vehicle, such as a portable or in-built navigation device, comprises a communications resource for receiving vehicle data indicative of a parameter of the vehicle; and a processing resource operable to obtain weather data and to process the weather data and the vehicle data to determine at least one weather-related condition in dependence on both the weather data and the vehicle data.
US09154905B2
A short-range wireless communication apparatus is disclosed. The short-range wireless communication apparatus comprises: multiple connection devices and a control device. The connection devices are capable of simultaneously connecting multiple communication interfaces to a communication counterparty apparatus to enable sound data transfer. When the control device determines that, in cases where the communication interfaces are communicably connected, there arises a request to start outputting the sound data transferred by one of the communication interfaces, the control device disconnects another one of the communication interfaces while keeping the one of the communication interfaces connected and causes a sound data output device to output the sound data transferred from the communication counterparty apparatus by the one of the communication interfaces.
US09154904B2
A method and system is provided for estimating proximity and accurately calculating the straight line distance between the communicating Bluetooth enabled portable communication devices. Particularly, the invention provides a method and system for capturing the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values form at least one target communication device (204) by the reference communication device (202); calculating the constant values of properties of communication environment of the devices by utilizing captured received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values; and deriving accurate straight line distance between the reference communication device (202) and the target communication device (204) by utilizing calculated constant values of properties of communication environment of the devices.
US09154900B1
In accordance with one embodiment, a system and method are provided for translation services to facilitate interoperation between mobility schemes. In other embodiments, the system and method may provide transport and network services for legacy applications, and adaptive coding for message, packet, link and physical layers.
US09154899B1
A wireless communication device optically receives an image that is associated with a user device and processes the received image to generate image data. The wireless communication device transfers user information and the image data to a communication network. The communication network processes the user information and the image data to generate configuration data to allow the user device to access the communication network. The communication network transfers the configuration data to a communication transceiver. The communication transceiver receives a communication from the user device, and in response to the configuration data, the communication transceiver transfers the communication to the communication network.
US09154897B2
A depth processing system can employ stereo speakers to achieve immersive effects. The depth processing system can advantageously manipulate phase and/or amplitude information to render audio along a listener's median plane, thereby rendering audio along varying depths. In one embodiment, the depth processing system analyzes left and right stereo input signals to infer depth, which may change over time. The depth processing system can then vary the phase and/or amplitude decorrelation between the audio signals over time to enhance the sense of depth already present in the audio signals, thereby creating an immersive depth effect.
US09154896B2
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for processing an audio sound source to create four-dimensional spatialized sound. A virtual sound source may be moved along a path in three-dimensional space over a specified time period to achieve four-dimensional sound localization. The various embodiments described herein provide methods and systems for converting existing mono, 2-channel and/or multi-channel audio signals into spatialized audio signals have two or more audio channels. The incoming audio signals may be down-mixed, up-mixed or otherwise translated into fewer, greater or the same number of audio channels. The various embodiments also describe methods, systems and apparatus for generating low frequency effect and center channel signals from incoming audio signals having one or more channels.
US09154895B2
An apparatus of generating a multi-channel sound signal is provided. The apparatus may include a sound separator to determine a number (N) of sound signals based on at least one of a mixing characteristic and a spatial characteristic of a multi-channel sound signal when receiving the multi-channel sound signal, and to separate the multi-channel sound signal into N sound signals, the sound signals being generated such that the multi-channel sound signal is separated, and a sound synthesizer to synthesize N sound signals to be M sound signals.
US09154894B2
A frequency characteristics determination device that can prevent generation of a frequency response curve having an unnatural shape is provided. A CPU 11 sets pass points Pi and Pi+1 through which the frequency response curve of an audio signal should pass. Pi+1 of a frequency Xpi+1 which is higher than a frequency Xpi of the pass point Pi. The CPU 11 determines a direction point ai of a Bezier curve Ci for connecting the pass points Pi and Pi+1 based on the pass points Pi and Pi+1. The CPU 11 determines whether a frequency Xai of the direction point ai is within a reference range between not less than the frequency Xpi and not more than the frequency Xpi+1. When the frequency Xai is out of the reference range, the CPU 11 moves the direction point ai so that the frequency Xai is within the reference range.
US09154888B2
The selection of hearing aids can be based on many factors which are beyond a simple compensation for the hearing impairment of the user. The process of selecting hearing aids can be time consuming and resource intensive. By rapidly and effectively providing the necessary context to hearing-impaired individuals to evaluate the benefit provided by various hearing aids, without the traditional time consuming fitting trial, the purchase of a device can be expedited and provide the necessary correction to negate the effects of auditory deprivation. A system an method for enabling improved hearing aid appraisal and selection processes is provided.
US09154883B2
A speaker assembly includes an enclosure having an acoustic chamber and an acoustic output opening and a speaker driver. The speaker driver includes a sound radiating surface and a first voice coil and a second voice coil positioned along opposite faces, respectively, of the sound radiating surface. The speaker driver further includes a first magnet assembly including an elongated gap in which part of the first voice coil is positioned to vibrate and a second magnet assembly having an elongated gap in which part of the second voice coil is positioned to vibrate. The first magnet assembly elongated gap is orientated lengthwise toward the acoustic chamber, and the second magnet assembly elongated gap is oriented lengthwise toward the acoustic output opening. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US09154880B2
A first filter coefficient and a second filter coefficient are calculated by using spatial transfer characteristics from a first speaker and a second speaker to a first control point and a second control point, and a first sound increase ratio na at the first control point and a second sound increase ratio nb at the second control point, so that, when the first filter coefficient is a through characteristic, a first composite sound pressure from the first speaker and the second speaker to the first control point is na times a first sound pressure from the first speaker to the first control point, and a second composite sound pressure from the first speaker and the second speaker to the second control point is nb times a second sound pressure from the first speaker to the second control point.
US09154879B2
A Method for processing an audio signal to use a beamforming technique in a three-dimensional (3D) space is disclosed. The method may include generating a beamforming signal on a horizontal plane related to a sound source in a three-dimensional (3D) space and modulating the beamforming signal to head for a listener in the 3D space from the sound source.
US09154875B2
A device (200) for processing an audio data stream, the device (200) comprising a transient detection unit (201) adapted to detect a transient portion of an audio input data stream (202), and a harmonics generator (203) adapted to generate an audio output data stream (204) based on the audio input data stream (202), the audio output data stream (204) comprising a sequence of harmonics (205) generated only from a non-transient portion of the audio input data stream (202).
US09154874B2
A howling detection device capable of detecting the occurrence of howling with a higher degree of accuracy is provided. The howling detection device includes a signal level calculating unit calculating, from the input signal, an input signal level being the signal level of an input signal at each given time, a level fluctuation estimated value calculating unit calculating, from the input signal level, a level fluctuation estimated value being a value gradually increasing or decreasing by a given amount with time, a threshold value calculating unit calculating, from the level fluctuation estimated value, a level threshold value changing in accordance with the level fluctuation estimated value, and a howling determination unit which determines that howling occurs in an input signal under the condition that the input signal level being higher than the level threshold value continues for a given time.
US09154869B2
A portable electronic device having an enclosure having a top wall, a bottom wall, at least one sidewall connecting the top wall to the bottom wall, an acoustic output opening and a back volume defined by the top wall, the bottom wall and the at least one sidewall. A speaker driver is positioned within the enclosure, the speaker driver including a sound radiating surface having a top face and a bottom face for emitting sound waves therefrom. A frame member is attached to the speaker driver, the frame member forming a front volume chamber acoustically coupling the top face of the sound radiating surface to the acoustic output opening and a back volume chamber that overlaps a side of the speaker drive and acoustically couples the bottom face of the sound radiating surface to the back volume.
US09154868B2
An earphone comprises an earphone body, containing a speaker, and a projection, extending from a first surface of the earphone body, for location in the entrance to the user's ear canal. The earphone body comprises a sound outlet in the first surface, for allowing sounds generated by the speaker to leave the earphone body. The projection extends from the first surface of the earphone body, adjacent to the sound outlet, and contains a sound inlet port, connected to a microphone for detecting sounds entering the ear canal. A noise cancellation system includes noise cancellation circuitry, for applying a frequency dependent filter characteristic and applying a gain to an input signal representing ambient noise, at least one of the frequency dependent filter characteristic and the gain being adaptive. The earphone then has an ambient noise microphone, and an error microphone connected to the sound inlet port.
US09154866B2
Fibers may be intertwined to form structures for electronic devices and other parts. Fibers may be intertwined using computer-controlled braiding, weaving, and knitting equipment. Binder materials may be selectively incorporated into the intertwined fibers. By controlling the properties of the intertwined fibers and the patterns of incorporated binder, structures can be formed that include antenna windows, sound-transparent and sound-blocking structures, structures that have integral rigid and flexible portions, and tubes with seamless forked portions. Fiber-based structures such as these may be used to form cables and other parts of headphones or other electronic device accessories, housings for electronic devices such as housings for portable computers, and other structures.
US09154856B2
Methods and apparatus for creating in-video objects for a video file include identifying a number of segments of the video file, creating a metadata file containing attributes of the segment for each of the segments, and creating a table of contents for the video content, the table of contents including visual representations of each of the segments.
US09154851B2
A method and computing device that provides a tunable RF filter for a two-way communication system. The method receives a downstream video signal, and filters the downstream video signal into at least one downstream bandwidth band, each downstream bandwidth band related to desired upstream/downstream bandwidth splits. The method performs an energy detection on each downstream bandwidth band, and determines a lowest frequency of said at least one downstream bandwidth band that contains downstream video content. The method sets a diplex filter upstream/downstream frequency cutoff to a maximum upstream bandwidth that does not conflict with the lowest frequency of said at least one downstream bandwidth band that contains downstream video content.
US09154847B2
Content scheduling may be provided. First, a media guide may be displayed. Next, a plurality of asset selection input data respectively corresponding to a plurality of assets selected from the displayed media guide may be received. Then the plurality of asset selection input data may be stored in a playlist database. The playlist database may then be executed.
US09154845B1
An example system includes: storing, in a data object, data corresponding to electronic communication, where the data object has an object element associated therewith, and the object element initially resides on a first area of a portal; recognizing movement of the object element from the first location to a second location on the portal, where the second location is different from the first location; detecting that the object element has been moved to the second location; in response to the detecting, triggering execution of a function to obtain the data from the data object; and generating a display of the electronic communication based on the data, where the display is rendered over at least part of the second location.
US09154842B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a method and system comprising a remote control device, an output device, and a media control station that receives an initiating command from the remote control device to initiate a forward function or a backward function, provides a display at the output device in response to the initiating command, receives a user selection command based on the display, and adjusts the function based on the user selection commands.
US09154838B2
Data indicative of first and second members of a social group, a media content accessed by the first and second members of the social group, and a time at which the media content was accessed by the first and second members of the social group is collected. A system then compares the received data to determine if the second member of the social group accessed the same media content as the first member of the social group and if the second member of the social group accessed the same media content within a predetermined amount of time. When the second member of the social group accessed the same media content as the first member of the social group within the predetermined amount of time the first member of the social group is identified as a social influencer.
US09154834B2
Disclosed are various embodiments that facilitate fast switching of synchronized media using time-stamp management. A first media stream and multiple second media streams are obtained. The second media stream is time synchronized to the first media stream. The first media stream and one of the second media streams are decoded. Time-stamp management without decoding is performed for another one of the second media streams to facilitate fast switching to the other one of the second media streams when desired.
US09154832B2
Various arrangements for determining a frame number of a video frame are presented. A decoded video frame may include a test image and a numerical color pattern. A first color present within the color pattern of the video frame at a first predefined location may be identified. A second color present within the color pattern of the video frame at a second predefined location may be identified. The frame number of the video frame may be identified using at least the first color and the second color.
US09154828B2
A method for controlling a television device comprises the following steps. A portable device with a wireless power receiver module is provided. A display control module of the television device receives a parental control signal from a remote control module of the portable device. A feedback detector unit of a wireless power transmitter module of the television device detects whether the wireless power receiver module is located within a predetermined range so as to generate a first detection result. The display control module selectively enables a parental control function according to the parental control signal and the first detection result. The feedback detector unit again detects whether the wireless power receiver module is located within the predetermined range so as to generate a second detection result. Finally, the television device is controlled to turn on, turn off or enter into a standby mode based on the second detection result.
US09154825B2
A set top/back box and system and method for providing a remote control device are disclosed. In one embodiment, one or more wireless transceivers are located within a housing, which also interconnectively includes television input/output, a processor, and memory. The set top/back box may establish a pairing with a programmable device, such as a proximate wireless-enabled interactive handheld device having a touch screen display, whereby formatted parallel audiovisual experience instructions, including virtual buttons, may be transmitted to the programmable device for display on the touch screen display to create an experience parallel to the experience on the television. The set top/back box receives and processes virtual remote control functionality input instructions from the programmable device to control amenities associated with the set top/back box.
US09154819B2
In one embodiment, a method includes assigning at a server, priority levels to channels associated with video broadcast content, transmitting the assigned priority levels to a network device transmitting the video broadcast content to receivers, and updating the assigned priority levels based on channel information received at the server. A policy is applied to the video broadcast content based on the assigned priority levels when network congestion occurs. An apparatus is also disclosed herein.
US09154817B2
A digital broadcasting system and a data processing method are disclosed. The data processing method includes receiving a broadcast signal in which main service data and mobile service data are multiplexed, demodulating the broadcast signal to acquire fast-information-channel signaling information including reference time information for a system clock, and outputting demodulation time information of a specific position of a frame of the broadcast signal, decoding the fast-information-channel signaling information, and establishing the reference time information as the system clock at a demodulation time according to on the outputted demodulation time information and decoding the mobile service data according to the system clock.
US09154816B2
A garbled closed captioning detector analyzes closed captioning data at predetermined intervals to determine whether a metric derived from the closed-captioning data exceeds a threshold. If the metric exceeds the predetermined threshold, the closed captioning data is presumed to be garbled. For example, the metric may be the percentage of words in the closed captioning data having a desired word length observed in a particular interval compared to all words in the closed captioning data observed in the interval. If the percentage of words having a desired word length exceeds a predetermined threshold, the closed captioning data is presumed to be garbled.
US09154812B2
A stream transmitting system for transmitting a data stream, which has first layer including base data and second layer including data supplementing the base data, includes a transmitting device and a receiving device. The transmitting device includes: a transmission control unit for packetizing the data of the first layer and the data of the second layer to output a data packet of the first layer and a data packet of the second layer; first transmitting unit for transmitting the data packet of the first layer to the receiving device through first transmission path; and second transmitting unit for transmitting the data packet of the second layer to the receiving device through second transmission path. The receiving device includes: first receiving units for receiving the data packet transmitted through the first transmission paths; and a reception control unit for reconstructing a hierarchically-encoded data stream.
US09154807B2
In one example, an encoder may apply a plurality of pre-defined interpolation filters to units of video data, such as frames of reference video, in order to generate a plurality of different interpolated prediction data. The encoder may also at times determine that a new interpolation filter or set of interpolation filters might improve coding quality by either improving video compression or improving reconstructed image quality. The encoder may also signal to a video decoder whether one of the pre-defined interpolation filters was used or a new set of interpolation filters was used. The encoder may also signal to a video decoder whether to continue using the new set of interpolation filters, or whether to revert back to using the pre-defined set of interpolation filters. A video decoder can decode video data based on data received from the video encoder.
US09154805B2
An apparatus, computer readable medium, and method of compressing images generated on an image generating device, the method including responsive to a generated image and position and orientation data associated with an image generating device which generated the image, selecting a previously generated image having a similar position and a similar orientation as the generated image; and if a comparison between the selected previously generated image and the generated image indicates the difference between one of the previously generated images and the generated image is less than a threshold difference, then compressing the generated image using the previously generated image. The method may include generating the generated image from light incident to the image generating device, and generating the position and orientation associated with the image generating device.
US09154796B2
This disclosure relates to methods and apparatus for encoding and decoding video data. In an example an intra-mode for predicting a current block of video data and most probable intra-modes (MPMs) for predicting the current block of video data may be determined. MPMs for predicting the current block of video data may be determined. An index for each of the MPMs based on an order in which the intra-mode for predicting the current block is compared to the MPMs may be determined. When one of the MPMs for predicting the current block matches the intra-mode for predicting the current block, the index of the matching MPM.
US09154794B2
A picture coding method of the present invention codes a picture signal and a ratio of a number of luminance pixels and a number of chrominance pixels for the picture signal, and then one coding method out of at least two coding methods is selected depending on the ratio. Next, data related to a picture size is coded in accordance with the selected coding method. The data related to the picture size indicates a size of the picture corresponding to the picture signal or an output area, which is a pixel area to be outputted in decoding in a whole pixel area coded in the picture signal coding.
US09154793B1
The apparatus for processing an image recorded in a black box for a vehicle includes an information collector, a mode determiner, an encoder and a controller. The information collector is configured to collect information on a road on which a vehicle is being driven. The mode determiner is configured to determine an inter mode when the road information collected by the information collector indicates a suburban road and determine an intra mode when the road information indicates a city road. The encoder is configured to encode the image recorded in the black box. The controller is configured to control the encoder to encode the image with an encoding mode determined by the mode determiner.
US09154783B2
The image coding method includes: determining a context for a current block to be processed, from among a plurality of contexts; and performing arithmetic coding on the control parameter for the current block to generate a bitstream corresponding to the current block, wherein in the determining: the context is determined under a condition that control parameters of neighboring blocks of the current block are used, when the signal type is a first type, the neighboring blocks being a left block and an upper block of the current block; and the context is determined under a condition that the control parameter of the upper block is not used, when the signal type is a second type, and the second type is one of “mvd_l0” and “mvd_l1”.
US09154769B2
A measurement apparatus for automatic three-dimensional measurement of space includes a camera sensor array that is configured to generate low-resolution video recordings. The camera sensor array is further configured to automatically generate high-resolution images at geometrically suitable positions in the space. Automatic recording of the high-resolution images is based on a three-dimensional real-time reconstruction of the video recordings. A measurement system includes the measurement apparatus and a corresponding method is implemented for the automatic three-dimensional measurement of the space.
US09154763B2
Systems and methods are provided for resolving artifacts in view-dependent components. The system and method apply a different stereo camera pair to view-dependent versus non-view-dependent or independent rays. In this way the lighting components may be independently dialed to art direct specular components versus diffuse components.
US09154762B2
A stereoscopic image system is provided. The stereoscopic image system comprises: a depth detection unit, for receiving a two-dimensional image and a corresponding depth image, and generating a depth level map according to the two-dimensional image and the corresponding depth image; a stereoscopic image generator, for generating a stereoscopic image pair corresponding to the two-dimensional image according to the two-dimensional image and the depth level map; and a stereoscopic image adjusting apparatus, for generating a depth level range map according to the depth level map, and performing a pixel shifting process and an interpolation process to objects within a plurality of depth levels in the stereoscopic image pair to generate an output stereoscopic image pair according to the stereoscopic image pair and the depth level range map.
US09154758B2
A digital signal processor and a digital image processing apparatus adopting the same. The digital signal processor comprises a data converter, which converts digital image data in red, green, and blue form to digital image data in luminance and chrominance form, such that when photograph-image data is captured by photographing, the data converter processes the photograph-image data during each period of time from the time when processing of one frame data of live-view is completed to the time when processing of next frame data begins.
US09154756B2
A projection apparatus has a hologram recording medium configured to be capable of diffusing coherent light beams, an irradiation unit configured to irradiate coherent light beams to the hologram recording medium so that the coherent light beams scan the hologram recording medium, a light modulator that is illuminated by coherent light beams incident on and diffused at respective points of the hologram recording medium from the irradiation unit, a projection optical system configured to project a modulated image generated by the light modulator onto a scattering plane, and an imaging optical system provided between the hologram recording medium and the light modulator, configured to converge the coherent light beams diffused at respective points of the hologram recording medium to illuminate the light modulator.
US09154746B2
An apparatus including a video control circuit is configured to receive a first video signal from a first camera and a second vide signal from a second camera. The video control circuit is configured to provide the first video signal or the second video signal in response to a control signal. The control signal is indicative of whether a trailer plug is connected to a vehicle plug.
US09154729B2
A television receiving apparatus includes: a transmitting unit which transmits, to a peer apparatus, first audio information received by a microphone and first video information captured by a camera; a receiving unit which receives, from the peer apparatus, second audio information and second video information; a telephone control unit which outputs the second audio information to a speaker; a display unit segmented into a first display area in which the first video information is displayed, a second display area in which the second video information is displayed, and a third display area; and a shared information control unit which causes shared information to be displayed in the third display area, and causes the transmitting unit to transmit the shared information so that the shared information is displayed by the peer apparatus.
US09154728B2
An exemplary image processing apparatus generates an interpolation frame to be inserted between a first frame and a second frame, contiguous with each other, of a moving picture obtained by an image capturing apparatus. The image processing apparatus includes: a motion vector calculation section configured to calculate a motion vector of an object by performing a block matching operation between the first and second frames; and an interpolation frame generation section configured to generate the interpolation frame through a process performed based on a magnitude of motion of the image capturing apparatus from a point in time when the first frame is obtained to a point in time when the second frame is obtained.
US09154715B2
A method for estimating a fly screen effect of an image capture unit is described, having a plurality of image sensors for providing an item of light intensity information. The method includes a step of determining an image property of an item of image information, based on a plurality of items of light intensity information and on a plurality of parameters, each of the plurality of parameters being associated with each of the plurality of image sensors. This method also includes a step of ascertaining a plurality of parameter values for the plurality of parameters, in which the image property is at least made to approximate an ideal image property, the plurality of parameters representing the fly screen effect in a model of the image capture unit.
US09154700B2
An apparatus for capturing an image using an image stored in a camera includes a lens system for optically receiving an image, an image signal processor for converting the received image into a preview image and generating a first-resolution image using the received image at predetermined periods, a first buffer for receiving the first-resolution image from the image signal processor and temporarily storing the received first-resolution image, a display for displaying the preview image received from the image signal processor and the first-resolution image received from the first buffer, and a controller for controlling the image signal processor to display the first-resolution image temporarily stored in the first buffer on the display upon receiving an image capturing signal.
US09154695B2
A digital image of the object is captured and the object is recognized from plurality of objects in a database. An information address corresponding to the object is then used to access information and initiate communication pertinent to the object.
US09154694B2
A digital image of the object is captured and the object is recognized from plurality of objects in a database. An information address corresponding to the object is then used to access information and initiate communication pertinent to the object.
US09154693B2
A photographing control apparatus for controlling a shooting direction of a camera determines as to whether the shooting direction of the camera is controlled or not according to a designation of a position in a display area in which an image captured by the camera is displayed, based on a parameter derived by the camera.
US09154691B2
An image capturing apparatus extracts frequency components from image data of a newly captured photograph, divides them into divided sections, compares the frequency components of each of the divided sections of the newly captured photograph and frequency components of corresponding divided sections of a database, obtains a maximum vicinity area, and replaces first extraction components, which are a portion of components extracted from among frequency components outside the maximum vicinity area of each of the divided sections of the newly captured photograph, with second extraction components, which are a portion of components extracted from among frequency components outside the maximum vicinity area of corresponding divided sections of the database, at positions of the frequency components of the newly captured photograph corresponding to the positions of the second extraction components.
US09154690B2
An image search device includes: a shooting unit configured to photographically shoot a subject; a display unit; a control unit configured to display a search key for image search on the display unit according to a shooting situation at the time of a shooting mode whereby the subject can photographically be shot by the shooting unit; a specifying unit which is used for specifying the search key displayed on the display unit; and a searching unit configured to search, in the event of the search key being specified via the specifying unit, an image based on the search key thus specified; with the control unit displaying, in the event of the image being searched by the searching unit, this search result on the display unit.
US09154685B2
An image capture apparatus includes an image sensor having a pixel that photo-electrically converts an object image, a readout unit that reads out a signal for image forming and a signal for focus detection from the pixel, and a control unit that controls which one of a first readout mode to read out both the signal for focus detection and the signal for image forming from the pixel and a second readout mode to read out only the signal for image forming from the pixel is to be used to operate the readout unit.
US09154677B2
An electronic device may have front and rear surfaces. A front-facing camera may be formed on the front surface and a rear-facing camera may be formed on the rear surface. A display may be mounted on the front face of the electronic device. The cameras may nominally point along axes that run parallel to surface normals for the front and rear surfaces. A removable camera accessory with reflector structures may be mounted over a camera to deflect light and thereby point the camera in an off-axis direction. The removable camera accessory may be supported in a stand or other support structure. Magnetic structures and other structures may be used in coupling the electronic device to the support structures and may be used in coupling the camera accessory to the electronic device.
US09154674B2
There is provided a camera module including: a lens barrel including at least one lens disposed on an optical axis; a housing having the lens barrel disposed therein; a circuit board disposed below the housing; and a shield-can coupled to the housing and enclosing an outer surface of the housing, wherein the circuit board is provided with a ground pad, and a contact surface of the shield-can contacting the ground pad is formed to have a convex-concave shape.
US09154662B2
A method and apparatus for managing a memory at an electronic device is provided. A first number of new media files that can be stored in the memory in a current format is determined. It is determined if a memory management condition is met. If the memory management condition is met, the current format is setting to a second format such that the memory can store a second number of new media files, if acquired, a given new media file in the second format occupying less of the memory than if the given new media file is in the current format, such that the second number is greater than the first number.
US09154658B2
In an image reading apparatus, an image reading unit performs a reading operation to generate image data defined by the reading region. The reading region includes a first region and a second region. The image data includes first data and second data. The first data corresponds to the first region. The second data corresponds to by the second region. The original document passes through the first region and not passes through the second region. A displacing unit displaces the opposing member farther away from the image reading unit when the original document is present in the reading region than a position of the opposing member when the original document is not present in the reading region. A controller determines that an edge reaches the reading position when the second data satisfies a prescribed condition.
US09154656B2
An image reading device comprising: a document placing portion; a conveyor; a reading unit configured to read an image of the document, wherein the reading unit includes: an image sensor; a support which supports the image sensor, wherein in the case of reading the image of the document conveyed by the conveyor, the support is to be stopped at a predetermined reading position; a guide; and a driving unit, wherein the reading unit further includes: a release unit configured to release the contact with the guide by separating the support from the guide when the support is moved toward the predetermined reading position; and a contact portion configured to contact with the support separated from the guide by the release unit when the support is moved toward the predetermined reading position.
US09154653B2
A numerical value inputting device includes a touch panel and a digit number changing part. The touch panel includes a display face to display a numerical value display area and detects simultaneously two pressed positions onto the display face. The digit number changing part changes the number of digits of a numerical value displayed on the numerical value display area in accordance with separation or approach of the two pressed positions.
US09154652B2
A display input device according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes display portion, piezoelectric element, drive portion, and detection portion. The display portion includes touch panel that detects touched position on display surface. The piezoelectric element is provided on touch panel and vibrates touch panel. In response to touch panel being touched, drive portion applies a voltage to piezoelectric element to vibrate piezoelectric element. The detection portion detects the voltage value of a voltage generated in piezoelectric element by a pressure being applied to piezoelectric element when touch panel is touched. The smaller the voltage value detected by detection portion is, the larger the voltage applied to piezoelectric element by drive portion for vibrating piezoelectric element is. The larger the voltage value detected by detection portion is, the smaller the voltage applied to piezoelectric element by drive portion for vibrating piezoelectric element is.
US09154650B2
The invention relates to a method for reading data (120) from a document (104) using a reader (102), wherein the reader forms the primary side of a transformer (110), wherein the document has an electronic memory (118) for storing the data, processor means (114) for reading the data from the memory and at least one electrical load (128, 130, 132) which can be actuated by the processor means, wherein the document forms the secondary side of the transformer, and wherein the processor means and the at least one load are coupled to the secondary side for the purpose of supplying power, having the following steps: a primary-side voltage (U) is applied to the primary side for the purpose of injecting power into the secondary side, the at least one load is actuated by the processor means, as a result of which a time-variant secondary-side load is formed which prompts the primary-side voltage to undergo modulation, the modulation of the primary-side voltage is evaluated by the reader in order to execute read access for the purpose of reading the data on the basis of a result of the evaluation.
US09154646B2
An image forming system includes a first image forming apparatus configured to form an image according to first setting information that is set to a first user; a second image forming apparatus configured to form an image according to second setting information that is set to a second user; and an administration apparatus that holds the first setting information and the second setting information and administers the first image forming apparatus and the second image forming apparatus according to the first setting information and the second setting information thus held. The administration apparatus includes a determining unit configured to determine whether a substitute apparatus for the first image forming apparatus is necessary; and an information setting unit configured to obtain the first setting information according to a determination result of the determining unit, and add the first setting information to the second setting information.
