US09639778B2

In an information processing apparatus, an object recognition process is performed on each image of a multi-viewpoint image group based on focal length information and information about objects. Objects are specified in each image. A target object is determined based on relationship information indicating a relationship between the objects. An image that contains the determined target object is generated.
US09639755B2

A system for automatically characterizing areas of interest (e.g., urban areas, forests, and/or other compound structures) in high resolution overhead imagery through manipulation of a dictionary of visual words. The pixels of an input overhead image are initially clustered into a plurality of hierarchically-arranged connected components of a first hierarchical data structure. Image descriptors (e.g., shape, spectral, etc.) of the connected components are then clustered into a plurality of hierarchically-arranged nodes of a second hierarchical data structure. The nodes at a particular level in the second hierarchical data structure become a dictionary of visual words. Subsets of the visual words may be used to label the cells of a grid over the geographic area as falling into one of a number of areas of interest. Categorization information from the grid may be mapped into a resultant image whereby pixels depict their respective type of area of interest.
US09639752B2

Disclosed herein are an electronic apparatus and method. The electronic includes a photography lens, an eyeball recognition sensor, and a controller. The photography lens acquires an image signal from a subject. The eyeball recognition sensor senses movement of a user's eyeball. The controller recognizes opening and closing of the user's eyelid based on eyeball monitoring information transmitted from the eyeball recognition sensor, and performs a device driving control operation for a reference time period for which the user's eyelid is in a closed state.
US09639746B2

The disclosure describes systems and methods of detecting body movements using gesture data. The gesture data may be self-referenced and may be comprised by frames which may identify locations or positions of body parts of a subject with respect to a particular reference point within the frame. A classifier may process frames to learn body movements and store the frames of gesture data in a database. Data comprising frames of self-referenced gesture data may be received by a recognizer which recognizes movements of the subject identified by the frames by matching gesture data of the incoming frames to the classified self-referenced gesture data stored in the database.
US09639743B2

A method facilitates the use of facial images through anonymization of facial images, thereby allowing people to submit their own facial images without divulging their identities. Original facial images are accessed and perturbed to generate synthesized facial images. Personal identities contained in the original facial images are no longer discernable from the synthesized facial images. At the same time, each synthesized facial image preserves at least some of the original attributes of the corresponding original facial image.
US09639739B2

Facial image bucketing is disclosed, whereby a query for facial image recognition compares the facial image against existing candidate images. Rather than comparing the facial image to each candidate image, the candidate images are organized or clustered into buckets according to their facial similarities, and the facial image is then compared to the image(s) in most-likely one(s) of the buckets. The organizing uses particular selected facial features, computes distance between the facial features, and selects ones of the computed distances to determine which facial images should be organized into the same bucket.
US09639737B2

Techniques and systems are described for generating an anatomically-constrained local model and for performing performance capture using the model. The local model includes a local shape subspace and an anatomical subspace. In one example, the local shape subspace constrains local deformation of various patches that represent the geometry of a subject's face. In the same example, the anatomical subspace includes an anatomical bone structure, and can be used to constrain movement and deformation of the patches globally on the subject's face. The anatomically-constrained local face model and performance capture technique can be used to track three-dimensional faces or other parts of a subject from motion data in a high-quality manner. Local model parameters that best describe the observed motion of the subject's physical deformations (e.g., facial expressions) under the given constraints are estimated through optimization. The optimization can solve for rigid local patch motion, local patch deformation, and the rigid motion of the anatomical bones. The solution can be formulated as an energy minimization problem for each frame that is obtained for performance capture.
US09639730B2

An engine for a machine-readable symbol reader includes an image sensor; at least one optical component positioned in an optical path of the image sensor, the image sensor and the at least one optical component having a receiving optical axis and a depth of field; an illumination source; and at least two optical components positioned relative to the illumination source to direct light emitted by the illumination source outward of the engine as a first beam and at least a second beam. The first and the second beams are each parallel to the receiving optical axis of the image sensor and the at least one optical component at least along the depth of field of the image sensor and the at least one optical component. The first and the second beams are opposed to one another across the receiving optical axis of the image sensor and the at least one optical component to provide a visible aiming indication when impinging on an object.
US09639728B1

An imaging sensor of an imaging reader senses return light from a target to be read by image capture along an imaging axis over a field of view that extends along mutually orthogonal, horizontal and vertical axes. Two aiming light assemblies are offset from the sensor, and direct an aiming light pattern at the target. The pattern has an aiming mark in a central area of the pattern, and a pair of aiming light lines that are collinear along the horizontal axis. The visibility of the aiming mark is enhanced by optically configuring the aiming mark to be different in brightness relative to a remaining area of the pattern by specially configuring aiming lenses with regions of different optical power to forte each aiming light line of non-uniform brightness. The aiming mark of enhanced visibility constitutes a prominent visual indicator of a center zone of the field of view.
US09639727B2

A method for glare reduction may be implemented by a graphical code reader. The graphical code reader includes an optic system, a plurality of light sources, and a control system. The control system is configured to determine that glare is present in an image captured by the optic system by identifying reflection from at least one of the plurality of light sources. The control system may take a corrective action to reduce the glare in subsequent images. The control system may be configured to take a first corrective action if a diffraction pattern is present at a periphery of the glare, and take a second corrective action if a diffraction pattern is not present at the periphery of the glare.
US09639721B2

An encoding module and related systems and components are provided. The encoding module includes a plurality of encoding elements arranged in an array of columns and rows and one or more switching elements configured to selectively connect the encoding elements to a reader. The connection of the encoding elements may be based on the location of a targeted transponder disposed among multiple adjacent transponders to ensure the selective communication with the targeted transponder only. The module is configured for various types and locations transponders to be used within a system, such as a printer-encoder. Each encoding element may include a loaded conductive strip comprising a loop shape portion and a shield that corresponds to the loop shape portion. In another embodiment, an access control system having an encoding module with the plurality of couplers and an access card having a plurality of transponders corresponding to the couplers is provided.
US09639718B2

Provided is a USB link lock device. The device includes a device body, a blocking member provided on the device body to block access of an external device, an external USB port part provided on the device body to be adjacent to the blocking member, a signal connection part enabling signal transmission between a terminal inside the USB port and the external USB connecting port, a locking member selectively locked to the electronic device so that the blocking member is not forcedly removed from the USB port, a stopping member provided in the device body to be retractable into the external USB port part, a lock member movably provided on the blocking member to control a locking operation of the locking member and a blocking operation of the stopping member.
US09639717B2

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for transmitting streams of data. The present invention also relates to generating packet watermarks and packet watermark keys. The present invention also relates to a computerized system for packaging data for transmission to a user. The system may utilize computer code to generate a bandwidth rights certificate that may include: at least one cryptographic credential; routing information for the transmission; and, optionally, a digital signature of a certificate owner; a unique identification code of a certificate owner; a certificate validity period; and pricing information for use of bandwidth. The present invention also relates to an electronic method and system for purchasing good and services by establishing an account whereby a customer is credited with a predetermined amount of bandwidth usage, and then charges are assessed against the account in an amount of bandwidth usage which corresponds to the agreed upon purchase value for the selected item.
US09639716B2

A method for distributed tokenization of sensitive strings of characters, such as social security numbers, credit card numbers and the like, in a local server is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of receiving from a central server at least one, and preferably at least two, static token lookup tables, and receiving a sensitive string of characters. In a first tokenization step, a first substring of characters is substituted with a corresponding first token from the token lookup table(s) to form a first tokenized string of characters, wherein the first substring of characters is a substring of the sensitive string of characters. Thereafter, in a second step of tokenization, a second substring of characters is substituted with a corresponding second token from the token lookup table(s) to form a second tokenized string of characters, wherein the second substring of characters is a substring of the first tokenized string of characters. Optionally, one or more additional tokenization steps is/are used.
US09639710B2

Techniques are disclosed for providing a device-based PIN authentication process used to protect encrypted data stored on a computing system, such as a tablet or mobile device. A client component and a server component each store distinct cryptographic keys needed to access encrypted data on the client. The mobile device stores a vault encryption key used to decrypt encrypted sensitive data stored on the mobile device. The vault key is encrypted using a first encryption key and stored on the mobile device. The first encryption key is itself encrypted using a second encryption key. The second encryption key is derived from the PIN value.
US09639708B2

An electronic device implements a method of encrypting directories of a file system. A processor receives a request to access a directory entry of a file system, and identifies a user who is logged into the electronic device. The processor determines whether the user has access to a directory encryption key associated with the directory entry and, if not, identifies an encrypted file name stored in the directory entry, and determines whether the encrypted file name complies with one or more naming rules. If the encrypted file name does not comply with one or more naming rules, the processor applies one or more functions to a file name associated with the encrypted file name to generate an encoded encrypted file name that complies with the one or more naming rules, and causes the encoded encrypted file name to be displayed as a representation of the directory entry.
US09639704B2

In one embodiment, an encryption device may retrieve authentic genetic information from a genetic information database, generate false genetic information based on the authentic genetic information, encrypt the false genetic information to produce encrypted genetic information, assign identifiers to respective segments of the encrypted genetic information, transmit the encrypted genetic information to be genetically analyzed to a gene analyzer, receive, from the gene analyzer, an analysis of the encrypted genetic information, and decrypt the analysis of the encrypted genetic information to parse the analysis of the authentic genetic information.
US09639700B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for UEFI firmware database management of keys and certificates during a UEFI secure bootstrap enabled boot of a computer. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for UEFI firmware database management for secure bootstrap of a computer includes initially receiving a request to modify a database in UEFI firmware of an operating computer. Thereafter, an impact of the request is determined in memory of the operating computer in terms of the operability of an accessory driver. As such, a prompt warning of the determined impact is generated in the memory and displayed in a display of the operating computer.
US09639698B2

Systems and methods for intercepting computing device system calls for a computing device including a kernel having a system call table. A hypervisor is executed on the computing device, the hypervisor configured to control at least one of the computing device processor registers. At least one modified kernel structure is created, the modified kernel structure including a modified system call table. A memory address of an original system call handler is determined, the original system call handler configured to receive kernel operation commands. A size of a loaded image of the original system call handler is determined. A copy of the original system call handler as a second system call handler is created, and the second system call handler intercepts a computing device system call.
US09639683B2

An information processing device includes: an input receiving section receiving an input; a display control section changing a display screen to a first screen when the input receiving section has not received any input for a predetermined time; a registered user information retaining section retaining biological information of a plurality of users registered in the information processing device; a biological information obtaining portion obtaining biological information; and a biometric authenticating portion determining whether a user whose biological information is obtained by the biological information obtaining portion is a registered user by comparing the obtained biological information with the biological information of the plurality of users retained in the registered user information retaining section. When the biometric authenticating portion determines that the user whose biological information is obtained is a registered user, the display control section changes the first screen to a second screen.
US09639682B2

A system and methods for performing authentication to enable a user to access a site monitoring system are provided. The authentication includes voice authentication having at least one threshold that may be dynamically adjustable between false-rejection and false-acceptance. The system includes a processor configured to adjust the at least one threshold for the voice authentication based on at least one factor associated with the site monitoring system. The processor may be configured to perform voice authentication based on the adjusted at least one threshold to authenticate the user.
US09639681B2

Authenticating users comprises a computing device that receives a manual authentication input of a user and initiates a first user session between the user and the user computing device. The device communicates a request for a first user authorization data from an authentication technology associated with the one or more computing devices and receives the first user authentication data. The user or the device terminates the first user session and subsequently receives an input of the user to initiate a second user session. The device communicates a request for second user authentication data from the authentication technology and compares the first user authentication data and the second user authentication data. The device identifies a match of one or more features of the first user authentication data and one or more features of the second user authentication data and authorizes the user to conduct the second user session.
US09639680B2

Authenticating users comprises a computing device that receives a manual authentication input of a user and initiates a first user session between the user and the user computing device. The device communicates a request for a first user authorization data from an authentication technology associated with the one or more computing devices and receives the first user authentication data. The user or the device terminates the first user session and subsequently receives an input of the user to initiate a second user session. The device communicates a request for second user authentication data from the authentication technology and compares the first user authentication data and the second user authentication data. The device identifies a match of one or more features of the first user authentication data and one or more features of the second user authentication data and authorizes the user to conduct the second user session.
US09639676B2

A device may provide a login process to authenticate users prior to admittance to a computing environment. The device may also enable users to adjust various the computing environment, e.g., the language selected for communicating with the user and the user interfaces to be presented to the user, and may store such adjustments in a secured user account. However, if the user account is inaccessible to the device during the login process, the device is unable to adapt the login process to apply the user's adjustments. Instead, the device may be configured to store users' adjustments (including language selection) outside of the user accounts, and to, upon identifying the user during the login process, present login interfaces specified in the user account. Additionally, users may select different login interfaces during login, and the device may retrieve these login interfaces for selection during future login processes for the same user.
US09639673B2

The fake cryptographic layer obfuscation technique can be used to lure an attacker into expending reverse engineering efforts on sections of code the attacker would normally ignore. To do this the obfuscation technique can identify sections of code that are likely to be of lesser interest to the attacker and disguise them as higher value sections. This can be achieved by transforming a lower value section of code to include code patterns, constants, or other characteristics known to exist in sections of code of higher value, such as cryptographic routines. To transform a code section, the obfuscation technique can use one or more program modifications including control flow modifications, constant value adjustments to simulate well-known cryptographic scalars, buffer extensions, fake characteristic table insertion, debug-like information insertion, derivation function-code generation linking, and/or cryptographic algorithm specific instruction insertion.
US09639662B2

Systems and methods to generate a final event stream are provided. The system collects information from a wide variety of sources, and then parses, normalizes, and indexes the information. This generates an initial event stream that can be tagged and then iteratively processed to generate a final event stream. The processing includes first order logic querying and knowledge extraction to infer additional events which is added to the event stream. The final event stream is used by a knowledge exchange for consumption by applications. These applications may be internal applications and/or third party applications. This system may be particularly useful in use with medical information, or any other big data enterprise system.
US09639659B2

Ancestry has a significant impact on the major and minor alleles found in each nucleotide position within the genome. Due to mechanisms of inheritance, ancestral-specific information contained within the genome is conserved within members of an ancestry. For this reason, individuals within a specific ancestry are more likely to share alleles in their genomes with other members of the same ancestry. Functionally, the combination of alleles at all positions within a group of individuals defines that group as having a common ancestry. Moreover, the aggregation of differences between alleles at all positions distinguishes one ancestry from another. The genomic similarities and differences between ancestries provides a mechanism to generate reference genomes that are specific for each ancestry. Reference genomes that are specific to an ancestry can be used to increase the accuracy of whole genome sequencing, DNA-based diagnostics and therapeutic marker discovery and in a variety of real-world DNA-based applications. Provided herein is a method for identifying a candidate individual for participation in a clinical trial, comprising the step of comparing a DNA sequence of the whole genome of a patient with any one or more of the ancestral-specific reference genomes of an ancestral-specific reference genome database described herein, wherein the presence or absence of a clinically relevant genetic marker indicates that the individual is candidate for participation in the clinical trial.
US09639645B2

Disclosed are methods for improving integrated circuit (IC) chip reliability. IC chips are manufactured and sorted into groups corresponding to process windows within a process distribution for the design. Group fail rates are set for each group based on failure mechanism fail rates, which are set for multiple failure mechanisms. An overall fail rate is determined for the full process distribution based on the group fail rates. First contribution amounts of the groups to the overall fail rate and second contribution amounts of the failure mechanisms to the group fail rate of each group are determined. Based on an analysis of the contribution amounts, at least one specific failure mechanism is selected and targeted for improvement (i.e., changes directed to the specific failure mechanism(s) are proposed and implemented). Optionally, proposed change(s) are only implemented if they will be sufficient to meet a reliability requirement and/or will not be cost-prohibitive.
US09639633B2

A system and method provides information services related to multimodal inputs. Several different types of data used as multimodal inputs are described. Also described are various methods involving the generation of contexts using multimodal inputs, synthesizing context-information service mappings and identifying and providing information services.
US09639631B2

A device is configured to receive information that identifies an XML data structure, an input key including information that identifies an element in the XML data structure, and an output key including information that identifies a manner in which the element is to be identified in a JSON data structure. The device is configured to parse the XML data structure to determine an element identified by the input key, and generate the JSON data structure by storing an association between the element and the output key in the JSON data structure. The device is configured to populate the JSON data structure with content from the XML data structure, where the content is identified by the input key and is placed in a location in the JSON data structure identified by the output key. The device is configured to store the JSON data structure.
US09639630B1

A system for business intelligence data integration, comprising a query transformation server that receives an SQL query, applies transformations to the query, and embeds the transformed query into an XML web services request. At least a portion of the XML web services request is sent to a business intelligence engine web service. An XML response is received from the business intelligence engine web service. The system applies modifications to the XML response including extracting SQL from the XML and adding back the visualization-specific column to generate a complete SQL response, which is provided to the client device.
US09639624B2

An aspect includes extracting a color scheme of a page written in a markup language. A content portion from the page is nonvisualized, a subtractive process is applied to the page with the content portion having been nonvisualized, and a color scheme is extracted from the page to which the subtractive process has been applied.
US09639619B2

A method may include receiving a primary resource in a user device, wherein the resource includes a plurality of addresses and each of the plurality of addresses identifying one of a plurality of additional resources. The method may further include aggregating the plurality of addresses and sending the aggregated addresses to a network device. The method may further include receiving the additional resources in the user device.
US09639616B2

In accordance with disclosed embodiments, there are provided methods, systems, and apparatuses for performing time-partitioned collaborative filtering in an on-demand service environment including, for example, receiving as input, a plurality of access requests for data stored within the host organization and a corresponding plurality of actions for the data to which access is requested; accessing an input table having a time field, action field, item field, and agent field therein; recording time data and agent data for each of the received plurality of access requests and the corresponding plurality of actions; recording an item within the item field and an action within the action field for each of the received plurality of access requests and the corresponding plurality of actions based on the action performed on an item of the data to which access is requested; and analyzing the input table to generate one or more pairs of first actions and items to second actions and items and a time based score for each of the one or more pairs, in which the time based score is dependent upon a time between the actions for each of the one or more pairs. Other related embodiments are disclosed.
US09639614B2

Methods, computer systems, and computer-readable storage media for maximizing information associated with content items on a search engine results page are provided. A total number of pixels available on the search engine results page is determined, and content items are received in response to a search query. Templates are selected from a set of pre-generated templates, and the content items are initially assigned to the templates such that a number of content items is maximized on the search engine results page. Next, and starting with the highest-ranked content item, an optimal size is determined for each of the templates such that the content-item-per-pixel is maximized within each template. After resizing the templates to the optimal size, the content items are presented on the search engine results page.
US09639606B2

A host computing device includes a communication subsystem for communicatively coupling the host computing device to one or more user computing devices. The host computing device includes a logic subsystem and a storage subsystem containing instructions executable by the logic subsystem to send a musical soundtrack matching graphical user interface to the one or more user computing devices. The musical soundtrack matching graphical user interface comprises a plurality of user-selectable musical arc descriptor selectors configured to receive input of a user-selected musical arc descriptor selection, wherein each of the user-selectable musical arc descriptor selectors corresponds to a different one of a plurality of musical arc characteristics. The musical soundtrack graphical user interface further includes a results region displaying one or more musical tracks that embody the user-selected musical arc descriptor selection.
US09639599B2

Various embodiments disclose methods and systems to categorize automatically a merchant listing. In one example, the method includes determining a first category identifier for the merchant listing by performing a first search to compare the first category identifier with a plurality of category identifiers in a first database. Based on a determination that no match was found as a result of the first search, a second search is performed to compare the first category identifier with a plurality of category relationships in a second database. A second category identifier of the merchant listing is provided in response to a match being found in the second search and the second category identifier is associated with the merchant listing. Other methods and systems are disclosed.
US09639592B1

In a system comprising a production environment and a replication environment, a method and program product for dynamically switching from an asynchronous replication policy to a synchronous replication policy. In a system comprising a production environment and a replication environment, a method for dynamically switching from a synchronous replication policy to an asynchronous replication policy.
US09639589B1

A replication chain comprising one or more replication nodes of a multi-tenant stream management system is assigned to store data records of a partition of a particular data stream. A data record of the partition is received at a selected replication node of the replication chain. In a sequential order, a respective replica of the data record is stored at each replication node of the chain. An acknowledgement of a successful storage of the data record is provided after the replications are completed.
US09639588B2

An operation method and apparatus for a data storage system are provided, which relate to the field of data storage and enhance efficiency of a read operation on distributed stored data. The method includes: receiving, by a data node, a data operation message, where the data operation message carries a data operation type and a data object of an operation; querying a state parameter of the data object, where the state parameter is allocated to the data node by a management node, and is used to indicate an update state of the data object, and the update state includes a synchronous state, a semi-synchronous state and an asynchronous state; and if the state parameter is the synchronous state and the operation type is a read operation, reading the data object stored by the data node. Embodiments of the invention are used to operate data in a distributed data storage system.
US09639586B2

Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for converting MLOAD and TPUMP operations. In some embodiments, a system is configured to: receive a first information, wherein the first information comprises at least one piece of data; count the number of pieces of data; compare the counted number of pieces of data to a predetermined threshold value; and identify a load utility based on the comparison between the counted number of pieces of data and the predetermined threshold value.
US09639582B2

A computer receives a request from a client application for data within an enterprise grid. The computer sends the data along with a program to monitor the application's use of the data. The computer subsequently receives from the program a subset of the data being utilized by the client application. Responsive to a subsequent request for the data, the computer sends to the client application only the data corresponding to the identified subset of data being utilized.
US09639581B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for ranking query completions based on activity session data. One of the methods includes receiving a query prefix from a user. A reference parameter for the user is obtained. One or more likely queries that are likely to co-occur with the reference parameter in user activity sessions are identified, wherein each likely query has an associated prediction score. A ranking of the one or more likely queries is provided in response to receiving the query prefix.
US09639580B1

Systems and methods are disclosed for data management and visualization. In accordance with one implementation, a method is provided that includes, for example, receiving data from one or more sources, the data being associated with a plurality of locations. The method also includes receiving, based on input from a user, a selection of a set of metrics for scoring each of the plurality of locations and a weight to assign to each metric. In addition, the method includes calculating an overall score for each of the plurality of locations based on the received data, the selected set of metrics, and the weight assigned to each metric.
US09639575B2

The invention relates to a method and system that provide a high performance and extremely scalable triple store within the Resource Description Framework (or alternative data models), with optimized query execution. An embodiment of the invention provides a data storage and analysis system to support scalable monitoring and analysis of business processes along multiple configurable perspectives and levels of granularity. This embodiment analyses data from processes that have been already executed and from ongoing processes, as a continuous flow of information. This embodiment provides defining and monitoring processes based on no initial domain knowledge about the process and such that the process will be built only from the incoming flow of information. Another embodiment of the invention provides a grid infrastructure that allows storage of data across many grid nodes and distribution of the workload, avoiding the bottleneck represented by constantly querying a database.
US09639547B2

A method and system for file-system based caching can be used to improve efficiency and security at network sites. In one set of embodiments, the delivery of content and storing content component(s) formed during generation of the content may be performed by different software components. Content that changes at a relatively high frequency or is likely to be regenerated between requests may not have some or all of its corresponding files cached. Additionally, extra white space may be removed before storing to reduce the file size. File mapping may be performed to ensure that a directory within the cache will have an optimal number of files. Security at the network site may be increased by using an internally generated filename that is not used or seen by the client computer. Many variations may be used is achieving any one or more of the advantages described herein.
US09639531B2

Methods and apparatus to play and control playing of media content in a web page are disclosed. In one example, a method of monitoring media content in a web page loads a web page containing a media player and media content, processes an image of the web page to determine a control associated with the media player, and monitors the media content based on the control.
US09639524B2

A method includes receiving a text. The method also includes identifying a set of linguistic characteristics contained in the text. The method also includes determining a plurality of time periods in which the text was potentially written based on the set of linguistic characteristics. The method also includes retrieving a set of reference documents for each time period. The method also includes producing a set of proximity scores by performing a set of proximity checks using the set of linguistic characteristics, the set of reference documents, and the text, where the proximity checks analyze how often and how close linguistic characteristics are to one another. The method also includes ranking the plurality of time periods based on the set of proximity scores and returning a set of one or more ranked time periods of the plurality of time periods.
US09639520B2

Methods and systems for keyword spotting, i.e., for identifying textual phrases of interest in input data. In the embodiments described herein, the input data comprises communication packets exchanged in a communication network. The disclosed keyword spotting techniques can be used, for example, in applications such as Data Leakage Prevention (DLP), Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) or Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), and spam e-mail detection. A keyword spotting system holds a dictionary of textual phrases for searching input data. In a communication analytics system, for example, the dictionary defines textual phrases to be located in communication packets—such as e-mail addresses or Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).
US09639519B1

The present invention relates to systems, apparatus, and methods of parsing a script within an HTML page. The method includes receiving a script object, where the script object includes text. The method further includes parsing the text of the script object for tokens and comparing the parsed tokens with a valid tokens list to determine locations within the text of the script object that include potential universal resource locators (URLs). The method includes parsing before and after the determined locations until complete URLs are constructed, and forwarding the complete URLs to a detector. The detector then determines whether the complete URLs are valid. The method then sends object retrieval requests to websites associated with the valid complete URLs.
US09639516B2

An express spreadsheet visualization system configured to simultaneously display, update, and synchronize BIM model representations across spreadsheet applications and visualization handling applications. The express spreadsheet visualization system provides a synchronizing mechanism between the two representations. Users get the benefit of complete information in one place. Updates made to pertinent parts in a BIM model in either representation (visual or spreadsheet) are automatically reflected in the associated representation.
US09639514B2

Provided is an information browsing apparatus provided with a display section on which display surface a touch panel to detect contact of an object is disposed. The information browsing apparatus is capable of displaying a document in a first display form where the entire display section is configured with a single region, and in a second display form where the display section is divided into a plurality of regions and provided with a data processing section. In case handwriting information is inputted straddling two or more than two regions in the second display form, the data processing section judges to which region the handwritten information belongs, thereafter when the display from is changed to the first display form, the data display section displays all of the handwritten information in the region which is judged that the hand written information belongs to the region thereof.
US09639510B2

A method performed within a content editing device provides advanced editing functionality for use within application user interfaces having selectable content. The method provides automatic content insertion following a selection of an end location within the target document and selection of content for insertion at the selected end location. An editor moves content around within one or more documents by tagging the end location and selecting the content that is to be moved or copied to that end location. The method further enables efficient re-arrangement of multiple selected contents within a single document or across multiple application user interfaces by tagging each of the selected content with a sequence tag indicative of the relative content location within the re-arranged sequence of content. Once the content has been tagged, a selectable paste option automatically orders the various contents at the end location in correct sequence relative to each other.
US09639504B2

Some embodiments provide a method that efficiently designs a document. The method provides the user with a selection of templates, each with a default configuration for content. After the user selects a template, the method provides the user with a selection of page designs to add to the selected template. When the user selects one of the page designs, the method adds the page design to a document that it presents to the user based on the selected template. Some embodiments provide methods for modifying default content of template documents that have several default text fields. When a user selects a default text field, the method of some embodiments selects the entire default text field for immediate editing by the user.
US09639499B2

System, methods and apparatus are described that offer improved performance of a serial bus used for Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) and/or camera control interface (CCI) operations. CCI extension (CCIe) devices are described. CCIe devices may be configured as a bus master or as a slave. In one method, a CCIe transmitter may generate a transition number from a set of bits, convert the transition number into a sequence of symbols, and transmit the sequence of symbols in the signaling state of a two-wire serial bus. Timing information may be encoded in the transitions between symbols of consecutive pairs of symbols in the sequence of symbols. For example, each transition may cause a change in the signaling state of at least one wire of the two-wire serial bus. A CCIe receiver may derive a receive clock from the transitions in order to receive and decode the sequence of symbols.
US09639488B2

Embodiments are described for a method of reducing power consumption in source synchronous bus systems by reducing signal transitions in the system. Instead of sending clock and data valid signals, only the start and end of valid data packets are marked by clock signal transitions, or only a number of clock pulses that corresponds to number of data words is sent, or only a number transitions on clock signals are sent. The clock signal transitions may comprise either clock pulses or exclusively rising edge or falling edge transitions of the clock signal.
US09639487B1

An apparatus comprises a plurality of processor cores, each comprising a computation unit and a memory. The apparatus further comprises an interconnection network to transmit data among the processor cores. At least some of the memories are configured as a cache for memory external to the processor cores, and at least some of the processor cores are configured to transmit a message over the interconnection network to access a cache of another processor core.
US09639484B2

A data processing system (2) includes memory protection circuitry (10) storing access control data for controlling accesses to data at memory addresses within a main memory (16). An access control cache (14) may, in one embodiment, store access control data when the access control data is indicated by the memory protection circuitry (10) to be cachable. In another embodiment access control data is stored within the access control cache with determined address range data for reach determination of access control data by the memory protection circuitry. If the access control cache (14) is storing access control data for a memory access request, then the access control data stored within the access control cache (14) is used in place of access control data retrieved form the memory protection circuitry (10). In the first embodiment, access control data may be determined to be cachable is if is associated with a region of memory addresses within a plurality of hierarchically ordered memory addresses that is a highest order region which encompasses all the memory addresses within that region.
US09639482B2

Security of information—both code and data—stored in a computer's system memory is provided by an agent loaded into and at run time resident in a CPU cache. Memory writes from the CPU are encrypted by the agent before writing and reads into the CPU are decrypted by the agent before they reach the CPU. The cache-resident agent also optionally validates the encrypted information stored in the system memory. Support for I/O devices and cache protection from unsafe DMA of the cache by devices is also provided.
US09639479B2

A method for managing a parallel cache hierarchy in a processing unit. The method includes receiving an instruction from a scheduler unit, where the instruction comprises a load instruction or a store instruction; determining that the instruction includes a cache operations modifier that identifies a policy for caching data associated with the instruction at one or more levels of the parallel cache hierarchy; and executing the instruction and caching the data associated with the instruction based on the cache operations modifier.
US09639466B2

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for processing commands received by an intermediary cache from one or more clients. The technique involves receiving a first write command from an arbiter unit, where the first write command specifies a first memory address, determining that a first cache line related to a set of cache lines included in the intermediary cache is associated with the first memory address, causing data associated with the first write command to be written into the first cache line, and marking the first cache line as dirty. The technique further involves determining whether a total number of cache lines marked as dirty in the set of cache lines is less than, equal to, or greater than a first threshold value, and: not transmitting a dirty data notification to the frame buffer logic when the total number is less than the threshold value, or transmitting a dirty data notification to the frame buffer logic when the total number is equal to or greater than the first threshold value.
US09639464B2

A method for data transfer includes receiving in an operating system of a host computer an instruction initiated by a user application running on the host processor identifying a page of virtual memory of the host computer that is to be used in receiving data in a message that is to be transmitted over a network to the host computer but has not yet been received by the host computer. In response to the instruction, the page is loaded into the memory, and upon receiving the message, the data are written to the loaded page.
US09639463B1

The various implementations described herein include systems, methods and/or devices used to enable heuristic aware garbage collection in storage systems (e.g., non-volatile data storage systems using one or more flash memory devices). In one aspect, a time parameter (e.g., dwell time) and/or heuristics (e.g., error count, error rate, number of reads, number of times programmed, etc.) are used in a garbage collection scheme. For example, in some implementations, the method of garbage collection for a storage medium in a storage system includes (1) determining a time parameter for a block in the storage medium, and (2) in accordance with a determination that the time parameter for the block is greater than a first threshold time, enabling garbage collection of the block.
US09639456B2

A network-based testing method and service integrated with a tool that publishes one or more tagged test cases with tags being executable to reproduce a sequence of events for a system under test, SUT, caused by an original test case. The method is performed in a network and is intended for testing software or hardware by first creating an original test case for a system under test, SUT, and performing a sequence of events for the original test case for testing it. The tested case is stored and information of the performed sequence of events is tagged to the tested case. The tagged test case is then sent to a service that publishes tagged test cases. The service publishes the tagged case in a way to be reproduced via the service.
US09639455B2

