US09698776B2
A system and method for ultrasonic touch switch combined with piezoelectric touch mode is described. The sensor structure may be embodied as a substrate with a piezoelectric element at the back surface of the substrate, with the front surface being a touch sensitive surface. Both operational modes are possible by use of the same sensor element with filtering of the signals so that different advantages of two modes are combined, while disadvantages of either mode are mitigated. The tolerance of substrate thickness of ultrasonic touch mode is improved by use of a wide range of frequency deviation of drive signal by filtering out the fundamental modulation frequency from the output signal and wherein only sharp pulses corresponding to abrupt impedance changes of the piezoelectric element are extracted. The amplitude of the sharp pulses decreases with touching the front surface of substrate. At the same time pressure force applied to the front surface causes the substrate to undergo bending displacement and causes piezoelectric element expansion strain to generate voltage. These two modes are combined and used to control switch of appliance or equipment.
US09698775B2
The operating device for an electrical apparatus or a system, in particular for a vehicle component, is provided with at least one elastically mounted operating element (12), a counter-element (14), relative to which the at least one operating element (12) is movable when actuated, thereby varying the distance, namely as seen in the movement direction, and at least one capacitor (38) which comprises a first carrier body (20) with a first capacitor electrode (34) and an elastically bendable second carrier body (22), designed as a bending bar, having a first end (26) and a second end (32) opposite said first end and having a second capacitor electrode (36) opposite the first capacitor electrode (34). Connected to the first and second capacitor electrode (34, 36) is an evaluation unit (42) for determining the capacitance and/or a change in the capacitance of the at least one capacitor (38) upon actuation of the at least one operating element (12).
US09698774B2
An apparatus having a first circuit, a second circuit and a third circuit is disclosed. The first circuit may be configured to translate an input signal in a first voltage domain to generate a complementary pair of first signals in a second voltage domain. The second circuit may be configured to logically switch the first signals to generate a complementary pair of second signals in the second voltage domain. The first signals may be logically switched such that both of the second signals are inactive before one of the second signals transitions from inactive to active. The third circuit may be configured to amplify the second signals to generate a complementary pair of output signals in the second voltage domain. Each of the output signals generally has a current capacity to drive one or more of a plurality of diodes in a diode switch circuit.
US09698765B1
A device includes a first and second inverters each having a signal input, signal output, high voltage supply terminal, and low voltage supply terminal. The signal input of the first inverter is coupled to the signal output of the second inverter, and the signal input of the second inverter is coupled to the signal output of the first inverter. A first transistor has a first conduction terminal coupled to a power supply node, a second conduction terminal coupled to the high voltage supply terminal of the first inverter, and a control terminal coupled to a first node. A second transistor has a first conduction terminal coupled to the power supply node, a second conduction terminal coupled to the high voltage supply terminal of the second inverter, and a control terminal coupled to a second node. First and second bit lines are capacitively coupled to the first and second nodes.
US09698762B2
A flip-flop structure comprising a master latch and a slave latch. An output of an input stage of the master latch is coupled to the output of the master latch. The input stage is arranged to drive a logical state at the output of the master latch corresponding to a logical state of the received data input signal during a first phase of a clock signal. A feedback component is arranged to sample a logical state at the output of the master latch and to drive a logical state at the output of the master latch based on the sampled logical state at the output of the master latch such that the sampled logical state is maintained, during a second phase of the clock signal.
US09698758B2
Methods for generating a look-up table relating a plurality of complex reflection coefficients to a plurality of matched states for a tunable matching network. Typical steps include measuring a plurality of complex reflection coefficients resulting from a plurality of impedance loads while the tunable matching network is in a predetermined state, determining a plurality of matched states for the plurality of impedance loads, with a matched state determined for each of the plurality of impedance loads and providing the determined matched states as a look-up table. A further step is interpolating the measured complex reflection coefficients and the determined matching states into a set of complex reflection coefficients with predetermined step sizes.
US09698757B2
The ABB blocks 332, 334, 336, and 318 are configured to process the I/Q signals corresponding to the first or the second HB independently or the I/Q signals corresponding to the LB in cooperation by two. In detail, the first ABB I block 332 and the first ABB Q block 334 operate independently in the 3G/4G mode but they are configured to process the I signal (or Q signal) of the LB in the 2G mode. Likewise, the second ABB Q block 336 and the second ABB I block 318 operate independently in the 3G/4G mode but they are configured to process the Q signal (or I signal) of the LB in the 2G mode. The first ABB I/Q blocks 332 and 334 and the second ABB I/Q blocks 336 and 318 are arranged symmetrically to processing the I/Q signals cooperatively in the 2G mode. In detail, the second ABB Q block 336 is arranged close to the first ABB Q block 334 such that the capacitor regions included in the first ABB I/Q blocks 332 and 334 are connected to each other and the capacitor regions included in the second ABB I/Q blocks 336 and 338 are connected to each other.
US09698740B2
Aspects of this disclosure relate to a mode linearization switch circuit that can adjust an effective impedance provided to an output of an amplifier. In an embodiment, an apparatus includes an amplifier configured to amplify a radio frequency (RF) signal and a mode linearization switch circuit electrically coupled to an output of the amplifier. The mode linearization switch circuit can include a capacitor, a switch in series with the capacitor, and a series LC circuit in parallel with the switch.
US09698738B2
A bandpass filter that provides a wide gain control range is provided. The bandpass filter performs channel filtering and gain control while maintaining the bandpass characteristic of the bandpass filter. The bandpass filter enables gain control for a wide signal amplitude range while maintaining performance characteristics, such as an out-of-band attenuation ratio capable of high linearity and good pass-band flatness.
US09698727B1
A two-walled coupled inductor includes an outer wall and an inner wall separated by a slit. The outer wall has a first width and the inner wall has a second width. The inner wall and the outer wall may be configured to be coupled to oscillator circuitry. The two-walled coupled inductor may include an electrically conductive stub coupled to the outer wall to be coupled to a power supply. A common mode current flows through the outer wall, and the stub if one is present, and a differential mode current flows through both the outer wall and the inner wall, but not the stub. The first and second widths, and dimensions of the stub, may be sized to increase an inductance of the common mode compared to an inductance of the differential mode, thereby reducing phase noise of the inductor-based resonator.
US09698723B2
A roof attachment system has a stud for retaining a fixture to a roof and is mountable to and sealable with a roof. The attachment system includes a base and a retaining stud which projects upwardly from the base. A membrane is disposed over the base. Cooperative upper and lower mount plates include peripheral oppositely projecting teeth which form an intermediate axial gap. A retainer ring is disposed in into the gap and alternately engages against the teeth of the upper and lower mount plates to axially tighten the attachment components to provide a seal.
US09698721B2
AC motor driving system and driving method thereof are provided. The driving system and method are capable of increasing power factor, adjusting waveform of the DC ripple voltage for increasing driving efficiency. The driving system is basically constructed by connecting three circuits. The first circuit is a three-phase full wave rectifying circuit and is used to transfer commercial electricity to a first DC voltage. Then, the second circuit is used to transfer the first DC voltage to a second DC voltage that ripples voltage thereof having a semi-sinusoidal waveform. The third circuit is an AC driving circuit, and receives the second AC voltage for driving the AC motor. Thereby, the driving efficiency can be increased. The capacitance used in the present disclosure has low capacitance value, thus the power factor can be increased, and usage time of the AC motor driving apparatus can also be increased.
US09698715B2
A method and a system for generating auxiliary power for an islanded wind turbine are described, wherein the wind turbine may comprise a generator configured to provide power to a main grid. The method comprises: detecting an island mode of operation wherein said wind turbine is electrically disconnected from said main grid; in response to said disconnection, adjusting the rotational speed of said wind turbine to a value within a range of low rotational speeds; converting said generator output to a value suitable for charging said auxiliary power distribution system; and, connecting the output of said converter to said auxiliary power distribution system.
US09698713B2
Disclosed are embodiments of an apparatus for correcting an offset of a current sensor. The apparatus includes an inverter, a detector, and a RMS calculator, and a controller. The RMS calculator converts the high frequency component extracted from the filter into an effective (RMS) value. The controller, if the effective (RMS) value of the d-axis or q-axis current transformed by the RMS calculator is larger than a preset reference, increases/decreases a currently-set DC offset of each of the current sensors by a certain amount, and replaces the currently-set DC offsets with a DC offset corresponding to a smallest one of the effective (RMS) values of the d-axis or q-axis transformed by the RMS calculator, thereby correcting each of the current sensors. Accordingly, a pulsation in an output torque in controlling an electric motor can be effectively prevented.
US09698695B1
A method of cycle-by-cycle operation of a switched-mode power converter includes converting an input voltage at the primary side to an output voltage at the secondary side by switching a transistor connected to the primary side from an on-state to an off-state during the present cycle, detecting valleys in a voltage across the transistor in the off-state, determining which valley at which the transistor is to be switched from the off-state to the on-state in the next switching cycle, and determining a maximum peak current limit for the primary side above which the transistor is switched from the on-state to the off-state in the next switching cycle. The maximum peak current limit is determined as a function of the input voltage and the valley at which the transistor is to be switched from the off-state to the on-state in the next switching cycle. Forced valley switching techniques are also disclosed.
US09698686B2
A detection device includes a driving circuit which drives a physical quantity transducer, a detection circuit which detects a desired signal, a power-supply terminal into which a power-supply voltage is input, a regulator circuit which performs a voltage adjustment of stepping down the power-supply voltage from the power-supply terminal, and supplies a regulated power-supply voltage obtained by the voltage adjustment to the driving circuit and the detection circuit as an operating power-supply voltage, and a buffer circuit which is supplied with the power-supply voltage, receives a drive signal from the driving circuit, and outputs an amplified drive signal in which an amplitude of the drive signal increases to the physical quantity transducer.
US09698685B2
In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) direct current (DC-DC) converter circuit, with the SIMO DC-DC converter circuit having a set of output nodes. The apparatus also includes a panoptic dynamic voltage scaling (PDVS) circuit operatively coupled to the SIMO DC-DC converter circuit, where the PDVS circuit has a set of operational blocks with each operational block from the set of operational blocks drawing power from one supply voltage rail from a set of supply voltage rails. Additionally, each output node from the set of output nodes is uniquely associated with a supply voltage rail from the set of supply voltage rails.
US09698676B1
Techniques are presented for determining current levels based on the behavior of a charge pump system while driving a load under regulation. Rather than diving the load directly, a fixed pump output voltage is used to supply a step-down regulator, which it turn drives the load at the selected voltage. While driving the load under regulation, the number of pump clocks during a set interval is counted. This can be compared to a reference that can be obtained, for example, from the numbers of cycles needed to drive a known load current over an interval of the duration. By comparing the counts, the amount of current being drawn by the load can be determined. This technique can be applied to determining leakage from circuit elements, such as word lines in a non-volatile memory.
US09698671B2
A single-stage AC-to-DC converter includes a bus capacitor, a power factor correcting module, a resonant converting module and a control module. The power factor correcting module generates, based on an AC (alternating current) input voltage, a first control signal and a second control signal, a DC (direct current) bus voltage across the bus capacitor and an intermediate voltage switching between the bus voltage and zero. The resonant converting module generates a DC output voltage based on the intermediate voltage. The control module generates, based on the bus voltage, the first and second control signals, each of which switches between an active state and an inactive state and has a duty cycle associated with the bus voltage.
US09698668B2
Various enhancements to grid-interactive inverters in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. One embodiment includes input terminals configured to receive a direct current, output terminals configured to provide an alternating output current to the utility grid, a controller, an output current sensor, and a DC-AC inverter stage comprising a plurality of switches controlled by control signals generated by the controller. In addition, the controller is configured to: generate control signals that cause the switches in the DC-AC inverter stage to switch a direct current in a bidirectional manner; measure the alternating output current; perform frequency decomposition of the output current; and generate control signals that cause the switches in the DC-AC inverter stage to switch current in a way that the magnitude of a plurality of unwanted current components is subtracted from the resulting output current.
US09698667B2
A semiconductor device that has a level shift circuit, an anterior stage circuit, and a posterior stage circuit. The level shift circuit transmits an input signal from a primary potential system to a secondary potential system different from the primary potential system. The anterior stage circuit including a first transistor receives a gate driving signal delivered by the level shift circuit. The posterior stage circuit including a second transistor with the same channel type as that of the first transistor drives a switching element according to the output signal from the first transistor. The threshold voltage of the first transistor is set at a lower value than the threshold voltage of the second transistor.
US09698665B2
Provided are methods and circuits for a controller for a control system, comprising first and second control loops that operate substantially independently, wherein the first control loop is an amplitude control loop and the second loop is a phase or frequency control loop. In some embodiments the amplitude control loop operates at an amplitude that is proportional to an amplitude of an input signal at a fundamental system frequency and at a selected harmonic of a fundamental system frequency; and the frequency control loop operates at a fundamental system frequency and at a selected harmonic of the fundamental system frequency. The frequency control loop may adaptable to a fundamental control system frequency or to a selected harmonic of the fundamental control system frequency. The controller may be implemented as a resonant controller and used in various ac systems, and offers high structural robustness in digital implementations.
US09698658B2
A manufacturing device for a stator of a rotating electrical machine includes a jig, a support section, link mechanisms and press sections. The jig has holding grooves into which linear portions of coils can be respectively inserted. The jig can be arranged on the inner side of a stator core while holding grooves respectively face the openings of slots. Each of the link mechanisms has a push-out member and a link. The link moves a corresponding push-out member in a direction from the bottom portion of the holding groove to a corresponding slot and in a direction from the slot to the bottom portion. The push-out members can concurrently apply a pressing force to all the coil ends of the coils from the axial direction of the stator core in synchronization with the link mechanisms.
US09698657B2
A blower motor assembly having a variable speed motor that is suitable for replacing a PSC motor in a residential HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system. The blower motor assembly includes a variable speed motor and motor controller; a first power input for receiving a plurality of AC power signals from a control device for use in determining an operating parameter for the motor; and a second power input for receiving AC power from an AC power source for powering the motor controller even when no AC power signals are received by the first power input.
US09698652B2
A method of using a bagged power generation system comprising windbags and water-bags for harnessing wind and water power to produce electricity to meet the escalating energy needs of mankind. Windbags integrated with aerodynamically shaped inflatable bodies filled with lighter-than-air gas: HAV, UAV, airplanes; enabling the apparatus to attain high altitude to capture and entrap high velocity wind. Water-bags integrated with hydrodynamic shaped bodies HUV, UUV, Submarine-boats; enabling the apparatus to dive, capture and entrap swift moving tidal-currents. Attached tether-lines pulling on the rotating reel-drums and generators to produce electricity. Active control surfaces, turbo-fans, propellers provide precision control of the apparatus. A system configured to maximize fluids capture, retention and optimized extraction of its kinetic energy. An extremely scalable and environmentally friendly method, system, apparatus, equipment and techniques configured to produce renewable green energy with high productivity and efficiency.
US09698642B1
In one aspect, a system is described. The system may include a rotor, a plurality of magnets positioned adjacent to the rotor, and a stator defining a plurality of sections. Each of the plurality of sections of the stator may include a plurality of teeth. The system may also include a plurality of winding wires wound around the plurality of teeth of each of the plurality of sections of the stator. The plurality of winding wires wound around the plurality of teeth may define a plurality of single-phase sub-motors. The plurality of single-phase sub-motors have a magnetic design such that at least one of the plurality of single-phase sub-motors are rotationally offset from an adjacent single-phase sub-motor, which may improve motor performance and voltage isolation. The system may also include a plurality of inverters coupled to the plurality of winding wires.
US09698640B2
A stator winding of a directly cooled turbogenerator comprises directly gas cooled double Roebel bars is arranged as active parts in slots of a stator body. Each double Roebel bar has two single Roebel bars, which includes each a stack of a plurality of transposed individual strands, and are separated by an intermediate stack of cooling tubes. Mounting space is saved by constructing, for the compensation of stray field voltages, at least one double Roebel bar as a cross-over bar with the strands being transposed over the stack of cooling tubes in the middle in order to change the sides of the single Roebel bars along the active part.
US09698639B2
A rotating electrical machine includes a rotor and a stator positioned circumferentially around the rotor. The stator includes multiple core elements arrayed in a circumferential direction of the rotor such that the core elements form multiple slots arrayed in the circumferential direction, and a unitary cylindrical coil resin structure including molded resin and lap wound air-core coils resin-molded in the molded resin, each of the air-core coils having an air-core, a first side portion and a second side portion extending on the opposite sides of the air-core such that the first side portion extends through a first one of the slots and the second side portion extends through a second one of the slots.
US09698636B2
A brushless motor includes: a rotor including a magnet; and a stator including at its center a space for placing the rotor. The rotor includes: a rotor core; and a plurality of magnets. The rotor core includes a plurality of magnet holders radially formed around a rotating shaft. The magnets are housed in the magnet holders such that the same magnetic poles of adjacent magnets face each other in a circumferential direction of the rotor core, and the stator includes a plurality of teeth formed toward the center to face the rotor. Given that a radius of curvature of an outer circumference of the rotor core is R, a width of an end of the teeth in a circumferential direction is W, and a maximum outer diameter of the rotor core is L, 0.9≦R/W≦4.2 and R
US09698635B2
A core for an electrical machine includes a core body. The core body extends long a rotation axis and includes two or more core segments axially stacked with one another along the rotation axis. A plurality of the core segments define notches that are axially-aligned to one another and form an axial slot. The first core segment notch has an area that is greater than an area of a second core segment notch to accommodate thermal expansion of the core.
US09698633B2
A transducer contains a rotor, on which permanent magnets are arranged in a concentrically radiant manner, and two stators are provided at both sides of the rotor. The stators are produced from a soft-magnetic material. Each stator contains a first stator section with radially outer supporting bars for first magnetic active faces of the stator being opposite the rotor and a second stator section with radial inner supporting bars for second magnetic active faces of the stators being opposite the rotor. An annular winding groove for receiving a winding is provided between the stator sections. Supporting bars are each arranged in an annular manner and each extend parallel to the rotor axis in the direction of the rotor. The magnetic active faces of the stators are end faces of projections which are uniformly spaced to one another and which protrude from the supporting bars in the direction of the rotor.
US09698631B2
A wireless power supply device is capable of supplying constant power without fluctuation in transmission efficiency even when small-sized antennas in which the power fluctuates due to the transmission distance are used. The wireless power supply device includes a first power receiving antenna having a power receiving surface facing a power transmission surface of a first transmission antenna and a second power receiving antenna having a power receiving surface facing a power transmission surface of a second power transmission antenna, both are integrally formed and connected to a power supply target. A direction in which the power receiving surface of the first power receiving antenna faces the power transmission surface of the first power transmission antenna is parallel to a direction in which the power receiving surface of the second power receiving antenna faces the power transmission surface of the second power transmission antenna.
US09698628B2
In accordance with various aspects of the disclosure, systems, methods, and devices are disclosed that include a power source integrated with a host computing device, and configured to provide power to the host computing device, and a wireless power transmission module coupled to the host computing device. The wireless power transmission module is configured to wirelessly transmit power derived from the power source independent of whether the host computing device is in a powered-off state or not. The host computing device may be configured to stop the wireless power transmission based on a determination that at least one of one or more predetermined transmission policies has been violated or that an unrecoverable error has occurred at the host computing device.
US09698626B2
According to an embodiment, a request control device includes a receiving unit, a generating unit, and a sending unit. The receiving unit is configured to receive a first electric power control request issued for purpose of controlling electric power usage. The generating unit is configured to generate a second electric power control request, which is different than the first electric power control request, at least using the first electric power control request. The sending unit is configured to send the second electric power control request.
US09698620B2
A wireless power charging system and a method thereof are provided. The system includes a power transmitter configured to charge one or more power receivers. The power transmitter includes a signal and control unit configured to detect the one or more power receivers present within a radio frequency range of a power transmitter, transmit a request for discovering each of the one or more power receivers, and determine whether a response is received from each of the one or more power receivers. The power transmitter further includes a regulator unit connected to the signal and control unit configured to modulate an amount of radiation to be transmitted based on the number of power receivers that provided a response and a power conversion unit connected to the regulator unit transmitting energy radiation to charge the one or more power receivers.
US09698612B2
A rechargeable battery protection apparatus includes: a battery module including a plurality of unit cells coupled in series between a positive terminal and a negative terminal, and configured to be coupled to a charger through a first external port coupled to the positive terminal and a second external port coupled to the negative terminal to charge the plurality of unit cells; a pack fuse on a high current path between the battery module and the charger; and a connector that forms a bypass path that bypasses a current between a first unit cell and a second unit cell among the plurality of unit cells to the pack fuse depending on an internal pressure of the battery module.
US09698610B2
A charge or discharge control method includes: receiving a power instruction value with respect to a power storage apparatus; obtaining a remaining state of charge (SOC) and a target SOC which is a target value of the SOC of the power storage apparatus; controlling charge or discharge of the power storage apparatus according to the power instruction value when the power instruction value is received; wherein, in the controlling, a delay time is determined according to a difference between the target SOC and the remaining SOC, and the power storage apparatus is controlled according to the power instruction value at a timing when the delay time passes after the power instruction value is received.
US09698602B2
The present invention relates to an electric power control system and method therefor, and comprises a control unit 10 and a transformer 20 connected thereto. The control unit 10 detects varying input voltage in real-time, controls switching of triac devices equipped in the transformer, and applies control signal which switches triac device among a plurality of triac devices for target voltage output to the transformer 20. The transformer 20 outputs target voltage by switching tabs of triac devices according to control signal, supplies power by switching tabs of triac devices corresponding to target voltage included in control signal, and preventing EMF induced from primary coil to secondary coil by grounding the tabs of unused triac devices with N-phase for adjustment to the target voltage.
US09698598B2
A battery charging station receives power from two or more sources and supplies power to charge batteries of electric vehicles and devices.
US09698586B2
A power support system to an electric work machine includes: a cable holding unit configured to hold a cable that transmits power; a cable support pole configured to support the cable held by the cable holding unit at a position higher than a height of a vehicle that travels on a track that intersects at a position where the cable is disposed; and a travel device connected to the cable holding unit and the cable support pole and configured to perform a traveling operation so as to be able to move the cable holding unit and the cable support pole.
US09698577B2
A portable power unit is used for powering a rack-mountable equipment module, in which the equipment module includes an equipment chassis and a bus bar connector extending from the equipment chassis, and in which the bus bar connector is configured to engage a power distribution system of an equipment rack when the equipment module is mounted in the equipment rack. One aspect is directed to a portable power supply unit generally including a bus bar adapter electrically connected to a DC power supply, a mount for supporting the bus bar adapter, the mount having an end, and a tool-less connection electrically connected to the bus bar adapter and extending from the end of the mount, in which the tool-less connection is configured for engaging the bus bar connector of the equipment module.
US09698575B2
This disclosure relates to a corona ignition device, comprising a center electrode, an insulator, into which the center electrode plugs, a coil, which is connected to the center electrode, and a housing, in which the coil is arranged. The housing is closed at one end by the insulator and at the other end carries an HF plug connector, which has an inner conductor connected to the coil and an outer conductor connected to the housing. In accordance with this disclosure, the HF plug connector contains a glass body, which seals an annular gap between the inner conductor and the outer conductor. This disclosure also relates to an HF plug connector suitable for such an HF ignition device.
US09698572B1
A spark plug RFI suppression arrangement comprises a spark plug having a proximal end at which an ignition terminal is located and a distal end at which a pair of electrodes are separated by a spark gap. The spark plug further has an insulator portion and a conductive case located intermediate the proximal and distal ends. The arrangement further has an ignition wire having an end portion carrying a connector removably attached to the ignition terminal of the spark plug. A spark plug boot is located at the end portion of the ignition wire, the boot being configured to cover the connector and at least a portion of the spark plug. A radio frequency interference (RFI) suppression sleeve is connected to the spark plug boot and is in electrical communication with the conductive case of the spark plug such that interference produced by operation of the spark plug is suppressed by grounding through the conductive case.
US09698561B1
The temperature tuned conjugated polymer laser uses a thiophene-based conjugated polymer as the laser medium to produce an output laser beam having a wavelength tunable between approximately 552 nm and approximately 612 nm over a temperature range of the thiophene-based conjugated polymer between approximately 60° C. and approximately 10° C., with an overall tunability of about 1.2 nm/° C. The thiophene-based conjugated polymer laser medium is a solution of poly[3-(2-ethyl-isocyanato-octadecanyl)-thiophene] dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (THF). A temperature controller selectively and controllably adjusts the temperature of the thiophene-based conjugated polymer to selectively and controllably tune the wavelength of the output laser beam.
US09698556B2
Plural signal beams enter a planar waveguide laser amplifier from different directions to follow different paths therein, which reduces a region not contributing to amplification where no signal beam passes. Plural signal beams follow different paths in the planar waveguide, and a second signal beam utilizes the gain of a portion of the planar waveguide that a first signal beam cannot utilize. By this configuration, a region not contributing to amplification of the signal beams in the planar waveguide laser amplifier can be reduced, causing to efficiently amplify plural signal beams.
US09698551B2
A mount for a portable electronic device is disclosed comprising: a support member arranged to engage against a surface of a device mounted thereto, the support member comprising a power connector having one or more electrical contacts to deliver electrical power to the device. The mount further comprises a first ring member coupled to the support member and a second ring member configured for attachment to a surface. The first ring member is configured to be rotatable relative to the second ring member, and the surface of the first ring member is provided adjacent to the surface of the second ring member. The first and second ring members also provide an aperture to enable an electronic connection to pass through the aperture to the power connector of the support member.
US09698550B2
An electrical power outlet housing assembly is provided for mounting electrical and/or data outlets in a work area or the like. The housing assembly includes at least one outlet housing portion having an interior surface that is configured to support the electrical components of an electrical and/or data outlet. The outlet housing portion cooperates with a housing enclosure portion by filling an opening of the housing enclosure, where the housing enclosure and outlet housing portions cooperate with a housing base to define an interior cavity that receives the electrical or electronic components associated with the electrical or data outlets. The electrical components may be installed without any separate mechanical fasteners, and the housing components may be assembled with minimal use of separate fasteners.
US09698544B2
A plug connector assembly (1) adapted to plug into a receptacle in two reversed directions, includes a mating member (10), a cable (30) electrically connected with the mating member, and an outer shell (50) including a main body (51), and a strain relief member (52) disposed at a rear end of the main body and enclosing the cable. The main body includes a front portion (510) enclosing a rear end (102) of the mating member, and a rear portion (511) opposite to the front portion and connected with the strain relief member. A thickness of the front portion is smaller than a thickness of the rear portion measured along a vertical direction. A thickness of the outer shell measured along the vertical direction is gradually increased in a constant slope along a front to rear direction
US09698540B2
A cable connector assembly includes: a printed circuit board (PCB) having a front end, a rear end, and an intermediate portion; a cable electrically connected to the rear end of the PCB; an inner metal member disposed about the intermediate portion of the PCB; an insulating member holding the inner metal member in position relative to the PCB; a metallic shield disposed around the insulating member; a front metal casing engaging the metallic shield; a rear metal casing surrounding a front of the cable and engaging the front metal casing; and an outer over-mold surrounding the front and rear metal casings.
US09698539B2
To be able to further reduce deterioration in signal quality, there is provided a connector including: a signal pin (11) that is connected to a wiring pattern (15) on a mounted substrate (14) and that transmits a signal to an inside and an outside of any apparatus, the mounted substrate (14) having an end disposed in the apparatus; and a shell (13) that is formed of an electric conductor and grounded to ground potential on the mounted substrate (14), in a manner that the shell (13) covers the signal pin (11) in a region in which the signal pin (11) stretches toward the mounted substrate (14).
US09698532B2
A lockout frame arrangement for an electrical outlet box arrangement, comprising an electrical outlet box arranged for receipt of electrical outlets, a cover plate attachable to an open side of the electrical outlet box, for securement of electrical sockets therewithin, with a rectilinear outer cover capturing frame securely sandwiched between the cover plate and the open side of the electrical outlet box. An outer protective cover plate is matingly attached to and securable within a perimeter of the outer cover capturing frame.
US09698530B1
An electronic apparatus having structures for fastening and protecting connectors includes a main body and at least one transmission member. The main body includes an assembling portion, at least one connecting port and at least one retaining groove. The assembling portion is formed at one edge on a sidewall of the main body and has an installing surface and a setting surface. The connecting port is disposed on the installing surface of the assembling portion. The retaining groove is formed on the setting surface of the assembling portion and corresponds in position to the connecting port. The transmission member includes an output connector and a retaining block. The output connector is detachably plugged in the connecting port of the main body. The retaining block protrudes from one side of the output connector and is capable of being engaged in the retaining groove of the main body.
US09698528B2
A connector includes a first housing (50) supported on a first supporting surface (32A) in an inverter-side terminal block (30) in a floating manner and a second housing (60) supported on a second supporting surface (34A) in the inverter-side terminal block (30) in a floating manner. A first terminal (52) in the first housing (50) mates with an inverter-side terminal (82) in a direction orthogonal to the first supporting surface (32A). A second terminal (62) in the second housing (60) mates with a motor-side terminal (92) in a motor-side terminal block (40) in a direction orthogonal to the second supporting surface (34A). A braided wire (70) has one end connected to the first terminal (52) and another end connected to the second terminal (62) and is arranged slidably in directions along the first supporting surface (32A) and along the second supporting surface (34A).
US09698525B2
A plug connector is disclosed. The plug connector comprises a main housing with a cable connection end, an inner sleeve non-releasably arranged on the main housing, and an outer sleeve axially fitted over the inner sleeve.
US09698521B2
A high voltage feedthrough assembly comprises an electrical lead extending in a longitudinal direction and an insulative cover capturing the electrical lead and extending along the electrical lead. The high voltage feedthrough assembly also comprises a flange, the insulative cover extending through and being held by the flange, so that the electrical lead extends through the flange. An adapter body has a cavity extending therethrough, is held in a spaced relation to the flange, the width of the cavity being greater than the width of the insulative cover, wherein a portion of the insulative cover and the electrical lead extending from the flange extends into the cavity. A collar is arranged in the adapter body cavity, extending radially between the adapter body and the insulative cover, to hold the insulative cover and electrical lead so that the insulative cover is radially spaced away from the cavity.
US09698510B2
In the connector, each terminal has a base portion, a rear upper beam, a front upper beam, a rear lower beam, and a front lower beam. The actuator includes a cam portion pushing the rear upper beam upwards, and the rear lower beam includes a fixed portion. The front lower beam includes a contact point which establishes contact with the flat cable, and a front end of the lower surface of the front lower beam establishing contact with the upper surface of the bottom portion of the housing. The contact point is positioned to the rear of the upper end of the lower surface of the front lower beam, and the front lower beam and the rear lower beam curve upward when the rear upper beam is pushed upwards, the front end of the lower surface of the front lower beam and the fixed portion serving as the support point.
US09698508B2
A plug connector electrically connected to a socket connector includes a movable housing engaged with the socket connector; a fixed housing secured to a first substrate; and a plug terminal having a plug contact portion in electrical contact with the socket connector engaged with the movable housing, and a movable part configured to support the fixed housing such that the fixed housing can be displaced with respect to the movable housing in engaging and disengaging directions of the socket connector with respect to the movable housing, while maintaining the contact of the plug contact portion with the socket connector.
US09698507B2
A package structure of a power module includes an insulation frame, a first circuit substrate, an insulation cover, plural first pins, plural posts and a fastening element. The insulation frame includes a sidewall and a first coupling part. The first coupling part is externally protruded from the sidewall. The first coupling part includes a first mounting structure. The first circuit substrate is combined with a bottom part of the insulation frame. The insulation cover is combined with a top part of the insulation frame. The insulation cover includes a second coupling part. The second coupling part includes a second mounting structure. The plural posts are embedded in the at least one first coupling part of the insulation frame, and partially penetrated through the second coupling part. The fastening element is connected with the first mounting structure and the second mounting structure.