US09154642B2
A computer-implemented method includes receiving a container image including container content characteristic information. The illustrative method further includes analyzing the container content characteristic information and determining the identity of the container contents based on the container characteristic information. Also, the method includes transmitting container content identity information for printing a bar code relating to the container content identity information. The method additionally includes generating a bar code based on the container content identity information. The illustrative method also includes printing a label including the bar code relating to at least the container content identity information.
US09154637B2
A system and method of seizing a landline is disclosed. In seizing the landline, a first device may identify that a switch has been toggled by a second device; receive an alarm signal from the second device via a landline based on identifying that the switch has been toggled; determine a particular processing instruction, of one or more processing instructions, based on information included in the alarm signal; and execute the particular processing instruction to provide the alarm signal to a third device.
US09154636B2
A determination is made as to whether a first channel is communicatively coupled to a communication network. The first communication channel is configured to preferentially transmit emergency messages to the communication network. When the first communication channel is not communicatively coupled to the communication network, a second communication channel and at least one configuration parameter to configure the second communication channel are determined. The second communication channel is configured with the determined at least one parameter. An emergency message is transmitted over the configured second communication channel.
US09154621B2
A method receives a call from a device of a caller destined to a device of a subscriber of a communication network. The method connects the call to the device of the subscriber and then receives from the device of the subscriber an indication that the call is an undesirable call. The indication further includes a description of the call. The method then provides a reward to the subscriber when the indication further includes the description of the call.
US09154617B2
Approaches for recording and playing back a portion of a telephone call are provided. An approach includes establishing a subscriber of a recording and play back service. The approach includes recording, by a computing device, a portion of a conversation of the subscriber that occurs in a call between a first telephone and a second telephone. The approach additionally includes storing, by the computing device, the portion of the conversation when the call ends. The approach further includes analyzing, by the computing device, the stored portion of the conversation to detect predefined keywords. The approach also includes automatically providing the subscriber with an option to play back the stored portion of the conversation when at least one of the predefined keywords is detected during the analyzing.
US09154612B2
Information or items that otherwise might be carried in a person's wallet or purse may be managed and stored on a mobile phone. Embodiments include a software application loaded on a mobile phone and an Internet website through which certain information can be transmitted to the phone by the user, third parties, or both. A user may be alerted to certain information or changes in information that meet certain criteria. The website may provide secure storage for information, filter information, and send encrypted and compressed nuggets or fractions of information to the phone for storage based on topic. E-mails may be searched for information, information may be sent to different parties, and signals may be sent locally to exchange information. Personal information may include account information or travel information, for example.
US09154607B2
An apparatus, system, and method for facilitating communication handing of a terminating communication, terminating or originating, at a mobile station. User preferences are entered and stored at a database. When a terminating communication is subsequently initiated, the stored preferences are accessed, and instructions are provided to the mobile station to cause communication termination in conformity with the stored preferences.
US09154606B2
A computer-implemented user notification method includes displaying, in a status area near a perimeter of a graphical interface, a notification of a recent alert event for a mobile device, receiving a user selection in the status area, and in response to the receipt of the user selection, displaying, in a central zone of the graphical interface, detail regarding a plurality of recent messaging events for the mobile device.
US09154604B2
Apparatus and methods are described herein for sorting messages sent and received, for example in a wireless Personal Area Network (PAN), according to whether the receiving device is within a radially defined region of space. The space may be defined by one or more parameters set by the sending device. A wireless PAN may define the range of peer-to-peer transmission and reception of radio waves between at least two wireless devices. Location and orientation information may be transmitted by a communication device and combined with user and/or software defined boundary limits to filter short range wireless messages.
US09154600B2
A method and apparatus for hold function control in a mobile terminal are disclosed. The hold function control apparatus includes a controller including a general purpose input/output (GPIO) port, a constant voltage power unit for supplying a preset constant voltage, and a hold key for generating a voltage change at the GPIO port by making an instantaneous electrical contact between the GPIO port and the constant voltage power unit, wherein the controller senses the voltage change generated at the GPIO port. As a result, a hold function cancellation command can be directly recognized through a hardware mechanism, thus reducing the time necessary to cancel the hold function setting.
US09154588B2
Robust Header Compression (ROHC) offers a way to compress packet header information for more efficient transmission of data. The compression is achieved through various confidence modes set up by the transmitter and the receiver. The Initialization and Refresh state (IR) is the first state of the compressor. This provides a complete, uncompressed context of the data that is being transmitted. In typically operation, the ROHC compressor will periodically transmit IR packets providing context information allowing the ROHC decompressor to decompress one or more packets following the IR packet. However, under certain conditions such as decompressor start-up, it is possible for the decompressor to miss an IR packet. Exemplary methods and apparatus are described in which a decompressor uses a later-received IR packet to decompress earlier packets for which the decompressor had not received context information.
US09154587B2
A method, network device and system for remote direct memory access (RDMA) over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) packet sequence acceleration are disclosed. The network device comprises one or more functionality components for communicating with a host system. The host system is configured for implementing a first set of functionalities of a network communication protocol, such as RoCE. The one or more functionality components are also operable to implement a second set of functionalities of the network communication protocol.
US09154586B2
Methods and systems are provided for enabling existing or legacy network devices to recognize and parse packets defined in accordance with future-defined standards, without having to be re-configured to be compatible with such standards. A transmitting network device may generate packets such that to enable receiving network devices to bypass, when processing the packets, unknown or newly-inserted fields, such as tag headers, in the packets, and to continue processing the remainder of the packet. This may be achieved by, for example, incorporating in the packets, when such unknown or newly-inserted are included in the packets, corresponding indication fields (e.g., tag header type fields) which may indicated that the unknown or newly-inserted are inserted. Further, indication fields may enable a receiving device to skip over these unknown or newly-inserted. For example, each tag header type filed may be associated with a particular tag header length of the corresponding tag header.
US09154583B2
Embodiments of the invention provide a network device for implementing a host-based network policy mechanism, having a port for receiving packets wherein each packet identifies a host and a destination, and a processing engine configured to inspect packets received on the port, wherein if at least one of the packets matches a predetermined pattern, a rule regulating packet transmission originating from the host is defined and applied against subsequent packets received on the port.
US09154579B2
A method for transmitting keyboard, video, mouse (KVM) data includes converting, by a service board, KVM data into a KVM packet; sending the KVM packet to a switch board through a BASE channel, so that the switch board forwards the KVM packet to a remote console. The embodiments of the present invention are mainly applied to a process for implementing KVM data transmission based on ATCA architecture.
US09154576B2
A system and process for communicating between at least two different objects, such as vehicles is disclosed. The system can include a portable communication device, as well as a central communication server. This system can also include a plurality of databases which are disposed on or in communication with the servers. The databases can include a plurality of tables with the tables being used to monitor the activities and track the habits of the objects.
US09154570B2
The disclosure provides a device for preventing CSRF attacks, in which the device provides functions comprising: intercepting request sent from a client browser to a server; generating a token; generating a response to the request; inserting the token into the response to the request; and sending the response to the request to the client browser with the token inserted into the response. With the device of the disclosure, it is assured that a token is inserted into all the requests made by a user through a client browser for accessing a resource. And it can be assured that the request is issued by the user himself by verifying whether the token in the request is valid, thereby preventing a CSRF attack.
US09154569B1
Method and system for a first network device communicating with a second network device are provided. A first duration is compared with a stored maximum pause delay value and the first duration is set as a new maximum pause delay value when the first duration is greater than the maximum pause delay value. The new maximum pause delay value is compared with a programmed pause delay threshold value that indicates a duration after which the first network device will stop sending frames, after the pause frame is received by the first network device. A pause threshold value and the programmed pause delay threshold value are adjusted based on the comparison between the new maximum pause delay value and the programmed pause delay threshold value.
US09154555B2
Systems and methods are disclosed herein to allow a service provider supporting applications running on a client device to remotely disable the applications, features of the applications, or sessions of the applications running on the client device. The service providers may initiate the disable action automatically upon the detection of certain events on or through the client device without requiring user input. The disable action is specific for the client device. In one embodiment, the service provider collects information associated with the application and with the remote client device that runs the application to conduct one or more transactions with the service provider. The service provider determines from the collected information a feature set of the application to disable on the client device. The service provider disabling remotely the feature set of the application on the client device without affecting any other client devices that run the application.
US09154546B1
A system and method for re-serving shared content are provided. The system includes a first impression detection unit to detect a user's consumption of the shared content via the metering data; a user detection unit to detect a device associated with the user; a shared content retrieval unit to retrieve the shared content based on the user and the device; and a shared content communication unit to transmit the shared content to the detected device.
US09154543B2
An aspect provides a method, including: ascertaining, at a source device, an area of a storage device inclusive of multiple selected files for transfer to a sink device; copying, at the source device, files resident in the area of the storage device inclusive of the multiple files selected for transfer to a sink device into a transfer file; creating, at the source device, a control file comprising information necessary to identify the multiple selected files for transfer included in the transfer file; and transmitting, from the source device, the transfer file to the sink device. Other aspects are described and claimed.
US09154514B1
Systems and methods for analyzing electronic messages for phishing detection are disclosed. In one example embodiment, whether a received email message is a phishing message is determined based on the outcome of a comparison of a recipient background information to a email characteristic wherein the recipient background information is obtained from an online social network. In some embodiments, whether the received email message is a phishing message is determined by comparing a new received email message profile to an email characteristic profile to determine whether the new received email message profile is similar to the email characteristic profile. In some embodiments, whether the received email message is a phishing message is determined by comparing the email characteristics of the new received email message with pattern characteristics. In some embodiments, the determination is made by comparing a email characteristics of the received message with a historical email characteristic.
US09154511B1
Detecting infectious messages comprises performing an individual characteristic analysis of a message to determine whether the message is suspicious, determining whether a similar message has been noted previously in the event that the message is determined to be suspicious, classifying the message according to its individual characteristics and its similarity to the noted message in the event that a similar message has been noted previously.
US09154508B2
A method of providing permissions to consume content objects within a domain includes creating a domain and a domain membership rights object for each member. The domain facilitates the sharing of content objects amongst the members of the domain. The domain membership rights objects for each member include permissions for each member in the domain to consume content objects in the domain.
US09154505B2
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to a simplified login for mobile devices. In aspects, on a first logon, a mobile device asks a user to enter credentials and a PIN. The credentials and PIN are sent to a server which validates user credentials. If the user credentials are valid, the server encrypts data that includes at least the user credentials and the PIN and sends the encrypted data to the mobile device. In subsequent logons, the user may logon using only the PIN. During login, the mobile device sends the PIN in conjunction with the encrypted data. The server can then decrypt the data and compare the received PIN with the decrypted PIN. If the PINs are equal, the server may grant access to a resource according to the credentials.
US09154502B2
A hosted storage service stores a virtual data object that corresponds to data. The virtual data object includes metadata that enables access to the data in a delegated storage service but does not include the data. A delegate storage service stores the data. The hosted storage service receives a request for access to the virtual object and sends a response that includes metadata to access the data in a delegated storage service. The delegate storage service receives a request for access to the data based on the metadata. In response to receiving the request for access to the data object, the delegate storage service sends the data to the client application.
US09154493B2
A method and a system for managing login using a cookie are described. The method includes receiving from a respective client system a request for document information, and receiving from the respective client system a cookie that identifies a plurality of user names logged into the server system from the respective client system. The plurality of logged-in user names includes a first user name and a second user name distinct from the first user name. The method also includes redirecting the received request to a location associated with a selected user name of the plurality of logged-in user names, and receiving the redirected request. The method furthermore includes, in response to the redirected request, processing the request as a request from the selected user name and sending to the respective client system document information corresponding to the request from the selected user name.
US09154491B1
A method and computing system for establishing a broadcast account for a user of an internet-based broadcasting system. An initial trust level is assigned to the broadcast account. The initial trust level is chosen from a plurality of predefined trust levels. A trust score is determined for the broadcast account. The trust score is based, at least in part, upon one or more activities of the user. The initial trust level is adjusted based, at least in art, upon the trust score.
US09154484B2
In one implementation, identity based security features and policies are applied to endpoint devices behind an intermediary device, such as a network address translation device. The access network switch authenticates an endpoint based on a user identity and a credential. A hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) packet is generated or modified to include the user identity in an inline header. The HTTP packet including the user identity is sent to a policy enforcement device to look up one or more policies for the endpoint. The access switch receives traffic from the policy enforcement device that is filtered according the user identity. Subsequent TCP connections may also include identity information within the TCP USER_HINT option in a synchronization packet thus allowing identity propagation for other applications and protocols.
US09154482B2
One or more first servers may receive a token, generated by a second server based on the second server validating an authorization parameter received by a third server; receive, from the second server, a token parameter, associated with the token and being associated with the authorization parameter and identifying a credential associated with the third server; receive, from the third server, a request to update the credential, the request including the token; validate the token; form an updated credential based on the token parameter and based on validating the token; and provide the updated credential to the third server. The credential may be replaced, by the third server, with the updated credential without interaction with a user of the third server.
US09154481B1
Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for decrypting a protected resource on a cryptographic device are provided herein. A method includes decrypting encoded information under a first cryptographic key to access a protected resource, wherein the first cryptographic key is read from a first cryptographic device subsequent to authenticating to the first cryptographic device using a first authentication key, randomly selecting a second cryptographic key, encrypting the protected resource under the second cryptographic key, and writing the second cryptographic key onto the first cryptographic device subsequent to authenticating to the first cryptographic device.
US09154479B1
Methods and systems are provided herein to enable secure proxying of network traffic between trusted and untrusted environments. In particular, a secure proxy may be provided that includes a set of security layers and a secure endpoint resolver, either of which may be provided and/or updated by a service provider. The security layers may be associated with policies that may be applicable to various network protocol layers (e.g., application layer). The security layers may be used to inspect, restrict and/or modify traffic between the trusted and untrusted environment to ensure data and network security. The secure endpoint resolver may be used, for example, by an application in the trusted environment, to obtain current service-related information such as the list of IP addresses currently associated with a service or service endpoint. Such endpoint information may be used, in turn, to update security layer policies such as a white list.
US09154475B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for distributed security system authorization. Client device authentication instructions are executed on a client device to determine if authentication data accessible by the client device authentication instructions are stored at the client device. If the authentication data are stored at the client device, the client device authentication instructions generate authenticated user data and store the authenticated user data at the client device. If the authentication data are not stored at the client device, the client device authentication instructions generate a login environment that allows a user of the client device to input login data. The login data are provided to a verification process that in response to verification provide the authentication data to the client device.
US09154467B1
A system and method for generating a plurality of personas for an account of a user is disclosed. The present invention uses an account engine to receive information for the plurality of personas and to associate the information for the plurality of personas to the account. The information for each of the plurality of personas includes a visibility level. A persona engine receives a selection from the user and transmits the selected persona to the user based on the selection. An authority engine determines an appearance of the selected persona based on the visibility level.
US09154454B1
Techniques are provided to allow for efficient data packing under certain coding schemes, e.g., when an enhanced 64/66 encoding scheme is employed. The traditional 64/66 encoding scheme uses idle bytes to pad packets to obtain a packet of fixed size, thereby adding idle overhead to transmitted packets. Accordingly, the techniques eliminate padding bytes and provide for receiving packets by way of a first data link at forwarding device. The packets are transmitted using a scheme that pads the packets to achieve a predetermined packet length. The padding is removed from the received packets to obtain unpadded packets. Data segments of the unpadded packets are concatenated for forwarding in a continuous data stream with a packet delimiter separating each of the unpadded packets. The continuous data stream is encoded using enhanced physical coding sub layer for forwarding over a second data link.
US09154453B2
A method and system for efficient direct DMA for processing connection state information or other expediting data packets. One example is the use of a network interface controller to buffer TCP type data packets that may contain connection state information. The connection state information is extracted from a received packet. The connection state information is stored in a special DMA descriptor that is stored in a ring buffer area of a buffer memory that is accessible by a host processor when an interrupt signal is received. The packet is then discarded. The host processor accesses the ring buffer memory only to retrieve the stored connection state information from the DMA descriptor without having to access a packet buffer area in the memory.
US09154451B2
Described are systems and methods for communication between a plurality of electronic devices and an aggregation device. An aggregation device processes instructions related to a configuration of an electronic device in communication with the aggregation device. One or more virtual devices are generated in response to processing the instructions. The electronic device enumerates a configuration space to determine devices for use by the electronic device. The aggregation device detects an access of the configuration space by the electronic device. The one or more virtual devices are presented from the aggregation device to the electronic device in accordance with the instructions.
US09154449B2
The present invention discloses an inter-board communication apparatus and a method for transmitting and receiving a message of inter-board communication. The apparatus includes: a message distribution layer module (110) configured to route an application message; a data link layer module (120) comprising a link protocol sub-layer module (122) able to be set selectively, the link protocol sub-layer module (122) providing an interface to mount to external concrete communication protocols; a physical layer module (130) configured to physically transmit the application message; a link information registration module (140) configured to register link attribute information, determine whether to set selectively the link protocol sub-layer module (122) in the data link layer module (120) based on the link attribute information, and determine the specific communication protocols mounted to the link protocol sub-layer module (122), which is configured to submit the application message to the specific communication protocols for processing when set selectively.
US09154444B1
A multi-stage switching system comprises a first stage including a plurality of groups of switching devices. Each group of switching devices includes more than one switching device, and each group of switching devices is associated with a corresponding single device identifier (ID). A second stage includes a plurality of switching devices. The switching devices of the first stage are coupled to the switching devices of the second stage via a plurality of uplinks. Switching devices of the first stage are configured to associate a target device ID and a target port ID to a data unit received via a front port of the switching system. The switching devices of the first stage and the switching devices of the second stage are configured to direct the data unit through the switching system using the target device ID and a target port ID.
US09154441B2
Aspects of adaptive buffer allocation management are described. In one embodiment of adaptive buffer allocation management, data is received by a network component for communication to a network address. While awaiting transfer to the network address, the data must be stored or distributed to a buffer. In one embodiment, the data is distributed evenly about banks of the buffer when an amount of utilization of the buffer is low. In another embodiment, the data is distributed to certain banks of the buffer when the amount of utilization of the buffer is high. In other aspects, the amount of utilization of the buffer is monitored while data is distributed to the banks of the buffer, and the manner of data distribution among the banks is adapted based on the utilization. According to aspects the of adaptive data distribution, a buffer of reduced size may be used.
US09154436B2
Systems and methods are described for optimizing resource utilization in a communications network while also optimizing subscriber engagement with media content over the communications network. Requested content objects can be identified as delayable objects that can be queued for opportunistically delayed communication to both requesting and non-requesting subscribers. Queued delayed content objects are scored with an eye toward optimizing both subscriber engagement and utilization of opportunistically available communications link resources. For example, a storage manager calculates a likelihood that each subscriber will engage with the content if it is opportunistically delivered, and a scheduler calculates a priority order in which to queue each requested delayable content object. Content objects can then be multicast to the subscribers in priority order and with associated information that can be used by the subscribers to determine whether to locally store the content objects as they are opportunistically received.
US09154432B2
A method includes selecting upstream and downstream aggregated MAC service data unit (AMSDU) sizes for communications between a client device, an access point, and an controller in a network system. The upstream and downstream AMSDU sizes may be separately selected based on the maximum transmission unit (MTU) size for communications in a secure tunnel between the controller and the access point to avoid fragmentation and reassembly of AMSDUs transmitted in a single MTU. The upstream and downstream AMSDU sizes may be selected to be less or equal to the MTU size.
US09154427B2
One or more modules include a first portion that teams together multiple physical network interface ports of a computing system to appear as a single virtual network interface port to a switch to which the physical ports are linked. A second portion determines a receive port upon which a packet of a TCP session was received. A third portion assigns a transmit port to be the receive port, wherein the transmit port is used by the computing system to transmit packets of the TCP session. The third portion assigns the transmit port prior to a TCP offload engine (TOE) being enabled to offload from the system CPU processing of packets of the TCP session transceived on the assigned transmit/receive port. If a subsequent packet for the TCP session is received on a different second port, the transmit port is reassigned to be the second port.
US09154422B2
Apparatus and methods for policing flows of data units (15) along a path in a data network in dependence on congestion indications associated with said data units indicating whether or not said data units have experienced, or are expected to experience, congestion on the path, said apparatus and methods allowing for a high but not unlimited short-term burst rate (wST) of data units having congestion indications associated therewith, the short-term burst rate being high when compared with a long-term average rate (wLT) at which data units having congestion indications associated therewith may be forwarded without the data units being subjected to a policing action such as dropping, delaying or marking for possible sanction.
US09154414B2
An apparatus configured to route packets over networks may be configured to determine whether a packet is valid prior to routing a received packet. The apparatus may receive the packet on one of a plurality of interfaces. The apparatus may identify the interface on which the packet is received and also a source of the packet. Additionally, the apparatus may access a bundle of acceptable interfaces on which a packet from the source may be received. The number of acceptable interfaces may be greater than a single interface, but less that all of the interfaces of the apparatus configured to receive packets from over the networks. If the interface on which the packet is received is an acceptable interface identified by the bundle, then the packet is valid and routed to a next location. Otherwise, the packet is determined to be invalid and dropped.
US09154410B2
A method and apparatus for optimizing the resilience of a network using a combination of in-band and out-of-band signaling is disclosed. The metric used in the embodiment's algorithm to determine resilience is the maximum number of protected neighbors. Nodes closer to the controller are assigned a higher weight than those further from the controller because if their connection to the network is interrupted, all their downstream nodes will be affected and disconnected. Therefore, when determining a path to the controller, switches with alternate paths to the controller are preferred. Dedicated connections using out-of-band signaling are assigned to convert unprotected nodes to protected nodes thus improving the resilience of the network.
US09154404B2
A method for an access network device to access a network is disclosed, which comprises: powering on an access switch, and setting in its internal downlink protocol packet address table that all downlink protocol packets are to be oriented to a CPU module; receiving, by the access switch, a downlink protocol packet sent from a node server and orienting the downlink protocol packet to the CPU module of the access switch, and generating, by the CPU module, an uplink protocol packet and sending the uplink protocol packet to the node server, wherein the downlink protocol packet contains an access network address that is to be allocated; sending, by the node server, a network access command to the access switch, wherein the network access command contains an access network address of the access switch, and the access network address is the access network address to be allocated; and updating, by the access switch, its internal downlink protocol packet address table, as orienting only a protocol packet with a destination address being its own access network address to the CPU module. The present invention can guarantee a stable transmission rate of the data packet transmission and avoid time delay, thereby guaranteeing the quality of the network transmission.
US09154403B2
In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining a first packet included in a flow to be forwarded to a border router, and replicating the first packet to create a duplicate. The first packet is forwarded onto a first set of links, and the duplicate is forwarded onto a second set of links, to the border router. First information relating to the first packet and the first set of links, and second information relating to the duplicate and the second set of links, is obtained. The first information and the second information are used to determine whether to forward the flow on the first set of links. The first set of links is used to forward the flow if it is determined that the first set of links is to be used to forward the flow, otherwise the second set of links is used to forward the flow.
US09154391B2
A control/monitor signal transmission system that employs a transmission synchronization scheme in which a master station connected to a single control unit and a plurality of slave stations corresponding to a plurality of controlled apparatuses synchronize with each other through a transmission clock and data is transmitted therebetween over a common data signal line, a transmission line disconnection detection method that enables a disconnection of a transmission line to be detected precisely; and a slave station that is used for this method. A continuous pulse signal that the master station outputs to the common data signal line is provided with a management data region that includes a plurality of pulse signals and that differs from a control/monitor data region including data of a control data signal and data of a monitor data signal.
US09154385B1
An administrator selects a logical server for deployment. In response, a logical-server management program displays representations of potential real-server targets for said logical server. The representations include respective ratings for the real-server targets. The representations further include indications of a real-server technology involved in deploying said logical server to a respect real-server target.
US09154381B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for designating a network device as a primary device for probing a virtual IP address and designating a second network device as a standby device for probing the virtual IP address. Results of probe requests may be shared with a plurality of network devices within a mesh.
US09154377B1
A computer-implemented method to manage a device is described. Communications with an endpoint device are established. A management profile for the endpoint device is received. Information about the endpoint device is acquired based at least in part on the management profile. At least a portion of the acquired information is provided to an upper layer server.
US09154372B2
A user is enabled to edit a table defining a view of a network object database, for example, a MIB. The user can select from among a plurality of network object types and select from among a plurality of columns of the table. At least one column of the table is specified by the user and edited to represent a network object type specified by the user. The view definition can be extracted from the application and transported to another device where it can be edited and/or viewed using a suitable application. Such portable view definition may be defined as part of a document, for example, a document formatted in accordance with a markup language, such as XML. Such document may include information for requesting objects to populate the view, which may be used to construct requests (e.g., SNMP requests) to retrieve objects from one or more network devices.
US09154371B1
An apparatus includes a first edge device configured to receive a data unit destined to a peripheral processing device that is operatively coupled to a network interconnect via a LAG associated with a second edge device and a third edge device. The first edge device is configured to select an edge device set that includes the third edge device and excludes the second edge device, from a group of edge device sets. Each edge device set from the group of edge device sets is directly coupled to the peripheral processing device. The first edge device is configured to send an instance of the data unit to each edge device from the edge device set such that the third edge device sends an instance of the data unit to the peripheral processing device based on a selection method that omits ports on the second edge device as potential selections.
US09154367B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for receiving a plurality of requests from a plurality of client devices sent to a public internet protocol address; routing the requests to one or more internal Internet protocol addresses, where the one or more internal Internet protocol addresses correspond to one or more compute nodes, and where the one or more compute nodes process the routed requests; determining a particular compute node is offline, where the particular compute node is assigned one or more internal Internet protocol addresses; in response to the determination that the particular node is offline, reassigning the one or more internal Internet protocol addresses corresponding to the particular compute node to one or more different compute nodes, where requests communicated to the reassigned internal Internet protocol addresses are communicated to the one or more different compute nodes for processing.
US09154365B1
Embodiments of the invention provide novel systems, methods and software for replaying one or more events occurring on a monitored computer (or elsewhere). Such solutions can provide the ability for an operator to easily determine the exact user behavior that produced the event and can, in some cases, and provide evidence of what the user did, and the order in which the user performed the various activities. Various embodiments of the invention organize various pieces of information captured from the user's client workstation behavior, reassemble of the pieces into a complete session of the users' activities and/or replay the exact user behavior for the observer, in some cases using a web browser and JavaScript to replay the activities just as they were performed by the original user.
US09154357B2
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) low noise amplifiers (LNAs) supporting carrier aggregation are disclosed. In an exemplary design, an apparatus (e.g., a wireless device, an integrated circuit, etc.) includes a MIMO LNA having a plurality of gain circuits, a drive circuit, and a plurality of load circuits. The gain circuits receive at least one input radio frequency (RF) signal and provide at least one amplified RF signal. Each gain circuit receives and amplifies one input RF signal and provides one amplified RF signal when the gain circuit is enabled. The at least one input RF signal include transmissions sent on multiple carriers at different frequencies to the wireless device. The drive circuit receives the at least one amplified RF signal and provides at least one drive RF signal. The load circuits receive the at least one drive RF signal and provide at least one output RF signal.
US09154351B2
Degree of hierarchical modulation can be varied as a function of satellite position, where such hierarchical modulation can be a combination of phase and amplitude shifts. As each satellite in a multiple satellite system moves towards a D-node or an A-node position, the offset angle of a phase-based hierarchical modulation scheme can be varied. Starting with the lowest satellite position in the sky an offset angle for overlay bits can progressively increase as the position of the satellite in the sky increases. At a satellite's highest point in the sky, the overlay offset angle can be at its maximum. The value of a varying overlay offset angle (for each satellite) can be embedded in an Overlay Identification Marker (OIM) in the broadcast. The receiver can then appropriately correct MRC weightings (weighting more heavily the (higher lying) satellite).
US09154345B1
A machine implemented method includes determining a signal modulation for each of a plurality of profiles; generating a first indicator indicating a signal modulation determined for a first profile in the plurality of profiles; generating a second indicator indicating a relationship between the signal modulation for the first profile and the signal modulation for each of the other profiles; notifying at least one node of the first and second indicators.
US09154341B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for transmitting and receiving encoded data. A codeword is generated by encoding an information word. Some parity bits are punctured in the generated codeword. A frame including the punctured codeword is transmitted. Additional parity bits for decoding the information word are transmitted in one or more other frames.
US09154339B2
Techniques for efficiently choosing a desired decoder in the presence of varying Doppler and/or mobility are disclosed. In one aspect, a method for selecting a filter for decoding forward-link (FL) information in a wireless communication network comprises the acts of decoding reverse-link (RL) information by a plurality of decoders, each being optimized based on a different parameter, and comparing a plurality of outputs from the decoders, based on a metric, to determine a desired decoder or parameter for reporting to an access terminal.