Autonomous media version testing is described. A method may include testing, by a processing device of a server and without human interaction, a plurality of versions of a game, each having a different set of test conditions, using information received from play of the plurality of versions of the game after a first game move has been made in the game. The method may also include determining, by the processing device and without human interaction, which of the plurality of versions of the game to publicly release based on the testing.
US09639451B2

Debugger system, method and computer program product for debugging instructions. The method for debugging instructions may include: receiving, by a debugger module, a group of instructions that are stored in a non-volatile memory module and is scheduled to be executed by a processor of a device; determining whether the group of instructions includes a conditional branch instruction; defining, by the debugger module, a hardware breakpoint address as an address of the conditional branch instruction if the group of instructions includes the conditional branch instruction; defining, by the debugger module, the hardware breakpoint as an address of a last instruction of the group of instructions to be executed if the group of instructions does not comprise the conditional branch instruction; instructing a hardware breakpoint detector of the device to detect the hardware breakpoint address; instructing the processor to execute instructions of the group of instructions in a continuous mode until the hardware breakpoint detector detects the hardware breakpoint address; instructing the processor to execute at least one instruction of the group of instructions in a single step mode after the hardware breakpoint detector detects the hardware breakpoint address; and receiving, from the device, debug information that is indicative of an execution of instructions by the processor.
US09639450B2

According to some embodiments, a system and method are provided for analyzing formal system requirements for software and hardware components in a software and hardware component specification model comprising receiving at least one requirement defined using a formal notation; determining if each of the requirements is self-conflicting via execution of a self-conflicting module; determining if two or more requirements conflict with each other via execution of a set-conflicting module after execution of the self-conflicting module; identifying each requirement involved in a conflict and how the one or more requirements conflicts via execution of an error localization module; receiving an updated requirement; repetitively analyzing each updated requirement with the self-conflicting module and the set-conflicting module; and generating an indication that requirements analysis is complete for the one or more requirements and the one or more requirements is validated for use in software design. Numerous other aspects are provided.
US09639441B2

Provided is a method of writing data to a solid-state storage system, wherein the solid-state storage system comprises several logical disks. The method comprises the steps of: from each of the logical disks, allocating at least one idle logic block used for receiving parallel data, wherein each of the logic blocks comprises several logical pages; setting the logical pages with a same page number in respective logic block as one RAID stripe, wherein each RAID stripe is used for storing a set of parallel data and verification information associated with the parallel data; and when data in one of the logical pages is damaged, calculating and restoring the damaged data based on the other data and the associated verification information stored in the RAID stripe where the logical page is located. The present invention also provides a solid-state storage system for implementing the above-mentioned method.
US09639438B2

A printed circuit card (1) comprising a first connection interface (11) configured to manage a first interconnection (10) with said card (1), said first interconnection (10) including a plurality of links; a second connection interface (13) configured to manage a second interconnection (20) with said card (1); the first connection interface (11) being further configured to detect the occurrence of a breakdown in a link of the first interconnection (10); the second connection interface being further configured to share the information of the occurrence of the breakdown; to select a fallback solution from among a list of fallback solutions; to delete the selected fallback solution once it is applied; the processor being further configured to apply the selected fallback solution to the first interconnection; to reinitialize the first interconnection.
US09639434B2

A method and an information handling system (IHS) provide hierarchical failure recovery for firmware components of the information handling system. According to one aspect, a hierarchical recovery and learning module (HRLM) detects firmware component failure. The HRLM initiates a hierarchical failure recovery by executing recovery sequences from a set of hierarchically ordered recovery sequences. The HRLM determines whether the detected failure was corrected by executing the recovery sequence. If the HRLM further determines that the failure is not corrected by executing the set of hierarchically ordered recovery sequences, the HRLM dynamically generates a new recovery sequence(s) using commands selected from at least one of the previously executed recovery sequences and executes the new recovery sequence(s). If the failure is corrected by a new recovery sequence, the HRLM forwards the particular recovery sequence to a customer support site for use by other systems in addressing similar or identical failures.
US09639418B2

The embodiments herein generate parity check data which serves as parity-on-parity. Stated differently, the parity check data can be used to determine if parity data stored in a memory element has been corrupted. For example, after generating the parity data, a computing system may set the parity check data depending on whether there is an even or odd number of logical ones (or logical zeros) in the parity data. Thus, when the parity data is read out of the memory element, if the parity data does not include the same number of even or odd bits, the parity check data indicates to the computing system that the parity data is corrupted. In one embodiment, to reduce the likelihood that the parity check data becomes corrupted, the computing system stores this data in hardened latches which are less susceptible to soft errors than other types of memory elements.
US09639401B1

A multicore adaptive scheduler of tasks in an ARINC 653-compliant avionics system allocates flight critical tasks execution time equivalent to their worst case execution time and allocates quality-driven tasks minimum execution time equivalent to their minimum completion time. The scheduler may also offset the start time of a task or define an upper bound for completion time of a quality-driven task. The scheduler generates and executes partition schedules of tasks, reallocating execution time unused by completed tasks and reallocating execution time from interrupt handlers to tasks preempted by interrupts. The scheduler may also analyze the viability of a generated schedule. The scheduler uses rate limiting and flow control techniques to ensure a predictable amount of execution time to be reallocated for interrupt handling.
US09639397B1

Burst throttling methods may be used manage computing resources of a data storage service. Tokens may represent I/O operations executed by a customer of the data storage service. A global token bucket may contain a set of tokens representing the overall I/O operation capacity of the data storage service. Additionally, a work token bucket may contain a set of tokens for a given logical volume maintained by the data storage service. When I/O requests are received the data storage service may dynamically determine an amount of tokens to be removed from the global token bucket and/or work token bucket for each received request. Furthermore, if there is sufficient capacity the data storage service may charge a reduced number of tokens to the work token bucket.
US09639381B2

Disclosed are various embodiments for executing multiple applications in a single virtual machine. The classes of an application executing in the virtual machine are traversed to identify non-sharable static fields. Upon identifying a non-sharable static field, mapping data is created that corresponds to the non-sharable static field. During another traversal of the classes of the application, access to the identified non-sharable static field is translated into an access to the mapping data that is associated with the non-sharable static field.
US09639378B2

An extensible three-dimensional (3D) asset plug-in framework is disclosed. In various embodiments, files having different 3D file formats may be processed by respective plug-ins. The plug-ins may be configured to be downloaded and installed, to receive input files describing one or more 3D models and having a respective 3D file format, to read the respective 3D file format, and to generate and return a common 3D description to be previewed and manipulated by an application or an operating system. The different 3D file formats and their respective plug-ins may be proprietary or developed by third parties.
US09639377B2

A linker or loader, and associated method, is described, whereby the application of security transformations to object-code modules can be deferred until link or load-time, through, for example, memory relocation, selection from diverse instances of a module, and late-binding of constants. This provides several benefits over conventional source-to-source security transformations. These deferred security transformations can be applied in a very light-weight manner and create many opportunities for diversity in the resulting executable program, enhancing security, while at the same time minimizing the impact on execution performance and correctness, and reducing the complexity of debugging.
US09639369B2

In an embodiment, a processor includes a register file having multiple widths corresponding to different operands sizes of a given data type implemented by the processor. For example, the integer register file may have 32 bit and 64 bit widths for 32 and 64 bit operand sizes. The register file may have a section of registers for each operand size, and the map unit may allocate registers from the appropriate section for each instruction operation based on the operand size of that instruction operation. The register file may consume less integrated circuit area than another register file having the same number of registers, all of which are implemented at the largest operand size. In some embodiments, only the register file and the map unit (specifically the free list management logic in the map unit) are changed to implement the multiple-width register file.
US09639367B2

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a graphics processing system configured to track event counts in a tile-based architecture. The graphics processing system includes a screen-space pipeline and a tiling unit. The screen-space pipeline includes a first unit, a count memory associated with the first unit, and an accumulating memory associated with the first unit. The first unit is configured to detect an event type and increment the count memory. The tiling unit is configured to cause the screen-space pipeline to update an external memory address to reflect a first value stored in the count memory when the first unit completes processing of a first set of primitives. The tiling unit is also configured to cause the screen-space pipeline to update the accumulating memory to reflect a second value stored in the count memory when the first unit completes processing of a second set of primitives.
US09639366B2

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for managing buffer table entries in a tile-based architecture. The technique includes binding a plurality of shader registers to a buffer table entry. The technique further includes processing at least one tile by reading a buffer table index stored in the shader register to access the buffer table entry, reading a buffer address stored in the buffer table entry, accessing data associated with the buffer address, and unbinding the shader register from the buffer table entry. The technique further includes determining that none of the shader registers is still bound to the buffer table entry and, in response, causing a release packet to be inserted into an instruction stream. The technique further includes determining that a last tile has been processed and, in response, transmitting the release packet to cause the buffer table entry to be released.
US09639361B2

A trace unit for generating items of trace data indicative of processing activities of a processor executing a stream of instructions, the unit includes trace circuitry for monitoring a behavior of the processor; storage circuitry for storing current trace control data for controlling the trace circuitry; a data store for storing at least some of the trace control data; the trace circuitry being configured to store the trace control data in the data store in response to detection of execution of the group of instructions, wherein the trace circuitry is responsive to detecting the at least one processor cancelling at least one group of the speculatively executed instructions to retrieve at least some of the trace control data stored in the data store for the group of instructions executed before the cancelled speculatively executed instructions and to store the retrieved trace control data in the storage circuitry.
US09639340B2

A system and method is provided of swapping a first virtual machine with a second virtual machine by modifying those portions of memory where the two machines differ. The differences may be determined by booting both the first and the second virtual machines and generating a difference file based on the differences in the memory occupied by the booted virtual machines.
US09639336B2

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for reducing the number of assembly instructions included in a computer program. The technique involves receiving a directed acyclic graph (DAG) that includes a plurality of nodes, where each node includes an assembly instruction of the computer program, hierarchically parsing the plurality of nodes to identify at least two assembly instructions that are vectorizable and can be replaced by a single vectorized assembly instruction, and replacing the at least two assembly instructions with the single vectorized assembly instruction.
US09639332B2

Graphical programming or modeling environments in which a coding standard can be applied to graphical programs or models are disclosed. The present invention provides mechanisms for applying the coding standard to graphical programs/models in the graphical programming/modeling environments. The mechanisms may detect violations of the coding standard in the graphical model and report such violations to the users. The mechanisms may automatically correct the graphical model to remove the violations from the graphical model. The mechanisms may also automatically avoid the violations in the simulation and/or code generation of the graphical model.
US09639330B2

Some examples of a system for providing a visual based programming interface for developing camera-based applications may include a code editor interface, a timeline interface, a canvas interface and/or a program session interface. For instance, the code editor interface may allow a programmer to view and edit source code, the timeline interface may present application data associated with a program session in a frame by frame manner, the canvas interface may allow the programmer to view, interact with, arrange and/or annotate the application data in a visual format, and the program session interface may allow the programmer to choose application data to display in the timeline interface and the canvas interface by selecting between historical program sessions and live program sessions.
US09639326B2

An integrated circuit is provided that performs floating-point addition or subtraction operations involving at least three floating-point numbers. The floating-point numbers are pre-processed by dynamically extending the number of mantissa bits, determining the floating-point number with the biggest exponent, and shifting the mantissa of the other floating-point numbers to the right. Each extended mantissa has at least twice the number of bits of the mantissa entering the floating-point operation. The exact bit extension is dependent on the number of floating-point numbers to be added. The mantissas of all floating-point numbers with an exponent smaller than the biggest exponent are shifted to the right. The number of right shift bits is dependent on the difference between the biggest exponent and the respective floating-point exponent.
US09639324B2

A system including an encoder module, a buffer first-in first-out (FIFO) module, a buffer manager module, N FIFO modules, and N input/output (I/O) modules. The encoder module encodes data received from a host and generates P units of encoded data, where P is an integer greater than 1. The buffer FIFO module receives the P units from the encoder module and outputs the P units. The buffer manager module receives the P units from the buffer FIFO module, stores the P units in a buffer, retrieves N of the P units from the buffer, and outputs the N units in parallel, where N is an integer greater than 1. The N FIFO modules respectively receive the N units in parallel directly from the buffer manager. The N I/O modules receive the N units from the N FIFO modules in parallel, respectively, and output the N units to a storage medium.
US09639323B2

An audio control method includes as follows. Control a vehicle to switch to an audio playing mode in response to input operations applied on a touch input unit of a vehicle. Recognize a gesture in response to input signals. Compare the gesture with a plurality of predefined gestures stored in a storage unit of the vehicle to determine whether the gesture is same as one of the plurality of predefined gestures. Obtain a control order corresponding to the one of the plurality of predefined gestures when the gesture matches the one of the plurality of predefined gestures. Control a volume of an audio player of the vehicle to increase or decrease according to the control order.
US09639312B2

An image processing apparatus includes a storage unit that stores a plurality of print jobs, a job reception unit that receives a print job selected from the plurality of print jobs stored in the storage unit, an operation-type reception unit that receives an operation type of the print job when the selection of the print job is received, and a selection unit that automatically selects the print job as an operational target from the plurality of print jobs based on the operation type received by the operation-type reception unit.
US09639308B2

This invention relates to printing, and discloses a method and apparatus for variable data printing. The method comprises: obtaining a current page of a file to be printed; performing a rasterization process on the current page to obtain a current page dot matrix; determining a reference page for the current page and obtaining a reference page dot matrix corresponding to the reference page; dividing the reference page dot matrix and the current page dot matrix into dot matrix blocks having a predetermined granularity; identifying variable data blocks in the current page dot matrix based on the dot matrix blocks; dynamically adjusting the size of the variable data blocks; extracting a variable data dot matrix in the current page dot matrix splitting the current page dot matrix up into the reference page dot matrix and the variable data dot matrix and then storing and outputting them.
US09639303B2

An information processing apparatus and a method for controlling the information processing apparatus are disclosed. The method includes selecting a file to be printed and storing a rendering method as a previous value, which is determined from two methods. The method also includes determining whether or not the file is in a specific format and determining whether or not there is a previous value if it is determined that the file is in a specific format. The method further includes deciding the rendering method for the file to be the first method it is determined that the file is not in the specific format, and deciding the rendering method for the file to be a rendering method of the previous value if it is determined that there is a previous value.
US09639301B2

Additional information can be appropriately added to an area in a template. The web application execution unit of a printer displays a print layout on a control device in a format enabling adding additional information to areas formed in the printing area of a print medium based on a first template, and when additional information is added to one area, changes to a format reflecting the additional information applied to the one area, and displays the print layout.
US09639291B2

According to one embodiment, there is provided a memory system including a non-volatile memory, a controller, a first interface circuit, a first signal line, and a second signal line. The controller is configured to control the non-volatile memory. The first interface circuit is configured to perform level conversion between a first power source level and a second power source level which is lower than the first power source level. The second power source level is used as a driving voltage of the controller. The first signal line is configured to connect to the first interface circuit. The second signal line is configured to connect the first interface circuit and a signal terminal of the controller. A potential of the second signal line is able to be pulled up to the second power source level.
US09639283B2

The present invention includes embodiments of systems and methods for increasing the operational efficiency and extending the estimated operational lifetime of a flash memory storage device (and its component flash memory chips, LUNs and blocks of flash memory) by monitoring the health of the device and its components and, in response, adaptively tuning the operating parameters of flash memory chips during their operational lifetime, as well as employing other less extreme preventive measures in the interim, via an interface that avoids the need for direct access to the test modes of the flash memory chips. In an offline characterization phase, “test chips” from a batch of recently manufactured flash memory chips are used to simulate various usage scenarios and measure the performance effects of writing and attempting to recover (read) test patterns written with different sets of operating parameters over time (simulating desired retention periods).
US09639282B2

Systems, methods, and/or devices are used to implement variable bit encoding to improve device endurance and extend life of storage devices. In some embodiments, the method includes detecting a trigger condition with respect to one or more non-volatile memory portions (e.g., portions configured to store data encoded in a first encoding format) of a plurality of non-volatile memory portions of a storage device. In accordance with detecting the trigger condition, the method includes: determining a current and an estimated endurance metric for the plurality of non-volatile memory portions (e.g., corresponding to estimated endurance after reconfiguration of the one or more portions to store data encoded in a second encoding format), and in accordance with a determination that reconfiguration criteria are satisfied (e.g., the estimated endurance metric comprises an improvement over the current endurance metric), reconfiguring the one or more portions to store data encoded in the second encoding format.
US09639268B2

In a Distributed Virtual Array data storage system, a storage pool receives, from at least one writing entity within a host, a request to write a container of data that is identified by a unique key that is independent of physical storage identifiers and that comprises a set of data chunks. The key indicates a plurality of storage devices in which to store the data chunks, which are accordingly stored in those storage devices. Different combinations, each comprising a layout map, of storage devices are represented in a layout table. Information in the container key is used to select which layout map to use for the chunks of each container. An error-correction chunk is preferably also stored along with the chunks of each container so as to enable data container reconstruction in case of storage device failure.
US09639266B2

The invention relates to a system and method that models a user's interaction with a user interface. There is provided a data input system, comprising a user interface having a plurality of targets and being configured to receive user input. The system comprises a plurality of models, each of which relates previous user input events corresponding to a target to that target. An input probability generator is configured to generate, in association with the plurality of models, a probability that a user input event corresponds to a particular target. There is also provided a method of modelling a target of a user interface having a plurality of targets and being configured to receive input, by modelling for each target previous user input events which correspond to that target. Furthermore, there is provided a method of inputting data into a system comprising a user interface having a plurality of targets and being configured to receive input. The method comprises generating using an input probability generator in association with a plurality of models, each model relating previous input, events corresponding to a target to that target, a probability that a user input event corresponds to a particular target.
US09639264B2

An image projector device includes a projection optical unit through which an image is projected and displayed, a recognition unit that recognizes a user's action related to processing of the image, and a control unit that generates and/or edits a drawing image based on the user's action recognized by the recognition unit and projects and displays the drawing image being generated and/or edited as a projected, displayed image through the projection optical unit.
US09639263B2

A web rendering module in the operating system is used to render and display a web page. The web rendering module also generates layout data that describes the position and size of each visual element on the rendered web page. A web editing application uses the layout data to generate a native overlay. The native overlay is an arrangement of cells, and each cell has the same position and size as a respective visual element. The application displays the native overlay on top of the rendered web page so that each visual element on the web page is aligned with a cell in the native overlay. The cells in the native overlay are transparent so that the rendered web page remains visible to the user, but the native overlay captures any interactions that the user performs. The interactions are then processed to make a corresponding change to the web page.
US09639261B2

A device includes a proximity sensor configured to detect when an object is within a predetermined proximity range of the device, and input detection circuitry configured to detect when an input operation is performed on the device. The terminal device includes control circuitry configured to determine a proximity detection state of the device, wherein an object detection state corresponds to a proximity state in which the object is detected within the predetermined proximity range, and an object non-detection state corresponds to a proximity state in which the object is not detected within the predetermined proximity range; control a suspended state of the device, wherein the suspended state is a state of reduced processing and/or power consumption; and control the input detection circuitry such that, when the device is in the suspended state and in the object detection state, the input detection circuitry stops input operation detection processing.
US09639260B2

At least certain embodiments of the present disclosure include an environment with user interface software interacting with a software application to provide gesture operations for a display of a device. A method for operating through an application programming interface (API) in this environment includes transferring a scaling transform call. The gesture operations include performing a scaling transform such as a zoom in or zoom out in response to a user input having two or more input points. The gesture operations also include performing a rotation transform to rotate an image or view in response to a user input having two or more input points.
US09639251B2

Provided is a mobile terminal including a display unit on which a moving image is output; a user input unit through which a moving image segment of the moving image is selected; and a controller that outputs video information corresponding to audio information that is output from the selected moving image segment, on the display unit. The controller converts voice information that is output from the selected moving image segment into text information and outputs the text information on the display unit.
US09639247B2

An information processing device includes a first output unit and a second output unit. The first output unit displays a start screen including a first image for giving an instruction for switching to a screen corresponding to a user, and a second image for giving an instruction for switching to an edit screen. If the second image is selected, the second output unit outputs an edit screen including, in the same arrangement as the first image, a third image for switching to a screen for editing the screen corresponding to a user.
US09639243B2

Exemplary systems and methods for calendaring are provided. Exemplary systems include a natural language receiving component configured to receive a natural language entry corresponding to a future status, a calendar generation engine configured to create a calendar entry based on the natural language entry, a social network database configured for accessing and querying by the calendar generation engine, a privacy component configured to receive a privacy setting indicating a person who is approved to view the calendar entry, and a display module configured to display the calendar entry on a calendar. Exemplary methods include receiving a natural language entry corresponding to a future status, creating a calendar entry, and displaying the calendar entry.
US09639238B2

Multiple operations can be determined based on different gestures received at a single control. An operation can be a selection or a de-selection (or activation and deactivation) of a feature (or tool) while another operation can be a configuration of a characteristic associated with the feature. The other operation can set a configuration of the characteristic associated with the feature such that upon re-activation of the feature, the configured characteristic may be persisted. Embodiments provide a UI control that can receive multiple types of gestures and determine an operation to perform based on the type of gesture. For instance, in response to receiving a gesture input at a single control, an application may cause a display panel on a GUI to be displayed. The panel configuration (e.g., size of the panel, size of objects in the panel) can be modified in response to receiving another gesture input at the control.
US09639231B2

A computing device is described that includes one or more processors and at least one module operable by the processors to output, for display, first information for an event, and, responsive to determining that a user of the computing device has viewed a display device of the computing device for at least a threshold amount of time, output, for display, second information for the event, the second information including information associated with the event and not included in the first information. The module is further operable to, responsive to determining that the user of the computing device has viewed the display device for at least another threshold amount of time greater than the first threshold amount of time, output, for display, third information for the event, the third information including additional information associated with the event and not included in the first information or the second information.
US09639228B2

An electrode for a touch sensitive device includes micro-wire conductors arranged to define an electrically continuous area and to include interior regions that are electrically discontinuous. The electrically continuous area may be patterned according to a one pattern, and the interior pattern may be patterned according to another pattern.
US09639218B2

A liquid crystal panel, a display device and a scanning method thereof is disclosed. The liquid crystal panel includes a CF substrate, a TFT substrate and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the CF substrate and the TFT substrate; the CF substrate includes a transparent substrate and an integrated capacitive-electromagnetic composite touch layer located at the inner side of the transparent substrate to identify touch signals; wherein, the integrated capacitive-electromagnetic composite touch layer includes a capacitive touch structure and an electromagnetic touch structure electrically insulated from each other. According to the embodiments of the present invention, the integrated capacitive-electromagnetic composite touch layer is integrated to the inner of the CF substrate, so that the liquid crystal display including the liquid crystal panel of the embodiments of the present invention has capacitive and electromagnetic touch functions and is relatively thin.
US09639214B2

A chip-on-glass device comprises a chip-on-glass substrate, a metal layer, and a plurality of chip-on-glass connection bumps. The metal layer comprises a plurality of passive jumper routing traces. The plurality of chip-on-glass connection humps is coupled with passive jumper routing traces of the plurality of passive jumper routing traces.
US09639204B2

A method for distinguishing a touch type in a touch input device including a touch screen may be provided that includes: determining whether a touch on the touch screen includes a time interval during which the touch has a pressure greater than a first pressure within a first time period; and distinguishing the touch type in accordance with whether or not the touch includes a time interval during which the touch has a pressure greater than the first pressure within the first time period.
US09639178B2

An optical stylus and host computing system is provided, as are methods related to the operation thereof. In particular, in an example embodiment, a method of operating the optical stylus is provided that includes determining when the optical stylus is in contact with a surface based on signals received by a processor from a pressure sensor of the optical stylus and capturing an image while the optical stylus is in contact with the surface using a camera of the optical stylus. The captured image is then transmitted to a host system.
US09639168B2

A vehicle having a touch recognition function includes a touch pad recognizing a writing signal in a touch form input by a user. A display displays a touch trace corresponding to the writing signal recognized by the touch pad. A controller is configured to calculate writing coordinates of the writing signal, to obtain a writing recognition load by analyzing a touch trace speed of the calculated writing coordinates, and to increase a processing priority of a writing recognition task among service tasks within the vehicle when the obtained writing recognition load is greater than or equal to a reference value.
US09639164B2

A gesture input method includes: observing a wrist; outputting state information indicating a state of the wrist; determining, by a processor, according to the state information whether the wrist is in a dorsiflexion state; and performing, by the processor, a predetermined process in accordance with whether the wrist is in the dorsiflexion state.
US09639158B2

A system includes a sensor configured to sense an input received from a user at a surface; a first haptic output device configured to generate a first haptic effect at the surface based on the input received from the user, the first haptic effect comprising a friction effect at the surface; a second haptic output device configured to generate a second haptic effect, the second haptic effect comprising vibrotactile feedback; and a processor configured to receive an input signal from the sensor and output a first drive signal to the first haptic output device to generate the first haptic effect and to output a second drive signal to the second haptic output device to generate the second haptic effect.
US09639156B2

A method for activating a virtual haptic geometry based on a position of a portion of an instrument relative to a target feature comprises detecting a presence of a reference point of an instrument within a threshold distance of a target feature. A virtual haptic geometry corresponding to the target feature is activated in response to the detected presence of the reference point of the instrument within the threshold distance.
US09639153B2

Provided are an electronic device control apparatus and method using a transparent display. The electronic device control apparatus includes a first image acquirer configured to acquire a plurality of thing-direction images respectively captured by a plurality of cameras, a virtual image generator configured to combine the plurality of thing-direction images to generate a virtual image corresponding to a thing-direction region projected on the transparent display, a user interface configured to receive a user input, and a function attribute mapper configured to recognize an object included in the virtual image, based on the user input, and map, to the virtual image, a function attribute for controlling the recognized object.
US09639136B2

Provided are a scalable monitoring apparatus and method for detecting a race when a multicore-based parallel program is executed. The scalable monitoring apparatus for race detection of a multicore-based parallel program includes a monitoring code inserting unit configured to add a scalable monitoring code to a source parallel program to generate a transformed source parallel program, a thread monitoring unit configured to generate a data structure of a thread generated according to execution of the transformed source parallel program, an access event selecting unit configured to inspect a race likelihood according to execution of the transformed source parallel program to select an access event, an access event storage unit configured to store the access event in a shared data structure, a power measuring unit configured to measure and store power data according to execution of the source parallel program, and a power analyzing unit configured to analyze the power data to determine whether an energy bug has been generated.
US09639135B2

A computing system is associated with power consumption based on Power over Ethernet (PoE). Power consumption is compared to a threshold, and a signal is asserted that power consumption is to be limited based on the comparison to the threshold.
US09639132B2

Methods and systems for detection of a status of a device connected to a USB port of a UPS are described herein. The method includes detecting whether a device is connected to the USB port, based on the detection, receiving, at the UPS, information from the device; determining whether the device is configured as a host device supplying power, a host device requiring power or a peripheral device, and based on the determination, configuring the USB port of the UPS.
US09639126B2

An apparatus including a tube to encase a fluid, a first portion of the tube disposed in a base portion of a mobile computing device, a second portion of the tube disposed in a display portion of the mobile computing device, the second portion of the tube including metal and a pump coupled to the tube and operable to circulate the fluid in the tube. A mobile computing device including a base portion; a display portion; a tube to encase a fluid, a first portion of the tube disposed in the base portion, a second portion of the tube disposed in the display portion and including metal, the base portion and the display portion coupled by a hinge; and a pump coupled to the tube and operable to circulate the fluid in the tube.
US09639119B2

A wearable device may include: a strap including a substantially polygonal opening and a buckle formed at one end thereof; a buckle part configured to fasten opposite ends of the strap to each other by binding the opposite ends of the strap; and a body configured to be coupled to the opening by being fitted into the opening or decoupled from the opening. The body may include a front surface and a rear surface, and a display having a substantially polygonal shape when viewed from the top on the front surface, and a biometric sensor disposed on the rear surface.
US09639117B2

An electronic device having an expansion interface includes a shell, a button, a circuit board, switch and a voltage adjusting unit. The shell defines a through hole. The button is movably received in the through hole. The button includes a first electroluminescent portion and a second electroluminescent portion. The switch is electrically connected to the circuit board and is activated by the button to control whether to load a same voltage to the first electroluminescent portion and a second electroluminescent portion to drive them to emit light of equal brightness. The voltage adjusting unit changes the voltage loaded to the second electroluminescent portion to drive the second electroluminescent portion to emit light having a different brightness from the light emitted from the first electroluminescent portion when an expansion device is connected to the expansion interface.
US09639116B2

A display device has a display panel; a first holding member holding a plurality of sides of the display panel from a front surface side; a first shock-absorbing member disposed between the front surface side of the display panel and the first holding member, at least at a side of a lower end section of the display panel; a second holding member holding the plurality of the sides from the rear surface side; a second shock-absorbing member disposed between the rear surface side of the display panel and the second holding member, at least at the side of the lower end section of the display panel; and a supporting member supporting a portion of the lower end section. The force against the display panel from the first shock-absorbing member and the second shock-absorbing member is smaller in the vicinity of the supporting member than in other portions.
US09639115B2

Methods and systems are disclosed for internal shock isolation in an information handling system. The method includes directing a tool to mold an outer frame of an information handling system, and directing the tool to mold an inner frame of the information handling system. The inner frame has a perimeter less than the perimeter of the outer frame. The method further includes directing the tool to construct a first plurality of braces in an interspatial area. The interspatial area is between the perimeter of the inner frame and the perimeter of the outer frame.
US09639100B2

A system and method for controlling a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system in a dwelling is provided. The system includes a plurality of wireless thermostats disposed throughout multiple zones within the dwelling and operable to control climate conditions in the corresponding zones. The system further includes a primary power source operable to supply power to thermostats for operating in a high-power mode when operatively connected thereto. The thermostats each include a secondary power source operable to supply power to the thermostats for operating in a low-power mode when the corresponding thermostat is not powered by the primary power source. Thermostats operating in the high-powered mode are operable to receive and repeat signals originating from one or more thermostats operating in the low-power mode.
US09639098B2

Thermostat and messaging devices (TMDs) and associated platforms for providing monitor and control functionality are disclosed. A TMD can be in communication with one or more sensors to facilitate intelligent heating and cooling as well has home automation. The TMD can facilitate communication with a plurality of different networking protocols such that it can receive communication signals from a plurality of different sensors and devices that operate using varying communication techniques. The TMD can also be configured to assist with geolocating a person who is calling for emergency services.
US09639097B2

Methods and systems for controlling temperatures in plasma processing chamber for a wide range of setpoint temperatures and reduced energy consumption. Temperature control is coordinated between a coolant liquid loop and a heat source by a control algorithm implemented by the plasma processing module controller. The control algorithm may completely stop the flow of coolant liquid to a temperature-controlled component in response to a feedback signal indicating an actual temperature is below the setpoint temperature. The control algorithm may further be based at least in part on a feedforward control signal derived from a plasma power or change in plasma power input into the processing chamber during process recipe execution.
US09639094B2

An electronic device for controlling pressure regulators, enabling remote adjustments and corrections for pressure drops and supply line expansion is provided.
US09639084B2

An autonomous action robot includes: a sound acquisition unit that acquires an acoustic signal; a sound source localization unit that estimates a direction of a sound source with respect to the acoustic signal; a distance measurement unit that performs measurements related to distance for a predetermined range; a map information generation unit that generates two-dimensional map information and that estimates a self-location of the autonomous action robot, using information of the distance; a sound source direction determination unit that re-estimates the direction of the sound source based on the two-dimensional map information, the estimated self-location information, and the estimated sound source direction; an action generation unit that generates an action plan based on the two-dimensional map information and the sound source direction estimated by the sound source direction determination unit; and a control unit that controls the autonomous action robot according to the action plan.
US09639079B2