US09698505B2
A connector includes: a press-fit pin including a press-fit portion configured to be press-fitted into a through-hole of a circuit board and a pressed portion configured to be coupled to the press-fit portion and receive a pressing force for press-fitting the press-fit portion into the through-hole; and a press-fit member including a through-hole configured to removably hold the press-fit pin and a pressing portion configured to transfer the pressing force to the pressed portion of the press-fit pin held in the through-hole such that the press-fit portion protrudes.
US09698504B2
A battery terminal 1 includes a terminal main body 2 including an upper plate portion 10 and a lower plate portion 60 provided separately from the upper plate portion 10, the upper plate portion 10 including a upper plate mounting portion 20 having an upper plate mounting hole 21 through which a battery post 140 is to be inserted and an upper plate fastening portion 30 connected to the upper plate mounting portion 20, the lower plate portion 60 including a lower plate mounting portion 70 having a lower plate mounting hole 71 through which the battery post 140 is to be inserted and a lower plate fastening portion 80 connected to the lower plate mounting portion 70, and a bracket 100 configured to deform the upper plate mounting hole 21 and the lower plate mounting hole 71 to reduce them in diameter by being mounted on the terminal main body 2.
US09698499B2
A wire clamp connector includes a connecting board, a plurality of conductive sheets, a plurality of conductive mounts, and a plurality of wire clamp components. The conductive sheets are disposed at one surface of the connecting board. The conductive mounts are disposed at the top of the connecting board and connected to the conductive sheets. The wire clamp components are disposed at the respective conductive mounts. Each of the wire clamp components includes a lock member and a clamping piece. The lock member pushes the clamping piece to push against a wire, so that the wire can be firmly positioned with the corresponding conductive mount. Furthermore, the wire clamp connector may be applied to the wall mount component so as to be mounted on a wall and connected to an electronic product.
US09698498B1
The disclosed embodiments relate generally to a modular connector for a multi-conductor ribbon cable provided for power and data transmission to a network of devices. The modular connector is coupled to the conductors in the ribbon cable by insulation displacement members. When the connector is attached to the ribbon cable and disconnected from a device a continuous circuit path is provided and when connected to a device configurable circuit paths are provided.
US09698494B2
Quadri-polarized antenna radiator, quadri-polarized antenna and quadri-polarized multi-antenna array
A quadri-polarized antenna oscillator, a quadri-polarized antenna, and a quadri-polarized multi-antenna array are provided. The quadri-polarized antenna oscillator comprises four polarized oscillators, wherein midpoints of the four polarized oscillators are coincident; a polarization direction of a first polarized oscillator is a horizontal direction; a polarization direction of a second polarized oscillator is perpendicular to the horizontal direction; a polarization direction of a third polarized oscillator has a 45° angle with the horizontal direction; and a polarization direction of a fourth polarized oscillator has a −45° angle with the horizontal direction. By integrating four polarized oscillators having different polarization directions into one antenna oscillator, the width of the MIMO multi-antenna is reduced, and the horizontal space between two columns of dual-polarized antennas is not required any more, thus the deployment of LTE and 4G networks are favorably implemented without extra space requirement to the top surface of a base station.
US09698493B2
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a dual-polarized antenna radiating element. The dual-polarized antenna radiating element includes four radiators and a connecting part, where the four radiators are arranged in a cross shape, with each two of them oppositely disposed, the four radiators form a radiating plane, one end of each of the radiators is connected to the connecting part, and the other end extends in a direction away from the connecting part. Each of the radiators includes a first radiating arm and a second radiating arm, where the first radiating arm and the second radiating arm are asymmetric. In the embodiments of the present invention, a new resonant frequency band is added by using asymmetric radiating arms, thereby broadening the width of a resonant frequency band, so that the antenna radiating element can adapt to a broader resonant frequency band.
US09698490B2
A dielectric cone radiator sub-reflector assembly for a reflector antenna with a waveguide supported sub-reflector is provided as a unitary dielectric block with a sub-reflector at a distal end. A waveguide transition portion of the dielectric block is dimensioned for insertion coupling into an end of the waveguide. A sub-reflector support portion of the dielectric block and the waveguide transition portion provided with a plurality of longitudinal ribs and grooves coaxial with a longitudinal axis of the assembly; the longitudinal grooves open to a proximal end of the dielectric block. The unitary dielectric block may be manufactured as a single contiguous monolithic portion of dielectric material via injection molding.
US09698483B2
Provided are an aerial device applied to an electronic apparatus and corresponding method for setting the aerial device that include a first aerial unit located at the first position of the electronic apparatus, having a first communication bandwidth, and radiating a first aerial signal in a first polarization direction; and a second aerial unit located at the second position adjacent to the first position of the electronic apparatus, having a second communication bandwidth, and irradiating a second aerial signal in a second polarization direction orthogonal to the first polarization direction. In the present invention, the polarization directions of aerial signals of adjacent aerial units are orthogonalized to improve the isolation between adjacent aerial units, thus enabling different aerial units to be arranged adjacent to one another so as to reduce the footprint of an aerial device.
US09698467B2
A cover is provided for a portable electronic device having a device wireless antenna. The cover includes a housing configured to accommodate the portable electronic device, as well as a cover wireless antenna located within the housing. The cover also includes a shield surrounding the cover wireless antenna, and configured to surround the device wireless antenna when the portable electronic device is placed in the cover. In addition, the cover includes wireless access point (WAP) electronics in communication with the cover wireless antenna, as well as a wired Ethernet connector in communication with the WAP electronics.
US09698466B2
A metal computing device case includes one or more metal side faces bounding at least a portion of the metal back face. The metal computing device case includes a radiating structure including an exterior metal surface of the metal computing device case. The metal computing device case substantially encloses electronics of a computing device. The exterior metal surface is a metal plate insulated from the rest of the metal computing device case by a dielectric insert filling slots between the metal plate and the rest of the metal computing device case. The radiating structure also includes a ceramic block spaced from a metal plate by a dielectric spacer. The metal plate is insulated from the rest of the metal computing device case and is capacitively coupled with the ceramic block.
US09698461B2
A resonant coupler includes, on the main surface of a first dielectric substrate: a first resonant line disposed in a circumferential shape and having proximate first and second ends; an input line into which a signal is inputted; and a first connecting line that grounds a first end of the first resonant line, and, similar to the first dielectric substrate, includes, on the main surface of a second dielectric substrate: a second resonant line; an output line; and a second connecting line. When viewed in a direction perpendicular to the main surface of the first dielectric substrate, the first resonant line and the second resonant line have substantially matching contours, and the first resonant line and the second resonant line have a combined shape that is symmetrical about a line.
US09698456B2
A fill level measuring device (3) operating with the transit time method and a termination element (1) for a waveguide (2) of the fill level measuring device (3) has a carrier element (13) that is arranged between a first cylinder element (11) and a second cylinder element (12) and has an impedance-matching component (15) that is arranged on the carrier element (13).
US09698455B2
A multi-mode cavity filter includes a dielectric resonator body incorporating a piece of dielectric material, the piece of dielectric material having a shape such that it can support at least two substantially degenerate resonant modes; and a phased array of coupling elements for coupling signals to the piece of dielectric material.
US09698452B2
A battery pack including a plurality of battery arrays, each battery array including unit batteries that each have a terminal, the plurality of battery arrays being stacked in a first direction; an insulator on at least one side of the battery arrays, terminals of the unit batteries being on the one side; and a sensing bar on the insulator, wherein the insulator includes at least one opening therein, at least one terminal being exposed through the at least one opening, and the sensing bar is electrically connected to the at least one terminal exposed through the at least one opening to sense a state of the battery array.
US09698451B2
The disclosed embodiments provide a system that manages use of a battery in a portable electronic device. During operation, the system uses a reference electrode in the battery to monitor an anode potential of an anode in the battery during charging of the battery in the portable electronic device. If the anode potential falls below an anode potential threshold, the system modifies a charging technique for the battery to extend a cycle life of the battery. For example, the system may reduce a charge current of the battery if the anode potential falls below the anode potential threshold to prevent degradation caused by a negative anode potential during charging of the battery.
US09698445B2
A storage element is disclosed including a plurality of lithium cells, which are arranged beside one another as a stack and are clamped via two clamping plates arranged at the ends, the plates being connected to each other via clamping elements, wherein the cell stack consists of prismatic cells inducing a housing and at least one pouch cell, which is accommodated in a cell holder, the external dimension of which corresponds to that of a housing of a prismatic cell.
US09698442B2
The present invention relates to method for making a membrane electrode assembly. First, a carbon nanotube film is fabricated to act as a gas diffusion layer. Second, a catalyst layer is formed on the carbon nanotube film to obtain an electrode. Third, a proton exchange membrane is provided, and two electrodes are separately disposed on two opposite surfaces of the proton exchange membrane, thereby forming the membrane electrode assembly.
US09698441B2
A fuel cell module includes a fuel cell stack and FC peripheral equipment. The FC peripheral equipment includes an evaporator. At least one of evaporation pipes of the evaporator connects a water vapor discharge chamber and an inlet of a reformer to form an evaporation return pipe as a passage of water vapor. A raw fuel pipe is inserted into the evaporation return pipe for allowing a raw fuel to flow from the downstream side to the upstream side of the evaporation return pipe.
US09698438B2
A ventilation apparatus includes: a controller that determines whether insulation resistance between a fuel cell stack and an enclosure including the fuel cell stack is equal to or smaller than a preset value, and varies a degree of opening of a valve provided between an inlet provided on one side of the enclosure and an air blower injecting air to an interior of the enclosure through the inlet based on the determination.
US09698435B2
A system for cooling an aircraft fuel cell system comprising a first cooling circuit thermally coupled to a first fuel cell, to remove thermal energy generated by the first fuel cell during operation from the first fuel cell, and a first heat exchanger arranged in the first cooling circuit and adapted to transfer thermal energy, removed from the first fuel cell via the first cooling circuit, to the aircraft surroundings. The system comprises a second cooling circuit thermally coupled to a second fuel cell, to remove thermal energy generated by the second fuel cell during operation from the second fuel cell, and a second heat exchanger arranged in the second cooling circuit and adapted to transfer thermal energy, removed from the second fuel cell via the second cooling circuit, to the aircraft surroundings. The first cooling circuit is thermally couplable to the second cooling circuit.
US09698429B2
The present application relates to a fuel cell and a method of manufacturing the same.
US09698423B2
The present invention discloses a rechargeable zinc ion battery, in which anodic zinc will be electrochemically dissolved as Zn2+ ions, diffuses to the cathodic electrode/electrolyte interface through the electrolyte, and zinc ions subsequently inserted in carbon material during discharging. In charging, above-mentioned process will be reverse. The rechargeable zinc ion battery comprises a carbon cathode; a zinc anode separated from cathode; an aqueous electrolyte contains zinc ions.
US09698422B2
According to one embodiment, an active material is provided. The active material includes orthorhombic system oxide represented by the following formula: LixM1M22O6. In this formula, 0≦x≦5, M1 is at least one selected from the group consisting of Fe and Mn, and M2 is at least one selected from the group consisting of Nb, Ta and V.
US09698416B2
A battery capable of improving cycle characteristics is provided. An anode includes: an anode current collector, and an anode active material layer arranged on the anode current collector, in which the anode active material layer includes an anode active material including silicon (Si), and including a pore group with a diameter ranging from 3 nm to 50 nm both inclusive, and the volumetric capacity per unit weight of silicon of the pore group with a diameter ranging from 3 nm to 50 nm both inclusive is 0.2 cm3/g or less, the volumetric capacity being measured by mercury porosimetry using a mercury porosimeter.
US09698415B2
A nonaqueous electrolyte battery includes a positive electrode containing an active material, a negative electrode, and a nonaqueous electrolyte, the negative electrode including a current collector and a negative electrode active material supported by the current collector, the negative electrode active material having a Li insertion potential not lower than 0.2V (vs. Li/Li+) and an average primary particle diameter not larger than 1 μm, and a specific surface area of the negative electrode, excluding a weight of the current collector, as determined by the BET method falls within a range of 3 to 50 m2/g.
US09698412B2
A decomposition reaction of an electrolyte solution and the like caused as a side reaction of charge and discharge is minimized in repeated charge and discharge of a lithium ion battery or a lithium ion capacitor, and thus the lithium ion battery or the lithium ion capacitor can have long-term cycle performance. A negative electrode for a power storage device includes a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode active material layer which includes a plurality of particles of a negative electrode active material. Each of the particles of the negative electrode active material has an inorganic compound film containing a first inorganic compound on part of its surface. The negative electrode active material layer has a film in contact with an exposed part of the negative electrode active material and part of the inorganic compound film. The film contains an organic compound and a second inorganic compound.
US09698405B2
An electric connector and a battery comprising the same may be provided. The electric connector (3) may comprise a core fixing part and an extension part (32) connected to the core fixing part. The core fixing part may include at least two hosting portions (31) each configured to hold an electrode tab of a winding core of a battery, respectively, and a connection portion (33) configured to connect the two adjacent hosting portions.
US09698401B2
An improved, new, modified, or more robust embossed battery separator for a storage battery, a method for its production, an envelope embossed separator, batteries including the embossed separators and/or envelopes, and/or related methods for the production and/or use of the embossed separators, embossed envelopes, and/or batteries including such embossed separators and/or envelopes.
US09698394B2
A battery includes at least two battery cells arranged adjacent to one another and each arranged in a battery cell housing. Each battery cell has at least one battery cell terminal. The battery also includes one degasification element per battery cell. Each degasification element is arranged within the battery cell housing associated with the respective battery cell and is configured to discharge gases generated within the respective battery cell from the respective battery cell in the presence of a predetermined gas pressure. The battery also includes a cover configured to cover at least a part of the surfaces of the battery cells and cover the degasification elements of the battery cells in air-tight fashion. The cover has, in each case in a region of the degasification elements, predetermined breaking points assigned to the degasification elements.
US09698389B2
A method of producing an organic EL device includes forming an organic EL element including a pixel electrode, a functional layer, and a counter electrode over a substrate, forming a cathode protective layer over the organic EL element, forming a cover layer over the cathode protective layer, forming an organic buffer layer over the cover layer, and forming a gas barrier layer over the organic buffer layer.
US09698388B2
A top-emission organic EL display device includes a substrate, pixel electrodes, auxiliary electrode, insulating layer formed between the pixel electrodes and includes an opening to expose the auxiliary electrode, organic EL layer formed on the pixel electrodes and includes organic layers, at least one formed on the auxiliary electrode, a contact portion being an opening of the organic layer formed on the auxiliary electrode, and transparent electrode layer formed on the organic EL layer and the contact portion. When an insulating layer overlap distance between the contact portion and pixel electrode adjacent to the contact portion with respect to the pixel electrode is regarded as “a” and an insulating layer overlap distance between the contact portion and pixel electrode adjacent to the contact portion with respect to the auxiliary electrode is regarded as “b”, at least one of “a” and “b” is equal to or greater than 2 μm.
US09698387B2
Various embodiments may relate to a method for producing an organic optoelectronic component, including forming a first layer on or over a substrate, the substrate including at least one contact pad of the organic optoelectronic component, at least one electrode of the organic optoelectronic component being electrically connected to the at least one contact pad, forming a second layer on or over the first layer, and removing at least the second layer in at least one region of the substrate with the first layer and the contact pad. The adhesion of the substance or of the substance mixture of the first layer on the interface with the substrate is less than the adhesion of the substance or of the substance mixture of the second layer on the interface with the substrate.
US09698380B2
Embodiments of the disclosure disclose an electroluminescence display device and a fabrication method thereof. The device comprises a color filter substrate. The color filter substrate comprises: a first substrate, and a first electrode, an organic electroluminescence layer and a second electrode sequentially provided on the first substrate. The color filter substrate further comprises: a first protective layer, provided on the second electrode and covering the second electrode and the organic electroluminescence layer below the second electrode; and a first connection electrode, provided on the first protective layer and connected to the second electrode.
US09698378B2
Provided are an encapsulating film, an electronic device and a method of manufacturing the same. An encapsulating film having excellent moisture blocking property, handleability, workability and durability and a structure including a diode encapsulated with the encapsulating film may be provided.
US09698360B2
A package thin film and a manufacturing method thereof, a light emitting device, a display panel and a display device are provided. The package thin film may comprise: a nano material layer or a polycation organic material layer, a moisture absorption layer formed on the nano material layer or the polycation organic material layer, a sealing layer for sealing the nano material layer or the polycation organic material layer and the moisture absorption layer. The package structure provided by embodiments of the present invention is formed by alternate assembly of materials (the nano material layer or the polycation organic material layer and the moisture absorption layer) with different charges.
US09698354B2
Objects of the present invention are to provide: a light-emitting element having a long lifetime and good emission efficiency and drive voltage. One embodiment of the invention is a light-emitting element including, between an anode and a cathode, at least a stack structure in which a first layer, a second layer, and a light-emitting layer are provided in order from the anode side. The first layer includes a first organic compound and an electron-accepting compound. The second layer includes a second organic compound having a HOMO level differing from the HOMO level of the first organic compound by from −0.2 eV to +0.2 eV. The light-emitting layer includes a third organic compound having a HOMO level differing from the HOMO level of the second organic compound by from −0.2 eV to +0.2 eV and a light-emitting substance having a hole-trapping property with respect to the third organic compound.
US09698346B2
A thermally optimized phase change memory cell includes a phase change material element disposed between first and second electrodes. The second electrode includes a thermally insulating region having a first thermal resistivity over the first electrode and a metallic contact region interposed between the phase change material element and the thermally insulating region, where the metallic contact layer has a second thermal resistivity lower than the first thermal resistivity.
US09698342B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) element includes a first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer and a non-magnetic layer between the first and second magnetic layers, a contact layer formed underneath the MTJ element, the contact layer being formed of a first material, and a first layer formed around the contact layer, wherein the first layer in contact with a side surface of the contact layer, has a first width extending parallel to a stacking direction of the MTJ element, and a second width extending perpendicularly to the direction of extension of the first width, the second width being less than the first width.
US09698333B2
A piezoelectric element unit comprises an element body having internal electrodes laminated with piezoelectric layers therebetween and a pair of external electrodes electrically connected to the internal electrodes and an electric connection part for connecting a wiring part to the external electrodes. The electric connection part is composed of a conductive resin adhesive part and the conductive resin adhesive part is covered by a resin part.
US09698328B2
A light emitting device includes an electrically conductive member, a light emitting element, a wire, and a sealing member. The wire contains gold and silver and connects the electrically conductive member and the light emitting element. The wire includes a ball portion and a recrystallized region. The ball portion is provided on an electrode of the light emitting element. The recrystallized region is provided on the ball portion and has a length in a range of 50 μm to 90 μm. The sealing member has a lower surface and an upper surface opposite to the lower surface and covers the light emitting element and the wire so that the lower surface faces the electrically conductive member and the light emitting element and so that a distance from a top of the ball portion to the upper surface of the sealing member is 90 μm to 230 μm.
US09698321B2
A light-emitting apparatus includes: a ceramic substrate; a light-emitting element mounted on the ceramic substrate; a sealing member sealing the light-emitting element; a buffer layer formed on the ceramic substrate and surrounding the light-emitting element; and a dam member, at least a portion of which is on a top surface of the buffer layer and which is for blocking the sealing member. The dam member is formed in such a way that one end of the dam member which faces the sealing member and is closer to the light-emitting element than the opposite end of the dam member is in contact with the ceramic substrate while the opposite end is out of contact with the ceramic substrate.
US09698313B2
A light emitting assembly comprising a solid state device coupleable with a power supply constructed and arranged to power the solid state device to emit from the solid state device a first, relatively shorter wavelength radiation, and a down-converting luminophoric medium arranged in receiving relationship to said first, relatively shorter wavelength radiation, and which in exposure to said first, relatively shorter wavelength radiation, is excited to responsively emit second, relatively longer wavelength radiation. In a specific embodiment, monochromatic blue or UV light output from a light-emitting diode is down-converted to white light by packaging the diode with fluorescent organic and/or inorganic fluorescers and phosphors in a polymeric matrix.
US09698312B2
A resin package includes a molded resin housing, a first lead, and a second lead. The molded resin housing includes a cavity open upward. The cavity includes an inner surface. The inner surface includes a curved portion and a stepped portion provided on a lower side of the curved portion. The first lead and the second lead are provided in a bottom portion of the cavity such that at least a part of the first lead and the second lead is exposed from the molded resin housing. The first lead includes an elevated portion on which a light emitting element is mounted. An upper surface of the elevated portion is provided higher than an upper end portion of the stepped portion.
US09698311B2
The present invention relates to colloidal quantum dots, to a process for producing such colloidal quantum dots, to the use thereof and to optoelectronic components comprising colloidal quantum dots.
US09698306B2
Light-emitting devices, and related components, systems and methods are disclosed.
US09698300B2
A method of manufacturing a solar cell is discussed. The method of manufacturing the solar cell includes: forming a conductive region on a semiconductor substrate; forming an electrode connected to the conductive region; and post-processing the semiconductor substrate to passivate the semiconductor substrate. The post-processing of the semiconductor substrate comprises a main processing process for heat-treating the semiconductor substrate while providing light to the semiconductor substrate. A temperature of the main processing process is about 100° C. to about 800° C., and the temperature and light intensity of the main processing process satisfy Equation of 1750−31.8·T+(0.16)·T2≦I. Here, T is the temperate (° C.) of the main processing process, and I is the light intensity (mW/cm2) of the main processing process.
US09698296B2
Various embodiments of a compensated photonic device structure and fabrication method thereof are described herein. In one aspect, a photonic device may include a substrate and a functional layer disposed on the substrate. The substrate may be made of a first material and the functional layer may be made of a second material that is different from the first material. The photonic device may also include a compensation region formed at an interface region between the substrate and the functional layer. The compensation region may be doped with compensation dopants such that a first carrier concentration around the interface region of function layer is reduced and a second carrier concentration in a bulk region of functional layer is reduced.
US09698290B2
Disclosed are a solar cell module and a method of fabricating the same. The solar cell module includes a substrate, a solar cell panel located on the substrate and including a plurality of solar cells, a buffer sheet on the solar cell panel, and a bus bar connected to one of the solar cells while passing through the buffer sheet. The method of fabricating a solar cell module includes forming a solar cell panel including a plurality of solar cells on a substrate, forming a buffer sheet including a bus bar connected to one of the solar cells, and locating the buffer sheet including the bus bar on the solar cell panel. The bus bar passes through the buffer sheet.
US09698287B2
An epitaxial wafer of the present invention includes a substrate composed of a III-V compound semiconductor, a multiple quantum well structure composed of a III-V compound semiconductor and located on the substrate, and a top layer composed of a III-V compound semiconductor and located on the multiple quantum well structure. The substrate has a plane orientation of (100) and an off angle of −0.030° or more and +0.030° or less, and a surface of the top layer has a root-mean-square roughness of less than 10 nm.
US09698278B2
There are provided a thin film transistor and a manufacturing method thereof, an array substrate, a display device. The manufacturing method includes forming a gate electrode, a gate insulating layer, a metal oxide semiconductor active layer, a source electrode and a drain electrode on a substrate. The forming the metal oxide semiconductor active layer includes forming a zinc oxide-based binary metal oxide pattern layer on a substrate. The pattern layer includes a first pattern, a second pattern and a third pattern. Metal doping ions are implanted into the zinc oxide-based binary metal oxide pattern layer by using an ion implantation technology, so that a binary metal oxide of the third pattern is transformed into a multi-element metal oxide semiconductor, and the metal oxide semiconductor active layer is formed.
US09698276B2
Provided is an element with stable electrical characteristics or a device including plural kinds of elements with stable electrical characteristics. The semiconductor device includes a first insulator, a transistor over the first insulator, a second insulator over the transistor, and a third insulator over the second insulator. The second insulator includes an opening reaching the first insulator. The opening is filled with a fourth insulator. The first insulator, the third insulator, and the fourth insulator each have a lower hydrogen-transmitting property than the second insulator.
US09698269B2
Fin-type transistor fabrication methods and structures are provided having one or more nitrided conformal layers, to improve reliability of the semiconductor device. The method includes, for example, providing at least one material layer disposed, in part, conformally over a fin extending above a substrate, the material layer(s) including a gate dielectric layer; and performing a conformal nitridation process over an exposed surface of the material layer(s), the conformal nitridation process forming an exposed, conformal nitrided surface.
US09698260B1
High voltage devices and methods for forming a high voltage device are disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate having top and bottom surfaces. The substrate is defined with a device region and a recessed region disposed within the device region. The recessed region includes a recessed surface disposed lower than the top surface of the substrate. A transistor is formed over the substrate. Forming the transistor includes forming a gate at least over the recessed surface and forming a source region adjacent to a first side of the gate below the recessed surface. Forming the transistor also includes forming a drain region displaced away from a second side of the gate. First and second device wells are formed in the substrate within the device region. The first device well encompasses the drain region and the second device well encompasses the source region.
US09698258B2
The present examples relate to a semiconductor device used in an electric device or high voltage device. The present examples improve Rsp by minimizing drift region resistance by satisfying breakdown voltage by improving the structure of a drift region through which current flows in a semiconductor device to provide optimal results. Moreover, a high frequency application achieves useful results by reducing a gate charge Qg for an identical device pitch to that of an alternative technology.
US09698237B2
A lateral bipolar transistor includes trench emitter and trench collector regions to form ultra-narrow emitter regions, thereby improving emitter efficiency. The same trench process is used to form the emitter/collector trenches as well as the trench isolation structures so that no additional processing steps are needed to form the trench emitter and collector. In embodiments of the present invention, the trench emitter and trench collector regions may be formed using ion implantation into trenches formed in a semiconductor layer. In other embodiments, the trench emitter and trench collector regions may be formed by out-diffusion of dopants from heavily doped polysilicon filled trenches.
US09698231B2
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a tunnel insulation pattern on the substrate, a charge storage pattern on the tunnel insulation pattern, a dielectric pattern having a width smaller than a width of the charge storage pattern on the charge storage pattern, a control gate having a width greater than the width of the dielectric pattern on the dielectric pattern, and a metal-containing gate on the control gate.
US09698223B2
A memory film and a semiconductor channel are formed within each memory opening that extends through a stack including an alternating plurality of insulator layers and sacrificial material layers. After formation of backside recesses through removal of the sacrificial material layers selective to the insulator layers, electrically conductive layers are formed in the backside recesses. Each electrically conductive layer includes a combination of a tensile-stress-generating metallic material and a compressive-stress-generating metallic material. The tensile-stress-generating metallic material may be ruthenium and the compressive-stress-generating metallic material may be tungsten. An anneal may be performed to provide an alloy of the compressive-stress-generating metallic material and the tensile-stress-generating metallic material.
US09698221B2
It is an object to provide the techniques capable of restraining avalanche breakdown at cells opposite to a corner portion of a gate pad. A MOSFET is provided with a corner cell, which is disposed in a region opposite to a corner portion of a gate pad in a planar view, and an internal cell, which is disposed in a region in the opposite side of the gate pad with respect to the corner cell. In a contour shape of the corner cell, a longest distance among distances each of which is shortest distance between a longest side and each of sides opposite to the longest side is equal to or less than two times of a length of one of equal sides or a short side of the internal cell.
US09698218B2
The present invention provides some methods for forming at least two different nanowire structures with different diameters on one substrate. Since the diameter of the nanowire structure will influence the threshold voltage (Vt) and the drive currents of a nanowire field effect transistor, in this invention, at least two nanowire structures with different diameters can be formed on one substrate. Therefore, in the following steps, these nanowire structures can be applied in different nanowire field effect transistors with different Vt and drive currents. This way, the flexibility of the nanowire field effect transistors can be improved.
US09698213B1
Vertical metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors include a metal conductor including a sidewall; a high k dielectric layer on the sidewall of the metal conductor; and a vertically oriented metal layer on the high k dielectric layer. Also disclosed are methods for fabricating the vertical MIM capacitor, wherein a single patterning/mask process can used to fabricate the vertical MIM capacitor structure.
US09698209B2
There are provided a semiconductor unit that prevents connection failure caused by a wiring substrate to improve reliability, a method of manufacturing the semiconductor unit, and an electronic apparatus including the semiconductor unit. The semiconductor unit includes: a device substrate including a functional device and an electrode; a first wiring substrate electrically connected to the functional device through the electrode; and a second wiring substrate electrically connected to the functional device through the first wiring substrate.
US09698205B2
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display is disclosed. In one aspect, the display includes a stretchable substrate, a thin film transistor (TFT) formed over the stretchable substrate and including a plurality of electrodes, an OLED electrically connected to the TFT and including a plurality of electrodes, and a plurality of interconnection lines connected to the electrodes of the OLED and the TFT. At least one of the interconnection lines is configured to move in a stretching direction and rotate an electrode selected from the electrodes of the OLED and the TFT connected to the at least one interconnection line.
US09698199B2
A semiconductor device including a transistor on a main surface side of a semiconductor substrate; and a resistance change element on a back-surface side of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the transistor includes a low-resistance section in the semiconductor substrate, the low-resistance section extending to the back surface of the semiconductor substrate, an insulating film is provided in contact with a back surface of the low-resistance section, the insulating film has an opening facing the low-resistance section, and the resistance change element is connected to the low-resistance section through the opening.
US09698191B2
One innovation includes an IR sensor having an array of sensor pixels to convert light into current, each sensor pixel of the array including a photodetector region, a lens configured to focus light into the photodetector region, the lens adjacent to the photodetector region so light propagates through the lens and into the photodetector region, and a substrate disposed with photodetector region between the substrate and the lens, the substrate having one or more transistors formed therein. The sensor also includes reflective structures positioned between at least a portion of the substrate and at least a portion of the photodetector region and such that at least a portion of the photodetector region is between the one or more reflective structures and the lens, the one or more reflective structures configured to reflect the light that has passed through at least a portion of the photodetector region into the photodetector region.
US09698187B2
A gate electrode of a field effect transistor is formed. Next, an offset spacer film with a double-layer structure including a silicon oxide film as a lower-layer film and a silicon nitride film as an upper-layer film is formed on a sidewall surface of the gate electrode. The silicon nitride film serves as a supply source of an element for terminating dangling bonds of silicon in a device formation region. Next, treatment for leaving the offset spacer film intact or treatment for removing the silicon nitride film of the offset spacer film is performed. Thereafter, a sidewall insulating film is formed on the sidewall surface of the gate electrode.
US09698176B1
Displays can be fabricated using driver transistors formed with high quality semiconductor channel materials, and switching transistors formed with low quality semiconductor channel materials. The driver transistors can require high forward current to drive emission of the OLED pixels, but might not require very low leakage current. The switching transistors can require low leakage current to allow the pixel capacitor to retain the signal level for accurate OLED device emission, preventing abnormal displays or cross talks.
US09698174B2
An array substrate includes a base substrate including a display area and a peripheral area adjacent to the display area, a gate line extending in a first direction, a data line extending in a second direction crossing the gate line, a switching element electrically connected to the gate and data lines, a color filter pattern and a dummy color pattern in the display and peripheral areas, respectively, a pixel electrode on the color filter pattern, and a light blocking pattern including a black matrix pattern partially overlapping the color filter pattern and a black boundary pattern overlapping the dummy color pattern. The black boundary pattern covers the peripheral area and includes a first portion which overlaps the dummy color pattern and a second portion which does not overlap the dummy color pattern. A cross-sectional thickness of the first portion is smaller than that of the second portion.