US09154336B2
Methods and apparatus to implement voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phones are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes detecting removal of a first user-replaceable network interface from a first port of a phone, the first network interface to communicate with a gateway using a first VOIP; detecting insertion of a second user-replaceable network interface into the first port of the phone, the second network interface to communicate with the gateway using a second VOIP, the second VOIP being different from the first VOIP; receiving a driver for the second network interface via a second port defined in the housing of the phone, the driver to enable the second network interface to communicate with the gateway using the second VOIP, the driver being received after a boot procedure to initialize the phone; and initializing the second network interface based on the driver.
US09154335B2
Systems and methods are provided for a network unit for transmitting packets on a network that includes a computer-readable medium encoded with an array data structure that is populated by plurality of entries, each entry corresponding to a packet in a queue of packets to be transmitted, a particular entry including a value that is based on a sum of packet sizes stored in a neighboring entry and a packet size of a packet corresponding to the particular entry. A search engine is configured to receive a gate size and to search the array to identify a particular entry in the data structure that has a value nearest to but not greater than the gate size as a transmission entry. A transmission engine is configured to transmit packets from the beginning of the queue up to a particular packet associated with the transmission entry.
US09154305B2
Some embodiments of a system and a method to verify compliance in a connected system have been presented. For instance, a system management server provided by a software vendor is installed in a customer's network to manage a set of computer systems belonging to the customer. The system management server can provide cryptographically timestamped hashes of states of the system management server to the software vendor periodically to allow the software vendor to verify compliance information from the customer.
US09154304B1
Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for using a token code to control access to data and applications in a mobile platform are provided herein. A method includes processing authentication information via a cryptographic operation to generate an output, partitioning the output into (i) a component that identifies the authentication information and (ii) an encryption key component, encrypting an item of cryptographic information via the encryption key component, and storing the component that identifies the authentication information and the encrypted item of cryptographic information.
US09154301B2
Location information is provided with an authenticator in order to enable future providing of an authentication to a service or application making use of the location information. The authenticator is based on a cryptographic method known by a provider and recipient of and also optionally based on position data provided by the location information. The authenticator is carried as a watermark in the location information so that the location information can be used by prior existing systems and enables the authentication of the location information in compatible authentication enabled systems. On receiving the location information, an authentication enabled recipient obtains the authenticator from the location information and checks using the authenticator whether use of the location information may be allowed.
US09154298B2
A method to securely store a data file in a dispersed storage network (DSN) in a manner to increase difficulty in hacking the data file begins by a dispersed storage (DS) processing module encoding the data file into a plurality of data portions. The method continues with the DS processing module dispersed storage error encoding a first data portion to produce a set of encoded data slices, generating a set of DSN addresses, and sending the set of encoded data slices to a first set of storage units using the set of DSN addresses. The method continues with the DS processing module dispersed storage error encoding a second data portion to produce a second set of encoded data slices, generating a second set of DSN addresses, and sending the second set of encoded data slices to a second set of storage units using the second set of DSN addresses.
US09154291B2
A differential signal skew adjustment method includes: outputting a differential data signal including a first polarity signal and a second polarity signal from a transmission circuit in synchronization with a cycle of a reference clock; adjusting a phase of a detection clock obtained by dividing the reference clock in accordance with a phase of the first polarity signal; and adjusting a phase of the second polarity signal in accordance with an adjusted phase of the detection clock to adjust skew between the first polarity signal and the second polarity signal.
US09154286B2
A method of signaling in a wireless communication system (300) comprising a first network element (310) serving a wireless communication unit (325) with at least one packet data network (PDN) connection. The method comprises transmitting, by the first network element (310) to the wireless communication unit (325), a signaling message relating to a wireless communication unit (325) uplink (UL) PDN transmission, where the signaling message comprises a parameter indicative of at least one aggregate maximum bit rate (AMBR) value.
US09154284B1
A method, system, and medium are provided for approximating an uplink sounding reference signal for a secondary radio-frequency channel associated with an eNodeB in a long-term-evolution (LTE) network deploying carrier aggregation. This is useful when the eNodeB does not have an uplink channel associated with the secondary RF channel. The approximated uplink sounding reference signal is utilized by the eNodeB to determine downlink beamforming weights for the secondary RF channel.
US09154280B2
In a communications device a grouping unit uses channel state information when mapping data bits to a plurality of different constellation groups. Each constellation group is assigned to another modulation scheme. A plurality of sub-carriers is assigned to none or one of the constellation groups and each modulation uses another one of the constellation groups. The communications device includes at least one scalable interleaver unit, wherein each interleaver unit is assigned to one of the constellation groups and interleaves the assignment of data bits mapped to each constellation group and the sub-carriers that carry a symbol information derived from the data bits. As an example, the interleaver unit performs frequency interleaving by interleaving, at constellation level, the sub-carriers that carry the symbol information.
US09154272B2
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products are disclosed for facilitating indicating and detecting control region sizes. A multi-carrier communication between a wireless terminal and a base station is facilitated by a first carrier having a first control region size and a second carrier having a second control region size. Embodiments are disclosed in which control region sizes are ascertained from a control signal, wherein the control is generated by either scrambling an aspect of the control signal based on the second control region size, or relating the second control region size with the first control region size. Other disclosed embodiments for ascertaining control region sizes include a reverse interleaver embodiment, wherein a set of modulation symbols is mapped beginning from a last data symbol and ending with a first available data symbol.
US09154266B2
A method for transmitting uplink control information of a user equipment in a multi-carrier system is provided. The method includes: transmitting each of acknowledgement/not-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) for downlink data transmitted by a base station through multiple downlink component carriers; and transmitting channel state information indicating a state of a downlink channel to the base station, wherein each of the ACK/NACK and the channel state information are allocated to the same uplink control channel resource in a subframe, and if each of the ACK/NACK and the channel state information are reserved to be transmitted on the same subframe, each of the ACK/NACK only is transmitted. Accordingly, a user equipment can transmit uplink control information while preserving a single-carrier property of an uplink signal in a multi-carrier system using carrier aggregation.
US09154264B2
Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of wireless communication between circuits. For example, an integrated chip may include a plurality of wirelessly interconnected electronic circuits to communicate wireless pulse-position-modulation (PPM) signals over a common wireless communication channel during a predefined sequence of time slots; and a monitor circuit connected to the plurality of electronic circuits via a plurality of wired feedback links, the monitor circuit is to monitor the wireless channel, and to feedback via the feedback links a sequence of event feedbacks corresponding to the sequence of time slots.
US09154256B2
A digital signal processor (DSP) may receive samples of a signal from an analog-to-digital converter (ADC); convert the samples from a time domain to a frequency domain; determine a clock phase error of the samples while in the frequency domain; and provide a voltage corresponding to the clock phase error. The voltage may be provided to reduce timing errors associated with the samples.
US09154255B2
A latent space switch based on a single rotator and an array of memory devices is disclosed. The switch interfaces with external nodes through a set of access ports. The rotator has a set of inlets and a set of outlets with each inlet connecting to each outlet during a time frame organized into time slots. During each time slot, an inlet alternately connects to an access port and a memory device while a transposed outlet of the inlet alternately connects to the same memory device and another access port. Multiple temporal multiplexers submit upstream control messages from the access ports to a multi-port master controller. Multiple temporal demultiplexers distribute downstream control messages sent from the master controller to the access ports.
US09154254B2
In order to connect a path and a transponder with low loss, reduce an apparatus cost, reduce an apparatus size, and improve a reliability of an apparatus, a wavelength path multiplexing/demultiplexing apparatus comprises multiplexing/demultiplexing unit having a multiplexing port through which a wavelength multiplexed light is inputted and outputted and a demultiplexing port in which the wavelength multiplexed light is demultiplexed into the lights included in the wavelength multiplexed light based on the wavelength and through which the light is inputted and outputted and first switch unit which have a first port to which the demultiplexing port is connected and a second port and connect the second port to one of the first ports; and the demultiplexing port is connected to the first port of each of the first switch unit and the first port is connected to the demultiplexing port of each of the multiplexing/demultiplexing unit.
US09154253B2
Disclosed herein are methods, structures, and devices for optical communications systems operating through turbulent media. More specifically, a spatial division multiplexing photonic integrated circuit is used in conjunction with digital signal processing systems to mitigate the effects of the turbulent media.
US09154244B2
In accordance with some embodiments, methods for controlling the second order intercept point in a receiver are provided, the methods comprising: generating an amplitude modulated test tone; causing the test tone to be received by a receiver; determining a characteristic of a second order intercept point of the receiver based on the received test tone; and based on the characteristic, adjusting a parameter of the receiver. In accordance with some embodiments, systems for controlling the second order intercept point in as receiver are provided, the systems comprising: a test tone generator that generates an amplitude modulated test tone; a receiver that receives the test tone; a correlator that determines a characteristic of a second order intercept point of the receiver based on the received test tone; and digital logic that, based on the characteristic, adjusts a parameter of the receiver.
US09154240B2
A wireless device is described. The wireless device includes a high precision power/peak detector. The wireless device also includes a reference signal source. The high precision power/peak detector and the reference signal source are on an integrated circuit. The reference signal source provides a precision reference signal used to calibrate the high precision power/peak detector.
US09154239B2
System (201) for mitigating co-site interference includes a co-site filter bank (208) containing filters (2061, 2062, . . . 206n) which can be optionally selectively inserted in an antenna input/output path (2051, 2052, . . . 205n) of two or more transceivers (2041, 2042, . . . 204n). A control system (900) receives information concerning the transceivers. Based on the information, the control system determines whether optional RF filtering should be used to limit RF signals which are communicated to or from the transceivers so as to mitigate co-site interference.
US09154236B2
A system may be provided and may include a first transmitter; a first antenna, coupled to the first transmitter; wherein the first transmitter is arranged to transmit via the first antenna first radio frequency (RF) signals; a first receiver; a second antenna, coupled to the first receiver; the second antenna differs from the first antenna; an RF acquisition module that is arranged to acquire second RF signals that are representative of the first RF signals; and an RF suppression module, arranged to receive the second RF signals and to generate RF suppression signals for suppressing an effect of a transmission of the first RF signals on the first receiver, and to provide the RF suppression signals to the first receiver.
US09154235B2
The present disclosure describes an optically powered transducer with a photovoltaic collector. An optical fiber power delivery method and system and a free space power delivery method are also provided. A fabrication process for making an optically powered transducer is further described, together with an implantable transducer system based on optical power delivery.
US09154228B2
A free space communications apparatus includes a first receiving element configured to receive a communication signal and an ambient noise signal and to generate a first current as a function of any and all received signals, a second receiving element electrically coupled with the first receiving element to receive the ambient noise signal and to generate a second current as a function of any and all received signals, and an output signal produced as a function of the communication signal received by the first receiving element. The first and second receiving elements are electrically connected in a circuit that cancels at least a portion of the first current as a function of the second current to produce the output signal.
US09154225B2
A method may include determining a total data demand distribution for a plurality of subscribers associated with a link between a gateway router (GWR) and an optical line terminal (OLT) in a network. The method also includes identifying a maximum link capacity of the link between the GWR and the OLT. The method further includes identifying a speed tier for which a speed test is to be executed, and determining a speed test throughput distribution based on the speed tier, the total data demand distribution and the maximum link capacity in an identified time interval.
US09154224B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure describe a method and an apparatus for testing an optical network, which may be applicable to an integrated OTDR and the field of optical network technologies. The method includes obtaining a maximum test time of a single group test; dividing a total test time into at least two groups of single group test time that is not greater than the maximum test time when the total test time is greater than the maximum test time of the single group test; performing the single group tests in sequence according to each single group test time; and instructing optical network equipment to restore to a normal working state when the single group test time corresponding to each single group test ends.
US09154215B2
A data transmission method and device are provided in a wireless communication system. A user equipment transmits uplink data using a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource, allocated to a first component carrier (CC) among a plurality of CC's, in a sounding reference signal (SRS) subframe. The plurality of CC's in said SRS subframe includes a single carrier-frequency division multiple access (SRS SC-FDMA) symbol, which is reserved for transmitting SRS.
US09154214B2
Devices and methods are provided for directionally receiving and/or transmitting acoustic waves and/or radio waves for use in applications such as wireless communications systems and/or radar. High directional gain and spatial selectivity are achieved while employing an array of receiving antennas that is small as measured in units of the wavelength of radio waves being received or transmitted, especially in the case of spatially oversampled arrays. Frequency/wavenumber, multi-dimensional spectrum analysis, as well as one-dimensional frequency spectrum analysis can be performed.
US09154211B2
Methods and apparatuses are disclosed that determine whether to feedback, and the amount of feedback, with respect to eigenbeam information based upon channel resources. Additionally, methods and apparatuses are disclosed that determine whether to feedback, and the amount of feedback, with respect to eigenbeam information based upon channel information and changes in channel information.
US09154207B2
A communication apparatus which communicates data with plural other communication apparatuses by performing wireless communication includes: plural antennas; a communication level obtainment unit which obtains communication levels for the antennas obtained when the communication apparatus performed the wireless communication with the other communication apparatuses; a count unit which counts, for each of the antennas, the number of established communications that is the number of one or more of the other communication apparatuses which successfully established communication through the antenna; an antenna selection unit which selects, when the total number of antennas whose numbers of established communications are greatest is more than one, one of the antennas corresponding to a communication level that is highest among communication levels of plural antennas of the other communication apparatus corresponding to the lowest communication level; and a transmission unit which broadcasts predetermined data to the other communication apparatuses through the selected antenna.
US09154206B2
A method includes transmitting reference signals to user equipment from an active antenna array system including a multiple of antennas arrayed in at least a vertical direction. The active antenna array system is configured to perform the transmitting of the reference signals using multiple vertical beams having vertical patterns designed to provide desired vertical patterns after codebook feedback from a codebook is applied on transmissions from logical ports of the antenna array. The method includes receiving codebook feedback from the user equipment in response to transmitting the reference signals. The method includes transmitting information to the user equipment at least by applying selected entries of the codebook corresponding to the codebook feedback to the logical ports of the antenna array, wherein application of the selected entries causes the active antenna array system to perform transmitting information using multiple beams having the desired vertical patterns. Apparatus and program products are disclosed.
US09154205B2
A method for downlink beamforming in a wireless access system and a device therefor are disclosed. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: transmitting, by an eNB, a reference signal to a UE through only a first antenna set from among whole antennas; receiving, by the eNB, channel state information (CSI) for the first antenna set from the UE; and transmitting, by the eNB, beamforming a downlink channel by using a precoding matrix for the whole antennas, wherein CSI for a second antenna set by which the reference signal has not been transmitted from among the whole antennas is calculated using the CSI for the first antenna set.
US09154197B2
In a method for generating a preamble of a data unit for transmission via a communication channel, an indication of a first number of spatial or space-time streams is included in a first field of the preamble. The first number of spatial or space-time streams corresponds to transmission of the data unit to a first receiver. One or more training sequences are included in a second field of the preamble. The preamble is formatted such that the first field of the preamble will be transmitted prior to the second field of the preamble being transmitted.
US09154195B2
A method of connecting base stations by a one-way cooperative channel forming a beam is provided. Since it is possible to determine directions of beams and to distribute power components by small amounts of calculations, it is possible to realize the base stations in a one-way cooperative situation with small expenses. In addition, the base stations according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may minimize the influence of interference generated by signals transmitted by other base stations through the one-way cooperative channel and the influence of interference generated by signals transmitted to other terminals.
US09154194B2
For coordinated multipoint transmission arrangements there is provided a device, including a controller module, configured to control a plurality of transmission points, each constituted by a set of at least one transmit antenna, to transmit data to another device in a coordinated transmission from at least a subset of the plurality of transmission points, wherein each subset with resources allocated thereto defines a respective coordinated transmission scheme, wherein the controller module is configured to transmit information on resources pertaining to multiple coordinated transmission schemes, and send at least one biasing parameter associated to at least one of the transmission schemes, to be applied for biasing a channel quality parameter. Another device includes a controller module, configured to report feedback responsive to such coordinated transmission, and the controller module is, among others, configured to apply the at least one biasing parameter to derived channel quality parameters.
US09154191B2
Technologies are presented for securing NFC exchange through movement of at least one of the communicating devices. In some examples, a first device, utilizing a communication module and a processor, may transmit an initial NFC handshake signal as the first device is being moved relative to a second device. The second device, utilizing a communication module, two or more antennae, and a processor, may receive the initial NFC handshake signal from the first device. Each device may record a movement of the first device. The second device may transmit a message to the first device that includes a recording of the movement at the second device and a temporary secret. Once the first device determines that the movement recorded at the second device matches the movement recorded at the first device, the first device may use the temporary secret to encrypt further communication with the second device.
US09154182B2
A system configured to generate a signal with a random or pseudo-random frequency may include an oscillator and a signal generator. The oscillator may be configured to generate an oscillator signal. A frequency and a phase of the oscillator signal may be random or pseudo-random and may be based on a value of a received control signal. The signal generator may be configured to generate the control signal based on the oscillator signal and a seed state. The value of the control signal may be random or pseudo-random.
US09154180B2
A signal conditioning device for conditioning bi-directional radiofrequency (RF) signals in a telecommunications network are provided. The signal conditioning device can allow for the separate conditioning of both downstream and upstream signals in a telecommunication system using a single signal conditioning device disposed at a single location. The signal conditioning device can include first and second line connections and can divide a bi-directional communication signal into downstream and upstream signals. The signal conditioning device can independently condition the downstream and upstream signals using plug-in signal conditioning circuits received into external plug-in sockets.
US09154176B2
This wireless communication terminal can reduce power consumption required for channel change, and a channel information output unit detects communication channel information included in information represented by a signal received through an antenna and outputs the communication channel information. A wireless communication unit has a first operation mode and a second operation mode having relatively higher operational power consumption than the first operation mode, and transmits communication data to an external terminal through the antenna using a communication channel represented by the communication channel information output by the channel information output unit when the wireless communication module operates in the second operation mode.
US09154172B1
A method delaying a pulse domain signal using a time encoder circuit and a time encoder based beamformer method and apparatus for use in receiving and/or transmitting applications.
US09154171B2
A reconfigurable radio frequency circuit is arranged for receiving at least one carrier in a wireless communications terminal arranged to receive at least two carriers, each of the two carriers being transmitted in a different one of a plurality of operating frequency bands, and each of the plurality of operating frequency bands occupying a part of a first or a second frequency range. The circuit includes a combiner for connecting the output of a first receiver filter at a first operating frequency band within the first frequency range to the input of an amplifier and for connecting the output of a second receiver filter at a second operating frequency band within the second frequency range to the input of the amplifier. The amplifier has a selectable operating frequency range, the operating frequency range being selectable at least between the first frequency range and the second frequency range.
US09154168B2
A method of reducing a peak to average power ratio (PAR) of a signal may include generating an in-band error signal indicating in-band distortion of a compressed signal and generating an out-of-band error signal indicating out-of-band distortion of the compressed signal. The method may further include applying an in-band gain to the in-band error signal to generate an adjusted in-band error signal and applying an out-of-band gain to the out-of-band error signal to generate an adjusted out-of-band error signal. The method may also include combining the compressed signal with the adjusted in-band error signal and the adjusted out-of-band error signal to generate an output signal. The compressed signal may be combined with the adjusted error signals, and the in-band gain and the out-of-band gain may be based on the output signal such that distortion of the output signal is reduced with respect to distortion of the compressed signal.
US09154164B2
An interleaver (ER) is dedicated to interleaving of interleaving units representing a selected number of services grouped into periodic frames within a long period time interleaving radio communication network. The said interleaver (ER) comprises processing means (MT1) responsible for decomposing each frame into a chosen number of group(s) of service of constant respective durations, and then for distributing the interleaving units of each group into so-called spreading time intervals of constant respective durations spaced apart within a time interleaving period according to a period equal to the period of the frames.
US09154159B2
A deserializer includes an input interface configured to receive an N-bit serialized stream at a source clock frequency; a modified-tree deserializing architecture that receives the first N−1 bits of the serialized stream from the input interface and generates N−1 parallel outputs corresponding to the first N−1 bits; and a last-bit flip-flop that directly samples the input interface to obtain an Nth bit, such that all N bits are available within one source clock cycle after the Nth bit arrives at the input interface.
US09154151B1
An analog-to-digital converter circuit includes a digital-to-analog converter circuit, a voltage stabilization circuit, and a comparator circuit. The digital-to-analog converter circuit generates an analog signal based on digital signals and a reference voltage. The voltage stabilization circuit reduces variations in the reference voltage in response to at least one of the digital signals. The comparator circuit generates a comparison output based on the analog signal. The digital signals are generated based on the comparison output.
US09154149B2
An input stage for an A/D converter includes a transconductance element adapted to receive, at a first input of the transconductance element, an analog input signal that is to be converted to a digital signal by the A/D converter, a feedback path for providing an analog feedback signal to a second input of the transconductance element, the analog feedback signal being based on a digital output signal of the A/D converter, and an integrator for integrating an output current of the transconductance element, wherein the integrating element is adapted to generate an integrator output signal representative of the integrated output current. The input stage may be included in an A/D converter. A plurality of such A/D converters may be included in a system.
US09154144B2
A phase-locked loop includes a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer spaced apart from the first semiconductor layer. The first semiconductor layer has formed thereon a phase frequency detector circuit having a reference frequency input, a feedback frequency input, an up output and a down output, a charge pump circuit having a first input coupled to the up output and a second input coupled to the down output, and an output, and a loop filter circuit coupled to the charge pump. The second semiconductor layer has formed thereon a voltage controlled oscillator having an input and an output, and a feedback frequency divider circuit having an input coupled to the output of the voltage controlled oscillator and an input. A first interlayer via couples the loop filter circuit to the input of the voltage controlled oscillator circuit. A second interlayer via couples the output of the feedback frequency divider circuit to the feedback input of the phase frequency detector.
US09154139B2
A crystal controlled oscillator of the present disclosure includes: an oscillator circuit for oscillator output, a first oscillator circuit, a second oscillator circuit, a heating unit, a pulse generator, a frequency difference detector, an addition unit, a circuit unit, a frequency measuring unit, a determination unit, and a signal selector. The signal selector is configured to: select a control signal where electric power supplied to the heating unit is smaller than supplied electric power in the detection range in a case where a frequency in a set period at the train of pulses is out of the detection range at the high temperature side; select a control signal where electric power supplied to the heating unit becomes a preset value in a case where a frequency in the set period at the train of pulses is out of the detection range at the low temperature side.
US09154136B2
A programmable logic device that includes a storage device having smaller area and lower power consumption is provided. The programmable logic device includes a logic block including a storage device. The storage device includes a plurality of groups each including at least a first switch, a transistor that is turned on or off in accordance with a signal including configuration data input to a gate of the transistor through the first switch, and a second switch controlling the electrical connection between a first wiring and a second wiring together with the transistor when the second switch is turned on or off in accordance with the potential of the first wiring. In the logic block, the relationship between the logic level of a signal input and the logic level of a signal output is determined in accordance with the potential of the second wiring.
US09154135B1
Spare gate cells for inclusion in an integrated circuit have multiple inputs and outputs and are capable of selectively performing, concurrently, multiple logic functions on signals appearing at the inputs. Selection of required logic functions depends on the connections of at least one of the inputs of the spare cell. One of the outputs is fed back to an input of the spare gate cell to provide certain functionality while other outputs are set to a fixed logical value. The spare gate cell may be configured to perform NOR, OR and inverter operations on inputs simultaneously.
US09154134B2
Some embodiments provide a configurable integrated circuit (IC) having a routing fabric that includes configurable storage element in its routing fabric. In some embodiments, the configurable storage element includes a parallel distributed path for configurably providing a pair of transparent storage elements. The pair of configurable storage elements can configurably act either as non-transparent (i.e., clocked) storage elements or transparent configurable storage elements. In some embodiments, the configurable storage element in the routing fabric performs both routing and storage operations by a parallel distributed path that includes a clocked storage element and a bypass connection. In some embodiments, the configurable storage element perform both routing and storage operations by a pair of master-slave latches but without a bypass connection. The routing fabric in some embodiments supports the borrowing of time from one clock cycle to another clock cycle by using the configurable storage element that can be configure to perform both routing and storage operations in different clock cycles. In some embodiments, the routing fabric provide a low power configurable storage element that includes multiple storage elements that operates at different phases of a slower running clock.
US09154131B2
Digital memory devices and systems, including memory systems and methods for operating such memory systems are disclosed. In the embodiments, a memory system may include a processor and a memory controller communicatively coupled to the processor. A memory bus communicates with at least two memory units through the memory bus. At least one divider unit may be interposed between the memory bus and the at least two memory units that is configured to approximately equally divide levels of received signals while matching an impedance of the memory bus to an impedance of the memory units.
US09154129B2
A tilt switch includes a housing defining a chamber and including a frusto-conical inner wall surface having a cone angle which is less than or equal to 90 degrees, and a tapered bottom inner wall surface that defines a bottom end of the chamber, that tapers downwardly from a bottom end of the frusto-conical inner wall surface and that forms a cone angle which is greater than 90 degrees. A light emitter and a light receiver are disposed respectively at two opposite sides of the chamber. A rolling element is rollable in the chamber between blocking and unblocking positions, where the rolling element blocks and unblocks light emitted from the light emitter, respectively.
US09154120B2
An electronic circuit includes: a pair of first transistors in which a first control signal is inputted to at least one of a first control terminal; a comparator circuit that sets electric potentials of a pair of differential output terminals based on an electric current flowing through the pair of first transistors; second transistors that are coupled in series in a path between an electric power source and a node from at least one of the pair of differential output terminals and between the corresponding pair of first transistors, and having a second control terminals to which a second control signal is inputted; first switches that are respectively coupled in series to the second transistors in the path and that are turned ON in synchronization with a clock signal; and a generation circuit that generates the second control signal based on the clock signal.
US09154115B2
A system and method to efficiently use a plurality of ‘receivers’ to monitor a larger plurality of ‘sources’ for audio content. Upon identifying that a source is active, one of the plural receivers is assigned to convey the content to a destination. All other receivers are prevented from monitoring that specific source for the duration of its activity, but continue to monitor the remaining sources. ‘Source’ includes any source of information containing audio content. ‘Receiver’ includes any device capable of selectively conveying such content, including physical switches, hardware or software multiplexers, microphones, radio receivers, or any other means of obtaining such content.
US09154114B2
An acoustic wave device is provided with a low-frequency side filter having a low-frequency side passband, a high-frequency side filter having a high-frequency side passband, and first and second balanced terminals. The low-frequency side filter is connected to a first unbalanced terminal. The low-frequency side passband is a frequency band from a first minimum frequency to a first maximum frequency. The high-frequency side filter is connected to a second unbalanced terminal. The high-frequency side passband is a frequency band from a second minimum frequency to a second maximum frequency. The low-frequency side filter includes a first longitudinally-coupled acoustic wave resonator and a first one-terminal pair acoustic wave resonator connected in series to the first longitudinally-coupled acoustic wave resonator. An antiresonant frequency of the first one-terminal pair acoustic wave resonator is set to be higher than the first maximum frequency and lower than the second minimum frequency.
US09154111B2
A method of forming a double bulk acoustic resonator structure comprises forming a first electrode on a substrate, forming a first piezoelectric layer on the first electrode, forming a second electrode on the first piezoelectric layer, forming a second piezoelectric layer on the second electrode, and forming a third electrode on the second piezoelectric layer. The first and second piezoelectric layers are formed by a sputter deposition process using at least one sputter target comprising a combination of scandium and aluminum.
US09154106B2
For broadband applications of a balun in a magnetic field, the balun includes at least three line transformers each having two transformer sides. At least two transformer sides of the balun that belong to different line transformers of the at least three line transformers are embodied for the same voltage drop at least in terms of magnitude. The at least two transformer sides of the balun are also embodied with an identical number of turns. Two transformer sides connected in parallel are replaced by a single coil, with the result that the balun may be produced from a five-wire structure.
US09154099B2
In a method for optimizing music using an electronic device, music genres and optimization parameters of each of the music genres are preset. The method classifies songs stored in a storage device of the electronic device according to the music genres. When a song is playing using a music player of the electronic device, a music genre of the song is determined. The method further optimizes the song using an equalizer of the music player according to the optimization parameters corresponding to the determined music genre.
US09154097B2
An audio system includes a level controller receiving an input audio signal from an audio medium. The level controller includes a gain adjust module producing an output audio signal based on the input audio signal. A filter arrangement is communicatively coupled to the level controller. The filter arrangement receives the output audio signal and divides the output signal into a plurality of filtered signals. Each of the filtered signals corresponds to a respective frequency band. A multiband dynamics controller is communicatively coupled to the filter arrangement. The multiband dynamics controller receives the filtered signals and applies a respective gain characteristic to each of the filtered signals to thereby produce a plurality of gain adjust signals. The gain adjust signals are combined into a multiband dynamics controller output signal.