A numerical control device includes: a memory storing in advance angular difference information between each of first cutting shafts formed for an upper tool post and a second cutting shaft of a lower tool post and a machining program including a movement command for the upper tool post to move an imaginary shaft, which moves along the same line as the second cutting shaft and performs cutting from a direction opposite to the second cutting shaft with respect to the main shaft; a shaft-command distribution processing unit distributing the movement command to move the imaginary shaft to the first cutting shaft components based on the angular difference information; and a shaft-synchronization processing unit driving the first cutting shafts based on the movement command distributed to the first cutting shaft components and driving the second cutting shaft by the movement amount same as that in the direction of the imaginary shaft.
US09639074B2

A demand measurement unit measures load demand power and a power generation measurement unit measures solar cell output power. A threshold storage unit stores a discharge control threshold for determining whether to discharge remaining storage cell power. When demand power exceeds generated power, a command unit controls storage cell discharge by comparing remaining storage cell power with the discharge control threshold and transmits a control command to a power conditioner. If the remaining storage cell power exceeds the discharge control threshold, then the command unit commands storage cell discharge. A threshold setting unit sets the discharge control threshold, and updates the discharge control threshold when that value changes.
US09639071B2

A method and system for transferring between combustion modes in a gas turbine engine is provided. A processor generates data representative of an initial set of splits for providing at least one of fuel and air to at least one combustor in the gas turbine engine. A gas turbine engine model module generates data representative of at least one engine operating condition. A first split calculation module generates data representative of at least one set of active control splits to control the engine in a first combustion mode, using as an input the initial split data. A second split calculation module generates data representative of at least one set of passive control splits to control the engine in at least a second combustion mode. Transfer between combustion modes may be accomplished via use of at least one of the active control splits and the passive control splits.
US09639051B2

Provided is a powder recovery device including a recovery container that includes a powder collection chamber therein, recovers used powder transported from a powder processing section that performs a process using powder, and collects the recovered powder in the powder collection chamber, and a transport member that is provided within the recovery container along the longitudinal direction of the recovery container, and evenly transports powder collected in the powder collection chamber, wherein plural recovery ports are provided at positions located higher than a highest location in the recovery container at which powder is collected, and plural air vent ports are at least separately provided at regions with a center of the recovery container in the longitudinal direction of the recovery container interposed therebetween.
US09639036B2

An image heating apparatus includes a first rotatable member and a second rotatable member configured to form a nip therebetween for heating a toner image on a recording material, a rubbing rotatable member configured to rub a surface of the first rotatable member, and a cleaning brush configured to clean a surface of the rubbing rotatable member. An average interval Sm of pits and projections of the surface of the rubbing rotatable member is 10-20 μm, and the cleaning brush includes fibers each having a diameter of not less than 5 μm and not more than the average interval Sm.
US09639035B2

A fixing device includes a heat unit, a pressure roller configured to nip a conveyed sheet in cooperation with the heat unit, the pressure roller having a shaft defining an axial direction, a bearing configured to support the shaft, a frame configured to support the bearing and made from resin, and a heatsink made from metal, and in surface contact with the frame and at least one of the shaft and the bearing.
US09639032B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearer, a transfer device, and a transfer bias power source. The transfer bias power source is configured to output an alternately switching voltage that alternates between a transfer-directional voltage having a polarity to transfer the toner image from the image bearer onto the recording medium and a return-directional voltage having an opposite polarity to the polarity of the transfer-directional voltage. The transfer bias power source is configured to reduce a target value of Vdc as an image area ratio of a toner image to be printed increases, and to increase the target value of Vdc as the image area ratio reduces, where Vdc is an average value of the alternately switching voltage during printing.
US09639031B1

An imaging apparatus, including a transfer roll; and first and second rolls, each first roll and second roll being disposed relative to the transfer roll, the second roll forming a transfer nip with the transfer roll and the first roll being disposed upstream relative to the second roll in a media feed direction. During a toner transfer operation, the transfer roll is coupled to a predetermined voltage and the first and second rolls are coupled to at least one voltage reference so that an electric field is generated between the transfer roll and the first roll and between the transfer roll and the second roll, the first roll being associated with an electrical characteristic such that the electric field generated between the transfer roll and the first roll is limited during the toner transfer operation relative to the electric field generated between the transfer roll and the second roll.
US09639030B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image-bearing member bearing a toner image, a transfer unit transferring the toner image on the image-bearing member to a printing medium, a cleaning member rubbing against the image-bearing member and scraping away transfer residual toner from the image-bearing member, and a lubricant applying unit applying a lubricant to the image-bearing member. The apparatus further includes a driving unit driving the lubricant applying unit and a controller controlling the driving unit such that when a period required for an area corresponding to an interval between printing media to pass through a transfer position is longer than or equal to a predetermined set period during image formation, the amount of lubricant applied by the lubricant applying unit is at least lower than that in a case where the period required is shorter than the predetermined set period.
US09639026B2

A cartridge including: a housing configured to accommodate therein developer; a driving receiving part configured to receive a driving force; a rotary member configured to rotate by receiving a driving force from the driving receiving part, and a detected part configured to be moved by the rotation of the rotary member, wherein the rotary member is configured to rotate from a first state where the driving force from the driving receiving part is transmitted to the rotary member to a second state where the transmission of the driving force from the driving receiving part to the rotary member is released, and then rotate from the second state to the first state.
US09639025B2

A semiconductive roller for use as a developing roller or the like is provided, which has an outer peripheral surface at least partly imparted with a reduced friction coefficient μ without irradiation with ultraviolet radiation. The semiconductive roller (1) includes a tubular body made of a crosslinking product of an electrically conductive rubber composition containing a crosslinkable rubber component, and a chloride film (5) formed in the outer peripheral surface (4) thereof through chlorination.
US09639019B2

Provided is a cleaning member including a helical convex section formed on an outer peripheral surface, wherein the cleaning member comes into complete contact with a target cleaning member in an axial direction of the target cleaning member, and rotates in contact with the target cleaning member rotating around an axis.
US09639010B2

Disclosed is an electrophotographic photoreceptor including a conductive support, a photosensitive layer on the conductive support and a surface layer on the photosensitive layer. The surface layer includes a cured resin prepared by polymerization of a compound having two or more radically polymerizable functional groups per molecule, the cured resin containing an organic resin fine particle and a metal oxide fine particle, and the organic resin fine particle comprising a resin containing a structural unit derived from at least one of melamine and benzoguanamine, the organic resin fine particle having a number average primary particle size of 0.01 to 3.00 μm.
US09638996B2

A resist composition has a resin which includes a structural unit having an acid-labile group, an acid generator, and a non-ionic compound having a group represented by the formula (a) and having no unsaturated bond: wherein Xa and Xb each independently represent an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom, X1 represents a divalent C1 to C12 saturated hydrocarbon group having a fluorine atom or a C1 to C6 fluorinated alkyl group, and * represents a binding site.
US09638995B2

The embodiments disclose a method including depositing a resist layer using a mixture of several different length polymer strings materials spanning a range of natural periodicity, and imprinting the mixture of several different length polymer strings using sheared guiding patterns to increase flexibility.
US09638988B2

A light multiplexing system includes a color combining element and first, second, and third color channels. Each color channel includes a light source that directs light of a corresponding first, second, or third wavelength band, respectively, toward the color combining element. The color combining element includes first and second windows. The first and second windows are made of a solid transparent material and include, collectively, three coated surfaces. The surfaces may be non-contiguous. A first coated surface receives light of the first, second and third wavelength bands. The first coated surface reflects the light of the first wavelength band and transmits the light of the second and third wavelength bands. A second coated surface receives light of the second and third wavelength bands transmitted by the first coated surface. The second coated surface reflects the light of second wavelength band and transmits the light of the third wavelength band. The third coated surface receives the light of the third wavelength band transmitted by the second coated surface and reflects it. The reflected first, second, and third wavelength bands exit the first surface of the color combining element as a coaxial beam.
US09638986B1

A camera crane mobile base has a chassis including a front and rear wheel frames joined to a frame body via front and rear frame arms. Axle assemblies are pivotally attached at opposite ends of the wheel frames. A wheel is mounted onto each axle assembly. Front and rear steering systems have linkages pivotally attached to the axle assemblies and to upper and lower steering arms. A post frame is pivotally attached to a frame body with a center post pivotally attached to the post frame.
US09638978B2

A method of controlling tint of a tintable window to account for occupant comfort in a room of a building. The tintable window is between the interior and exterior of the building. The method predicts a tint level for the tintable window at a future time based on a penetration depth of direct sunlight through the tintable window into the room at the future time and space type in the room. The method also provides instructions over a network to transition tint of the tintable window to the tint level.
US09638976B2

The invention discloses a liquid crystal display device, a thin film transistor array substrate and a method of fabricating the same. The thin film transistor array substrate includes: a substrate including a plurality of photo-sensitive spacer areas, a plurality of thin film transistors arranged on the substrate, each of which includes a source and a drain, and a first planarizing layer overlying the plurality of thin film transistors. Multiple planarizing layer openings are arranged in the first planarizing layer in areas corresponding to the drains of the thin film transistors; a pixel electrode layer is arranged on the first planarizing layer and in contact with the drains; and a second planarizing layer is arranged on the pixel electrode layer and fills the planarizing layer openings.
US09638972B2

An array substrate, a manufacturing method thereof and a display panel are disclosed. The array substrate includes: a base substrate, gate scanning lines, a gate-insulating layer, an active layer, data lines, a passivation layer, and pixel electrodes; the array substrate further includes: a bridge structure and a connection line corresponding to each data line; the bridge structure is located on the passivation layer and is provided in a same layer as the pixel electrodes; each connection line is located on the base substrate and is connected with the data line, through the bridge structure in an LED region and in a region under a scribe line of a counter substrate. Therefore the problem of defective display caused by breakage of data lines can be solved, and the display effect of a liquid crystal display device can be improved.
US09638970B2

A liquid crystal display includes: a substrate including a display region and a non-display region, the non-display region including a first region adjacent to the display region and a second region further from the display region than the first region; a light blocking member disposed in the non-display region of the substrate; and a plurality of step providing layers disposed between the substrate and the light blocking member in the non-display region of the substrate, the step providing layers spaced apart from each other. A height of the light blocking member disposed in the first region of the non-display region is different from a height of the light blocking member disposed in the second region of the non-display region.
US09638969B2

A liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device are provided. The LCD panel includes an array substrate and a color filter substrate which are cell-assembled. Liquid crystals are filled between the array substrate and the color filter substrate. A sealant is disposed between peripheral areas of the array substrate and the color filter color filter substrate to seal the array substrate and the color filter substrate, wherein an electrostatic protection layer is also disposed at the peripheral area of the array substrate and configured to cover a peripheral circuit at the peripheral area of the array substrate to provide electrostatic protection for the peripheral circuit.
US09638968B2

The present invention provides a color liquid crystal display panel and a manufacturing method thereof, in which red, green, and blue sub-pixels are formed by means of a black matrix barrier and dye-doped liquid crystal layers that contain dichroic dyes so that the manufacturing process is reduced, the structure is simple, and the cost is low. In addition, there is no need to manufacture a conventional color filter substrate and there is no need to include a conventionally used polarizer thereby simplifying the manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display panel, lowering down the manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal display panel, reducing the required backlighting brightness, and enhancing light transmittal and optic efficiency.
US09638964B2

A liquid crystal (LCD) lens and a three-dimensional (3D) display device, which can achieve the equality of signal delay and reduce or eliminate the Moire phenomenon. The LC lens includes: a first substrate and a second substrate arranged opposite to each other, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a plurality of parallel strip electrodes disposed on one side, close to the liquid crystal layer, of at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate. At least one strip electrode includes a plurality of strip sub-electrodes in sequential end-to-end connection. A specific included angle (α) is formed between the extension direction of each strip sub-electrode and the extension direction of the strip electrode.
US09638953B2

Provided is a liquid crystal display device including a viewer-side polarizing plate 1, a liquid crystal cell 11, a backlight-side polarizing plate 21, and a backlight unit 31; in which a three-wavelength (RGB) backlight light source having a narrow half bandwidth of the light emission intensity spectrum is used, and the viewer-side polarizing plate includes, for example, a first absorption material which has a maximum value of absorbance in a wavelength range of 470 nm to 510 nm and has a peak of the absorbance full width at half maximum of which is 50 nm or lower.
US09638950B2

A display may have a color filter layer and a thin-film transistor layer. A liquid crystal layer may be located between the color filter layer and the thin-film transistor layer. The display may have an active area surrounded by an inactive area. The opaque border layer may contain first and second opaque layers in the inactive area. The first opaque layer may have an opening in the inactive area that is overlapped by an isolation layer. The second opaque layer may be located in the inactive area and may overlap the opening in the first opaque layer to block light in the inactive area. The isolation layer may be interposed between the first and second opaque layers and may prevent static charge from an electrostatic discharge event along the edge of the display from migrating to the active area through the opaque border in the inactive area.
US09638937B2

There is provided a spectacle lens, including: specific first and second reference points, and eye point between the first and second reference points on a meridian, with each point defined on a meridian; and a power variation portion where power is continuously varied from the first reference point to the second reference point, wherein a variation rate of an addition power is substantially zero in a circle of radius 4 mm with the first reference point as a center, and/or in a circle of radius 4 mm with the eye point as a center.
US09638930B2

A lens driver with camera shake reducing function in which the suspension wire will not easily undergo a plastic bending and the camera shake reducing function will not be degraded and the photographed image will not be deformed when mounting the lens or impacting the lens. The direction of photographed object is set to the forward direction of the optical axis of the lens, and the invention comprises: an auto-focusing unit that moves the lens in the direction of optical axis; and a camera shake reducing unit that causes the auto-focusing unit to swing in a direction at right angle to the direction of optical axis, and the auto-focusing unit comprises a magnet for focusing which is mounted on the outer circumference of the lens and which is held by a magnet holder, and the camera shake reducing unit comprises: a suspension wire which extending in the direction of optical axis and the forward direction of the optical axis of which is connected with the magnet holder and which supports the magnet holder in form of suspension rack such that it may swing; and a yoke that faces the magnet for focusing in a manner that it is spaced from the magnet for focusing in forward direction of the optical axis.
US09638915B2

A projector includes a color wheel module and a processing unit. The color wheel module includes a color wheel including multiple color-filtering areas for providing multiple colors of light; a shaft connected to the color wheel for driving the color wheel to spin and including a reflecting surface and a mark; a fixing part disposed corresponding to the shaft; a light transceiver set on the fixing part for emitting light and receiving the light reflected by the shaft; and a vibrator set on the fixing part for vibrating when meeting a vibrating condition to shake off dust on the color wheel, the shaft and/or the light transceiver. The processing unit is coupled to the light transceiver for analyzing a spinning angle of the color wheel according to the light received by the light transceiver.
US09638896B2

An imaging lens in which a positive first lens group, a positive second lens group, and a negative third lens group are arranged in order from the object side. The first lens group includes a positive first lens having a convex object-side surface and a second lens. The second lens group includes third and fourth lenses each having at least one aspheric surface. The third lens group includes a fifth lens, a sixth lens as a double-sided aspheric lens, and a seventh lens having a concave image-side surface near an optical axis. The lenses are not joined to each other, the seventh lens has an aspheric image-side surface whose shape changes from concave to convex as the distance from the optical axis increases, and an F-number is less than 1.8.
US09638895B2

An imaging lens includes first to sixth lens elements arranged from an object side to an image side in the given order. Through designs of surfaces of the lens elements and relevant optical parameters, a short system length of the imaging lens may be achieved while maintaining good optical performance.
US09638892B2

A rear conversion lens includes: a chassis including two opposite ends, the chassis including light-transmitting holes on the ends, respectively; a first coupler configured to detachably couple one of the ends of the chassis with an image field side of an image-pickup lens of a three-chip camera including three first image sensors, the image-pickup lens being designed based on an assumption that the image-pickup lens is to be used with a color-separation prism in combination; a second coupler configured to detachably couple the other end of the chassis with a single-chip color camera including a second image sensor, the second image sensor including an image field larger than an image field of the first image sensors of the three-chip camera; and an optical system including a first lens group, a second lens group, and a third lens group arranged in the chassis in this order from an object side, the first lens group having a negative compound focal length, the second lens group being configured to correct a spherical aberration, the third lens group being configured to form an image.
US09638881B2

According to an aspect of the apparatus of the present invention, wind generated by a cooling fan blows in a housing, and a port is optically connected with an optical module via an optical fiber. Further, a shielding wall is provided to an optical fiber arranging member, which supports and guides the optical fiber, so as to prevent the optical fiber from being exposed to the wind.
US09638880B2

An adapter panel arrangement including a chassis and a panel of adapters. The adapters defining rearward cable connections and forward cable connections of the panel arrangement. Openings permitting access to the rearward and forward cable connections of the adapters are provided. The chassis further including a removable rear chassis portion to provide access to cable routing areas within the chassis interior.
US09638870B2

An optical connector (1) for transferring light sent by fibers (2) and comprises a resin body (10) and a plurality of lenses (11), the resin body (10) includes a bottom surface (102), a top surface (101) opposite to the bottom surface (102), a front surface (103) connecting the top surface (101) and the bottom surface (102), and a slant surface (105) forms an angle with the front surface (103) and the top surface (101), the lenses (11) are set on the slant surface (105), the resin body (10) further includes a first recess (1011) recessed from the top surface (101) to the inner of the resin body (10), when the fibers (2) was assembled to the optical connector (1), the fibers (2) locate in the first recess (1011) and the optical connector (1) further includes optical cement (3) filled in the first recess (1011).
US09638867B2

The embodiments described herein relate to multi-core optical fiber interconnects which include at least two multi-core optical fibers. The multi-core optical fibers are connected such that the core elements of the first multi-core optical fiber are optically coupled to the core elements of the second multi-core optical fiber thereby forming an array of interconnect core elements extending through the optical fiber interconnect. The multi-core optical fibers are constructed such that cross-talk between adjacent core elements in each multi-core optical fiber is minimized. The multi-core optical fibers are also constructed such that time-delays between the interconnect core elements in the array of interconnect core elements are also minimized.
US09638856B2

The invention relates to an optical fiber comprising an optical core and an optical cladding surrounding the optical core, the optical core having a single α graded-index profile with α≧1, and the optical core having a radius R1 and a maximal refractive index n0, said optical cladding having a refractive index nCl. Said optical cladding comprises a region of depressed refractive index ntrench, having an inner radius R2, with R2≧R1, and an outer radius R3, with R3>R2. According to embodiments of the invention, the α-value of said graded index profile and the optical core radius R1 are chosen such that R1≧13.5 μm and so as to satisfy a criterion C of quality. Thus, the invention provides a few-mode optical fiber, which allow guiding an increased number of LP modes as compared to prior art FMFs, while reaching the lowest Differential Mode Group Delay. The system reach is thus increased over prior art.
US09638855B2

An illumination apparatus includes a light source and a light guide formed in a rod shape. An end surface in a longitudinal direction is an incident surface that receives light emitted from the light source. Diffusing patterns are formed on the light guide, and intervals between the diffusing patterns closer to the incident surface in a first area close to the incident surface are smaller than intervals between the diffusing patterns closer to the incident surface in a second area farther from the incident surface than the first area.
US09638854B2

The embodiment of the present invention relates to the field of display technology, and provides a backlight source, a liquid crystal display panel and a liquid crystal display device. The backlight source comprises at least two light guide plates and a light source corresponding to the respective light guide plate. The light guide plates are joined to form a light guide plane, and the light source is arranged at the periphery of the corresponding light guide plate and does not transmit light to the other light guide plate. The light source corresponding to the respective light guide plate can be controlled by a control circuit. According to the present invention, it is able to reduce the power consumption of the screen and the backlight source and improve the endurance of the backlight source.
US09638850B2

An object of the present invention is to provide a polarizer which is thin and light as well as has durability, and an optical member capable of forming a liquid-crystalline displaying apparatus for mobiles which is excellent in reliance. According to the present invention, there is provided a polarizer, which comprises a protecting film comprising an epoxy resin as a main component on at least one side of a polarizing film. This polarizer can be produced by a method of coating an uncured epoxy resin composition on at least one side of a polarizing film, and then curing the composition to form a protecting film. Also, an optical member comprising a laminate of the aforementioned polarizer and other optical layer exhibiting the optical function is provided and, further, a liquid crystal displaying apparatus comprising the optical member disposed on one side or both sides of a liquid-crystalline cell is provided.
US09638843B2

A reflector array optical device has a plurality of dihedral corner reflector array optical elements which are disposed side by side on the same plane. Each of the dihedral corner reflector array optical elements has a substrate and a plurality of dihedral corner reflectors which each have at least two orthogonal side faces perpendicular to the principal surface of the substrate and orthogonal to each other, and which are formed on the substrate so that the orientations of the interior angles of the orthogonal side faces are aligned with each other.
US09638841B2

Embodiments for optical diffusion devices are provided. In one example, an optical diffusion device comprises a first optical element including a first diffusing surface, a second optical element including a second diffusing surface, and an adhesive layer optically coupling the first diffusing surface to the second diffusing surface.
US09638837B2

A compact low-cost imaging lens which provides high brightness with an F-value of 2.5 or less and a wide field of view and corrects aberrations properly, meeting the demand for low-profile design. The imaging lens elements are arranged in the following order from an object side to an image side: an aperture stop; a first lens with positive refractive power having a convex surface on each of the object and image sides; a second lens with negative refractive power; a third lens with positive refractive power having a convex surface on each of the object and image sides; a fourth lens with negative refractive power; and a fifth lens with negative refractive power as a double-sided aspheric lens. The imaging lens satisfies a conditional expression (1) below: 1.5
US09638822B2

An article, system and method related to a magnetomechanical marker used to mark stationary assets. Magnetomechanical markers can be arranged in clusters and associated with stationary assets, including assets buried underground. Markers can be associated with an asset by being attached to the asset, arranged in a particular spatial relationship with the asset, or in any other appropriate way. A portable locating device can be used to generate an alternating magnetic field to activate the magnetomechanical marker and thus locate the asset.
US09638821B2

A method for mapping and monitoring of hydraulic fracture includes capturing, using an array of sensors, a first magnetic image of a well pay zone. A second magnetic image is captured using the array of sensors, after a well bore is padded with a fluid. A background is established based on the first and the second magnetic images. A third magnetic image is captured using the array of sensors, after a doped proppant is injected into a stage. The third image is processed to subtract the background and to obtain information regarding distribution of the fluid and the proppant in the stage.
US09638817B2

Buoy for marine surveys. At least some of the illustrated embodiments are a buoy including an elongated main body and a mast system coupled to the elongated main body. The mast system includes: a forward mast; an aft mast; a spanning portion coupled between a distal end of the forward mast and a distal end of the aft mast; and an aperture defined at least in part by the main body, forward mast, aft mast, and spanning portion. The buoy is configured to float in water such that the water level intersects the forward mast and aft mast, the elongated body is submerged, and the spanning portion resides above the water level.
US09638813B2

A combined thermal neutron detector and gamma-ray spectrometer system, including: a detection medium including a lithium chalcopyrite crystal operable for detecting thermal neutrons in a semiconductor mode and gamma-rays in a scintillator mode; and a photodetector coupled to the detection medium also operable for detecting the gamma rays. Optionally, the detection medium includes a 6LiInSe2 crystal. Optionally, the detection medium comprises a compound formed by the process of: melting a Group III element; adding a Group I element to the melted Group III element at a rate that allows the Group I and Group III elements to react thereby providing a single phase I-III compound; and adding a Group VI element to the single phase I-III compound and heating; wherein the Group I element includes lithium.
US09638811B2

The invention relates to a system for detecting gamma radiation, such as a gamma camera, including a source of gamma rays, at least one plate P1 of a fast scintillator, the time thereof for rising to the light peak being less than 1 ns, said plate comprising a diffusing entry surface and a polished exit surface, having a thickness of no less than 10 mm, being provided with photodetectors and microelectronics for dedicated reading, characterized in that the microelectronics are of the ASIC type, in that the detector is segmented, and in that on said plate P1, each segment of said detector is capable of measuring a first trigger T1 such that a time resolution is lower than 100 ps; the detector can measure a space and time distribution of the first adjacent photons emitted by an event on the detectors for a time of more than 100 ps and no longer than the time for rising to the light peak of the scintillator. The invention further relates to the image-reconstruction method implemented in the system, as well as to the implementation and use of said system. The invention additionally relates to the image-reconstruction method and to the method for improving the energy resolution of the detector installed in the system, as well as to the implementation of said system.
US09638806B2

The present invention relates to a system for detecting ambiguities in a satellite signal for the GPS tracking of vessels, which includes: a GNSS receiving unit obtaining a vessel position using a plurality of satellites; a vessel position calculating unit calculating a second vessel position from a first vessel position after a specific amount of time elapses using dead-reckoning; a distance calculating unit calculating prediction distances between each of the satellites and the vessel and an error monitoring unit comparing the calculated prediction distances between the satellites and the vessel, and pseudoranges between the satellites and the GNSS receiving unit at the second vessel position, and monitoring for the occurrence of errors at the satellites on the basis of the existence of an increase in errors at each of the satellites.
US09638790B2

The invention relates to a system for calibrating a distance measuring device, comprising: a measuring track, on which the distance measuring device is mountable; an areal reflector mountable shiftably on the measuring track for reflecting a measurement signal transmitted from the distance measuring device back to the distance measuring device, so that by means of the distance measuring device a distance measurement for determining a distance (D) between the distance measuring device and the reflector is performable; and a laser distance measuring device mountable on the measuring track for registering tilt of the reflector; wherein means for orienting the distance measuring device are provided, so that measurement signals of the distance measuring device reflected back to the distance measuring device by means of the reflector are received with maximum intensity by the distance measuring device.
US09638785B2

Ground stations 20, 21 receive any signal transmitted by a geostationary artificial satellite 10, and store the reception signal together with the reception time thereof. A difference Δt in reception time of a same signal between the ground station 20 and the ground station 21 is calculated by performing correlation processing of the reception signal of the ground station 20 and the reception signal of the ground station 21. A distance R20 between the ground station 20 and the geostationary artificial satellite 10 is measured by a distance measurement device. A distance R21 between the ground station 21 and the geostationary artificial satellite 10 is calculated on the basis of the distance R20 obtained by measurement and the difference Δt in reception times, as obtained by correlation processing.
US09638781B2

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, method and/or computer readable storage medium is configured to effect enhanced magnetic transfer (MT) effects and chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) effects. The configured techniques include irradiating an object in an MRI gantry by applying a sequence of magnetic transfer (MT) pulses over a range of different frequencies, and then applying an MR imaging sequence to the irradiated object.
US09638779B2

An equipment and method for forecasting tunnel water inrush using a magnetic resonance differential, where a computer is connected to a transmitting bridge circuit through a high voltage power supply, to a control unit, a first and second signal modulating circuits and a multi-channel collecting circuit; the control unit is connected to a transmitting driver circuit, a first and second protection switches, and the transmitting bridge circuit through the transmitting driver circuit; two ends of a transceiving multi-turn coil are connected to the multi-channel collecting circuit through the first and second protection switches; two ends of a receiving multi-turn coil are connected to the multi-channel collecting circuit through the second protection switch and the second signal modulating circuit; one end of the transceiving multi-turn coil is connected to the transmitting bridge circuit, and the other end is connected to the transmitting bridge circuit through a resonant capacitor.
US09638772B2

A connector and medical equipment are provided. The connector includes at least one framework and at least one fastening structure. The at least one connector is used to connect a main body and a housing. The at least one framework is arranged along the outside of the main body. The fastening structure is located on the at least one framework. The at least one fastening structure is used to connect the housing.
US09638770B2

An obturator as part of a biopsy system enhances use with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) by indicating location of a side aperture in an encompassing cannula. The cannula (e.g., detached probe, sleeve sized to receive a core biopsy probe) includes a side aperture for taking a tissue sample. When the obturator is inserted in lieu of the biopsy device into the cannula, a notch formed in a shaft of the obturator corresponds to the side aperture. A dugout trough into the notch may further accept aqueous material to further accentuate the side aperture. In addition, a series of dimensionally varied apertures (e.g., wells, slats) that communicate through a lateral surface of the shaft and that are proximal to the side aperture receive an aqueous material to accentuate visibility in an MRI image, even in a skewed MRI slice through the cannula/obturator.
US09638769B2

A fiducial position marker (1) for use in a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging apparatus is disclosed for exciting and/or receiving MR signals in/from a local volume which at least substantially surrounds or adjoins the position marker, in order to determine and/or image from these MR signals the position of the position marker in an MR image of an examination object. Such a position marker (1) is especially used for determining and/or imaging a position of an interventional or non-interventional instrument to which the position marker may be attached, like a catheter, a surgical device, a biopsy needle, a pointer, a stent or another invasive or any non-invasive device in an MR image of an examination object. Further, a position marker system comprising such a position marker (1) and a circuit arrangement (5, 6, 6a, 8) for driving the position marker (1) for exciting MR signals and/or for processing MR signals received by the position marker is disclosed.
US09638764B2

An electronic circuit can be disposed upon a semiconductor substrate. An epitaxial layer can be disposed over the semiconductor substrate. The electronic circuit can include a Hall effect element, at least a portion of the Hall effect element disposed in the epitaxial layer. The electronic circuit can further include a current generator configured to generate a drive current that passes through the Hall effect element. The current generator can include a resistor disposed in the epitaxial layer and having characteristics such that a resistance of the resistor can vary with a stress of the semiconductor substrate, resulting in changes of the drive current, to compensate for variations in the sensitivity of the Hall effect element with the stress of the substrate.
US09638761B2

To provide a magnetic sensor circuit that outputs a desired detection pulse while preventing an erroneous detection/erroneous release pulse output when a fluctuation in a power supply voltage occurs within an operating power supply voltage range. A magnetic sensor circuit is configured to include a detection circuit that detects a fluctuation in a power supply voltage or an internal power supply voltage and so as not to latch a determination output of a comparator by a latch circuit that, on the basis of a power supply fluctuation detection signal output from the detection circuit, holds the logic of a control clock signal output from an oscillation circuit for a prescribed period of time and determines the output logic of an output terminal.
US09638755B2

A test switch signal analyzer comprising: an analyzer hub operably couplable to a test switch base that includes test switch conductors; signal probe(s) couplable to the analyzer hub and to the plurality of test switch conductors when the analyzer hub is coupled to the test switch base, a signal processing unit coupled to the analyzer hub; the signal processing unit, the analyzer hub, and at least a portion of the at least one signal probe being positionable within a test switch cover that mates with the test switch base when the signal probe is coupled to the test switch conductor(s) and the test switch cover is secured to the test switch base.
US09638729B2

Provided are an analysis apparatus and an analysis method which are capable of recognizing a local state change of an internal structure of a secondary battery. The analysis apparatus includes: an observation cell that houses a secondary battery; a charging and discharging controller that controls charging and discharging of the secondary battery; an image pickup device that captures color images of the secondary battery at a predetermined time interval; and a charging and discharging data detection unit that acquires charging and discharging data on the secondary battery during charging and discharging. Color image signals output from the image pickup device and charging and discharging data signals output from the charging and discharging data detection unit are supplied to a signal processing device. The signal processing device outputs a unit that temporally links time-series color image signals and time-series charging and discharging data signals, and designated analysis data.
US09638728B2

A circuit has a supply line, a reference line and circuitry coupled between the supply line and the reference line. The circuitry outputs a regulated voltage and a measurement voltage. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) generates a digital signal indicative of variations of potential differences between the supply line and the reference line based on the regulated voltage and the measurement voltage. The generated digital signal may be used to control the circuit.
US09638720B2

Described is a current sensor comprising: a main resistive branch having a target device coupled to a load at a first node; a replica resistive branch having a replica device which is a replica of the target device, the replica device coupled to a current digital to analog converter (DAC) at a second node; and an analog to digital converter (ADC) coupled directly or indirectly to the first and second nodes, the ADC to generate an output coupled to the current DAC.
US09638716B2