US09698171B2
Disclosed is method of manufacturing an array substrate, including steps of: forming a thin film transistor on a substrate through a patterning process; and on the substrate on which the thin film transistor has been formed, forming an organic transparent insulation layer including a first via hole and a first transparent electrode layer disposed above the organic transparent insulation layer and including a second via hole through one patterning process, wherein the centers of the first via hole and the second via hole coincide with each other in a thickness direction of the substrate, and a projection of the first via hole on the substrate is within a projection of the second via hole on the substrate.
US09698165B2
An embodiment of the disclosure provides an array substrate comprising: a base substrate, an active layer and a transparent electrode disposed on the base substrate, an etch stop layer disposed on the active layer and configured for protecting a portion of the active layer, wherein the active layer, the transparent electrode and the etch stop layer are formed through one patterning process and one doping process, the doped region and the first transparent electrode are made of same material and are disposed on the same layer.
US09698162B2
A backplane substrate and a flexible display having the same are provided. The backplane substrate includes a flexible base film having an active area with a plurality of sub-pixels and a non-display area around the active area; and an interlayer insulating film on flexible base film and including a plurality of connection holes provided in first columns and second columns with each of the first and second columns arranged in a first direction of the flexible base film. When the flexible base film is folded along a folding axis in a direction intersecting the first and second columns, the folding axis intersects at least one connection hole of the first and second columns.
US09698161B2
A display device may include these elements: a first data line; a second data line; a first subpixel electrode positioned at a first half of the display device, connected to the first data line, and comprising a first member and a second member, the first member extending parallel to the first data line, the second member connecting directly to and extending perpendicular to the first member; and a second subpixel electrode positioned at a second half of the display device, connected to the second data line, and comprising a third member and a fourth member, the third member extending parallel to the second data line, the fourth member connecting directly to and extending perpendicular to the third member, wherein the second member and the fourth member are aligned and are positioned between the first member and the third member in a layout view of the display device.
US09698156B2
A memory device which can be configured as a 3D NAND flash memory, includes a plurality of stacks of conductive strips, including even stacks and odd stacks having sidewalls. Some of the conductive strips in the stacks are configured as word lines. Data storage structures are disposed on the sidewalls of the even and odd stacks. Active pillars between corresponding even and odd stacks of conductive strips include even and odd semiconductor films having outside surfaces and inside surfaces, the outside surfaces disposed on the data storage structures on the sidewalls of the corresponding even and odd stacks in the plurality of stacks forming a 3D array of memory cells, the inside surfaces are separated by an insulating structure that can include a gap. The semiconductor films can be thin-films.
US09698154B2
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a plurality of memory cell arrays, and an air gap structure. The substrate includes a cell region, a peripheral circuit region, and a boundary region. The boundary region is between the cell region and the peripheral circuit region. The plurality of memory cell arrays are on the cell region. The air gap structure includes a trench formed in the boundary region of the substrate. The air gap structure defines an air gap.
US09698151B2
A vertical memory device includes a substrate, a plurality of channels on the substrate and extending in a first direction that is vertical to a top surface of the substrate, a plurality of gate lines stacked on top of each other on the substrate, a plurality of wiring over the gate lines and electrically connected to the gate lines, and an identification pattern on the substrate at the same level as a level of at least one of the wirings. The gate lines surround the channels. The gate lines are spaced apart from each other along the first direction.
US09698150B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a substrate, a first insulating film, a stacked body, and a first pillar. At least a portion of an upper layer portion of the substrate is conductive. The first insulating film is provided in a portion of the substrate. The stacked body includes conductive films and insulating films stacked alternately in a first direction. The conductive films and the insulating films are provided on the substrate and on the first insulating film. The first pillar pierces the stacked body in the first direction. The first pillar includes a first lower end portion and a first extension portion. The first lower end portion is disposed inside the first insulating film. The first extension portion is disposed inside the stacked body.
US09698147B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit device has a first N-channel type high withstanding-voltage MOS transistor and a second N-channel type high withstanding-voltage MOS transistor formed on an N-type semiconductor substrate. The first N-channel type high withstanding-voltage transistor includes a third N-type low-concentration impurity region containing arsenic having a depth smaller than a P-type well region in a drain region within the P-type well region, and the second N-channel type high withstanding-voltage MOS transistor includes a fourth N-type low-concentration impurity region that is adjacent to the P-type well region and has a bottom surface in contact with the N-type semiconductor substrate. In this manner, the high withstanding-voltage NMOS transistors are capable of operating at 30 V or higher and are integrated on the N-type semiconductor substrate.
US09698143B2
In a general aspect, a wireless multichip module can include a leadframe structure with portions configured to receive at least one flip-chip mounted semiconductor die, including one or more of an integrated circuit, a high side MOSFET and/or a low side MOSFET, which can form a half-bridge circuit that is encapsulated in a molding compound. The module can be assembled without any bond wires (e.g., be wireless). The module may include carry passive components including an external input capacitor and/or an internal input capacitor.
US09698134B2
A method for manufacturing a micro LED display is provided. The method includes providing a plurality of LED elements on a first substrate, transferring, using a magnetic holder or a vacuum holder, at least two of the plurality of LED elements of the same primary color from the first substrate to a second substrate, performing the steps of the providing and the transferring with respect to three primary colors, forming an array of RGB LED units on the second substrate, each of the array of RGB LED units including a red LED element, a green LED element, and a blue LED element, interposing the array of RGB LED units between the second substrate and an LED driver wafer, detaching the second substrate from the array of RGB LED units, and interposing the array of RGB LED units between the LED driver wafer and a cover.
US09698133B2
A method of manufacturing a multichip package structure includes providing a substrate body; placing a plurality of light-emitting chips on the substrate body, the light-emitting chips being electrically connected to the substrate body; surroundingly forming surrounding liquid colloid on the substrate body to surround the light-emitting chips; naturally drying an outer layer of the surrounding liquid colloid at a predetermined room temperature to form a semidrying surrounding light-reflecting frame, the semidrying surrounding light-reflecting frame having a non-drying surrounding colloid body disposed on the substrate body and a dried surrounding colloid body totally covering the non-drying surrounding colloid body; and then forming a package colloid body on the substrate body to cover the light-emitting chips, the semidrying surrounding light-reflecting frame contacting and surrounding the package colloid body.
US09698131B2
Methods of forming 3-D ICs with integrated passive devices (IPDs) include stacking separately prefabricated substrates coupled by through-substrates-vias (TSVs). An active device (AD) substrate has contacts on its upper portion. An isolator substrate is bonded to the AD substrate so the TSVs in the isolator substrate are coupled to the contacts on the AD substrate. An IPD substrate is bonded to the isolator substrate so that TVs therein are coupled to an interconnect zone on the isolator substrate and/or TSVs therein. The IPDs of the IPD substrate are coupled by TSVs in the IPD and isolator substrates to devices in the AD substrate. The isolator substrate provides superior IPD to AD cross-talk attenuation while permitting each substrate to have small high aspect ratio TSVs, thus facilitating high circuit packing density and efficient manufacturing.
US09698125B2
Reduction in reliability of a semiconductor device is suppressed. A semiconductor device includes a plurality of metal patterns formed on a ceramic substrate, and a plurality of semiconductor chips mounted on the plurality of metal patterns. Also, the plurality of metal patterns include metal patterns MPH and MPU which face each other. In addition, a region which is provided between these metal patterns MPH and MPU and which is exposed from the plurality of metal patterns extends so as to zigzag along an extending direction of the metal pattern MPH.
US09698121B2
A method of packaging a semiconductor device, comprising: attaching a plurality of dies to a carrier wafer, wherein each of the dies includes a top surface; forming a molding compound layer over the dies, wherein the top surface of the dies are covered by the molding compound layer; removing a first portion of the molding compound layer; removing a second portion of the molding compound layer such that the top surface of the dies is not covered by the molding compound layer; forming a redistribution layer (RDL) over the top surface of the dies; forming a plurality of solder balls over at least a portion of the RDL; and singulating the dies.
US09698117B2
The die bonding apparatus including a transferring unit, a loading member loading a substrate to the transferring unit, an unloading member unloading the substrate from the transferring unit, a wafer holder supporting a wafer providing dies, and a bonding member picking up one of the dies from the wafer and bonding the picked-up die to the substrate loaded on the transferring unit by pressuring the picked-up die against the substrate using a gas may be provided.
US09698113B2
A method for treating a chip packaging structure includes providing a chip packaging structure having at least a first electrical connect structure and a second electrical connect structure, and an insulation layer exposing portions of the first electrical connect structure and the second electrical connect structure; selecting a plasma gas based on materials of the first electrical connect structure and the second electrical connect structure and a type of process forming the first electrical connect structure and the second electrical connect structure, wherein metal cations are left on the insulation layer; performing a plasma treatment process using the selected plasma gas on the first electrical connect structure, the second electrical connect structure and the insulation layer, causing reaction of the metal cations to substantially convert the metal cations into electrically neutral materials; and removing the reacted metal cations from the insulation layer.
US09698110B2
A high frequency signal can be transmitted and received in a semiconductor device. In a QFP, an antenna (frame body) is supported by three suspension leads. The antenna is arranged to be symmetrical with respect to a first virtual diagonal line of a plan view of a sealing body. One of the three suspension leads is arranged on the first virtual diagonal line. With this configuration, discontinuities of a wave of a signal in the antenna can be reduced, as a result of which the high frequency signal of 5 Gbps class can be transmitted and received in the QFP.
US09698109B2
An ESD protection device 1 has a ceramic insulating material 10, first and second discharge electrodes 21 and 22, and a discharge-assisting section 51. The first and second discharge electrodes 21 and 22 are disposed somewhere of the ceramic insulating material 10. The discharge-assisting section 51 is located between the distal end portion of the first discharge electrode 21 and the distal end portion of the second discharge electrode 22. The discharge-assisting section 51 is an electrode configured to reduce the discharge starting voltage between the first discharge electrode 21 and the second discharge electrode 22. The discharge-assisting section 51 is made from a sintered body containing conductive particles and at least one of semiconductor particles and insulating particles. The first and second discharge electrodes contain at least one of the semiconductor material constituting the semiconductor particles and the insulating material constituting the insulating particles.
US09698100B2
The present disclosure provides a method of fabricating an integrated circuit in accordance with some embodiments. The method includes providing a substrate having a first conductive feature in a first dielectric material layer; selectively etching the first conductive feature, thereby forming a recessed trench on the first conductive feature; forming an etch stop layer on the first dielectric material layer, on the first conductive feature and sidewalls of the recessed trench; forming a second dielectric material layer on the etch stop layer; forming an opening in the second dielectric material layer; and forming a second conductive feature in the opening of the second dielectric material layer. The second conductive feature is electrically connected with the first conductive feature.
US09698098B1
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a fin extending between first and second pads on a substrate, removing a central portion of the fin to create an opening between a first part of the fin extending from the first pad and a second part of the fin extending from the second pad, growing first and second epitaxial layers in the opening on a side of respective first and second parts of the fin, stopping the growth of the first and second epitaxial layers prior to merging, forming a silicide layer on the first and second pads, first and second parts of the fin and first and second epitaxial layers, wherein there is a gap between portions of the silicide layer on the first and second epitaxial layers in the opening, and depositing a dielectric layer on the silicide layer, filling in the gap.
US09698096B2
A semiconductor device of the disclosure comprises: a first wiring disposed on a semiconductor substrate; a first insulating film disposed on the first wiring; a first via disposed in the first insulating film so as to be connected to the first wiring; a second wiring disposed on the first insulating film so as to be connected to the first wiring through the first via; a first organic insulating film disposed on the second wiring; a second via disposed in the first organic insulating film so as to be connected to the second wiring; a third wiring disposed on the first organic insulating film so as to be connected to the second wiring through the second via; and a second organic insulating film disposed on the first organic insulating film. A pad opening portion through which the third wiring is exposed is provided in the second organic insulating film, and the first via, the second via, the second wiring, and the third wiring are made of metal whose main component is copper.
US09698085B1
A method of processing a leadframe strip having opposite first and second longitudinal ends and a plurality of leadframe panels positioned between the first and second longitudinal ends, each of the leadframe panels including an array of leadframe portions. The method includes saw cutting the leadframe rails and panels with a plurality of laterally extending saw cuts that each extend through the first and second rails and a panel connector portion of the leadframe strip positioned between adjacent panels of the leadframe strip. A method of reducing blade heating during leadframe strip singulation is described. Leadframe strip assemblies are also described.
US09698081B2
Disclosed herein is a package having a first redistribution layer (RDL) disposed on a first semiconductor substrate and a second RDL disposed on a second semiconductor substrate. The first RDL is bonded to the second RDL. The package further includes an insulating film disposed over the second RDL and around the first RDL and the first semiconductor substrate. A conductive element is disposed in the first RDL. A via extends from a top surface of the insulating film, through the first semiconductor substrate to the conductive element, and a spacer is disposed between the first semiconductor substrate and the via. The spacer extends through the first semiconductor substrate.
US09698076B1
A power module for converting direct current to alternating current, the power module including: a semiconductor switching circuit device, a substrate onto which said switching circuit device is physically and electrically coupled, at least one secondary substrate with the semiconductor switching circuit device being physically and electrically coupled to the at least one secondary substrate such that the semiconductor switching circuit device is formed between the substrate and the at least one secondary substrate, at least one thermal mass attached to a respective secondary substrate of the at least one secondary substrate, and a cover at least partially disposed about said power module, said cover including an opening exposing a bottom side of the substrate.
US09698074B2
Methods and apparatus of substrate supports having temperature profile control are provided herein. In some embodiments, a substrate support includes: a plate having a substrate receiving surface and an opposite bottom surface; and a shaft having a first end comprising a shaft heater and a second end, wherein the first end is coupled to the bottom surface. Methods of making a substrate support having temperature profile control are also provided.
US09698060B2
An integrated circuit structure includes an n-type fin field effect transistor (FinFET) and a p-type FinFET. The n-type FinFET includes a first germanium fin over a substrate; a first gate dielectric on a top surface and sidewalls of the first germanium fin; and a first gate electrode on the first gate dielectric. The p-type FinFET includes a second germanium fin over the substrate; a second gate dielectric on a top surface and sidewalls of the second germanium fin; and a second gate electrode on the second gate dielectric. The first gate electrode and the second gate electrode are formed of a same material having a work function close to an intrinsic energy level of germanium.
US09698054B2
In a p-type field effect transistor, a pair of spacers are formed over the top surface of a substrate. A channel recess cavity includes an indentation in the substrate top surface between the pair of spacers. A gate stack has a bottom portion in the channel recess cavity and a top portion extending outside the channel recess cavity. A source/drain (S/D) recess cavity has a bottom surface and sidewalls below the substrate top surface. The S/D recess cavity has a portion extending below the gate stack. A strained material is filled the S/D recess cavity.
US09698036B2
A substrate cassette loading system for docking substrate cassettes to a substrate processing system is provided. A plurality of ports passes substrates into the substrate processing system, wherein a first port of the plurality of ports is vertically above a second port of the plurality of ports. A plurality of cassette loaders provides substrate cassettes to the plurality of ports.
US09698031B2
A substrate treatment method is provided, which includes: an organic solvent replacing step of supplying an organic solvent, whereby a liquid film of the organic solvent is formed on the substrate as covering the upper surface of the substrate to replace a rinse liquid with the organic solvent; a substrate temperature increasing step of allowing the temperature of the upper surface of the substrate to reach a first temperature level higher than the boiling point of the organic solvent after the formation of the organic solvent liquid film, whereby a vapor film of the organic solvent is formed below the entire organic solvent liquid film between the organic solvent liquid film and the substrate to levitate the organic solvent liquid film above the organic solvent vapor film; and an organic solvent removing step of removing the levitated organic solvent liquid film from above the upper surface of the substrate.
US09698026B2
Systems and methods are provided for annealing a semiconductor structure. In one embodiment, the method includes providing an energy-converting structure proximate a semiconductor structure, the energy-converting structure comprising a material having a loss tangent larger than that of the semiconductor structure; providing a heat reflecting structure between the semiconductor structure and the energy-converting structure; and providing microwave radiation to the energy-converting structure and the semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure may include at least one material selected from the group consisting of boron-doped silicon germanium, silicon phosphide, titanium, nickel, silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, silicon carbide, n-type doped silicon, and aluminum capped silicon carbide. The heat reflecting structure may include a material substantially transparent to microwave radiation and having substantial reflectivity with respect to infrared radiation.
US09698025B2
A method includes forming at least one fin on a semiconductor substrate. A hard mask layer is formed above the fin. A first directed self-assembly material is formed above the hard mask layer. The hard mask layer is patterned using a portion of the first directed self-assembly material as an etch mask to expose a portion of the top surface of the fin. A substantially vertical nanowire is formed on the exposed top surface. At least one dimension of the substantially vertical nanowire is defined by an intrinsic pitch of the first directed self-assembly material.
US09698021B2
In a method of forming a layer, a substrate is loaded into a chamber and placed at a home position that is a first relative angular position. A process cycle is performed a number of times while the substrate is at the home position. The cycle includes directing source gas onto the substrate at a first location adjacent the periphery of the substrate, purging the chamber, directing reaction gas onto the substrate from the first location, and purging the chamber. The cycle is performed another number of times while the substrate is at another relative angular position, i.e., at a position rotated about its general center relative from the home position.
US09698020B2
A method of forming a semiconductor device is disclosed in various embodiments. The method includes providing a substrate containing first and second device regions, and a high-k film on the substrate, depositing a metal nitride gate electrode film on the high-k film, forming a metal-containing gate electrode film on the metal nitride gate electrode film in the second device region but not in the first device region, and depositing a Si-based cap layer on the metal-containing gate electrode film in the second device region and on the metal nitride gate electrode film in the first device region.
US09698019B2
A method includes forming a dummy gate stack over a semiconductor substrate, wherein the semiconductor substrate is comprised in a wafer. The method further includes removing the dummy gate stack to form a recess, forming a gate dielectric layer in the recess, and forming a metal layer in the recess and over the gate dielectric layer. The metal layer has an n-work function. A portion of the metal layer has a crystalline structure. The method further includes filling a remaining portion of the recess with metallic materials, wherein the metallic materials are overlying the metal layer.
US09698006B2
The present invention provides a system (100) for aligning a dispensing apparatus (110) utilized within a semiconductor deposition chamber (102). A stationary reference apparatus (106) is disposed along the bottom of the deposition chamber. A self-alignment support system (122), comprising one or more support components (124), is intercoupled between the dispensing apparatus and a deposition system exterior component (112). The self-alignment support system is adapted to facilitate and secure repositioning of the dispensing apparatus responsive to pressure applied to the dispensing surface (114) thereof. A non-yielding offset component (126) is placed upon a first surface (108) of the stationary reference apparatus. The dispensing surface of the dispensing apparatus is engaged with the offset component, and pressure is applied to the dispensing apparatus via the offset component until a desired alignment is achieved.
US09698003B2
Apparatuses are disclosed which include a discharge lamp configured to emit ultraviolet light, a power circuit configured to operate the discharge lamp, and a reflector system configured to redirect ultraviolet light emitted from the discharge lamp. In some embodiments, the apparatuses include a support structure containing the power circuit and supporting the discharge lamp. In some of such embodiments, the reflector system is configured to redirect ultraviolet light propagating away from the support structure to a region exterior to the apparatus and which is between approximately 2 feet and approximately 4 feet from a floor of a room in which the apparatus is arranged. In other embodiments, the reflector system may be additionally or alternatively configured to redirect ultraviolet light propagating away from the support structure to encircle an exterior surface of the apparatus. In any case, the reflector system may, in some embodiments, include a repositionable reflector.
US09698002B2
A method of mass analysis and a mass spectrometer are provided wherein a batch of ions is accumulated in a mass analyzer; the batch of ions accumulated in the mass analyzer is detected using image current detection to provide a detected signal; the number of ions in the batch of ions accumulated in the mass analyzer is controlled using an algorithm based on a previous detected signal obtained using image current detection from a previous batch of ions accumulated in the mass analyzer; wherein one or more parameters of the algorithm are adjusted based on a measurement of ion current or charge obtained using an independent detector located outside of the mass analyzer.
US09697997B2
A collision cell for a mass spectrometer arranged to receive ions for fragmentation in a chamber and comprising an activation ion generator configured to irradiate the received ions with activation ions of the same polarity as the received ions. The activation ion generator is preferably a plasma generator, configured to generate a plasma comprising the activation ions.
US09697994B1
Disclosed herein is a method for evaluating and measuring the performance, efficacy and safety of candidate new chemical entities. This method comprises employing a target compound having one or more 12C atoms in the molecule wherein at least one of the 12C atoms is substituted with a 13C atom, The stable labelled target compound is then administered to a test subject following which the target compound and/or one or more of its metabolites are recovered using conventional separation techniques and purified. The resulting isolated material of interest is then combusted in the presence of a petrochemical based carrier, the 12C content of such carrier with respect to naturally occurring 13C being in excess of 99.9 percent. The CO2 resulting from such combustion is then graphitized and the graphitized material is analyzed employing techniques, such as Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (“AMS”), capable of differentiating and counting the carbon atom isotopes (13C vs. 12C), thus allowing quantification of the compound/metabolite of interest.
US09697989B2
The present disclosure provides a method for generating a parameter pattern including: performing a plurality of measurements upon a plurality of regions on a surface of a workpiece to obtain a plurality of measured results; and deriving a parameter pattern according to the plurality of measured results by a computer; wherein the parameter pattern includes a plurality of regional parameter values corresponding to each of the plurality of regions on the surface of the workpiece. The present disclosure provides a Feed Forward semiconductor manufacturing method including: forming a layer with a desired pattern on a surface of a workpiece; deriving a control signal including a parameter pattern according to spatial dimension measurements against the layer with the desired pattern distributed over a plurality of regions of the surface of the workpiece; and performing an ion implantation on the surface of the workpiece according to the control signal.
US09697986B2
The present invention provides apparatus for an imaging system comprising a multitude of imaging elements upon a substrate. In some embodiments the substrate may be approximately round with a radius of approximately one inch. Various methods relating to using and producing an imaging system are discussed.
US09697983B1
An electron beam device for inspecting a sample with an electron beam is described. The electron beam device includes an electron beam source including a thermal field emitter, which includes an emitter tip having an emission facet configured for electron emission, wherein the emission facet has an emission facet width; and a first side facet and a second side facet, wherein an edge facet is formed between the first side facet and the second side facet, which has an edge facet width. The edge facet width is between 20% and 40% of the emission facet width. The electron beam source further includes an extractor device; and a heating device for heating the thermal field emitter. The electron beam device further includes electron beam optics and a detector device for detecting secondary charged particles generated at an impingement or hitting of the primary electron beam on the sample.
US09697982B2
An ElectroMagnetic-Mechanical Pulser can generate electron pulses at rates up to 50 GHz, energies up to 1 MeV, duty cycles up to 10%, and pulse widths between 100 fs and 10 ps. A modulating Transverse Deflecting Cavity (“TDC”) imposes a transverse modulation on a continuous electron beam, which is then chopped into pulses by an adjustable Chopping Collimating Aperture. Pulse dispersion due to the modulating TDC is minimized by a suppressing section comprising a plurality of additional TDC's and/or magnetic quadrupoles. In embodiments the suppression section includes a magnetic quadrupole and a TDC followed by four additional magnetic quadrupoles. The TDC's can be single-cell or triple-cell. A fundamental frequency of at least one TDC can be tuned by literally or virtually adjusting its volume. TDC's can be filled with vacuum, air, or a dielectric or ferroelectric material. Embodiments are easily switchable between passive, continuous mode and active pulsed mode.
US09697977B2
A magnetron includes a yoke, an anode unit including an anode cylinder, radially arranged vanes, and first and second pole pieces at both sides of the anode cylinder, a cathode unit having a filament spaced apart from the vanes, and an output unit having an antenna lead connected to one vane to radiate high-frequency microwaves. The first pole piece includes a first flat portion, a slope at an inner side of the first flat portion, a second flat portion at an inner side of the slope and having a diameter of 9.5˜10.5 mm, a first hole formed in the second flat portion and having a diameter of 8˜8.2 mm, and a second hole formed in the slope for penetration of the antenna lead. The magnetron achieves higher and stabilized efficiency, restricted oscillation efficiency variation, lower energy consumption, and improved load stability without deterioration of oscillation efficiency.
US09697976B2
An embodiment of a fuse module has been disclosed. The fuse module includes a housing and a fuse element assembly contained within the housing. The fuse element assembly includes at least one fuse element unit having a plurality of trigger mechanisms and a perforated strip electrically connected to the trigger mechanisms. Increased ampacity ratings in a more compact arrangement provides for fuse modules having increased current protection capability that, in turn, provides for improved disconnect switching capabilities.
US09697962B2
An on-load tap changer is provided having a plurality of modules, each of which is operable to change taps in a transformer winding. The tap changer includes a motor connected to rotate at least one shaft. The at least one shaft is connected to the tap change modules and is operable upon rotation to cause the tap change modules to each perform a sequence of operations that effectuate a tap change. A multi-turn absolute encoder is connected to the at least one shaft. A monitoring system is connected to the encoder and is operable to determine from the position of the at least one shaft where the tap change modules are in the sequence of operations.
US09697954B2
The invention provides a process and an apparatus for producing a high quality electronic component by reducing sagging at pattern side walls, which may occur when patterns of a wiring, an electrode, etc. are printed by a screen printing process using an electroconductive paste, an insulation paste, or a semiconductor paste, and reducing a mesh mark on the patterns of a wiring, an electrode, etc., or a full solid surface film, as well as a pattern formation process, by which screen printing can be applied and double face printing can be conducted with the number of process steps less than a conventional process. A pattern is formed by that a pattern is printed on a blanket having a surface comprising polydimethylsiloxane using an electroconductive paste, an insulation paste, or a semiconductor paste by a screen printing process, and the pattern is transferred from the blanket to a printing object.
US09697949B2
A transformer including first coil unit and second unit, wherein one or more coils are wound on the bobbin of insulating material in at least one of the first coil unit and the second unit, and wherein the bobbin is formed with at least one partitioning flange for partitioning a coil winding surface of the bobbin into two winding surfaces along the longitudinal direction of the bobbin, is disclosed.
US09697948B2
The semiconductor device of the present invention includes an insulating layer, a high voltage coil and a low voltage coil which are disposed in the insulating layer at an interval in the vertical direction, a low potential portion which is provided in a low voltage region disposed around a high voltage region for the high voltage coil in planar view and is connected with potential lower than the high voltage coil, and an electric field shield portion which is disposed between the high voltage coil and the low voltage region and includes an electrically floated metal member.
US09697947B1
An vertical PCB inductive device is adapted to be surface mount soldered to a substrate. The inductive device may comprise a transformer having a plurality of windings or one or more discrete inductive devices. The inductive device, being amenable to volume production, may also provide cost savings by reducing the number of layers and the PCB area otherwise required by planar magnetics in a power converter. A power converter may be fashioned to be vertically oriented and surface mount soldered to a substrate such as a customer PCB.
US09697944B2
A transmission line transformer (TLT) and a device for delivering serial digital signals at relatively high rates which comprises four such TLTs is provided. Each TLT has a primary and secondary coils winded at the same direction around a common core. Each of the primary and secondary coils comprises two segments of wires. The four segments of wires are grouped to a bundle which is axially twisted, wherein this twisting is characterized by a predefined number of full rotations relative to the axis of the bundle per a unit length, measured along this axis.
US09697939B2
According to an embodiment, a superconductive coil device includes a non-coplanar three-dimensional superconductive saddle type coil including a wound superconductive wire. The superconductive saddle type coil includes: longitudinal portions extending along a longitudinal direction of a magnetic field generation area; crossing portions extending along an edge line of a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the magnetic field generation area; and bent portions connecting the longitudinal portions and the crossing portions. The crossing portions are linear in shape when seen in the longitudinal direction.
US09697936B2
A material for a magnetic resonance installation is provided, wherein the material includes a support material and a magnetic doping material which is admixed in a specific proportion. The doping material exhibits an anisotropic susceptibility. In respect of the anisotropic susceptibility, the doping material exhibits a mean orientation along a predefined direction. An essentially homogeneous intermixture of the support material and the doping material is present within a volume of the material which is smaller than 1 mm3.
US09697934B2
Surface-mountable conductive polymer devices include a conductive polymer layer between first and second electrodes, on which are disposed first and second insulation layers, respectively. First and second planar conductive terminals are on the second insulation layer. A first cross-conductor connects the second electrode to the first terminal, and is separated from the first electrode by a portion of the first insulation layer. A second cross-conductor connects the first electrode to the second terminal, and is separated from the second electrode by a portion of the second insulation layer. In some embodiments, at least one cross-conductor includes a beveled portion through the first insulation layer to provide enhanced adhesion between the cross-conductor and the first insulation layer, while allowing greater thermal expansion without undue stress. In other embodiments, these advantages are achieved by having at least one cross-conductor in physical contact with a metallized anchor pad on the first insulation layer.
US09697933B2
The present invention relates to a new PTC device having a configuration with which protrusion of solder paste and/or an excess portion of epoxy resin do not adversely affect a jig. Such PTC device 30 comprises a PTC member 32 and leads 34 and 36 electrically connected to both sides of the PTC member the PTC member comprises a PTC element 38 and metal electrodes 40 and 42 placed on both sides of the PTC element respectively, each lead is electrically connected to the metal electrode respectively via an electrically conductive connection portion 50, and at least one 36 of the leads has a concave portion which is defined with a bottom portion 44 located adjacently to the metal electrode of the PTC member and a wall portion 46 surrounding the electrically conductive connection portion which connects the leads to the metal electrode.
US09697932B2
There is provided a method for manufacturing an insulated wire, including at least: coating an outer periphery of a running wire with an insulation coating material discharged from a coating material discharging tank; baking the insulation coating material by an incinerator, the insulation coating material being used for coating the outer periphery of the running wire; and cooling the running wire by a cooling mechanism so that a temperature of the running wire before being coated with the insulation coating material, is a specific temperature, based on a temperature of the running wire detected by a temperature detector, wherein the coating, the baking, and the cooling are repeated.
US09697926B2
A flat cable includes a number of pairs of differential signal wires and a number of power wires distributed on two sides of the differential signal wires. The differential wires are horizontally and vertically arranged in a matrix.
US09697916B2
An automated system for on-line monitoring and coil diagnostics of rod position indicator (RPI) coils coil diagnostic, or RPI coil diagnostic system. The RPI coil diagnostic system performs coil diagnostics for a RPI system in a nuclear power plant. The RPI coil diagnostic system is in electrical communication with and monitors the outputs of the detector coils. The RPI coil diagnostic system measures characteristics of the detector coils that are indicative of the health of the detector coils and/or the connections between the detector coils and the RPI electronics.
US09697909B2
A shift register comprises a first switch, a second switch, a third switch, and a fourth switch. The first switch selectively conducts a first clock signal to a first output terminal as a first output signal based on a voltage level over the control terminal. The second switch selectively forces a voltage level of the first output signal to be equal to a voltage level of a second clock signal based on both of the second clock signal and a third clock signal inverted to the second clock signal. The third switch selectively defines a voltage over the control terminal to be a first voltage based on a first input signal. The fourth switch selectively forces the voltage level over the control terminal to be equal to the voltage level of the second clock signal based on both of the second clock signal and the third clock signal.
US09697904B2
An integrated circuit includes a mirroring/amplifying unit suitable for mirroring and amplifying a sensing current that flows on a signal transmission line coupled to an internal circuit, and outputting an amplified current; a reference current generating unit suitable for generating a reference current; and a state determination unit suitable for comparing the reference current with the amplified current and determining a state of the internal circuit based on a comparison result.