US09154089B2
Amplifier circuits implemented with a buffer amplifier with a voltage gain substantially equal to one. In one example, a continuous-time amplifier is implemented by applying the input source across the input and the output terminals of the buffer amplifier. In another example, a discrete-time amplifier is implemented. During the sampling phase at least one input voltage is sampled, and during the transfer phase at least one capacitor is coupled across the input and the output terminals of a buffer amplifier to effectuate an amplification.
US09154086B2
The disclosure provides an operational amplifier circuit, in which a power supply of an amplifying circuit is coupled to a first voltage clamping circuit, and the first voltage clamping circuit clamps a supply voltage of the amplifying circuit when the supply voltage exceeds a normal-operation allowable voltage of the amplifying circuit. The disclosure also provides a method for implementing the operational amplifier circuit. According to the disclosure, the operational circuit may be avoided from subject to an excessive supply voltage, which may damage devices in the amplifying circuit of the operational amplifier.
US09154083B2
An amplifier includes a front-end gain stage and an AC-coupled push-pull output stage. The AC-coupled push-pull output stage includes a first transistor, having a source, a drain and a gate, wherein the source of the first transistor is coupled to a first voltage level. The AC-coupled push-pull output stage further includes a second transistor, having a source, a drain and a gate, wherein the source of the second transistor is coupled to a second voltage level, the gate of the second transistor is coupled to the front-end gain stage, and the drain of the second transistor is coupled to the drain of the first transistor to form an output terminal of the amplifier. Further, the AC-coupled push-pull output stage includes an AC-coupled capacitor, which is a passive two terminal electrical component coupled between the front-end gain stage and the gate of the first transistor.
US09154080B2
A mixer with calibration circuit includes a first gm stage unit, a second gm stage unit, a first detecting unit, a second detecting unit, a comparison block, a control unit and a compensator. The first detecting unit and the second detecting unit are respectively connected to different gm stage unit, and the comparison block compares voltage signals of the first detecting unit and the second detecting unit. The control unit adjusts a current signal of the comparison block according to the comparative result of voltage signals of the first detecting unit and the second detecting unit. Further, the compensator adjusts the first gm stage unit and the second gm stage unit according to the current signal. Thereafter, the improvement of the LO leakage of the mixer can be achieved.
US09154074B2
A photovoltaic (PV) module framing and coupling system enables the attachment of PV modules to a roof or other mounting surface without requiring the use of separate structural support members which attach directly to and span between multiple PV modules in a formed PV array. The apparatus provides a parallel coupling for securely interlocking the outside surfaces of parallel frame members together in a side to side arrangement to form an array with improved structural load distribution. The coupling may attach to a slot in the frame at substantially any position along the length of the frame thereby enabling the interconnection of adjacent PV modules along both an x and y axis. The apparatus may further provide a rotating portion and locking portion, mounting brackets for direct connection to a mounting surface, grounding teeth, and a twist-lock engagement means for interlocking and aligning PV modules in the array.
US09154052B2
A power inverter circuit 1 is a bridge power inverter circuit comprising first and second switching elements 11, 12 sequentially connected in series between input terminals on higher and lower voltage sides and third and fourth switching elements 13, 14 sequentially connected in series between the input terminals on the higher and lower voltage sides and alternately turning on a set of the first and fourth switching elements 11, 14 and a set of the second and third switching elements 12, 14 so as to convert a DC power fed between the input terminals on the higher and lower voltage sides into an AC power. One of the sets of the first and third switching elements 11, 13 and the second and fourth switching elements 12, 14 is subjected to switching control at a frequency higher than that of the other.
US09154047B2
A rectifier system, e.g., for a generator, includes a bridge system having a predefined number of rectifier elements, at least one rectifier element being a rectifier element having at least one reverse-voltage dependent characteristic curve in a predefined range, and one of the negative diodes having a higher reverse saturation current than the associated positive diode, and at least one of the negative diodes being placed at a location in the rectifier in which the temperature is increased.
US09154046B2
A rectifier assembly and method are provided. The rectifier assembly includes an annular bus bar including an electrically conductive material, and an insulator ring receiving the annular bus bar. The insulator ring defines radially-extending resistor pockets and diode pockets therein. The rectifier assembly also includes resistors disposed in the resistor pockets and electrically connected with the annular bus bar, and diodes disposed in the diode pockets and electrically connected with the annular bus bar. The rectifier assembly also includes an outer housing receiving the annular bus bar and the insulator ring, such that the insulator ring is positioned radially between the annular bus bar and the outer housing.
US09154045B2
Distributed power conditioning with DC-DC converters implemented in heterogeneous integrated circuit
A flat panel active electronically scanned array (AESA) (1) includes heterogeneous integrated circuit DC-DC voltage converters (3) periodically placed on array elements (2). A heterogeneous integrated circuit (100, 400, 500, 600) includes a voltage converter (101) configured to receive an input voltage (VI), and to convert the input voltage to an output voltage (VO) that is different from the input voltage, the voltage converter (101) comprising an analog and/or digital PWM circuit (104). The heterogeneous integrated circuit (100, 400, 500, 600) also includes a feedback circuit (103) configured to receive the output voltage (VO), and to generate a control signal used to vary a pulse width of a PWM signal generated by the analog and/or digital PWM circuit (104). The digital PWM circuit (104) is implemented in a heterogeneous integrated circuit (100, 400, 500, 600) fabricated on a common substrate (606) using CMOS and GaN fabrication processes.
US09154044B2
An apparatus for estimating capacitance of a DC link capacitor in an inverter is provided. The apparatus for estimating capacitance of a DC link capacitor selects a unit power cell in which capacitance of a DC link capacitor is to be estimated, from unit power cells, and estimates capacitance of the DC link capacitor by correcting a reference voltage that controls a plurality of unit power cells.
US09154041B2
A power converter controller includes a drive signal generator coupled to generate a drive signal to control switching of a power switch to regulate a flow of energy to a power converter output in response to an energy requirement of a load. A voltage supply rail is coupled to supply a voltage to the drive signal generator. The supplied voltage is used by the drive signal generator to generate the drive signal. A control circuit is coupled to generate a power down signal that stops the supply of the voltage to the drive signal generator to stop the generation of the drive signal and the control of the switching of the power switch for a period of time. Timer circuitry determines a duration of the period of time and triggers the control circuit to restart the supply of the voltage by the supply rail to the drive signal generator.
US09154036B2
Various embodiments of the invention provide extend the switching frequency range of DC/DC multiphase switching regulators in order to overcome prior art frequency limitations in the number of available phases, for example, in low input to output ratio applications. In certain embodiments, this is accomplished by enabling partial overlap between multiple phases using asynchronous logic. The invention is easily scalable without introducing significant silicon area penalties.
US09154034B2
The present invention discloses a voltage control method. At first, the load voltage of the load is divided to generate a feedback voltage. The feedback voltage and a triangular wave of a triangular wave periodic signal, including the positive voltage and negative voltage, are combined to generate a sum signal. The sum signal is compared with a target voltage, and when the sum signal is less than the target voltage signal, a control signal is generated to control the switches to turn on or off. Finally, the switch receives the control signal and accordingly providing an input voltage to update and stabilize the load voltage.
US09154032B1
A maximum power point tracking (MPPT) device is provided that includes a converter, having a switched mode topology, where the switched mode topology includes a boost topology that establishes a variable transfer ratio between a variable input voltage and a variable output voltage of the converter, where the switched mode topology changes according to a power load on a power generator. The MPPT device further includes a control section, where the control section maximizes an output power of the power generator by controlling the variable transfer ratio, where the MPPT device optimizes an electrical operating point of the power generator.
US09154021B2
A power transmission device for an electrically driven vehicle basically includes a power transmission mechanism, a sliding contact brush, a brush case cover, and a brush protective jig. The power transmission mechanism includes a case element, an axle element and a power transmission element. The sliding contact brush is mounted on an axle end of the axle element. The brush case cover is selectively mounted to the case element to enclose the axle end of the axle element in the case element. The brush protective jig is mounted to cover the brush contact when mounting the sliding contact brush to the axle end. The brush protective jig is dimensioned to contact the brush case cover and to prevent the brush case cover from being mounted to the case element while the brush protective jig is in an attached state that covers the brush contact.
US09154020B2
An axial gap rotating-electric machine includes a stator, a rotor arranged via an air gap in the direction of an axis of rotation of a rotating-electric machine with respect to the stator, and a housing configured to accommodate the stator and the rotor, and the stator includes a plurality of stator cores arranged in the circumferential direction, coils configured to wind the peripheries of the respective stator cores, and a resin for molding the plurality of stator cores wound with the coils, and the stator cores each include a protruding portion protruding partly from the coil in the direction of axis of rotation, and a conductive member is provided so as to come into contact with peripheral surfaces of the protruding portions of the stator cores, and grounding is achieved by the conductive member.
US09154015B2
A pressure angle of the worm is set to be greater than a pressure angle of the worm wheel so that a maximum number of meshing teeth becomes smaller than or equal to n (where n is a natural number) with respect to the speed reduction mechanism in which a number of meshing teeth is always n+1 or changed between n+1 and n by rotation under a condition in which the pressure angles of the worm and the worm wheel are the same with respect to each other.
US09154014B2
A device for mounting and driving a tiltable part of a gantry of a computed tomography system with respect to a pedestal of the gantry around a system axis of the pedestal, has a magnetic bearing that magnetically supports the tiltable part relative to the pedestal, and an electromagnetic drive that electromagnetically tilts the tiltable part of the gantry relative to the pedestal.
US09154011B2
An integrated drive generator includes a housing having generator. Center and input housing portions are secured to one another. The center housing portion is sealed relative to the generator input housing portion with seal plates. A hydraulic unit is mounted to the center housing portion. The center housing portion includes first and second parallel surfaces. A machined surface is parallel to and recessed into one of the first and second surfaces in an area of the hydraulic unit. A method of assembling an integrated drive generator includes the steps of providing a bore in a center housing portion, pressing a bearing liner into the bore, with a portion of the bearing liner extending proud of a surface of the center plate, and machining the surface around and adjacent to the bearing liner to provide a machined surface parallel to the surface.
US09154010B2
An armature includes an insulator mounted on a tooth portion around which a conducting wire is wound. A pair of a first member and a second member, which are combined so as to abut each other, is provided. The first member includes a first end wall which covers an upper side end in the axial direction of the tooth portion and a pair of first side walls which partially cover both side portions of the tooth portion. A first overlap portion is provided on a tip portion of the first side wall. A plurality of ribs extending so as to be parallel or substantially parallel to the winding direction of the conducting wire is disposed on an outer surface of the first overlap portion.
US09154005B2
A cylindrical rotor core 10 for a rotating electrical machine having magnetic steel plates integrally connected by laminating in an axial direction, and having magnet insertion holes 24, 26 formed for inserting permanent magnets inside, wherein the magnet insertion holes 24, 26 are formed extending in the axial direction in a core inner section in the vicinity of an outer peripheral surface 11c of the rotor core 10, and with openings formed in axial direction end sections of the rotor core 10, and a plurality of magnetic steel plates, including magnetic steel plates at outermost sides in the axial direction in which the openings are formed, are fixed by welding at inner wall surfaces 42 of the magnet insertion holes 24, 26.
US09154001B2
An energy management device providing a series of user interface enhancements that enable the creation and modification of energy management schedules. The energy management device may provide these user interface enhancements in connection with a touch screen interface, as the user interface receives and processes a variety of touch screen gestures from users intended to create and manipulate the energy management schedules. The user interface enhancements may include calendar views with customizable periods of interest, calendar views with overlays of scheduling and pricing information, and clocks providing runtime indications of specific energy consuming systems.
US09154000B2
In this uninterruptible power supply apparatus, even after electric power supply to a load stops due to prolonged power failure time, the operation of an inverter is continued, a DC power supply voltage is generated based on an output of the inverter, and a control circuit is driven by the DC power supply voltage. Therefore, when electric power supply from a commercial AC power supply is resumed during the stop of electric power supply to the load, electric power supply to the load is automatically resumed by the control circuit.
US09153993B2
According to one disclosed embodiment, a smart charging system includes a power conversion unit having a communication module and a charging integrated circuit that can convert mains power into a managed charging power used to charge any of several electronic devices. In one embodiment, a power conversion unit can manage a charging process by communicating with a connected electronic device and exchanging a charge profile representing ideal characteristics of the charging power. In one embodiment, an electronic device receives a charge from a power conversion unit through a wired power conduit. In another embodiment, an electronic device receives a charge from a power conversion unit through a wireless power conduit. In one embodiment, the smart charging system includes a battery usable to charge an electronic device when a mains adapter of the smart charging system is not powered.
US09153989B2
A power monitoring system includes an in-vehicle system that monitors a power state of a storage battery of an electric vehicle, and an out-of-vehicle system that is mounted on an out-of-vehicle apparatus and monitors power supply to the electric vehicle. The electric vehicle includes a first power feed port for supplying and receiving AC power to and from the out-of-vehicle apparatus, and a second power feed port for supplying and receiving DC power to and from the out-of-vehicle apparatus. The in-vehicle system includes first power feed port power measurement means for measuring a first amount of fed power supplied from the out-of-vehicle apparatus via the first power feed port, second power feed port power measurement means for measuring a second amount of fed power supplied from the out-of-vehicle apparatus via the second power feed port, vehicle side communication means, storage battery power measurement means, and a monitoring section.
US09153986B1
A plug-and-play addition to a traditional electrical outlet that upgrades it to a universally compatible charging station. The unit can be plugged directly into an ordinary electrical outlet or can be secured to the wall with a screw. A removable pod module couples to a docking module plugged into the wall. A positive interface between the two modules holds them together, and an internal battery in the pod module is automatically charged. The interface may be frictionally enhanced with rubberized contact surfaces and magnetic latches. Both modules include integrated flexible charging cables with a variety of connectors for external devices.
US09153984B2
There is provided a charging device which can rapidly charge, with a single charger, portable devices of a plurality of charging specifications.A plurality of available power indicating circuits included in a USB module 10 notify, through a data line, a portable device coupled to the charging device of a signal indicating suppliable amount of current. A CPU 4 obtains, from a portable device coupled thereto, information identifying the portable device, at the time of adjustment. A memory 6 has a table stored therein, for a plurality of portable devices, defining a correspondence between information identifying a portable device and an available power indicating circuit. Referring to the table based on the obtained information, the CPU 4 selects an available power indicating circuit and, at the time of actual operation, activates only the selected available power indicating circuit.
US09153979B2
A method and apparatus for supplying cordless power to a remotely-located load device. A first power supply unit of a portable power supply system is configured to operate in a charge receive mode and/or a charge supply mode. When the first power supply unit is in the charge receive mode, a first energy storage device of the first power supply unit is configured to receive electrical energy via a first switch from one of a second power supply unit or an external power source. When the first power supply unit is in the charge supply mode, the first energy storage device of the first power supply unit is configured to supply electrical energy via a second switch to one of a third power supply unit or a remotely-located load device.
US09153977B2
The present invention discloses a bi-directional switching regulator and a control circuit thereof. The bi-directional switching regulator includes a power stage, an operation circuit controlling the power stage, and a power path management circuit. The power path management circuit includes a power path switch electrically connected between the output terminal and the battery, and a power path controller controlling the power path switch. The operation circuit generates the operation signal according to the output voltage or a battery voltage of the battery, and the charging current, so that: (1) a voltage difference between the output voltage and the battery voltage is ICHG*R, wherein ICHG represents the charging current and R represents a conduction resistance when the power path switch is fully conductive; or (2) the output voltage is determined by a higher one of a predetermined voltage level and the sum of ICHG*R plus the battery voltage.
US09153975B2
An alternating current conversion method and system are disclosed that can adapt to varying voltages of the direct current sources. An exemplary system includes a first and second connection arrangements for the voltage sources such that the direct current can be supplied to the DC/AC converter selectively in the first connection arrangement or the second connection arrangement. The selection between the first and second connection arrangements is made on the basis of the voltage levels of the voltage sources such that a proper voltage is supplied to the DC/AC converter. The numbers of the voltage sources in the connection arrangements are selected such that the first and second connection arrangements have different numbers of the voltage sources connected in series, the voltage sources being also grouped in parallel groups.
US09153973B2
A battery cell balancing system includes N switching circuits connected to first terminals and second terminals of N battery cells, respectively, where N is an integer greater than one. A first transformer includes a first core and N sets of windings wound around the first core. The N sets of windings are connected to the N switching circuits, respectively. A first control module controls switching of the N switching circuits to reverse first connections between the first terminals and the second terminals of the N battery cells and the N sets of windings, respectively, at a first frequency to balance charge levels of the N battery cells.
US09153967B2
A battery system and an energy storage system including a battery module. The battery system includes at least one battery module that may perform charging and discharging, and a battery management unit that controls the charging and the discharging of the battery module. The battery management unit varies a charge limit value for stopping the charging of the battery module and a discharge limit value for stopping the discharging of the battery module. Accordingly, a lifetime of the battery module is extended.
US09153962B2
A motor control device includes a DC motor, a power source configured to supply power to each of the DC motor and a load unit, and a controller configured to control power supply to the DC motor and the load unit. When reducing the power to be supplied to the DC motor, the controller increases the power to be supplied to the load unit during a predetermined period of time including a timing at which the power to be supplied to the DC motor is reduced.
US09153951B2
An apparatus for detecting surge voltage and a method thereof are proposed, by which a surge voltage can be detected to prevent damage to output parts by using a shunt regulator, when a surge voltage exceeding a maximum voltage limitable by a zener diode is applied, and trouble shooting and system maintenance/repair of a system can be more effectively performed, the apparatus including a voltage distributor configured to output a driving voltage, when an applied surge voltage exceeds a reference surge voltage, a signal output unit configured to generate an output signal by being driven by a driving voltage outputted by the voltage distributor, and a surge voltage detection signal output unit configured to output a surge voltage detection signal indicating that a surge voltage exceeding the reference surge voltage in response to a signal outputted by the signal output unit.
US09153946B2
A power distribution contactor mount, and a power distribution system incorporating the same, include a plurality of electrically and thermally conductive contactor posts operable to connect a contactor lead to a bus bar, a mounting panel face, wherein each of the contactor posts is received in the mounting panel face and extends through the mounting panel face, and a first heat dissipation component mounted on the mounting panel face and thermally connected to each of the contactor posts. The thermal connection is via a thermally conductive and electrically insulative polymer insert, and each of the posts protrudes through the first heat dissipation component.
US09153945B2
The present disclosure relates to a frame piece for a rack, comprising a hollow profile which extends along its longitudinal axis and is brought into its cylindrical profile shape by shaping a substantially flat starting material. The hollow profile on two opposite lateral edges, has a connecting zone for closing the hollow profile at least one tab-type projection being formed on at least one of the lateral edges, said projection extending away from the lateral edge of the hollow profile and being shaped such that it can be brought into engagement with at least one corresponding receptacle on the respective other lateral edge in a clamping or positive manner.
US09153943B2
A method is described for producing a light source, in particular a light source for optically exciting a laser device, for example a laser device of a laser ignition system of an internal combustion engine, including a diode laser having a plurality of emitters and a fiber optic device. The fiber optic device includes a plurality of optical fibers, each fiber having a first end and a lateral surface area. The first ends are situated relative to the emitters in such a way that light generated by the emitters is injected into the first ends of the optical fibers. The optical fibers are situated in abutment along their lateral surface areas, at least in the region of the first ends of the optical fibers. The method is characterized by the following steps: arranging a plurality of optical fibers which form a fiber section in a subregion, the fiber section being situated between two opposite pressing surfaces; heating the fiber section; and exerting a force on the heated optical fibers with the aid of the pressing surfaces. The force and the heating initially result in deformation of the heated optical fiber. The exerted force and/or a temperature of the optical fibers is/are selected in such a way that the deformation ceases when the optical fibers for the first time fill, at least largely, a region between the pressing surfaces.
US09153940B2
An electro-optic modulator including a semiconductor region, a first reflecting region over the semiconductor region and an anti-reflecting region on an opposite surface of the semiconductor region from the first reflecting layer. The semiconductor region includes a first doped region and a second doped region.
US09153939B1
A system and method for triggering data acquisition in a semiconductor laser system including outputting electromagnetic energy from the semiconductor laser over a range of wavelengths according to a signaling path. The signaling path includes a plurality of discrete data inputs to the semiconductor laser for outputting electromagnetic energy over a range of wavelengths and the signaling path includes one or more perturbances in transitioning from one wavelength to another wavelength along the signaling path. A series of triggering signals are generated for input to a measurement system by the semiconductor laser. The series of triggering signals include a non-uniform period between at least a first triggering signal and an adjacent second triggering signal, and the non-uniform period corresponds to at least one perturbance. The electromagnetic energy output from the semiconductor laser is detected based on the series of triggering signals.
US09153937B2
This description relates to an apparatus, a method of manufacturing, and a method of tuning optical and/or electrical parameters of semiconductor devices and materials, thin film materials, or other devices. In one example, a laser is tuned to produce an adjustable output wavelength by coupling the laser to a tuning material or base such as, for example, a piezoelectric base using a suitable attachment method. The laser includes of a tunable material that is sensitive to stress and/or strain. Stress and/or strain applied to the laser from the tuning material results in an electronically variable output wavelength. As an example, applying a voltage to a piezoelectric base that serves as a tuning material can cause the base to expand or contract, and the expansions and contractions from the base are coupled to the tunable material of the laser, thus varying the wavelength of the output light from the laser. Additionally, other devices that are sensitive to stress and/or strain can be adjoined in a similar manner and can result in an electronically variable output of the devices. Examples of other embodiments are also disclosed herein.
US09153930B2
A laser light source includes an optical resonator and a first optical filter. The first optical filter is provided outside the optical resonator, and does not constitute an optical resonator structure. For example, antireflection coating is performed on the optical resonator side of the first optical filter and on a surface on the opposite side thereto, and a reflection structure in which light after passing through the first optical filter is reflected in the direction to the optical resonator is not present on an optical path of the light.
US09153928B2
The invention relates to scanning pulsed laser systems for optical imaging. Coherent dual scanning laser systems (CDSL) are disclosed and some applications thereof. Various alternatives for implementation are illustrated. In at least one embodiment a coherent dual scanning laser system (CDSL) includes two passively modelocked fiber oscillators. In some embodiments an effective CDSL is constructed with only one laser. At least one embodiment includes a coherent scanning laser system (CSL) for generating pulse pairs with a time varying time delay. A CDSL, effective CDSL, or CSL may be arranged in an imaging system for one or more of optical imaging, microscopy, micro-spectroscopy and/or THz imaging.
US09153919B2
An audio jack for an audio plug for use in an electrical device, comprising a non-conductive enclosure having a front side and defining a cavity having an aperture within the front side for receiving the audio plug, the aperture having a first diameter, the cavity extending along a longitudinal axis; a conductive shielding formed from sheet metal folded over at least five sides of the enclosure including the front side, the shielding defining a shielding aperture centered on the enclosure aperture and having a second diameter larger than the first diameter; and a ground contact connected to the conductive shielding.
US09153917B2
A connector coaxial cable connector comprising a connector body having an outer ramped surface, a post, engageable with the connector body, a coupling member, axially rotatable with respect to the post, and a compression portion structurally integral with the connector body, the compression portion having a ramped inner surface, wherein the inner ramped surface is configured to cooperate with the outer ramped surface during compression of the compression portion onto a portion of the connector body. Furthermore, an associated method is also provided.
US09153910B2
A fitting operation lever includes rotation fulcrum holes rotationally engaged with boss portions on a first connector housing, boss guiding grooves which enable an engagement or disengagement between the boss portions and the rotation fulcrum holes, and action point projecting portions which move from engagement starting positions on projecting portion guide grooves 25 inside a second connector housing 20 as the rotation of the fitting operation lever to be engaged with projection engagement projecting portions 27 within the second connector housing to thereby apply a force acting in a fitting direction to the second connector housing. The rotation fulcrum holes are formed into an elliptic shape which allows a contact positions thereof with the boss portions to move when the fitting operation lever is rotated in a returning direction when the connector housings are fitted together completely.
US09153909B2
A slide lever of a lever-type connector is a long plate-like member, inserted into a lever accommodation space of a main body side connector with a free longitudinal end thereof in the lead and arranged to be movable back and forth along an extending direction of the lever accommodation space. This slide lever includes a cam groove engageable with a cam pin projecting on a mating side connector. The cam groove includes an open end at an end surface of the slide lever extending in an inserting direction of the slide lever. A first path is connected to the open end portion and extends toward the free end with distance from the end surface. A second path extends away from the free end part with distance from the end surface and is connected to a deepest portion of the cam groove.
US09153904B2
An electrical connector includes a female connector (10) and a male connector (20). The female connector (10) includes a female connector body (11) and a vertical wall (12) that define an accommodating space (17), a positioning block (13) disposed in the accommodating space (17), a latch edge (121) and a blocking wall (122) protruded from the vertical wall (12), and a latch space (18) defined by the latch edge (121) and female connector body (11). The male connector (20) having front, rear, and side end surfaces (211, 212, 213) is plugged into the accommodating space (17) and includes a male connector body (21), an extension plate (22), and a hook (23) latched to the latch edge (121), and the rear end surface (212) abuts the blocking wall (122), and the side end surface (213) has a positioning notch (217) for positioning the positioning block (13).
US09153902B1
Certain embodiments herein relate to mounting configurations for transferring forces or loads away from connectors for a device. A mounting element may be secured to a connector and, in response to the connector receiving a certain amount of force, may move the connector to a surface or an element associated with the device that may be more suitable for withstanding the force. Various positions of a mounting element with respect to a connector, and/or geometric variations of the mounting element, may allow the mounting element to move the connector in multiple planes, such as vertical, horizontal, and/or diagonal.
US09153899B2
An electrical connector assembly is provided. The assembly includes a terminal, a housing, and a seal. The seal is configured to create a moisture barrier between the housing and a mating connector. The seal defines a retainer portion that cooperates with the housing to retain the terminal to the housing.
US09153896B2
A spacer (20) which is inserted and installed into a spacer accommodating space (12) of a housing body (10) includes a temporary locking protrusion (25) which is equipped on an outer wall surface (21a) of an outside wall (21) and which engages with first component locking means (15) of the housing body (10) when the spacer (20) is moved to a temporary locking position to regulate the movement of the spacer (20) in the insertion direction, and a principal locking protrusion (26) which is equipped on an inner wall surface (21b) of the outside wall (21) and which engages with second component locking means (16) when the spacer (20) is moved to a principal locking position to regulate the movement of the spacer (20) in the insertion direction.
US09153883B2
Provided is a terminal, including: a ground metal part made of a first metallic material; an intermediate layer made of a second metallic material having a smaller value of standard electrode potential than that of the first metallic material, and plated thin on at least a part of a surface of the ground metal part; and a surface layer made of a third metallic material having a smaller value of standard electrode potential than that of the second metallic material, and plated thin on at least a part of a surface of the intermediate layer.
US09153882B2
An LED connector assembly having a LED module, a base. and a connector. The LED module includes a substrate provided with a conductor pattern and an LED device disposed on a surface of the substrate and connecting to the conductor pattern. The base includes an attachment side larger than the LED module and attaching with the LED module such that a bottom surface of the LED module faces the attachment side. The connector that includes a housing fixed to the base, wherein the housing includes a cylindrical section with a conductor receiving passageway at a tip thereof to which the cylindrical section penetrates the base from the attachment side there through, and a contact having one end that connects to the conductor pattern and extend inside the cylindrical section for connection with an electrical wire insertable into the cylindrical section.
US09153881B2
The invention relates to a flexible tunnel for connection terminal, made by cutting and bending a metal strip to form a flexible frame delimiting an opening. Said opening is delimited by a first and a second lateral branch extending parallel to one another from a bottom, the first branch being extended by an upper branch closing the one-piece structure of the tunnel. When the tunnel is in an untightened state, the upper branch through which the clamping screw is intended to pass in a perpendicular manner forms a first angle of deformation with a longitudinal axis of the tunnel parallel to the first and second lateral branches. The bottom forms a second angle of deformation with the longitudinal axis of the tunnel.
US09153880B2
A ground connection body (1) includes a first ground terminal (10), a second ground terminal (20) and a third ground terminal (30). The first ground terminal (10) includes a wire-side terminal portion (4) to be mounted on an end of a ground wire (E1) and a ground-side terminal portion (5) with a first bolt connection hole (6) connectable to a first bolt (G1) and a second bolt connection hole (7) connectable to a second bolt (G2). A second wire-side terminal portion (21) of the second ground terminal (20) is oblique to the first wire-side terminal portion (4) so that a second ground wire (E2) extends toward the first ground wire (E1). A third wire-side terminal portion (31) of the third ground terminal (30) is oblique to the first wire-side terminal portion (4) so that a third ground wire (E3) extends toward the first ground wire (E1).