A positioner and a probe head of a probe card are provided. The positioner has a main opening, a first sub-opening, a second sub-opening, a third sub-opening, a fourth sub-opening, a first positioning portion, a second positioning portion, a first elastic portion and a second elastic portion. The first sub-opening, the second sub-opening, the third sub-opening, and the fourth sub-opening are sequentially arranged at the periphery of the main opening and are communicated to the main opening. A stiffness of the first positioning portion and a stiffness of the second positioning portion are higher than a stiffness of the first elastic portion and a stiffness of the second elastic portion.
US09638715B2

An embodiment of a test apparatus for executing a test of a set of electronic devices having a plurality of electrically conductive terminals, the test apparatus including a plurality of electrically conductive test probes for exchanging electrical signals with the terminals, and coupling means for mechanically coupling the test probes with the electronic devices. In an embodiment, the coupling means includes insulating means for keeping each one of at least part of the test probes electrically insulated from at least one corresponding terminal during the execution of the test. Each test probe and the corresponding terminal form a capacitor for electro-magnetically coupling the test probe with the terminal.
US09638703B2

This disclosure relates to determining the stress level experienced by fish over a long period of time, which can be used in assessing the welfare status of fish. More, in particular, this disclosure relates to the usage of scales as well as other calcified tissue such as otoliths, spines and soft fin ray sampled from fish to quantify glucocorticoid levels in the scales/matrix. The levels of the glucocorticoids, such as cortisol or corticosterone, build up over time in scales and reflect long-lasting and stressful conditions that the fish have undergone during their lives and that have affected their level of stress. Hence, in vitro methods are disclosed herein that quantify the level of chronic stress in fish using scales as a logistic feasible, and non-invasive matrix for accurate and precise quantification of stress hormones.
US09638700B2

The present disclosure relates to the field of laboratory diagnostics. The present disclosure provides means and methods for differentiating between an acute circulatory event and an ischemic event, as the cause underlying an acute medical event of a patient.
US09638695B2

A non-invasive method of detecting or screening for lung cancer in a subject specimen is provided. The method includes detecting elevated levels of one or more carbonyl-containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are biomarkers for lung cancer in exhaled breath from the subject specimen. The method may further include obtaining exhaled breath from the subject specimen; forming adducts of the carbonyl-containing VOCs with a reactive chemical compound; quantifying the adducts of the carbonyl-containing VOCs to establish a subject value for each of the adducts; and comparing each subject value to a threshold healthy specimen value for each of the adducts of the carbonyl-containing VOCs. One or more subject values at quantities greater than threshold healthy specimen values are also useful for screening for lung cancer in the subject specimen.
US09638694B2

The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising at least one peptide consisting of a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 50 amino acid residues comprising amino acid residues 1 to 8 of a rhinovirus capsid protein selected from the group consisting of VP1, VP2, VP3 and VP4.
US09638693B2

The invention relates to a method for producing a nanoporous layer on a substrate.
US09638687B2

Compositions and methods for determining post-transfusion survival or toxicity of red blood cells and the suitability of red blood cell units for transfusion by measuring the levels of one or more markers in a red blood cell sample are provided.
US09638686B1

A method of measuring whole-blood hemoglobin parameters includes providing a LED light source, guiding light having the spectral range from the LED light source along an optical path, providing a cuvette module with a sample receiving chamber, providing a pair of first and second optical diffusers disposed in the optical path where the cuvette module is disposed between the pair of first and second optical diffusers, guiding light from the cuvette module into an optical spectrometer, and processing an electrical signal from the spectrometer into an output signal useable for displaying and reporting hemoglobin parameter values and/or total bilirubin parameter values of the sample of whole blood.
US09638684B2

Provided is a method of evaluating a resin capable of quantitatively evaluating a deterioration degree of the resin with high accuracy and ease. The method includes evaluating the resin based on a shift of a characteristic peak representing a deterioration degree of the resin, the peak being observed in thermal analysis of the resin by a temperature increase, to lower temperatures.
US09638682B2

The present invention relates to a method of estimating, for a petroleum feedstock, values representative of the sulfur and carbon distributions in atmospheric and vacuum distillation residues, and a value representative of the sulfur content in coke. According to the method, the following stages are carried out: from a feedstock sample, measuring at least the Rock-Eval parameters S2b, SulfS2b, RC, Sulfoxy using a Rock-Eval device comprising a sulfur measurement module, deducing from the measurements of these Rock-Eval parameters the values of the sulfur and carbon distributions (SPHF, SCOKE, CPHF, CCOKE) in the distillation residues, and a sulfur content in relation to the carbon content in the coke.
US09638678B2

A method for monitoring crop health of a geographic region includes receiving an image comprising a set of image elements, the image corresponding to a time unit, mapping an image element of the set of image elements to a geographic sub-region of the geographic region, determining a geographic region performance value for the image element, determining a geographic region performance value change, and identifying a crop health anomaly based on the geographic region performance change and an expected geographic region performance value change. Determining the geographic region performance value for the image element can include determining a vegetative performance value for the image element, mapping the image element to a crop type, and normalizing the vegetative performance value.
US09638677B2

When setting analysis conditions, an analysis operator sets, on a dwell-time calculation/loop-time listing window, the target value of a loop time corresponding to the measurement-time interval to repeat an analysis for one ion, and clicks a dwell time calculation button. Then, a dwell time calculator computes the dwell time for each event, based on the target value of the loop time, the arrangement of events set at that point in time, the number of target ion species set in each event, and other conditional factors. The calculated result is displayed in a dwell time calculation result display field in a listing table. The largest and smallest values of the dwell time are displayed in the largest/smallest dwell time display field. The analysis operator checks this display and changes the target value of the loop time and/or the measurement time of the event so as to achieve an appropriate dwell time.
US09638674B2

An autosampler includes a flow path switching valve to which a sample push unit and an analysis flow path are connected, a sample loop connected to the flow path switching valve, a sampling needle connected to the flow path switching valve, a metering pump connected to the flow path switching valve, and a control unit for controlling operations of the flow path switching valve and the metering pump. The control unit includes an injection volume addition unit for adding up injection volume of a same sample component injected into the sample loop.
US09638670B2

A pipe scanning apparatus includes a scanner collar fitted around the outside of a pipe with tools for inspecting or modifying the pipe, a tubular fabric pipe sheath fitted around the outside of the pipe and connected at an end to the scanner collar, and a powered winch or manually operable reel configured to draw in the tubular fabric pipe sheath so as to scan the scanner collar connected to the end of the tubular fabric pipe sheath over the pipe. The tubular fabric pipe sheath may include inelastic warp fibers running parallel with the pipe and elastic weft fibers running around the pipe. The pipe sheath may include at least one longitudinal slit with a slit fastener, and may include two such slits on opposite sides so that the pipe sheath is separable into two sheath halves.
US09638668B2

To provide a surface property inspection apparatus, surface property inspection system, and surface property inspection method capable of inspecting the surface processing state of processed material subjected to surface processing such as shot-peening, heat treatment, or nitriding with high accuracy and low vulnerability to temperature changes in the inspection environment. Surface property inspection apparatus is furnished with a AC power supply, a AC bridge circuit, and an evaluation device; AC bridge circuit comprises variable resistor with which distribution ratio γ is variable, reference detector, and inspection detector. Inspection detector is furnished with a coil wound so as to oppose the surface property inspection region of object under inspection M, and by supplying AC power from AC power supply to coil, an eddy current is excited in object under inspection M. Thus the magnetic properties of object under inspection M can be detected, and inspection of surface properties based on the output signal from AC power supply is possible.
US09638661B2

A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for generating an electric or pressure difference force that induces a plurality of particles to flow through a through-hole. Independently adjustable heat source in a vicinity of the through-hole induces a thermodynamic force for modifying the flow of the plurality of particles through the through-hole. Additional embodiments are disclosed.
US09638656B2

Various embodiments that allow for a more accurate analyte concentration by determining at least one physical characteristic, particularly hematocrit, of the blood sample containing the analyte, particularly glucose, and deriving a specific sampling time based on a relationship between the physical characteristic and sampling time so that the analyte concentration can be determined with greater accuracy with the specific sampling time point.
US09638652B2

Hundreds of thousands of concrete bridges and hundreds of billions of tons of concrete require characterization with time for corrosion. Accordingly, protocols for rapid testing and improved field characterization systems that automatically triangulate electrical resistivity and half-cell corrosion potential measurements would be beneficial allowing discrete/periodic mapping of a structure to be performed as well as addressing testing for asphalt covered concrete. Further, it is the low frequency impedance of rebar in concrete that correlates to corrosion state but these are normally time consuming vulnerable to noise. Hence, it would be beneficial to provide a means of making low frequency electrical resistivity measurements rapidly. Further, prior art techniques for electrical rebar measurements require electrical connection be made to the rebar which increases measurement complexity/disruption/repair/cost even when no corrosion is identified. Beneficially a method of determining the state of a rebar without electrical contact is taught.
US09638650B2

A piezoelectric element feeder for feeding a piezoelectric element, includes a drawing unit that draws a first electrode surface of the piezoelectric element with use of negative pressure and transfers the piezoelectric element onto the actuator attaching part and a probe movably supported with the drawing unit and used to measure electric characteristics of the piezoelectric element. A front end of the probe is brought into contact with the first electrode surface when or just before the drawing unit draws the first electrode surface, to enable a measurement of the electric characteristics of the piezoelectric element.
US09638649B2

The invention allows determining a local change of an admixture concentration in a fluid flow at an entrance to a measurement cell. The change of the admixture concentration in time inside the measurement cell is first determined for a fluid containing the admixture, the change of concentration of which in time at the entrance to the measurement cell is known. Then, an impulse response of the cell is found applying the deconvolution method. The change of the admixture concentration inside the measurement cell is then determined for a fluid being studied with an unknown concentration of the admixture at the entrance. The unknown concentration is determined using the impulse response of the measurement cell and the change of the admixture concentration inside the cell.
US09638647B2

The invention relates to a method of determining the retention capacity of fuel vapor filters for motor vehicles, wherein a temperature profile of the fuel is recorded on a motor vehicle in a SHED chamber during a temperature cycle. A fuel vapor volumetric flow for a temperature change is calculated from the temperature profile. In a measurement arrangement (1) fuel is evaporated by means of an evaporator (2) and is output by means of a charging pump (9) to a fuel vapor filter (4) disposed in an oven (5). The bleed emissions of the fuel vapor filter (4) are measured at least during the charging.
US09638646B2

The present invention is directed toward an X-ray scanner that has an electron source and an anode. The anode has a target surface with a series of material areas spaced along it in a scanning direction. The material areas are formed from different materials. The electron source is arranged to direct electrons at a series of target areas of the target surface, in a predetermined order, so as to generate X-ray beams having different energy spectra.
US09638645B2

The present invention provides deterioration analysis method which allows a detailed analysis of deterioration, especially deterioration of surface conditions, of a polymer material. The present invention relates to a deterioration analysis method, including irradiating a polymer material with high intensity X-rays, and measuring X-ray absorption while varying the energy of the X-rays, to analyze deterioration of the polymer.
US09638642B2

An apparatus and a method for optically scanning a surface of an object under an adverse external condition to which optical components are subjected, such as cameras and lighting sources sensitive to soiling, make use of a first imaging sensor unit having its optical components subjected to the adverse external condition, and being configured for generating reflection intensity image data associated with a target surface. A second imaging sensor unit having its optical components substantially not subjected to the adverse external condition, is configured for generating reflection intensity image data associated with a reference surface. Correction data are calculated from a comparison between the reflected intensity image data associated with the target and reference surfaces, which correction data are then applied to the reflected intensity image data associated with the target surface to generate corrected intensity image data compensating for the adverse external condition.
US09638630B2

Devices, assemblies, systems and methods useful in the detection of hydrocarbons in well-related fluids such as drilling fluids during well-related operations are disclosed. Such devices, assemblies, systems and methods may be used for real-time analysis of gas(es) extracted from a fluid associated with an ongoing well-related operation. An exemplary method may comprise: receiving gas extracted from the fluid associated with the well-related operation; analyzing the gas using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy; and generating one or more signals useful in the determination of a composition of the gas extracted from the fluid.
US09638628B2

A gas analysis system and method filter different wavelengths of incident light using a variable light filter at different locations along a length of the variable light filter to form filtered light. The variable light filter is configured to be disposed between a light source generating plural different wavelengths of the incident light and a gas sample. Intensities of wavelengths of the filtered light are determined after the incident light generated by the light source passes through the variable light filter and the gas sample. The gas sample may be identified from among different potential gasses based on the intensity of the one or more wavelengths of the filtered light that is determined by the light detector.
US09638625B2

An apparatus for filtering species in a fluid includes a body having a first side and a second side, a first set of nano-fingers positioned on the body near the first side, a second set of nano-fingers positioned on the body closer to the second side than the first set of nano-fingers, wherein the nano-fingers in the second set of nano-fingers are arranged on the body at a relatively more densely than the nano-fingers in the first set of nano-fingers, and a cover positioned over the first set of nano-fingers and the second set of nano-fingers to form a channel with the body within which the first and second sets of nano-fingers are positioned.
US09638623B2

In some aspects of the present disclosure, methods of detecting coincident sample events are provided. The methods include receiving a first set of signal data representing detected signals from a flow cytometer system; detecting, with a peak detection module, one or more peaks within the signal data; and cancelling, with a successive cancellation module, one or more individual sample events from the signal data at corresponding time indexes, wherein the cancellation of more than one individual sample event is successive. Devices and system related thereto are also provided.
US09638621B2

A method for identifying, analyzing, and quantifying the cellular components of whole blood by means of an automated hematology analyzer and the detection of the light scattered, absorbed, and fluorescently emitted by each cell. More particularly, the aforementioned method involves identifying, analyzing, and quantifying the cellular components of whole blood by means of a light source having a wavelength ranging from about 400 nm to about 450 nm and multiple in-flow optical measurements and staining without the need for lysing red blood cells.
US09638618B2

This assembly includes a measuring device (50) including a container (60) and an insert (62) arranged in the container (60). The measuring device (50) includes a means (68) for driving the container (60) in rotation around a central axis, the container (60) and the insert (62) defining an intermediate space (64) between them for measuring the drilling fluid. The assembly includes a control and measurement unit (58), capable of recording information representative of the force applied by the drilling fluid on the insert (62) during the rotation of the container (60). The assembly includes an intake pipe (84) for bringing drilling fluid to be measured into the intermediate space (94) and a pump (82), comprising an inlet connected to a sampling head (80) and an outlet connected to the intake pipe (84) to pump the drilling fluid towards the intermediate space (64).
US09638616B2

Devices and methods for gravimetric sensing are disclosed. A gravimetric sensor includes a piezoelectric resonator and an encapsulating layer formed on the surface of the resonator. The encapsulating layer defines a channel within the encapsulating layer on the surface of the resonator. The sensor is fabricated by forming a piezoelectric resonator, forming a sacrificial layer on a surface of the piezoelectric resonator, forming an encapsulating layer over the sacrificial layer on the resonator, and etching the sacrificial layer to remove the sacrificial layer and form a channel on the surface of the resonator. The sensor is used by supplying the liquid to the channel of the gravimetric sensor, operating the piezoelectric resonator, detecting a change in a resonant frequency of the resonator, and determining a presence of the analyte in the liquid from the change in resonant frequency of the resonator.
US09638615B2

In a method for recognizing an entry of a motor vehicle into a traffic lane of a road opposite a driving direction of the traffic lane, a stop line of the traffic lane is detected and a wrong driving direction of the motor vehicle is recognized if the motor vehicle has crossed the stop line upon entry into the traffic lane.
US09638610B2

Disclosed is a sample processing apparatus that comprises a rack with positions to hold sample tubes, the rack including a rack identification suited to a kind of sample tube, a rack set unit that accepts the rack in a detachable manner, a tube transfer unit with mechanical movement to grab and take out each sample tube from a rack held in the rack set unit, a rack detector comprising a sensor to detect the rack identification of the rack held in the rack set unit, and a controller that controls movement of the tube transfer unit based on a detection result of the rack detector.
US09638605B2

An adapter assembly for testing an engine includes an adapter plate including an engagement face, an engagement assembly positioned at least partially within the adapter plate, where at least a portion of the engagement assembly extends outward from the adapter plate in an axial direction, the engagement assembly including a through member extending in the axial direction through the engagement assembly, a mandrel assembly positioned at least partially within the adapter plate and extending in the axial direction, and an expandable claw assembly engaged with the mandrel assembly, where the expandable claw assembly is repositionable between an engaged position, in which the expandable claw assembly has an engaged diameter, and a disengaged position, in which the expandable claw assembly has a disengaged diameter that is less than the engaged diameter.
US09638603B2

A spatial modulator is configured by arranging a plurality of modulating units in an X-axis direction, the modulating units each including at least one light modulating element having a fixed reflecting surface with a constant height from a base surface and a movable reflecting surface with a variable height from the base surface. The spatial modulator spatially modulates a laser beam by the plurality of modulating units. A driver circuit unit applies a voltage corresponding to a driving value to each of the plurality of modulating units, to drive the modulating units individually. A shift amount acquiring portion acquires a driving value at a reference time point and a driving value at an inspecting time point which correspond to a specific light amount value, and acquires a differential value thereof as a shift amount.
US09638584B2

A differential on-chip temperature sensor circuit can be implemented in a standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process using PNP transistors. A pair of transistors have collector currents that are sensitive to voltage, both directly and due to saturation currents. A scaling resistor connects to the emitter of one transistor and its voltage compared to the other transistor's emitter voltage by an error amplifier that generates a bias voltage to current sources that are proportional to absolute temperature since the saturation current sensitivity is subtracted out. The current is mirrored to sink current through a multiplier resistor from an output. An amplifier connected across the multiplier resistor compares a reference voltage to set the DC bias independent of temperature sensitivity. The temperature sensitivity is proportional to the ratio of the multiplier resistor and the scaling resistor, and is multiplied by a mirroring factor. A differential output is provided.
US09638581B2

According to embodiments of the present invention, a semiconductor substrate is formed on at least a portion of a surface of a semiconductor substrate. The emitting layer is excited for a first predetermined time period. A first luminescent intensity value of the emitting layer is determined. In response to exposing the semiconductor substrate and the emitting layer to a condition for a second predetermined time period, a second luminescent intensity value of the emitting layer is determined. A thermal profile of at least the portion of the surface of the semiconductor substrate is determined utilizing the first luminescent intensity value and the second luminescent intensity value of the emitting layer. The thermal profile at least reflects information about one or more of the condition and the semiconductor substrate subsequent to exposure to the condition.
US09638574B2

There is provided a measurement apparatus of measuring signal light quality. The measurement apparatus may include: a tunable wavelength filter configured to be input signal lights having different power levels; a measure configured to measure an optical power level of light passing through the tunable wavelength filter; and a controller configured to calculate a non-linear noise component and a spontaneous emission component of a signal light based on the measured optical power levels, the optical power levels being measured at different transmission frequencies for each of the signal lights having the different power levels in response to a control of the transmission frequency of the tunable wavelength filter.
US09638573B2

A method of estimating an in-focus level of a target in an image scanning apparatus is provided, wherein the image scanning apparatus comprises a first line scan detector configured to obtain one or more image scan lines of the target and a second line scan detector configured to obtain one or more focus scan lines of the target. The method comprises obtaining at least one image scan line of the target using the first line scan detector, each at least one image scan line being obtained at a respective focus level; obtaining at least one focus scan line of the target using the second line scan detector, each at least one focus scan line being obtained at a respective focus level; calculating at least one focus parameter using at least one focus scan line; and estimating a nominal in-focus level of the target using the calculated focus parameter(s).
US09638569B2

A liquid level detector may comprise an arm attached to a float, a holder fixed to the arm, and a body rotatably supporting the holder. The body may comprise a first rotation regulator and a second rotation regulator. The first rotation regulator may regulate a rotation angle range of the arm to a first range. The second rotation regulator may regulate the rotation angle range of the arm to a second range. The first range and the second range may not overlap each other in a rotation direction of the arm. Each of the plurality of rotation regulators may comprise a pair of stoppers disposed separately from each other in the rotation direction of the arm. At least a part of area between the pair of stoppers of the each of the plurality of rotation regulators may be open to outside of the body.
US09638567B2

The present invention relates to a guided wave radar level gauge for determining a filling level of a product contained in a tank, said guided wave radar level gauge i.a. comprising a probe comprising a plurality of elongate probe sections each being pivotably connected to an adjacent probe section by means of a joint, said joint allowing probe sections to pivot between an operating state where said probe sections are substantially aligned along a straight line, and a transporting state. The present invention also relates to a probe, and to a method for arranging a guided wave radar level gauge in a tank.
US09638566B2

The present application discloses a method for measuring pressurized liquid fuel level in a fuel tank used on a vehicle comprising measuring the pressure of the fuel to generate a pressure signal and measuring the temperature of the fuel to generate a temperature signal. A fuel level signal is determined from the pressure signal and the temperature signal and changes in the fuel level signal are determined over time. A first point of the fuel level signal indicating approaching emptying of the tank is identified when changes in the fuel level signal exceed a given value and the approaching emptying of the tank is signaled to an operator of the vehicle in response to identifying the first point. Also disclosed is a fuel level meter system comprising a display comprising a series of at least three light sources arranged in a generally vertical column with a bottommost one of the at least three light sources being of a first color and light sources above the bottommost one of the at least three light sources being of a second color.
US09638565B2

A level gauge for determining the level of a liquid in a vessel includes lenticular lens assembly allowing a plurality of level indicator flags enclosed therein to be viewed from a wide angle. The indicator flags have an elongated body manufactured from a sheet of material, and form a central pocket for retaining a magnet, and pins on either end for mounting within a frame. A mounting frame positions the lens assembly whereby an open channel is formed between the lens assembly and a back plate. The mounting frame is mounted to the vessel using spacers forming an open gap between the mounting frame and vessel. The open channel and gap minimize the transfer of heat from the vessel to the level gauge. The passage of a float with a magnet on the liquid in the vessel rotates the flags.
US09638564B2

Embodiments described herein generally relate to devices, systems and methods for measuring the dose remaining in a drug delivery device that is used for delivering a dose to a patient. In some embodiments, a dose measurement system for measuring the liquid volume in a container includes a plurality of light sources which are disposed and configured to emit electromagnetic radiation toward the container. A plurality of sensors are located in the apparatus that are optically coupleable to the plurality of light sources and are disposed and configured to detect the electromagnetic radiation emitted by at least a portion of the light sources. The apparatus also includes a processing unit configured to receive data representing the portion of the detected electromagnetic radiation from each of the plurality of sensors. The processing unit is further operable to convert the received data into a signature representative of the electromagnetic radiation detected by the plurality of sensors.
US09638560B2

In a gas supply device supplying many different gases to a gas use portion through many flow rate controllers, a flow rate controller calibration unit includes a build-up tank with inner volume, an inlet side on-off valve and an outlet side on-off valve V2 of the tank, and a gas pressure detector and a gas temperature detector for gas inside the tank, joined in a branched form to a gas supply line, with the valve V2 connected to vacuum. The calibration unit is used to calibrate a flow rate controller based on performing a first measurement of gas temperature and pressure inside the tank, and then building-up gas into the tank, and then performing a second measurement of gas temperature and pressure, and from respective measured values, calculating gas flow rate Q and by comparing a set gas flow rate and calculated gas flow rate Q, performing flow rate calibration.
US09638559B1

Featured are systems and methods for measuring differential and absolute pressure of a flowing fluid/gas in a fluid system. In such a method the fluid system is configured with first and second pressure taps that are spaced from each so the second pressure tap is downstream of the first pressure tap in a direction of flow. An absolute pressure sense element and a differential pressure sense element are provided, where the absolute pressure sense element is first fluidly coupled to one of the first or second pressure tap to measure an absolute pressure representative of the flowing fluid/gas. The differential pressure sense element is second fluidly coupled to each of the first and second pressure taps so as to measure a differential pressure of the flowing fluid/gas between the first and second pressure taps.
US09638558B2

In situ spacing-correcting heat pulse sensor for measuring sap flow or water flux includes: a holder; a temperature probe or two (sometimes there will be more than two) mounted on the holder; and a heating probe mounted on the holder; wherein two or three thermometric elements are provided axially in the same temperature probe, all the thermometric elements are connected to a data collector, a heating wire is mounted in the heating probe, and the heating wire is connected to a power supply. A measuring method thereof is also provided. In practice, by arranging at least two thermometric elements in each temperature probe, measurement errors of sap flow in plant or soil water flux caused by factors such as deflection of the temperature probe or the heating probe are reduced. Furthermore, the sensor is simple in structure, low in cost, convenient in utilization, and accurate in measurement.
US09638554B2

The strain gauge holder 1 includes a holder body 10 on a side surface of a pipe 3, a gauge pressing member 21 for pressing a strain gauge 2 against the side surface of the pipe, and a feed mechanism for giving a pressing force to the gauge pressing member. The guide grooves 12 guide the gauge pressing members. The feed mechanism feeds the gauge pressing member in the guide groove to press the strain gauge 2 against the side surface of the pipe 3. The feed mechanism includes cylindrical portion 32a, bushing 32, and feed screw 31. Each of the feed screws 31 threadedly inserted into the bushing mounted on the holder body is threadedly inserted to feed the gauge pressing member.
US09638553B2

A handset for inspecting a target object with a sensor in an inspection module is disclosed. The handset includes a housing having a grip portion adapted to be held by a person, the housing adapted to selectively mechanically engage with the inspection module, a handset interface on the housing adapted to exchange signals with the inspection module, a handset processor, a user input interface accessible to the person gripping the grip portion and adapted to provide a control signal to the handset processor, and a user output interface responsive to the handset processor to display the data transmitted by the handset processor about the target object.
US09638552B2

A module for a gas sensor module is described herein. The module can include a first portion. The first portion of the module can include a first body and at least one first micro-resonator coupling feature disposed in and traversing the first body. The first body can be configured to be disposed within a cavity of a housing of the gas sensor. The at least one first micro-resonator coupling feature can be configured to align with at least one optical device of the gas sensor when the first body is disposed within the cavity of housing of the gas sensor. The at least one first micro-resonator coupling feature can be configured to have at least one first micro-resonator disposed therein.
US09638551B2

A pointing device includes a pointer having light guiding properties, a cap that is attached to the pointer and has light blocking properties, a pointing shaft that is vertically formed on a proximal end portion of the pointer, and a light blocking member. The light blocking member includes a cylindrical main body having both end portions for inserting the pointing shaft and a rotary shaft of a motor having light guiding properties respectively thereinto to prevent illuminating light propagating through the rotary shaft from a light source and entering the pointing shaft from leaking from an outer peripheral surface of the pointing shaft.
US09638547B2

A three-magnet assembly configured for use in a position sensing system is disclosed. In an example, the three-magnet assembly establishes a non-linear spatially varying magnetic field configured to be measured by a magnetic field measurement device so that resolvable measurements are spatially distributed in a non-linear fashion. The resolvable measurements are distributed to a relatively higher concentration in at least one first region along a measurement stroke and to a relatively lower concentration in at least one second region along a measurement stroke, the second region being different from the first region. In an example, the different concentrations of resolvable measurements are utilized to spatially vary the precision of a position sensor along a measurement stroke. A system and methods for correlating magnetic field measurements to expected positions are also disclosed.
US09638545B2

In the present invention, a power monitoring unit (330) estimates the integral power consumption on the basis of an obtained actual value or amount of change of power consumption. When the estimated value for the integral power consumption as estimated by the power monitoring unit (330) reaches a prescribed amount of power, a presentation unit (204) presents a warning, on the basis of the power values obtained by a load power meter (340), indicating a list of loads for which the power consumption should be controlled.
US09638538B2

A street-level view can realistically reflect that objects occlude depicted route paths. Such objects can include guardrails, buildings, or any of a variety of other objects as described herein. A superior user experience that portrays route paths while taking real-world geometry into account can result.
US09638531B2

A mobile device associated with a road vehicle or the like, has a mapping or navigation functionality configured to determining whether the vehicle is in a forwards or backwards driving mode. When a change of driving mode is detected, the mapping functionality effectively resets so that the transition between driving modes is rendered smoothly and efficiently.
US09638530B2

A method and system for distribution of 3D sound in a vehicle comprising two speakers arranged spaced apart in close vicinity of a head of a vehicle operator. The vehicle operator can look in multiple directions, and the system for distribution of 3D sound comprises means to determine at least one of angle and gaze direction of the head of the vehicle operator. Furthermore, the distribution of the 3D sound is based on the determined angle or gaze direction of the head of the vehicle operator.
US09638528B2

The present disclosure relates to a method and an apparatus for displaying a geographic location. The method comprises providing a terminal device to a user, wherein the terminal device includes a processor and a screen. Through a processor of the terminal device, the method comprises receiving a positioning instruction from the user; acquiring a first location based on the positioning instruction; acquiring information of at least one point of interest (POI) associated with the first location; displaying the first location on a map displayed in a first display area on the screen; and displaying a first POI list in a second display area on the screen, wherein the first POI list includes at least one entry being displayed in a first order, each entry includes the information of a POI in the at least one POI.
US09638523B2

A controller (26) of a surveying instrument including a GPS receiver (28) and a transmitter and receiver section (24) for communicating with a prism device including a GPS receiver (58), an atmospheric pressure sensor (60), a temperature sensor (32), and a transmitter and receiver section (54) for communicating with the surveying instrument calculates an azimuth angle of the prism device when viewed from the surveying instrument and a distance therebetween from positions of the prism device and surveying instrument obtained from the GPS receivers, further calculates an elevation angle of the prism device when viewed from the surveying instrument from the distance and atmospheric pressures at the positions of the prism device and surveying instrument, and issues a rotation command to a horizontal drive section (16) and a vertical drive section (18), so that a collimating telescope can be immediately and automatically directed toward a reflecting prism for measurement.
US09638522B2

A total station including an electro-optical distance measuring unit and a scanning functionality is disclosed. The total station may include an analysis unit for analysis of the registered measuring signal data and conversion thereof into scanning points for a point cloud, whereby a point cloud having the scanning points can be generated. The distance measuring unit may be configured in such a manner that the distance measurement can be carried out by means of runtime measurement and/or waveform digitizing (WFD). In addition, the total station may have a program storage unit which may provide at least two scanning modes, wherein the at least two scanning modes differ at least in a measuring rate such as, for example, in the number of scanning points per unit of time.
US09638520B2

The disclosure relates to a measuring apparatus, in particular a handheld measuring apparatus, for measuring a target object in a multidimensional manner, wherein the distance to individual object points of the target object is sequentially measured, in particular using a phase-measuring system, which apparatus has at least: a transmitting device for emitting optical measuring radiation towards the target object; a receiving device having a detection area for detecting optical measuring radiation returning from the target object; a scanning system for deflecting the optical measuring radiation, and an evaluation device for determining measured distance values. The detection area of the receiving device has a plurality of pixels, wherein each pixel has at least one SPAD, and wherein each of the plurality of pixels is connected to the evaluation device. The disclosure also relates to a measuring device having such a measuring apparatus.
US09638512B2

A handheld dimensioning system that analyzes a depth map for null-data pixels to provide feedback is disclosed. Null-data pixels correspond to missing range data and having too many in a depth map may lead to dimensioning errors. Providing feedback based on the number of null-data pixels helps a user understand and adapt to different dimensioning conditions, promotes accuracy, and facilitates handheld applications.
US09638506B2

A wrench selector system for efficiently selecting a wrench based on the head size of a fastener or nut. The wrench selector system generally includes: a housing including a display unit; first and second prongs protruding from said housing, wherein first and second grippings are adjoined to said first and second prongs, respectively; and a control button positioned on said first gripping to allow for holding and computing of at least one of a head size of a fastener or nut; wherein said computing is displayed on said display unit.
US09638504B1