US09697903B1
A data storage device includes a nonvolatile memory device; and a controller suitable for providing a normal erase command or a fine erase command to the nonvolatile memory device, wherein the nonvolatile memory device performs a first normal erase loop in which a first normal erase voltage and an erase verify voltage are applied to erase target memory cells, according to the normal erase command, and performs a first fine erase loop in which a first fine erase voltage and the erase verify voltage are applied to the erase target memory cells, according to the fine erase command.
US09697892B1
The present disclosure includes apparatuses, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums for generation and application of gray codes. One example method comprises: selecting a particular N-bit member as a root member for a plurality of N-bit gray codes each comprising X members such that each of the plurality of N-bit gray codes comprise a same root member; and generating X−1 remaining members of the respective plurality of N-bit gray codes by performing X−1 member generation iterations, wherein each ith iteration of the X−1 member generation iterations generates respective ith members of the plurality of N-bit gray codes based on ith−1 members, with each one of the respective ith members comprising only those eligible neighbor members of a respective one of the ith−1 members, and with “i” being a whole number index from 1 to X−1.
US09697890B1
An interface circuit is provided. A NMOS transistor is coupled between a first bit line and a ground. A logic gate is coupled between a gate of the NMOS transistor and a second bit line. A keeper controls a voltage level of the second bit line according to a reference voltage. A tracking circuit includes a plurality of reference bit cells and a pull-up device coupled to a reference bit line. Each reference bit cell is coupled to a read word line. When a bit cell coupled to the second bit line is accessed by a specific read word line, the reference bit cell coupled to the specific read word line drains a current from the pull-up device. The tracking circuit provides the reference voltage according to the current.
US09697889B1
According to one general aspect, an apparatus may include a bit cell configured to store a bit of information. The apparatus may include a first voltage configured to supply the bit cell with power. The apparatus may include a wordline driver configured to cause the bit to be read from the bit cell. The wordline driver may be configured to operate during a read operation at a second voltage that is lower than the first voltage, wherein the second voltage is determined by charge sharing between a plurality of capacitances. The wordline driver may include a switch configured to disconnect the wordline driver from the first voltage before an input word line signal is applied to the wordline driver, and wherein the switch is responsive to a clock signal.
US09697873B2
Some embodiments include memory arrays. The memory arrays can have global bitlines extending along a first horizontal direction, vertical local bitlines extending perpendicularly from the global bitlines, and wordlines extending along a second horizontal direction which is perpendicular to the first horizontal direction. The global bitlines may be subdivided into a first series at a first elevational level, and a second series at a second elevational level which is different from the first elevational level. The global bitlines of the first series can alternate with the global bitlines of the second series. There can be memory cell material directly between the wordlines and the vertical local bitlines. The memory cell material may form a plurality of memory cells uniquely addressed by wordline/global bitline combinations. Some embodiments include cross-point memory cell units that have areas of about 2F2.
US09697872B2
A memory subsystem is disclosed. The memory subsystem includes a serial peripheral interface (SPI) double data rate (DDR) volatile memory component, a serial peripheral interface (SPI) double data rate (DDR) non-volatile memory component coupled to the serial peripheral interface (SPI) double data rate (DDR) volatile memory component and a serial peripheral interface (SPI) double data rate (DDR) interface. The serial peripheral interface (SPI) double data rate (DDR) interface accesses the serial peripheral interface (SPI) double data rate (DDR) volatile memory component and the serial peripheral interface (SPI) double data rate (DDR) non-volatile memory component where data is accessed on leading and falling edges of a clock signal.
US09697856B2
A method of forming a near field transducer (NFT), the method including the steps of depositing a primary material; and implanting a secondary element, wherein both the primary material and the secondary element are chosen such that the primary material is densified via implantation of the secondary element.
US09697855B1
Bits per inch (BPI) is increased, and faster risetime is achieved while adjacent track erasure (ATE) is maintained at an acceptable level by inserting a 10-12 kG magnetic (TS0) layer between a 19-24 kG hot seed layer and 16-19 kG magnetic layer in a trailing shield structure at the ABS. A back portion (TY0) of the 10-12 kG magnetic layer is formed in a back gap connection between a back portion of the 16-19 kG magnetic layer and a trailing side of the main pole layer. A front side of the TY0 layer is 1-2 microns from the ABS and thereby improves BPI and writer speed. Accordingly, throat height in the write head may be reduced to less than 500 nm and thereby enables better bit error rate (BER). The TS0 layer is responsible for maintaining clean ATE near a far side of the writer track.
US09697852B2
A data writer may be configured with at least a write pole continuously extending from an air bearing surface to a via. The write pole can contact at least one yoke that contacts the write pole. The write pole and yoke may each be disposed between and separated from a write coil that has a single turn and continuously extends to opposite sides of the write pole.
US09697846B2
The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and an apparatus for reducing an echo, which apply a first stage adaptive filter to a downlink reference signal to obtain a first stage filtered signal and a first error signal; after performing a K-path gain process and a K-path pre-distortion process to the downlink reference signal, apply the at least one second stage adaptive filter to a K-path pre-distorted signal to obtain a second stage filtered signal and a second error signal; and perform a minimum value fusion process to the first error signal and the second error signal so as to obtain a residue signal, which is considered as a final output of adaptive echo cancellation. Accordingly, the present disclosure realizes steadily providing a relatively high echo loss under a circumstance that a speaker suffers a relatively great distortion.
US09697842B1
A method performed in an audio decoder for decoding M encoded audio channels representing N audio channels is disclosed. The method includes receiving a bitstream containing the M encoded audio channels and a set of spatial parameters, decoding the M encoded audio channels, and extracting the set of spatial parameters from the bitstream. The method also includes analyzing the M audio channels to detect a location of a transient, decorrelating the M audio channels, and deriving N audio channels from the M audio channels and the set of spatial parameters. A first decorrelation technique is applied to a first subset of each audio channel and a second decorrelation technique is applied to a second subset of each audio channel. The first decorrelation technique represents a first mode of operation of a decorrelator, and the second decorrelation technique represents a second mode of operation of the decorrelator.
US09697840B2
The present document relates to methods and systems for music information retrieval (MIR). In particular, the present document relates to methods and systems for extracting a chroma vector from an audio signal. A method (900) for determining a chroma vector (100) for a block of samples of an audio signal (301) is described. The method (900) comprises receiving (901) a corresponding block of frequency coefficients derived from the block of samples of the audio signal (301) from a core encoder (412) of a spectral band replication based audio encoder (410) adapted to generate an encoded bitstream (305) of the audio signal (301) from the block of frequency coefficients; and determining (904) the chroma vector (100) for the block of samples of the audio signal (301) based on the received block of frequency coefficients.
US09697837B2
A security device for hindering data theft and data leaks via audio channel of a computer system is based on passing the audio signals through a coding vocoder that receives input audio signal from a computer and compressing the signal to a low bit-rate digital data indicative of human speech; and a decoding vocoder that decompress the digital data back to a secure audio signal. The data transfer of the protected audio channel is intentionally limited not to exceed the bit-rate needed to carry vocoder-compressed human speech which is well below the capabilities of unprotected audio channel. Both analog and digital audio ports may be protected. Hardware bit-rate limiter protect the system from software hacking.
US09697836B1
An interactive voice response (IVR) system comprises a memory storing recorded segments of speech by individuals, and a processor configured to enroll individuals. The enrollment process may comprise retrieving one or more of said recorded segments of speech by an individual from said memory and using the retrieved segments to create a voice print for the individual. The suitability of the voice print for authenticating the individual in an IVR system is then tested. This may be done using segments of speech of a predetermined maximum duration such as three seconds or some other amount commensurate with the typical duration of a voice response in an IVR system. An individual may be enrolled as suitable for IVR authentication if the voice print passed the suitability test. Individuals may be authenticated using a voice print only if the voice print has passed the suitability test.
US09697826B2
Methods, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for enhancing the processing of audio waveforms for speech recognition using various neural network processing techniques. In one aspect, a method includes: receiving multiple channels of audio data corresponding to an utterance; convolving each of multiple filters, in a time domain, with each of the multiple channels of audio waveform data to generate convolution outputs, wherein the multiple filters have parameters that have been learned during a training process that jointly trains the multiple filters and trains a deep neural network as an acoustic model; combining, for each of the multiple filters, the convolution outputs for the filter for the multiple channels of audio waveform data; inputting the combined convolution outputs to the deep neural network trained jointly with the multiple filters; and providing a transcription for the utterance that is determined.
US09697823B1
A method, executed by a computer, includes receiving a channel recording corresponding to a conversation, receiving a transcription for the conversation, generating a conversation-specific language model for the conversation using the transcription, and conducting speech recognition on the channel recording using the conversation-specific language model to provide time boundaries and written language corresponding to utterances within the channel recording. The method further includes determining sentence or phrase boundaries for the transcription, aligning written language within the one or more transcriptions with the written language corresponding to the utterances with the channel recording to provide sentence or phrase boundaries for the channel recording, and training a speech recognizer according to the sentence or phrase boundaries for the transcription and the sentence or phrase boundaries for the channel recording. A computer system and computer program product corresponding to the method are also disclosed herein.
US09697817B2
An acoustic attenuation device extends from a first end to a second end and includes first and second sheets. A plurality of webs positioned between the first and second sheets cooperates with the first and second sheets to form a series of sound attenuation chambers containing a volume and mass of fluid. A first panel secured to the sheets closes the chambers at the first end of the device. A second panel secured to the sheets closes the chambers at the second end of the device. The device further includes first and second openings associated with each chamber and through which excited fluid resonates. The first and second openings extend through the first sheet into each chamber. The first openings have an invariable cross-section. At least one of the second openings has an adjustable cross-section for varying a resonant frequency of the chamber.
US09697812B2
When a processor accepts an input of plural notes to be assigned for tone generation, according to a predetermined note determining rule called “assignment type”, the processor selects one or more notes to be sounded in each of plural parts from the accepted notes. The processor controls a display unit to display, for each of the plural parts, the accepted plural notes to be assigned for tone generation. At this time, non-selected one or more notes in respective parts are displayed in one style, and the selected one or more notes in the respective parts are displayed in another style different from the one style. Alternatively, the plural notes to be assigned for tone generation are displayed in one style, and, for each of the plural parts, the selected one or more notes are displayed in another style different from the one style.
US09697807B2
An instant access guitar system allowing easy access to cavities in the body portion of the electric guitar. The cavities are covered by plates, a pick guard, flexible laminates or other suitable cover materials. The covers are held in place by (1) cut-outs in the guitar body and (2) magnets that magnetically attach to magnetic material mounted in the guitar body. The appearance of the guitar may be changed by changing the pick guard and the decorative laminate on the headstock. The sound of the guitar may be changed by having unique pickups and wiring releases pre-built in multiple configurations on multiple pick guards as modules to change in and out of the guitar at will with no tools or solder.
US09697805B2
An electronic device comprising: a sensor module for detecting a tilt of the electronic device; a touchscreen display; at least one processor configured to: control the display to display at least a part of a 3-dimensional (3D) object having a plurality of faces, each face comprising a respective plurality of elements; detect an unlocking pattern that is input using the object and a tilt value that identifies at least one value in an orientation of the electronic device that occurs while the unlocking pattern is being input; and at least partially unlock the electronic device based on the tilt value and the unlock pattern.
US09697804B2
A system and computer program product for displaying data in a graphical overlay. The system overlays a first lens, including a first dataset, on a first region of the graphical overlay while a second lens, including a second dataset, overlaps the first lens. The first and second datasets are simultaneously displayed, and a correlation between the datasets is determined. Separation of the first and second lenses preserves a circumscribed region within each lens. The first dataset corresponds to first orientation position of the first lens. Rotation of the first lens to a second orientation position reconfigures the first dataset to provide a modified first dataset which corresponds to the second position. A rotational position may also be associated with points in time, a first position corresponding to a first point in time and the first dataset representing the first dataset at the first point in time.
US09697802B2
A display control circuit of a display performs generation of overdrive processed data and detection of a proper direction of overdriving from current frame uncompressed compressed data obtained by performing compression processing and uncompression processing on compressed data corresponding to image data of a current frame, and previous frame uncompressed compressed data obtained by performing the compression processing and the uncompression processing on image data of a previous frame, and generates post-correction overdrive processed data by correcting the overdrive processed data according to the detected proper direction. The display control circuit transmits post-correction compressed data obtained by compressing the post-correction overdrive processed data to a driver as transfer compressed data.
US09697797B2
It is provided a method for displaying content on a screen where light intensity of each pixel of the screen is adjustable. The method comprises steps of receive a touch of a touching object on the screen; and adjusting light intensity so as to make surrounding pixels of a contact point between the touching object and the screen have a higher intensity and rest pixels have no light intensity or a lower light intensity, wherein, the lower light intensity enables content displayed on corresponding pixels perceptible to a user.
US09697786B2
A display device includes a display panel having vertical lines and horizontal lines formed thereon; sub-pixels; and a driver supplying a data signal and a scan signal to the sub-pixels through the vertical lines and horizontal lines, the vertical lines include a vertical data line to which the data signal is supplied and a vertical scan line to which the scan signal is supplied, the horizontal lines are connected to the vertical scan line and include a horizontal scan line transferring the scan signal in a horizontal direction, and the display panel include a shield electrode for shielding a signal interference between the pixel electrode and the vertical scan line.
US09697781B2
The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device (LCD) and display driving method thereof. The LCD includes display panel; scan driver; a plurality of data drivers; first timing controller, for controlling scan driver, receiving and processing first signal, outputting synchronization signal and first driving control signal, the first driving control signal controlling first data driver to drive display of all pixels in a part of pixel rows of n pixel rows; and second timing controller, for receiving synchronization signal and second data signal, processing second data signal, outputting second driving control signal, second driving control signal controlling second data driver to drive display of all pixels in the other part of pixel rows of the n pixel rows. As such, through modifying input and output of two timing controllers, the present invention makes two timing controllers to synchronously support high resolution output of LCD.
US09697779B2
The present disclosure provides a driving method and apparatus of a liquid crystal display apparatus and a liquid crystal display apparatus, and belongs to a liquid crystal display field. The driving method comprises: generating gray scale data of sub-pixels according to received image data; taking a plurality of sub-pixels as a processing unit, generating gray scale voltage polarity signals, which are used for making gray scale voltages of the plurality of sub-pixels tend to zero entirely, respectively corresponding to the gray scale data of the plurality of sub-pixels; outputting the gray scale data and the corresponding polarity signal of the each sub-pixel to a source driver of the liquid crystal display apparatus. The present disclosure may improve display defects caused by turbulence in a common voltage, such as a green attachment, a crosstalk, a flicker, etc.
US09697774B2
An organic light-emitting display comprises a first transistor comprising a gate electrode connected to a scan line, a first electrode connected to a data line, and a second electrode connected to a first node, a second transistor comprising a gate electrode connected to the first node, a first electrode connected to a first power supply voltage, and a second electrode connected to a third node, a third transistor comprising a gate electrode connected to a sensing control line, a first electrode connected to the data line, and a second electrode connected to the third node and an organic light-emitting device comprising an anode connected to the third node and a cathode connected to a second power supply voltage, wherein the first power supply voltage is set to a level of a sensing voltage for a period of time during which the sensing voltage is provided to the data line.
US09697769B2
In a display device having a pixel circuit including an electro-optical element in which brightness is controlled by a current, and including a drive transistor for controlling a current to be supplied to the electro-optical element, a drive method therefor includes: a noise measurement step of measuring noise; characteristic detection steps of detecting characteristics of the drive transistor and the electro-optical element; a correction data update step of updating correction data, which serves for correcting a video signal, based on detection results in the characteristic detection step; and a video signal correction step of correcting the video signal based on the correction data. When noise with a standard value or more is detected in the noise measurement step, processing of the correction data update step is not performed.
US09697764B2
The present disclosure relates to a display panel having a structure in which the left and right lateral side bezel areas are bent downward to reduce the width of bezel area visible to a user. The display device includes a transparent cover plate and a flexible display layer secured to the transparent cover plate. The transparent cover includes a flat portion. The flexible display layer includes a display area and a non-display area. The display area includes an upper flat area extending along a first plane below the flat portion of the transparent cover plate. The non-display area extends from at least an edge of the display area and at least part of the non-display area extends along a second plane for connection to receive a signal for displaying an image on the flexible display layer. A signal line between a signal source and the non-display area transmit the signal from the signal source to the non-display area.
US09697752B2
A device includes a textile main body, and one or more indicator elements on the textile main body, or on a label fixed to the textile main body, for indicating date information. The indicator elements include a plurality of severable portions spaced from the main body or the label on which they are provided. Each of the severable portions is associated with date information such that by cutting one or more of the severable portions a date of use of the device or a date of inspection of the device is indicated. A device having indicator elements of this type has the advantage that the indication of a date of first use or a date of inspection can be made easily, can be read easily and will be durable over many laundry cycles.
US09697737B2
Systems and methods for processing aircraft flight information and flight plan information are described. Specific techniques are described for managing flight data in real time, sharing flight data between a plurality of systems, dynamically managing flight information, generating flight plan information, providing flight plan information to a user, and closing flight plan discontinuities.
US09697733B1
Methods, computer systems, and servers for processing collision avoidance feedback to vehicles using vehicle-to-vehicle wireless communication, are provided. One method includes detecting proximity separation between a first vehicle and a second vehicle (e.g., and other vehicles within the proximity separation). At least one of the sensors of the first vehicle or the second vehicle determine that a proximity separation is less than a threshold distance. A pairing algorithm is triggered between electronics of the first and second vehicle to enable direct communication for data exchange between the first and second vehicles. The method includes triggering a warning to one or both of the first and second vehicles if the data exchange determines that a probability exists that a heading of the first or second vehicles will result in a collision between the first and second vehicles. The method may initiate corrective action by one or both of the first or second vehicles if the data exchange between the first and second vehicles increase the probability that the heading will result in a collision between the first and second vehicles.
US09697732B2
A road marker and related light based warning device are described. The road marker or device includes a thermal sensor that triggers the illumination of at least one light-emitting diode at a predetermined temperature. The temperature may be associated with ice formation. The light-emitting diode(s) may flash to alert motorists to hazardous road conditions. The road marker or device utilize simple components to increase reliability, particularly when the device is subjected to high heat such as when the device is mounted into hot tar seal. The device further includes a switching element that prevents rapid on/off cycling.
US09697724B2
A method for connecting low power radios into a self-assembling and self-healing network with multiple portals to higher speed networks such as, but not limited to, electrical or optical Ethernet is provided for monitoring transmission lines, for example. A clamp or other device is provided that includes an integral or associated current transformer and associated circuitry with design elements to address high temperature operation or other operating parameters. An arrangement of sensors is provided (e.g., sensors can be associated with clamps or positioned along infrastructure being monitored and without dependence on any clamps or other devices) that are designed to communicate and operate in an geographically distributed array to provide increased and autonomous monitoring of large utility, highway, communication and similar networks. A unique collection of sensors (e.g., an anemometer with no moving parts) provides comprehensive diagnostics for improved operation of large geographic scale utility, highway, communication and similar infrastructure.
US09697715B2
A method for tracking a patient in a medical facility is disclosed. The method includes determining whether a patient is to be moved, indicating the time at which the patient should start to be moved, and interrogating a RFID sensor on the patient at a predetermined time interval to determine when the patient has been moved.
US09697713B2
According to one embodiment, a multi-sensing hazard detector for detecting potential dangers may include a back plate and a front casing that is coupled with the back plate to define a housing. A circuit board and a plurality of components may be positioned within the housing. The circuit board may be communicatively coupled with the components. The components may include, among other components, an alarm device, an occupancy sensor, and a smoke chamber. The alarm device may be activatable upon the detection of a potential hazard to warn an occupant of a potential danger, the occupancy sensor may be configured to detect the presence and/or movement of objects external to the hazard detector, and the smoke chamber may be configured to detect the presence of smoke to cause a triggering of the alarm device. The housing may comprise a volume of less than 1024 cubic centimeters.
US09697705B2
A tactile sensation providing apparatus includes a touch sensor 11, a tactile sensation providing unit 13 configured to vibrate a touch face of the touch sensor 11, a tactile sensation provision control unit 14 configured to control drive of the tactile sensation providing unit 13, and a main control unit 17 configured to control an operation of the tactile sensation provision control unit 14 based on an output of the touch sensor 11. The main control unit 17 determines whether an object is touching a predetermined area of the touch face based on the output of the touch sensor 11, and starts the operation of the tactile sensation provision control unit 14 when determining that the object is touching the predetermined area, or stops the operation of the tactile sensation provision control unit 14 when determining that the object is not touching the predetermined area.
US09697696B2
A group of associated gaming devices each having a lottery drawer including a database having a plurality of entries each entry containing one or more winning numbers associated with a predetermined time interval, and a pseudo random number generator for generating pseudo random numbers from a seed supplied by the database, and a clock for extracting the winning number or numbers from an entry of the database for the time interval indicated by the clock, and a comparator for at least one receiving of the extracted winning number or numbers and at least one number generated by the pseudo random generator, wherein the comparator is adapted for generating a win signal when the extracted winning number and the generated pseudo random number match; and wherein all of the associated gaming devices include identical databases having the plurality of entries and pseudo random number generators whereby win signals are generated simultaneously.
US09697694B2
A gaming machine for providing a slot game to a player is described herein. The gaming machine includes a display device and a controller for displaying a game to a player. The controller is configured to randomly determine an outcome of the game and display the outcome on the display device, determine a first award as a function of the outcome, and determine a second award as a function of the first award. The first award includes a first number of free games and a first award multiplier. The second award includes a second number of free games and a second award multiplier. The controller allows the player to select one of the first award and the second award and responsively provides the selected one of the first award and the second award to the player.
US09697684B2
A method of gaming comprising: receiving an input indicative that a player accepts deferred payment in respect of at least one award awardable during play of a game; conducting the play to determine whether the at least one award is made; and providing an entitlement to the player to enable the player to obtain the award after a deferment period when the award is made to the player.
US09697675B2
A gaming machine has a touch screen interface, a memory to store predetermined rules, and a processor. The processor may display, on the touch screen interface, a virtual environment, a first virtual object and a second virtual object. The first virtual object and second virtual object may behave according to the predetermined rules within the virtual environment. The processor may also detect, via the touch screen interface, a series of player's touch inputs on the second virtual object to update a property of the second virtual object. The processor may then determine an interaction between the first virtual object and the second virtual object having the updated property, and based on the interaction, the processor may update the first virtual object and/or second virtual object within the virtual environment.
US09697674B2
Players may compete in a tournament that involves multiple different games.
US09697668B2
An automatically configurable smart card comprises—a generic data structure provided for containing smart card specific data, and—a smart card operating system being adapted to automatically detect the generic data structure and to migrate the generic data structure.
US09697665B2
A coin dispensing device includes a plurality of coin tubes storing coins, a coin withdrawing and discharging part, a change part which locates a change lever at a dispensing preventing position, in which the coin withdrawing and discharging part is prevented from discharging coins, by energizing a change lever solenoid and locates the change lever at a dispensing allowing position, in which the coin withdrawing and discharging part is allowed to discharge the coins, by a biasing force of a return spring when the energizing of the change lever solenoid is stopped, and a keeping means which keeps a state of the change lever. The coin withdrawing and discharging part withdraws and discharges the coins when the keeping means keeps the state of the change lever and the energizing of the change lever solenoid is stopped.
US09697660B1
The disclosed computer-implemented method for verifying user attributes may include (1) receiving a request to verify an attribute of a user who claims to be a particular person, (2) determining that the attribute can be verified using a trusted record that is associated with the particular person, (3) determining that the trusted record is associated with a vehicle to which the particular person has access rights, (4) confirming that the user has physical access to the vehicle by performing an access-validation check, and (5) in response to confirming that the user has physical access to the vehicle, using the trusted record to verify the attribute of the user. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09697657B2
Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for using little or no electric power to monitor whether a wearable device continues to be worn by a person such that it may continue to be used to access a secured item. An apparatus may include a processor component; a storage to store an access credential; a presentation component to wirelessly transmit the access credential to an access device to enable a grant of access to a secured item; a power source; and a clasp coupled to a wearable portion to prevent removal of the wearable portion unless the clasp is operated to change state from a clasped state to an unclasped state, the clasp to cause loss of electric power from the power source to the processor component and the storage when in the unclasped state to nullify the access credential. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09697654B2
A system for managing a mining machine is included in a mining machine that travels in a mine. The system includes: a positional information detecting unit configured to acquire positional information indicating a position of the mining machine; and a traveling path calculating unit configured to obtain, from each of a plurality of the mining machines, positional information about an actual traveling path on which each of the mining machines actually has traveled, and generate a reference traveling path in the mine with the obtained positional information.
US09697653B2
A method, computer-readable storage device and apparatus for exchanging vehicle information are disclosed. For example, the method receives the vehicle information from a second vehicle, wherein the vehicle information is received via a direct vehicle to vehicle communication, calculates an operating parameter of the second vehicle, determines an alert condition based on the operating parameter of the second vehicle, and provides a notification of the alert condition to a driver of the first vehicle.
US09697646B2
A method is disclosed for converting a 3D model into multiple matrices to extract information related to the 3D model in an automated manner. The extracted information may represent numerical information such as lengths, areas, or volumes, or may represent positional information describing the location of the objects of the 3D model relative to each other. The extracted information may represent the identity of the objects of the 3D model, or the compliance of the 3D model against a set of rules, codes, or requirements. The method serves a variety of medical, engineering, architectural, industrial, and gaming applications.
US09697640B2
At least one processor may organize a plurality of primitives in a hierarchical data structure. The at least one processor may rasterize a plurality of bounding volumes associated with non-root nodes of the hierarchical data structure to an off-screen render target. The at least one processor may determine a bounding volume that is intersected by a ray out of the plurality of bounding volumes. The at least one processor may determine a non-root node of the hierarchical data structure that is associated with the bounding volume as a start node in the hierarchical data structure to start traversal of the hierarchical data structure. The at least one processor may traverse the hierarchical data structure starting from the start node to determine the primitive that is intersected by the ray.
US09697636B2
Disclosed embodiments provide techniques for enhancing presentation system animations by applying motion blur to animated objects within a presentation system. Clipping the blur effect to particular regions may increase efficiencies over calculations of motion blur across an entire screen. Further, in certain embodiments, the motion blur may be calculated and presented on a per-object basis. Accordingly, relational objects (e.g., objects seemingly inside other objects and/or overlapping or crossing objects) may each have their own blur effect without impacting the other objects' blur effects.
US09697633B2
There is provided an information processing apparatus, including a display control section which determines which display layers out of a plurality of mutually overlapping display layers information is to be displayed on based on parameters associated with the information.
US09697627B2
Data point calculations on a chart are provided. A user control may be displayed adjacent to a chart by a computing device. A selection of data points on the chart may then be received the user control. A calculation may then be performed by the computing device on the data points selected by the user control. The results of the calculation may then be displayed by the computing device on the chart.
US09697618B2
There is provided an image processing apparatus including a feature value calculation unit configured to calculate, as feature values, a polarity related to gradation of a skin image and a scale indicating image areas each having a pixel value that is similar to each other and that are different from surroundings of the image areas, and a feature section extraction unit configured to extract a feature section of the skin image on a basis of the feature values calculated by the feature value calculation unit.
US09697613B2
A launch monitor having a camera can be used to measure a trajectory parameter of a ball. In one example, a method can include changing a mode of the camera from a low-speed mode to a high-speed mode. The camera can include an image sensor array having a plurality of pixels. The camera can generate a video frame using more pixels in the low-speed mode than in the high-speed mode. A first video frame can be received, the video frame comprising values captured during the high-speed mode from a first subset of the plurality of pixels. A second video frame can be received, the video frame comprising values captured during the high-speed mode from a second subset of the plurality of pixels. The trajectory parameter of the ball can be calculated using the first video frame and the second video frame.
US09697595B2
A user identifies an unwanted object in a source image. Related images are identified on the basis of timestamp and/or geolocation metadata. Matching masks are identified in the source image, wherein each of the matching masks is adjacent to the selection mask. Features in the selection and matching masks which also appear in one of the related images are identified. The related image having a maximum of features which are tracked to a source image matching mask, but also a minimum of features which are tracked to the source image selection mask, is identified as a best-match related image. By mapping the source image matching masks onto the best-match related image, a seed region can be located in the best-match related image. This seed region is used for filling in the source image. This allows the unwanted object to be replaced with a visually plausible background having a reasonable appearance.
US09697583B2
An image processing apparatus includes a pre-processing unit and a coding unit. The pre-processing unit acquires, from an image, a patch obtained by extracting a partial area of the image. The coding unit determines a value of a design parameter relating to processing of the patch according to the amount of information contained in the acquired patch and representing a state of distribution of pixel values and generates a high-frequency patch from the patch by using the determined value of the design parameter.
US09697581B2
An image processing apparatus includes an image storage unit, a conversion unit, and an output unit. The image storage unit stores therein multiple images with different viewpoint positions. The conversion unit converts each of the images stored in the image storage unit to each of images to be imaged by imaging devices that are arranged such that respective optical axes pass through a dynamically set position in a target object. The output unit outputs the images converted by the conversion unit.
US09697580B2
This disclosure describes an apparatus configured to process graphics data. The apparatus may include a fixed hardware pipeline configured to execute one or more functions on a current set of graphics data. The fixed hardware pipeline may include a plurality of stages including a bypassable portion of the plurality of stages. The apparatus may further include a shortcut circuit configured to route the current set of graphics data around the bypassable portion of the plurality of stages, and a controller positioned before the bypassable portion of the plurality of stages, the controller configured to selectively route the current set of graphics data to one of the shortcut circuit or the bypassable portion of the plurality of stages.
US09697579B2
An operating system that includes an image processing framework as well as a job management layer is provided. The image processing framework is for performing image processing operations and the job management layer is for assigning the image processing operations to multiple concurrent computing resources. The computing resources include several processing units and one or more direct memory access (DMA) channels for concurrently rendering image data and transferring image data between the processing units.
US09697574B2
A data processing method for processing usage history data of at least one electrical device used by a user, including: obtaining first usage history data indicating a usage history of at least one electrical device used by the user; obtaining second usage history data indicating a fixed dummy usage history; generating third usage history data by combining the first usage history data and the second usage history data; and transmitting the third usage history data from a first apparatus to a second apparatus.
US09697571B2
A method, apparatus and program storage device for providing real-time file system charge-back accounting with real time historical minimum and maximum usage per user or group during a report cycle. In a first storage area of file system memory, space allocation data for a current accounting period is monitored and persistently maintained. A minimum, maximum and average space allocation is calculated for the management object during the current accounting period. The calculated minimum, maximum and average space allocation for the management object may be moved to a second storage area of the file system memory while beginning to monitor and persistently maintain space allocation data of the management object in the first storage area of the file system memory during a subsequent accounting period.
US09697564B2
Disclosed in some examples is a method including receiving a selection of an outline template; displaying the outline template in an image preview screen of a digital image capture device; responsive to a capture of an image of the digital image capture device, cropping the image to an outline of the outline template; positioning the cropped image over a second image and sending a combined image formed from the image positioned over the second image to a commerce server, the combined image for use as a product image.
US09697557B2
A system of electronic shopping with an electronic shopping cart includes a computer processor, a network interface configured to connect the processor to an electronic shopping site and to shop at the shopping site using the electronic shopping cart, an input device configured to receive search string input from a user, a display device configured to display search string preview results to the user as the user enters the search string input in the input device, and a non-transitory physical medium. The medium has instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to receive from the input device a partial search string entered by the user, display on the display device relevant search string preview results from the shopping site based on the partial search string, and display on the display device contents of the shopping cart concurrently with the displayed search string preview results.