US09153876B2
A system and method for implementing transmission parameter control at a transmitting station is described. The exemplary system and method comprises querying a transmission parameter control module for a transmission schedule. The transmission schedule comprises at least one schedule entry defining a set of transmission parameter controls as they pertain to a destination address. At least one packet of data is then transmitted to the destination address according to the transmission parameters controls of at least one schedule entry from the transmission schedule. A system and method for selecting an antenna configuration corresponding to a next transmission of packet data is also disclosed.
US09153864B2
A vehicle pole antenna fixed to an antenna support base includes: a rod 10, a helical antenna element 20, a joint 30, and a mast cover 40. The rod 10 has flexibility and insulation property and has a concave portion 11 at its base end surface. The helical antenna element 20 has a coated wire wound around the rod 10. A winding density of the helical antenna element 10 adjacent to a bending start point of the rod is lower than that at the other portions. The joint 30 has a convex portion 31 to be fitted to the concave portion 11 formed at the base end surface of the rod 10. The joint 30 is electrically connected with the helical antenna element 20 and connected to the antenna support base.
US09153862B2
An antenna apparatus includes a horizontal polarization antenna element, and the horizontal polarization antenna element includes a radiation conductor that includes two conductor plates subjected to bending work and arranged to be opposite to each other with a specific interval therebetween and has a tube shape extending in a vertical direction in whole, a ground conductor that is arranged in an inner space surrounded by the two conductor plates of the radiation conductor and is electrically grounded, and a feeding element that is arranged in the inner space, is arranged along inner walls of the conductor plates in a top view, operates as a reverse L antenna when electrical power is fed between one end thereof and the ground conductor, and feeds power to the radiation conductor by electromagnetic coupling.
US09153852B2
A coaxial resonator includes a first outer conductor connected to a reference potential; a dielectric block which is provided with a through hole formed so as to pass therethrough from a first side surface to a second side surface opposed to the first side surface, and is so disposed that a first main surface abuts on the first outer conductor; an inner conductor disposed in an inside of the through hole; and a second outer conductor which is shaped like a rectangular box having its one face which is opened toward the first outer conductor, the second outer conductor having an inside dimension such that the dielectric block can be housed therein so as to be spaced from its second main surface, third side surface, and fourth side surface, and being connected to the reference potential.
US09153851B2
A waveguide converter includes a waveguide including a hollow section through which a signal is transmitted and a first opening formed on a cross section of the hollow section in a direction orthogonal to a transmission direction of the signal, and a circuit board including on a same surface a signal line, a conductor patch connected to the signal line, and a second opening surrounding the conductor patch. The waveguide is fixed onto the circuit board. The first opening surrounds the second opening. The conductor patch includes a rectangular section which has short sides in parallel with short sides of the first opening, and has a first long side and a second long side connected to the signal line in parallel with long sides of the first opening, and protruding portions which are provided so as to touch the short sides near both ends of the second long side, respectively.
US09153846B2
A battery pack and a method for controlling charge-and-discharge of the battery pack by its thermoelectric property are provided, in which the battery pack has a plurality of thermal regions divided by different ranges of temperature. The battery pack includes a plurality of parallel-connected battery groups and a plurality of variable resistances. The parallel-connected battery groups are located in the thermal regions respectively, and each of the parallel-connected battery groups includes batteries connected in parallel. The variable resistances are disposed between two parallel-connected battery groups.
US09153841B2
Provided is a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery which, even in the case of using a low-viscosity solvent having a narrow potential window, can increase the electrochemical stability of the nonaqueous electrolyte solution and suppress side reactions of the nonaqueous electrolyte solution during charge and discharge to reduce the degradation of the battery characteristics and has an excellent storage characteristic in high-temperature environments and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution for the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery. The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes: a positive electrode containing a positive-electrode active material; a negative electrode containing a negative-electrode active material; and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution containing a solute dissolved in a nonaqueous solvent, wherein the nonaqueous electrolyte solution further contains benzotrifluoride and a diisocyanate compound and the content of benzotrifluoride is 5% by volume or more in the nonaqueous electrolyte solution except the solute.
US09153840B2
Provided is a lithium ion conductive composite electrolyte that can prevent leakage of electrolyte solution, and that have excellent cycle performance and lithium ion conductivity, and a lithium ion secondary battery. A lithium ion conductive composite electrolyte 1 is formed so that a lithium ion conductive polymer gel electrolyte is held in a porous body 2 formed from lithium ion conductive inorganic solid electrolyte particles and an organic polymer. The lithium ion conductive inorganic solid electrolyte particles are formed from a composite metal oxide that has a garnet structure, and is represented by the chemical formula Li7−yLa3−xAxZr2−yMyO12 (wherein 0≦x≦3, 0≦y ≦2, A is one of Y, Nd, Sm, and Gd, and M is Nb or Ta). A lithium ion secondary battery 11 includes the lithium ion conductive composite electrolyte 1 between a positive electrode 12 and a negative electrode 13.
US09153832B2
Disclosed herein are improved electrochemical cell stacks having at least one protective channel on an end of the stack. Redox flow batteries (RFBs) containing the “protected” electrochemical cell stacks, and methods of operating such RFBs, are also provided.
US09153825B2
A fuel cell includes: a membrane electrolyte assembly which includes a polymer electrolyte membrane and a pair of catalyst electrodes between which the polymer electrolyte membrane is held and separators between which the membrane electrolyte assembly is held. The first separator includes first gas flow channels and second gas flow channels which are adjacent to the first gas flow channels, the first and second gas flow channels supplying an oxidizing gas or a fuel gas to the membrane electrolyte assembly. The first and second gas flow channels are parallel to each other and are alternately arranged, the first gas flow channels are larger in cross sectional area than the second gas flow channels. The second separator includes first gas flow channels parallel to the first and second gas flow channels of the first separator, and second gas flow channels which are adjacent to the first gas flow channels, the first and second gas flow channels supplying an oxidizing gas or a fuel to the membrane electrolyte assembly. The first and second gas flow channels are parallel to each other and are alternately arranged and the oxidizing gas or fuel gas supplied in the first and second gas flow channels of the first separator flows in an opposite direction to the oxidizing gas or fuel gas supplied in the first and second gas flow channels of the second separator.
US09153823B2
A method of forming a catalyst structure includes providing a catalyst support structure having a core and an inner carbide film on the core, depositing catalyst nanoparticles on the catalyst support structure, and forming an outer carbide film on the catalyst support structure after the step of depositing catalyst nanoparticles. The outer carbide film is preferentially formed on the catalyst support structure compared to the catalyst particles.
US09153822B2
In one embodiment, a catalyst assembly includes a substrate including a base and a number of rods extending from the base; a catalyst layer including a catalyst material; and a first intermediate layer including a first coating material disposed between the substrate and the catalyst layer, the first coating material having a higher surface energy than the catalyst material. In certain instances, the number of rods may have an average aspect ratio in length to width of greater than 1. The catalyst assembly may further include a second intermediate layer disposed between the catalyst layer and the first intermediate layer, the second intermediate layer including a second coating material having a higher surface energy than the catalyst material. In certain instances, the first coating material has a higher surface energy than the second coating material.
US09153812B2
A cylindrical battery comprises a cylindrical battery electrode assembly having two ends, which comprises a core bar, a positive plate and a negative plate coiled on the core bar, and a diaphragm separating the plates. The cylindrical battery also comprises a positive electrode lead-out terminal, disposed at one end of the electrode assembly and having an inner end surface facing the same. The inner end surface of the positive electrode lead-out terminal is directly connected with the entire end of the positive plate at the corresponding end of the electrode assembly. The cylindrical battery further comprises a negative electrode lead-out terminal, disposed at the other end of the electrode assembly and having an inner end surface facing the same. The inner end surface of the negative electrode lead-out terminal is directly connected with the entire end of the negative plate at the corresponding end of the electrode assembly.
US09153809B2
A secondary battery includes an electrode assembly includes first and second electrode non-coating portions exposed from respective sides of an electrode assembly, first and second collecting plates in contact with and fixed to the respective first and second electrode non-coating portions, a retainer including first and second fixing slits that accommodate the first and second collecting plates connected to the electrode assembly, respectively, and a case that accommodates the retainer accommodating the electrode assembly and the first collecting plate. The retainer includes a first side part including the first fixing slit, a second side part facing the first side part and including the second fixing slit, and a bottom part connecting the first and second side parts to each other.
US09153805B2
Provided is a cylindrical secondary battery, comprising an electrode assembly having a cathode plate, an anode plate, and a separator interposed therebetween; a case for receiving the electrode assembly; a cap assembly for sealing an open-end of the case; and a gasket interposed between the case and the cap assembly, wherein the gasket is made of a polymer resin having a melting point of 200° C. or higher and a hardness of 100D or less.
US09153793B2
In an organic light-emitting display apparatus for improving image quality and a method of manufacturing the same, the organic light-emitting display apparatus comprises a substrate, a first electrode disposed on the substrate, an intermediate layer disposed on the first electrode and including an organic emission layer, a second electrode disposed on the intermediate layer, and a reflective unit disposed near the intermediate layer and reflecting visible light emitted from the intermediate layer.
US09153783B2
A method for manufacturing an organic device includes the steps of applying a photoresist onto at least an active first region arranged on a substrate of the organic device, and removing the photoresist from the substrate in a second region adjacent to the active first region. Additionally, the method includes the steps of applying a passivation layer onto the first and second regions and removing the photoresist and the passivation layer in the active first region.
US09153766B2
A multi-layer piezoelectric element includes a stacked body in which piezoelectric layers and internal electrode layers are alternately laminated and a stress relaxing layer is disposed at part of portions between the piezoelectric layers, and an external electrode that is bonded to a side face of the stacked body so as to make electrical connection with the internal electrode layers, the internal electrode layers being not exposed on the side face of the stacked body, but the stress relaxing layer being exposed on the side face of the stacked body.
US09153765B2
The invention relates to a piezoelectric multi-layer component with a plurality of piezoelectric layers (1) lying one above the other and with electrode layers (2a, 2b) arranged between the piezoelectric layers, wherein an absorption layer (4) of absorbing mechanical vibration energy is arranged in the layer stack.
US09153763B2
Thermoelectric material, method for preparing the same, and thermoelectric module including the same
Disclosed herein is a thermoelectric material having a plate type layered structure where each layer has a thickness of 30 nm or less, a method for preparing the same, and a thermoelectric module using the same.According to the present invention, as for a thermoelectric material having a nanometer-sized layered structure, crystallinity of each layer is excellent, electric conductivity of electron is improved, and phonon diffraction is induced at a grain interface between layers, and thus, a thermoelectric module having excellent thermoelectric properties can be provided.
US09153759B2
A manufacturing method of a light emitting diode (LED) and a manufacturing method of an LED module are provided. The manufacturing method of the LED may include manufacturing a plurality of LED chips, manufacturing a phosphor pre-form including a plurality of mounting areas for mounting the plurality of LED chips, applying an adhesive inside the phosphor pre-form, mounting each of the plurality of LED chips in each of the plurality of mounting areas, and cutting the phosphor pre-form to which the plurality of LED chips are mounted, into units including individual LED chips.
US09153756B2
A light-emitting device, a method of fabricating the light-emitting device, a light-emitting device package and a lighting system are provided. The light-emitting device may include a substrate 105; a first conductivity type semiconductor layer 12 disposed on the substrate 105; an active layer 114 disposed on the first conductivity type semiconductor layer 12; a second conductivity type semiconductor layer 16 disposed on the active layer 114; a first electrode 131 disposed on the first conductivity type semiconductor layer 112; a second electrode 132 disposed on the second conductivity type semiconductor layer 116; a first light extraction pattern P provided on a top surface of the substrate 105; and a second light extraction pattern 150 provided on sides of the substrate 105.
US09153755B2
A silicone resin sheet is formed from a resin composition containing a thermosetting silicone resin and microparticles. The complex viscosity thereof at a frequency of 10 Hz is 80 to 1000 Pa·s and the tan δ thereof at a frequency of 10 Hz is 0.3 to 1.6 obtained by a dynamic viscoelastic measurement at a frequency of 0.1 to 50 Hz at 30° C.; a rate of frequency increase of 10 Hz/min; and a distortion of 1% in a shear mode.
US09153736B2
The invention provides a light-emitting diode device and a method for fabricating the same. The light-emitting diode device includes a metal substrate. A light-emitting diode structure is bonded on the metal substrate. The light-emitting diode structure includes a first type semiconductor substrate and a second type semiconductor layer. The first type semiconductor layer has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The second type semiconductor layer is in contact with the metal substrate. A light-emitting layer is disposed between the first type semiconductor substrate and the second type semiconductor layer. A portion of the second surface and a sidewall adjacent to the second surface are uneven roughened surfaces.
US09153716B2
A window opening in a semiconductor component is produced on the basis of a gate structure which serves as an efficient etch resist layer in order to reliably etch an insulation layer stack without exposing the photosensitive semiconductor area. The polysilicon in the gate structure is then removed on the basis of an established gate etching process, with the gate insulation layer preserving the integrity of the photosensitive semiconductor material.
US09153715B2
A silicon photonic photodetector structure, a method for fabricating the silicon photonic photodetector structure and a method for operating a silicon photonic photodetector device that results from the photonic photodetector structure each use a strip waveguide optically coupled with a polysilicon material photodetector layer that may be contiguous with a semiconductor material slab to which is located and formed a pair of electrical contacts separated by the polysilicon material photodetector layer. Alternatively, the pair of electrical contacts may be located and formed upon separated locations of the polysilicon photodetector layer. Within the foregoing silicon photonic photodetector structure and related methods the polysilicon material photodetector layer includes defect states suitable for absorbing an optical signal from the strip waveguide and generating an electrical output signal using at least one of the electrical contacts when the optical signal includes a photon energy less than a band gap energy of a polysilicon material from which is comprised the polysilicon material photodetector layer. Alternatively, the silicon photonic photodetector structure may include appropriate photodetection circuitry. The silicon photonic photodetector structure and related methods avoid the use of germanium and indium phosphide-based materials.
US09153712B2
Conductive contacts for solar cells and methods of forming conductive contacts for solar cells are described. For example, a solar cell includes a substrate. A conductive contact is disposed on the substrate. The conductive contact includes a layer composed of a first metal species having a plurality of pores. The conductive contact also includes a second metal species disposed in the plurality of pores. Portions of both the first and second metal species are in contact with the substrate.
US09153704B2
A nonvolatile memory device includes a memory gate including a memory layer provided over a substrate and a gate electrode provided over the memory layer, the memory gate having first and second opposing sidewalls disposed on first and second sides of the memory gate, respectively; first and second select gates disposed on the first and second sidewalls of the memory gate; a source region formed in the substrate proximate to the first side of the memory gate; a drain region formed in the substrate proximate to the second side of the memory gate; and a gate contact coupled to the gate electrode of the memory gate and to the first select gate, or the second select gate, or both.
US09153700B2
A method of manufacturing a thin-film transistor includes: forming an oxide semiconductor pattern including a first region and a second region on a substrate; forming an insulation film on the substrate to cover the oxide semiconductor pattern; removing the insulation film on the second region through patterning; increasing carrier density of the first region of the oxide semiconductor pattern through an annealing process; forming a gate electrode on the insulation film so that the gate electrode is insulated from the oxide semiconductor pattern and overlaps the second region; and forming a source electrode and a drain electrode to be insulated from the gate electrode and contact the first region.
US09153689B2
A semiconductor device (10), comprising a first semiconductor portion (32) having a first end (34), a second end (36), and a slit portion (30), wherein the width of the slit portion (30) is less than the width of at least one of the first end (34) and the second end (36); a second portion (38) that is a different material than the first semiconductor portion (32), a third portion (40) that is a different material than the first semiconductor portion (32), wherein the second (38) and third (40) portions are on opposite sides of the slit portion (30), and at least three terminals selected from a group consisting of a first terminal (12) connected to the first end (34), a second terminal (14) connected to the second end (36), a third terminal (16) connected to the second portion (38), and a fourth terminal (17) connected to the third portion (40).
US09153682B2
A semiconductor device protects against concentration of electric current at a front end portion of one of the electrodes thereof. The semiconductor device includes a substrate, a compound semiconductor layer formed on the substrate and having a channel layer based on a hetero junction, a first main electrode formed on the compound semiconductor layer, a second main electrode formed on the compound semiconductor surrounding the first main electrode and having a linear region and an arc-shaped region, a control electrode formed on the compound semiconductor layer and disposed opposite to the first main electrode and the second main electrode, an electric current being made to flow between the first main electrode and the second main electrode, and an electric current limiting section formed between the first main electrode and the arc-shaped region of the second main electrode.
US09153678B2
There is provided a power semiconductor device including a contact formed in an active region, a trench gate extendedly formed from the first region into a first termination region and formed alternately with the contact, a first conductive well formed between the contact of the active region and the trench gate, a first conductive well extending portion formed in the first termination region and a part of a second termination region, and a first conductive field limiting ring formed in the second termination region and contacting the well extending portion.
US09153673B2
In a current-prioritized IGBT, a collector conductive layer is connected to one collector active region included in a collector region by a plurality of contacts. The number of contacts through which the collector conductive layer is connected to the one collector active region is larger than the number of contacts through which the emitter conductive layer is connected to one base active region included in a base region.
US09153668B2
A fin field effect transistor (FinFET) having a tunable tensile strain and an embodiment method of tuning tensile strain in an integrated circuit are provided. The method includes forming a source/drain region on opposing sides of a gate region in a fin, forming spacers over the fin, the spacers adjacent to the source/drain regions, depositing a dielectric between the spacers; and performing an annealing process to contract the dielectric, the dielectric contraction deforming the spacers, the spacer deformation enlarging the gate region in the fin.
US09153667B2
A method for making a thin film transistor, the method comprising: applying a gate electrode on an insulating substrate; covering the gate electrode with an insulating layer; forming a carbon nanotube layer on a growing substrate, wherein the carbon nanotube layer comprises a plurality of carbon nanotubes; transfer printing the carbon nanotube layer from the growing substrate onto the insulating layer, wherein the insulating layer insulates the carbon nanotube layer from the gate electrode; and placing a source electrode and a drain electrode spaced from each other and electrically connected to two opposite ends of at least one of the plurality of carbon nanotubes.
US09153665B2
Provided is a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, which includes the following steps. A substrate having a plurality of pillars is provided, wherein a plurality of trenches are formed around each pillar, and a doped region is disposed at a bottom of each pillar. An insulation layer is formed below each doped region. In addition, a gate and a gate dielectric are formed on the sidewalls of each pillar.
US09153662B2
A method of fabricating a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) device on a substrate includes doping a channel region of the MOSFET device with dopants of a first type. A source and a drain are formed in the substrate with dopants of a second type. Selective dopant deactivation is performed in a region underneath a gate of the MOSFET device.
US09153661B2
A silicon carbide substrate includes: an n type drift layer having a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other; a p type body region provided in the first surface of the n type drift layer; and an n type emitter region provided on the p type body region and separated from the n type drift layer by the p type body region. A gate insulating film is provided on the p type body region so as to connect the n type drift layer and the n type emitter region to each other. A p type Si collector layer is directly provided on the silicon carbide substrate to face the second surface of the n type drift layer.
US09153658B2
A gate insulating film of a conventional semiconductor device is subjected to dielectric breakdown at a low electric field strength and thus its service life is short. This is because since the size of the asperity of at least one of a semiconductor layer-side interface and an electrode-side interface is large and, an electric field applied to the gate insulating film is locally concentrated and has a variation in its strength. This problem is solved by specifying the sizes of the asperities of both interfaces of the gate insulating film.
US09153656B2
According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes: first semiconductor regions extending in a first direction and arranged in a direction crossing the first direction; control gate electrodes provided on an upper side of the first semiconductor regions, extending in a second direction different from the first direction, and arranged in a direction crossing the second direction; a charge storage layer provided in a position each of the first semiconductor regions and each of the control gate electrodes cross; a first insulating film provided between the charge storage layer and each of the first semiconductor regions; a second insulating film provided between the charge storage layer and each of the control gate electrodes; and a silicon-containing layer in contact with part of a side wall of each of the control gate electrodes and having a gradient in a silicon concentration in a direction crossing the second direction.
US09153655B2
The present disclosure describes a semiconductor device including a semiconductor substrate and a gate stack disposed on the semiconductor substrate. A first spacer element is disposed on the substrate abutting the first gate stack. A second spacer element is adjacent the first spacer element. A source/raised drain is provided adjacent the gate stack. A conductive feature (e.g., silicide) is disposed on the source/drain and laterally contacts sidewalls of the second spacer element. In an embodiment, a contact directly interfaces with the second spacer element.
US09153650B2
To provide an oxide semiconductor with a novel structure. Such an oxide semiconductor is composed of an aggregation of a plurality of InGaZnO4 crystals each of which is larger than or equal to 1 nm and smaller than or equal to 3 nm, and in the oxide semiconductor, the plurality of InGaZnO4 crystals have no orientation. Alternatively, such an oxide semiconductor is such that a diffraction pattern like a halo pattern is observed by electron diffraction measurement performed by using an electron beam with a probe diameter larger than or equal to 300 nm, and that a diffraction pattern having a plurality of spots arranged circularly is observed by electron diffraction measurement performed by using an electron beam with a probe diameter larger than or equal to 1 nm and smaller than or equal to 30 nm.
US09153645B2
A method of forming a semiconductor structure includes forming an opening in a dielectric layer, forming a recess in an exposed part of a substrate, and forming a lattice-mismatched crystalline semiconductor material in the recess and opening.
US09153642B2
A particular metal-oxide-metal (MOM) capacitor device includes a conductive gate material coupled to a substrate. The MOM capacitor device further includes a first metal structure coupled to the conductive gate material. The MOM capacitor device further includes a second metal structure coupled to the substrate and proximate to the first metal structure.
US09153640B2
A process of forming a capacitor structure includes providing a substrate. Next, a first electrode is deposited onto the substrate. Later, a water-based ALD process is performed to deposit a transitional amorphous TiO2 layer on the first electrode. Subsequently, the transitional amorphous TiO2 layer is treated by oxygen plasma to transform the entire transitional amorphous TiO2 layer into a rutile TiO2 layer. Finally, a second electrode is deposited on the rutile TiO2 layer.
US09153634B2
A display device includes a plurality of light-emitting elements aligned on a TFT substrate in a formation of a matrix. The plurality of light-emitting elements each have a flat surface portion and including a light-emitting layer, an anode, and a cathode, an insulating layer formed on the TFT substrate and under the light emitting element, and a tilted metal surface provided on a peripheral area surrounding the flat surface portion of the light-emitting element and having a tilt angle with respect to the flat surface portion of the light-emitting element. The tilted metal surface is provided on a surface of a slope of a bank that is provided on the insulation layer, and a width of a cross-section of the bank becomes smaller as the cross section comes farther away from a surface of the TFT substrate. A counter substrate is placed on the TFT substrate.
US09153632B2
Provided is an organic light emitting display including a pixel circuit unit prepared over a substrate and comprising a plurality of thin film transistors (TFTs), and an organic light emitting device or diode (OLED) electrically connected to the pixel circuit unit. The pixel circuit unit and the OLED are connected through a repair unit comprising a semiconductor material, in order to facilitate easy repair.
US09153629B2
An in-cell OLED touch panel structure of narrow border includes an upper substrate, a lower substrate, an OLED layer configured between the upper and lower substrates, a black matrix layer, a first sensing electrode layer, a second sensing electrode layer, and a thin film transistor layer. The black matrix layer is composed of a plurality of opaque lines. The first sensing electrode layer includes M first conductor line units and N connection lines. The second sensing electrode layer includes N second conductor line units. Each second conductor line unit makes use of a corresponding i-th connection line to be extended to one edge of the in-cell OLED touch panel structure. The M first conductor line units, the N connection lines, and the N second conductor line units are disposed at positions corresponding to those of the plurality of opaque lines of the black matrix layer.
US09153623B1
A non-volatile memory device structure comprises a substrate having a surface region and a first dielectric material overlying the surface region. The device structure includes a state change device overlying the first dielectric material, the state change device comprising a first wiring structure configured to spatially extend in a first direction, a switching element comprising a first amorphous silicon material overlying the first wiring structure, and a second wiring structure configured to spatially extend in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The device structure includes a first thin film transistor device configured to cause the state change device to change from a first state to a second state. The thin film transistor device comprises a first active region, a second active region, a gate structure overlying a gate dielectric layer, and a channel region. The first active region is in electrical contact with the second wiring structure.
US09153620B2
A method for manufacturing the image sensor device is provided. The method includes depositing a first dielectric layer over a back surface of a substrate, forming a ridge over the first dielectric layer, depositing a second dielectric layer over the first dielectric layer, including filling in a space between two adjacent ridges. The method also includes removing the ridge to form a trench in the second dielectric layer and forming a metal grid in the trench.
US09153616B2
In the solid-state imaging device, first and second substrates are electrically connected to each other via connectors electrically connecting the first and second substrates. A photoelectric conversion element is disposed in the first substrate. A read circuit is disposed in the second substrate and reads a signal generated by the photoelectric conversion element and transmitted via the connector. In a signal processing circuit including elements or circuits performing signal processing on the read signal, some of the elements or circuits are disposed in the first substrate, the remaining elements or circuits are disposed in the second substrate, and the elements or circuits disposed in the first and second substrates are electrically connected to each other via the connector.
US09153612B2
A solid-state imaging device includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions each provided to correspond to each of a plurality of pixels in a semiconductor substrate and receiving incident light through a light sensing surface, and a pixel separation portion that is embedded into a trench provided on a side portion of the photoelectric conversion portion and electrically separates the plurality of pixels in a side of an incident surface of the semiconductor substrate into which the incident light enters. The pixel separation portion is formed by an insulation material which absorbs the incident light entering the light sensing surface.
US09153596B2
Semiconductor devices having reduced parasitic current and methods of malting the semiconductor devices are provided. Further provided are memory devices having reduced adjacent wordline disturb. The memory devices contain wordlines formed over a semiconductor substrate, wherein at least one wordline space is formed between the wordlines. Adjacent wordline disturb is reduced by implanting one or more of indium, boron, and a combination of boron and indium in the surface of the at least one wordline space.
US09153595B2
A NAND flash memory chip includes word lines formed by etching through concentric conductive loops and, in the same etch step, etching through a conductive strip to form select lines. A conductive loop forms two word lines which are in different erase blocks and are separately controlled by peripheral circuits.
US09153579B2
An electronic device includes a device isolation film formed to define an active region in a substrate, a first gate buried to traverse the active region and the device isolation film in a first direction, and a second gate coupled to the first gate buried in the device isolation film, and extended in a second direction.
US09153569B1
A segmented bipolar transistor includes a p-base in a semiconductor surface including at least one p-base finger having a base metal/silicide stack including a base metal line that contacts a silicide layer on the semiconductor surface of the p-base finger. An n+ buried layer is under the p-base. A collector includes an n+ sinker extending from the semiconductor surface to the n+ buried layer including a collector finger having a collector metal/silicide stack including a collector metal line that contacts a silicide layer on the semiconductor surface of the collector finger. An n+ emitter has at least one emitter finger including an emitter metal/silicide stack that contacts the silicide layer on the semiconductor surface of the emitter finger. The emitter metal/silicide stack and/or collector metal/silicide stack include segmentation with a gap which cuts a metal line and/or the silicide layer of the stack.
US09153568B2
An electrostatic discharge protection device is disclosed. The electrostatic discharge protection device comprises a N+ well, a P doping region, a first N doping region, a plurality of N sub-doping regions, a first N+ doping region, a first P+ doping region, a second N+ doping region, and a second doping region. The P doping region is disposed in the N+ well. The first N doping region is disposed in the P doping region. The plurality of N sub-doping regions is disposed in parallel in the P doping region. The first N+ doping region is disposed in the first N doping region. The first P+ doping region is disposed in the first N doping region. The second N+ doping region is disposed in the P doping region.
US09153563B2
An improvement is achieved in the performance of an electronic device. A first semiconductor device and a second semiconductor device are mounted over the upper surface of a wiring board such that, e.g., in plan view, the orientation of the second semiconductor device intersects the orientation of the first semiconductor device. That is, the first semiconductor device is mounted over the upper surface of the wiring board such that a first emitter terminal and a first signal terminal are arranged along an x-direction in which the pair of shorter sides of the wiring board extend. On the other hand, the second semiconductor device is mounted over the upper surface of the wiring board such that a second emitter terminal and a second signal terminal are arranged along a y-direction in which the pair of longer sides of the wiring board extend.
US09153561B2
A light-emitting device includes: a substrate; the metal film at the mounting region on the substrate; a light-emitting part including a plurality of light-emitting elements disposed on the metal film; metal members formed on the substrate, respectively including pad parts and wiring parts, forming a positive electrode and a negative electrode configured to apply a voltage to the light-emitting element through the wiring parts, respectively; and a plating wire connected to the metal film, extended to a side face of the substrate. The metal film and the metal members are independently disposed. The wiring part of the positive electrode and the wiring part of the negative electrode are formed at a circumference of the mounting region. The metal members are formed apart from the circumferential edge of the substrate on the side of the mounting region of the substrate.