A warhead fuse mechanism is used to prevent an accidental explosive event of a warhead by separating the booster lead into a plurality of booster lead segments, with each of the individual booster lead segments having a diameter less than the failure diameter of the booster lead explosive. A separating device separates the booster lead segments from each other to maintain the failure diameter until detonation is desired.
US09638500B1

A fragmentation warhead with a flexible liner enables increased control of the warhead's fragmentation pattern. The flexible liner is fixed to a rigid portion of the warhead housing. Explosive material is contained in the housing. A fluid is disposed between the explosive material and the flexible liner to function as a shock transition material. The fluid is contiguous with and bears on an inner surface of the flexible liner. A plurality of rigid fragments or a plurality of explosively formed projectile (EFP) liners are fixed to an outer surface of the flexible liner opposite the fluid. Initiation of the explosive material propels the fragments or EFP liners in directions that may be varied by varying the shape of the flexible liner.
US09638489B1

A bow string release has a housing encasing a battery, circuit board, mechanical linkage, and a trigger to actuate the mechanical linkage. The trigger and circuit board operatively energize an electro-mechanical device such as a solenoid, which produces linear motion. A roller terminating the solenoid engages a pivotal drive cam to convert the linear motion into rotary motion. A follower link couples the pivotal drive cam to a string hook. Proper arrangement of the linkages ensures a slight over-center biasing of the linkages to securely hold a bow string, while also ensuring that only a minimal force generated by the solenoid will be required to release the string.
US09638479B2

Systems according to the present disclosure provide one or more surfaces that function as heat or power radiating surfaces for which at least a portion of the radiating surface includes or is composed of “fractal cells” placed sufficiently closed close together to one another so that a surface (plasmonic) wave causes near replication of current present in one fractal cell in an adjacent fractal cell. A fractal of such a fractal cell can be of any suitable fractal shape and may have two or more iterations. The fractal cells may lie on a flat or curved sheet or layer and be composed in layers for wide bandwidth or multibandwidth transmission. The area of a surface and its number of fractals determines the gain relative to a single fractal cell. The boundary edges of the surface may be terminated resistively so as to not degrade the cell performance at the edges.
US09638477B1

A cooling device configured to be connected to an object having a surface is disclosed. The cooling device may include a manifold configured to be deposited directly onto the surface of the object, wherein the manifold includes a first side configured to be deposited directly onto the surface of the object, a cavity formed in the first side, an inlet channel fluidly connected to the cavity, and an outlet channel fluidly connected to the cavity. The cooling device may further include a turbulator configured to be deposited directly onto the surface of the object, wherein the turbulator extends into the cavity of the manifold.
US09638475B2

A heat exchanger and battery unit structure is provided for cooling battery units (or cells) where the thermally conductive nature of the battery forms a cooling path. The heat exchanger is in the form of a cooling element provided with an engaging device formed on or attached to an outer surface of the cooling plate for receiving and/or engaging with a corresponding engaging portion on a battery unit (or cell). The interconnection between the battery unit (or cell) and heat exchanger creates a mechanical interlock between the two components that results in improved heat transfer properties between the two components.
US09638467B2

Apparatus for continuously conveying and pre-heating a metal charge inside a container of a melting plant, includes at least a channel for conveying the metal charge, at least a hood disposed above the conveyor channel defining a tunnel and/or an expansion chamber, inside which at least part of the fumes exiting from the container advance, and apertures made in cooperation with lateral walls of the conveyor channel to discharge the fumes. The conveyor channel includes an activator that divert the fumes and/or delimit the zone occupied by the metal charge of the conveyor channel, and that cooperate longitudinally with at least part of the conveyor channel.
US09638464B2

A dual tumble dryer unit that includes a housing that defines an interior, a divider that extends between first and second side walls and divides the interior into first and second sections, and first and second dryer assemblies that are positioned in the first and second sections. The first and second dryer assemblies each include a basket positioned to rotate about a horizontal axis, and a blower disposed positioned to blow air on the basket. A first drying path is defined between a first entry opening defined in the first side wall, the first basket and a first exit opening defined in the second side wall, and a second drying path is defined between a second entry opening defined in the first side wall, the second basket and a second exit opening defined in the second side wall.
US09638463B2

An air circulation system adapted to dry floors that is segregated and separately controllable from the building's HVAC system. The system includes an air duct having an inlet and an outlet, a fan, and a heater. The inlet is adapted to drawn air in from either the surrounding environment or is connectable to the building's existing air circulation ductwork. The system is designed so that the outlet is positionable adjacently to a floor surface when the system is installed in a wall or to the exterior surface of a wall, thereby allowing the fan to blow air directly over the surface of the floor, increasing the efficiency with which the floor is dried. The present system further comprises a wireless transceiver for wirelessly controlling the functionality of the present system and various other activation mechanisms for separately controlling the fan and the heater without requiring direct user input.
US09638459B2

A refrigerator includes a cabinet provided with a storage compartment, a lower drawer provided in the cabinet and connected to the door, an upper drawer provided in the cabinet, and positioned over the lower drawer, and an intermediate drawer positioned between the upper drawer and the lower drawer. The lower drawer includes a first stopper. The intermediate drawer includes an actuator movable forwards by the first stopper of the lower drawer when the door is opened, to move the upper drawer.
US09638458B2

A refrigerator may include a cabinet defined with a storage chamber therein, and a shelf assembly mounted in the storage chamber provided with a vertically movable shelf. The shelf assembly includes a guide member mounted in the storage chamber while having guide slots inclinedly formed at side walls of the guide member. The shelf is supported by the guide member to be vertically movable. Guide protrusions are provided at opposite lateral ends of the shelf to protrude laterally and are supported by the guide slots in a state of being slidably engaged in the guide slots. The guide slots have bent upper ends forming upper seats to support the guide protrusions. Each upper seat is formed such that a straight vertical line extending downwards from a center of the upper seat passes through a center of a lower seat formed at the corresponding guide slot.
US09638457B2

The invention relates to a cooling unit (1) for chilled, in particular frozen, goods, comprising a cooling chamber (2), a housing wall (3) that at least partially delimits the cooling chamber (2), a carrier (8) that bridges the cooling chamber (2) at least in some regions and has a covering (14) and a support profile (15) for absorbing bending stresses, which profile is at least partially covered by the covering (14), and at least one sliding cover (4, 5, 6, 7), by means of which the cooling chamber (2) can be at least partially closed and which is mounted in a slidable manner on the covering (14) of the carrier (8) and on the housing wall (3) by way of linear guides (9, 10, 11) of the cooling unit (1). In order to provide a stable and user-friendly cooling unit (1), the support profile (15) runs at least partially beneath the linear guide (10, 11).
US09638454B2

A refrigeration appliance, particularly a household refrigeration appliance, has a storage space for cooled material, wherein at least one passage for the flow of air into and out of the storage space is formed in a wall delimiting the storage space. The passage can be closed by a movable closure element. A fan for driving an air flow is arranged in the storage space and can be operated with the passage closed.
US09638450B2

An ice making system for a refrigerator, comprises: a base member; an icemaker mounted to a front surface of the base member for making ice pieces; a driving unit mounted to a rear surface of the base member such that a motor shaft thereof is in a horizontal state; an ice bank horizontally inserted into the base member in a detachable manner, for storing the ice pieces made by the icemaker; a detachable mounting unit for detachably mounting the ice bank to the base member; and an ice crusher assembly provided at the ice bank so as to be connected to or separated from the driving unit, for crushing the ice pieces. Since the ice bank has only to be horizontally pushed into the base member for coupling, or horizontally pulled out of the base member for separation, processes for coupling or separating the ice bank to/from the base member are facilitated. This prevents the ice pieces stored in the ice bank from being discharged out of the ice bank.
US09638448B2

A refrigeration cycle system is capable of reducing an amount of information required to be specified in advance, reducing a computational processing load, reflecting differences in actual installation conditions, and speeding up stabilization of an operational state in which the total amount of required input energy is reduced. A refrigeration cycle system is provided with a plurality of actuators, including outdoor fan motors, compressors, indoor fan motors, and the like for causing a refrigerant circuit to carry out a refrigeration cycle. A control unit obtains the slope at the current evaporation temperature and/or the current condensing temperature on a graph of the function between the actuators and the evaporation temperature or the condensing temperature, and updates the value of the target evaporation temperature and/or the target condensing temperature so that the sum of the input energy to the actuators is less that the current level.
US09638441B2

A cryogenic refrigerator includes a Scotch yoke mechanism including a Scotch yoke and a bearing movably engaged with the Scotch yoke, and a displacer caused to reciprocate in a cylinder by the Scotch yoke mechanism, so that a refrigerant gas inside an expansion space formed in the cylinder is expanded by the reciprocation of the displacer to generate cold temperatures. The Scotch yoke includes a concave part at a position corresponding to a top dead center of the displacer.
US09638434B2

Heating, ventilating and air conditioning are provided to a temporary, flexible shelter, especially in a rugged, remote and/or extreme environment, including locations and/or conditions where access to electric power may be limited and/or expensive. A portable system may include a light weight HVAC unit, with variable-speed components that are dynamically managed for efficiency, reliability and safety, and a flexible, self-insulating duct for connecting the HVAC unit to the temporary shelter.
US09638432B2

A ventilation unit for installation in a ventilation system. The ventilation unit can include a motor coupled to a fan element and a power source. The ventilation unit can also include a calibration module having one of a voltage and current regulator for adjusting the performance of the ventilation unit based on at least one characteristic of the ventilation system.
US09638431B2

Enhancements to premises monitor or control device (e.g., thermostats, etc) are detailed herein. For example, enhanced relating to simplification of scheduling, are described as well as other enhancements relating to reducing device costs or consumption costs, providing richer features or more robust feature sets, and/or delivering associated product or services with increased simplicity, convenience, or ease.
US09638422B2

A fuel injector for a gas turbine engine includes an injector body having a feed arm with a nozzle body mounted thereto. A fuel conduit fluidly connects a fuel inlet portion of the feed arm to a fuel circuit in the nozzle body to form a fuel path through the injector body and an insulative gap is defined between the fuel conduit and an inside of the feed arm wall to thermally insulate the fuel path of the injector body. An aperture through the feed arm wall provides fluid communication between the insulative gap and ambient conditions existing on an outside of the feed arm wall.
US09638413B2

This invention reduces the amount of carbon monoxide introduced by a combustion system to the atmosphere, by furnishing a systems approach to optimize the amount of oxygen to be chemically combined with fuel upon ignition of both allowing the correct amount of carbon to combine with the correct amount of oxygen thus fully release the thermal energy stored therein. By so furnishing the level of oxygen with carbon of the fuel, more carbon dioxide is produced thus proportionally reduces the amount of carbon monoxide released to the atmosphere. The invention provides a heating system that surpasses the net and gross efficiency performance of a natural gas burner.
US09638412B2

The invention relates to a device and to an improved method for chemical looping combustion of at least one liquid hydrocarbon feed, comprising: mixing the liquid feed with an atomization gas so as to feed it into a metal oxide particle transport zone (2), upstream from combustion zone (3), through atomization means (6) allowing to form finely dispersed liquid droplets in the atomization gas; vaporization of the liquid feed in form of droplets into contact with at least part of metal oxide particles in transport zone (2), the operating conditions in transport zone (2) being so selected that the superficial gas velocity after vaporization of the liquid feed is higher than the transport velocity of the metal oxide particles; sending all of the effluents from transport zone (2) to a combustion zone (3) allowing reduction of the metal oxide particles, said combustion zone (3) comprising at least one dense-phase fluidized bed. The invention can be advantageously applied to CO2 capture and energy production.
US09638411B2

The present invention is a multifunctional electronic light emitting removable grip sleeve for a paintbrush. A paintbrush is to be inserted into an encasement to improve handling and control over the paintbrush. The encasement is ergonomic and smoothly contours to the hand of a painter or user. Within the encasement are two elastic walls that can be tapered to allow the handle of a paintbrush to become lodged as it is inserted. Atop the encasement is a plurality of illuminating sources, preferably LED's, which are used to direct light onto a painted surface. Additionally, a multitude of electronic components can be installed into the present invention in increase productivity and provide convenience for the painter. For example, Bluetooth technology can be implemented into the encasement, similar to cellular phones, along with a radio scanner, a stereo system, and a USB port. Painting is facilitated by using the present invention.
US09638410B2

A mirror assembly can include a housing, a mirror, and a light source. In certain embodiments, the mirror includes a light pipe configured to emit a substantially constant amount of light along a periphery of the mirror. In some embodiments, the mirror assembly includes a sensor assembly. The sensor assembly can be configured to adjust the amount of emitted light based on the position of a user in relation to the mirror. Certain embodiments of the mirror include an algorithm to adjust light based on the position of a user relative to the mirror, the level of ambient light, and/or the activation of different light modes.
US09638407B2

A heat sink for an outdoor lighting fixture includes a top portion and a skirt portion. The skirt portion extends down from an outer perimeter of the top portion. The top portion includes an elevated portion and a transition portion surrounding the elevated portion. The elevated portion and the transition portion define a cavity. The top portion further includes a planar portion surrounding the transition portion. The elevated portion is elevated above the planar portion.
US09638406B1

A energy-saving device of surgical light includes a suspension or support system; a light head carried on the suspension or support system and includes a housing, a grip mounted to the housing for hand holding and moving the light head, multiple light clusters mounted in the housing and each including at least one light source, and multiple detection pairs mounted in the housing and each including an emitter and a receiver, in which the emitter transmits a signal that is reflected by an external object to the receiver to detect the external object at a specific site and a specific distance from the light head; a light source driver operable to drive the light clusters according to the detection result of the detection pairs; and an operation interface connected to the light source driver and configured for energy saving modes of fixed light intensity and compensation light intensity.
US09638394B2

A system and method according to various embodiments can include a lighting fixture comprising a light source. A multilayer thin film coated reflector is applied to an outer light emitting surface of the lighting fixture. A top layer of the multilayer thin film coated reflector comprises a material including an anatase TiO crystal structure that exhibits antimicrobial properties when activated by the light source.
US09638393B2

The invention relates to a light distribution method for a COB module LED street lamp lens capable of illuminating 3 or 5 lanes. The light distribution method is characterized in that the light emitted by a COB module LED light source is firstly refracted by a drop-shaped refraction lens and then refracted secondarily by a light distribution curved surface lens to achieve an optimal irradiation effect. The light distribution method provides a foundation for the use of a single COB module LED light source in an urban road, and has the advantages of low cost and high efficiency.
US09638391B2

A nonlinear optical assembly of an alert light has two nonlinear optical halves obtained by symmetrically dividing the nonlinear optical assembly along an optical reference plane wherein each optical half has a base, which takes a nonlinear and curved form with one side thereof corresponding to the optical reference plane and having a junction surface, a light entrance portion and a light exit portion are on two opposite sides of the optical reference plane, and the two optical halves are assembled to form the nonlinear optical assembly with the junction surfaces therebetween. Given the light exit portions of the optical halves, each light entrance portion corresponds to multiple bulged portions for the nonlinear optical assembly to provide uniform lighting effect. The nonlinear optical assembly reduces molding and manufacturing requirements.
US09638387B2

A lighting unit (85) for use by a vulnerable road user such as a cyclist, the lighting unit being intended for use as a front light or a rear light, wherein the lighting unit displays a symbol or word that identifies the category of vulnerable road user. It may incorporate two distinct lights: one which is set to achieve light delivery comparable to current standard white front and red rear bike lights, whilst the other is the symbol or word display. The symbol or word display is designed to increase driver recognition, to improve driver reaction time, and to prime appropriate driving behaviour. For example the lighting unit (95) may be a rear light or a front light for a bicycle (10), arranged to display (80) the word BIKE or a symbol of a cyclist on a bicycle. The lighting unit (95) may also include a light source (103) with an external focusing lens.
US09638384B2

An assembly of a decorative trim on the exterior surface of a plastic cover lens of a headlamp. Locking means are molded on the outer side of the plastic cover lens, which extend out in a transverse direction (Y) pointing at an angle from the surface of the plastic cover lens. The decorative trim comprises locking means receivers into which the locking means engage, and at least one snapping means on the decorative trim and one complementary snapping means are provided on the plastic cover lens for securing the decorative trim against the transverse direction (Y).
US09638382B2

A modular assembly for a headlight includes at least one semiconductor light module having at least one semiconductor light source mounted on a cooling element, having at least one ball socket in which the semiconductor light module is mounted and configured to be pivoted about a ball socket center, a curved cup formed in the cooling element and configured to be mounted in the ball socket, and a guide shell arranged between the curved cup and the ball socket. A method for adjusting the semiconductor light module is also disclosed.
US09638381B2

A lighting system includes a linear light fixture and a linear blockout structure. The linear blockout structure includes a chamber in which the linear light fixture is mountable and side walls on opposite sides of the chamber engageable by flange portions of the linear light fixture when the linear light fixture and linear blockout structure are assembled together. A hinge structure includes first and second hinge components engaging each other such that when the linear blockout structure and linear lighting fixture are being assembled, they are rotatable with respect to each other at the hinge structure. First and second fastening components engage each other to hold the linear blockout structure and linear lighting fixture assembled together with the linear light fixture being disposed within the chamber of the linear blockout structure.
US09638379B2

A lighting device provides a storage tray or cavity. The lighting device includes a head section pivotally connected to a base section via a connection assembly. The head section includes a light source, and the base section includes a storage cavity with a magnetic floor. The connection assembly allows the head section to be variably positioned relative to the base section by pivoting simultaneously about mutually orthogonal axes, one of which is fixed relative to the base section, and the other of which is movable relative to the base section. The lighting device may optionally include removable tools, such as a telescopic pick-up tool, and/or various means for attaching the lighting device to a support.
US09638374B2

A method is provided for verifying integrity of a recirculation valve in a recirculation line of an LNG dispenser. The method includes: closing the recirculation valve and a fill valve in a supply line that supplies LNG; monitoring a mass of the LNG flowing through the recirculation line to ensure that the mass flowing therethrough is less than an acceptable threshold; and aborting any pending sales if the mass of the LNG flowing therethrough is not less than the acceptable threshold. According to another embodiment, a method is provided for verifying integrity of a vent valve in an LNG dispenser. The method includes: closing the vent valve and opening a fill valve in a supply line that supplies LNG; monitoring the pressure of the LNG within the fill hose to ensure that the pressure remains steady; and aborting any pending sales if the pressure does not remain steady.
US09638364B2

A coupling unit is disclosed which includes a sleeve opening that extends in the longitudinal direction and into which at least one medium-conveying plug element can be at least partially inserted, A support sleeve includes at least one circumferential pocket on an inner side that faces a plug element and defines the sleeve opening transverse to the longitudinal direction. A sliding element is arranged in the pocket and movably transferred from a release position into a coupling position during the insertion of the plug element. A sealing element is arranged between the sliding element and the pocket of the support sleeve in the release position and pre-stressed in the direction of the plug element. The sealing element is released by the sliding element in the coupling position in order to close and seal a potential gap formed between the support sleeve and the plug element.
US09638363B2

A hose connection piece (2), on which a sleeve-shaped insertion part (15) is arranged in the region of the outlet (14) of the passage channel (13) formed by a hose nipple (5) of the hose connection piece (2) and which is to be fastened on the nipple base body (12) of the hose nipple (5) by a snap-action or latching connection (16). The insertion part (15) can carry a sealing ring (7) for the contact flange (6) of the hose nipple (5) and/or axially secure a backflow preventer cartridge (26) which is introduced into the receiving space (25) of the hose nipple (5).
US09638358B2

A duct element for the exhaust system of a motor vehicle with an internal combustion engine, including at least one flexible duct part, preferably a bellows. The flexible duct part is embodied at least partially from a first type of steel with a Mo-content ≧4% or ≧6% and with a N-content from 0.3% to 0.6% or from 0.18% to 0.25%, preferably embodied from steel of the type 1.4565 or the type 1.4547. Furthermore a decoupling element is provided for motor vehicles with an internal combustion engine and a respective use of steel embodied with a Mo-content ≧4% or ≧6% and a N-content from 0.3% to 0.6% or from 0.18% to 0.25%, preferably steel of the type 1.4565 or 1.4547.
US09638355B2

A seal obstructs the migration of particulates and precipitation into a pipe fusion chamber through its pipe stick entry and pipeline exit passages. Sheets of cloth serially overlap the anticipated center axis of a pipe stick/pipeline which will pass through the machine. The outer edge of each sheet is pleated and fixed to a frame contiguous with the perimeter of the passage and the inner edge of each sheet is gathered on an elastic band. When a face of a pipe stick/pipeline pushes the sheets away from the frame, the pleats and bands cooperate to allow the inner edges of the sheets to slide over the face and hug substantially the entire outer circumference of the pipe stick/pipeline.
US09638353B2

A clip for securing a prestressed cable along a dovetail slot within a cement cast for masonry work. The clip contains a cup receiving the prestressed cable and legs for a fixed attachment to the outside of a dovetail bar. A method of installing the clip includes inserting the clip between the dovetail slot and the prestressed cable and rotating the clip such that the prestressed cable is received within the cup and the legs capture the dovetail slot.
US09638350B2

The invention relates to a micro pilot valve 1, which is characterized by a micro cavity 2, which is connected with valve outlet 3, a first micro opening 4 between micro cavity 2 and a first pressure level 5, a second micro opening 6 between micro cavity 2 and a second pressure level 7, a sealing element 8 within micro cavity 2, which is movable between the micro openings, and which in a first end position closes micro opening 4 and in a second end position micro opening 6, whereas the control pressure in the first end position adopts the value of the second pressure level 7 and in the second end position the value of the first pressure level 5, and a micro actuator 10, which actuates sealing element 8 via a transfer element, which protrudes at least through one of the micro openings.
US09638344B2

A system that provides localized monitoring of characteristics of instrument gas that a valve assembly uses to modulate the flow of a working fluid. The system includes components that generate an output in response to, for example, particulates, humidity, temperature, and other characteristics of the instrument gas. Processing of data and information in the output can help to diagnose changes in the characteristics of the instrument gas. This diagnosis is useful to predict a time frame during which the valve assembly and components associated therewith might fail and/or require maintenance before the valve assembly manifests significant problem that are detrimental to a process line.
US09638339B2

A diaphragm valve comprises at least one valve body which has at least one inlet, at least one outlet, at least one flow channel and at least one shutoff web dividing the flow channel into channel portions. The diaphragm valve furthermore comprises a diaphragm which rests on a circumferential sealing seat of the valve body, and a drive having a drive housing, the drive being coupled to the diaphragm to press the diaphragm against the shutoff web for closing the valve. The diaphragm valve furthermore comprises a fastening unit for detachably locking the drive to the valve body, the fasting unit having a bayonet cap and an additional central retightening unit by means of which an axial tightening force is generated.
US09638337B2

A plug valve including a valve body having an inlet port, an outlet port and a central chamber extending between the inlet port and the outlet port. The valve also includes an inlet seal segment within the central chamber and includes a bore extending therethrough and aligned with the inlet port. An outlet seal segment is disposed within the central chamber having a bore extending therethrough and aligned with the outlet port. A plug member is disposed in the central chamber and is moveable between an open position, to facilitate fluid flow through the plug valve, and a closed position, to block fluid flow through the plug valve. First and second side segments are disposed between and interlocked to the inlet and outlet seal segments to encircle the plug member. The side segments are tensioned to preload the seal segments against the plug member to prevent the flow of fluid between the seal segments and the plug member.
US09638335B2

A double sealing valve includes a power cylinder having a driving axle, a valve body formed of a first and a second valve members, and a seal plate assembly within the valve body. Therein, the first valve member has an axle bore for the driving axle to pass through, and the second valve member has two valve holes oppositely disposed. The seal plate assembly has a driving frame connected to the driving axle, with plural roller assemblies disposed around the driving frame. The seal plate assembly has two seal plates disposed between two faces of the driving frame and the valve body, respectively. Each seal plate has plural driving grooves corresponding to the roller assemblies. The driving axle drives the seal plate assembly to seal the valve holes, with a sealing force produced therebetween by use of the roller assembly and the driving groove.
US09638328B2

A rotating pumping apparatus is provided which may be employed in an automotive brake system. The rotating pumping apparatus includes a sealing member and an oil seal which are disposed around a pump drive shaft, and lubricating grease disposed between the oil seal and the pump drive shaft. The sealing member is made up of a resinous ring and a rubber cup. The sealing member has formed therein a labyrinthine flow path which extends from the resinous ring to the rubber cup. The labyrinthine flow path is designed to permit fluid to flow therethrough and create the resistance to flow of the lubricating grease to avoid leakage of the grease outside the sealing member.
US09638315B2

A transmission system (8) comprising at least one floating gear (14a, 16a, 18a) rotationally mounted upon a first shaft the system comprising a floating gear activation system for controlling torque transfer between the at least one floating gear (14a, 16a, 18a) and the first shaft (10), the gear activation system comprising a first device (28, 30) having a friction interface (28) for frictional engagement with a friction interface (30) disposed on a first side of the at least one floating gear (18a), and a second device (25, 26) having a locking interface (25) for an interpositional engagement with a locking interface (26) disposed on a second side, opposing the first side, of the at least one floating gear (18a), whereby the floating gear (18a) is rotationally coupleable to the first shaft (10) by the friction interface (28/30) and/or the locking interface (25/26).
US09638309B2

A process for manufacturing a V-pulley is disclosed. A metallic cylindrical pulley blank is integrally formed by removing material of a circumferential surface of the pulley blank to form a plurality of circumferential V-belt grooves. The pulley blank is subjected to precision machining and shot blasting to form a rough shot blasting layer on the side surfaces of the V-belt grooves. At least one through hole is axially drilled along a longitudinal central axis of the pulley blank from one axial end to opposite axial end of the shot blasted pulley blank to fluidly connect all of plurality of V-belt grooves followed by mounting and fastening a mold for casting tooth rings at the bottoms of the plurality of V-belt grooves and receiving a metal casting fluid into the plurality of V-belt grooves from one end portion of the through hole to form the tooth rings.
US09638306B2

A camshaft unit (1), having a first camshaft (2) which is phase-adjustable with respect to a crankshaft, having a second camshaft (3) which is arranged concentrically with respect to the first camshaft (2), and having a camshaft adjuster (5) by which both camshafts (2, 3) are phase-adjusted with respect to the crankshaft.
US09638303B2

A front differential double disconnect includes a front differential having a first side gear and a second side gear, a first shaft having a first gear configured to selectively engage the first side gear, a second shaft having a second gear, and a third shaft disposed between the first shaft and the second shaft. The third shaft includes a third gear configured to engage the second side gear and selectively engage the second gear. The first shaft is shiftable between a first position where the first gear does not engage the first side gear, and a second position where the first gear meshingly engages the first side gear to transmit rotational movement therebetween.
US09638300B2

An electromechanical actuator (EMA) is disclosed. The EMA may comprise an EMA housing, a ball nut extending axially within the EMA housing, a ball screw extending axially within the ball nut, and/or an actuator drive unit (ADU) housing extending axially within the ball screw, the ADU housing having a proximal stop that extends radially outward of the ADU housing. The ball nut may be configured to translate axially in a proximal direction in response to a rotation by the ball screw, and the ball nut may be configured to be halted in the axially proximal translation in response to contact with the proximal stop. The proximal stop may be coupled to the ADU housing. The proximal stop may comprise a continuous annular structure.
US09638296B2

Variable transmissions and drivelines using such transmissions having a direct drive mode, a reverse mode, and a continuously variable mode of operation using a continuously variable variator in combination with a gearbox having a one or two speed forward gear, a reverse gear, and a direct drive clutch. The direct drive clutch transfers power from the input shaft directly to the gearbox by running the variator in a unitary (1) speed ratio configuration, or by bypassing the variator altogether by using a set of clutches that disconnect the variator from the input shaft. Additional gears may be provided in the gearbox.
US09638281B2

A lock-up device for a torque converter is provided in which torsion springs are appropriately compressed and deformed even when the torsion springs to be used have a shape elongated in a circumferential direction of the lock-up device. The lock-up device includes a drive plate, torsion springs and a driven plate. The drive plate has a fixation part, a plurality of torque transmission parts and a plurality of receiver parts. The fixation part is fixed to a piston. The plural torque transmission parts are formed to extend from the fixation part to an outer peripheral side and contact rotation-directional ends of the torsion spring. The plural receiver parts are formed on an outer peripheral part of the fixation part, support the inner peripheral side parts of the torsion springs on an engine side with respect to the axial centers of the torsion springs, and extend toward a transmission.
US09638278B2

The invention relates to an electromechanical actuator for a vehicle brake comprising a body (4) in which are arranged an electric motor (5) and a threaded plunger cooperating via a helical link with a nut (8) driven in rotation by the electric motor (5). According to the invention, the nut (8) is mounted to move axially in the body (4) of the actuator between a rest position towards which the nut (8) is pushed back by elastic means, and an active position towards which the nut is displaced against the elastic means when a braking force is applied, the actuator further comprising means for detecting the axial displacement of the nut.
US09638273B2

A brake assembly for a vehicle comprising a wheel comprising a hollow section and a rim, the rim comprising a first portion comprising an electrically conductive material and a second portion adjacent to the first portion comprising a plurality of a permanent magnets and a stator comprising at least one electromagnetic coil arranged to be located within the hollow section of the wheel, wherein the stator is moveable between a first position in which the at least one electromagnetic coil is inductively coupled to the first portion of the rim when the wheel is rotating relative to the stator, and a second position in which the at least one electromagnetic coil is inductively coupled to the second portion of the rim.
US09638263B2

A claw coupling includes two coupling elements having claws which engage alternately into one another and have confronting concave claw surfaces configured to follow a first circular track. Disposed between the coupling elements is a pressure body arrangement having pressure bodies respectively received between the claws of one coupling element and the claws of the other coupling element. The pressure bodies have convex pressure body surfaces which engage during a torque transmission with the claw surfaces of the claws. Each pressure body surface is configured to follow a second circular track, with the radius of the first circular track and the radius of the second circular track touching one another at a radially innermost point of the claw surface which is disposed on a common straight line having a center point of the first circular track and a center point of the second circular track.
US09638257B2

A rolling bearing apparatus includes a bearing portion having an outer ring, an inner ring, a plurality of balls, and a cage that holds the balls, and an auxiliary portion provided adjacently to the bearing portion in an axial direction. The auxiliary portion has an auxiliary body portion provided adjacently to the outer ring in the axial direction and an extension portion extending in the axial direction from the auxiliary body portion and interposed between the cage and the inner ring. In the extension portion, a channel is formed that penetrates the extension portion in a direction inclined with respect to a radial direction. The channel is open in an outer peripheral surface of the extension portion, which faces the cage, and in an inner peripheral surface of the extension portion, which faces the inner ring.
US09638254B2

There is provided a rolling bearing including: inner and outer members, rolling elements in a raceway space, flexible annular sealing members which close openings at both ends of the raceway space, and annular metal shield members. Each sealing member is formed in three-dimensional shape such that the sealing member in a natural state is convex inwardly between outer and inner circumferential edge portions and the inner circumferential edge portion is elastically in surface contact with the outer surface of the inner member when the sealing member is fitted to the outer member. Each metal shield member is fixed to the outer member in a state that the outer circumferential edge portion of each sealing member is sandwiched between the metal shield member and the outer member. Each metal shield member covers part of each sealing member without contacting the inner member.
US09638248B2

Pillar parts (10) are connected to the inner peripheral surface (5b) of a large-diameter rim part (5) and to the outer peripheral surface (7b) of a small-diameter rim part (7). The inner peripheral surface (5b) of the large-diameter rim part (5) and the outer peripheral surface (7b) of the small-diameter rim part (7) 5 respectively have axial-direction inside portions (5c), (7c) overlapping with the pillar parts (10) in the axial direction and axial-direction outside portions (5d), (7d) not overlapping with the pillar parts (10) in the axial direction. A small-diameter annular member (2) is internally fitted in the axial-direction outside portion (5d) of the inner peripheral 10 surface (5b) of the large-diameter rim part (5). A large-diameter annular member (4) is externally fitted in the axial-direction outside portion (7d) of the outer peripheral surface (7b) of the small-diameter rim part (7).
US09638244B2