US09697550B2
Devices, methods, and computer readable storage devices for providing offers based on aggregate need
Offers are provided based on an aggregate need. Data is collected data from a plurality of different communication devices. The data collected from each respective communication device indicates a need for a product associated with the respective communication device. An aggregate need for the product is determined based on the collected data. A determination is also made whether the aggregate need for the product meets a threshold. Responsive to determining that the aggregate need for the product meets the threshold, an offer for fulfilling the need for the product is sent to each respective communication device from which the data was collected that indicated the need for the product.
US09697544B1
A system and method for generating information relating to a vehicle's history. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of identifying records in a database, identifying a target record, identifying a trigger record, determining if the target record indicates an ownership transfer based on the identified trigger record, and generating a price adjustment for the vehicle at least partially based on the ownership transfer. In accordance with another aspect, a vehicle history information system is provided including a database having vehicle history records, a vehicle history report module adapted to retrieve vehicle history records, an ownership module adapted to identify a target record, identify a trigger record, and determine whether the target record indicates an ownership transfer based on the identified trigger record, and a pricing module adapted to generate a price adjustment for the vehicle at least partially based on the ownership transfer.
US09697543B2
A management system can recommend and manage publishing content with publishers of business information. A representative can provide unique identifying information for a business that can be used to determine a category of similar businesses. Based on the identified category, a list of publishers can be identified to the representative as related to the business category. The representative can select one or more of the publishers to publish content about the business. Based on the representative selection, the system can request a set of content from the representative. After receiving the content from the representative, the system can translate the content to formats acceptable to each of the publishers. The content can then be provided to the publishers to publish. The published content can then be monitored for problems, and corrected if problems are discovered.
US09697532B2
Secure associate ordering and transaction methods and systems. An order for an alternative device different from a baseline device is received at an order processing platform. The alternative device is available for purchase by the associate at a cost differential between the alternative and baseline devices. The cost differential is based on a predetermined enterprise discount. A message including a secure link associated with the order is sent to the associate. Payment information associated with the cost differential is received by a secure payment (SP) platform from the associate via a secure website using the secure link. The payment information is submitted to a payment institution. The order processing platform receives a transaction confirmation from the SP platform when the payment information is accepted and adds at least features of the alternative device associated with the baseline device to a service account of the enterprise customer for the service provider.
US09697531B1
Techniques of dynamic pricing for physical stores are described. A server handling purchase transactions of multiple physical stores can aggregate sales data on goods and services and determine a pattern. The server can determine that sales of an item of goods or services at a particular physical store deviate from the pattern at a particular time. Upon determining that sales price of the item significantly correlates to the deviation, the server can determine a suggested price for correcting the deviation. As an experiment, the server can conduct an experiment of selling the item at the suggested price at the particular time for a given time period. The server can present results of the experiment to an operator of the physical store.
US09697528B2
Mechanisms are provided for tracking link sharing in a messaging environment of a data processing system. Message information is received that identifies a plurality of links to content included in one or more messages exchanged via the data processing system. A relationship measure is determined based on the message information. The relationship measure measures a likelihood that a first link is related to a second link in the plurality of links and points to a same source of content. An association data structure associating the first link with the second link is generated based on the relationship measure. User interactions with the first link and the second link are tracked based on the generated association data structure.
US09697520B2
An advertised incentive system receives advertised incentive configuration information provided by a merchant. The advertised incentive configuration information defines the content of advertised incentive banners. The advertised incentive banners are provided as needed to merchants to display on the merchant's website. Advertised incentive registration information is received from an account holder after the account holder interacts with the advertised incentive banner. Transaction information is received that contains a qualified purchase made by the account holder. The advertised incentive registration and the qualified purchase are matched. A statement credit is issued against the account holder's account and a debit is issued against the merchant's account in the amount of the statement credit.
US09697511B2
A method for securing a transaction by an electronic card paired with at least one mobile terminal, wherein a banking organization in charge of managing transactions involving the card has previously recorded an identifier of the mobile terminal among data relating to the owner of the card. The securing method includes: transmission, by the mobile terminal, of at least one first signal including a message containing the identifier; receipt, by at least one transaction device near the mobile terminal, of the first signal; transmission, by the transaction device, of a second signal including at least the message to at least one remote banking organization; assignment, by a control server of the banking organization, to a transaction involving the electronic card, by a control server of the banking organization, of information representing proximity between the electronic card and the mobile terminal, according to the second signal received by the banking organization.
US09697495B1
A processor-driven method provides a step-by-step process to assess an organization's ability to meet project and contract standards resulting from a negotiated contract. This assessment also highlights the most efficient path for performance and identifies strengths and weaknesses in the organizations abilities. The method can aid an organization's front line sale force in identifying resources that are optimal for use in a particular contract and can generate a back end work flow for implementation and tracking of program deliverables by administrators, program or contract managers and others based on the requirements of a negotiated project. The identification of key project phases and solutions and the ability to build process flows based on a library of the organization's operational information, e.g., resources, tools, artifacts, within intersections of the phases and solutions, allows an organization to determine best path to contract completion. The best path may optimize cost, time, and personnel.
US09697493B2
A transport carrier (i.e., an armored vehicle or any mode of transportation) may be equipped with cash storage and recycling capabilities. The transport carrier may be equipped to replenish funds as needed and/or pick up a surplus of funds. The transport carrier may be in communication with a financial institution and/or a central server. In some arrangements, the central server may dynamically route the transport carrier to cash handling devices as various locations in order to efficiently meet the needs of the devices and associated clients.
US09697481B2
A method of operating a hospital information system, and a hospital information system are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the method includes providing a taskflow editing tool with a limited number of editing options to a user; creating a taskflow defining a number of tasks and connections of the tasks by the user using the taskflow editing tool; and performing an automated test run of the created taskflow, wherein the automated test run is checked according to a number of criteria and wherein results of the check are reported to the user.
US09697471B2
A plant model management device according to one embodiment includes a generation unit and a combining unit. The generation unit receives a first set of prior probability distributions of a first set of automatic operation parameters. The first set of automatic operation parameters define a condition required for modeling a plant model that is a model based on data concerning a plant. The generation unit generates a first set of posterior probability distributions of the first set of automatic operation parameters and a first set of probabilistic plant models based on the first set of prior probability distributions. The first set of posterior probability distributions reflect compatibility with learning data that is past time-series data concerning a first explanatory variable and a first objective variable. The combining unit combines the first set of probabilistic plant models using the first set of posterior probability distributions to generate a first plant model.
US09697470B2
A method is provided for determining one or more causes for variability in data. The method includes selecting a first range of a multivariate model output data on a user interface and employing a computing system, operatively coupled to the user interface, to determine one or more process data causing a variability of the multivariate model output data in the first range when compared to a second range of the multivariate model output data. At least some of the process data includes data derived from a physical measurement of a process variable.
US09697469B2
A method and system for making financial or medical decisions. The method comprises training sets of models using classification training with sets of data derived from segregated data sources. Overall weighting of each model within the sets of models are determined for each of the sub-datasets. The sets of models, the overall weighting of each model and a number of examples provided from the data for each of the datasets are transmitted to a central server over a communication network, wherein the central server is configured to determine the relative weights of each of the sets of models in the overall ensemble model based on the number of examples, combine the sets of models, receive new application data, and predict at least one of outcome variables, an uncertainty factor for the variables, and drivers of the outcome variables based on the new application data.
US09697468B2
A system is disclosed having a storage, a communications module for interacting with a medical measurement device, an analysis controller, and a test module that allows for the testing and evaluating of decision-support algorithms. A method for testing decision-support algorithms is disclosed having the steps of receiving into storage of a ruggedized, compact computer at least one decision-support algorithm; detecting with a communications module the initiation of a vital-sign monitoring session; receiving and storing vital-sign information into storage by the communications module; pushing the stored vital-sign information by an analysis controller to a test module running the stored at least one decision-support algorithm; and providing at least one output from the decision-support algorithm to at least one of a database and a display.
US09697466B2
Techniques are disclosed to determine an expected or predicted opinion of a target individual. To do so, a deep question answer system may build a corpus which includes a first collection of documents attributable to a first person and a second collection of documents identified from content in the first collection of documents and evaluate the corpus to build a model representing opinions of the first person relative to topics, concepts, or subjects discussed in the first and second collections of documents. The deep question answer system may also receive a request to predict an opinion of the first person regarding a topic and generate a predicted opinion of the first person regarding the topic from the model.
US09697462B1
A synaptic time-multiplexed (STM) neuromorphic network includes a neural fabric that includes nodes and switches to define inter-nodal connections between selected nodes of the neural fabric. The STM neuromorphic network further includes a neuromorphic controller to form subsets of a set of the inter-nodal connections representing a fully connected neural network. Each subset is formed during a different time slot of a plurality of time slots of a time multiplexing cycle of the STM neuromorphic network. In combination, the inter-nodal connection subsets implement the fully connected neural network. A method of synaptic time multiplexing a neuromorphic network includes providing the neural fabric and forming the subsets of the set of inter-nodal connections.
US09697461B2
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method for interconnecting neurons in a neural network. At least one node among a first set of nodes is interconnected to at least one node among a second set of nodes, and nodes of the first and second set are arranged in a lattice. At least one node of the first set represents a sensory-motor modality of the neural network. At least one node of the second set is a union of at least two nodes of the first set. Each node in the lattice has an acyclic digraph comprising multiple vertices and directed edges. Each vertex represents a neuron population. Each directed edge comprises multiple synaptic connections. Vertices in different acyclic digraphs are interconnected using an acyclic bottom-up digraph. The bottom-up digraph has a corresponding acyclic top-down digraph. Vertices in the bottom-up digraph are interconnected to vertices in the top-down digraph.
US09697459B2
RFID devices comprising (i) a transponder chip module (TCM, 1410) having an RFIC chip (IC) and a module antenna (MA), and (ii) a coupling frame (CF) having an electrical discontinuity comprising a slit (S) or non-conductive stripe (NCS). The coupling frame may be disposed closely adjacent the transponder chip module so that the slit overlaps the module antenna. The RFID device may be a payment object such as a jewelry item having a metal component modified with a slit (S) to function as a coupling frame. The coupling frame may be moved (such as rotated) to position the slit to selectively overlap the module antennas (MA) of one or more transponder chip modules (TCM-1, TCM-2) disposed in the payment object, thereby selectively enhancing (including enabling) contactless communication between a given transponder chip module in the payment object and another RFID device such as an external contactless reader. The coupling frame may be tubular. A card body construction for a metal smart card is disclosed.
US09697444B2
The present invention relates to a convolutional-neural-network-based classifier, a classifying method by using a convolutional-neural-network-based classifier and a method for training the convolutional-neural-network-based classifier. The convolutional-neural-network-based classifier comprises: a plurality of feature map layers, at least one feature map in at least one of the plurality of feature map layers being divided into a plurality of regions; and a plurality of convolutional templates corresponding to the plurality of regions respectively, each of the convolutional templates being used for obtaining a response value of a neuron in the corresponding region.
US09697442B2
In an embodiment, a method comprises obtaining a frequency domain representation associated with an image; obtaining one or more frequency domain representations of one or more object detection filters; generating a composite frequency domain representation based on the frequency domain representation associated with the image and the one or more frequency domain representations of the one or more object detection filters; and detecting one or more objects in the image based on the composite frequency domain representation. The frequency domain representation associated with the image may be obtained based on a forward transform performed on an image feature description. The image feature description may be obtained based on a feature extraction performed on the image. The one or more frequency domain representations of the one or more object detection filters may be obtained based on one or more Fourier transforms performed on the one or more object detection filters.
US09697437B2
Identifying whether an image includes a search image can be accomplished using region analysis and/or parts model analysis. Region analysis can include dividing a received image into regions and analyzing each region by: enlarging the region, applying a gradient histogram transformation to the enlarged region, and comparing the transformed region, at various angles, to a set of search patterns. Parts model analysis can include identifying key features of an image such as prominent lines or areas, objects or object edges, consecutive colors; generating one or more parts models from the key features by representing the key features as geometric objects; and comparing each parts model, at various angles, to a set of search patterns. The comparison employed in region analysis or parts model analysis can employ classifiers trained on the search images.
US09697434B2
An edge detection method includes reading at least a portion of wide-band pixel signals generated by wide-band pixels of an image sensor. The image sensor also includes narrow-band pixels that generate narrow-band pixel signals that remain unread. The method also includes sending the wide-band pixel signals to an image signal processor, forming a partially-filled reference image based on data from the wide-band pixel signals; and applying an edge-forming technique to the partially-filled reference image to produce an edge map. An edge detection system includes a two-dimensional array of pixels having wide-band pixels and narrow-band pixels, an image signal processor for producing an edge map from a partially-filled reference image, and a readout circuit for generating the partially-filled reference image for the image signal processor. The partially-filled reference is based only on at least part of the wide-band pixels.
US09697428B2
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a network device including a controller programmed to receive security video content associated with a premises where the security video content has been captured by one or more cameras located within or in proximity to the premises and where the premises have one or more digital video recorders, and transmit the security video content to the digital video recorders for forwarding to a communication device that is remote from the premises, where the security video content is wirelessly transmitted over a wireless television channel dynamically selected from available wireless television channels associated with the premises. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09697426B2
A method of encoding a continuous path within a road network is described, the path being completely represented within a digital map and expressible as a path list of lines and/or segments existing in said digital map and consecutively ordered, wherein said lines and/or segments have one or more attributes associated therewith. The method involves storing a start position in a route search list, and determining a path from the start node of the start position and including said start position to an end node of the last line or segment in the path list within said digital map. The path is determined according to an algorithm utilizing an attribute of said lines or segments. The attribute may be a lowest functional road class (LFRC) of the path to be encoded or a part thereof.
US09697425B2
A camera system comprises an image capturing device and an object classification module connected to the image capturing device. The object classification module is operable to determine whether or not an object in an image is a member of an object class. The object classification module includes multiple decision steps configured in a cascade configuration, wherein at least one of the multiple decision steps is operable to (a) accept an object as a member of the object class, (b) reject an object as a member of the object class, and (c) call on a next step to determine whether or not an object is a member of the object class.
US09697423B1
A method for image processing, including: obtaining an image including a table; identifying a first plurality of geometric lines in the image; grouping the first plurality of geometric lines into a plurality of clusters; determining a plurality of hand-drawn lines in the image corresponding to the table from the plurality of clusters; calculating a plurality of points for the plurality of hand-drawn lines; and determining a geometry of the table based on the plurality of points.
US09697415B2
An information terminal includes acquiring an image of a first subject that is captured by a first sensor provided on a back surface of a surface on which a screen of the information terminal is disposed, and when displaying the image on the screen, changing a degree of scaling up/down of the image and a position at which the image is displayed in accordance with a position of a second subject that is imaged by a second sensor provided to the information terminal.
US09697414B2
A user of a computing device can be authenticated using image information captured by at least one camera of the computing device. In addition to analyzing the image information using a facial recognition algorithm, for example, variations in color of a portion of the captured image information corresponding to a user's face can be monitored over a period of time. The variations can be analyzed to determine whether the captured image information likely corresponds to an actual human user instead of a representation (e.g., photo) of a human user, such as where the chroma variations in at least a red channel occur with an oscillation frequency and amplitude consistent with changes due to a pulse or heartbeat.
US09697399B2
A communication method of an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag attached to a product or a pallet is provided. The method includes: transmitting movement completion information to a reader by using a communication channel, which consumes power of a battery, at a time when movement of the product or the pallet which is moving is not sensed, the movement completion information indicating movement completion of the moving product or pallet; receiving a request message, requesting position information of the tag corresponding to the movement completion information, from the reader by using the communication channel; activating a positioning channel, which consumes relatively more power of the battery that the communication channel, to transmit positioning information to the reader by using the activated positioning channel in response to the request message received through the communication channel; and when the transmission of the positioning information is completed, deactivating the positioning channel.
US09697397B2
A system and method of using motion or spatial identification technology with a mobile RFID reader to detect whether an RFID tag is part of a forklift load or other ambulatory space such as a shopping cart receptacle, includes determining whether a tag is within a defined space and/or whether a tag is in motion relative to a mobile RFID reader. The system and method determines whether a particular RFID tag is part of a forklift load/space, has been added to or removed, is an extraneous tag, etc.
US09697396B2
Provided are an interactive processing method and device and an electronic apparatus. The interactive processing method is applied to a first electronic apparatus that supports radio frequency identification (RFID) transmission. The interactive processing method includes: obtaining data to be processed from a peer communication node through an RFID technology; obtaining a first input operation input by a user through an input device; determining a first control instruction corresponding to the first input operation according to a pre-defined first corresponding relation that records a plurality of input operations and corresponding control instructions; and executing the first control instruction, and controlling the first electronic apparatus to process the data to be processed. The solution improves the use flexibility of the RFID in the electronic apparatus.
US09697393B2
Disclosed herein are methods and systems for adjusting mobile-device operating parameters based on housing-support type. In an embodiment, a mobile device includes a housing; a data-acquisition device disposed in the housing; a sensor module configured to detect at least one housing-support element in a housing support, and to communicate a mode-identification signal indicative of the detection; and a processor coupled to the sensor module, configured to receive the mode-identification signal, to determine (a) whether the housing is positioned in a housing support and (b) a housing-support type, and to adjust one or more operating parameters of the mobile device based at least in part on the determined housing-support type.
US09697390B2
A card reader may include a plurality of IC contact points to communicate data with a card; an IC contact block holding the plurality of the IC contact points; a cable including a first end side connected with the plurality of the IC contact points; a control circuit board with which a second end side of the cable is connected; a front face cover which including an insertion port for the card; a main body frame which is fixed to the front face cover; and a sealing member which is formed in a ring shape and is disposed between the front face cover and the main body frame.
US09697385B2
Systems, device and techniques are disclosed for implementing a security configuration change based on one or more base events and a current security configuration. An inference module may identify a security configuration change based on receiving base events from a state storage/event listener and analyzing the base events to determine if a current security configuration is optimal given the base events.
US09697383B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for numeric keypad encryption using an augmented reality device. The method may include establishing a secure connection to an augmented reality device. A random keypad layout is generated and sent to the augmented reality device. The random keypad layout is displayed in the augmented reality view over a real-world numeric keypad.
US09697382B2
A system for providing security policy for a Linux-based security operating system, which includes a template policy module configured to set an authority using policy information of a downloaded application so that the template policy module can set an access control rule for accessing a system resource of the application, a base policy module executing the access control rule for the system resource in accordance with the access control rule set by the template policy module, and a template policy module editor generating a custom application for the corresponding application using information output from the template policy module.
US09697381B2
A computing system includes: a communication unit configured to access a target account including a feature; a control unit, coupled to the communication unit, configured to: calculate a comparison result based on the feature, determine an anonymity threshold for conforming the target account with a comparison account, and determine the feature for the target account based on the comparison result and the anonymity threshold for displaying on a device.
US09697375B2
A computing device is described that utilizes two file systems to enable sensitive data stored thereon to be deleted automatically, quickly, and discretely when the computing device is in a risky environment or context or when data protection has otherwise been activated. A first file system on the computing device manages a first memory area that stores non-sensitive data while a second file system on the computing device manages a second memory area that stores sensitive data. Only the first file system operates to receive data requests from other processes executing on the computing device. In a first operating mode, the first file system interacts with the second file system to ensure that both non-sensitive and sensitive data is returned in response to data requests. In a second operating mode, communication between the two file systems is disabled and the second file system deletes the sensitive data.
US09697373B2
Embodiments of the present invention support a flexible access control design that includes flexible ownership and assignment of access control lists (ACLs). The ACLs can be assigned to one or more resources, or items, or types of resources or items. A creator or owner of an ACL can grant privileges to others such that they may modify or assign the ACL. Each ACL can have one or more owners, i.e., users that can exercise control over the ACL. Any owner of an ACL can designate certain privileges to other users. These other users may then use the ACL based on the privileges granted to them.
US09697372B2
Embodiments of a method and apparatus for securing and accessing files are generally described herein. In some embodiments, the method includes adding a communication portion to the file. The communication portion may communicate with an authentication agent on the first computing device. The method may include encrypting data of the file using a first key received through the communication portion from the authentication agent. The first key may be generated based on identification information of a second computing device in a trusted network of computing devices with the first computing device. The method may include saving the file to a remote file storage location.
US09697371B1
A trusted execution environment (TEE) of a computing device may receive an operation request requiring use of a protected data accessible only to the TEE. Responsive to receiving the operation request, the TEE may generate first data. The computing device may send the first data to a remote computing device. Responsive to sending the first data, the TEE may receive second data. The TEE may validate the second data to verify the remote computing device generated the second data. Responsive to validating the second data was generated by the remote computing device, the TEE may perform the requested operation using the protected data.
US09697363B1
Techniques are described for reducing time to decrypt a next encrypted frame in a content stream by optimizing a license/key acquisition process. When requesting content, a key identifier and/or license identifier may be included within a webpage using a link, script, or similar access point. When a client device sends a request for content, the loading of the webpage within the client device includes the embedded key identifier. Access to the key/license identifier at the client device then may initiate a key/license acquisition process by the client device. The key/license may be obtained from a key management device in parallel with, or prior to, downloading of at least a portion of the content stream.
US09697362B2
In one aspect, the disclosure provides: A method comprising: assessing a plurality of researchers as a precondition for receiving an invitation to be a researcher of a distributed plurality of researchers, resulting in the distributed plurality of researchers wherein each researcher is associated with one or more tags in records that identify the researcher for one or more attributes; inviting a subset of the distributed plurality of researchers to participate in one or more computer vulnerability research projects directed to identifying computer vulnerabilities of one or more computers that are owned or operated by a third party, the subset of the distributed plurality of researchers selected based on the one or more tags in records that identify the researcher and a description of the computer vulnerabilities of the one or more computers; using a computer that is communicatively coupled to a particular researcher among the subset of the distributed plurality of researchers and a network under test among the one or more computers, monitoring communications between the particular researcher and the particular third party computer, wherein the communications relate to attempting to identify a candidate security vulnerability of the particular third party computer; in response to a report of the candidate security vulnerability of the particular third party computer that is received from the particular researcher, evaluating the report of the candidate security vulnerability.
US09697357B2
For an antivirus scan during a data scrub operation, an antivirus scan is concurrently performed as an overlap with the data scrub operation, wherein the data scrub operation periodically inspects and corrects memory errors. The antivirus scan concurrently performing as an overlap with the data scrub operation is increased if a reduction in disk access by a host application is detected. A number of antivirus scan input/output (I/O) operations and data scrub I/O operations is reduced.
US09697337B2
Methods and apparatus collecting blood from patients and managing blood donations are provided, which may include any number of features. One feature is a blood collection device configured to collect blood from a patient and periodically transmit blood collection data from the device to a control system. Another feature is a system and method for updating firmware on a plurality of blood collection devices. In one embodiment, a software interface with a blood collection control can be used to specify a blood collection protocol, and the blood collection protocol can be then transmitted to one or more blood collection devices.
US09697335B2
A pharmaceutical order filling system receives pharmaceutical orders and uses an automated dispensing device to dispense pharmaceuticals into containers. The automated dispensing device is configured with a filling cabinet that stores and dispenses measured quantities of pharmaceuticals and is further configured to stage measured quantities of pharmaceuticals in buffer tubes to enable efficient fulfillment of the pharmaceutical orders. Containers may be disposed on a pallet which may be moved within an automated dispensing device to place the containers under buffer tubes to receive measured quantities of pharmaceuticals from the buffer tubes into appropriate containers in an efficient manner.
US09697328B2
There is provided a transmission apparatus including a video signal transmission unit configured to transmit a video signal to another apparatus, a time information reception unit configured to receive, from the other apparatus, time information including a duration from reception of the video signal until a timing at which display of each frame in the video signal starts at the other apparatus, and a degree-of-redundancy determination unit configured to determine a degree of redundancy for the video signal transmitted from the video signal transmission unit based on the time information received by the time information reception unit.
US09697324B1
A system for concurrent target diagnostics is disclosed. The system comprises dedicated FPGA for generating test data to test target connections between an emulator and a target system. In this way, domains of the emulator may continue to emulate at least a portion of a hardware design during the testing of the target connections. Further, a multiplexer operable to select target connections for testing eliminates errors resulting from manual swapping of target connections during the testing process. The system further comprises multiple paths to a target pod. The paths enable monitoring and reporting on the status of target connections between an emulator and a target system.
US09697316B1
Systems and methods for efficient data aggregation with sparse exponential histograms may support a performance monitor monitoring and recording of one or more performance metrics for one of one or more dimensions. In response to receiving performance data, a performance data aggregator may parse the performance data for one of one or more performance metrics and one or more dimensions. A sparse exponential histogram generator may create a sparse exponential histogram with the parsed performance data. The sparse exponential histogram generator may transmit or store the sparse exponential histogram representation for subsequent analysis.
US09697313B2
In Integrated Circuit (IC) Physical Design, the shapes and other geometric objects that are used to represent the mask data have physical coordinates expressed in a Cartesian plane. When the designs are hierarchical, each level of physical hierarchy has its own coordinate system. When viewed from the top level of a hierarchical design, lower-level shapes must be transformed in order to understand their location from the point of view of the top block. Users and algorithms that manipulate physical data across these hierarchy boundaries must go through the tedious task of transforming data, sometimes multiple times, as it is being changed.
US09697303B2
Methods for constraining a geometric model and corresponding systems and computer-readable mediums. A method includes creating a rigid sketch group that includes some or all of the plurality of curves and receiving a user selection of first option rules or second option rules. The method includes editing the rigid sketch group according to the selected first option rules or second option rules. The method includes displaying the geometric model by the data processing system, including displaying the edited rigid sketch group.
US09697283B2
A user may submit a search query to a search engine. The search engine may process the search query and generate a set of results. Each of the items searched by the search engine may have been pre-assigned to a category in a category tree. Previous interactions by other users with the items after similar queries may have been recorded. The search engine may identify categories based on the distribution of the interacted-with results among the categories. The category tree may be analyzed at different levels, based on the entropy observed at each level. A level with low entropy may be chosen, and categories at that level used to constrain the query.
US09697280B2
In embodiments, the present invention provides a method and system for mobile media event mediation, normalizing mobile media event information from a plurality of sources, wherein at least some of the information is represented differently in each of the plurality of sources, producing a mobile media data record from the normalized information, analyzing the mobile media data record to determine a settlement arrangement, providing at least some of the participants represented in the mobile media record with relevant information from the settlement agreement.
US09697279B2
A method includes creating an electronic record of an asset, and automatically associating a predefined data structure with an electronic record of the asset that controls organization and display of user provided metadata describing the asset. The method may also include receiving the metadata describing the asset from a remote computer, populating the predefined data structure with the metadata describing the asset, and generating a graphical user interface corresponding to the electronic record of the asset with active tabs that provide a visual representation of the predefined data structure associated to the electronic record of the asset. The active tabs are respectively associated with predefined displays including the data fields provided by the predefined data structure, enabling a user to navigate through different displays corresponding to the data fields provided in the predefined data structure associated with the asset to view the metadata describing the asset.
US09697278B2
In a general aspect, an approach to query specification includes processing a query by identifying one or more terms and validating the terms using a first corpus of media elements. The result of the validation is used to form a modified query. In some examples, identifying the one or more terms is based on a second corpus of media elements, which may include a different type of media than the first corpus. In some examples, the validating of the terms includes accepting input from a user according to parts of the elements of the first corpus presented to the user.
US09697277B2
A computer-implemented method includes partitioning a plurality of records into a plurality of splits. Each split includes at least a portion of the plurality of records. The method further includes providing at least one split of the plurality of splits to a mapper. The mapper scans the input data set, transforms each input record using a map function, and extracts a grouping key in parallel. The method further includes assigning at least a portion the records of the at least one split to a group. Each assignment to the group is based on a strata of the assigned record, and filtering the records of the group. Each filtering is based on a comparison of a weight of a record to a local threshold of the mapper. The method further includes shuffling the group to a reducer and providing a stratified sampling of the plurality of records based on the group.
US09697266B1
A first data set is obtained specifying configuration information associated with elements of a computing system. A second data set is also obtained specifying dependency information associated with the elements of the computing system. A third data set is also obtained specifying deployment constraint information associated with the elements of the computing system. A plan for migrating one or more of the elements of the computing system is automatically generated based on at least a portion of the first data set, at least a portion of the second data set, and at least a portion of the third data set. The automatic generation of the migration plan checks for one or more conflicts between configuration information, dependency information and deployment constraint information and generates the migration plan to at least substantially eliminate the one or more conflicts.
US09697263B1
A consumer data request fulfillment system enables a client to easily and speedily obtain consumer contact data that the client does not already possess. The consumer data request fulfillment system provides bulk consumer data to a client upon request. The bulk data may include, for example, encrypted consumer identifiers (IDs), and/or a partial subset of consumer contact information for a particular specified segment of consumers. The client may then request from the system a full set of consumer contact information. For example, the client may send a request for consumer contact information by identifying particular consumers by their consumer IDs. The consumer data request fulfillment system will then provide the full set of consumer contact information to the client. The requests and request fulfillments are advantageously accomplished automatically by the consumer data request fulfillment system, enabling the client to obtain consumer contact information conveniently and rapidly.
US09697262B2
Some examples include high-performance query processing of real-time and offline temporal-relational data. Further, some implementations include processing streaming data events by annotating individual events with a first timestamp (e.g., a “sync-time”) and second timestamp that may identify additional event information. The stream of incoming data events may be organized into a sequence of data batches that each include multiple data events. The individual data batches in the sequence may be processed in a non-decreasing “sync-time” order.
US09697228B2
A computer implemented method and a secure relational file system (SRFS) for storing and managing data for backup and restore are provided. The SRFS receives data, generates first metadata including file-to-sector mapping information, splits the data into fixed sized data chunks (FSDCs), generates second metadata including logical boundaries used for splitting, creates fixed sized data blocks by prepending the second metadata to the FSDCs, splits each FSDC into variable sized data chunks (VSDCs), generates third metadata including unique identifiers (UIDs) for the VSDCs, creates variable sized data blocks (VSDBs) by prepending the third metadata and the second metadata to each VSDC, identifies unique variable sized data chunks (UVSDCs) of the VSDBs using the UIDs, stores the UVSDCs in chunk files, and stores the first metadata, the second metadata extracted from the VSDBs, and storage locations of the UVSDCs with the third metadata of the UVSDCs and duplicate VSDCs in databases.
US09697227B2
Embodiments described herein provide techniques for maintaining consistency in a distributed system (e.g., a distributed secondary storage system). According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a first set of file system objects included in performing the requested file system operation is identified in response to a request to perform a file system operation. An update intent corresponding to the requested file system operation is inserted into an inode associated with each identified file system object. Each file system object corresponding to the inode is modified as specified by the update intent in that inode. After modifying the file system object corresponding to the inode, the update intent is removed from that inode.
US09697225B2
Provided is a method of file synchronizing. The method includes: determining whether there is a changed matter in a file which is divided into a plurality of chunk files; calculating a hash value for each of plurality of divided chunk files when it is determined that there is a changed matter in file; transmitting a hash value list configured by calculated hash values to a server; receiving a transmission request for a chunk file corresponding to a hash value which is not stored in server, among hash values included in hash value list; and transmitting chunk file to the server in response to the transmission request.
US09697217B1
Methods and apparatus for secure data modification using segmented hashing are disclosed. An intermediate device on a data path between a storage service and a client receives a modification request for a data segment of a data chunk of a storage object. The device generates a new chunk hash value for the chunk based on an original chunk hash value of the chunk, an original segment hash value of the segment to be modified, and a new segment hash value computed based on the modification. The device generates a modified version of the chunk based on the modification request, and uploads the modified version and the new chunk hash value to the storage service.