US09153558B2
A through-substrate via (TSV) structure includes at least two electrically conductive via segments embedded in a substrate and separated from each other by an electrically conductive barrier layer therebetween. The length of each individual conductive via segment is typically equal to, or less than, the Blech length of the conductive material so that the stress-induced back flow force, generated by each conductive barrier layer, cancels the electromigration force in each conductive via segment. Consequently, the TSV structures are immune to electromigration, and provide reliable electrical connections among a chips stacked in 3 dimensions.
US09153557B2
A chip stack embedded package includes a first dielectric layer having a multistep cavity therein, a first plurality of semiconductor chips disposed in a first level of the multistep cavity, a second plurality of semiconductor chips disposed in a second level of the multistep cavity, and a second dielectric layer filling the multistep cavity to cover the first and second pluralities of semiconductor chips.
US09153554B2
A method of adjusting ultrasonic bonding energy on a wire bonding machine, the method comprising the steps of: providing a reference relationship between free air ball squash and ultrasonic bonding energy; determining an actual relationship between free air ball squash and ultrasonic bonding energy on a subject wire bonding machine; and adjusting at least one ultrasonic bonding energy setting of the subject wire bonding machine such that the actual relationship of the subject wire bonding machine is closer to the reference relationship.
US09153532B2
A semiconductor FET provides a resonant gate and source and drain electrodes, wherein the resonant gate is electromagnetically resonant at one or more predetermined frequencies.
US09153529B2
Consistent with an example embodiment, a semiconductor device comprises a patterned conductive layer defining contact pads for being connected to terminals of a semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chip comprises the terminals at a first side and an adhesive layer at a second side opposite to the first side; wherein, the semiconductor chip is mounted with an adhesive layer on a patterned conductive layer such that the semiconductor chip part of each respective contact pad leaves part thereof uncovered by the chip for wire bonding. Wire bonds connect respective terminals of the semiconductor chip and respective contact pads at the first side thereof. A molding compound covers the semiconductor chip, the wire bonds and the contact pads; wherein, the molding compound is also located on the second side of the semiconductor device, separating the contact regions that are located directly on a backside of the contact pads.
US09153528B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a chip package including: a semiconductor substrate having a first surface and a second surface; a device region formed in the semiconductor substrate; a dielectric layer disposed on the first surface; and a conducting pad structure disposed in the dielectric layer and electrically connected to the device region; a cover substrate disposed between the chip and the cover substrate, wherein the spacer layer, a cavity is created an surrounded by the chip and the cover substrate on the device region, and the spacer layer is in direct contact with the chip without any adhesion glue disposed between the chip and the spacer layer.
US09153523B2
In an ASIC element, vias are integrated into the CMOS processing of an ASIC substrate. The ASIC element includes an active front side in which the circuit functions are implemented. The at least one via is intended to establish an electrical connection between the active front side and the rear side of the element. The front side of the via is defined by at least one front-side trench which is completely filled, and the rear side is defined by at least one rear-side trench which is not completely filled. The rear-side trench opens into the filled front-side trench.
US09153511B2
A chip on film for a flexible display device is disclosed. In one aspect, the chip on film includes a base film, a semiconductor chip provided to the base film, and a wire part provided to the base film and electrically connected to the semiconductor chip. The wire part includes a first region and a second region connected to the first region, and a first interval between the wires disposed at an outermost of the first region is different from a second interval between the wires disposed at an outermost area of the second region.
US09153509B2
A fault tolerant design for large area nitride semiconductor devices is provided, which facilitates testing and isolation of defective areas. A transistor comprises an array of a plurality of islands, each island comprising an active region, source and drain electrodes, and a gate electrode. Electrodes of each island are electrically isolated from electrodes of neighboring islands in at least one direction of the array. Source, drain and gate contact pads are provided to enable electrical testing of each island. After electrical testing of islands to identify defective islands, overlying electrical connections are formed to interconnect source electrodes in parallel, drain electrodes in parallel, and to interconnect gate electrodes to form a common gate electrode of large gate width Wg. Interconnections are provided selectively to good islands, while electrically isolating defective islands. This approach makes it economically feasible to fabricate large area GaN devices, including hybrid devices.
US09153504B2
A semiconductor device includes one or more metal-insulator-metal (MiM) capacitors. The semiconductor device includes a bottom electrode, a dielectric layer located above, and in physical contact with, the bottom electrode, a top electrode located above, and in physical contact with, the dielectric layer, a first top contact contacting the top electrode, a first bottom contact contacting the bottom electrode from a top electrode direction, a first metal bump connecting to the top contact, and a second metal bump connecting to the bottom contact. The top electrode has a smaller area than the bottom electrode. The bottom electrode, the dielectric layer, and the top electrode is a MiM capacitor. Top electrodes of a number of MiM capacitors and bottom electrodes of a number of MiM capacitors are daisy chained to allow testing of the conductivity of the electrodes.
US09153500B2
The present invention belongs to the technical field of integrated semiconductor circuits, and relates to a method used in a process no greater than 32 nm to improve the electromigration resistance of Cu interconnects. Coating layers on Cu interconnects, such as CuSi3, CuGe, and CuSiN, can be prepared by autoregistration, and with the use of new impervious layer materials, the electromigration resistance of Cu interconnects can be largely improved and the high conductivity thereof can be kept, which provides an ideal solution for interconnection process for process nodes no greater than 32 nm.
US09153493B1
A system for separating semiconductor devices from a wafer having back metal exposed in scribe streets of the wafer positioned on a plastic film by applying a variable radial force to stretch and tension the film while controlling the stretch and tension as a function of a control parameter.
US09153487B2
A method of forming a wiring may include forming a first wire on a substrate; forming a material layer on the substrate, except on the first wire; forming a surface treatment film on the material layer; and forming a second wire on the first wire. The surface treatment film has physical properties opposite to the first wire. A method of forming a wiring may include forming a first wire on a substrate; forming a material layer on the substrate and the first wire; removing a portion of the material layer from the first wire; forming a surface treatment film on the material layer and the first wire; removing a portion of the surface treatment film from the first wire; and forming a second wire on the first wire. A thickness of the material layer on the substrate is greater than a thickness of the first wire on the substrate.
US09153459B2
According to embodiments, there is provided a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device includes forming a semiconductor thin film on a substrate; processing the thin film to a predetermined shape; executing an ion implantation process on the thin film processed to the predetermined shape; executing an anneal treatment on the thin film on which the ion implantation process has been executed to create a resistor element; and adjusting both or any one of a process condition of the ion implantation process and a treatment condition of the anneal treatment based on at least any one of a film forming condition and a film formation result of the forming and a film process result of the processing.
US09153454B2
A method of fabricating a high voltage device includes the step of forming a patterned photoresist layer on a conductive layer and a dielectric below the conductive. The conductive layer and the dielectric layer are patterned by taking the patterned photoresist layer as a mask. Subsequently the patterned photoresist layer is shrunk. The conductive layer and the dielectric layer are then patterned by taking the shrunk photoresist layer as a mask.
US09153453B2
A process is disclosed for sectioning by etching of monolayers and multilayers using an RIE technique with fluorine-based chemistry. In one embodiment, the process uses Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) alone or in combination with Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) using fluorine-based chemistry alone and using sufficient power to provide high ion energy to increase the etching rate and to obtain deeper anisotropic etching. In a second embodiment, a process is provided for sectioning of WSi2/Si multilayers using RIE in combination with ICP using a combination of fluorine-based and chlorine-based chemistries and using RF power and ICP power. According to the second embodiment, a high level of vertical anisotropy is achieved by a ratio of three gases; namely, CHF3, Cl2, and O2 with RF and ICP. Additionally, in conjunction with the second embodiment, a passivation layer can be formed on the surface of the multilayer which aids in anisotropic profile generation.
US09153444B2
A replacement metal gate transistor and methods of forming replacement metal gate transistors are described. Various examples provide methods of manufacturing a replacement metal gate transistor that includes depositing a dielectric layer into a trench, wherein the dielectric layer is deposited onto the bottom of the trench and the sidewalls of the trench, depositing a first metal layer into the trench, wherein the first metal layer is deposited onto the bottom of the trench and the sidewalls of the trench over the dielectric layer, depositing a second metal layer into the trench, wherein the second metal layer is deposited onto the bottom of the trench and the sidewalls of the trench over the first metal layer, removing at least a portion of the second metal layer from the sidewalls of the trench, and depositing a conducting layer into the trench. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
US09153442B2
Systems, chambers, and processes are provided for controlling process defects caused by moisture contamination. The systems may provide configurations for chambers to perform multiple operations in a vacuum or controlled environment. The chambers may include configurations to provide additional processing capabilities in combination chamber designs. The methods may provide for the limiting, prevention, and correction of aging defects that may be caused as a result of etching processes performed by system tools.
US09153438B2
An oxide sintered body including an oxide of indium and aluminum and having an atomic ratio Al/(Al+In) of 0.01 to 0.08.
US09153435B2
Provided is a method of fabricating a semiconductor device. The method includes providing a silicon substrate having opposite first and second sides. At least one of the first and second sides includes a silicon (111) surface. The method includes forming a high coefficient-of-thermal-expansion (CTE) layer on the first side of the silicon substrate. The high CTE layer has a CTE greater than the CTE of silicon. The method includes forming a buffer layer over the second side of the silicon substrate. The buffer layer has a CTE greater than the CTE of silicon. The method includes forming a III-V family layer over the buffer layer. The III-V family layer has a CTE greater than the CTE of the buffer layer.
US09153434B2
An integrated circuit chip is formed with an active layer and a trap rich layer. The active layer is formed with an active device layer and a metal interconnect layer. The trap rich layer is formed above the active layer. In some embodiments, the active layer is included in a semiconductor wafer, and the trap rich layer is included in a handle wafer.
US09153433B2
A disclosed method of depositing a silicon film on a substrate mounted on a turntable and can pass by rotation through a first process area and a second process area, which are separately arranged along a peripheral direction in a cylindrical chamber set to have a first temperature capable of cutting a Si—H bond includes a molecular layer deposition step of supplying a Si2H6 gas set to have a second temperature less than the first temperature when the substrate passes through the first process area thereby forming a SiH3 molecular layer on a surface of the substrate, and a hydrogen desorption step of causing the substrate, on a surface of which the SiH3 molecular layer is formed, to pass through the second process area maintained to have the first temperature thereby cutting the Si—H bond and leaving only a silicon atomic layer on the surface of the substrate.
US09153430B2
Provided is a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus includes: a process chamber configured to accommodate a substrate; a substrate holding member configured to hold the substrate in the process chamber; a first gas supply system including a first gas supply hole for supplying a first process gas into the process chamber; a second gas supply system including a second gas supply hole for supplying a second process gas into the process chamber; and a catalyst supply system including a catalyst supply hole for supplying a catalyst into the process chamber, wherein an angle between a first imaginary line connecting a center of the substrate holding member and the first gas supply hole and a second imaginary line connecting the center of the substrate holding member and the catalyst supply hole ranges from 63.5 degrees to 296.5 degrees.
US09153429B2
A method of depositing a film of forming an oxide film containing a predetermined element on substrates using an apparatus including a turntable mounting substrates, first and second process areas above the upper surface of the turntable provided with gas supplying portions, a separation gas supplying portion between the first and second process areas, and a separation area including depositing the oxide film by rotating the turntable while supplying a reaction gas containing the predetermined element, the oxidation gas from the second gas supplying portion, and the separation gas; and rotating at least one turn while supplying the separation gas from the first gas supplying portion and the separation gas supplying portion, and the oxidation gas from the second gas supplying portion.
US09153427B2
A vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photon source includes a body, a VUV window, electrodes disposed on the body outside an interior thereof, and a dielectric barrier between the electrodes. A method for generating VUV photons includes generating a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in an interior of a photon source by applying a periodic voltage between a first electrode and a second electrode separated by a dielectric barrier, wherein the DBD produces excimers from a gas in a gap between the electrodes, and transmitting VUV photons through a window of the photon source.
US09153425B2
A system and method for analyzing a chemical composition of a specimen are described. The system can include at least one pin; a sampling device configured to contact a liquid with a specimen on the at least one pin to form a testing solution; and a stepper mechanism configured to move the at least one pin and the sampling device relative to one another. The system can also include an analytical instrument for determining a chemical composition of the specimen from the testing solution. In particular, the systems and methods described herein enable chemical analysis of specimens, such as tissue, to be evaluated in a manner that the spatial-resolution is limited by the size of the pins used to obtain tissue samples, not the size of the sampling device used to solubilize the samples coupled to the pins.
US09153422B2
The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for applying metallic, ceramic or composite thin film coatings onto parts, components and tools (e.g. gas turbine engine compressor blades or cutting tools) by a cathodic arc deposition technique. The method and the apparatus allows for a continually changing structure of the applied film by nanoimplanting atoms, molecules, compounds or other chemical species and structures of different materials thus coating a substrate during a single process. Furthermore, during the same process it allows for creating a coating with specific parameters as required. For instance: hardness, smoothness, corrosion resistance, erosion resistance.
US09153419B2
A pattern defect inspection method includes generating electron beam irradiation point track data on the basis of first data on an inspection target pattern, irradiating the electron beam to the inspection target pattern in accordance with the electron beam irradiation point track data, detecting secondary electrons generated from the inspection target pattern due to the irradiation of the electron beam, acquiring second data regarding a signal intensity of the secondary electrons from a signal of the detected secondary electrons, and detecting an abnormal point from the second data and outputting the abnormal point as a defect of the inspection target pattern. The electron beam irradiation point track data includes data on a track of irradiation points of an electron beam to the inspection target pattern and is intended to control over scanning with the electron beam, the electron beam irradiation point track data.
US09153417B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide a back scattered electron detector suitable for implementing a method for determining beforehand in which region of a sample an X-ray detector can obtain an accurate X-ray detection image and perform an appropriate analysis. A Coax-BSE detector which is a back scattered electron detector includes a BSE element, a support member that supports the BSE element, and a fixing member to fix the support member to the X-ray detector, in which the fixing member fixes the support member by clamping a side portion on the distal end side which is an X-ray receiving side of a housing that covers the X-ray detector.
US09153415B2
The invention relates to a charged particle lithography system for transferring a pattern onto a target, said system comprising:a target positioning device comprising a target holder having a first side for holding the target,a charged particle optical unit for generating a charged particle beam, modulating said charged particle beam, and directing said charged particle beam towards the first side of the target holder, anda sensor assembly comprising a converter element for converting charged particles which impinge on said converter element into light, wherein the converter element is arranged on said target positioning device, a light sensor for detecting the light, wherein the light sensor is arranged at a distance from said target positioning device, and a light optical lens which is arranged between the converter element and the light sensor for directing light originating from said converter element to said sensor.
US09153413B2
A multi-beam scanning electron beam device (100) is described. The multi-bea scanning electron beam device having a column, includes a multi-beam emitter (110) for emitting a plurality of electron beams (12,13,14), at least one common electron beam optical element (130) having a common opening for at least two of the plurality of electron beams and being adapted for commonly influencing at least two of the plurality of electron beams, at least one individual electron beam optical element (140) for individually influencing the plurality of electron beams, a common objective lens assembly (150) for focusing the plurality of electrons beams having a common excitation for focusing at least two of the plurality of electron beams, and adapted for focusing the plurality of electron beams onto a specimen (20) for generation of a plurality of signal beams (121, 131,141), and a detection assembly (170) for individually detecting each signal beam on a corresponding detection element.
US09153406B2
An ion generator includes: an arc chamber; a repeller that includes a repeller plate provided within the arc chamber and a repeller extension portion inserted through a through hole communicating the inside and the outside of the arc chamber; and a supporting structure that is provided outside the arc chamber and that supports the repeller so that a gap is ensured between the repeller extension portion and an inner wall of the through hole. The supporting structure includes a cover member that forms, outside the arc chamber, a small chamber communicating with the gap, and an insulation member that electrically insulates the arc chamber and the repeller from each other.
US09153397B2
An electrical wiring device includes a metal switch cover as a user contact point. The metal switch cover has antimicrobial properties that reduces microorganisms that are present on the wiring device, and helps reduce the spread of infections or disease from user to user. The metal switch cover is disposed on a switch in the wiring device, such that users touch the metal switch cover when operating the switch. In some exemplary embodiments, the metal switch cover is coupled to a paddle-style switch and takes on the profile of a paddle. In some exemplary embodiments, the metal switch cover is coupled to a toggle-style switch and take on the profile of a toggle.
US09153395B2
A switch structure with display and playback functions includes a base, a circuit board, a holder, a display screen, and a cover. The circuit board is received in the base and has an electrical connection region. A supporting member and a flexible flat cable are provided below the holder. An elastic supporting element in the supporting member corresponds in position to the electrical connection region and is provided with an electrical connector. The display screen is provided on the holder and is electrically connected to the circuit board by the flexible flat cable. The cover covers the holder and the display screen. When the cover is pressed downward, thereby compressing the elastic supporting element, the electrical connector is contacted with, and closes the circuit of, the electrical connection region to connect the display screen to the circuit board. The switch structure features a small internal space and small thickness.
US09153394B2
The invention concerns a method for the fabrication, on a plane substrate, of a microswitch actuatable by a magnetic field, comprising:a) the etching, in the upper face of the plane substrate, of cavities forming a hollow model of two strips, these cavities having vertical flanks extending perpendicularly to the plane of the substrate to form vertical faces of the strips,b) the filling of the cavities by a magnetic material to form the strips, thenc) the etching in the substrate, by a method of isotropic etching, of a well that extends between the vertical faces of the strips and beneath and around one distal end of at least one of the strips to open out an air gap between these strips and make this distal end capable of being shifted between a closed position and an open position.
US09153393B2
A manufacturing method of touch panel includes steps of: providing a substrate and defining a touch section and a non-touch section; disposing a shield layer on the non-touch section of the substrate; disposing a touch electrode layer with multiple touch electrodes on the touch section and the non-touch section by means of sputtering; covering the touch electrode layer with a metal mask and forming a metal wiring layer on the non-touch section by means of printing or sputtering and then removing the metal mask; performing lithography and etching processes to the touch electrode layer so as to form multiple touch electrodes; disposing an insulation layer on the junctions between the touch electrodes and the metal wires; disposing a lead layer with multiple metal leads on the insulation layer; and disposing a protection layer on the touch electrode layer and the metal wiring layer and the insulation layer.
US09153389B2
Provided is a carbon nanotube-graphene composite comprising a substrate, a graphene layer disposed on the substrate, and a patterned layer of aligned carbon nanotubes disposed on the graphene layer.
US09153382B2
A multilayer ceramic capacitor exhibits superior life characteristics in a high temperature load test despite the use of very thin dielectric layers. As a dielectric ceramic constituting a dielectric layer of the multilayer ceramic capacitor, a perovskite-type compound is used and contains Ba and Ti (a portion of Ba can be replaced with at least one of Ca and Sr, and a portion of Ti can be replaced with Zr) as a main component, and including La within the range of 2-6 parts by mole, Mg within the range of 3-5 parts by mole, and Mn within the range of 1.5-3 parts by mole in a case where a total content of Ti and Zr is 100 parts by mole.
US09153381B2
Disclosed herein is a chip device including: a multilayer body having a hexahedral shape; an external electrode covering both distal ends of the multilayer body; and a shape maintaining material contained in the external electrode to maintain a shape of the external electrode at the time of forming the external electrode.
US09153380B2
A ceramic short circuit resistant capacitor that is bendable and/or shapeable to provide a multiple layer capacitor that is extremely compact and amenable to desirable geometries. The capacitor that exhibits a benign failure mode in which a multitude of discrete failure events result in a gradual loss of capacitance. Each event is a localized event in which localized heating causes an adjacent portion of one or both of the electrodes to vaporize, physically cleaning away electrode material from the failure site. A first metal electrode, a second metal electrode, and a ceramic dielectric layer between the electrodes are thin enough to be formed in a serpentine-arrangement with gaps between the first electrode and the second electrode that allow venting of vaporized electrode material in the event of a benign failure.
US09153377B2
The invention relates to a hot melt dispensable polymeric composite and process for making and using the composite. Particulates of adequate particle size are mixed with a polymer that exhibits low viscosities at temperatures typically provided by hot-melt glue guns to form rods that vary significantly in density from the base polymer. Novel articles can be manufactured by dispensing the composite from a glue gun into molds or by placement of the melt molding compound into preformed cavities within an end article.
US09153372B2
An inductor that has the following: an inductor core comprising a plurality of core members arranged in a ring with gaps therebetween; primary insert-molded resin parts comprising a thermoplastic resin covering the outside surface of the inductor core, excluding the surfaces of the core members that face each other; coils disposed around the aforementioned gaps and the primary insert-molded resin parts on the inductor core; and secondary insert-molded resin parts comprising a thermoplastic resin insert-molded around the coils to affix said coils to the inductor core. This allows high-cycle manufacturing of inductors without a thermosetting-resin potting step in a vacuum furnace or a heat curing treatment in a heating furnace.
US09153370B2
A linear solenoid has a moving core, a main coil, and a magnetically attractive core. The moving core is supported to be capable of sliding in an axial direction of the moving core. The main coil winds around the moving core and forms a tubular shape. The magnetically attractive core magnetically attracts the moving core based on magnetic force caused by the main coil. The linear solenoid may further have a secondary coil disposed separately from the main coil so that the secondary coil intersects with the moving core at a position corresponding to the secondary coil when the moving core moves toward the magnetically attractive core.
US09153363B2
The present invention provides a light-transmitting metal electrode including a substrate and a metal electrode layer having plural openings. The metal electrode layer also has such a continuous metal part that any pair of point-positions in the part is continuously connected without breaks. The openings in the metal electrode layer are periodically arranged to form plural microdomains. The plural microdomains are so placed that the in-plane arranging directions thereof are oriented independently of each other. The thickness of the metal electrode layer is in the range of 10 to 200 nm.
US09153358B2
A composition for a wire protective member with heat resistance, flame retardancy, and resistance against both a calcium chloride and a braided wire; a wire protective member and a wire harness using the composition. The composition for a wire protective member is produced by including a polypropylene having a propylene monomer constituting 50 to 95 percent by mass of monomers forming a polymer, a melt flow rate of 0.5 to 5 g/10 min, and a melting point of 150 degrees C. or more; a bromine-based flame retardant and an antimony trioxide as a flame retarder; a phenol-based antioxidant as a heat resistance life improving agent; and a metal deactivator, wherein the propylene has a tensile strength of 20 to 35 MPa and a Charpy impact strength of 10 kJ/m2 or more at 23 degrees C.
US09153350B2
A protective shroud is provided for covering a radiation shield that surrounds a nuclear pharmacy generator. The radiation shield includes components having seams therebetween. The protective shroud includes a tubular body configured to contain the radiation shield, a first opening adapted for receiving the radiation shield, and a second opening for allowing access into the radiation shield.
US09153338B2
To provide a semiconductor memory device including an oxide semiconductor that can deal with instability of a threshold characteristic, in which writing is possible by a simple method. The semiconductor memory device functions by utilizing a characteristic that a threshold shifts when a thin film transistor including an oxide semiconductor is irradiated with ultraviolet light. Readout can be performed by setting a readout voltage between the threshold before the ultraviolet light irradiation and the threshold after irradiation. The threshold characteristic of an initial characteristic can be controlled by providing a back gate or by using two thin film transistors.
US09153335B2
The invention provides a clamp voltage generating circuit capable of generating a correct clamp voltage. The clamp voltage generating circuit includes an emulate transistor, having a drain coupled to a power source VDD, a source coupled to a node, and a gate coupled to the clamp voltage; a current setting circuit, connected between the node and ground, for setting a current flowing from the node to the ground; a regulator, inputting a feedback voltage from the node and a reference voltage, and outputting a voltage VCLMP. The current setting circuit duplicates a current of a bit line, so that the emulate transistor is similar to a charge transfer transistor.
US09153333B2
Semiconductor memory having both volatile and non-volatile modes and methods of operation. A semiconductor storage device includes a plurality of memory cells each having a floating body for storing, reading and writing data as volatile memory. The device includes a floating gate or trapping layer for storing data as non-volatile memory, the device operating as volatile memory when power is applied to the device, and the device storing data from the volatile memory as non-volatile memory when power to the device is interrupted.
US09153329B2
A method for data storage includes defining, in a memory that includes multiple analog memory cells, an erased state, a set of non-erased programming states and a partial subset of the non-erased programming states. Data is initially stored in a first group of the analog memory cells by programming each of at least some of the memory cells in the first group from the erased state to a respective non-erased programming state selected from the set of non-erased programming states. After initially storing the data, a second group of the analog memory cells, which potentially cause interference to the first group, is programmed. After programming the second group, the first group is selectively re-programmed with the data by repeating programming of only the memory cells in the first group whose respective programming states belong to the partial subset.
US09153328B2
A page buffer circuit is coupled to a bit line of a memory array. The page buffer circuit includes a latch storing different data during different phases of a multi-phase program operation. A preparation phase is after the program phase and after the program verify phase of the present multi-phase program operation. For the preparation phase, the control circuitry causes the latch to store the preparation data indicating whether to program the memory cell in a subsequent multi-phase program operation following the present multi-phase program operation. Results of the program verify phase, and contents of the latch at a start of the present multi-phase program operation, are sufficient to determine the preparation data.
US09153316B1
An RRAM circuit includes word lines, bit lines, source lines, memory cells, and a sense module. Each of the memory cells includes a resistor and a transistor. The resistor alternates between a high impedance and a low impedance, and is coupled to one of the bit lines. The transistor is controlled by one of the word lines and coupled between the resistor and one of the source lines. The sense module includes a switch and a sense amplifier. The switch is controlled by an output signal and coupled to one of the bit lines. The sense amplifier compares the data voltage, which is generated by a current flowing through the switch and the resistor, and a reference voltage to generate the output signal. The switch is turned off when the data voltage exceeds the reference voltage, and is turned on otherwise.
US09153303B2
Apparatuses and methods are disclosed, such as those including an oscillator circuit that generates an alternate clock. A multiplexing circuit can be coupled to the alternate clock and an input clock. The alternate clock has a more accurate duty cycle than the input clock. A clock path can be coupled to an output of the multiplexing circuit. The more accurate alternate clock can be coupled to the clock path during a test mode.
US09153299B2
Disclosed are various embodiments related to stacked memory devices, such as DRAMs, SRAMs, EEPROMs, ReRAMs, and CAMs. For example, stack position identifiers (SPIDs) are assigned or otherwise determined, and are used by each memory device to make a number of adjustments. In one embodiment, a self-refresh rate of a DRAM is adjusted based on the SPID of that device. In another embodiment, a latency of a DRAM or SRAM is adjusted based on the SPID. In another embodiment, internal regulation signals are shared with other devices via TSVs. In another embodiment, adjustments to internally regulated signals are made based on the SPID of a particular device. In another embodiment, serially connected signals can be controlled based on a chip SPID (e.g., an even or odd stack position), and whether the signal is an upstream or a downstream type of signal.
US09153291B2
A filter assembly for use in an electronic enclosure is provided. The filter assembly includes a highly permeable scrim that defines an elongate enclosure with an inlet at a first end and a closed second end, wherein an electrostatic filtration media is disposed within the elongate enclosure.
US09153290B1
A head-assisted magnetic recording-shingled magnetic recording (HAMR-SMR) type storage device is described that includes a control module and one or more magnetic recording layers partitioned into zones. The control module is configured to write initial data beginning at an initial logical address of a zone. The initial logical address of the zone corresponds to an initial physical address of the zone. Responsive to receiving a command from a host associated with the HAMR-SMR type storage device to reset the zone and write subsequent data, the control module is further configured to reset the initial logical address of the zone to a subsequent physical address of the zone, and after resetting the initial logical address, write the subsequent data beginning at the initial logical address of the zone.
US09153288B2
The invention provides a recordable display apparatus, which uses a converting unit to convert the digital image signal into a specific image signal, in which the specific image signal has a signal format acceptable by the multimedia processor. The multimedia processor is used for integrating the specific image signal and the sound signal produced by the sound-receiving unit during receiving and recording the ambient sound into an audio/video (AV) recording data.
US09153280B2
Adjusting tension in a tape media to counter tape dimensional stability (TDS) errors in a tape media
Provided are a method, system, and program for adjusting tension in a tape media to counter tape dimensional stability (TDS) errors in a tape media. A determination is made of whether to adjust tension of the tape media based on a detected error rate of reading at least one of the tracks. The tension of the tape media is adjusted in response to determining to adjust the tension.
US09153278B2
A storage system includes a storage apparatus, a control apparatus, and a host apparatus. The storage apparatus includes a recording medium. The control apparatus includes a detection unit and a control unit. The detection unit detects whether a recording medium loaded in the storage apparatus is a stand-alone-only recording medium that is used in a stand-alone mode. When the recording medium is the stand-alone-only recording medium, the control unit registers a physical volume of the stand-alone-only recording medium as a logical volume and automatically switches the operation mode of the control apparatus to the stand-alone mode.