A hydrodynamic axial bearing is provided with segments arranged on a circular ring on axial bearings, wherein a plurality of pressure fields are built up. The length of the individual segments is defined in the circumferential direction, between a first edge and a second edge. The first edge delimits the wedge surface of the segments. In fast-rotating bearings, the ratio of segment width to segment length has a decisive influence on the attainable load-bearing capacity and resulting friction losses. The load-bearing capacity and friction losses are improved by increasing the segment length more intensely with increasing radius. The first edge does not run straight but rather has steps, is arcuate or has linear portions with different gradients.
US09638239B2

A cable lubrication device for directing pressurized lubricant into the internal space of a control cable, the cable lubrication device having a main body tube, a locking ring, a plunger and a spiral-cut seal.
US09638238B2

A terminal supporting apparatus is provided with: a hub that is attached to an end of the outer cable and is provided with a flange on an outer periphery; a cushion member that is provided to surround the outer periphery of the hub and abuts on the flange at both a front surface and a back surface of the flange; and a housing that houses the cushion member. The cushion member includes a large-diameter portion that abuts on the flange. At least within a range contacting with the hub, at least a part of an outer peripheral surface of the large-diameter portion is fixed to an inner surface of the housing, while a clearance is formed between the cushion member and the inner surface of the housing over an entire region of an end surface of the large-diameter portion in a cable axis direction.
US09638229B2

A connection device for assembling together a receiver first section member presenting an inner cavity, and a fastener second section member presenting a groove having a constricted opening. The connection device includes a cage forming a pair of jaws for coming into engagement in the groove. The device also including a resilient drive mechanism for urging a spacer member between the jaws so as to space them apart in such a manner as to come into engagement with the groove through the constricted opening; and a pivotable lever that pivots about a pivot pin, the pivotable lever including a lever arm and a thrust head that engages the spacer member so as to move it against the force exerted by the resilient drive mechanism on the spacer member.
US09638226B2

A stud bolt has a first thread portion, a second thread portion, an engagement portion and a large diameter portion. The first thread portion is screwable into a first member about a screw axis. The second thread portion is screwable into a second member about the screw axis and is provided coaxially with the first thread portion. The engagement portion is provided on a side of the second thread portion, which is opposite from the first thread portion. The large diameter portion has a circular cross-section perpendicular to the screw axis. The large diameter portion is located between the first thread portion and the second thread portion. An outer diameter of the large diameter portion is larger than an outer diameter of the first thread portion and the outer diameter of the second thread portion.
US09638223B2

The invention relates to a profile rail, a clip holder, a cross-connector and an attachment system for mounting solar modules. The components are so designed and matched to each other that solar modules in many variations can be mounted quickly and easily and with the components having a low weight.
US09638219B2

A method of controlling a hydraulic system, the hydraulic system including a ram cylinder unit having a cylinder and a ram, and a hydraulic pump and a reservoir used to supply hydraulic fluid to the cylinder, and hydraulically driving the ram using the hydraulic fluid so as to move against a specific load, the method includes determining what a present state is one of an initial state, a proportional steady state, and a later state, controlling the pumping rate, which is obtained by adding the flow rate corresponding to the volume loss due to the compression of the hydraulic fluid thereto, to control the ram in the initial state, and controlling the pumping rate, which is obtained by subtracting the flow rate corresponding to volume recovery of the hydraulic fluid due to the relief of compression of the hydraulic fluid therefrom, to control the ram in the later state.
US09638218B2

A joystick pilot valve equipped with the structure for preventing oil leakage comprises: a valve body; spool installed in the valve body to be moved between the supply port and the hydraulic fluid chamber; spool hole installed in the valve body; pushing cam connected to the upper portion of the valve body by joint; joystick lever connected to the pushing cam to make the pushing cam move like seesaw by the operation and make the spool move in the spool hole forward and backward to make the supply port connected or disconnected to the hydraulic fluid chamber; outer boot provided at the valve body to cover the outer periphery of the valve body, the pushing cam and the joystick lever; inner boot arranged inside of the outer boot and forming oil leak storage chamber sealed from the outer side at the upper portion of the guide hole.
US09638213B2

A casing for a turbine engine compressor, including: cavities in a thickness of the casing, extending in parallel to one another from an inner face of the casing along a circumference thereof, the cavities not being in communication with one another. The cavities, which are elongate and extend along a main direction of orientation between two side walls, are closed upstream and downstream by upstream and downstream faces respectively, and an upstream border and a downstream border are formed at the intersections between same and the inner face of the casing. The upstream border of the cavities takes a form of a wavy line including at least two alternate undulations over a length thereof between the side walls.
US09638212B2

A variable vane assembly for a gas turbine engine compressor with a plurality of pivoting variable vanes extending between inner and outer shrouds and having an overhang portion that protrudes from a button at opposed ends of the vane. A plurality of projections, disposed on at least one of the inner and outer shrouds, protrude into the gas path relative to a nominal gas path boundary of the shrouds. The projections are disposed adjacent the overhang portion and have an angled planar surface that is substantially parallel to a plane swept by a terminal edge of the overhang portion when the variable vane is rotated through its vane pivot arc, so that a radial clearance gap between the shroud and the overhang portion remains substantially constant through a substantial portion of the vane pivot arc.
US09638204B2

A pump assembly comprises an inlet, an outlet and a housing having an inlet aperture in fluid connection with the inlet, and an outlet aperture in fluid connection with the outlet. A rotor located within the housing is shaped to form with an interior surface of the housing a chamber. On rotation of the rotor, the chamber conveys fluid from the inlet aperture to the outlet aperture. The housing carries a seal located in the inlet and urged into contact with the rotor to prevent the passage of fluid past the rotor from the outlet to the inlet. Center lines of the inlet and the outlet are parallel to one another. The outlet can be formed by linear movement of a mold core.
US09638203B2

A number of variations may include a product that may be usable with a turbocharger system and may include a housing that may define a lubrication bore. A bearing assembly may be positioned in the housing. A shaft may extend through, and may be supported by, the bearing assembly. A turbine wheel may be connected to the shaft. An end cap may be connected between the housing and the turbine wheel. The end cap may define a cooling chamber. A spray head may provide an opening between the lubrication bore and the cooling chamber.
US09638200B2

A turbo-molecular pump comprises: a rotor having a plurality of stages of rotor blades and a cylindrical section; a plurality of stages of stationary blades alternately arranged with respect to the rotor blades; a stator arranged with a gap from the cylindrical section, the stator together with the cylindrical section constituting a screw groove pump section; a plurality of spacers stacked on a base, the spacers including at least one cooling spacer having a cooling section; a heater heating the stator; a temperature regulation section controlling the heater to regulate the temperature of the stator so as to be a reaction product accumulation prevention temperature; and an auxiliary ring for reaction product accumulation prevention at least a part of which is located in a space between the spacer facing a bottom step rotor blade, and the bottom step rotor blade.
US09638199B2

A ram air fan inlet shroud for a ram air fan assembly is provided. The ram air fan inlet shroud includes a shroud portion extending outwardly from a conical portion. The conical portion provides a transition between a central portion and an inner ram air fan hub interface portion. The conical portion includes a plurality of inner cooling slots having a slot arc length and spaced apart by a slot spacing angle. A ratio of the slot spacing angle to the slot arc length is between about 1.24 and 1.4. The ram air fan inlet shroud also includes a recessed portion located between the inner ram air fan hub interface portion and an outer ram air fan hub interface portion. The recessed portion includes a plurality of outer cooling holes.
US09638198B2

A product for use with a turbocharger is disclosed. The product may include a housing with an opening extending through at least part of the housing. An outer bearing race may be positioned in the opening. An inner bearing race may be rotatably positioned in the outer bearing race. A turbine wheel may be fixed to one end of the inner bearing race. A compressor wheel may be fixed to another end of the inner bearing race. The inner bearing race may be comprised of one, two, or more race sections. The turbine wheel may be connected to the compressor wheel only through the inner bearing race or race sections.
US09638195B2

A cross flow fan includes a support plate and an impeller with a plurality of blades disposed on the support plate at predetermined intervals. On each blade, a radius of a pressure surface arc is greater than a radius of a suction surface arc, a radius of an inner peripheral side arc is greater than a radius of an outer peripheral side arc, and a region of maximum thickness is located 40% to 60% from the inner peripheral side arc in the lengthwise direction. The blades are disposed such that the inner peripheral side arcs are positioned on an inner peripheral side of the support plate and the outer peripheral side arcs are positioned on an outer peripheral side of the support plate. A flow path width between the plurality of blades gradually decreases from the inner peripheral side toward the outer peripheral side of the support plate.
US09638193B2

Systems and methods for sump pump remote monitoring can include control circuitry integrated into a portable housing, with a backup sump pump connected to the control circuitry. The control circuitry can be powered by a line power and when the line power is not available, the control circuitry can be powered by a battery power. The control circuitry can be connected to a control panel, and the control circuitry can include a pressure transducer, the pressure transducer to measure a pressure in a fluid level sensor, and based on the measured pressure, the control circuitry to adjust the speed of the backup sump pump. A wireless controller can be connected to the control circuitry, the wireless controller for wirelessly receiving monitoring instructions and wirelessly transmitting backup sump pump status data, with the control circuitry providing an indication of the backup sump pump status data to the control panel.
US09638191B2

A compressor may include a first scroll member having a first spiral wrap, a first chamber, and a first aperture. A second scroll member may include a second spiral wrap engaged with the first spiral wrap to form a series of compression pockets and a second aperture. The first aperture may be in communication with a first of the compression pockets to provide communication between the first compression pocket and the first chamber. The second aperture may be in communication with a second of the compression pockets. A capacity modulation assembly may include a first piston preventing communication between the first aperture and a first passage when in a first position and providing communication when in a second position. A second piston may prevent communication between the second aperture and a third passage when in the first position, and provide communication when in a second position.
US09638174B2

A hybrid receiver-combustor (100) for capturing heat energy from a solar source and a fuel source. The hybrid receiver-combustor (100) includes a vessel (110) for acting both as a combustion furnace and as a solar receiver, and a plurality of burners (180) for combusting an oxidant stream, such as an air stream, and a fuel stream. The vessel (110) includes a casing (120) defining a cavity (125) having an aperture (130) for receiving the concentrated solar radiation from the solar source. The cavity (125) provides a chamber defining a zone (126) which can function as a combustion zone for production of heat energy through a combustion process using the fuel and into which concentrated solar radiation can be received from the solar source through the aperture (130). A heat energy absorber (190) configured as a heat exchanger is provided to receive heat energy from concentrated solar radiation entering the cavity (125) through the aperture (130) and from combustion within the cavity. A fluidic seal system (135) is associated with the aperture (130) and is operable to establish a fluidic seal to restrict fluid flow through the aperture (130) during the combustion process. The fluidic seal comprises exhaust gas from the combustion process within the cavity (125).
US09638165B2

It is described a blade for a wind turbine for converting wind energy into electric energy, including: a blade structure longitudinally extending along a blade axis (X1) and including a blade tip, an opposite blade root, a longitudinal leading edge portion and a longitudinal trailing edge portion which are extended between the blade root and the blade tip; and an outer aerodynamic shell defining an airfoil including an airfoil leading edge, an airfoil trailing edge and an airfoil suction side and an airfoil pressure side between the airfoil leading and trailing edges. The outer aerodynamic shell includes a suction side panel and a pressure side panel which are made from a transparent material and are fastened to the blade structure so as to define the airfoil suction side and the airfoil pressure side, respectively, wherein the blade includes a transparent region between the transparent panels and wherein the transparent panels are arranged facing one another so that it is possible to see through the blade looking through the transparent panels and the transparent region. A method for assembling the blade is also described.
US09638163B2

A method for removing a rotor blade from a wind turbine may generally include installing a blade sock around an outer perimeter of the rotor blade, coupling a support cable to the blade root, lowering the rotor blade relative to the hub using the support cable, coupling at least one pulley cable between the rotor blade and a winch using at least one pulley, moving the pulley cable relative to the pulley to lower the rotor blade relative to the hub, applying a force through the blade sock as the pulley cable is moved relative to the pulley in order to control an orientation of the rotor blade and further lowering the rotor blade to a location on or adjacent to the support surface.
US09638162B1

A transport system for transporting a wind turbine blade on first and second railcars that serve as load cars. A root end fixture on the first railcar is connected to a root end portion of the wind turbine blade. A mid-frame fixture on the second railcar supports a reinforced midsection of the wind turbine blade using a pair of support saddles. A tip end fixture restrains a tip end portion of the wind turbine blade against lateral movement outside of a preselected range of movement in opposite lateral directions and causing bending of the blade about the mid-frame fixture when the restraint device imparts sufficient restraining force to the tip end portion of the blade.
US09638161B2

An energy concentration device includes a pneumatic cylinder that allows for contact with waving sea water of the nature to make a float device to drive a piston rod to achieve an effect of up and down piston movement so as to realize an effect of pressurization of air inside the pneumatic cylinder, whereby the air may achieve an effect of increase of pressurization level through multi-staged pressurization and an effect of accumulation by being stored in a high-pressure air storage device for the purposes of electrical power generation with the pressurized air and supplying pneumatic power required by other applications, such as automobiles, motorcycles, buses, and factories and also for supplying of pneumatic power to household devices, such as household appliances and pneumatically-operating doors.
US09638155B2

A control device of a vehicle includes: a first gear connected to a crankshaft of an engine; a second gear capable of engaging the first gear; an actuator configure to move the second gear up to a position where the second gear engages the first gear; a motor configured to cause the second gear to rotate; and a controller configured to, when the engine is cranked by driving of the motor in response to elapsing of a predefined period after the actuator is actuated in response to a startup request signal of the engine, adjust a length of the predefined period on the basis of an operating state of a driver and a state of the vehicle at the time of reception of the startup request signal.
US09638143B2

A vaporized fuel processing apparatus has a fuel tank, a canister configured to adsorb vaporized fuel and connected to an internal combustion engine, a vapor path connecting the fuel tank to the canister, a closing valve having a stepping motor and configured to open and close the vapor path, and an electric control unit configured to cause the closing valve to an initial position in order to initialize the closing valve. The electric control unit is configured to determine whether it is in a predetermined initialization permission time when the initialization of the closing valve does not adversely affect running of the internal combustion engine. When it is determined that it is in the predetermined initialization permission time, the electric control unit is configured to output signals to start the initialization of the closing valve.
US09638140B2

A low pressure valve for controlling exhaust gas recirculation in an internal combustion engine for a vehicle includes a housing, which contains a channel section for exhaust gas guidance, and a valve element disposed in the housing to control the exhaust gas passage in the channel section. An actuating drive is mounted on the housing and adjusts the valve element. The actuating drive is formed of an electromagnetic rotary actuator with a drive shaft thereof. The drive shaft is routed in an extended manner out of a rotary actuator housing and is in the form of an actuating shaft. The actuating shaft extends continuously to the housing and protrudes into the housing transversely to the flow direction, engages therein at the valve element in a non-rotatable manner and can be rotationally adjusted about the axis to actuate the valve element.
US09638139B2

A method of controlling cooling flow through a coolant system of an internal combustion engine having an electronic control module, a cooling throttle, an EGR cooler, and an interstage cooler is provided. A pressure within a coolant system is determined. A temperature within the coolant system is determined. A temperature of exhaust gas exiting an EGR cooler is determined. A temperature of intake air exiting an interstage cooler is determined. A position of a cooling throttle within the coolant system is adjusted based upon at least one of the determined pressure within the coolant system, temperature within the coolant system, temperature of exhaust gas exiting the EGR cooler, and temperature of intake air exiting an interstage cooler being above respective predefined thresholds to adjust fluid flow within the coolant system.
US09638136B2

A six stroke high thermal efficiency engine and a method for operating such an engine are disclosed. Oxygen or oxygen-enriched air is used as the oxidizer, heat is recovered from the two exhaust strokes, superheated steam is used in the second power stroke, and high levels of exhaust gas from stroke four are recirculated. Lean burn combustion is utilized to produce an oxygen rich exhaust which results in very low levels of particulates, unburned hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide. Due to high thermal efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions are reduced per unit of power output. Use of oxygen or oxygen-enriched air as the oxidizer produces an exhaust containing very low levels of nitrogen oxides. The engine is insulated to conserve heat, resulting in reduced engine noise. An engine with high thermal efficiency, quiet operation, and low emissions is the result.
US09638134B2

A carburetor comprises a rotation-typed control valve which opens or closes a second bleed air passage according to an opening degree of the throttle valve. The control valve includes an upper end portion of a valve stem, and in a projection plane orthogonal to an axis of an aspirating channel, a first bleed air passage is arranged on one side of the valve stem, an upstream-side passage portion starting from the control valve of the second bleed air passage is arranged on an upper side of the aspirating channel, a downstream-side passage portion starting from the control valve of the second bleed air passage is arranged on the one side of the valve stem, and a downstream end of the downstream-side passage portion is connected to a midway portion of the first bleed air passage.
US09638129B2

A controller for a gas engine includes a cycle detection unit 67 configured to detect a crank angle period of a single combustion cycle of an engine including a plurality of cylinders based on a crank angle detection value inputted from a crank angle detector 75, a misfire detection unit 69 configured to detect a misfire in a combustion chamber 37 based on an in-cylinder pressure detection value inputted from the in-cylinder pressure detector 59, and a simultaneous misfire determination unit 73 configured to determine a simultaneous misfire of more than one cylinder when a total number of cylinders where the misfire is detected in the single combustion cycle by the misfire detection unit 69 is not less than a preset threshold value of a cylinder number. The fuel gas to all of the cylinders is shut off when the simultaneous misfire of more than one cylinder in the single combustion cycle is determined by the simultaneous misfire determination unit 73.
US09638124B2

A control system for an engine adjusts an engine torque based on an operation of an organ-type accelerator pedal for pivoting about a supporting point. The control system includes an accelerator opening acquiring module for acquiring an accelerator opening, a target acceleration setting module for setting a target acceleration of a vehicle based on the acquired acceleration opening, and an engine control module for adjusting the engine torque to achieve the set target acceleration. The target acceleration setting module sets the target acceleration corresponding to the acquired accelerator opening by using a predetermined range of the accelerator opening including a value at which the target acceleration becomes zero. The predetermined range is set such that a pedal reaction force F (N) applied from a predetermined position of the accelerator pedal when the accelerator opening is within the predetermined range is within a range of 2.5≦F≦26.
US09638120B2

A control device for an internal combustion engine includes an intake gas compressor, a cooling water circuit, an intercooler and an EGR device. An ECU is configured to: (a) control the temperature, of the cooling water of the intercooler to a target temperature in a specified external air state in which an external air temperature and an external air humidity are a specified temperature and a specified humidity, the target temperature being the temperature of the cooling water of the intercooler required for ensuring a specified performance in the specified external air state; and (b) control the EGR device based on an EGR rate mapping of the EGR rate. The EGR rate mapping being set so that a dew point of gas flowing into the intercooler does not exceed the target temperature.
US09638119B2

A basic EGR flow rate calculation part calculates a basic EGR flow rate based on an intake manifold pressure, which is a pressure in an intake manifold, an exhaust pressure, which is a pressure in an exhaust pipe, an exhaust temperature, which is a temperature in the exhaust pipe, and an opening degree of an EGR valve. An EGR flow rate correction part corrects the basic EGR flow rate based on an intake manifold pressure ratio, which is a ratio between the intake manifold pressure and the exhaust pressure, and an exhaust VVT phase angle of an exhaust VVT mechanism, to thereby calculate a corrected EGR flow rate as an EGR flow rate.
US09638117B2

A method is provided for operating a vehicular engine that comprises a plurality of pistons and a plurality of cylinders. The method comprises detecting an engine temperature and detecting an alcohol concentration of fuel. The method further comprises selecting an amount of fuel according to the engine temperature and the alcohol concentration and selectively dispensing the amount of fuel to the cylinders.
US09638116B2

A system for controlling operation of an internal combustion engine includes a controller configured to send signals for controlling at least one of air-fuel ratio, spark-ignition timing, and fuel injection timing to an internal combustion engine. The system further includes a sensor configured to send a signal indicative of exhaust gas temperature to the controller. The system is configured to control at least one of the air-fuel ratio, spark-ignition timing, and fuel injection timing based on a signal indicative of at least one of an operating condition of the internal combustion engine and load on the internal combustion engine, and a difference between a target exhaust gas temperature and the signal indicative of the exhaust gas temperature.
US09638105B2

A front-fan turbojet engine including at least one fluid circuit and an air/fluid heat exchanger by which the fluid is cooled by air external to the turbojet engine and a splitter for splitting a flow downstream of the fan between a primary flow and a secondary flow. The heat exchanger is associated with a thermoelectric generator including a first and a second thermal exchange surface, of which the first surface is in thermal contact with the airflow and the second surface is in thermal contact with the fluid to be cooled in the exchanger.
US09638099B2

An assembly can include a turbine housing that includes a bore, a wastegate seat and a wastegate passage that extends to the wastegate seat; a bushing configured for receipt by the bore; a rotatable wastegate shaft configured for receipt by the bushing; a wastegate plug extending from the wastegate shaft; a control arm operatively coupled to the wastegate shaft; and a biasing cam operatively coupled to the control arm wherein the biasing cam comprises a disengaged orientation associated with a closed position of the wastegate plug with respect to the wastegate seat and an engaged orientation associated with an open position of the wastegate plug with respect to the wastegate seat. Various other examples of devices, assemblies, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed.
US09638093B2

A process is provided for improving combustion control and fuel efficiency in rotary and reciprocating IC engines by enabling leaner combustion at higher compression ratios using less heat for ignition. Embodiments employ secondary chambers of minimal total volume within a cylinder periphery. These chambers communicate with a main chamber via conduits and enable a radical ignition (“RI”) species generation and supply process that starts in earlier cycles to be augmented and used in later cycles. Measures regulate the RI species generated and provided to the main chamber. These species alter dominant chain-initiation reactions of the combustion ignition mechanism. Also employed when preferable are fluids of higher heat of vaporization and volatility but lower ignitability than the fuel. This process improves combustion in radical ignition engines and radical augmented spark and compression ignition engines.
US09638085B2

A diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) tank for an off-road vehicle including a first conduit channel molded into an exterior surface of the DEF tank, at a first depth, in which the first conduit channel is configured to guide a first conduit along the exterior surface of the DEF tank. The DEF tank further including a second conduit channel molded into the exterior surface of the DEF tank at a second depth, different than the first depth, in which the second conduit channel is configured to guide a second conduit, and the first depth and the second depth are selected to create a vertical gap between the first conduit and the second conduit at an intersection of the conduits.
US09638077B2

A muffler (1) for an exhaust system of a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine, includes a gas-tight housing (2), a partition wall (31) inside the housing, an inlet pipe (51), a first outlet pipe (61), a switchable second outlet pipe (7) and a resonator pipe (8). The a partition wall (31) divides the housing's interior into a first volume (41) and a second separate volume (42). The inlet pipe and the first outlet pipe (61) and the second outlet pipe and the resonator pipe are in fluid communication with the first volume. The resonator pipe provides fluid communication between the first volume and the second volume. The second outlet pipe passes through the second volume. The second outlet pipe is surrounded, in a circumferential direction, by the resonator pipe in a section in which the second outlet pipe penetrates the partition wall.
US09638073B2

Valvetrain of an internal combustion engine, including a rocker support, a fulcrum, and a rocker. The rocker support is mounted to a cylinder head and fixed relative thereto. The rocker is positioned about the rocker support and partially in an axial aligning groove of the rocker support. The fulcrum is sandwiched between the rocker support and the rocker. The rocker oscillates about the fulcrum as forces are received and applied to a first and a second end of the rocker.
US09638072B2

A tappet (1) for a reciprocating-piston combustion engine, which is situated within a tappet guide of a component fixedly attached to the engine, and having a bearing-mounted roller (8) guided on a pin (3), which roller is in active contact with a cam or an eccentric of a shaft of the reciprocating-piston combustion engine. The casing surface of the cam or eccentric is implemented axially parallel to the shaft and the roller (8) is guided so as to oscillate on the pin (3).
US09638065B2

Provided herein are heat engine systems and methods for starting such systems and generating electricity while avoiding damage to one or more system components. A provided heat engine system maintains a working fluid (e.g., sc-CO2) within the low pressure side of a working fluid circuit in a liquid-type state, such as a supercritical state, during a startup procedure. Additionally, a bypass system is provided for routing the working fluid around one or more heat exchangers during startup to avoid overheating of system components.
US09638063B2

In one embodiment, a steam turbine facility includes drain piping in which a shut-off valve is provided, the drain piping being either a valve drain pipe that leads a drain from the main steam regulating valve to an outside thereof, or a casing drain pipe that leads a drain from the turbine casing to an outside thereof. A heat absorber disposed in a range, upstream of the shut-off valve, of the drain piping to absorb heat of the drain piping.
US09638061B2

A standard bearing unit (1) for different exhaust-gas turbocharger designs (8), having a shaft (2); having a shaft nut (18); having sealing devices (14, 15); having a compressor wheel (3) which is arranged on a first end (4) of the shaft (2); and having a turbine wheel (5) which is arranged on a second end (6) of the shaft (2), wherein the shaft (2) is mounted in a standardized bearing sleeve (7) which has predefined, unchangeable outer dimensions (19, 23) which are independent of the exhaust-gas turbocharger embodiment.
US09638060B2

A bearing housing (1) of an exhaust-gas turbocharger (EGT), having a mounting bore (2); a bearing device (3) which has two bearing bushes (4, 5) which are arranged in the mounting bore (2), between which bearing bushes is arranged a spacer (6); a rotational speed sensor (7) which engages into a sensor recess (8) of the spacer (6); and a locating pin (9) which is screwed into a pin bore (10) and which engages with its pin head (12) into a pin recess (11) of the spacer (6); wherein the pin recess (11) is formed as a slot.
US09638059B2

In the generic exhaust-gas turbocharger, the turbine-side and compressor-side radial bearing bush are of identical design. A more compact bearing space, and improvements in acoustics and rotor dynamics, are achieved by providing different bearings on the turbine and compressor sides.
US09638055B2

Blockages of turbomachine cooling circuit cooling holes resulting from coating processes can be removed by introducing a cleaning agent into the cooling circuit. The cooling circuit can be connected to a cleaning agent supply under pressure, adding force on the blockage to chemical action by the cleaning agent. The cleaning agent is chemically reactive with the coating material and substantially chemically non-reactive with the underlying material of the cooling circuit and other parts of the turbomachine. A neutralization agent can also be introduced to reduce toxicity and/or action of the cleaning agent. A turbomachine cooling hole cleaning method includes introducing a cleaning agent into a cooling circuit of a turbomachine part, pressurizing the cleaning agent in the cooling circuit until a first defined condition is met, and introducing a neutralization agent to the turbomachine part while the cleaning agent is applied to the cooling circuit.
US09638051B2

A turbomachine bucket may include an airfoil, a shank coupled to the airfoil, and an angel wing coupled to the shank, the angel wing having an axially extending tip sized to seal with a plurality of discouragers, each discourager having a different axial extent. Various methods for modifying an angel wing to accommodate different sized discouragers are also disclosed.
US09638026B2

The present invention relates to a downhole tool (10) to be submerged into a well fluid from a top of a well, comprising a first tool section (21), a tool housing (3) having an inner face (4), a downhole communication module (1) for communicating through a well fluid in a downhole well to operate the downhole tool, comprising a piezoelectric transceiver (5) having a first face (6) and a second face (7) and being arranged in the tool housing, wherein an element (8) is arranged between the piezoelectric transceiver and the tool housing, and the element is arranged in abutment with the first face of the piezoelectric transceiver and the inner face of the housing, so that the tool housing acts as a transducer when the piezoelectric transceiver is activated and enlarges in a radial direction of the tool housing, forcing the tool housing outwards and sending a signal through the well fluid. The present invention also relates to a downhole system and a communication method.
US09638025B2

A measurement-while-drilling servo-actuator for use in mud-pulse telemetry, which determines linear position of a poppet valve therein without counting revolutions of a stepper motor which positions said poppet valve. A sensor senses a magnetic field intensity value, or an inductance value, which is proportional to the position of the poppet valve relative to the sensor. A look-up table of reference outputs corresponding to known position of the poppet valve is used to determine the position of the poppet valve. A method of determining a position of a poppet valve in a mud pulser is further disclosed.
US09638018B2

Alpha-hydroxy alkyl esters have been found to perform as hydrogen sulfide scavengers. A method of scavenging hydrogen sulfide includes contacting a fluid containing hydrogen sulfide with a treatment fluid including an alpha-hydroxy alkyl ester. Accordingly, the alpha-hydroxy alkyl ester reacts with the hydrogen sulfide to reduce the amount of hydrogen sulfide in the fluid. A broad range of alpha-hydroxy alkyl esters are disclosed.
US09638015B2

An electric submersible pump (ESP) inverted shroud assembly is described. An ESP assembly includes an inverted shroud separating an ESP pump from a well casing, the ESP pump rotatably coupled to an ESP motor, the inverted shroud having an opening on an upstream terminal side, at least a portion of the ESP motor extending through the opening, the portion of the ESP motor extending through the opening exposed to working fluid, and the opening sealed to the working fluid. An ESP assembly includes an inverted shroud, and an ESP motor including a head, housing and base, the head of the ESP motor at least partially inside the inverted shroud, and the housing and base of the ESP motor at least partially outside the inverted shroud.
US09638008B2

A well system includes a deflector arranged within a main bore of a wellbore and defining a first channel that exhibits a predetermined diameter and communicates with a lower portion of the main bore, and a second channel that communicates with a lateral bore. A bullnose assembly has a bullnose tip, a piston movably arranged within the bullnose tip, and a wedge member operatively coupled to the piston such that movement of the piston correspondingly moves the wedge member. A coil is arranged about the bullnose tip and in contact with the wedge member, and the piston is actuatable to move the wedge member and thereby radially expand the coil. When the coil is radially expanded, the diameter of the bullnose tip exceeds the predetermined diameter.
US09638001B2

The present invention provides a method for producing hydrocarbon gas from a wellbore and a control valve assembly for said wellbore. The wellbore comprises a wellhead, a production zone, a production tubing, and a velocity string installed inside the production tubing. The method comprises allowing gas to flow from the production zone through the velocity string, said gas forming a primary gas stream, and controlling the flow of gas from the annulus between the outer wall of the velocity string and the inner wall of the production tubing to the primary gas stream by means of the control valve wherein a controlled mass flow of said gas is combined with the primary gas stream.
US09638000B2

A flow restriction device for controlling flow of a fluid into a wellbore tubular from a production zone. The device comprises a housing and at least one divergent passageway having a throat section and a divergent section disposed within the housing, wherein the average angle of divergence in the divergent section is between 2° and 40°. Fluid is directed from the production zone, through the divergent passageway and into the wellbore. The divergent passageway may or may not comprise a convergent section before the throat. Also described is a flow restriction device in which the discharged flow is aligned at an angle of between 0 and 60 degrees of the direction of flow within the wellbore tubular. The flow restriction device is used to control distributed fluid flow into a wellbore tubular.
US09637998B2

A valve system for ensuring well closure upon exposure to a predetermined condition even where a well access line is disposed through the valve. This system may be configured with a supplemental power supply capable of effectuating a cutting closure of the valve. Thus, any obstructing well access line such as coiled tubing may be cut during closure to ensure sealing off of the well, even if the cutting mechanism is separated from its traditional power supply by shear or parting of a portion of the landing string. Once more, the supplemental power sufficient for a cutting closure is only provided in the event of a predetermined condition such as the emergence of a potentially hazardous tubular separation.
US09637995B2