US09697216B2
Method and apparatus for locating data on disk storage, wherein multiple instances of data can be stored at different locations to satisfy different use requirements such as read access, write access, and data security. The method allows a data storage system, such as a file system, to provide both read optimized and write optimized performance on disk storage of different types (e.g., sizes and speed).
US09697214B2
A content lifespan management device assigns a life to a first content based on a user preference for the first content. The content lifespan management device extends or shortens a lifespan of the first content based on the user preference of the first content that is calculated after the life is assigned to the first content.
US09697213B1
A cluster file system comprises a metadata server and a plurality of object storage servers each having one or more object storage targets. The object storage servers and their corresponding object storage targets are arranged in a first storage tier of the cluster file system. The cluster file system further comprises a second storage tier that includes a plurality of nodes of a scale-out network attached storage cluster. The cluster file system is configured to control movement of data between the first and second storage tiers. For example, in some embodiments, the object storage servers comprise one or more components of parallel log-structured file system (PLFS) middleware configured to control migration of data between the first and second storage tiers.
US09697208B2
A search query is received from a first user through one or more input devices. A set of results is determined from content stored on a computer system based on the search query. The set of results includes a first subset of results not accessible to the first user due to access control. A list of results is provided to the first user. The list excludes the first subset of results. A target result is identified from the first subset of results. An owner is identified with control over access to the target result. The owner is notified that the target result is not accessible to at least one user.
US09697204B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus relate to technologies generally relating to the placement of hyperlinks within the body of text of a document. The placement of hyperlinks can be on specified words or phrases, according to a specified link distribution function across the body of the text content of a document. Some techniques involve a method for determining a placement of links on a document that involves selecting a document comprising words of text for placing links in the document, selecting a link distribution function, and using the link distribution function in determining locations for the placement of the links in the document. The placement of hyperlinks in the document may be automatically performed on a server side.
US09697192B1
In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method which, in one example embodiment, can include reading text data corresponding to messages and creating semantic annotations to the text data to generate annotated messages. Creating the semantic annotations can include generating, at least in part by at least one trained statistical language model, predictive labels as annotations corresponding to language patterns associated with the text data. The method further includes aggregating the annotated messages and storing information associated with the aggregated annotated messages in a message store, and performing, based on information from the message store and associated with the messages, global analytics functions. The global analytics functions can include identifying an annotation error in the created semantic annotations, updating the respective semantic annotation to correct the annotation error, to form an updated semantic annotation, and back-propagating the updated semantic annotation into training data for further language model training.
US09697186B2
An illustrative implementation is described for copying an identified portion of source content along with style information associated with the portion. The implementation allows the identified portion to be pasted into target content. By virtue of the extraction and retention of style information, the identified portion that is pasted into the target content visually resembles the identified portion as it appears in the source content. The implementation can identify relevant style information to be preserved based on a contextual analysis of style information applied to the source content. In one illustrative case, some of the style information may be revealed by parts of the content that are not directly demarcated by the identified portion.
US09697185B1
A method, apparatus, and manufacture for content protection for protecting some objects is provided. A content protection operation or license operation is performed for at least one media object of a web application. Some or all of the objects are then marked as protected. When an operation is performed that accesses a protected object, a user agent determines whether to deny the operation, to allow the operation and mark data exported by the operation and objects storing the exported data as protected objects, or to allow the operation and not mark data exported by the operation and objects storing the exported data as protected objects.
US09697182B2
This disclosure provides a method and system for navigating hard copies of web pages. According to one exemplary method, a hard copy of a web page is navigated by capturing with a mobile device an image of the hard copy, performing OCR on the captured image to identify the captured web page, accessing a database to retrieve a copy of the identified web page and displaying the retrieved copy of the identified web page along with active web page links on the mobile device.
US09697181B2
The invention includes system for centralized rendering of user interface elements based on configurations as described in XML. A developer may create a definition for a field based on the nature of the information to be displayed to a user within a single file. Such definition will affect all future instances of the particular data type without a need to modify and/or compile code residing either within an HTML file or on a server.
US09697179B2
A method of inserting an image into an electronic document, the method including receiving setting information and identification information regarding the image; determining whether the image included in image data corresponds to the identification information by using a result of analysis of the image data; and according to a result of the determination, inserting the image corresponding to the identification information into a position of the electronic document, according to the setting information.
US09697177B1
A computing device determines upper and lower bounds of a largest singular value for an approximate decomposition of a dataset. An approximate decomposition is computed using either a principal components or a singular value decomposition algorithm. A lower bound of a largest singular value is computed for the computed approximate decomposition using a first linear approximation to a function of a singular value ratio. A first set of coefficients for a second linear approximation to an error function is computed for the function of the singular value ratio using the computed approximate decomposition. A second set of coefficients for a third linear approximation is computed using the computed first set of coefficients. An upper bound of the largest singular value is computed using the computed second set of coefficients. The upper bound and the lower bound are output to provide an estimate of a quality of the decomposition.
US09697166B2
A method, system and computer program product are provided for implementing health check for optical cable attached Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE) enclosures in a computer system. System firmware is provided for implementing health check functions. One or more optical cables are connected between a host bridge and a PCIE enclosure. A PCIE link to the PCIE enclosure is reset responsive to a predefined event. After a set delay, a PCIE link health check is performed verifying PCIE link width and speed.
US09697151B2
A data processing system includes a plurality of processors, each processor configured to execute instructions, including a message send instruction, and a message filtering unit. The message filtering system is configured to receive messages from one or more of the plurality of processors in response to execution of message send instructions, each message indicating a message type and a message payload. The message filtering unit is configured to determined, for each received message, a recipient processor indicated by the message payload. The message filtering system is further configured to, in response to receiving, within a predetermined interval of time, at least two messages having a same recipient processor and indicating a same message type, delivering a single interrupt request indicated by the same message type to the same recipient processor, wherein the single interrupt request is representative of the at least two messages.
US09697149B2
A method for generating interrupt requests, the method comprising: receiving, by a first circuit, an indication of an occurrence of an interrupt triggering event; determining whether a time difference between the occurrence of the interrupt triggering event and an occurrence of a last interrupt triggering event that preceded the occurrence of the interrupt triggering event exceeded a threshold; generating, by the first circuit, an interrupt request in response to the occurrence of the interrupt triggering event if the time difference exceeded the threshold; and delaying, for a predetermined delay period after a generation of a last interrupt request, a generating of the interrupt request that is responsive to the occurrence of the interrupt triggering event if the time difference is shorter than the threshold.
US09697148B2
An apparatus for managing a memory having a plurality of command/address pins is provided. The apparatus includes a command generating module and a control module. The command generating module generates a set of target commands. The set of target commands include a plurality of command groups. Each of the command groups corresponds to at least one command/address pin of the plurality of command/address pins. It is known that the memory accesses the set of target commands from the plurality of command/address pins at a target time point. The control module controls the command groups to have different transition times prior to the target time points when the command groups are transmitted on the plurality of command/address pins.
US09697141B2
A host access instruction is received from one of a plurality of channels which are served in parallel. The host access instruction includes an address range of one or more addresses and a type of access. The address range and type of access are compared against a table of stored address ranges and stored types of access associated with any pending host access instructions. It is determined whether to execute the host access instruction based at least in part on the comparison. If it is decided to execute the host access instruction, the host access instruction is forwarded for execution and the address range and the type of access from the host access instruction are stored in the table.
US09697140B2
Apparatus, systems, and methods for AES integrity check in memory are described. In one embodiment, a controller comprises logic to receive a write request from a host device to write a line of data to the memory device, determine a first plaintext cyclic redundancy check from the line of data, encrypt the line of data, encrypt the first plaintext CRC with a unique value to generate a first encrypted CRC, and store the encrypted line of data and the first encrypted CRC in memory. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.
US09697139B2
For a cache in which a plurality of frequently accessed data segments are temporarily stored, reference count information of the plurality of data segments, in conjunction with least recently used (LRU) information, is used to determine a length of time to retain the plurality of data segments in the cache according to a predetermined weight, where notwithstanding the LRU information, those of the plurality of data segments having a higher reference counts are retained longer than those having lower reference counts.
US09697128B2
Embodiments relate to a prefetch threshold for cache restoration. An aspect includes determining, based on a task switch from an outgoing task to a current task in a processor, a prefetch threshold for a next task, the prefetch threshold corresponding to an expected runtime of the current task and an amount of time required to prefetch data for the next task. Another aspect includes starting prefetching for the next task while the current task is executing based on the prefetch threshold.
US09697124B2
A dynamic cache extension in a multi-cluster heterogeneous processor architecture is described. One embodiment is a system comprising a first processor cluster having a first level two (L2) cache and a second processor cluster having a second L2 cache. The system further comprises a controller in communication with the first and second L2 caches. The controller receives a processor workload input and a cache workload input from the first processor cluster. Based on processor workload input and the cache workload input, the cache controller determines whether a current task associated with the first processor cluster is limited by a size threshold of the first L2 cache or a performance threshold of the first processor cluster. If the current task is limited by the size threshold of the first L2 cache, the controller uses at least a portion of the second L2 cache as an extension of the first L2 cache.
US09697122B2
A data processing device includes: data processing stages having a processing element, a stage memory and an event controller; and an inter-stage bus connecting the stages via an access point. External and process completion events are input into the controller for generating a task start event toward the processing element according to the external and process completion events. Each access point has an access table storing a data write history when the processing element writes data in the memory in a memory access process. The processing element executes an event access process indicative of memory access process completion after the processing element completes the memory access process to the memory via the access point. The access point executes another event access process for inputting the process completion event into the controller of another stage, based on the data write history when the processing element executes the event access process.
US09697117B2
The embodiments relate to a method for managing a garbage collection process. The method includes executing a garbage collection process on a memory block of user address space. A load instruction is run. Running the load instruction includes loading content of a storage location into a processor. The loaded content corresponds to a memory address. It is determined if the garbage collection process is being executed at the memory address. The load instruction is diverted to a process to move an object at the memory address to a location outside of the memory block in response to determining that the garbage collection process is being executed at the first memory address. The load instruction is continued in response to determining that the garbage collection process is not being executed at the memory address.
US09697109B2
Method for generating dynamically configurable test doubles for software testing includes: detecting functions or methods invocations in a source code under test; collecting information about parameters and return types of one or more of original functions and original methods that are invoked by the source code under test, generating test doubles using source code with alternative definitions based on collected information; instrumenting the source code under test to replace the calls to one or more of original functions and methods with calls to the generated test doubles; and dynamically configuring runtime behavior of the generated test doubles, where all input parameters and return values of the one or more of original functions and original methods are provided to respective retrieved trigger objects by passing said input parameters and return values as arguments to function calls.
US09697106B1
A method for verifying historical artifacts in disparate source control systems. The method comprises obtaining historical artifacts from a target repository; obtaining historical artifacts from a source repository; and verifying the historical artifacts in the target repository match the historical artifacts in the source repository. Verification further comprises comparing commit data in the historical artifacts in the target repository with commit data in the historical artifacts in the source repository; and evaluating whether each commit data event in the historical artifacts in the target repository is equivalent to the corresponding commit data event in the historical artifacts in the source repository. Evaluating further comprises logging a commit data event in the historical artifacts in the target repository which is not equivalent to a corresponding commit data event in the historical artifacts in the source repository; and reviewing the logging results.
US09697103B2
A system for determining a root cause of a performance issue of a software application executing in a distributed computer system. The system includes constructing a hierarchical graph of metrics of a component of the distributed computer system based on search traces of the metrics of different users. A parent-child edge between a first metric and a second metric in the hierarchical graph is constructed when there is a sequential association between the search traces. A sibling edge between the first metric and the second metric in the hierarchical graph is constructed when there is no sequential association between the search traces. A metric investigation recommendation is provided to address the performance issue based on traversal of the hierarchical graph of the metrics.
US09697084B2
Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for using geographical location information to provision multiple target storages for a source device. A determination is made of a geographical location of the source device and a distance between the source device and each of the target storages and between each pair of target storages. A determination is further made of qualifying k-tuples of the target storages, wherein each k-tuple comprises a group of k target storages to which the source data is to be backed-up. A qualifying k-tuple has one target storage that satisfies a distance requirement with respect to the source device and a distance between any two target storages in the k-tuple satisfies the distance requirement. A selected qualifying k-tuple is indicated to use to backup the source data at the k target storages in the qualifying k-tuple.
US09697082B2
Systems and methods described herein involve a virtual storage utilized to virtualize the storage of storage systems across multiple sites. The virtual storage is associated with a virtual multipath control. The virtual multipath control manages the virtual path state of the inter-physical storage, the remote copy volume state which has primary volume or secondary volume state, and the volume copy operation mode such as synchronous copy mode journal copy mode, or bitmap resync mode. The virtual multipath control of the virtual storage facilitates choices from the host for a preferred site, path, state, and volume by utilizing a virtual multipath state from a get virtual multipath information command.
US09697080B2
Techniques described and suggested herein include systems and methods for storing, indexing, and retrieving original data of data archives on data storage systems using redundancy coding techniques. For example, redundancy codes, such as erasure codes, may be applied to archives (such as those received from a customer of a computing resource service provider) so as allow the storage of original data of the individual archives available on a minimum of volumes, such as those of a data storage system, while retaining availability, durability, and other guarantees imparted by the application of the redundancy code. Sparse indexing techniques may be implemented so as to reduce the footprint of indexes used to locate the original data, once stored. The volumes may be apportioned into failure-decorrelated subsets, and archives stored thereto may be apportioned to such subsets.
US09697076B2
A data reading method, applied to a data storage device that includes a flash memory capable of operating in a SLC mode and a multi-level cell mode. The data reading method includes reading a page corresponding to a first word line of the flash memory in the SLC mode according to a read command of a host to obtain a first data segment, writing a predetermined data into a most-significant-bit page corresponding to the first word line in the multi-level cell mode when the first data segment has an error, and reading the page corresponding to the first word line in the SLC mode again to obtain a second data segment.
US09697072B2
Certain example embodiments relate to a complex event processing, CEP, system, including an error correction component configured to receive a stream of events including at least one event from at least one event source. The error correction component is configured to detect at least one error in the at least one event. The error correction component is configured to emit a corrected stream of events including at least one event, which can then be processed by at least one event processing application.
US09697063B2
A data storage service receives a request to store data into a data storage system that consists of many physical data storage locations, each location having various physical characteristics. The data storage service determines a proper location for the data based on data placement rules applied to the physical data storage locations such that a set of proper locations is identified. The data storage service can place the data according to data placement rules.
US09697046B2
A method for managing computing resource reservations comprises receiving a first reservation, at a reservation system, for a requested amount of computing resources for a virtual application from a total pool of available resources. The method further comprises adding the first reservation to a database of existing reservations if the requested amount of computing resources is available and associating the first reservation with a universal timestamp. The method also comprises verifying that the requested amount of computing resources is still available by: summing a total of all existing reservations in the database with a same target and reservation type as the first reservation and with a universal timestamp before the universal timestamp associated with the first reservation; and subtracting the sum total of those existing reservations from the total pool of available resources to produce a difference. The method then comprises comparing the difference to the requested amount of computing resources. If the requested amount of computing resources is less than the difference, the method provisions the requested resources for the virtual application. If the requested amount of computing resources is more than the difference, the method returns an error message.
US09697045B2
Techniques for workload management in cloud computing infrastructures are provided. In one aspect, a method for allocating computing resources in a datacenter cluster is provided. The method includes the steps of: creating multiple, parallel schedulers; and automatically selecting a resource allocation method for each of the schedulers based on one or more of a workload profile, user requirements, and a state of the datacenter cluster, wherein an optimistic resource allocation method is selected for at least a first one or more of the schedulers and a pessimistic resource allocation method is selected for at least a second one or more of the schedulers. Due to optimistic resource allocation conflicts may arise. Methods to resolve such conflicts are also provided.
US09697043B2
Computer system including storage unit and processing unit including performance monitoring unit (PMU) for performance monitoring on tasks is provided. Processing unit is configured to provide a callback function at location at which a task switch is being performed, reset a counter for external access counting of PMU when first task switch which is to switch execution of tasks to first task occurs, read counted value from counter and record read value into a log of storage unit as record of first task when second task switch which is to switch execution of tasks from first task to second task occurs, and reset counter for second task after log is generated. Records of first task in log within a predetermined time period are summed to analyze performance of first task within predetermined time period so as to determine performance of external access of first task for specific event.
US09697041B2
The invention discloses a method for dynamic interrupt balanced mapping method based on the current scheduling states of VCPUs. When the virtual I/O APIC of an SMP virtual machine needs to map a virtual interrupt into a VCPU of the virtual machine after receiving the virtual interrupt, a part of VCPUs in the active state are analyzed according to the scheduling states of all VCPUs of the current VM in a VMM scheduler, and the virtual interrupt is mapped into the active VCPUs to obtain lower interrupt processing delay. If a plurality of VCPUs are in the active state simultaneously, the interrupt load of each active VCPU is considered further, and the interrupt is mapped into the active VCPU with the current lowest current load to further ensure balancing of interrupt processing loads of all VCPUs, and therefore, the loads of VCPUs in the SPMP structure are more symmetrical to promote balancing of the overall performance of all VCPUs in the SMP structure.
US09697039B2
A first computer of a distributed computing system receives a request for a transaction. The transaction is an eXtended Architecture (XA) protocol based global transaction. The first computer generates a unique identifier for the request. The first computer sends the unique identifier to a second computer of the distributed computing system. The unique identifier enables the second computer to participate with the first computer as an XA protocol based resource participant.
US09697036B2
Methods for generating a unique identifier of a distributed computing system are provided, one of methods comprise, receiving, by the first virtual machine, a first index range allocated by the identifier allocation server, receiving, by the second virtual machine, a second index range allocated by the identifier allocation server, the second index range being different from the first index range, generating, by the first virtual machine, a first unique identifier using an index in the first index range without intervention of the identifier allocation server and generating, by the second virtual machine, a second unique identifier using an index in the second index range without intervention of the identifier allocation server, wherein the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier are identifiers satisfying uniqueness for the whole distributed computing system.
US09697033B2
Some embodiments provide a system for implementing a logical network that includes a set of end machines, a first logical middlebox, and a second logical middlebox connected by a set of logical forwarding elements. The system includes a set of nodes. Each of several nodes includes (i) a virtual machine for implementing an end machine of the logical network, (ii) a managed switching element for implementing the set of logical forwarding elements of the logical network, and (iii) a middlebox element for implementing the first logical middlebox of the logical network. The system includes a physical middlebox appliance for implementing the second logical middlebox.
US09697028B1
Techniques for placing guest virtual machines on a distributed and/or virtualized computer system while obeying communications latency constraints are described herein. A placement map is created with regions based on available capacity measurements of one or more host machines in a virtualized computer system. Requests to place one or more guest virtual machines on the host machines are retrieved and the placements are optimized by iteratively assigning the requests to the regions in the map such that constraints are satisfied but capacity may be exceeded and then reassigning those requests that violate available capacity. The iterative process completes when a valid placement map is produced.
US09697015B2
A method is described for operating a vehicle audio system having a wired audio source, a display, multiple speakers and logic circuitry. The system is configured to sense the availability of a wireless audio device that is located near the vehicle, and identify a wireless audio device record stored in memory. The wireless device record includes data codes from the wireless audio device and from a software application running on the device. When the data codes and a software application are identified on the device, a second software application is downloaded from memory and data is processed from the device with the second software application. The method provides a vehicle occupant with an option to play sound from the wireless audio device through vehicle speakers or a speaker in the device.
US09697009B2
In a method for improving the performance of a computer system by releasing computer resources, a list P of programs installed on a computer system is determined. All relevant extension points EP of the computer system are searched for registered entries. A list A of automatically starting programs is generated by assigning the registered entries at the relevant extension points EP to the installed programs, respectively. The list A of the automatically starting programs is compared with a list S of system-required programs and a list V of used programs. Programs that are not system-required and programs that have not been used for a longer period of time are deactivated and computer resources that have been used by the deactivated programs are released. The deactivation of programs can be done by the user or automatically and can be cancelled when necessary.
US09697001B2
Embodiments relate to variable branch prediction. An aspect includes determining a branch selection of an execution unit of a processor and determining whether a present prediction state of the state machine correctly predicted the branch selection by the execution unit. The aspect includes determining whether a predetermined condition is met for performing an alternative state transition and, based on determining that the predetermined condition is met, changing the present prediction state of the branch prediction state machine from the one state to another state according to an alternative state transition process based on the branch selection of the execution unit and the determination whether the present prediction state of the state machine correctly predicted the branch selection by the execution unit.
US09696987B2
An install request including a hierarchy of a complex computer environment is received, wherein the hierarchy comprises a first component needed on the first computer and one or more other components needed in the complex computer environment. One or more other computers on which to install the one or more components is determined. Responsive to determining the one or more other computer on which to install the one or more other components, installation of the one or more other components on the one or more other computers is initiated.
US09696973B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for using an imports scanner to maintain a compilation cache. One of the methods includes receiving an original set of source code files to be compiled for a compilation target. Each file in in the original set having an entry point is added to a reduced set of source code files. Each unscanned file in the reduced set of source code files is scanned for import statements until no unscanned files in the reduced set of source code remain. Each file identified by an import statement is added to the reduced set of source code files. If the reduced set of files is not represented by an entry in a compilation cache, the compilation target is generated using only the reduced set of source code files instead of the original set of source code files.
US09696964B2
A floating point multiply add circuit 24 includes a multiplier 26 and an adder 28. The input operands A, B and C together with the result value all have a normal exponent value range, such as a range consistent with the IEEE Standard 754. The product value which is passed from the multiplier 26 to the adder 28 as an extended exponent value range that extents lower than the normal exponent value range. Shifters 48, 50 within the adder can take account of the extended exponent value range of the product as necessary in order to bring the result value back into the normal exponent value range.
US09696963B2
A watch type mobile terminal and controlling method thereof are disclosed, by which the watch type mobile terminal can be controlled through voice. The present disclosure includes a touch input unit configured to receive a touch input, a wireless communication unit configured to perform a wireless communication, a sensing unit configured to sense a movement of the mobile terminal, a microphone configured to receive a sound, and a controller is configured to activate the microphone when a preset first gesture input is detected, if a user voice is received via the microphone while the touch input unit is touched, control data to be transmitted to a target indicated by the user voice, and if the user voice is received via the microphone while the touch input unit is not touched, control a function indicated by the user voice to be executed on the mobile terminal.
US09696958B2
A system and method for presenting content through a plurality of electronic devices are provided. The method includes presenting content through a plurality of electronic devices comprising at least a first electronic device and a second electronic device, wherein the presenting of the content comprises displaying a first portion of the content through the first electronic device and displaying a second portion of the content through the second electronic device, identifying an input for at least one of the plurality of electronic devices while the content is being displayed, setting the plurality of electronic devices as a first group comprising the first electronic device and a second group comprising the second electronic device, based on at least the input, and independently presenting the content through the first group and the second group, based on the setting.
US09696957B2
The present disclosure discloses a graphic processing method, a system and a server, the graphic processing method includes: analyzing a graphic processing template to generate a graphic configuration link when receiving the graphic processing template by a server; receiving at least one graphic information to be processed and processing the at least one graphic information to generate a graphic file by the server according to the graphic configuration link; and sending, by the server, the graphic file to a client device for displaying. The present disclosure can enhance the efficiency of the graphic processing and make the results of the graphic processing more unification and standardization, and reduce the costs of the graphic processing and improve intelligence of the graphic processing.
US09696956B2
A communication device may communicate a first establishing command with an external device via a NFC interface so as to establish a first communication link, receive first target data from the external device via the NFC interface by using the first communication link, process a specific command included in the first target data so as to create second target data, select one type of disconnection method according to information included in the first target data from among plural types of disconnection methods for disconnecting the first communication link, and disconnect the first communication link by using the selected one type of disconnection method. The communication device may communicate a second establishing command with the external device via the NFC interface so as to establish a second communication link, and send the second target data to the external device via the NFC interface by using the second communication link.
US09696954B2
The present invention intends to improve usability in entering print data using a hot folder. If exceptional setting for the page is set in the print setting, which is to be applied to the print data entered into the folder, when it is detected that the print data is entered into the folder, the total number of pages of the print data is calculated, and whether the calculated total number of pages fulfills the exceptional setting in the print setting or not is determined. If the calculated total number of pages fulfills the exceptional setting according to the determination, the print job including the print data and the setting of the print setting is generated. If the calculated total number of pages does not fulfill the exceptional setting, the print setting and the print data are matched.
US09696942B2
A method for data storage includes configuring a driver program on a host computer to receive commands in accordance with a protocol defined for accessing local storage devices connected to a peripheral component interface bus of the host computer. When the driver program receives, from an application program running on the host computer a storage access command in accordance with the protocol, specifying a storage transaction, a remote direct memory access (RDMA) operation is performed by a network interface controller (NIC) connected to the host computer so as to execute the storage transaction via a network on a remote storage device.
US09696941B1
A memory system may include a memory module accessed by a first address, a memory controller configured to provide a read or write command for the memory module according to a host request, and a memory buffer accessed by a second address. The memory buffer may include a register file having two or more entry spaces corresponding to interleaving units of the memory module, and the two or more entry spaces may be positioned in different address areas which are accessible at the same time.
US09696936B2
Applying a content defined maximum size bound on blocks produced by content defined segmentation of data by calculating the size of the interval of data between a newly found candidate segmenting position and a last candidate segmenting position of the same or higher hierarchy level, and then using the intermediate candidate segmenting positions of that interval if the size of the interval exceeds the maximum size bound, or discarding the intermediate candidate segmenting positions of that interval if the size of the interval does not exceed the maximum size bound.
US09696926B2
A method and technique are provided for providing a service address space. The method includes providing a service co-processor with a service address space attached to a main processor. The main processor is provided with a main address space, and the service address space and the main address space include a full range of memory available to the respective service-co-processor and the main processor. The service co-processor creates and maintains an independent copy of the main address space in the form of the service address space. The service address space is updated by receiving storage delta packets from the main processor and applying the storage delta packets to the service address space.
US09696918B2
A method for data storage includes, for a memory including groups of memory cells, defining a normal mode and a protected mode, wherein in the protected mode a respective analog value of each memory cell remains at all times unambiguously indicative of a respective data value stored in that memory cell. Data is initially stored in the memory using the normal mode. In response to an event, the protected mode is reverted to for at least one of the groups of the memory cells.
US09696915B2
A tape drive adapted for providing a best access order for files or data sets on a tape loaded into the tape drive. The tape drive includes a processor and memory storing a file location table for the tape. The file location table includes identifiers for a plurality of files on the tape and location information for the plurality of files on the tape. The tape drive includes an order determination module, executed by the processor, processing an order request. The order request, from a host or user, includes a list of the files on the tape from which to generate, based on the location information in the file location table, a reordered list defining an order for accessing the files on the tape. The reordered list or best access order has (or produces via tape drive access) an access time for the files that is minimal or reduced.
US09696914B2
A system and method of transposed storage in RAID arrays includes a storage manager with an interface for receiving storage requests associated with multi-segment blocks stored in a storage array, a controller for processing the received storage requests and controlling the storage manager, and a write request handler. The storage array includes a plurality of storage devices for which consecutive logical addresses are assigned to different ones of the storage devices. The write request handler is configured to process block write requests and send segment write requests to the storage array based on the write requests so that each segment of a given multi-segment block is written to a single respective one of the storage devices in the storage array. In some embodiments, the storage manager further includes a read request handler configured to determine logical addresses of requested segments and send segment read requests to the storage array.
US09696913B1
Techniques are disclosed for storing data in a plurality of storage tiers on a computing node. A node receives a request to write data corresponding to at least a first portion of a file. The node determines whether to perform the request either as an in-place write or as an out-of-place write. Upon determining to perform the request as the in-place write, the node writes the data to a first location on a storage tier which currently stores the first portion of the file. Upon determining to perform the request as the out-of-place write, the node writes the data to a second location on one of the storage tiers, other than the first location.
US09696907B2
Technologies for identifying data stored on a solid state drive (“SSD”) device that correspond to data associated with a delete event, and marking the deleted data stored on the SSD as invalid such that the SSD can avoid unnecessary operations on the invalid data. Included are interfaces operable to communicate invalid data information providing a remove-on-delete command that provides invalid data information sufficient to identify the SSD data to be marked as invalid.
US09696905B2
Described herein is a computer-implemented system and method for processing one or more alternate symbols associated or linked to a base symbol. A base symbol is a symbol to which at least one alternate symbol is linked. A base symbol commonly appears on a key of a keyboard or a display of a keyboard, or is a handwritten symbol recognized by handwriting entry software. Examples of alternate symbols are accented characters and punctuation marks that do not appear on a keyboard or are not commonly recognized by a handwriting entry program, and short symbol sequences. An example of a common short symbol sequence is an emoticon used in e-mail messages to convey tone or feelings. An example of a computer device that may embody the system or method is a hand-held computing device.
US09696903B2
In certain implementations, a first data element set associated with a first attribute (including first data elements where each represents a value associated with the first attribute) may be provided on a user interface. A control element set, including control elements where each represent an attribute, may be provided on the user interface. A touch-based input indicating a touch-based association of a first one of the control elements with a first one of the first data elements may be received. Responsive to the touch-based association, a second data element set associated with a second attribute (represented by the first one of the control elements) may be provided on the user interface. Second data elements of the second data element set may each represent a second value associated with the second attribute and correspond to a first value represented by the first one of the first data elements.
US09696897B2
Provided are methods, systems, devices, and computer programs enabling the measurement of various objects using imaging. The inventions are adaptable to mobile devices such as smartphones, allowing a range of unique measurements to be conveniently made, including length, area, distance, velocity, and height. The methods, systems, devices, and computer programs include the novel application of image-based measurement in medical, research, and other contexts.
US09696896B2
A computer-implemented method for visualizing patterns during internet browsing includes loading a web page in response to a user opening a browser. The web page includes web content. The computer-implemented method also includes initializing a marker corresponding to the web page, the marker implying beginning of a web session. Further, the computer-implemented method includes creating a visual pattern during the web session. The visual pattern includes the marker. Furthermore, the computer-implemented method includes terminating the marker implying end of the web session. Moreover, the computer-implemented method includes analyzing the visual pattern to infer a corresponding significance factor. The computer-implemented method includes performing appropriate actions on the web content based on the significance factor.
US09696893B2
A computer-implemented method for controlling a plurality of electromagnetic energy sources is disclosed. Instructions are executed on a processor to display on a computer-human interface display device a user interface region. The user interface region includes a pie-graph configured to display a total output power of the plurality of the electromagnetic energy sources. The pie-graph includes a radius that indicates the total output power and a plurality of sectors that indicate percentages of the total output power contributed by each of the plurality of the electromagnetic energy sources. An input is received via the user interface region, where the input is an interaction with the pie-graph that changes one of the radius or a sector of the plurality of the sectors. A power output of one or more of the electromagnetic energy sources is adjusted based on the input.
US09696892B2
A mechanism is described for facilitating dynamic edit modes at computing devices according to one embodiment. A method of embodiments, as described herein, includes receiving a first request for accessing an edit mode at a computing device, where the first request is placed by turning the computing device from a first position to a second position, and allowing access to the edit mode, if the first request is determined to be intentional.
US09696889B2
Provided is an electronic device, including: a display unit that displays, on one screen, a plurality of objects to be selected by a user; a line-of-sight detection unit that detects visually-recognized coordinates on the display unit to which the user's line-of-sight is directed; an object visually-recognized time period calculation unit that calculates a time period during which the visually-recognized coordinates detected by the line-of-sight detection unit fall within a range of the object; and a selection exclusion unit that excludes the object from candidates to be selected by the user if the time period calculated by the object visually-recognized time period calculation unit is longer than a time period threshold value and a frequency at which the object is selected is higher than a frequency threshold value.