US09153277B2
Near field transducers (NFTs) and devices that include a peg having an air bearing region and an opposing back region, the back region including a sacrificial structure, a disc having a first surface in contact with the peg, and a barrier structure, the barrier structure positioned between the opposing back region of the peg and the first surface of the disc.
US09153275B1
A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head gimbal assembly (HGA) protects the associated HAMR heating source from unwanted contact, such as from contact with an adjacent HAMR laser in response to a shock event. The HGA is configured such that the distance between the flexure and the top of a load beam flange is greater than the height of a submount associated with the heating source, and the height of the submount may also be greater than the height of the heating source, thus protecting against contact between adjacent heating sources.
US09153267B1
A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head of the invention includes: a waveguide; a plasmon generator; and a light-absorbing protrusion layer provided on a leading side of the plasmon generator. A ratio W1/W2 is within a range from 2/3 to 55/3, where W1 is a width of the light-absorbing protrusion layer in an air-bearing surface, and W2 is a width of the waveguide in the air-bearing surface.
US09153264B1
A method of operating or calibrating a storage device having a storage medium platter includes writing servo data to the storage medium platter, where the servo data include, for each track on the storage medium platter, a servo sync mark, and a repeating pattern. For each pair of adjacent tracks on the storage medium platter, the repeating patterns, which may be orthogonal, are compared to determine relative phase of the repeating patterns on adjacent tracks. The relative phase for each pair of adjacent tracks is recorded. In another calibration method, first and second repeating patterns may compared to determine whether relative phase of the first and second repeating patterns exceeds a threshold, in which case the second servo data are erased, new second servo data are written, and the comparing and erasing are repeated until the relative phase of the first and second repeating patterns is less than the threshold.
US09153262B1
A head stack assembly (HSA) for a disk drive includes an actuator body having a cylindrical bore therethrough and an actuator arm extending therefrom. A head is attached to a distal end of the actuator arm. A pivot bearing cartridge is disposed within the cylindrical bore. A tolerance band is radially preloaded between an outer surface of the pivot bearing cartridge and an inner surface of the cylindrical bore. The cylindrical bore has a first diameter in a first region adjacent a first axial end, and a second diameter in a second region adjacent a second axial end. There is a radial step between the first and second regions. The first diameter is greater than the second diameter by at least 20 microns but no more than 100 microns.
US09153258B2
A scissor type magnetic sensor having a back edge bias structure that has a non-uniform magnetic moment to compensate for differences in magnetic spacing between the bias structure and a first magnetic free layer as compared with the magnetic spacing between the bias structure and a second magnetic free layer. The magnetic bias structure can include a first magnetic layer and a second magnetic layer formed over the first magnetic layer, with the first magnetic layer having a higher magnetic moment than the second magnetic layer.
US09153257B1
A write head having reduced dimensions. In one implementation, the write head has a main pole having a leading side and a trailing side, a leading yoke on the leading side of the main pole, and a coil wrapped around the main pole and the leading yoke. The coil on the leading side and the leading yoke having a distance of no greater than 300 nm therebetween, and the coil on the trailing side and the main pole having a distance of no greater than 350 nm therebetween. In an alternate implementation, the write head has a trailing yoke, with the coil on the trailing side and the trailing yoke having a distance of no greater than 350 nm therebetween.
US09153253B2
The perpendicular magnetic recording head includes: a magnetic pole including an end surface exposed on an air bearing surface, and extending in a height direction perpendicular to the air bearing surface; a leading shield including an end surface exposed on the air bearing surface; a leading gap provided between the magnetic pole and the leading shield; and a recess shield including a mid-part and other parts, and provided at a position on a side opposite to the magnetic pole with the leading shield in between, the mid-part being distanced from the leading shield in a track width direction, the other parts being in contact with the leading shield, and the position being recessed from the air bearing surface.
US09153249B1
An apparatus for measuring cross-talk in an array reader magnetic storage system includes an array reader with multiple read heads operable to read data from a magnetic storage medium, a first preamplifier connected to a first read head, a second preamplifier connected to a second read head, and a cross-talk measurement circuit connected to the first preamplifier and to the second preamplifier, operable to measure cross-talk between a first signal from the first read head and a second signal from the second read head.
US09153248B1
A disk drive preamplifier (preamp) includes a write driver that has two pairs of programmable bypass current sources not connected to the write current source to compensate for the inherent magnetic asymmetry of the write head. One pair of the programmable bypass current sources provides a fixed bypass current in one direction. The other pair provides a fixed bypass current in the opposite direction. Prior to writing, only one of the pairs of bypass current sources is selected and programmed with the correct value of bypass current. When the write driver generates the positive and negative write current pulses during writing the selected bypass current sources provide a fixed offset to the amplitude of the write current pulses.
US09153246B1
A method for preventing overwriting of data, e.g., on a magnetic medium, includes receiving a write command to write to a magnetic tape. A determination is made as to whether a current location of the magnetic tape is at a block at a beginning of tape. A determination is also made as to whether data corresponding to the write command is at least one of: a size and type specified for the block. Execution of the write command is disallowed when the data corresponding to the write command is not of the specified size and/or type.
US09153245B2
A pitch detection method and apparatus are disclosed. The method includes: performing pitch detection on an input signal in a signal domain, and obtaining a candidate pitch; performing linear prediction (LP) on the input signal, and obtaining an LP residual signal; setting a candidate pitch range that includes the candidate pitch; searching the candidate pitch range for the LP residual signal, and obtaining a selected pitch.
US09153244B2
A voice analyzer includes an apparatus body, a strap that is connected to the apparatus body and is used to hang the apparatus body from a neck of a user, a first voice acquisition unit provided in the strap or the apparatus body, a second voice acquisition unit provided at a position where a distance of a sound wave propagation path from a mouth of the user is smaller than a distance of a sound wave propagation path from the mouth of the user to the first voice acquisition unit, and an identification unit that identifies a sound, in which first sound pressure acquired by the first voice acquisition unit is larger by a predetermined value or more than second sound pressure acquired by the second voice acquisition unit, on the basis of a result of comparison between the first sound pressure and the second sound pressure.
US09153221B2
Provided are a percussion instrument tuning system and method. A position sensor determines at least one first position of a tuning mechanism of a timpano. A control unit generates a calibration result by measuring a first pitch of the timpano corresponding to the at least one first position of the tuning mechanism and estimates a second pitch of the timpano corresponding to at least one second position of the tuning mechanism from the calibration result.
US09153210B2
Displaying a map on a wireless communications device includes downloading map data from which the map is to be rendered, rendering portions of the map for which the map data has been fully downloaded, and then graphically overlaying on a portion of the map for which the map data has not yet been fully downloaded a graphical indication, such as hatching, crosshatching or shading, to indicate that further map data is being downloaded. This hatching, crosshatching, shading, or writing informs the user that further map data is being downloaded and that not all of the map features have been rendered yet.
US09153201B2
A method and system for producing an image to be displayed are disclosed herein. The image includes a plurality of pixels. An example of the method includes dedicating a fixed amount of memory to store a data structure for a pixel of plurality of pixels. The method also includes building a visibility function and determining a partial color sum for each fragment of the plurality of fragments. A pixel color is determined using the visibility function and the partial color sums.
US09153198B2
A method and device of over training a connection is provided. Noise is intentionally supplied and added to a signal that is subjected to a link training operation. The link training operation is used to obtain a link between a source device and a receiving device. The device includes a noise source from which noise is obtained and added to a signal to aid in link over-training.
US09153194B2
A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: determining that a computing device that was in possession of a first user has been transferred from the first user to a second user, the determining including at least partially identifying the second user and the computing device being designed for presenting one or more items; and presenting, via the computing device, the one or more items in one or more particular formats, the one or more particular formats being selected based, at least in part, on said determining. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.
US09153193B2
Rendering different types of graphical content using a single primitive type. Embodiments enable graphical elements of different content types representing a scene to be rendered as a batch based on the single primitive type, thereby reducing data transfer and improving processing performance. For example, each graphical element in a batch of graphical elements can rendered based modifications to instances of a template shape, which represents a single primitive type usable for rendering different types of graphical content. The modifications to each instance can include modifying the instance according transformation data, clip data, and/or width and height data to position the instance in a scene, and filling the modified instance according to one or more of shape or brush data corresponding to the graphical element.
US09153189B2
Disclosed is an LCD apparatus having improved display characteristics. A clock generator applies first and second clock signals to a gate driver so as to control a pulse width of a gate driving signal. A discharging transistor connected to first ends of gate lines discharges a present stage before operating a next stage. The gate lines include a first gate driver and a second gate driver for operating the gate lines while the first gate driver is operated in an abnormal state. Accordingly, the LCD apparatus may be operated in high-speed and prevent the gate driving signal from being delayed.
US09153185B2
A field sequential liquid crystal display device includes a circuit unit producing RGB reference voltages and scanning signal voltages using RGB data and control signals, a liquid crystal display panel changing alignment direction of liquid crystal molecules in accordance with the RGB reference voltages and the scanning signal voltages, and a backlight device emitting light to the liquid crystal display panel, wherein the circuit unit includes an interface receiving the RGB data and the control signals, a timing controller generating gate control signals and data control signals, at least two gamma generating units generating the RGB reference voltages, a switch selecting one of the RGB reference voltages, a data driver receiving the data control signal and the selected RGB reference voltage selected from the switch, and supplying an RGB image voltage to the liquid crystal display panel in accordance with the selected RGB reference voltage and the data control signal, and a gate driver receiving the gate control signals from the timing controller and supplying the scanning signal voltage to the liquid crystal display panel in accordance with the gate control signal.
US09153181B2
An object is to improve visibility without causing increases in device size and cost. Another object is to improve visibility and reduce the burden on a user without blocking external light when reflection of external light is high. An electronic book includes a display panel having an electrophoretic display element controllable by a pixel circuit of each pixel, and an illuminance sensor, and a display control portion having a circuit configured to correct an image signal for the electrophoretic display element to display a grayscale image in accordance with illuminance that is detected by the illuminance sensor.
US09153174B2
A method for adjusting the electricity of a TFT has the steps of starting a displaying sequence by driving the TFT and resetting the electricity of the TFT. The step of starting the display sequence by driving the TFT further comprises the steps of: (a) providing a gate driving voltage to the gate electrode of the TFT; (b) providing a source driving voltage to the source electrode of the TFT; and (c) providing a drain driving voltage to the drain electrode of the TFT. The step of resetting the electricity of the TFT comprises the steps of: (a) providing a gate resetting voltage to the gate electrode of the TFT; (b) providing a source resetting voltage to the source electrode of the TFT; and (c) providing a drain resetting voltage to the drain electrode of the TFT. The gate resetting voltage is smaller than or equal to the source resetting voltage or the drain resetting voltage. The source resetting voltage and the drain resetting voltage are adjustable.
US09153171B2
A light emitting assembly is described. In one embodiment, one or more light emitting diode (LED) devices and one or more microcontrollers are bonded to a same side of a substrate, with the one or more microcontrollers to switch and drive the one or more LED devices.
US09153170B2
A display device includes a display unit having a plurality of pixel, a scan driver that sequentially applies scan signals at a first voltage level to the plurality of pixels, a data driver that writes data by applying data signals to the plurality of pixels to correspond to the scan signals at the first voltage level, and a power source controller that supplies a first power source voltage and a second power source voltage to the plurality of pixels. The power source controller maintains the first power source voltage and the second power source voltage at the second voltage level while the data are written, and allows the plurality of pixels to which data are written to emit light by changing the first power source voltage into a third voltage level and the second power source voltage into the first voltage level after writing is complete.
US09153169B2
An image display apparatus includes a pixel array section and a drive section configured to drive the pixel array section. The pixel array section is a pixel-circuit matrix with pixel circuits each serving as a matrix element. The drive section has at least a write scanner for supplying the control signal to each of the scan lines in order to carry out a sequential scanning operation on the scan lines for every field and a signal selector for supplying a video signal to each of the signal lines with a timing adjusted to the sequential scanning operation. Each of the pixel circuits employs at least a sampling transistor, a drive transistor, a signal holding capacitor and a light emitting device.
US09153163B2
Various embodiments of methods and systems for designing and constructing displays from multiple light emitting elements are disclosed. Display elements having different light emitting and self-organizing characteristics may be used during display assembly.
US09153144B2
A computer in a vehicle is configured to receive one or more data collector inputs, detect an object proximate to the vehicle based on the one or more inputs, determine a closure speed between the object and the vehicle, determine a change in speed of the object, compute an accountability factor; and determine whether to identify a potential incident based at least in part on the accountability factor and an incident value. The incident value is a function of at least one of the closure speed and a distance between the vehicle and the object. The accountability factor is based at least in part on the closure speed and the change in speed of the object.
US09153142B2
Systems and methods display at least one subject, and display a location for at least one user to enter at least one problem related to the subject. The problem comprises unknown items to which the user would like more information. In response to the problem, such systems and methods automatically generate evidence topics related to the problem, and automatically generate questions related to the problem and the evidence topics. Further, such systems and methods can receive additional questions from the user. In response to the questions, such systems and methods automatically generate answers to the questions by referring to sources, automatically calculate confidence measures of each of the answers, and then display the questions, the answers, and the confidence measures. When the user identifies one of the answers as a selected answer, such systems and methods display details of the sources and the factors used to generate the selected answer.
US09153141B1
User content access events pertaining to a content item, such as an ebook, audio, video file, and so on, are collected and analyzed to determine progress data, including abandonment information about when the content item, or a portion thereof, has been abandoned. Once determined, recommendations may be presented based on the progress data from similar users.
US09153139B2
A flight control system can achieve a relatively steep descent (using drag devices such as flight spoilers) at relatively low speeds while retaining good airplane handling qualities from the pilot's point of view. The system and method optimize the drag device's positioning used to perform steep approach to improve performance.
US09153134B2
A visual back-up guidance device and system for trailers and vehicles includes a guidance device having a durable main body, a plurality of indicators represented by a left turn indicator, a GO indicator, a STOP indicator, and a right turn indicator, a speaker and a plurality of control inputs.A visual back-up guidance system includes the guidance device and a driver unit having another plurality of indicators represented by a left turn indicator, a GO indicator, a STOP indicator, and a right turn indicator, that is communicatively linked to the guidance device.
US09153129B2
The present principles are directed to in-vehicle drive pattern optimization for reduced road wear. A method includes monitoring statuses of various vehicle functions. The method further includes controlling the various vehicle functions to optimize the vehicle drive pattern for reduced road wear, responsive to an output of the monitoring step and known information at least about a road segment currently being or about to be traversed.
US09153124B2
An alarm sensor can be located at a premises, for example a smoke detector mounted to a wall or ceiling of a building. In response to an alarm event, such as detection of a level of smoke indicative of a fire hazard, the alarm sensor can send a wireless notification directly to a remote recipient that is offsite from the premises. The recipient could be a smart phone or other handheld cellular device carried by a homeowner on vacation, for example. The alarm sensor can be either originally manufactured with remote notification capabilities or retrofitted after installation for remote notification. In some cases, the alarm sensor can be networked with other alarm sensors located at the premises. For example, an alarm sensor having remote notification capabilities can receive alarm notifications from other alarm sensors for relay to the remote recipient.
US09153121B2
An alarm suspend system utilizes an alarm trigger responsive to physiological parameters and corresponding limits on those parameters. The parameters are associated with both fast and slow treatment times corresponding to length of time it takes for a person to respond to medical treatment for out-of-limit parameter measurements. Audible and visual alarms respond to the alarm trigger. An alarm silence button is pressed to silence the audible alarm for a predetermined suspend time. The audible alarm is activated after the suspend time has lapsed. Longer suspend times are associated with slow treatment parameters and shorter suspend times are associated with fast treatment parameters.
US09153116B2
Real-time vehicle driver performance monitoring uses a plurality of sensors operated in a vehicle, each generating a real-time data stream comprising data corresponding to operation of the vehicle by the vehicle's driver. A computing device (such as an in-vehicle computer) processes the generated data stream from each of the plurality of sensors to determine whether the operation of the vehicle triggers any of a plurality of predetermined operational alert triggers. The predetermined operational alert triggers may correspond to detecting characteristics of an improper magnitude and/or an improper linearity of a delta in data detected by one of the sensors. When an alert is triggered, a corresponding alert message is generated and sent to at least one recipient (e.g., to the vehicle's driver, to nearby driver(s), to authorities, etc.). Examples of monitored characteristics include speed, steering, braking, use of turn indicators by the driver, and mobile phone usage.
US09153097B2
A casino gaming system includes gaming machines which are configured to accept and read tickets. The ticket may comprise cash-value tickets or non-cash value tickets. The tickets may also include secondary feature triggering indicia. A player may obtain a ticket from a system kiosk. The player may then present that ticket to a gaming machine, such as by inserting it into a media reader such as a bill acceptor. Associated monetary value or non-monetary credits may be credited to the machine. In addition, if the ticket includes a feature triggering indicia, when such an indicia is detected, the gaming machine preferably triggers or initiates the feature.
US09153090B2
A gaming machine for conducting a symbol pushing wagering game (40) includes a plurality of symbols (42) arranged in an array (44). The array (44) comprises at least one variable position (52) and a plurality of pass-through positions (54). At least one pass-through position is adjacent to the variable position. A first symbol in the variable position is varied and then stopped, wherein the first symbol is translated from the variable position to the adjacent pass-through position. In the direction of translation, symbols are pushed to adjacent pass-through positions. Payoff awards are distributed upon the occurrence of certain winning combination of symbols.
US09153084B2
Methods and systems for an improved navigation environment are provided. The navigation system can route users to preferred locations based on user profile data and past experience with the present driver and other drivers. The system provides more cost-effective and time-sensitive routing by incorporating other information about destinations. Further, the navigation system provides enhanced guidance in foreign or unfamiliar locations by incorporating experience from other drivers and other data.
US09153081B2
Of a counter apparatus, a first microcomputer and a second microcomputer communicate with each other and receive a crank signal with pulses. The first microcomputer detects a first pulse count number at a detection time point and transmits it to the second microcomputer. The second microcomputer detects a second pulse count number at a determination time point, which is an allowable delay time period later from the detection time point. The allowable delay time period is expected to elapse from the detection time point to when the first pulse count number is received by the second microcomputer. The second pulse count number is compared with a determination value, which is the sum of (i) the first pulse count number and (ii) the largest integer not greater than the quotient of T2/T1, T1 being a pulse period of the crank signal, T2 being the allowable delay time period.
US09153077B2
Systems and methods to request and collect evidence elements from one or more evidence systems responsive to a triggering event are disclosed. An evidence request beacon may be generated based at least in part on information associated with the triggering event. The evidence request beacon may be received by one or more evidence systems and may be evaluated to determine if potentially relevant evidence is available from the evidence system. If potentially relevant evidence elements are available from the one or more evidence systems, then the potentially relevant evidence elements may be provided to the requesting system.
US09153075B2
According to an aspect, a display device includes a display unit, a control unit, and a detecting unit. The display unit stereoscopically displays a three-dimensional block in a three-dimensional space. A virtual play space in the three-dimensional space is sectioned in a three-dimensional matrix pattern, and the three-dimensional block occupies one or a plurality of sections obtained by sectioning. The detecting unit detects a position of an object in the three-dimensional space. The control unit controls the display unit to allow the three-dimensional block to appear. When a change with time in the object in the three-dimensional space is detected by the detecting unit, the control unit controls the display unit to allow the three-dimensional block to move in section unit based on a detection result.
US09153070B2
The early depth test stages 4, 13 of a graphics processing pipeline 1 are configured to broadcast information 9, 10, 11, 14 about fragments, etc., that pass those early depth tests to other stages 3, 4, 6, 12 in the pipeline. The other stages in the pipeline then use the early depth test pass information to determine if the processing of any fragments that they are currently processing can be stopped.
US09153067B2
Systems and methods for 3D data based navigation using descriptor vectors are provided. In at least one embodiment, a method for identifying corresponding segments in different frames of data comprises identifying a first segment set in a first frame in multiple frames acquired by at least one sensor, and identifying a second segment set in a second frame in the multiple frames. The method also comprises calculating a first and second set of descriptor vectors, wherein the first and second sets of descriptor vectors comprise a descriptor vector for each segment in the respective first and second segment set, wherein a descriptor vector describes an indexed plurality of characteristics; and identifying corresponding segments by comparing the first set of descriptor vectors against the second set of descriptor vectors, wherein the corresponding segments describe characteristics of the same feature in the environment.
US09153066B2
An image processing device for generating depth data, utilizing the a first image and a second image which are captured from different viewpoints, the image processing device including: a disparity value calculation unit which calculates, for each of plural representative pixels included in pixels in the first image, a disparity value of the representative pixel, based on a positional relationship between the representative pixel and a pixel corresponding to the representative pixel, in the second image; a segmentation unit which partitions the first image into plural segments, based on a similarity between pixel values; and a depth data generation unit which determines, for each segment, a disparity value of the segment, based on the disparity value of the representative pixel included in the segment to generate depth data indicative of depths corresponding to the plural segments.
US09153059B2
A method for displaying an image onto a relief projection surface using a projection system includes the automatic measurement, using a fixed camera, of the distance separating virtual reference frame points projected onto the projection surface, from real reference frame points produced on a three-dimensional screen to set the projection system, acquisition, by the same fixed camera as that used during the setting of the projection system, of an image of a rear face of the three-dimensional screen, identification of the position of a finger in contact with a front face of the three-dimensional screen in the acquired image, and control of an appliance according to the identified position of the finger.
US09153057B2
An edge image generating unit generates an edge image formed by edges in an original image. A connection pixel extracting unit extracts connection pixel sets in the edge image. A binary image generating unit classifies the connection pixel sets by colors and generates respective character images of the colors. A background image generating unit generates a background image of the original image. An image compressing unit compresses image data of the character images and the background image using different compressing methods. The binary image generating unit identifies which of a density reversed character, an ordinary character and non character each one of the connection pixel sets is, on the basis of luminance values of the original image on pixels at four corners of a rectangle circumscribed to the connection pixel set, and generates the character images of the density reversed character and the ordinary character.
US09153053B2
Systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products are described below for rendering a graphical user interface by selectively compositing display contents. In general for each of one or more content producers, where each content producer is associated with content storage containing display content, display content for output is identified depending on the content consumer to which the graphical user interface is being rendered.
US09153052B2
The embodiments discussed herein involve flood filling a region with anti-aliasing. In forming a fill region, a candidate pixel can be included in the region based on a color of the pixel and also a color of a neighbor of the point. The inclusion basis may be a color distance between a seed color and the points, and a color distance between the seed color and the point's neighbor. Points in the region may be weighted according to their color distance relative to the seed color, where the color distance can also take into account alpha values. Flood filling may be anti-aliased by assigning alpha values to pixels in gaps between corners of the fill region, where an alpha value may be proportional to a point's contribution to the gap. Dimples in a fill region may be tested for and used to determine which of two flood fill algorithms to use.
US09153050B2
A visualization system for visualizing data obtained in a borehole includes a processor configured to process the data based on user input and instructions and provide output for display on a display device. The system may also include a computer-readable medium configured to store the instructions, the instructions including commands to output values of two or more types of parameters at two or more depth values. The instructions may include commands to provide a perspective top-down or bottom-up fly-through display of the borehole including a zoomed-in image of values closest to a user. The processor may also output a display of a photographic image at each of the two or more depth values based on a correspondence between the values of the two or more types of parameters and the plurality of parameters associated with the photographic image.
US09153048B2
Iterative reconstruction (IR) algorithms are advantageous over standard filtered backprojection (FBP) algorithms by improving resolution and noise performance. In this regard, model-based IR algorithms (MBIR) have been developed to incorporate accurate system models into IR and result in a better image quality than IR algorithms without a system model. System optics are included in both forward and backprojection (IRSOM-FPBP).
US09153036B2
An embodiment relates to a method for the detection of texture of a digital image, including providing a raw data image of the image by means of Bayer image sensors, determining noise in at least a region of the raw data image and determining the texture based on the determined noise without using a high pass or low pass filter.
US09153035B2
Techniques for efficiently tracking points on a depth map using an optical flow are disclosed. In order to optimize the use of optical flow, isolated regions of the depth map may be tracked. The sampling regions may comprise a 3-dimensional box (width, height and depth). Each region may be “colored” as a function of depth information to generate a “zebra” pattern as a function of depth data for each sample. The disclosed techniques may provide for handling optical flow tracking when occlusion occurs by utilizing a weighting process for application of optical flow vs. velocity prediction to stabilize tracking.
US09153030B2
There is provided a method for accurately estimating a position and orientation of an object even if the object is more dispersive in shape than a three-dimensional geometric model with a standard shape. The statistic of deviation of a feature constituting a three-dimensional model representing a three-dimensional standard shape of an object is estimated to determine a reliability for each feature. The amount of deviation is calculated between the feature extracted from observation data obtained by an imaging apparatus and the feature in the three-dimensional model. The three-dimensional position and orientation of the object is estimated based on the amount of deviation and the reliability related to each feature extracted from the three-dimensional model.
US09153025B2
Plane detection and tracking algorithms are described that may take point trajectories as input and provide as output a set of inter-image homographies. The inter-image homographies may, for example, be used to generate estimates for 3D camera motion, camera intrinsic parameters, and plane normals using a plane-based self-calibration algorithm. A plane detection and tracking algorithm may obtain a set of point trajectories for a set of images (e.g., a video sequence, or a set of still photographs). A 2D plane may be detected from the trajectories, and trajectories that follow the 2D plane through the images may be identified. The identified trajectories may be used to compute a set of inter-image homographies for the images as output.
US09153018B2
A system that incorporates teachings of the exemplary embodiments may include, for example, means for generating a disparity map based on a depth map, means for determining accuracy of pixels in the depth map where the determining means identifies the pixels as either accurate or inaccurate based on a confidence map and the disparity map, and means for providing an adjusted depth map where the providing means adjusts inaccurate pixels of the depth map using a cost function associated with the inaccurate pixels. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09153016B2
In a method to enhance the contrast of spatially-localized phenomena in an image such as microcalcifications in a mammogram, a multi-scale decomposition is applied to a digital signal representation of the image thereby generating a number of detail images at different scales, the detail signals pertaining to the spatially-localized phenomena having a common polarity (either negative or positive) being modified at at least one scale.
US09153009B2
A motion sickness reduction device includes an image capture device for capturing an image device environment and an image display device for displaying image related to the captured image. In order to effectively prevent or reduce motion sickness, the right amount of motion must be displayed on the image display device when the vehicle accelerates or turns. Various methods are disclosed for adjusting the image on the display device and/or the angle of the environment subtended to make the motion sickness reduction device effective.
US09153007B2
Imaging systems may be provided with image sensors for capturing images. An image sensor may include storage and processing circuitry having a conformal image buffer to be used in performing various types of image transformations on captured input images. The storage and processing circuitry may perform the image transformations, in part, by storing a portion of a captured input image in the conformal image buffer. A conformal image buffer may include a buffer for storing input image pixel values specific to various types of image transformations and memory for storing a pixel buffer lookup table. The pixel buffer lookup table may be used by the storage and processing circuitry to determine which input image pixel values should be stored in the conformal image buffer for each type of image transformation and to provide random read access to the stored input image pixel values in the conformal image buffer.
US09153003B2
In general, a computer-implemented method is described for receiving one or more requests to generate a medical study, retrieving from one or more data repositories one or more medical study instruments, receiving a selection of a particular medical study instrument to use in the medical study, generating by one or more computers a list of one or more research collaborators invited to review the medical study, and generating by one or more computers a list of one of more participants invited to join the medical study.
US09152991B2
Methods and systems for generating an interactive communication session with a live consultant that comprises: receiving a request to communicate with a live consultant concerning at least one item for purchase. In response to the request, an interactive communication session is generated between the live consultant and a customer. The interactive communication session transmits live video images of the live consultant and the at least item to the remote device. Live video images of a customer are transmitted and received. At least one test is applied on the at least one item. The results generated by the at least one a test is transmitted.
US09152988B2
An aspect of the present invention includes a protocol for conveying data during an e-commerce session with a polymorphic response, comprising initiating a session with a message from a buyer application to a broker application and a session identifier assigned by the broker application; conducting the session between the buyer application and a supplier application; and concluding the session with a additional message which includes a schema identifier for the additional message, resolvable in a context of a system identifier; and a polymorphic response comprising a type and a version, wherein the polymorphic response includes additional data elements corresponding to values assigned to the type and version.