A drilling apparatus (1) provides continuous rotation, and in some embodiments also vertical translation of the drill bit, such that weight can be kept on the bit and drilling can continue uninterrupted during connections. The connection is made in a pressure chamber formed by seals (2, 4) and spacers (15, 16). An upper snubber (5) grips the drill string above the joint and a lower snubber (6) grips it below the joint. The top drive is decoupled as the snubbers take over drill string drive, and apply a differential torque so that the connection is made. This achieves continuous rotation during the connection, and by use of an extension sub (18) drilling is also continuous.
US09637991B2

A method of running a bore-lining tubing string into a bore includes running a tubing string, typically a liner string, into a bore while agitating the string. The agitation may also take place while the tubing is being cemented in the bore. Pressure pulses may be applied to fluid in the bore, which fluid may be cement slurry.
US09637988B2

A housing for a downhole tool, having a fluid vent assembly comprising a port passing through the wall of the housing to transmit fluid through the port when the port is open, a sealing device to seal the port, and a cutting device to disrupt the sealing device and permit transmission of fluid through the port. The cutting device is driven axially through the sealing device without relative rotation between the two. The cutting device has an asymmetric blade to cut a coupon from the sealing device by a gradual and progressive disruption of the closure, typically cutting through only a portion the closure device, so that the coupon cut from the closure device remains attached to the closure device when the closure device is ruptured to open the seal. Typically the downhole tool comprises a downhole pump, and the housing comprises the shroud of the pump.
US09637978B2

Offshore system for delivering geotechnical tools to seafloor is described. The system includes a carrier tube that includes an upper end and a lower end, wherein the carrier tube is characterized by an outer diameter and an inner diameter and wherein the inner diameter of the carrier tube defines a hydraulic cylinder; a landing sub shaped or installed at or near the upper end of the carrier tube, wherein inner diameter of the landing sub is smaller than the inner diameter of the carrier tube; a drill bit shaped or installed at or near the lower end of the carrier tube; an extension tube extending upward from the upper end of the carrier tube; an upward seal that seals top portion of the extension tubes; a compression system for introducing compressed fluid under the upward seal; a fixed rod that runs through the hydraulic cylinder; a hydraulic piston disposed in the hydraulic cylinder, wherein the hydraulic piston is moveable along the fixed rod; one or more shear pins configured to restrict displacement of the hydraulic piston until a sufficient fluid pressure is built up; and an inner tube disposed between the carrier tube and the hydraulic piston, wherein lower portion of the inner tube includes a cone penetrometer that is ballistically inserted into the soil during downward displacement of the hydraulic piston.
US09637973B1

The system includes a finial that is configured to be removed from a guide cable, while the guide cable is still connected on both ends. The hembar includes a finial on each end, wherein the first finial includes an external channel at an angle and the second finial includes an external channel with an opposite angle. The hembar is rotated in order to receive the guide cable into the external channel, then reverse rotated so the guide cable translates in an internal channel. The system eliminates or reduces the need for a guide cable to be threaded through an eyelet on the finial of the hembar. The system eliminates or reduces the need to detach a cable, prior to uninstalling the shade system.
US09637972B2

A roll-up type industrial door including a flexible sheet or woven fabric forming a curtain for closing a door way having an upper end, a lower end and two opposite side edges. The sheet has a main area and elongate side edge sections that are thicker than the main area. A shoulder is formed where each side edge section meets the main area. A curtain winding mechanism is connected to the upper end of the curtain and is used to raise the curtain. A pair of spaced apart guide channels are also provided and the side edge sections are movable therein. Each guide has one or two elastic members which act as locking blades. The locking blades of each guide form an elongate slot that receives a side edge section of the curtain.
US09637963B1

A hinged connector device for hingedly connecting portable wall units together. The hinged connector device includes a first connector assembly including a first engagement member for engaging a first portable wall unit; and a second connector assembly including a second engagement member in pivotable communication with the first engagement member for engaging a second portable wall unit and for connecting the portable wall units together.
US09637962B2

The invention relates to a windbreak system formed by a set of independent, folding panels that move longitudinally along an upper guide rail and another, lower guide rail and a non-movable folding door, in which each panel and the door include a rotating shaft and folding shaft. The panels are moved manually and do not have rollers, the entire weight of the panels resting on two strips of self-lubricating polymer inserted into slots in the lower rail.
US09637948B2

Disclosed is a ram assembly for use on the top of a tent where tops of supporting rods of the tent are connected to a top connecting seat. The ram assembly includes at least one ram connected to the top connecting seat and located between two adjacent supporting rods. The ram assembly supports an eave tarpaulin and allows the eave tarpaulin to unfold. The eave tarpaulin is located on the top of the tent and between at least the two adjacent supporting rods. An outer edge of the cave tarpaulin sleeves on the ram. The ram assembly is an elastic telescopic rod.
US09637946B2

A tethermast and frag wall includes a fabric device having a fill volume fillable with a fill material on a flexible or compliant mast system. The fill volume may be a chambered curtain. The tethermast and frag wall is self supporting, easily deployed, and may be used in connection with a structure or may be deployed stand-alone. A tether system for an air beam structure utilizing a flexible tethermast, an external frag wall or frag curtain, soft couplings, air beam slings, or combinations thereof to reduce the effects of pressure waves, such as blast waves, onto and into an air beam structure and any inhabitants.
US09637942B2

Costly devices are supported atop telescopically extensible masts of theft resistant mounts well suited to be positioned at temporary, often unattended, outdoor locations. An upper component of each mast carries a torque-disconnect coupler that has two relatively turnable elements, including one fixed to the mast, and another that defines a threaded formation extending along an upstanding axis about which the elements are relatively turnable. A costly device can be tightened to the threaded formation, or can be loosened and removed therefrom—but only when an elongate key-like tool is inserted into aligned passages of the two elements to prevent turning of the threaded formation so a costly device tightened onto the formation can be threaded off of the formation. A shroud cloaks the torque-disconnect coupler and has an opening through which the tool must pass to reach the aligned passages.
US09637941B2

A method of monitoring a low water volume within a water circulation system is disclosed that includes detecting an auxiliary measurement associated with an ancillary device fluidly coupled with a reservoir of water in a water circulation system and then determining whether the ancillary device is performing under a low water volume operation. The low water volume operation is based upon a comparison between at least the detected auxiliary measurement of the ancillary device and a condition associated with a performance of the ancillary device under the low water volume operation.
US09637936B1

Apparatus for unrolling rolls of building insulation in vertical strips from the roof eave down, and adapted to be carried by an aerial work platform that in turn is carried by an elevator, has a pair of spars as well as an arbor and a tensioning control mechanism. The spars are spaced apart and are mounted to as well as project away from the aerial work platform. The arbor is carried between the spaced spars for inserting through the core of a role of insulation and allowing the insulation to be unrolled from the roll in the form of strips to be hung on the building. The tensioning control mechanism is provided for controlling the unrolling of the roll.
US09637928B2

A sealing assembly for fluidly sealing a roof drain within a conductor pipe has a sealing element and an expansion ring. The sealing element defines an inner wall with a portion that transitions inward and may be disposed on a portion of the roof drain. The expansion ring is disposed within the inner wall. Reciprocation of the of the expansion ring along the inward transitioning portion of the inner wall causes the sealing element to expand outwardly to a sealed position with the sealing element outer wall abutting the conductor pipe inner wall in a fluid tight seal. Opposite reciprocation of the ring allows the sealing element to contract and release from the conductor pipe.
US09637922B1

A collapsible truss and method that is particularly suitable for staging and lighting, for shows, performances and other events. This evolved and novel modular truss can be collapsed to a significantly smaller size (i.e. increased density), and consequently requires significantly less space for storage and transportation. Further, in addition to the advantage of rapid assembly from collapsed parts to a full truss, the modular construction of the truss provides cost effective repair of this truss over traditional rigid welded trusses by simple replacement of damaged parts.
US09637914B2

The present application is directed toward fire-rated wall construction components and wall systems for use in building construction. Embodiments can include tracks for holding studs which incorporate various geometries capable of receiving fire-retardant material, flat straps for use between tracks and fluted wall components, fire sponges for use in fluted wall components, and tracks with protruding grooves or other structures which prevent unwanted air movement between a wallboard component and the track.
US09637910B2

An occupiable building and a method for constructing an occupiable space in a structural frame building are disclosed. In an embodiment, an occupiable building includes a structural frame defining a footprint of the occupiable building, at least one lower deck structure located within the footprint of the structural frame and supported by the structural frame, at least one upper deck structure located within the footprint of the structural frame and supported by the structural frame, and an interior partition system installed between the lower deck structure and the upper deck structure to define an occupiable space, the occupiable space having a ceiling. The interior partition system includes first king post assemblies, a lower panel, and an upper panel. The lower panel is fastened to the king post assemblies and to the upper panel. The upper panel is fastened to the king post assemblies and to upper panel.
US09637908B2

A drain assembly that aids in maximizing the flow of water through a drain. The assembly includes a first coupling element, a drain plate connected to the first coupling that includes a body with a plurality of protrusions that are spaced from each other and extend from the body at a plurality of angles and a drain cover that is connected to the drain plate.
US09637901B2

A method for setting at least one parameter on an actuation element (1) for triggering a function, in particular flushing, on a sanitary system, wherein the actuation element (1) comprises at least two actuation sensors (2, 3) for detecting an input of a user and at least two optical display elements (4, 5). The actuation element (1) is transferred from an operating mode (B) into a setting mode (E), in which said parameters can be set, with the simultaneous activation of at least two actuation sensors (2, 3) over a preset time interval (T1).
US09637895B2

An intelligent control faucet includes a faucet that includes a manual operation valve, an intelligent control module, a water egress tube, a cold water ingress tube, a hot water ingress tube, and a magnetic reed detection device. The water egress tube, the cold water ingress tube, and the hot water ingress tube are connected to the manual operation valve. The intelligent control module is connected, in a series manner, to the water egress tube. The magnetic reed detection device is mounted to the water egress tube and is connected through a feeding cable or directly to the intelligent control module. Water flow can be established or cut off through pulling the water egress tube so that the use is made easy.
US09637891B2

A management server for a working machine, including: a reception unit that receives a sensor output from a working machine; a regular report creation unit that creates, for each predetermined period of time, a regular report indicating an operation state of the working machine within the predetermined period of time based on the sensor output; an emergency report creation unit that creates at least one emergency report upon detecting abnormality data representing abnormality of the working machine based on the sensor output; an important report creation unit that creates an important report upon detecting predictive data indicating a sign of the abnormality based on the sensor output; and a delivery unit that delivers the regular report, the at least one emergency report, and the important report, respectively, to a regular report delivery target, an emergency report delivery target, and an important report delivery target.
US09637881B2

A stand-atone flood barrier apparatus that bolts to the ground through anchor bolts that connects with other stand-alone flood barrier apparatus to make a circuit to protect a person's desired location they wish to protect against flood waters such as crop fields. The stand-alone zigzag sheeting then is protracted from the stand-alone base unit and opened out for the end of sheeting to then fix into the retractable/expandable floor grip which is to be fully extended from the main unit which the zigzag sheeting fixes into. The stand-alone apparatus & zigzag sheeting can be retracted back into the stand-alone main unit and locked for further use in the future. Also can be detached from the anchor bolts and stored or used elsewhere. Underneath the stand-alone main unit there is a spike running through the center to keep away surface water. There is also a soft large rubber strip along the full base of the stand-alone unit to tolerate any undulations in the earth beneath the stand-alone apparatus. The stand-alone can be reused until sufficient use makes it no longer capable of propelling water from the desired locations you wish to protect & recycled.
US09637876B2

Device at inclined floors in passenger bridges for connection between a terminal building and a ship or an aircraft, includes two or more consecutive walking tunnels adjustable to be inclined in relation to the horizontal plane, and which include horizontal resting planes, wherein the floor of the walking tunnel extends out from a floor portion constituting the resting plane in opposite directions from the resting plane. A first short end of the respective floor of the walking tunnel is pivotally fixed to the floor portion, constituting the resting plane, the other short end of the respective floor rests on a sliding or rolling surface arranged so that the floor can move lengthwise relative to the sliding or rolling surface. The floor portion forming the resting plane is arranged to be pivoted about a horizontal axis via an electric actuator or hydraulic cylinder, whereby the resting planes assume a horizontal position.
US09637874B2

A form assembly for installation of paving materials has elongated form sections, each having a first side wall facing the paving material and an opposite second side wall that has a first longitudinal channel defined between brackets. A number of connector elements join adjacent elongated form sections. Anchor mounting elements have a first coupling member configured to fit into the first longitudinal channel of the form section and a second coupling member configured for coupling to a mounting anchor. Each of the elongated form sections has an upper screed contact surface orthogonal to the first side wall and wherein a first wall thickness between first and second side walls that is between the upper screed contact surface and the first longitudinal channel exceeds a second wall thickness of the form section that is between the first longitudinal channel and a base that is opposite the upper screed contact surface.
US09637872B1

Methods and apparatuses for continuous paving near or around obstacles that are along a path to be paved. The methods include receipt of paving materials onto a material conveyor then into a hopper, detecting an amount of paving materials received in the hopper, indicating whether the paving materials in the hopper are sufficient for paving around an obstacle, forming the paving materials into a paved trail of widths from one to four meters, and moving the material conveyor while the trail paver continuously paves around the obstacle.
US09637869B1

A method of facilitating monitoring and interdicting of targets crossing through an area comprising first mixing a luminescent pigment and a soil stabilizer, second loading the mixture into a spray dispenser, third dispensing the mixture in a substantially continuous coating covering a swathe of ground, and fourth monitoring said continuous coating covering said swathe of ground for disturbances in the continuity of said swathe.
US09637868B2

A bitumen containing composition, comprising bitumen and a phosphate compound, which is obtainable by the esterification of a polyhydric alcohol having at least three hydroxyl groups, with a carboxylic acid having 8-24 carbon atoms, preferably 12-22 carbon atoms, or a derivative thereof, wherein at least one but not all of the hydroxyl groups are esterified, provided that when the polyhydric alcohol has 5 or more hydroxyl groups then at least two but not all of the hydroxyl groups are esterified, followed by reacting the ester obtained with a phosphatising reagent; wherein the said composition is not a bitumen-in-water emulsion.
US09637864B2

A nano-composite structure. A synthetic nano-composite is described having a first component including a fibrous structured amorphous silica structure, and a second component including a precipitated calcium carbonate structure developed by pressure carbonation. The nano-composite may be useful for fillers in paints and coatings. Also, the nano-composite may be useful in coatings used in the manufacture of paper products.
US09637857B2

A laundry washing machine (1) has a casing (2) supporting a washing tub (3) external to a washing drum (4) suitable to receive the laundry to be washed, and a detergent supply system (5; 35; 55; 65; 105) comprising a mixing chamber (6; 56; 86; 106) suitable to receive detergent (D) and water (W). A mixing device (20; 40; 100) suitable to mix the detergent (D) and the water (W) in the mixing chamber (6; 56; 86; 106) to form a washing solution (S) is provided. The mixing chamber (6; 56; 86; 106) and the mixing device (20; 40; 100) are disposed inside the casing (2) and the mixing chamber (6; 56; 86; 106) comprises an inlet (7; 57; 87; 107) accessible from outside the casing (2) for the insertion of the detergent (D) and an outlet (14; 94) for delivering the washing solution (S) in the washing tub (3).
US09637839B2

Aromatic molecules are seeded on a surface of a growth substrate; and a layer (e.g., a monolayer) of a metal dichalcogenide is grown via chemical vapor deposition on the growth substrate surface seeded with aromatic molecules. The seeded aromatic molecules are contacted with a solvent that releases the metal dichalcogenide layer from the growth substrate. The metal dichalcogenide layer can be released with an adhered transfer medium and can be deposited on a target substrate.
US09637837B2

Methods of making electrically conductive, doped zinc oxide nanowires and nanowire films are provided. The methods comprises the steps of forming an aqueous solution comprising a dopant-containing precursor salt, a zinc-containing precursor salt and a pH buffering agent and heating the aqueous solution to a temperature below its boiling point in the presence of seed crystals, whereby doped zinc oxide nanowires are grown in situ from the seed crystals in the aqueous solution.
US09637836B2

An electrochemical deposition system is described. The electrochemical deposition system includes one or more electrochemical deposition modules arranged on a common platform for depositing one or more metals on a substrate, and a chemical management system coupled to the one or more electrochemical deposition modules. The chemical management system is configured to supply at least one of the one or more electrochemical deposition modules with one or more metal constituents for depositing the one or more metals. The chemical management system can include at least one metal enrichment cell and at least one metal-concentrate generator cell.
US09637835B2

A method of preparing a metal composite, comprising the steps of: forming an anodic oxidation layer on a surface of a metal substrate; forming a dye layer comprising a dye and a water soluble ink on the anodic oxidation layer, wherein the dye layer has a graduated thickness; and removing the water soluble ink.
US09637834B2

A method for fabricating an electrically programmable fuse structure is provided. The method includes providing a substrate. The method also includes forming an anode and a cathode on the substrate. Further, the method includes forming a fuse between the anode and the cathode and having an anode-connecting-end connecting with the anode and a cathode-connecting-end connecting with the cathode over the substrate. Further, the method also includes forming a compressive stress region in the cathode-connecting-end, wherein the anode-connecting-end has a tensile stress region.
US09637827B2

The present disclosure pertains to methods of protecting a surface (e.g., a metal surface) from corrosion by conformably attaching a hybrid device comprising at least one multilayer energy storage device and at least one energy conversion device. In some embodiments, the multilayer energy storage device is formed by the following steps: (1) applying a non-solid negative electrode current collector composition above the surface to form an negative electrode current collector layer above the surface; (2) applying a non-solid negative electrode composition above the negative electrode current collector layer to form an negative electrode layer above the negative electrode current collector layer; (3) applying a non-solid electrically insulating composition above the negative electrode layer to form an electrically insulating layer above the negative electrode layer; (4) applying a non-solid positive electrode composition above the electrically insulating layer to form a positive electrode layer above the electrically insulating layer; and (5) applying a non-solid positive electrode current collector composition above the positive electrode layer to form a positive electrode current collector layer above the positive electrode layer.
US09637812B2

A non-oriented electrical steel sheet contains 2.8 mass % or more and 4.0 mass % or less of Si, 0.2 mass % or more and 3.0 mass % or less of Al, and 0.02 mass % or more and 0.2 mass % or less of P. The non-oriented electrical steel sheet contains further contains 0.5 mass % or more in total of at least one kinds selected from a group consisting of 4.0 mass % or less of Ni and 2.0 mass % or less of Mn. A C content is 0.05 mass % or less, a N content is 0.01 mass % or less, an average grain diameter is 15 μm or less, and a <111> axial density is 6 or larger.
US09637809B2

An alloy according to example embodiments of the present invention may include zirconium, tin, iron, chromium, and nickel, with a majority of the alloy being zirconium. The composition of the alloy may be about 0.85-2.00% tin by weight, about 0.15-0.30% iron by weight, about 0.40-0.75% chromium by weight, and less than 0.01% nickel by weight. The alloy may further include 0.004-0.020% silicon by weight, 0.004-0.020% carbon by weight, and/or 0.05-0.20% oxygen by weight. Accordingly, the alloy exhibits reduced hydrogen absorption and improved corrosion resistance and may be used to form a fuel assembly component.
US09637808B2

A refill for a ball-point pen has an ink cartridge and a ball, the ball being arranged in a writing tip provided at the front end of the ink cartridge, wherein at least the writing tip of the ink cartridge is made solely of a copper-zinc alloy of the following composition (wt. %): 28.0 to 36.0% Zn, 0.5 to 1.5% Si, 1.5 to 2.5% Mn, 0.2 to 1.0% Ni, 0.5 to 1.5% Al, 0.1 to 1.0% Fe, optionally also up to a maximum of 0.1% Pb, optionally also up to a maximum of 0.2% Sn, optionally also up to a maximum of 0.1% P, optionally also up to a maximum of 0.08% S, the rest being Cu and inevitable impurities, with mixed silicides containing iron, nickel and manganese embedded in the matrix.
US09637801B2

Provided herein is a GeXP detection kit for identification of 11 kinds of duck virus diseases. The detection kit includes a primer set for identifying or auxiliarily identifying pathogens of duck communicable diseases, including one or more of primer pair A, primer pair B primer pair C, primer pair D, primer pair E, primer pair F, primer pair G, primer pair H, primer pair I, primer pair J, primer pair K and primer pair L. The kit can detect simultaneously avian influenza virus, subtype H5, H7 and H9 of avian influenza virus, duck hepatitis virus, duck enteritis virus, duck Tembusu virus, Newcastle disease virus, egg drop syndrome virus, Muscovy duck reovirus, Muscovy duck parvovirus and duck circovirus with the primer set, PCR reagent or primer pairs provided in the present invention.
US09637793B2

The present invention provides microRNAs for assessing the status of pancreatic cancer in a subject, and provides methods, kits, and biochips for detecting said microRNAs.
US09637777B2

Disclosed are methods of multiplexed analysis of oligonucleotides in a sample, including a method of preventing a significant reduction in duplexes detectable in a hybridization assay involving (i) selecting probe lengths for sets of oligonucleotide probes, wherein probes include different subsequences such that at least one subsequence is complementary to a subsequence in a cognate target; wherein probes for longer cognate targets are longer in length than probes for shorter cognate targets, (ii) selecting, for each set of probes, a density of oligonucleotides probes attached per unit area on a solid phase carrier which is below a limit at which the significant reduction in detectable duplexes is predicated to take place, (iii) producing the probes and affixing them to different solid phase carriers at the selected density, and (iv) annealing targets to the probes, wherein signal intensities of probes and targets of different lengths are about the same.
US09637775B2

A system and method for processing and detecting nucleic acids from a set of biological samples, comprising: a molecular diagnostic module configured to receive nucleic acids bound to magnetic beads, isolate nucleic acids, and analyze nucleic acids, comprising a cartridge receiving module, a heating/cooling subsystem and a magnet configured to facilitate isolation of nucleic acids, a valve actuation subsystem including an actuation substrate, and a set of pins interacting with the actuation substrate, and a spring plate configured to bias at least one pin in a configurations, the valve actuation subsystem configured to control fluid flow through a microfluidic cartridge for processing nucleic acids, and an optical subsystem for analysis of nucleic acids; and a fluid handling system configured to deliver samples and reagents to components of the system to facilitate molecular diagnostic protocols.
US09637762B2

A system and a process for the production of ethanol and related products from lignocellulosic biomasses (second generation—2G-ethanol), particularly from sugarcane bagasse and straw is provided, however not limited thereto, integrated with conventional processes for the production of ethanol (first generation—1G-ethanol) such as, for example, from sugarcane juice and/or molasses (either in sugar and ethanol plants or in autonomous distilleries), corn, grain, wheat, sugary sorghum, white beetroot, among others, including the recovery/reuse of streams and effluents. More specifically, an integrated process for the production of ethanol and related products where the process warrants increased efficiency particularly in the use of the raw material, steam, electric power and treated water is provided.
US09637760B2

This invention refers to a procedure for obtaining a biocrude from greenhouse gases, a procedure which is advantageous industrially and continuous. By means of said procedure it is possible to capture, convert and revalue CO2, among other greenhouse gases, in an efficient manner, in such a way that a net negative balance is obtained, which in other words means that with this procedure it is possible to capture more CO2 than is generated which makes it beneficial and sustainable in the environment.
US09637752B2

The present invention provides novel regulatory elements for use in plants. The present invention also provides DNA constructs containing these novel regulatory elements; transgenic cells, plants, and seeds containing these novel regulatory elements; and methods for preparing and using the same.
US09637750B2

The present disclosure relates to inducible hybrid plant 5S rRNA mimic (P5SM) RNA elements that regulate gene expression by alternative splicing, and to methods of using such RNA elements for regulating transgene expression in eukaryotic host cells and plants.
US09637749B2

Isolated mutant Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria comprising a deletion in the ESAT-6 gene cluster region 3 (esx-3 region) are provided, as well as compositions comprising such, methods of production thereof and methods of use thereof.
US09637744B2

The present invention relates to methods and pharmaceutical compositions for the treatment of Erythropoietic Protoporphyria. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for increasing the amount of functional FECH in a erythroid cell carrying the hypomorphic allele IVS3 48C/T (rs2272783) in trans to a deleterious mutation in the FECH gene comprising the step of consisting of bringing the erythroid cell into contact with at least one antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) comprising the sequence as set forth by SEQ ID NO: 2 (5′ gcagcctgagaaatgtttt 3′) to prevent splicing of the cryptic exon inserted into the mutant IVS3 48C/T (rs2272783) FECH mRNA.
US09637741B2

This invention provides a method for modulating the expression of a first gene in a cell wherein the first gene is one containing more than 36 CAG trinucleotide repeats and encoding a protein that form polyglutamine-mediated protein aggregation. Suppression of the first gene is achieved by reducing the expression of SPT4 gene or SUPT4H gene. It can also be achieved by inhibiting the formation of a Spt4/Spt5 complex or a Supt4h/Supt5h complex. Also provided is a method for identifying an agent useful for modulating the expression and aggregation of CAG-expanded gene product, or treating a polyglutamine disease such as Huntington's disease.
US09637735B2

This disclosure relates to a method of generating conditionally active biologic proteins from wild type proteins, in particular therapeutic proteins, which are reversibly or irreversibly inactivated at the wild type normal physiological conditions. For example, evolved proteins are virtually inactive at body temperature, but are active at lower temperatures.
US09637708B2

Alkaline sprayable aqueous compositions are disclosed. In particular, sprayable alkaline aqueous chlorine compositions including a surfactant system for modifying the viscosity of the composition, are combined with an alkalinity source and a chlorine source. Methods of cleaning having reduced amounts of airborne particulates of the composition during spray applications are also provided according to the invention, namely reduction of airborne particulates having a micron size of 10 or less within a breathing zone of a user of less than or equal to 60 particles/cm3.
US09637700B2

Provided herein are compositions comprising at least one estolide compound of formula: in which n is an integer equal to or greater than 0; m is an integer equal to or greater than 1; R1, independently for each occurrence, is selected from optionally substituted alkyl that is saturated or unsaturated, and branched or unbranched; R2 is selected from hydrogen and optionally substituted alkyl that is saturated or unsaturated, and branched or unbranched; and R3 and R4, independently for each occurrence, are selected from optionally substituted alkyl that is saturated or unsaturated, and branched or unbranched. Also provided are uses of the compositions described herein.
US09637699B2

Processes for producing a fuel from a renewable feedstock which may have more than 60 ppm nitrogen. The renewable feedstock is passed to a deoxygenation zone. A hydrogen stream, preferably formed from a recycled gas, is introduced into the deoxygenation zone at a relatively high rate. The hydrogen introduction may be between 3 to 5 times the rate of hydrogen consumption in the deoxygenation zone. The hydrogen introduction may also be between 6000 to 9000 SCF/BBL. A deoxygenated effluent, comprising less than 1 wppm nitrogen, may be isomerized and separated into one or more product hydrocarbon streams such as a diesel fuel or aviation fuel.
US09637693B2

Disclosed herein is an improved fluidized catalytic cracking process for converting normally liquid hydrocarbon feedstock with simultaneous reduction of sulfur content in the liquid products obtained therefrom which comprises carrying out the cracking process in the presence of carbon monoxide gas as a reducing agent. The process optionally includes a step of premixing the hydrocarbon feedstock with carbon monoxide gas causing major sulfur reduction before effecting the cracking. The premixing is done in a specified nozzle assembly linked to the FCC unit.
US09637685B2

The invention provides a method for enriching diluents with butane so as not to violate pre-defined limits for liquid hydrocarbon fuels with respect to density, volatility and low density hydrocarbon content.
US09637683B2

A photosensitive resin composition comprising: a solvent in an amount of about 60 percentage by weight (wt %) to about 95 wt %; and a solid content in an amount of about 5 wt % to about 40 wt %, with respect to a total weight of the photosensitive resin composition, wherein the solid content comprises: a phosphor in an amount of about 5 wt % to about 90 wt %; a photopolymerizable compound in an amount of about 4 wt % to about 70 wt %; a photopolymerization initiator in an amount of about 0.1 wt % to about 20 wt %; an alkali soluble resin in an amount of about 5 wt % to about 80 wt %; and a dispersant in an amount of about 0.1 wt % to about 12 wt %, with respect to a total weight of the solid content.
US09637675B2

Loss of wellbore fluids (such as drilling fluids, completion fluids and workover fluids) into the flow passages of a subterranean formation may be reduced or eliminated by introducing into the wellbore in communication with the formation a composition containing a composite of a deformable core having a hardened coating which contains a viscosifying agent and, optionally, a crosslinking agent. The viscosity of the composition increases in-situ as the viscosifying agent, and optional crosslinking agent, disassociate from the deformable core and react. A fluid-impermeable barrier is thereby formed. The composites may also be used in spacers, well cements, workover and completion fluids as their need arises.
US09637669B2

The present invention relates to temperature-treated polycrystalline porous Al2O3 bodies comprising an amount of α aluminum oxide of more than 97% by weight, an amount of other oxide alloying components of a total of less than 3% by weight, a macroporosity of between 5 and 30% by volume, wherein the Al2O3 bodies are composed of a plurality of Al2O3 primary crystals comprising a crystallite size of between 20 and 100 μm.
US09637665B2

An adhesive film that includes a first region having a first hardness, and second regions disposed on opposing sides of the first region and having a second hardness that is greater than the first hardness.
US09637652B2

A method for continuous production of radiation curable ink suitable for ink-based digital printing includes feeding ingredients suitable for forming a pigment concentrate to an extruder; blending the ingredients in the extruder to form a pigment concentrate paste; feeding additional ingredients to the extruder for blending with the ink concentrate to form an ink product configured for ink-based digital printing, wherein a pigment particle size is less than about 1 micron.
US09637648B2

This invention provides a polymer thick film copper conductor composition for forming a solderable and highly solder leach resistant electrical conductor and a method for using the polymer thick film copper conductor composition to form the electrical conductor in an electrical circuit. The method subjects the deposited thick film copper conductor composition to photonic sintering. The invention further provides electrical devices containing electrical conductors made from the polymer thick film copper conductor composition and also those formed by the method.
US09637644B2

A coating film to prevent a conspicuous fingerprint has a water contact angle of no less than 60° so that most of water contained in fingerprints on the coating film evaporates without forming a layer adsorbed on the coating film. Further, the coating film has lipophilicity and has a diiodomethane contact angle of no more than 45° so that the coating film exhibits enhanced affinity to fingerprints, which primarily contain oily components.
US09637643B2

Method for the manufacture of an optical article comprising the following steps: —providing a substrate having two main faces and bearing —OH functions on at least one of its faces, —successively exposing in this order one face of the substrate bearing —OH functions to at least 3 distinct materials named M1, M2, M3 and optionally material M4 in a vacuum chamber under conditions resulting in the deposit of those materials on the surface of the substrate, and wherein: —M1 is a substituted silane comprising at least one function X1 directly bonded to a Si atom of the substituted silane, wherein the Si—X1 group is capable of forming a covalent bond with a OH group of the substrate, X1 being preferably a hydrolysable group (such a —NH2 group) or a —OH group directly bonded to the silicon atom and comprising at least one fluorine containing group, —M2 is a substituted silane of number average molecular weight inferior or equal to 900 g/mol comprising at least one function X2 directly bonded to a silicon atom of said substituted silane wherein the Si—X2 group is capable of forming a covalent bond with a —OH group of the substrate and/or a covalent bond with M1, X2 being preferably a hydrolysable group (such a —NH2 group) or a OH group and at least one hydrophobic or oleophobic group, or at least one hydrophilic group, —Wherein M1 has a weight average molecular weight higher than M2 and the difference between M1 and M2 weight average molecular weights is equal to or higher than 600 g/mol, preferably equal to or higher than 900 g/mol. —M3 is a metal fluoride, —Optional M4 is a non fluorinated metal oxide or metal hydroxide.
US09637641B2