US09696886B2
Embodiments are provided for communicating reminders of pending tasks to users of electronic devices before the electronic devices lose battery power. According to certain aspects, an electronic device can generate (220) a battery trigger when the battery level decreases below a certain threshold. The electronic device retrieves (224, 226) a listing of pending scheduled tasks, incomplete tasks, and routine tasks that a user may wish to complete. The electronic device presents (232) the listing of pending tasks to the user and enables the user to select (234) one or more of the pending tasks. The electronic device initiates (240) a corresponding application to enable the user to complete the selected pending task.
US09696883B2
A touch sensitive display device and a method for driving the same capable of increasing the touch recognition rate of the touch sensitive display device in the sleep mode are disclosed. The touch sensitive display device supports a normal mode and a sleep mode. The display device includes touch driving lines and a touch driver to supply one or more touch driving signals to the touch driving lines. The touch driver supplies the one or more touch driving signals at a first frequency during the normal mode of the touch sensitive display device, supplies the one or more touch driving signals at a second frequency during a first portion of the sleep mode of the touch sensitive display device, and supplies the one or more touch driving signals at a third frequency during a second portion of the sleep mode of the touch sensitive display device.
US09696882B2
An operation processing method and an operation processing device applied in an electronic apparatus include a display unit in which a first interactive interface having a first size is displayed. The method includes displaying a second interactive interface having a second size which is different from the first size and having a mapping relation with the first interactive interface in the display unit, detecting a first action executed by the user in the second interactive interface; and executing a first operation in the first interactive interface according to the first action. Thus, the first interactive interface can be mapped into the second interactive interface and the first operation that the user expects to execute in the first interactive interface can be implemented by the first action executed in the second interactive interface, so that the user can conveniently operate the electronic apparatus.
US09696876B2
A method for enabling at least one user interface display field to perform at least one action is provided. The method may include receiving a first user action associated with the at least one user interface display field. The method may further include activating the at least one user interface display field in response to the received first user action. Additionally, the method may include determining a context associated with the activated at least one user interface display field. The method may also include applying the determined context associated with the activated at least one user interface display. The method may further include receiving a second user action associated with the activated at least one user interface display field based on the applied determined context. The method may also include executing the received second user action.
US09696868B2
Methods and systems are provided for an improved three-dimensional graphical user interface. In one embodiment, the method generally comprises: receiving a plurality of inputs from a user and opening a plurality of applications in response thereto, wherein outputs from each application are displayed (e.g., individually) within a two-dimensional space. The method further comprises allowing a user to switch between the plurality of applications by generating images of each output, and displaying those images (e.g., collectively) within a three-dimensional space. The user can then interact with a particular application by selecting a corresponding one of the images displayed within the three-dimensional space. In one embodiment, the method further comprises replacing the output(s) in two-dimensional space with the images in three-dimensional space, and replacing the images in three-dimensional space with the output from the selected application in two-dimensional space.
US09696857B2
A signal processing circuit is provided, which is suitable to be connected to a signal receiving conductor of a capacitive position detecting sensor, which has low power consumption and small circuit scale, and which allows setting of a small value as the capacitance value of a capacitor used for I-V conversion. After a receiving conductor is clamped to a predetermined potential by a clamp circuit, this receiving conductor clamped to the predetermined potential is connected to a capacitor circuit via a gate circuit. Thereby, a potential that changes corresponding to a position indicated by an indicator such as a finger is generated in the capacitor circuit, and a voltage signal generated in this capacitor circuit is converted to a digital signal to be output.
US09696851B2
An on-cell capacitive touch panel is disclosed. Its laminated structure includes a LCD module, a touch sensing module, and a polarizing module. The touch sensing module is disposed on the LCD module. The polarizing module is disposed on the touch sensing module. The touch sensing module includes a touch sensor pattern having a single-layer ITO structure. The touch sensor pattern includes a first pattern unit and a second pattern unit which are the same and both have at least one first electrode, second electrode, and extending electrode. The first electrode is arranged along a first direction and the second electrode is arranged along a second direction. The first direction and second direction are vertical. The first electrode crosses the second electrode via a bridge structure. The extending electrode surrounds the first electrode and it is arranged along the first direction.
US09696849B1
In response to detecting a predetermined pressure change between two consecutive contacts on a trackpad of a computing device, the two consecutive contacts are ignored. In response to detecting a predetermined pressure change of a single contact on the trackpad, the single contact is ignored. After detecting a new contact on the trackpad after a predetermined period of time without any contact on the trackpad, any movement tied to a predetermined amount of increasing pressure on the trackpad for the new contact is temporarily discarded, for a preset amount of time.
US09696846B2
The present disclosure discloses a touch device and a method for driving the same which is capable of enabling the touch device to operate a higher display refresh rate when there is no touch. The touch device comprises a touch panel, a timing controller, a touch controller, a controller, and a sensor. The sensor is configured to detect whether there is an object contacting or approaching the touch panel, and to output a first indication signal if there is no object contacting or approaching the touch panel and a second indication signal if there is an object contacting or approaching the touch panel. The controller is configured to control the timing controller to output a first display scanning signal when the first indication signal is received and to control the timing controller to output a second display scanning signal when the second indication signal is received. The scanning frequency of the first display scanning signal is higher than that of the second display scanning signal.
US09696842B2
A display system that detects the point of touch and three-dimensional direction of a pressure exerted by an object on a surface to select a corresponding spot on a real object. The system is comprised of a touching cube, a plurality of sensors attached to the touching cube, a microprocessor that receives the output of the plurality of sensors, a database, and a presentation unit that highlights a spot on the real object corresponding to the point of touch and three-dimensional direction.
US09696841B2
The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for controlling an electric device. The electric device has a touch screen. The method comprises: detecting whether there is an operation input on the touch screen so as to generate a piece of detection information; when the detection information indicates that there is an operation input on the touch screen, forming a sliding track on the touch screen in response to the operation; judging whether the sliding track meets a predetermined condition so as to generate judgment information, wherein the predetermined condition is that the sliding track is a curvilinear track and comprises a first contact point and a second contact point, the first contact point and the second contact point being contact points which coincide or not coincide with each other; determining an independent operation area on the touch screen based on the sliding track, and determining a display orientation of a displayed object within the independent operation area based on the sliding track when the judgment information indicates that the sliding track meets the predetermined condition.
US09696840B2
An information processing method and an electronic device related to a field of communication technique are described. The method includes obtaining an operation performed by an operator on the electronic device, wherein the operation is capable of producing a force on the electronic device detecting a parameter of the operation; deforming the electronic device in response to the operation when the parameter satisfies a first condition; and generating a control instruction based on the operation when the parameter does not satisfy the first condition or satisfies a second condition, and at the same time maintaining the electronic device to be not deformed or to be deformed in a degree lower than a preset threshold. A false operation can be avoided in the process of bending the flexible screen, and accuracy of operation with respect to the flexible screen can be improved.
US09696837B1
A display of an electric device includes a plurality of separated transparent electrode blocks, which are configured to provide one or more of supplemental features such as touch recognition. Signal paths between the transparent electrode blocks and the driver for the supplemental feature are implemented with a plurality of conductive lines placed under positioned under one or more planarization layers. The conductive lines implementing the signal paths are routed across the display area, directly toward a non-display area where drive-integrated circuits are located.
US09696834B2
A method of making a touch screen panel includes providing a substrate assembly and a multi-layered film. The substrate assembly includes a substrate, and first and second sensing electrodes formed over the substrate. The multi-layered film includes a first conductive photosensitive layer, a second conductive photosensitive layer, and an insulation photosensitive layer. The insulation photosensitive layer has a light sensitivity different from that of at least one of the first and second conductive photosensitive layers. The method further includes forming insulators by exposing and developing the insulation photosensitive layer, and forming bridges and insulators by exposing and developing the second conductive photosensitive layer. The substrate assembly and the multi-layered film are assembled to form the touch panel.
US09696831B2
A method and apparatus for detecting touch input at a touch sensor is provided. The touch sensor comprises a plurality of row traces, a plurality of column traces and an intersection corresponding to an identified row trace of the plurality of row traces and an identified column trace of the plurality of column traces. The touch sensor also includes at least one driver for driving the plurality of column traces and at least one reader for reading the plurality of row traces. The drivers and the readers scan the identified intersection by entering into a with-floating scan state, reading a first value for the identified row trace, entering into a without-floating scan state and reading a second value for the identified row trace. The presence of a touch input is accordingly determined based on the first and second values.
US09696829B2
A portable terminal is a portable terminal which displays delivered content on a screen, and includes a proximity detection unit that detects proximity of a physical object to the screen and outputs a proximity detection signal, an information request unit that requests additional information for an object of content that is displayed at a proximity corresponding position which is a position on the screen corresponding to the physical object of which the proximity is detected, based on the proximity detection signal, and a display control unit that displays additional information for an object of content delivered in response to a request from the information request unit, in the vicinity of the proximity corresponding position of the screen.
US09696823B2
According to the present invention, a computer is provided, which comprises a host system, an embedded subsystem, a power source, an input device control module, a first transmission interface and a second transmission interface, the input device control module being connected to the embedded subsystem through the first transmission interface, wherein the input device control module is configured to establish, in response to receipt of a first switching instruction, communication with the embedded subsystem such that the embedded subsystem is enabled to process input data from an input device and to transmit the input data obtained from the input device to the first transmission interface; and the embedded subsystem is configured to receive the input data from the first transmission interface, process the input data and perform an operation corresponding to the input data. According to the present invention, one set of input devices can be shared between a computer and an embedded system through design and modification in software without any change in the existing hardware design for the computer.
US09696821B2
According to one embodiment, a data input system includes an active stylus and an apparatus. The active stylus switches a mode from a first mode in which the signal is output with a first transmission interval to a second mode in which the signal is output with a second transmission interval longer than the first transmission interval when a pressure in a handwriting input operation is not detected for more than a first period. The apparatus displays an object indicative of a position pointed to by the active stylus based on the signal. The apparatus maintains, when the active stylus is in the second mode, a display state of the object displayed on the basis of the signal output at a first timing until the signal is output at a second timing following the first timing.
US09696813B2
A gesture interface robot (GIR) automatically measures a work zone to establish virtual puzzle cells located in a user gesture comfortable area. The GIR allows the user to easily move hands to press selected virtual keys so as to prevent injury. The GIR draws virtual keyboard images that display commands on virtual puzzle cells. The GIR uses video vision sensing to detect user's hand location on the virtual keyboard images. Special unique gesture hand sings are designed for enhancing hand control virtual key selections. A push-hand-z-dimensional distant is divided into 3 selectable zones. A real-time display highlights a selected key graphic image to be visually seen by the user. Using a UIRT cable to send IR signal to a remote control computer. The GIR instantly generates a virtual puzzle cell keyboard or controller that the user selected. The GIR introduces a new gesture interface method, a touch screen mouse combined with puzzle cell virtual keys in sandwich layers gesture zones and a method for operating computer keys and mouse operations.
US09696811B2
An electronic apparatus and a method are disclosed. The electronic apparatus can be worn on a wrist of a user and can have established a data connection to a remote apparatus. The electronic apparatus includes a first image collecting unit for collecting an image; a storing unit for storing image collected by the first image collecting unit; a gesture detecting unit for detecting a gesture of the user; a data transmitting unit for transmitting data with the remote apparatus; a control unit for activating the first image collecting unit when it is determined that a first gesture of the user is detected; and activating the data transmitting unit to transmit the image stored in the storing unit to the remote apparatus when it is determined that a second gesture of the user is detected.
US09696808B2
One embodiment of the invention includes a method of providing device inputs. The method includes illuminating hand gestures performed via a bare hand of a user in a foreground of a background surface with at least one infrared (IR) light source. The method also includes generating a first plurality of silhouette images associated with the bare hand based on an IR light contrast between the bare hand and the background surface and generating a second plurality of silhouette images associated with the bare hand based on an IR light contrast between the bare hand and the background surface. The method also includes determining a plurality of three-dimensional features of the bare hand relative to the background surface based on a parallax separation of the bare hand in the first plurality of silhouette images relative to the second plurality of silhouette images. The method also includes determining a provided input gesture based on the plurality of three-dimensional features of the bare hand and comparing the provided input gesture with a plurality of predefined gesture inputs in a gesture library. The method further includes providing at least one device input corresponding to interaction with displayed visual content based on the provided input gesture corresponding to one of the plurality of predefined gesture inputs.
US09696800B2
A menu selection apparatus using gaze tracking includes: a gaze tracker configured to track a gaze of a driver and to output time series gaze data; a timer included in the gaze tracker and configured to output a timing pulse; a buffer configured to store the time series gaze data; a counter configured to count the timing pulse to adjust synchronization with the timer; a button configured to output a click signal when being clicked by the driver; and a controller configured to extract the time series gaze data for a critical time based on button click timing as the click signal is output from the button and to then calculate an average of gaze vectors within each time series gaze data.
US09696796B2
An improved playground system is disclosed. A playground toy incorporates a wireless transceiver and a motion sensor. Based on the level of activity monitored by the motion sensor, the wireless transceiver transmits a message to smart devices, such as smart phones or wearable computers that causes an augmented reality avatar for the playground toy to transform. When additional activity is noted, additional messages causing additional avatar transformations can be sent.
US09696790B2
Processor power may be managed by executing state storage and power gating instructions after receiving an idle indication. The idle indication may be received while the processor is executing instructions in a first mode, and the processor may execute the state storage and power gating instructions in a second mode. The state storage and power gating instructions may be inaccessible to the processor when operating in the first mode.
US09696789B2
An apparatus is disclosed that includes a processing sub-system having a plurality of processor circuits and an interrupt control circuit. The interrupt control circuit is configured to, in response to a peripheral interrupt, initiate performance of a task indicated by the peripheral interrupt by at least one of the plurality of processor circuits. The processing sub-system is configured to generate a power-down control signal in response to suspension of the plurality of processor circuits. A power management circuit disables power to the processing sub-system, including the interrupt control circuit, in response to the power-down control signal. The power management circuit enables power to the processing sub-system in response to a power-up control signal. The apparatus also includes a proxy interrupt control circuit configured to generate the power-up control signal in response to receiving a peripheral interrupt and power to the processing sub-system being disabled.
US09696782B2
This document describes techniques and apparatuses for suppressing power spikes. In some embodiments, these techniques and apparatuses determine an available amount of power that a battery is capable of providing while maintaining a particular voltage level and a requisite amount of power that components will consume to perform a task. When the requisite amount of power exceeds the available amount of power, power states of the components are altered effective to enable the battery to maintain the particular voltage level.
US09696781B2
In one embodiment, a method includes monitoring power usage parameters in a data center at a controller and automatically modifying components within the data center to reduce power usage based on the power usage parameters. The power usage parameters include routing distances between the components within the data center. An apparatus and logic are also disclosed herein.
US09696773B2
A network system is provided. The network system includes: at least one component selected from an energy receiving unit receiving energy and an energy management unit managing the energy receiving unit. The energy receiving unit or the energy management unit receives energy rate related information; an energy usage amount or a usage rate of when the component is controlled on the basis of at least the energy rate related information is less than that of when the component is controlled without the basis of at least energy rate related information; if the energy rate related information is high cost information, a function of one component constituting the energy receiving unit is limited; and an operating time or an output of the energy receiving unit is adjusted in correspondence to the limited function of one component.
US09696770B2
A server cooling system includes: a flex-switch with one or more flexible building bridges; one or more utility farms coupled with the flex-switch; a power distribution unit operably connected to the flex-switch; and a server POD including one or more racks operably connected to the power distribution unit. The flex-switch is configurable to include additional utility farms, one or more generator farms, and one or more UPS farms.
US09696766B1
The double-jointed hinge comprises a dual hinge part, first rotary part, second rotary part and at least one conductor assembly wherein the conductor assembly is sandwiched between the dual hinge part and the two rotary parts. The dual hinge part is connected to the keyboard by a cylindrical column, and connected to the computer by another cylindrical column. The cylindrical column is partially received in a cylindrical column hole in the keyboard and received in a cylindrical column hole in the dual hinge part, and in a similar manner, the other cylindrical column is received in a cylindrical column hole in the computer and partially received in a cylindrical column hole in the dual hinge part. A multiple of four dual hinge parts are used to connect the keyboard and the computer.
US09696765B2
In one example, a double-track guided hinge for an electronic device. The hinge includes a bent lever arm having an arm pin adjacent one end, an arm pivot, and a curved slot adjacent the other end, the curved slot extending towards the arm pivot. The hinge also includes an angled slot slidably engaged with the arm pin. The hinge further includes a rotatable connector block having a block pivot and a pin radially offset from the block pivot, the offset pin slidably engaged with the curved slot A carrier moveably attached to the lever arm at the arm pivot and to the connector block at the block pivot, is linearly moveable responsive to rotation of the pivot connector block.
US09696758B2
A docking station to dock locating equipment (e.g., marking devices, locate devices, combined locate and marking devices) may be communicatively coupled to and/or equipped with a mobile/portable device (e.g., a mobile phone, personal digital assistant or other portable computing device) that provides processing, electronic storage, electronic display, user interface, communication facilities and/or other functionality (e.g., GPS-enabled functionality) for the docking station. A mobile/portable device may be mechanically and/or electrically coupled to the docking station. The mobile/portable device may provide redundant, shared and/or backup functionality for the docking station to enhance robustness. In one example, the mobile/portable device itself serves as a docking station for the locating equipment.
US09696749B2
Control devices and systems for self-propelled machinery and related methods are disclosed. In one aspect, a control device for self-propelled machinery includes a central portion disposed between a first gripping portion and a second gripping portion and at least one pressure sensitive trigger control provided over either the first or the second gripping portion. The trigger control can be configured to reduce a speed of the self-propelled machinery by actuating a portion of a potentiometer for varying an electrical signal carried by the control device. In some aspects, the control device can electrically communicate with a control unit of the self-propelled machinery.
US09696744B1
Bandgap Voltage Reference circuits configured to produce reference voltages with both voltage offset and a voltage temperature slope are disclosed. By generating the voltage offset from a temperature-independent current, the voltage offset of the reference voltage may be temperature-independent, while generating the voltage temperature slope from a temperature-dependent current allows the voltage temperature slope to vary with temperature. To ensure that the voltage offset remains independent from the voltage temperature slope, an apparatus is disclosed for orthogonal trimming of voltage offset and voltage temperature slope.
US09696739B2
In an embodiment, a coupled-inductor structure includes first and second windings. The first winding is configured to conduct a phase current, has a first node configured for coupling to a phase node of a power supply, and has a second node configured for coupling to an output node of the power supply and to a first node of a sense impedance that is configured to generate a sense signal representative of the phase current. And the second winding is configured for magnetic coupling with the first winding, has a first node coupled to the first node of the first winding, and has a second node configured for coupling to a second node of the sense impedance. For example, the first winding may be a phase inductor of a switching power supply, and the impedance may be a capacitor that generates a sense voltage representative of the phase current.
US09696734B2
A thermostat and related methods are described for controlling one or more functions, such as heating and cooling in an HVAC. According to some embodiments the thermostat includes a switching circuit for controlling an HVAC function, where closing the switching circuit activates the HVAC function. The thermostat may also include power harvesting circuitry adapted and arranged to harvest power from the HVAC system, where during times when the HVAC function is active the switching circuit opens for a time interval. The power harvesting circuitry may harvest power from the HVAC system during the time interval, and the time interval may be short enough that the HVAC function remains activated without interruption during the time interval.
US09696719B2
Systems and methods are provided for autonomously navigating a vehicle along a road segment. In one implementation, a system includes at least one processor programmed to receive from a camera at least one image representative of an environment of the vehicle. The at least one image may be analyzed to identify at least one recognized landmark based upon one or more landmark group characteristics associated with a group of recognized landmarks. The current location of the vehicle relative to a predetermined road model trajectory associated with the road segment may be determined based, at least in part, on a predetermined location of the recognized landmark. An autonomous steering action for the vehicle may be determined based on a direction of the predetermined road model trajectory at the determined current location of the vehicle relative to the predetermined road model trajectory.
US09696711B2
Processing instructing device, processing instructing method, computer program and processing device
A processing indicating device to improve the efficiency of processing on an object. The device includes a first communication unit which communicates information with a plurality of processing devices for processing the object and a second communication unit which communicates information with a conveyance controlling device controlling conveying of the object to the plurality of processing devices. An arrival time predicting unit predicts on the basis of information received by the second communication unit, the time when the conveying device arrives at one of the processing devices. In addition, a finish time predicting unit receives information and predicts the time when the processing on the object in the one processing device finishes. A processing indicating unit causes processing control information that orders the execution of device state improvement treatment to be transmitted to the one processing device on the basis of the predicted respective times.
US09696710B2
A machine implement includes sensors that measure a force imparted by the machine implement to a structure during a machining process. A sensor array coupled to the structure measures the vibrational response of the structure to the imparted force. Analysis software compares the imparted force to the vibrational response to generate a transfer function for the structure. Based on the transfer function, a tool-path of the machine implement may be adjusted such that the resulting structure has precise vibrational characteristics that substantially comply with a set of design goals for the structure.
US09696708B2
A machining curve creating apparatus create curve of a tool used to machine a workpiece by repeating a procedure of taking, as a partial point sequence, a part of a point sequence expressing the tool path and generating a partial curve. The machining curve creating apparatus includes stored-information-utilized curve generating unit for generating a partial curve utilizing segmented curve information. When curve information utilization determining unit determines to utilize the stored information, the stored-information-utilized curve generating unit generates a partial curve.
US09696699B2
A Self-Organizing Process Control Architecture is introduced with a Sensing Layer, Control Layer, Actuation Layer, Process Layer, as well as Self-Organizing Sensors (SOS) and Self-Organizing Actuators (SOA). A Self-Organizing Sensor for a process variable with one or multiple input variables is disclosed. An artificial neural network (ANN) based dynamic modeling mechanism as part of the Self-Organizing Sensor is described. As a case example, a Self-Organizing Soft-Sensor for CFB Boiler Bed Height is presented. Also provided is a method to develop a Self-Organizing Sensor.
US09696697B2
Embodiments of the disclosure relate to automatic switching of HMI (human-machine interface) screens based on process, task, and abnormal deviation in a power plant. According to one embodiment, a method is provided. The method can include monitoring one or more processes occurring during the operation of a turbine power plant in a steady state monitoring sequence, in which a plurality of overview screens are monitored, and at least one process state is determined. If the at least one process state indicates a predefined condition has occurred, at least one human interface screen can be presented to a user for troubleshooting, based at least in part on the severity of the predefined condition. If the determined process state does not indicate the predefined condition is present, and the at least one determined process state indicates an automated task sequence, the method present a sequence of preconfigured task screens to a user.
US09696693B2
The present invention is an apparatus, system, method, computer program, and computer program product for controlling window coverings to adjust admitted daylight. More particularly, the present disclosure plates to a control system for controlling the amount of daylight admitted through adjustable window coverings. In an embodiment of the present invention, the system includes a stand-alone open loop proportional control subsystem including a calculation or algorithm that is operable to convert a sunlight sensor signal to a blind slat position based on a predetermined curve stored in memory. In another embodiment of the present invention, the system is operable to transmit the sunlight sensor information, for example, such as in Lux, to an external system, which may then provide blind slat position requests based on some other curve, algorithm, or user need. The blind slat position may be controlled by the system to avert undesirable solar heat gains and also achieve significant daylight harvesting.
US09696690B2
A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided to facilitate the use of a multi-segment wearable accessory. In this regard, methods, apparatus and computer program products are provided for controlling and, in some instances, interacting with a multi-segment wearable accessory. Each screen presented on or capable of being presented on the display of a segment of the multi-segment wearable accessory may be considered a virtual segment, and the number of virtual segments may be greater than the number of physical segments of the accessory. One or more of the virtual segments may be associated with one or more of the segments in an overlaid configuration, such that a topmost virtual segment is presented for viewing while another virtual segment lies below the topmost virtual segment, hidden from the user's view. A virtual segment may be replaced with presentation of another virtual segment in response to rotation of the accessory.
US09696681B2
An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum and a brush roller. The photosensitive drum has a circumferential surface on which a toner image is to be formed. The brush roller rotates while in contact with the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum to charge the photosensitive drum. The brush roller removes toner remaining on the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum.
US09696679B2
An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device and an image forming apparatus body. The fixing device includes a pressure unit, a heating unit, a pressure adjuster that adjusts a pressure between the pressure unit and the heating unit, and a fixing-device-side connecting device. The image forming apparatus body to which the fixing device is detachably attached includes an electrical power unit, a drive device to which electrical power is supplied from the electrical power unit so as to drive the pressure adjuster, and a body-side connecting device connected to the electrical power unit. When the fixing device is detached from the image forming apparatus body, the body-side connecting device and the fixing-device-side connecting device are disconnected from each other and electrical power supply to the drive device is interrupted.
US09696678B2
The sheet feeding apparatus of the invention includes a sheet stacking portion, a rotating body, a contact member, a conveyance guide, a driving source, a shutter member and a torque limiter. The torque limiter is disposed between the rotating body and the driving source, transmits a driving force of the driving source to the rotating body in a state that a load in the sheet feeding direction of less than a predetermined torque is applied to the rotating body, and not transmit the driving force of the driving source to the rotating body in a state that the load in the sheet feeding direction of more than the predetermined torque is applied to the rotating body.
US09696675B2
An image forming apparatus or an image forming system, includes a control section to control, at the time of forming an image by using a long sheet with a conveying direction sheet length longer than that of a sheet with a fixed paper size, so as to perform image formation by arranging multiple images on the long sheet, and the control section controls so as to form images repeatedly with a predetermined cycle on the long sheet, detects a margin region being a region where images are not formed on the long sheet, and controls image formation so as to dispose a patch image on the margin region.
US09696671B1
This invention discloses a polyimide fuser belt incorporating synthetic graphite or expanded synthetic graphite as a filler. The resulting fuser belt has increased thermal diffusivity without sacrificing mechanical strength. Fuser belts made with synthetic or expanded synthetic graphite enable electrophotographic printers to exhibit superior fuse temperatures and better print speeds across a range of different media types.
US09696651B2
An image-forming apparatus includes a light-irradiation unit configured to move a spot of laser light on a surface of a photosensitive member at a non-constant scanning velocity in a main scanning direction to form a latent image on the photosensitive member, an image data correcting unit configured to correct a length in the main scanning direction of image data by inserting one or more image data pieces into the image data, the number of the image data pieces increasing as the scanning velocity increases, and/or extracting one or more image data pieces from the image data, the number of the image data pieces increasing as the scanning velocity decreases, and a brightness correcting unit configured to correct a brightness of the laser light so that an emission brightness increases as the scanning velocity increases and/or the emission brightness decreases as the scanning velocity decreases.
US09696639B2
A projection exposure system (10) for microlithography which includes: a mask holding device (14) holding a mask (18) with mask structures (20) disposed on the mask, a substrate holding device (36) holding a substrate (30), projection optics (26) imaging the mask structures (20) onto the substrate (30) during an exposure process, and a measurement structure (48) disposed in a defined position with respect to a reference element (16) of the projection exposure system (10), which defined position is mechanically uncoupled from the position of the mask holding device (14). The projection exposure system (10) also includes a detector (52) arranged to record an image of the measurement structure (48) imaged by the projection optics (26). The projection exposure system (10) is configured such that during operation of the projection exposure system (10) the imaging of the mask structures (20) and the imaging of the measurement structure (48) take place at the same time by the projection optics (26. An evaluation device (54) is configured to establish a lateral position of the image of the measurement structure (48) in the area of the detector (52) during the exposure process.
US09696630B2
Lithography apparatus and device manufacturing methods are disclosed in which means are provided for reducing the extent to which vibrations propagate between a first element of a projection system and a second element of a projection system. Approaches disclosed include the use of plural resilient members in series as part of a vibration isolation system, plural isolation frames for separately supporting first and second projection system frames, and modified connection positions for the interaction between the first and second projection system frames and the isolation frame(s).
US09696629B2
Photoresist pattern trimming compositions are provided. The compositions comprise: a matrix polymer, an aromatic sulfonic acid and a solvent, wherein the aromatic sulfonic acid comprises one or more fluorinated alcohol group. Also provided are methods of trimming a photoresist pattern using the trimming compositions. The compositions and methods find particular applicability in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
US09696619B2
During a calculation technique, a modification to a reflective photo-mask is calculated. In particular, using information specifying a defect associated with a location on a top surface of the reflective photo-mask, the modification to the reflective photo-mask is calculated. For example, the calculation may involve an inverse optical calculation in which a difference between a pattern associated with the reflective photo-mask at an image plane in a photo-lithographic process and a reference pattern at the image plane in the photo-lithographic process is used to calculate the modification at an object plane in the photo-lithographic process. Note that the modification includes a material added to the top surface of the reflective photo-mask using an additive fabrication process. Moreover, the modification is proximate to the location.
US09696618B2
A method for generating a pattern including patterns of cells having assist patterns arranged therein. The present invention provides a method for generating a pattern of a cell used when a mask pattern is generated by arranging cells selected from among a plurality of types of cells. The method includes generating a pattern including isolated rectangular pattern elements and an assist pattern as a cell pattern by obtaining data on a cell including the rectangular pattern elements and generating the assist pattern which assist resolution of the rectangular pattern elements in accordance with the data.
US09696616B2
Disclosed are a method and an apparatus for controlling the focus of a projector of a portable terminal when the projector is operated. The method includes projecting screen data by enabling an auto-focusing operation of the projector; capturing the projected screen data through the camera, and detecting a change of a value of the captured screen through a sensor; and when the change of the value is greater than a preset threshold value, temporarily stopping the auto-focusing operation of the projector and projecting the screen data.
US09696613B2
An image processing apparatus includes an imaging unit configured to image a region including a target on which an image is projected to acquire imaged data, a distance measuring unit configured to compute distance data associated with a distance between the target and the imaging unit based on the imaged data acquired from the imaging unit, a plane estimating unit configured to estimate a plane corresponding to the target based on the distance data, and a range specifying unit configured to generate image data associated with the region based on the imaged data and specify a projectable range to the target based on the image data and in formation associated with the plane.
US09696606B2
A display device includes a light source generating light and a thin film transistor array panel including a pixel electrode and a common electrode. The display includes an upper panel and a quantum rod layer positioned between the thin film transistor array panel and the upper panel. The display includes an upper polarizer attached outside of the upper panel, in which the quantum rod layer includes quantum rods, and an arrangement direction of the quantum rods is controlled by an electric field generated by the pixel electrode and the common electrode, light is polarized according to the controlled arrangement direction, and the polarizer controls the transmission degree of the polarized light from the quantum rods according to the arrangement direction of the quantum rods.
US09696599B2
According to an aspect, a display device has a first electrode, a second electrode and liquid crystal layer. When a voltage is not applied to the first and second electrodes, the major axes of the liquid crystal molecules are oriented in a third direction. When a voltage is applied between the first and second electrodes, the major axes are oriented so as to rise in a direction perpendicular to a first substrate while rotating clockwise in a vicinity of one of long sides of comb tooth portion that face each other and counterclockwise in a vicinity of the other of the long sides. An angle between an electrode base-side portion of a long side of each comb tooth portions and the third direction is larger than an angle between a distal end-side portion of the long side of each comb tooth portions and the third direction.