US09152983B2
A method and apparatus for advertising on a mobile phone. In one embodiment the method includes the steps of downloading an advertisement to the mobile phone using an advertisement server; selecting the downloaded advertisement on the mobile phone by a user of the mobile phone; providing by a server additional information in response to the user selection; and tracking the selection and additional information by the server. In another embodiment the compensation provided is in response to the display screen of said advertisement. In another embodiment the step of providing additional information includes the step of using space reserved, in the user interface of the mobile phone, for advertisements. Another aspect the invention relates to a system for displaying advertisements on a mobile phone. In one embodiment the system includes a server; and a mobile phone in communication with said server.
US09152977B2
Systems and methods for detecting instances of click fraud are disclosed. Click fraud occurs when, for example, a user, malware, bot, or the like, clicks on a pay per click advertisement (e.g., hyperlink), a paid search listing, or the like without a good faith interest in the underlying subject of the hyperlink. Such fraudulent clicks can be expensive for an advertising sponsor. Statistical information, such as ratios of unpaid clicks to pay per clicks, are extracted from an event database. The statistical information of global data is used as a reference data set to compare to similar statistical information for a local data set under analysis. In one embodiment, when the statistical data sets match relatively well, no click fraud is determined to have occurred, and when the statistical data sets do not match relatively well, click fraud is determined to have occurred.
US09152967B2
When a device desired to acquire emission right information is selected on a selection screen displayed on a display unit and a “SEND” icon is manipulated, a control unit causes the display unit to display consumables information of consumables granted with emission rights and consumables not granted with emission rights that is received from a server. When a user selects a consumable item that is desired to be ordered from among consumables indicated by the consumables information displayed on the display unit, and manipulates a “SEND ORDER SHEET” icon on the ordering screen, the control unit sends an order sheet to the server. The control unit causes the display unit to display, in the case of receiving order sheet receipt notification from the server in response to the sent order sheet, the received order sheet receipt notification.
US09152964B1
A system and method of obtaining and storing a signed agreement authorizing the use of a user's biometric data for the purpose of offering legal consent to agreements and transactions with one or more operators. The present invention imparts a process by which merchants and other service providers can access a verifying agreement indicating a user's intent to submit biometric data as a substitute for a written signature and the user's consent to abide by the terms and conditions of any agreements entered into by the submission of biometric data.
US09152960B2
Disclosed are methods, apparatus, and systems of biometric identification and authentication. In one embodiment, a method to authenticate a user at an automated teller machine is disclosed. In this embodiment, the method comprises: retrieving, by a processor of the automated teller machine, a numeric identification data inputted by the user; comparing, by the processor or by a processor of a remote sever, the numeric identification data against a stored set of numeric identification data in a user database stored in a memory communicatively coupled to the automated teller machine; and narrowing, by the processor or by the processor of the remote server, a user population to a first narrowed set of the user population based on the comparison of the numeric identification data against the stored set of numeric identification data. Multiple biometric identification techniques may then be used to authenticate the user at the automated teller machine.
US09152956B1
An automated kiosk assembly includes a housing coupled to a support surface. A processor is coupled to the housing. A blood alcohol analyzer is coupled to the housing and the processor. A display is coupled to the housing and the processor. A user touches the display so the user actuates the processor. A payment acceptor is coupled to the housing and the processor. A dispenser is coupled to the housing and the processor. The dispenser selectively dispenses a straw. An input is coupled to the housing and the blood alcohol analyzer. The user operationally couples the straw to the input. The user exhales through the straw so the blood alcohol analyzer determines a blood alcohol content of the user. A transceiver is coupled to the housing and the processor. The transceiver contacts a taxi service if the user's blood alcohol content is above a legal limit.
US09152953B2
An apparatus for automating a prioritization of an incoming message, including a batch learning module that generates a global classifier based on training data that is input to the batch learning module. A feedback learning module that generates a user-specific classifier based on a plurality of feedback instances. A feature extraction module that receives the incoming message and a topic-based user model, infers a topic of the incoming message based on the topic-based user model, and computes a plurality of contextual features of the incoming message. A classification module that dynamically determines a priority classification strategy for assigning a priority level to the incoming message based on the plurality of contextual features of the incoming message and a weighted combination of the global classifier and the user-specific classifier, and classifies the incoming message based on the priority classification strategy.
US09152952B2
Systems and methods to reduce false positives in spam filtering. In one aspect, a method includes automatically generating profiles for persons identified in messages, such as incoming and outgoing e-mails. Messages flagged as spam can be checked against the profile to identify false positives.
US09152947B2
Techniques for exploring social connections in an in-memory database include identifying an attribute in a user profile associated with a first user; executing a query against a data element stored in an in-memory database, the query including the attribute in the user profile; identifying a second user from results of the query, the second user associated with the data element based on a relationship between the second user and the first user defined by the attribute; and generating displayable information associated with the second user.
US09152932B2
A system may create work units, each work unit including at least one of an input port or output port, each work unit configured to modify data that is received via the input port. In addition, the system may compose a workflow by connecting an output port of a first of the work units to an input port of a second of the work units, receive a work order, select the workflow in response to the work order, decompose the workflow into constituent work units, instantiate tasks that correspond to the constituent work units, and execute a work unit process for each of the tasks.
US09152929B2
Embodiments are directed towards real time display of event records and extracted values based on at least one extraction rule, such as a regular expression. A user interface may be employed to enable a user to have an extraction rule automatically generate and/or to manually enter an extraction rule. The user may be enabled to manually edit a previously provided extraction rule, which may result in real time display of updated extracted values. The extraction rule may be utilized to extract values from each of a plurality of records, including event records of unstructured machine data. Statistics may be determined for each unique extracted value, and may be displayed to the user in real time. The user interface may also enable the user to select at least one unique extracted value to display those event records that include an extracted value that matches the selected value.
US09152917B2
Methods and systems for the evolution of electronic neural assemblies toward directed goals. A compact computing architecture includes electronics that allows users of such an architecture to create autonomous agents, in real or virtual world and add intelligence to machines. An intelligent machine is composed of four basic modules: one or more sensors, one or more motors, a (Reward Input Output System) RIOS and a cortex. A number of genetically evolved detectors can project both to cortex and RIOS. At first the neurons within the cortex evolve to predict the structure of the sensory data followed by the structure of proprioceptive activations of its own motor system. Finally, once the cortex has learned its sensory and motor programs, it evolves to predict the reward signals, which comes in multiple channels but is dominated by the detection of the acquisition of free-energy.
US09152914B2
A system for automatically increasing a capacity of a virtual space in a virtual world may include a processor and a module operating on the processor for detecting an attempt by an avatar to enter a virtual space in a virtual world. The system may also include another module for determining if an allowable number of avatars is currently in the virtual space. The allowable number of avatars may be determined by at least a capacity of a server that is hosting the virtual space. Another module may be provided for increasing a capacity of the virtual space when the allowable number of avatars is currently in the virtual space. Increasing the capacity of the virtual space may include spawning a replicate new virtual space on a different server in response to the capacity of the server that is hosting the virtual space reaching the allowable number of avatars.
US09152910B2
The present invention provides a RFID tag structure having anti-reuse function, comprising a substrate; a pattern formed on a surface of the substrate; and an adhesive layer provided on a surface of the pattern which is not in contact with the substrate, wherein the adhesive forces of the adhesive layer are stronger than the binding strengths generated between the pattern and the substrate, and the adhesive layer is capable of being adhered on an article to be adhered and a RFID tag is formed thereby; when the RFID tag is separated from the article to be adhered, the substrate is released from the article to be adhered, the pattern and the adhesive layer are still remained on the article to be adhered, thereby preventing the RFID tag from being reused and fulfilling the objective of anti-reuse and anti-counterfeit. The present invention also provides a manufacture method thereof.
US09152906B2
A device having a card (40) and a support (PC). The card has (a) no internal battery, (b) a single antenna (10) that receives electromagnetically data and power, (c) a data processor, (d) rectifying and filtering circuitry receiving the electromagnetic input and supplying at output terminals (A, B) a voltage to the processor. and (e) two terminals (36, 38) on an external surface of the card which are connected to the output terminals (A, B). The support is mechanically and electrically connectable to the card. It has (a) a power source that may be a battery, (b) surface terminals that mate with the card's external terminals, (c) a switch for connecting the power source to the surface terminals, and (d) a mechanism for holding together the card and support with the card's and the support terminal's electrically engaged to one another.
US09152902B2
To provide an identification document, particularly a passport, in which at least one contactless RFID chip (10) and an antenna (12) connected thereto are integrated on a page of the identification document, an additional layer (22) mechanically reinforcing the RFID chip is situated at the area of the RFID chip (10) on the page, thus providing an arrangement with which the RFID chip can withstand mechanical stress for years on end.
US09152900B1
The invention automatically generates a QSL card, a template previously loaded, when an electronic confirmation of the contact between two stations matches each other logbooks. The card can only be obtain in a print fashion via online printers previously registered, and the card can not be saved in any place outside the server before the confirmation between both stations. The QSL cards are coded with ID serial numbers and traceable through commercial printers and personal printers services to prevent any fraud. The invention provides a more robust QSO Confirmation System, taken advantages of the best technologies available today while maintaining a very important radio amateur tradition.
US09152892B2
A system and method for parsing data formatted in a plurality of encoding schemes at a printer is provided. The method comprises receiving serialization data from at least one host computer at a printer where at least a portion of the serialization data is encoded in at least one encoding scheme. The method also includes converting the data into a first encoding scheme. The method also includes parsing the converted data into an array of combining semantic clusters based on a plurality of rules, each combining semantic cluster comprising a plurality of code points. The method also includes generating a plurality of labels for printing based on the array of combining semantic clusters where each of the plurality of labels are printed such that one or more elements within the array are at least one of incremented or decremented.
US09152889B2
A power supplier includes a power supply to provide a supplied power to the power supplier, a first capacitor charged by a predetermined voltage corresponding to supplied power supply, a power state detector to detect an on-state or an off-state of the power supply, a first controller to generate a first discharge control signal that has a signal level varying according to the state of the power supply and controls discharging of the predetermined voltage charged in the first capacitor, and a discharger connected to the first capacitor in parallel and to discharge the predetermined voltage charged in the first capacitor in response to the first discharge control signal, thereby reducing discharge risks to a user.
US09152882B2
A mobile device having the capability of performing real-time location recognition with assistance from a server is provided. The approximate geophysical location of the mobile device is uploaded to the server. Based on the mobile device's approximate geophysical location, the server responds by sending the mobile device a message comprising a classifier and a set of feature descriptors. This can occur before an image is captured for visual querying. The classifier and feature descriptors are computed during an offline training stage using techniques to minimize computation at query time. The classifier and feature descriptors are used to perform visual recognition in real-time by performing the classification on the mobile device itself.
US09152876B1
A system and method for determining handwritten character segmentation shape parameters for a user in automated handwriting recognition by prompting the user for a training sample; obtaining an image that includes handwritten text that corresponds to the training sample; sweeping the image with shapes corresponding to parameters to determine coordinates of the shapes in the image; segmenting the image into segmented characters based on the coordinates of the shapes; determining character segmentation accuracies of the parameters; and storing an association between the user and the parameters. The system and method can further include receiving a writing sample from the same user and utilizing the stored parameters to segment characters in the writing sample for use in automated handwriting recognition of the writing sample.
US09152874B2
Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented for use by an electronic device to track objects across two or more digital images. For example, an electronic device may generate a plurality of warped patches corresponding to a reference patch of a reference image, and combine two or more warped patches to form a blurred warped patch corresponding to the reference patch with a motion blur effect applied to a digital representation corresponding to a keypoint of an object to be tracked.
US09152873B2
An image processing device selects an image in which sharpness of a photographic subject is relatively high compared with sharpness of a background. The image processing device includes a photographic subject detection unit that identifies a photographic subject region on an image, which includes a predetermined photographic subject, by detecting the predetermined photographic subject from the image, a background region identifying unit that identifies a background region on the image, which is other than the photographic subject region, a sharpness identifying unit that identifies sharpness of the photographic subject region and sharpness of the background region, a score calculation unit that calculates a score based on a difference in the sharpness between the photographic subject region and the background region, and a determination unit which determines the image as an optimum image when the score indicates that photographic subject region is clearer than the background region.
US09152871B2
Embodiments disclosed pertain to Optical Character Recognition using Multiple Hypothesis Testing based techniques on images occurring in a variety of settings, including images captured by mobile stations. In some embodiments, a set of bifurcation points for a character cluster in an image may be determined. The character cluster may comprise non-uniformly spaced text or closely spaced text. A plurality of hypotheses may be determined for the character cluster, where each hypothesis is based on a subset of the bifurcation points and comprises a set of words generated from the character cluster. A plurality of scores corresponding to the plurality of hypotheses may be determined, where each score corresponds to a hypothesis, and a hypothesis may be selected from among the plurality of hypotheses based on a score associated with the selected hypothesis.
US09152868B2
Described is a technology by which the identity of a person (e.g., a customer in a commercial transaction) is determinable without active identification effort, via biometric data is obtained without action by the person. Machine processing of the biometric data over a set of possible persons, determined from secondary proximity sensing, is used to determine or assist in determining the identity of the person.
US09152863B1
A system for remotely assessing the condition of a roof of a building is disclosed. The system may compare multiple pieces of image data of the roof, representing the roof at different moments in time, to determine if at least a portion of the roof has been repaired, replaced or damaged in the time between the pieces of image data. If the roof is determined to have been repaired, replaced or damaged, the system may calculate a date of repair, replacement or damage of the roof that corresponds to the date on which at least one of the pieces of image data was captured or created. In the case where the roof has been repaired or replaced, the system may calculate the age of the roof based on the date of repair or replacement, and subsequently, calculate the actual cash value (ACV) of the roof based on the roof age.
US09152855B2
An enhanced object detection method uses image discontinuousness for enhancing performance of identifying objects of a specific class in an image data. The method includes retrieving an image data; computing an image discontinuousness value between a first area and other areas surrounding of the first area, which is with different sizes and in different positions within the image data, and marking areas with an image discontinuousness value larger than a threshold; and identifying the objects of the specific class within the sliding window and outputting detection result.
US09152851B2
Systems and methods for the analysis of the diverse behaviors of animal subjects in defined areas are provided, including tools for filtering and analysis of high-resolution behavioral data. These systems and methods provide an opportunity to examine behavioral patterns with levels of precision and quantization that have not been previously achieved. Methods and systems for managing and analyzing the very large and unique datasets produced by behavioral monitoring systems, including quality assessment and control, archiving, data query, data reduction, analytical procedures and visualization techniques are provided. Such detailed analyses of spontaneous behavior provide fundamental insights into the neural organization of behavior and enable detection of genetic, pharmacological and environmental influences on brain function with high sensitivity.
US09152841B1
The present invention relates to a capacitive fingerprint sensing device comprising a semiconductor substrate; and an array of sensing elements formed on the semiconductor substrate. Each of the sensing elements comprises a protective dielectric top layer; a sensing structure arranged underneath the top layer; and a charge amplifier connected to the sensing structure. The charge amplifier comprises a negative input connected to the sensing structure; a positive input; an output providing a sensing signal; a feedback capacitor; and a sense transistor having a gate constituting the negative input. The sense transistor is formed in an insulated well in the semiconductor substrate. The fingerprint sensing device further comprises excitation signal providing circuitry connected to the positive input of the charge amplifier and the well for changing electric potentials of the sensing structure and the well, to thereby reduce the influence of parasitic capacitances in the sensing element.
US09152839B2
A method for an optical fingerprint recognition, the method includes scanning a fingerprint image separately using a multiple exposure which allows alternating a short exposure and a normal exposure; determining whether there is an inflow of external light depending on a darkness level of a fingerprint image derived from the normal exposure; and performing a fingerprint recognition using a fingerprint image derived from the short exposure or the fingerprint image derived from the normal exposure in accordance with the determination result as to the inflow of external light.
US09152833B2
An antenna circuit has a substrate, an antenna coil on only one side of the substrate, and a low-profile crossover element on the same side of the substrate and which bridges at least one turn of the antenna coil to electrically interconnect an inner end portion and an outer end portion of the antenna coil. The crossover element includes an electrically insulative layer on or adjacent to the turn of the antenna coil, a first electrically conductive layer above the electrically insulative layer, and a second electrically conductive layer which is above the first electrically conductive layer and which is of a different electrically conductive material.
US09152830B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure can include devices for storing and exchanging color space encoded images. The encoded images can store input data into high capacity multi-colored composite two-dimensional pictures having different symbols organized in specific order using sets in a color space. The encoding can include performing two-level error correction and generating frames based on the color space for formatting and calibrating the encoded images during decoding. The decoding can use the frames to perform color restoration and distortion correction. The decoding can be based on a pseudo-Euclidean distance between a distorted color and a color in a color calibration cells. In some embodiments, an encoded image can be further divided into sub-images during encoding for simplified distortion correction.
US09152822B2
Configuration data for a programmable integrated circuit device is at least partially encrypted according to at least one encryption scheme. A plurality of key stores store a plurality of decryption keys for the at least one encryption scheme. Control circuitry identifies a required key from the at least partially encrypted configuration data and generates a key selection signal. Key selection circuitry responsive to the key selection signal reads the plurality of key stores and provides the required key to the control circuitry. The control circuitry may include decryption circuitry that decrypts the at least partially encrypted configuration data using the required key. In some embodiments, different portions of the configuration data, which may represent separate partial reconfigurations of the device, require different decryption keys. Keys may be generated from combinations of the contents of the key stores.
US09152819B2
A method of operating an electronic device comprises detecting access to private information stored in memory of the electronic device. The detecting is performed by a privacy management module downloadable to the electronic device as object code for execution on the electronic device and the access is performed by a client application program. The method further comprises tracking, using the privacy management module, the private information being accessed by the client application program, and reconfiguring the electronic device, using the privacy management module, to change the access to the private information by the client application program according to at least one privacy access policy stored in the electronic device.
US09152802B2
A method for providing multiple users with security access to an electronic system is provided. The method comprising: providing a plurality of parent security roles, wherein each parent security role includes a plurality of transactions authorized to be performed in the electronic system, providing a plurality of child security roles, wherein each child security role is derived from one of the plurality of parent security roles, setting up the multiple users in the electronic system and their associated user passwords, assigning one of the plurality of child security roles to each of the multiple users to provide the multiple users with security access to the electronic system at once, and providing each of the multiple users with security access to the electronic system, via the associated user password, in accordance with the child security role assigned to the user.
US09152798B1
A sandboxed application issues a request to enable content protection for audio and video content. The request is sent via an application programming interface to an unsandboxed application. The request is received from the unsandboxed application by an output device. After receiving the request, content protection is enabled and the output device employs a certificate to create a signed message indicating the content protection is enabled. The sandboxed application verifies the request has been fulfilled based on the signed message, and provides protected audio and video content.
US09152787B2
Methods, devices and systems for monitoring behaviors of a mobile computing device include observing in a non-master processing core a portion of a mobile device behavior that is relevant to the non-master processing core, generating a behavior signature that describes the observed portion of the mobile device behavior, and sending the generated behavior signature to a master processing core. The master processing core combines two or more behavior signatures received from the non-master processing cores to generate a global behavior vector, which may be used by an analyzer module to determine whether a distributed software application is benign or not benign.
US09152786B2
A computer-implemented method for controlling invocation of application programming interface (API) is provided. The method includes categorizing a plurality of APIs according to a plurality of API categories. The API categories are categorized by an API function through which user information is obtained. The method further includes setting a default invoking permission for a respective API category, and detecting, in real time, an attempt by an application to invoke an API in the respective API category. Upon detecting the attempted invocation of the API in the API category by the application, the method further includes controlling the invoking behavior of the API by the application in accordance with the default invoking permission for the API category.
US09152785B2
Methods and systems for providing a flexible protection model in a computer system by decoupling protection from privilege are described. Information describing a relationship between the two or more domains that define types of protection and portions of code is received. The portions of code with the multiple domains that provide fine granularities of protection can be executed in the same privilege level. The relationship is not required to be linear. In addition, the overhead associated with crossing protection domains is relatively low with respect to traditional operating system context switching overhead.
US09152783B2
Techniques for managing accounts are provided. An access management system may check out credentials for accessing target systems. For example a user may receive a password for a period of time or until checked back in. Access to the target system may be logged during this time. Upon the password being checked in, a security account may modify the password so that the user may not log back in without checking out a new password. Additionally, in some examples, password policies for the security account may be managed. As such, when a password policy changes, the security account password may be dynamically updated. Additionally, in some examples, hierarchical viewing perspectives may be determined and/or selected for visualizing one or more managed accounts. Further, accounts may be organized into groups based on roles, and grants for the accounts may be dynamically updated as changes occur or new accounts are managed.
US09152781B2
A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) access control application on a client device is configured with a certificate that identifies a user, and with configuration information for one or more SaaS applications to access, and including an IDP identifier for the SaaS application. The SaaS access control application includes software to be inserted into a network software stack of the client device and software configured to serve as an identity provider for assertions. A request, made by an application on the client device to a SaaS service provider identified by a Universal Resource Locator (URL) provided during configuration of the SaaS access control application, is intercepted within the network software stack of the client device. The SaaS access control application generates an assertion based on the certificate and configuration information. The requesting application is caused to make a request to the SaaS service provider with the assertion embedded in the request.
US09152778B2
A system grants “provisional privileges” to a user request for the purpose of provisionally performing a requested transaction. If the provisionally-performed transaction does not put the system in a degraded state, the transaction is authorized despite the user request having inadequate privileges originally.
US09152776B2
Embodiments described herein provide a technique for securely responding to an enumeration request of a data container stored at a location referenced by a junction or mount point within a share served by a storage system. To that end, the technique applies access permissions of the data container at the referenced location instead of permissions that may reside at the junction or mount point. Upon determining that the permissions are insufficient to allow access to the data container, the technique ensures that a descriptor of the junction or mount point is not included in a response to the enumeration request.
US09152765B2
The present specification discloses systems and methods for patient monitoring using a multitude of display regions, at least two of which have the capability to simultaneously display real time patient waveforms and vital statistics as well as provide display for local and remote software applications. In one example, a primary display shows real time patient waveforms and vital statistics while a customizable secondary display shows trends, cumulative data, laboratory and radiology reports, protocols, and similar clinical information. Additionally, the secondary display can launch local and remote applications such as entertainment software, Internet and email programs, patient education software, and video conferencing applications. The dual display allows caregivers to simultaneously view real time patient vitals and aggregated data or therapy protocols, thereby increasing hospital personnel efficiency and improving treatment, while not compromising the display of critical alarms or other data.
US09152763B2
A computer implemented method for generating a report that includes latent information, comprising receiving an input data stream that includes latent information, performing one of normalization, validation, and extraction of the input data stream, processing the input data stream to identify latent information within the data stream that is required for generation of a particular report, wherein said processing of the input data stream to identify latent information comprises of identifying a relevant portion of the input data stream, bounding the relevant portion of the input data stream, classifying and normalizing the bounded data, activating a relevant report template based on said identified latent information, populating said template with template-specified data, and processing the template-specified data to generate a report.
US09152761B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for identifying image acquisition parameters. One method includes receiving a patient data set including one or more reconstructions, one or more preliminary scans or patient information, and one or more acquisition parameters; computing one or more patient characteristics based on one or both of one or more preliminary scans and the patient information; computing one or more image characteristics associated with the one or more reconstructions; grouping the patient data set with one or more other patient data sets using the one or more patient characteristics; and identifying one or more image acquisition parameters suitable for the patient data set using the one or more image characteristics, the grouping of the patient data set with one or more other patient data sets, or a combination thereof.
US09152759B2
Certain embodiments of the present invention provide an image display method including selecting an image hanging protocol and displaying an image set based at least in part on the image hanging protocol. The image hanging protocol includes a rule set for displaying the image set based at least in part on a key image note. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide an image display system including a display device adapted to display an image set based at least in part on an image hanging protocol. The image hanging protocol includes a rule set for displaying the image set based at least in part on a key image note. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide an image hanging protocol including a rule set for displaying the image set based at least in part on a key image note.
US09152751B2
A method is disclosed that includes the operations outlined below. An effective current pulse width of a maximum peak is determined based on a waveform function of a current having multiple peaks within a waveform period in a metal segment of a metal line in at least one design file of a semiconductor device to compute a duty ratio between the effective current pulse width and the waveform period. A maximum direct current limit of the metal segment is determined according to physical characteristics of the metal segment. An alternating current electromigration (AC EM) current limit is determined according to a ratio between the maximum direct current limit and a function of the duty ratio. The metal segment is included with the physical characteristics in the at least one design file when the maximum peak of the current does not exceed the AC EM current limit.
US09152745B2
A model for predicting fracturing in shale can minimize surface disruption, protect groundwater, maximize efficiency of hydraulic fracturing, and manage fluids used in unconventional gas development. The model provides a more comprehensive understanding of the geological, geophysical, and geomechanical properties of shales and imbeds these properties in geomechanical computer simulations to predict both the reservoir performance from the fracturing, and the associated microseismic events generated by fracturing. Since the geological and geophysical properties can be estimated from surface seismic, well logs, and geologic concepts with regional context; the performance of the fracturing can be predicted and optimized. Since the microseismic events can be predicted with the model, the simulations can be verified and the model can be updated to be consistent with the observed microseismic.
US09152724B1
Disclosed are various embodiments for a search result suppression application. A search result suppression application selects items from an electronic catalog. Suppression rules are selected and applied to the selected items. Items which meet conditions defined in the suppression rules are excluded from search results responsive to search queries subsequently applied to the electronic catalog.
US09152720B2
The present invention is directed to a search engine for a video recorder. One embodiment of the present invention operates in an environment that includes one or more set-top boxes connected to or integrated within one or more output devices. The set-top boxes are used to transfer shows from a broadcast input source to one or more types of storage devices and to play back the shows from the storage devices to the output devices, either in a delayed-live fashion or at a later time of the user's choosing. The set-top box displays a graphical user interface (GUI), which gives the user the ability to watch and/or record timeslot based programming, to order on-demand programming, and to playback previously recorded shows that reside on a local or remote storage device. A search engine is added to the GUI that lets the search for shows and receive results in an enhanced manner.
US09152718B2
Advertisers are permitted to put targeted ads on page on the web (or some other document of any media type). The present invention may do so by (i) obtaining content that includes available spots for ads, (ii) determining ads relevant to content, and/or (iii) combining content with ads determined to be relevant to the content.
US09152717B2
A search engine suggestion method, apparatus, and non-transitory article of manufacture embodying computer readable instructions for data search. The method includes: obtaining a query input by a user; obtaining a query suggestion set for the query for each of a plurality of different search engines, the query suggestion set including at least one query suggestion; determining a match degree between each of the search engines and the query based on the query suggestion set and background association information of the query; and suggesting among the plurality of different search engines based on the match degrees. By use of the solutions proposed by this application, it is possible to suggest the user a more appropriate search engine(s) for data search.
US09152714B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for selecting score improvements. In one aspect, a method includes obtaining search query data, each search query being associated user selection data that identifies which search results were selected by users; obtaining a plurality of score improvement lists, each score improvement list being an ordered list of adjusters, wherein the adjusters are serially applied to initial scores of a group of search results to determine a final scoring of the search results; testing the plurality of score improvement lists comprising: iteratively selecting pairs of score improvement lists from a pool of score improvement lists, and determining, for each pair of score improvement lists, a winning score improvement list and a losing score improvement list based on the search query data, repeating testing until ending criteria are reached; and selecting one or more score improvement lists.
US09152711B2
Search and retrieval of information shared between members of a social mobile networks is facilitated. The search returns results in an order that is based on relevance measurements unique to each member. A comprehensive map of the interactions and behaviors that take place between the members of a social mobile network is discovered and maintained. Such maps are used to assign a unique relevance measurement for each member of each social mobile network.
US09152708B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for clustering videos and using video clusters to present content. One method includes generating target video-specific clusters of co-watched videos for target videos, according to keywords for each target video, and storing data associating the target video with its clusters. The clusters can then be used in various applications, including identifying related videos, augmenting video search results, re-ordering video search results, and identifying content for a target video.
US09152707B2
A system and method for storing and providing media objects in a navigable environment implemented on at least one computer executing computer readable program code stored in a tangible memory medium. The at least one computer is configured to access a plurality of media objects comprising a media recording and metadata. The at least one computer is further configured to generate an index of said plurality of media objects based on said metadata.
US09152706B1
Surveillance data is received from a source such as a traffic camera. The data is hashed and the signature is stored in a database. The data itself may be discarded after it is hashed. In an embodiment, extrinsic information such as time and location are associated with the signature. Identification data may be received and hashed. The signature belonging to the identification data may be compared to the database to determine if there is any matching surveillance data. If a match is found, the extrinsic information may be returned.
US09152702B2
The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for providing a plurality of facets in response to a search query. The method according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises receiving a search query from a user and retrieving a search result set. The method then identifies an optimum number of facets and selects a plurality of facets with a maximum incremental value. Finally, the method provides the search result set and the selected facets to a user.