Nanothick flakes that are either flat and specularly-reflective in visible light or that have microroughness intentionally controlled to disperse or interfere with visible light. Coatings and inks utilizing such flakes. Method for fabrication of such flakes in partial vacuum includes the repeated multiple times deposition of a release layer over a substrate surface and a flake layer over the release layer to form a multilayer structure further reduced to individual flakes. Reactive metal is passivated inline with the deposition of the flake layer for superior corrosion resistance. Chemically-functional materials are optionally added to the release material to transfer their functionality to the surface of flake layer to create unique functional properties on a flake surface before the multilayer structure is removed from the substrate.
US09637639B2

The present invention relates to a method of producing a dispersion comprising a) mixing an aqueous dispersion of silanized colloidal silica particles with at least one organic compound containing at least two hydroxyl groups to provide an aqueous dispersion of silanized colloidal silica particles and said at least one organic compound, wherein the mixing is performed in the substantial absence of any monofunctional alcohol b) withdrawing water from the formed aqueous dispersion until the remainder of water in the dispersion is below about 10 wt %. The invention also relates to a dispersion obtainable therefrom and the use of the dispersion.
US09637628B2

A dual reactor solution process gives high density polyethylene compositions containing a first ethylene copolymer and a second ethylene copolymer and which have good processability, stiffness, and environmental stress crack resistance. The polyethylene compositions are suitable for compression molding or injection molding applications and are particularly useful in the manufacture of caps and closures for bottles.
US09637623B2

A rubber composition contains a higher ethylene content EPDM and a lower ethylene content EPDM as a rubber component. The proportion of the higher ethylene content EPDM is 30 to 80 mass % based on the overall amount of the rubber component. The rubber composition is less susceptible to reduction in friction coefficient μ and has a proper hardness, a smaller permanent elongation and an excellent abrasion resistance after crosslinking. Therefore, the rubber composition is suitable for a sheet conveying roller and an image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet conveying roller.
US09637622B2

The present invention relates to an acrylate-styrene-acrylonitrile polymer, a method for preparing the same, and a thermoplastic resin composition. More specifically, the present invention has an effect of providing an acrylate-styrene-acrylonitrile polymer, a method for preparing the same, and a thermoplastic resin composition, wherein an N-vinyl monomer is applied such that the polymerization can be initiated by a redox system under conditions in which a grafting agent is not used, thereby improving the grafting efficiency of the acrylate-styrene-acrylonitrile polymer and thus improving powder characteristics and impact resistance while maintaining dye-ability; the content of free shells is lowered to improve the coagulation and latex stability; the polymerization is performed by the redox system without an activation liquid of a shell layer, thereby reducing additives and thus improving pigment dye-ability and significantly improving weather resistance.
US09637612B2

A method for alignment of high aspect ratio materials (HARMs) within a liquid matrix by means of magnetic particles. The application of an external magnetic field creates a forced motion of the magnetic particles. This in turn leads to a laminar flow within the matrix which imposes a drag force on the HARMs, aligning the HARMs across the matrix. The used magnetic particles eventually accumulate at one end side of the matrix container and can be removed either by an incision or an extraction process. Unlike the previously proposed methods, there is no need for the magnetic particles to be attached either physically or chemically to the HARMs. Thus, the ultimate aligned HARMs are mostly pure and free of any magnetic particles. Once the matrix is a polymeric solution, the mentioned method is capable of synthesis of aligned HARMs-polymer composites, which exhibit improved mechanical and electrical properties.
US09637605B2

A biaxially oriented laminate film including a core layer including a blend of crystalline polylactic acid polymer and a metal salt phosphorus-containing compound nucleating agent which is biaxially oriented at low transverse direction orientation temperatures to impart a degree of cavitation around the metal salt phosphorus-containing metal such that a white opaque cavitated appearance and a lower film density and improved mechanical properties are obtained. The laminate film could further have additional layers such as a heat sealable layer disposed on one side of said core layer including an amorphous polylactic acid resin and/or a polylactic acid resin-containing layer disposed on the side of the core layer opposite the heat sealable layer, a metal layer, or combinations thereof.
US09637601B2

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a masterbatch of diene elastomer and reinforcing inorganic filler in accordance with the invention comprises the following successive stages: bringing into contact and mixing one or more aqueous dispersions (B) of one or more hydrophobized reinforcing inorganic fillers, which coagulate(s) spontaneously with the said latex, and one or more diene elastomer latexes (A) in order to obtain a coagulum, without requiring a coagulating agent, recovery of the coagulum, then drying the recovered coagulum in order to obtain the masterbatch.
US09637600B2

Curable organosilicon compositions with good adhesion to substrates and good workability contain a condensable base organopolysiloxane, a carbamato-alkyl-functional alkoxysilane, and a heterocycle substituted at a heteroatom by an alkoxysilylmethyl group.
US09637599B2

The present disclosure describes methods and biomimetic catalysts useful for hydrolyzing glucose polymers, such as cellulose, and oligomers, such as cellobiose, to glucose for the subsequent production of ethanol.
US09637597B2

Methods of synthesizing a DOPA-melanin (DM) polymer are disclosed, as well as compositions comprising the DM polymer and uses thereof. The method comprises contacting a reactant such as 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) with a high concentration aqueous salt solution under oxidative conditions. The resulting DM polymer may form as insoluble particles or as a coating on a substrate surface. Exemplary uses for the DM polymers include removing heavy metal ions from contaminated solutions or capturing and delivering cationic drugs such as gentamicin.
US09637595B2

The present invention relates to a novel polyamide synthesized from biobased monomers. The novel polyamide comprises the repeat unit of following formula (I). The present invention also relates to the process for the preparation of said polyamide, to its uses and to articles and compositions comprising said polyamide.
US09637593B2

Organic materials are stripped and dried in a single column having two contact zones. A stripping gas is introduced into an upper contact zone and flows through the organic material in that zone. A drying gas is introduced into a lower contact zone. The drying gas contacts the organic material in both the upper and lower contact zones, and is removed from the top of the column together with the stripping gas. This process permits very efficiently removal of volatile organic compounds as well as efficient drying, while requiring on low levels of the stripping and drying gasses.
US09637592B2

Gel-forming block copolymers were prepared comprising i) a central hydrophilic block consisting essentially of a divalent poly(ethylene oxide) chain and ii) two peripheral monocarbonate or polycarbonate hydrophobic blocks. The hydrophobic blocks comprise one or more vitamin-bearing subunits. The vitamin-bearing subunits comprise a carbonate backbone portion and a side chain comprising a covalently bound form of a vitamin. The gel-forming block copolymers can be used to prepare various biodegradable and/or biocompatible hydrogel and organogel drug compositions, in particular antimicrobial and/or anti-tumor drug compositions. The hydrogel compositions can be suitable for depot injections. Synergistic enhancement of toxicity to microbes was observed with compositions comprising an antimicrobial cationic polymer and an antimicrobial compound.
US09637591B2

A polyester having a saturated backbone, a method of preparing said polyester, an intermediate unsaturated polyester product, and a method for preparing said intermediate unsaturated polyester product, where the number of carbon backbone atoms between two neighboring ester groups in the backbone is randomly distributed over the polyester, and the polyester has an M/E ratio of 14 or more, wherein M is the number of backbone carbon atoms in the polyester not including the ester carbons and E is the number of ester groups in the polyester.
US09637585B2

The subject disclosure provides a viscoelastic polyurethane foam and a method of forming the viscoelastic polyurethane foam. The viscoelastic polyurethane foam comprises the reaction product of a toluene diisocyanate and an isocyanate reactive component. The isocyanate reactive component comprises a first polyether triol, a second polyether triol, an amino alcohol chain extender, and a hydrolyzable polyether polydimethylsiloxane copolymer. The first polyether triol has a weight-average molecular weight of from 500 to 5,000 g/mol, at least 60 parts by weight ethyleneoxy units, based on the total weight of the first polyether triol, and at least 10% ethyleneoxy end caps. The second polyether triol, which is different from the first polyether triol, has a weight-average molecular weight of from 5,000 to 10,000 g/mol and at least 80% ethyleneoxy end caps.
US09637582B2

The invention provides an actinically-polymerizable amphiphilic polysiloxane which comprises a polysiloxane polymer chain comprising a polylsiloxane segments comprising at least one siloxane unit having a low molecular weight hydrophilic polymer chain connected with a silicone atom of the siloxane unit, and (meth)acrylamido groups each covalently bonded to one of the ends of the polysiloxane polymer chain and/or to the end of one of low molecular weight hydrophilic polymer chains each connected with one silicone atom. The present invention is also related to a polymer, an actinically-crosslinkable silicone-containing prepolymer, a silicone hydrogel polymeric material, or a silicone hydrogel contact lens, which comprises repeating units derived from an actinically-polymerizable amphiphilic polysiloxane of the invention. In addition, the invention provides a method for making silicone hydrogel contact lenses using a water-based lens-forming formulation comprising an actinically-polymerizable amphiphilic polysiloxane of the invention and/or an actinically-crosslinkable silicone-containing prepolymer of the invention.
US09637581B2

A photocurable or thermally curable thiosulfate-containing polymer has (a) recurring units and (d) recurring units, shown as either Structure (I) or (II) and Structure (V) below: R represents the organic polymer backbone, G is a single bond or divalent linking group, Q+ is an organic charge balancing cation, M represents a charge balancing cation, and “a” represents at least 0.5 mol % and to 99.5 mol % of (a) recurring units; R″ represents the organic polymer backbone, G″ is a carbonyloxy group, R3 comprises a monovalent linear, branched, or carbocyclic non-aromatic hydrocarbon group having 1 to 18 carbon atoms, or it comprises a phenyl group having one or more such substituents, and “d” represents at least 0.5 mol % and to 99.5 mol % of (d) recurring units. These thiosulfate-containing polymers can be used to made dielectric compositions and gate dielectric layers in various devices.
US09637576B2

Disclosed are a device and a method for continuously polymerizing polybutene by removing halogen acid, which is included in a reaction raw material, by adsorbing the halogen acid using an adsorbent and then re-supplying the reaction raw material into a reactor. The device for re-circulating the raw material when manufacturing polybutene comprises a reactor, into which a catalyst and a reaction raw material (diluted with an inactive organic solvent) are supplied and polymerized to produce a reaction product; a neutralizing/washing tank for removing the catalyst from the reaction product and neutralizing the reaction product; a separation tank for separating the reaction product into organic compounds and water; a C4 distillation column for distilling an unreacted raw material and the inactive organic solvent from the organic compounds; and an impurity adsorption column for removing halogen acid from the distilled unreacted raw material and the inactive organic solvent using an adsorbent.
US09637574B2

The present invention relates to a process for preparing alkyl methacrylates and their conversion products which can be used in a multitude of chemical synthesis processes which can lead to a wide variety of different further processing products, and to an apparatus for performing this process.
US09637563B2

A reactive surfactant composition comprising one or more kinds of reactive surfactants is disclosed that may be used as an emulsifier for emulsion polymerization, a dispersant for suspension polymerization, a nonaqueous dispersant, or a resin modifier.
US09637561B2

Food, consumer, and industrial product packaging materials are provided by embodiments of the present invention. Films and laminates based on a combination of negatively charged polysaccharides are provided as such packaging materials. The films can be prepared by mildly treating soft wood with steam followed by alkali extraction and enzymatic treatment. Negatively charged non-cellulosic polysaccharides are isolated with weight average molecular weight Mw higher than 10,000 g/mol and molecular structure comprising a xylan main chain substituted with more than 15 molar % of glucuronic acid and more than 5 molar % arabinose. The negatively charged non-cellulosic polysaccharides can be casted from water solution on a suitable carrier and surface acetylated or coated with acetylated polysaccharide to obtain oxygen and water barrier packaging laminate. Inventive packaging materials can have strength at break above 55 MPa, elongation to break above 2.5%, cohesive and adhesive properties and good oxygen and moisture barrier properties.
US09637560B2

A reactive extrusion process for the production of substituted polysaccharides, in particular, cellulose acetate, starch acetate, carboxymethyl cellulose, and carboxymethyl starch.
US09637559B2

Provided are an emulsifier derived from sugar polymer capable of successfully emulsifying even unsaturated oil, a production method therefore, and a production method for emulsion using the emulsifier. This emulsifier can be obtained by a production method including an emulsification improving step of improving the emulsification of sugar polymer particles dispersed in water. In this emulsification improving step, the emulsification of sugar polymer particles can be improved by an action of an emulsification aid that is at least water-soluble one kind selected from salts, an amphiphilic agent, saccharides, an organic acid, and an amino acid. Alternatively, the emulsification of sugar polymer particles can be improved by storing the sugar polymer particles dispersed in water at a low temperature of 10° C. or lower.
US09637558B2

A resin composition includes a cellulose derivative in which at least one hydroxyl group is substituted with an acetyl group in an amount ratio of 90% by weight or greater with respect to a total amount of the resin composition, wherein a melt flow rate (MFR) of the resin composition is in a range of 10 g/10 min to 20 g/10 min.
US09637557B2

Described herein are methods for the efficient production of antibodies and other multimeric protein complexes (collectively referred to herein as heteromultimeric proteins) capable of specifically binding to more than one target. The targets may be, for example, different epitopes on a single molecule or located on different molecules. The methods combine efficient, high gene expression level, appropriate assembly, and ease of purification for the heteromultimeric proteins. The invention also provides methods of using these heteromultimeric proteins, and compositions, kits and articles of manufacture comprising these antibodies.
US09637555B2

We provide new monoclonal antibody inhibitors of coagulases for treatment of S. aureus. The monoclonal antibodies are useful in targeting the SC N-terminus and inhibiting prothrombin activation. The monoclonal antibodies are able to bind to and interfere with, modulate, and/or inhibit the binding interactions between the staphylocoagulase protein and its ligand protein prothrombin in blood and tissues. The antibodies are effective in inhibiting the activation of prothrombin.
US09637553B2

The present invention relates to antibodies anti-sPLA2-IIA and uses thereof.
US09637552B2

The invention provides a method for treating a medical condition, disease, or disorder mediated by a misfolded form of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in a subject in need of treatment. The method optionally comprises administering to the subject a composition comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle and an agent selected from (1) an exogenous antibody or fragment thereof that binds selectively to the misfolded form of SOD, and/or (2) an immunogen that elicits production of an endogenous antibody that binds selectively to the misfolded form of SOD, and/or (3) a nucleic acid sequence encoding (1) or (2). In certain embodiments, the invention provides methods of treating diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using amyotrophic disease-specific epitopes, and compositions including these epitopes. The invention also provides antibodies that bind to monomeric or misfolded SOD1, and not on the molecular surface of native homodimeric SOD1. In addition, the invention includes methods of diagnosing Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in a subject. Also, the invention provides methods of identifying substances for the treatment or prevention of Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and kits using the binding proteins of the invention.
US09637538B2

A monoclonal chimeric immunoglobulin wherein the heavy chains and the light chains are human by nature in their constant parts, in particular, the heavy chain constant parts are chosen from the group formed of the heavy chain constant parts of an IgA, of an IgG or of an IgM and the light chain constant parts are chosen from the group formed of the kappa chains and the lambda chains, and the light chain and the heavy chain variable parts are chosen from the group formed of monoclonal antibodies specific to monomorphic epitopes of HLA class I antigens and monoclonal antibodies specific to monomorphic epitopes of HLA class II antigens. A process for standardization of the screening and for quantification of anti-HLA antibodies in a liquid medium is also described.
US09637536B2

Newly identified mammalian taste-cell-specific G protein-coupled receptors, and the genes and cDNA encoding said receptors are provided. Specifically, T1R G protein-coupled receptors active in taste signaling, and the genes and cDNA encoding the same, are provided, along with methods for isolating such genes and for isolating and expressing such receptors.
US09637535B2

The present invention provides interleukin-33 (IL-33) antagonists comprising one or more IL-33-binding domains and one or more multimerizing domains and methods of using the same. According to certain embodiments of the invention, the IL-33-binding domains can comprise an IL-33-binding portion of an ST2 protein and/or an extracellular portion of an IL-1RAcP protein. The IL-33 antagonists of the invention are useful for the treatment of diseases and disorders associated with IL-33 signaling and/or IL-33 cellular expression, such as infectious diseases, inflammatory diseases, allergic diseases and fibrotic diseases.
US09637533B2

The present invention relates to a method for increasing embryo implantation rate in mother's uterus in mammals by administering to the uterus of a mammal an effective amount of beta-galactoside-binding lectin or derivatives thereof, as well as to a product comprising said lectin.
US09637532B2

The present invention provides a virus like particle comprising a virus structural protein and an antigen derived from PD-1 or a ligand of PD-1, and a composition or kit comprising thereof, its use in immune response etc.
US09637531B2

The present invention relates to compositions, methods and kits for delivery of an IGF-1 protein or a functional fragment or variant, derivative thereof to cells or tissues that express proteoglycans. More specifically, the present invention relates to fusion proteins comprising a heparin binding protein (HB) comprising SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2. Other aspects relate to use of a HB-IGF-1 fusion proteins in methods to deliver IGF-1 to the cartilage for the treatment of a cartilage related disease and disorder in a subject.
US09637530B2

Disclosed are cysteine variants of interleukin-11 (IL-11) and methods of making and using such proteins in therapeutic applications.
US09637529B2

The present invention provides SERF2, a nucleic acid encoding said SERF2 or a cell expressing SERF2 for use as a medicament, in particular for use for use in treating or preventing an atrophy disease or condition or for increasing cellular growth in a patient such as sarcopenia, cachexia, dystrophy, hypoplasia, hypotonia, or muscle loss, as well as in vitro methods suitable for cell culture proliferation and pharmaceutical compositions.
US09637528B2

The invention provides directed evolution methods for improving the folding, solubility and stability (including thermostability) characteristics of polypeptides. In one aspect, the invention provides a method for generating folding and stability-enhanced variants of proteins, including but not limited to fluorescent proteins, chromophoric proteins and enzymes. In another aspect, the invention provides methods for generating thermostable variants of a target protein or polypeptide via an internal destabilization baiting strategy. Internally destabilization a protein of interest is achieved by inserting a heterologous, folding-destabilizing sequence (folding interference domain) within DNA encoding the protein of interest, evolving the protein sequences adjacent to the heterologous insertion to overcome the destabilization (using any number of mutagenesis methods), thereby creating a library of variants. The variants in the library are expressed, and those with enhanced folding characteristics selected.
US09637525B2

The present invention is directed to improved microbial antigen vaccines, pharmaceutical compositions, immunogenic compositions and antibodies and their use in the treatment of microbial infections, particularly those of bacterial origin, including Staphylococcal origin. Ideally, the present invention is directed to a recombinant staphylococcal MSCRAMM or MSCRAMM-like proteins, or fragment thereof, with reduced binding to its host ligand, for use in therapy.
US09637523B2

The invention provides a combination of an isolated peptide or peptidomimetic that includes the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a homolog thereof, and an isolated peptide or peptidomimetic that includes the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2. The invention also provides a method of treating a BCR-ABL associated disease or a c-ABL associated disease in a subject. The method is based on the use of the aforementioned combination of one or more isolated peptides or peptidomimetics.
US09637522B2

Vaccine compositions and methods of producing and using the same are provided, which compositions comprise a modified HA stem domain in a trimeric configuration.
US09637517B2

Disclosed in the present invention is a method for preparing Exenatide. Serine resin is obtained through a first coupling of serine and resin and successively with amino acids through a second coupling to obtain a peptide resin with a sequence as shown by SEQ ID No. 1; Exenatide resin is obtained through a third coupling of histidine containing a protecting group or salts thereof and the peptide resin with a sequence as shown by SEQ ID No. 1, then it is cracked and purified to obtain purified Exenatide peptide. The method for preparing Exenatide of the present invention inhibits the formation of D-His-Exenatide, and thereby improves the yield and purity of Exenatide.
US09637516B2

The invention relates to novel betulinic acid derivatives and related compounds, and pharmaceutical compositions useful for the therapeutic treatment of viral diseases and particularly HIV mediated diseases.
US09637515B2

The present invention relates to the methods for preparing synthetic guggulphospholipids, their fatty acid analogues and other bioactive molecules. The present invention relates to E-guggulsterone and Z-guggulsterone or mixture of E- and Z-guggulsterones. The present invention also provides a novel method for the preparation of E-guggulsterol and Z-guggulsterol or mixture of E- and Z-guggulsterols from a mixture of E- and Z-guggulsterones. The present invention further relates to guggulphospholipids and other bioactive molecules incorporated into complexes such as liposomes, complexes, emulsions, vesicles, micelles, and mixed micelles, which can include other active agents, such as hydrophobic or hydrophilic drugs for use, e.g., in treatment of human and animal diseases.
US09637513B2

The present invention provides compositions useful for biomolecule storage comprising a water soluble inorganic compound, a stabilizer, or a combination thereof. The present invention also provides methods of using the compositions of the invention to store biomolecules in the dry state and in solution, as well as sample carriers and kits comprising compositions of the invention.
US09637511B2

A method of forming a thin film including vaporizing a nickel compound on a substrate using a heterostructured nickel compound including a nickel amidinate ligand and an aliphatic alkoxy group and providing a vapor containing the vaporized nickel compound onto the substrate, thereby forming a nickel-containing layer. Vaporizing the nickel compound on the substrate is performed in an atmosphere in which at least one selected from plasma, heat, light, and voltage is applied.
US09637509B2

Provided are ligand compounds selected from among N-(diphenylphosphino)-1,1-diphenyl-N-(4-phenylbutan-2-yl)phosphinamine and N4,N4-bis(diphenylphosphino)-N1,N1-diethylpentane-1,4-diamine, a catalyst system for olefin oligomerization, and a method for olefin oligomerization using the same. The catalyst system for olefin oligomerization has excellent catalytic activity, and yet, exhibits high selectivity to 1-hexene or 1-octene, thus enabling more efficient preparation of alpha-olefin.
US09637499B2

Compounds of the general formula I wherein each of m and n is independently 0 or 1; R1 and R2, together with the carbon atom to which they are attached, form a heterocyclic ring comprising one or two heteroatoms selected from oxygen, sulfur, —S(O)— and —S(O)2—; R3 is —CHF2, —CF3, —OCHF2, —OCF3, —SCHF2 or —SCF3; X is a bond, —CH2—, or —NH—; A is aryl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkenyl, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, heterocycloalkyl or heterocycloalkenyl, optionally substituted with one or more, same or different substituents selected from R4; and R4 is hydrogen, amino, thioxo, alkyl, haloalkyl, hydroxyalkyl, alkoxy, haloalkoxy, halogen, oxo, thia, or hydroxy; or pharmaceutically acceptable salts, hydrates or solvates thereof, have been found to exhibit PDE4 inhibiting activity, and may therefore be useful in the treatment of inflammatory diseases and disorders.
US09637491B2

The present invention relates to novel compounds of formula (I) that are capable of inhibiting one or more kinases, especially SYK (Spleen Tyrosine Kinase), LRRK2 (Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2) and/or MYLK (Myosin light chain kinase) or mutants thereof. The compounds find applications in the treatment of a variety of diseases. These diseases include autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, bone diseases, metabolic diseases, neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, allergies, asthma, alzheimer's disease, parkinson's disease, skin disorders, eye diseases, infectious diseases and hormone-related diseases.
US09637486B2

The present invention provides Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase (Btk) inhibitor compounds according to Formula I or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. Formula I or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof or to pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds and to their use in therapy. In particular, the present invention relates to the use of Btk inhibitor compounds in the treatment of Btk mediated disorders.
US09637470B2

Treatments are described for stress disorders and substance use disorders, for example, substance use disorders associated with use of alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, and the like.
US09637469B2

Provided is a pyridine derivative represented by formula (I), a prodrug thereof, a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the pyridine derivative or the prodrug, or a solvate of the pyridine derivative, the prodrug or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt, which is useful for treatment or prophylaxis of diseases associated with URAT1 such as gout, hyperuricemia, hypertension, kidney diseases such as interstitial nephritis, diabetes, arteriosclerosis and Lesch-Nyhan syndrome.
US09637468B2

The invention discloses improved processes for manufacturing a compound, 5-(2,6-Di-4-morpholinyl-4-pyrimidinyl)-4-trifluoromethylpyridin-2-amine, its monohydrochloride salt and intermediates thereof.
US09637464B2

The nonionic surfactant of the present invention has a structure represented by formula (1): wherein each of R1 and R4 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group; each of R2, R3, R5, and R6 is a hydrocarbon group that may contain an ether bond; R2 and R3 may be bonded together to form a cyclic structure, and R5 and R6 may be bonded together to form a cyclic structure; AO represents an oxyalkylene group or oxyalkylene groups that may be the same or different; and n is a number of 1 to 1000 and represents an average addition molar number of the oxyalkylene group or oxyalkylene groups.
US09637461B2

An electrical connection structure includes: a first metal member including copper or a copper alloy, a plated tin layer being formed on at least a portion of the first metal member; a second metal member that is electrically connected or connectable to the first metal member; and a surface treating layer formed on the surface of the first metal member. The surface treating layer is formed by applying a surface treating agent containing base oil and a metal affinity compound having a lipophilic group and an affinity group that has an affinity for metal. The metal affinity compound contains an adduct between an acidic alkyl phosphate ester and an azole compound and an adduct between an acidic alkyl phosphate ester and a metal and/or an organic amine compound.
US09637455B2

Described are RORγ modulators of the formula (I), [INSERT CHEMICAL STRUCTURE HERE] or stereoisomers, tautomers, pharmaceutically acceptable salts, solvates, or prodrugs thereof, wherein all substituents are defined herein. Also provided are pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same. Such compounds and compositions are useful in methods for modulating RORγ activity in a cell and methods for treating a subject suffering from a disease or disorder in which the subject would therapeutically benefit from modulation of RORγ activity, for example, autoimmune and/or inflammatory disorders.
US09637454B2

The present invention relates to the field of pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacotherapeutics, and in particular to compounds of general formula I, racemates, R-isomers, S-isomers, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof and their mixtures, and the preparation methods thereof and a pharmaceutical composition containing the compounds and uses thereof as an acetylcholine esterase inhibitor.
US09637453B2

The present invention is directed to inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACs) such as HDAC6 and HDAC11, and their use in the treatment of diseases such as cell proliferative diseases (e.g., cancer), neurological (e.g., neurodegenerative disease or neurodevelopmental disease), inflammatory or autoimmune disease, infection, metabolic disease, hematologic disease, or cardiovascular disease.
US09637451B2

[Problem]To provide a compound useful as a MT1 and/or MT2 receptor agonist.[Solution]The present inventors have studied on MT1 and/or MT2 receptor agonists, and have confirmed that indole compounds have the activity. As a result, the present invention is accomplished. That is, a compound represented by formula (I) or a salt thereof according to the present invention has a MT1 and/or MT2 receptor agonistic activity and has a low ability of migrating into central nervous system. Therefore, the compound or a salt thereof can be used as a peripheral MT1 and/or MT2 receptor agonist, and therefore can be used as a therapeutic and/or prophylactic agent for urinary incontinence, particularly stress urinary incontinence and mixed urinary incontinence.
US09637445B2

An object of the present invention is to provide an isocyanate production process, which is free of the various problems found in the prior art, and which uses a composition containing a carbamic acid ester and an aromatic hydroxy compound when producing isocyanate without using phosgene, as well as a carbamic acid ester composition for transferring or storing carbamic acid ester. The present invention discloses an isocyanate production process including specific steps and using a composition containing a carbamic acid ester and an aromatic hydroxy compound, as well as a composition for transfer or storage of carbamic acid ester comprising the carbamic acid ester and the specific aromatic hydroxy compound.
US09637442B2

Presented herein are compositions and articles including a crosslinkable polymer that produces a crosslinked polymer upon exposure to light and/or heat. In some embodiments, the compositions are used to fill fine lines and wrinkles to provide a cosmetic benefit. In other embodiments, the compositions and articles have desirable release properties for embedded materials.
US09637436B2

A catalyst composition is useful for producing a ketone from a compound containing at least one epoxide group, and the catalyst composition contains at least one precious metal; and at least one mixed oxide; wherein the mixed oxide contains zirconium dioxide and silicon dioxide; wherein the precious metal is supported and the support is not entirely made of the mixed oxide; and wherein a mass ratio of zirconium dioxide to silicon dioxide in the mixed oxide is 86:14 to 99.9:0.1.
US09637430B2

The process is provided for forming the reaction product comprising the homologue mixture of I(CF2)nI, wherein n is 3 to 7, which may contain at least one of the contaminants ICF2I and I(CF2)2I, by the steps comprising (a) reacting iodine with hexafluoropropylene oxide at a temperature of 150° C. to 210° C. in a reactor, the amount of said hexafluoro-propylene oxide being a portion of the total amount of hexafluoropropylene oxide to be reacted with said iodine, thereby forming a reaction product containing gaseous perfluoroacetyl fluoride as a reaction by-product, (b) cooling said reaction product to become liquid except for said gaseous perfluoroacetyl fluoride, (c) venting said perfluoroacetyl fluoride from said reactor, and (d) repeating said steps (a), (b), and (c) until said total amount of said HFPO is reacted with said iodine.
US09637426B2

Embodiments of apparatuses and methods for reforming of hydrocarbons including recovery of products are provided. In one example, a method comprises separating a reforming-zone effluent to form a net gas phase stream and a liquid phase hydrocarbon stream. The net gas phase stream is compressed, partially condensed and cooled to form a partially condensed, compressed net gas phase stream. The partially condensed, compressed net gas phase stream is separated to form an intermediate gas phase stream. The intermediate gas phase stream and the liquid phase hydrocarbon stream are combined to form a two-phase combined stream. The two-phase combined stream is cooled and separated to form an H2-rich stream and a cooled second intermediate liquid phase hydrocarbon stream that is enriched with C3/C4 hydrocarbons and further comprises C5+ hydrocarbons.
US09637421B2

An object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing an octadiene from 2,7-octadienyl formate in an industrially useful manner in which palladium can maintain its catalytic activity for a long period of time. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process for producing an octadiene which includes the steps of continuously adding 2,7-octadienyl formate into a reaction system in which a mixture of a palladium compound, a tertiary organophosphorus compound and a solvent is present; and subjecting the 2,7-octadienyl formate to reaction while continuously distilling off a reaction product containing the resulting octadiene out of the reaction system.
US09637419B2

Wheat bran culture mix is used to inoculate organic waste and produce an inoculated waste material, where the wheat bran culture mix includes soil derived microbes. The inoculated waste material is shredded to produce shredded inoculated waste material which is fermented the shredded inoculated waste material for at least 7 days. Contents from the fermenter are then transferred into a dewatering device to produce dewatered contents which are then separated into soluble and suspended products.
US09637408B2

Sodium-containing aluminosilicate and boroaluminosilicate glasses are described herein. The glasses can be used as substrates for photovoltaic devices, for example, thin film photovoltaic devices such as CIGS photovoltaic devices. These glasses can be characterized as having strain points ≧540° C., thermal expansion coefficient of from 6.5 to 9.5 ppm/° C., as well as liquidus viscosities in excess of 50,000 poise. As such they are ideally suited for being formed into sheet by the fusion process.
US09637406B2

An apparatus for melting and refining a silica-based glass composition includes a vertical first reaction chamber having an input adjacent to a lower end for receiving glass-forming components. The glass-forming components are heated to elevated temperature during upward flow through the vertical first reaction chamber to form a glass precursor melt adjacent to an upper end of the vertical first reaction chamber. A vertical second reaction chamber has an input adjacent to an upper end and an output adjacent to a lower end for delivering glass melt. A cross passage connects the upper end of the vertical first reaction chamber to the upper end of the vertical second reaction chamber such that the precursor melt flows from the vertical first reaction chamber through the cross passage and then through the vertical second reaction chamber to homogenize the precursor melt. Vacuum preferably is applied to the cross passage both to assist upward flow through the vertical first reaction chamber, and to assist refining of the precursor melt during such upward flow and during flow through the cross passage.
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