US09696592B2
In order to avoid generation of black unevenness caused by the water intrusion into a liquid crystal display device, there is to provide a liquid crystal display device including a display area and a terminal portion, in which a TFT substrate with an organic passivation film formed and an opposite substrate are adhered to each other by a seal portion and a liquid crystal is enclosed there, wherein in the seal portion of the TFT substrate, a groove-shaped through-hole is formed in the organic passivation film to surround the display area, a water absorption layer formed of the same material in the same process as that of the organic passivation film is formed within the groove-shaped through-hole, and the water absorption layer is not covered with the inorganic insulating film.
US09696582B2
The present invention provides an array substrate, a method for manufacturing the same, and a liquid crystal display panel. The array substrate includes a plurality of pixel units arranged in an array, each pixel unit comprising a reflection region and a transmission region, and for any pixel unit, the array substrate comprising a substrate; a thin film transistor provided on the substrate; and a reflection electrode and a first transparent electrode which are electrically connected with each other, the reflection electrode being located in the reflection region, and the first transparent electrode being located in the transmission region, wherein a first transparent insulation layer is provided between the reflection electrode and the first transparent electrode, and the reflection electrode is on a side of the first transparent insulation layer which is closer to the substrate.
US09696580B2
An array substrate and a fabricating method thereof and a display apparatus are provided. The array substrate comprises a base substrate, a pixel electrode layer formed on the base substrate, and a first wire grid polarizing film disposed on a surface of the pixel electrode layer, wherein the first wire grid polarizing film includes a plurality of first metal lines (L1) which are mutually parallel and are periodically arranged; the surface of the pixel electrode layer is a surface of the pixel electrode layer facing the base substrate or a surface of the pixel electrode layer opposite to the base substrate. The array substrate and the fabricating method thereof and the display apparatus can facilitate an ultrathin design.
US09696573B2
A display module, and a liquid crystal display (LCD) device including the same, includes a guide panel surrounding a side surface of a liquid crystal panel. The guide panel and a cover bottom are fastened to each other by hooks.
US09696570B2
Disclosed are a VCOM generation circuit and a liquid crystal display. The VCOM generation circuit has a voltage divider circuit coupled between a power source input end of the VCOM generation circuit and a ground, and a voltage output end; an operational amplifier output circuit, and one input end is coupled to the voltage output end of the voltage divider circuit, and an output end is a VCOM input end of a liquid crystal display, employed for outputting a liquid crystal drive reference voltage VCOM as the liquid crystal display functions to charge a liquid crystal layer; a delay circuit, coupled between the one input end of the operational amplifier output circuit and the ground, and employed for delaying a change rate of the VCOM as the operational amplifier output circuit outputs the VCOM.
US09696555B2
An image display apparatus includes a stereoscopic image display apparatus configured to display a stereoscopically visible image, and a planar image display apparatus configured to display a planar image. An adjustment section of the image display apparatus adjusts relative positions, relative sizes, and relative rotations of a left-eye image taken by a left-eye image imaging section and a right-eye image taken by a right-eye image imaging section. The adjusted left-eye image and the adjusted right-eye image are viewed by the left eye and the right eye of the user, respectively, thereby displaying the stereoscopic image on the stereoscopic image display apparatus. The adjusted left-eye image and the adjusted right-eye image are made semi-transparent and superimposed one on the other, and thus a resulting superimposed planar image is displayed on the planar image display apparatus.
US09696550B2
A device for improving the vision of an eye of a human being includes optical elements for forming an image of a scene; a controllable projector having an input and mounted to co-operate with the optical elements, and suitable for outputting a beam; a mirror; elements for linking the mirror to the orbit and to the projector in such a manner that the optical axis of the mirror passes through the center of rotation of the eye and that the mirror is on the light path of the beam; a sensor for determining the rotation of the eye relative to its orbit, and elements for applying the signal output from the sensor to the input of the projector so as to cause the image light beam to be projected on a location of the mirror that is a function of the rotation of the eye in its orbit.
US09696547B2
A see-through, near-eye, mixed reality display apparatus providing a mixed reality environment wherein one or more virtual objects and one or more real objects exist within the view of the device. Each of the real and virtual have a commonly defined set of attributes understood by the mixed reality system allowing the system to manage relationships and interaction between virtual objects and other virtual objects, and virtual and real objects.
US09696546B2
Systems and apparatus are provided for head-mountable cockpit displays for providing information related to an aircraft system to a user. A cockpit display system comprises an eyeglass frame adapted for wearing on the head of the user. The eyeglass frame has a perimeter defining a field of view. A display element is mechanically coupled to the eyeglass frame and aligned with a bottom portion of the field of view. Display electronics are coupled to the display element, and an avionics system is coupled to the display electronics. The display electronics are configured to render an image of a cockpit instrument panel associated with the avionics system on the display element.
US09696540B2
Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirror devices and manufacturing methods thereof. The device comprising a hinge layer having orthogonal tilt and roll hinges connecting inner and outer platforms such that the inner platform has bi-directional rotation. An electrode layer connected beneath the hinge layer controls rotation of the platforms. A mirror layer above the hinge layer comprises a mirror connected to the inner platform via a pedestal and fixed membrane connected to the hinge layer but detached from the mirror. An anchor temporarily reduces movement of the outer platform during fabrication. In a fabrication state, the anchor anchors the outer platform to the mirror layer's fixed membrane. In a post-fabrication state, a gap releases the outer platform.
US09696535B2
An optical device, such as a microscope, is disclosed that can be assembled from flat materials. The optical device can be assembled via a series of folds of a flat material. The optical microscope can include a stage for supporting a sample, an optic stage, and a light source. The optic stage can include one or more lenses. The optical microscope can be capable of obtaining simultaneous images from different forms of microscopy. The optical microscope may have bright field and filter field viewing capabilities wherein a user shifts from bright field to filter field by lateral movement of the stage containing a lens and a light source that cooperate to provide either the bright field or the filter field.
US09696524B2
The invention relates to an electronic image pickup system whose depth dimension is extremely reduced, taking advantage of an optical system type that can overcome conditions imposed on the movement of a zooming movable lens group while high specifications and performance are kept. The electronic image pickup system comprises an optical path-banding zoom optical system comprising, in order from its object side, a 1-1st lens group G1-1 comprising a negative lens group and a reflecting optical element P for bending an optical path, a 1-2nd lens group G1-2 comprising one positive lens and a second lens group G2 having positive refracting power. For zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end, the second lens group G2 moves only toward the object side. The electronic image pickup system also comprises an electronic image pickup device I located on the image side of the zoom optical system.
US09696520B2
A wide-angle lens, from an object side to an image side along an optical axis, includes a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, a fifth lens, a sixth lens, a seventh lens, an eighth lens and a ninth lens. The first, second and third lens are with negative refractive power. The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh lens are with refractive power. The eighth lens is a biconvex lens with positive refractive power. The ninth lens is a biconvex lens with positive refractive power. The first lens, the second lens and the third lens satisfy: −26
US09696519B1
The present disclosure provides an imaging optical lens assembly, including, in order from an object side to an image side: a first lens element with negative refractive power having an object-side surface being concave in a paraxial region, a second lens element with positive refractive power, a third lens element with negative refractive power, a fourth lens element with positive refractive power, and a fifth lens element with negative refractive power having an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region and at least one convex shape in an off-axial region on the image-side surface, wherein the imaging optical lens assembly has a total of five lens elements.
US09696518B2
A device for adjustably positioning an optical component includes a holding unit, which is which at least partly composed of a magnetostrictive material, and a mechanism for generating a magnetic field having a predetermined directional and amplitude distribution in the region of the holding unit. The holding unit has, in a predefined direction, an expansion which can be varied by a specific absolute value by the effect of the magnetic field.
US09696517B2
The present invention discloses a device and a method for inserting and positioning a target within a free electron laser, particle accelerator, or other such device that generates or utilizes a beam of energy or particles. The system includes a three-point registration mechanism that insures angular and translational accuracy and repeatability of positioning upon multiple insertions within the same structure.
US09696515B2
An electromagnetic driving module includes an upper housing, a lower housing, a circuit board, a base, a wiring assembly, and a magnetic element. The upper housing is connected to the lower housing. The circuit board is fixed on the upper housing. The base is disposed in a space defined by the upper housing and the lower housing. The wiring assembly is disposed on the base. The magnetic element corresponds to the wiring assembly and is disposed on the upper housing.
US09696511B2
An optical termination enclosure (100) defines ruggedized adapters at output ports (132); a cable entry port (105) through which an input cable can enter the enclosure; and a sealing arrangement (150) disposed at the cable entry port (105) to seal around the input cable. The sealing arrangement (150) includes a gasket block arrangement (151) defining at least a first cable aperture (108) sized to receive an optical cable; and a retention arrangement (160) to activate the gasket block arrangement (151). The retention arrangement (160) includes a wedge-shaped body (161) and a gel-type sealing member (180).
US09696509B2
An armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal which connects a fiber optic cable—the fiber optic cable including one or more armor wires and one or more cable tubes—to a pressure housing, the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal including: an armored termination which locks the one or more armor wires in a conical cavity; sealing paths which block water from traveling in the interstitial space between the one or more armor wires and the one or more cable tubes into the pressure housing; and fiber feed-through tubes which block water from traveling in the interior of the one or more cable tubes into the pressure housing.
US09696503B2
A multi-channel transmitter optical subassembly (TOSA) with an off-center fiber in an optical coupling is disclosed, and can provide passive compensation for beam displacement introduced by optical isolators. The optical coupling receptacle can include an optical isolator configured to receive a focused light beam from a focus lens within the TOSA. The optical coupling receptacle may be offset such that a center line of the focused light beam entering the optical isolator is offset from a center line of a fiber within optical coupling receptacle. Thus the optical isolator receives the focused light beam from the focus lens and introduces beam displacement such that an optical signal is launched generally along a center line of the fiber. Thus the expected beam displacement introduced by the optical isolator is eliminated or otherwise mitigated by the offset between a center line of the fiber and a center position of the focus lens.
US09696502B2
An expanded beam (EB) optical connector. In some embodiments, the EB optical connector includes: a rigid, hollow, straight contact tube having a centerline axis; and a collimator assembly having an optical axis and comprising an optical fiber and a collimating lens, wherein the centerline axis of the contact tube is at least substantially aligned with the optical axis such that collimated light produced by the lens from light exiting the fiber travels though the contact tube and the loss of light caused by misalignment of the axes is not more than 2 dB.
US09696495B2
An optical tap includes a support with a first port facing a first ferrule supporting a first fiber along a first axis. A beamsplitter is connected to the support and intersected by the first axis. A second port is fastened to the support and facing a second ferrule supporting a second fiber along a second axis that intersects the beamsplitter. A third port is fastened to the support and facing a third ferrule supporting a third fiber along a third axis that intersects the beamsplitter, wherein the beamsplitter splits a first light signal from the first port to sends first and second portions of the first signal to the second and third ports, respectively. When the beamsplitter may optionally be configured as a polarizing element and include elements configured to rotate relative to each other to change a ratio of the first and second portions. The optical tap may optionally include a light intensity controlling device located in an optical path between the beamsplitter and at least one of the second or third ferrules. Optionally, a first collimating lens is configured to expand a first light beam that is substantially aligned with the first axis, and a second collimating lens is located between the beamsplitter and the second port, and configured to contract the second portion of the expanded first light beam to the second port.
US09696483B2
Disclosed are a backlight unit and a liquid crystal display device including the same to stably fix a light guide plate. The backlight unit includes a guide disposed between a cover bottom, on which a light guide plate is mounted, and the light guide plate, the guide having a plurality of projections in an area in which the guide contacts the light guide plate.
US09696474B2
A polarizer includes a base substrate, a polarizing layer disposed on the base substrate and including a plurality of first linear extensions spaced apart from each other, and an ultraviolet (UV)-blocking layer including a plurality of second linear extensions spaced apart from each other and crossing the first linear extensions. The polarizer may block an external UV light.
US09696471B2
An integrated swept wavelength optical source uses a filtered ASE signal with an optical amplifier and tracking filter. This source comprises a micro optical bench, a source for generating broadband light, a first tunable Fabry Perot filter, installed on the bench, for spectrally filtering the broadband light from the broadband source to generate a narrowband tunable signal, an amplifier, installed on the bench, for amplifying the tunable signal, and a second tunable Fabry Perot filter, installed on the bench, for spectrally filtering the amplified tunable signal from the amplifier. A self-tracking arrangement is also possible where a single tunable filter both generates the narrowband signal and spectrally filters the amplified signal. In some examples, two-stage amplification is provided. The use of a single bench implementation yields a low cost high performance system. For example, polarization control between components is no longer necessary.
US09696469B2
A multilayer diffractive optical element includes a first substrate, a second substrate, a first resin layer having a first diffraction grating pattern and interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a second resin layer having a second diffraction grating pattern and interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The first resin layer includes a first region provided at a peripheral portion adjacent to a portion of the first diffraction grating pattern. The first resin layer includes a second region provided at a peripheral portion adjacent to the first region.
US09696460B2
The invention relates to nanoparticles having a core that is fully or partially formed by at least one UV-absorbing organic compound in crystallized form and coated with an outer layer formed by at least one hydrophilic polymer, said UV-absorbing organic compound(s) and hydrophilic polymer(s) being associated in a weight ratio of organic compound(s) to hydrophilic polymer(s) varying between 0.2 and 0.4.
US09696458B2
According to the present invention, a method and a device for determining a physical quantity at a plurality of locations are provided. The method according to the invention comprises approaching the plurality of locations in a first predetermined direction, wherein at each location of the plurality of locations a first measured value of the physical quantity is measured, approaching the plurality of locations in a second predetermined direction substantially opposite to the first predetermined direction, wherein at each location of the plurality of locations a second measured value of the physical quantity is measured, and establishing a determination value for the physical quantity at a respective location of the plurality of locations based on the first and second measured values of the physical quantity which have been measured at the respective location.
US09696454B1
A method of identifying barite in a subterranean annulus that surrounds a wellbore, where the method includes detecting gamma rays in the wellbore that are generated from the annulus, obtaining a count rate of the detected gamma rays, comparing the count rate with reference data, and determining the presence of barite in the wellbore based on the comparison. The count rate can be a ratio of counts of detected gamma rays obtained from spaced apart receivers on a downhole tool, or a ratio of detected inelastic and capture gamma rays. The reference data is obtained by using a simulation algorithm.
US09696453B2
A method for predicting at least one property of a geological formation may include generating mapping function values relating a plurality of reference elemental compositions to corresponding reference properties thereof based upon at least one non-linear mapping function. The method may further include determining a sample elemental composition of at least one sample associated with the geological formation and performing, using a processor, an interpolation to map the sample elemental composition to at least one sample property based upon the mapping function values and the at least one non-linear function.
US09696444B2
Systems, computer readable media, and program code to provide for filtering noise and/or restoring attenuated spectral components in acoustic signals, are provided. An exemplary embodiment of a system is configured for dynamically filtering each of a plurality of raw FFT data samples of a record to remove or attenuate background noise contained therein to thereby produce a corresponding plurality of cleaned FFT data samples. The sample-specific background noise is removed or attenuated by a record-specific dynamic filter to produce the corresponding cleaned FFT data samples. The system can also perform the operations of restoring the attenuated high-frequency components of the cleaned data samples through application of a record-specific Restoring Processor at least partially defined by a portion of the cleaned data samples and a Gain Function to thereby produce cleaned and restored data samples, and applying an inverse transformation to convert the cleaned and restored data samples into cleaned and restored data samples in time domain data.
US09696427B2
Embodiments for a depth sensing camera with a wide field of view are disclosed. In one example, a depth sensing camera comprises an illumination light projection subsystem, an image detection subsystem configured to acquire image data having a wide angle field of view, a logic subsystem configured to execute instructions, and a data-holding subsystem comprising stored instructions executable by the logic subsystem to control projection of illumination light and to determine depth values from image data acquired via the image sensor. The image detection subsystem comprises an image sensor and one or more lenses.
US09696424B2
An imaging sensor device is configured to illuminate a viewing field using an array of focused light spots spaced across the viewing field rather than uniformly illuminating the viewing field, thereby reducing the amount of illumination energy required to produce a given intensity of light reflected from the spots. In some embodiments, the imaging sensor device can project an array of focused light spots at two different intensities or brightness levels, such that high intensity and low intensity light spots are interlaced across the viewing field. This ensures that both relatively dark and relatively bright or reflective objects can be reliably detected within the viewing field. The intensities of the light spots can be modulated based on measured conditions of the viewing field, including but not limited to the measured ambient light or a determined dynamic range of reflectivity of objects within the viewing field.
US09696421B2
A handheld through-wall sensing system comprising a transmitter/receiving operating at wireless data or cellular transmission frequencies. The system is operated in a monostatic radar mode with transmission occurring on frequency fo and reception on a predetermined bandwidth centered on fo. The system may be operated on a pulsed or pseudo “half duplex” mode and have a transmit/receive pattern that is a function of the desired minimum stand-off distance.
US09696418B2
A spatially-distributed architecture (SDA) of antennas transmits a set of uniquely coded signals. A first receiver having a known position in a coordinate system defined by the SDA receives reflected versions of the uniquely coded signals. A first processor receives the reflected versions of the uniquely coded signals and identifies a position of a non-cooperative object in the coordinate system. A platform having a second receiver receives non-reflected versions of the uniquely coded signals. The platform determines a position of the platform in the coordinate system. In an example, the platform uses a self-determined position and a position of the non-cooperative object communicated from the SDA to navigate or guide the platform relative to the non-cooperative object. In another example, the platform uses a self-determined position and information from an alternative signal source in a second coordinate system to guide the platform after a coordinate conversion.
US09696414B2
A candidate companion screen device is located by a primary display device as being in the same room as the primary device using sonic signaling, and in response ancillary content related to content being shown on the primary display device is provided to the companion screen device. The ancillary content may be provided from the Internet based on information in the content being presented on the primary display device by, e.g., providing a link to a website to the companion device.
US09696410B1
Provided are an apparatus for minimizing occurrence of an error in measuring an altitude, and a method thereof. A jamming suppression apparatus of an altitude measuring sensor includes a signal unit configured to transmit a radio frequency (RF) signal to the outside or receive an RF signal from the outside, and a processing unit configured to determine whether jamming has occurred on the basis of a noise signal received from the signal unit, and suppress jamming by performing at least one of a plurality of jamming suppression algorithms sequentially or simultaneously on the basis of a current altitude when jamming has occurred according to the determination result.
US09696402B2
Provided is a probe card inspection apparatus including: a substrate; a first insulating layer which covers the substrate; and a first detection unit which is formed on the first insulating layer and detects physical defects of a probe of a probe card. The first detection unit includes: a ground detection unit including a first conductive pattern which defines a plurality of openings which expose a portion of the first insulating layer and detect defects of a ground probe of the probe card and; and a signal and power detection unit including a second conductive pattern which defines a plurality of openings which expose another portion of the first insulating layer and detect defects of a signal and power supply probe of the probe card.
US09696400B2
A method and a pulse sequence optimization device to optimize a pulse sequence for a magnetic resonance system, wherein the pulse sequence includes at least one refocusing pulse, one slice selection gradient pulse, and one gradient spoiler pulse. The pulse duration of the refocusing pulse is shortened, and the pulse duration of the slice selection gradient pulse is adapted to the shortened pulse duration of the refocusing pulse. The amplitude of the slice selection gradient pulse is increased so that the same slice thickness is selected as before the shortening of the pulse duration of the refocusing pulse. The pulse shape of the gradient spoiler pulse is adapted without changing a total spoiler moment, and an optimally shortened pulse duration of the refocusing pulse is achieved when, with the adaptation of the pulse shape of the gradient spoiler pulse, the maximum amplitude of the gradient spoiler pulse equals the amplitude of the slice selection gradient pulse, and an edge steepness of the gradient spoiler pulse is minimized.
US09696399B2
In a method and magnetic resonance apparatus for image acquisition using a magnetic resonance sequence in which k-space corresponding to the imaging area is scanned, a first region of k-space, which does not include the center of k-space, is scanned radially along a number of spokes emanating from the k-space center, and at least two phase coding gradients are completely ramped up before the excitation pulse. A second central region of k-space, which remains without the first region, is scanned in a Cartesian manner. For contrast increase a pre-pulse is provided before a predetermined number of individual measurements. The number of spokes is selected so a measurement point nearest to the k-space center is measured at a predetermined point in time after the pre-pulse, which is optimal for signal-to-noise ratio and/or contrast.
US09696398B2
Provided is a magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography (MRI-PET) system. The MRI-PET system includes a PET unit and a radiofrequency (RF) coil disposed within a gradient coil assembly.
US09696397B2
Detection and recognition of taggant substances having predefined zero external field magnetic resonance signatures. An object comprising taggant substance(s) is irradiated with a sequence of specific excitation pulses of electromagnetic radiation within a predetermined time and frequency scanning pattern, responsive nuclear spin echo signals are received from the object with a predetermined time and frequency acquisition pattern and data indicative thereof is generated. The scanning and acquisition patterns used permit successive transmission of pulses of multiple frequencies using a two-pulse spin-echo excitation technique, or a steady state-spin echo excitation technique, and successive acquisition of multiple nuclear spin echo response signals, within a time slot between two successive excitation pulses of a specific excitation frequency. The generated data is correlated with reference data corresponding to predetermined taggant substance(s) and one or more taggant substances are identified based on the determined correlation.
US09696396B2
A method (10) for acquiring magnetic resonance data from a sample (50) to be analyzed through a fixed geometry configuration coil suitable for transmitting radiofrequency signals ‘suitable for exciting said sample and/or detecting magnetic resonance signals from the sample (50) is described. The coil (100) comprises a plurality of current elements (20,21,22) and exhibits a frequency response comprising a plurality of resonant modes (M1, M2, M3) each associable to a respective resonant frequency (f1,f2,f3) depending on electrical features of the current elements (20,21,22), the current elements (20,21,22) comprising at least one current element having electrical features that may be regulated based on a respective control signal (S_CV0, S_CV1, S_CV2). The method provides for synthesizing the control signal such as to obtain magnetic resonance data from a same sample for a given first resonant frequency of interest sequentially using resonance modes having different spatial field distributions.
US09696388B2
A magnetic sensing apparatus and a magnetic sensing method thereof are provided. The magnetic sensing apparatus includes a reference magnetic field (MF) generating unit, a MF sensing unit, a signal processing unit, a calibration unit and a frequency generating unit. The MF sensing unit senses an external MF and a reference MF to provide a MF sensing signal. The signal processing unit receives and transfers the MF sensing signal into an output signal. The calibration unit calibrates the output signal according to the MF sensing signal. The frequency generating unit provides an operating frequency. The reference MF generating unit provides the reference MF according to the operating frequency, and the MF sensing unit senses the external MF and the reference MF according to the operating frequency.
US09696385B2
An apparatus for detecting the state of a checkable storage battery in a vehicle having at least two vehicle onboard power supply systems of different operating voltages is provided. The vehicle onboard power supply systems are coupled by a DC/DC converter, which converts a first DC voltage of a first vehicle onboard power supply system into a second DC voltage of the storage battery in the second vehicle onboard power supply system. The vehicle onboard power supply systems have a control device that includes a test signal module configured to supply a test signal via the DC/DC converter to the checkable storage battery, a measured value detection module configured to measure the reaction values of the checkable storage battery, and an evaluation module configured to detect the state of the storage battery from the measured reaction values.
US09696383B2
A battery monitoring system includes a plurality of battery monitoring devices connected to a battery formed by connecting a plurality of battery cell groups in series, and monitor a state of the battery for the respective battery cell groups, each of the plurality of battery cell groups being of one or a plurality of battery cells connected in series, and a controller that performs wireless communication with the plurality of battery monitoring devices. First identification information portions which are different from each other are set in the plurality of battery monitoring devices in advance, and second identification information corresponding to an order of potentials of the battery cell groups in the battery, to which the battery monitoring devices are connected, is assigned to each of the plurality of battery monitoring devices. The controller stores a relationship between the first and second identification information for each battery monitoring device.
US09696381B2
In a method for testing a bar winding of a rotor of a rotating electrical machine, a rotor temperature is detected by a thermal radiation sensor, which is arranged in a stator of the rotating electrical machine. A thermal radiation sensor is used with a resolution suitable for the thermal detection of individual bars of the bar winding. The rotor is rotated at a speed that is lower than a limit frequency of the thermal radiation sensor divided by the number of bars of the bar winding, and the thermal radiation of the rotor is detected by the thermal radiation sensor. The thermal radiation sensor is sampled at a sampling frequency that is higher than the speed of the rotor multiplied by the number of bars and the sampled values of the thermal radiation sensor are evaluated.
US09696370B2
Provided is a probe station system which can measure thermal distribution and thermographic images. More particularly, a probe station is provided which can detect an electrical characteristics change according to the supply of heat to an element, for example a thermoelectric element to measure the characteristics of the element. The probe station for the simultaneous measurement of thermal and electrical characteristics of a thermoelectric element includes: a chamber, a base, a platform, a probe unit, a heat source, and an infrared image detection unit and the thermographic image and the voltage signal of the element are synchronized in real time.
US09696369B2
A wafer test apparatus includes a probe station comprising a probe card that contacts a wafer positioned on a chuck during a wafer test. A test head is disposed on the probe card and tests electrical characteristics of a semiconductor chip positioned on the wafer. A probe card horizontality adjustment unit is positioned between the test head and the probe card and adjusts horizontality of the probe card during the wafer test.
US09696366B2
A terminal testing device provides an adapter customized to a port of a connector being tested so that force applied to the adapter identifies loose and fixed terminals in the connector. The adapter includes springs and push pins that correspond in number to the number of terminals being tested and has a face plate that corresponds to the type of connector being tested. The push pins provide force against the terminal end. Specifically, the device seats the adapter and connector to align both and permit force to be in line with terminal ends. The force applied to the terminal ends is uniform and controlled by means of the adapter and is obtained by a single driving means.
US09696362B2
A clamp meter configured to receive a removable and rechargeable battery pack. The clamp meter includes a main body having a first axis, a handle, a clamp, a trigger, and a display. The handle has a second axis and includes a first recess configured to receive the battery pack. The first recess includes at least first and second electrical terminals which are exposed when the battery pack is not inserted into the first recess. The second axis forms an oblique angle with the first axis, and the battery pack is inserted into the first recess along the second axis. The clamp is coupled to the main body, aligned with the first axis, and operable to measure an electrical characteristic of a conductor based on an induced current. The trigger is operable to selectively open and close the clamp, and the display configured to display an indication of the electrical characteristic.
US09696352B2
A switching device is controlled by a microprocessor to selectively configure the circuit between a current measurement mode and a calibration mode. When the switch is set to the “on” state, the circuit acts as a normal prior art circuit, with the output Vout being read by the microprocessor to determine the current to the load. However, when the switch is set to the “off” state, a small value resistor (which may be roughly three orders of magnitude greater than Rshunt) connects the inputs of the measuring circuit so that the circuit can generate an output Vout corresponding to the zero load current. By connecting the V+ and V− inputs together with a low resistance resistor, the no-load condition Vdiff=V+−V−≈0 applies. In this state, the no-load offset can be determined by measuring the output voltage of the circuit without turning off the load.
US09696347B2
The test system provides an array of test probes having a cross beam. The probes pass through a first or upper probe guide retainer which has a plurality of slot sized to receive the probes in a way that they cannot rotate. The probes are biased upwardly through the retainer by an elastomeric block having a similar array of slots. The elastomer is then capped at its bottom by a second or lower retainer with like slots to form a sandwich with the elastomer therebetween. The bottom ends of the probes are group by probe height. A plurality of flex circuits at the different heights engage bottom probe ends at their respective height levels and take continue the circuits to a probe card where test signals originate.
US09696344B2
The present invention relates to a test socket which allows for ease of alignment, and more particularly, to a test socket that is interposed between a device to be inspected and an inspection apparatus so as to electrically connect terminals of the device to be inspected and pads of the inspection apparatus, the test socket including: an alignment member that has a plurality of through-holes formed at points corresponding to the terminals of the device to be inspected or the pads of the inspection apparatus and is attached to the inspection apparatus such that the through-holes are located at the pads of the inspection apparatus; and an elastic conductive sheet including conductive parts that are disposed at the points corresponding to the terminals of the device to be inspected and include a plurality of conductive particles that are distributed in an insulating elastic material, insulating support parts that support the conductive parts and disconnect an electrical connection between adjacent conductive parts, and protruding conductive parts that protrude downward from the conductive parts and are inserted into the plurality of through-holes of the alignment member, wherein when the protruding conductive parts are inserted into the through-holes of the alignment member, the elastic conductive sheet is aligned in the the alignment member.
US09696343B2
An asset management system comprising an asset management server connected to a plurality of distributed HF sensitive measurement devices each having at least one inseparable asset tag being located outside a high frequency shield which shields an internal circuitry of the measurement device from external high frequency signals and being configured to provide asset data of the respective measurement device to be processed by the asset management server.
US09696339B2
A three-axis accelerometer to provide measurement of acceleration in three axes, comprising a substrate, a suspending mass block suspended in the substrate, a group of Y direction displacement sensors, a group of Z direction displacement sensors and a group of X direction displacement sensors; wherein the Y direction displacement sensors, the Z direction displacement sensors and the X direction displacement sensors are respectively arranged adjacent to the mass block; the mass block and the displacement sensors respectively comprise a plurality of metal layers and a dielectric layer between two metal layers. In the mass block, regions corresponding to the Y, Z and X direction displacement sensors respectively comprise at least two metal layers connected by a via. The Y, Z and X groups displacement sensors respectively comprise at least two metal layers connected by a via.
US09696337B2
A portable proximity device and method of operation thereof. The method for proximity detection implemented on a portable device can include determining an initial perturbation data, a tracking point data, and a stable position data with a physical sensor of the portable device. The initial perturbation data can include previous state data and current state data. The tracking point data can include one or more track data. An action to be performed can be determined, by a processor within the portable device, based on the initial perturbation data, the tracking point data, and the stable position data. The portable proximity device can include a physical sensor and a processor configured to perform these steps.
US09696332B2
A liquid handling system that is configured to receive an interchangeable pipetting head that is selected from a plurality of interchangeable pipetting heads for automated liquid handling flexibility and scalability. The system includes a housing and at least one pipetting head disposed within that housing for aspirating and dispensing a liquid. A locking mechanism interchangeably receives the at least one pipetting head and includes an adaptor plate and a support block. The adaptor plate is operably coupled to the housing and the support block is operably coupled to the at least one pipetting head. The support block is then, in turn, is configured to be operably coupled to the adaptor plate.
US09696331B2
The device uses a dispensing probe; a dispensing probe drive mechanism having at least one rotation drive shaft as a horizontal drive mechanism for the dispensing probe, a positioning member with a portion, which is contacted by the dispensing probe during positioning, is formed in a circular shape; a contact detection mechanism for detecting contact between the dispensing probe and the positioning member, and a control unit. The control unit drive-controls only one drive shaft into contact with the circular portion of the positioning member, and then drive-controls only one drive shaft other than the previously drive-controlled shaft into contact with the circular portion of the positioning member, and then calculates position information on a center point at a desired position where the dispensing probe is to be positioned, on the basis of position information on each point at which the contact has been detected, or the like.
US09696322B2
The present invention relates to methods and compositions for monitoring, diagnosis, prognosis, and determination of treatment regimens in subjects suffering from or suspected of having a renal injury. In particular, the invention relates to using a measured urine concentration of one or more of TIMP2 and IGFBP7 in combination with one or more of a measured serum creatinine and a measured urine output, which results are correlated to the renal status of the subject, and can be used for diagnosis, prognosis, risk stratification, staging, monitoring, categorizing and determination of further diagnosis and treatment regimens in subjects suffering or at risk of suffering from an injury to renal function, reduced renal function, and/or acute renal failure.
