44th week of 2013 patent applcation highlights part 75 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20130290902 | USER CONTROL INTERFACE FOR AN APPLIANCE, AND ASSOCIATED METHOD - A touchscreen user interface and associated method are provided for controlling a laundry appliance. The laundry appliance includes a controller device configured to direct operation of at least one operational component associated with the laundry appliance in response to at least one user selection via a touchscreen user interface in communication with the controller device. The touchscreen user interface has a display screen for displaying a series of main laundry cycle icons, each main laundry cycle icon being associated with a respective main laundry cycle capable of being implemented via the controller device. The series of main laundry cycle icons are scrollable across the display screen in opposing first and second scrolling directions, and each main laundry cycle icon is individually selectable as one of the at least one user selection via user touch interaction with the touchscreen user interface. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290903 | START MENU OPERATION FOR COMPUTER USER INTERFACE - A distinction is made between input mechanisms to determine which input mechanism was used to activate a start menu. A start menu is selected that corresponds to the input mechanism that was used to activate it. Further data corresponding to start menu interaction is received, and action is taken via based on the further interaction. For example, upon detecting activation of a start menu, how the start menu was activated from among activation types is used to present a first start menu/behavior for a first activation type, which may differ from a second start menu/behavior activated via a second activation type. For example, a determination may be made as to whether a start menu was invoked via a pointing device or via keyboard; when via keyboard, a search entry region may be provided, by which a user may directly enter search criteria via the keyboard. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290904 | CHARACTER BASED SEARCH AND DISCOVERY OF MEDIA CONTENT - Mechanisms are provided for character-based and image-based media content search and discovery. Character images or entity images are mapped to corresponding media content. Selection of an image or a portion of an image may trigger or search for corresponding media content or begin playback of relevant media content. Character images or entity images need not correspond to a primary program character or object but may correspond to minor characters or tangential entities depicted periodically on particular programs. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290905 | AVATARS FOR USE WITH PERSONALIZED GENERALIZED CONTENT RECOMMENDATIONS - Users receive content recommendations from a personalized, generalized recommendation service that aggregates and selects content of high personal relevance to each individual user from a large pool of both personal and public content. The received content is filtered and the content determined to be relevant is cached. When a user request for content is received, the cached content is rescored and the content determined to be most relevant based on satisfaction of a relevance threshold is selected and forwarded to the user. Feedback methodologies are also implemented so that a user's actions are taken into consideration in real time and can affect subsequent recommendations to the user. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290906 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TEXT SELECTION - A method includes, detecting a location of a text selection icon on a display of an electronic device, and, detecting touch input representing a selection of text displayed on the display using the text selection icon, wherein: if the detected location of the text selection icon is maintained within a zone adjacent an edge of the display, the displayed text is selected on a row by row basis, and, if the detected location of the text selection icon moves outside said zone, the displayed text is selected on a letter by letter basis. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290907 | CREATING AN OBJECT GROUP INCLUDING OBJECT INFORMATION FOR INTERFACE OBJECTS IDENTIFIED IN A GROUP SELECTION MODE - Examples disclosed herein relate to creating an object group including object information for interface objects identified in a group selection mode. Examples include activating a group selection mode and receiving identification of interface objects displayed in different interfaces of a graphical user interface (GUI) in the group selection mode. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290908 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CREATING AND UTILIZING HIGH VISUAL ASPECT RATIO VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS - An interactive virtual method for manufacturing plant construction, planning, design, touring, and/or management, the method comprising: providing a user with a first interactive, virtual environment comprising facility information and equipment information; proposing a question; and navigating the environment to obtain answers to the proposed questions; wherein said method is a computer-based environment comprising a high visual aspect ratio and wherein said method does not employ computer-aided design. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290909 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A DIRECTIONAL INTERFACE - A system and method for providing directional feedback. A user selection of a directional indicator is received from a first directional interface. The directional indicator is converted to an encoded signal. The encoded signal is communicated from a first directional interface to one or more directional interfaces. The encoded signal is converted to the directional indicator by the one or more directional interfaces. The direction indicator is communicated to one or more users by the one or more directional interfaces. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290910 | USER INTERFACE CONTROL USING A KEYBOARD - User interface control using a keyboard is described. In an embodiment, a user interface displayed on a display device is controlled using a computer connected to a keyboard. The keyboard has a plurality of alphanumeric keys that can be used for text entry. The computer receives data comprising a sequence of key-presses from the keyboard, and generates for each key-press a physical location on the keyboard. The relative physical locations of the key-presses are compared to calculate a movement path over the keyboard. The movement path describes the path of a user's digit over the keyboard. The movement path is mapped to a sequence of coordinates in the user interface, and the movement of an object displayed in the user interface is controlled in accordance with the sequence of coordinates. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290911 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MULTIMODAL AND GESTURAL CONTROL - Embodiments of the present invention disclose a multimodal and gestural control system. According to one embodiment, the multimodal and gestural control system is configured to detect a gesture command from a user via at least one device of a plurality of devices. A control operation and a destination device are both determined based on the gesture command such that the determined control operation is executed on the determined destination device. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290912 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING MASK PROCESS IMPACT ON LITHOGRAPHY PERFORMANCE - The present disclosure is directed generally to a method and apparatus for monitoring mask process impact on lithography performance. A method including receiving a physical wafer pattern according to a mask, extracting a mask contour from the mask, and extracting a deconvolution pattern based on the mask contour. A lithography process is simulated to create a virtual wafer pattern based on the deconvolution pattern. The virtual wafer pattern is then compared to the physical wafer pattern. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290913 | METHOD FOR OPTICAL PROXIMITY CORRECTION OF A RETICLE TO BE MANUFACTURED USING SHAPED BEAM LITHOGRAPHY - In the field of semiconductor production using shaped charged particle beam lithography, a method and system for fracturing or mask data preparation or proximity effect correction is disclosed, wherein a series of curvilinear character projection shots are determined for a charged particle beam writer system, such that the set of shots can form a continuous track, possibly of varying width, on a surface. A method for forming a continuous track on a surface using a series of curvilinear character projection shots is also disclosed. Methods for manufacturing a reticle and for manufacturing a substrate such as a silicon wafer by forming a continuous track on a surface using a series of curvilinear character projection shots is also disclosed. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290914 | Methods and Apparatus for Floorplanning and Routing Co-Design - Methods and apparatus of performing floorplanning and routing for function blocks within a die and among multiple die are disclosed. Multiple die together with function blocks within each die may be represented by a flexible hierarchical (FH) tree. An initial floorplan for multiple die may be generated and hot spots between die or among function blocks within a die may be identified. Spacer blocks may be inserted between die, and block inflation may be performed, to remove hot spots. More perturbation of the block positions can be performed on the FH tree to rearrange the blocks and die. After the multiple die floorplanning, a plurality of micro bumps may be mapped to a plurality of pins of blocks of the plurality of die, placement and routing may be performed for the plurality of blocks within each die and connections for the plurality of dies. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290915 | COMPUTATIONAL EFFICIENCY IN PHOTOLITHOGRAPHIC PROCESS SIMULATION - Photolithographic process simulation is described in which fast computation of resultant intensity for a large number of process variations and/or target depths (var,z | 2013-10-31 |
20130290916 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REDUCING LAYOUT-DEPENDENT EFFECTS - A method includes extracting a first netlist from a first layout of a semiconductor circuit and estimating layout-dependent effect data based on the first netlist. A first simulation of the semiconductor circuit is performed based on the first netlist using an electronic design automation tool, and a second simulation of the semiconductor circuit is performed based on a circuit schematic using the electronic design automation tool. A weight and a sensitivity of the at least one layout-dependent effect are calculated, and the first layout of the semiconductor circuit is adjusted based on the weight and the sensitivity to provide a second layout of the semiconductor circuit. The second layout is stored in a non-transient storage medium. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290917 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR INFERRING HIGHER LEVEL DESCRIPTIONS FROM RTL TOPOLOGY BASED ON CONNECTIVITY PROPAGATION - A system and several methods for inferring higher level descriptions of circuit connectivity from register transfer level (RTL) netlists in order to provide more understandable and manageable design descriptions for complex System-on-Chip (SOC) designs, is provided. In particular, interface matching based on connectivity propagation is automatically performed whereby port names and properties on instances of functional elements and blocks are propagated to top level design ports as well as other instances of functional elements and blocks to create a more robust description of connectivity according to the RTL netlist, and to automatically form signal groupings that comprise a higher-level abstracted description. Also, a facility is included to allow user-guided grouping of instantiated interfaces with respect to actual signal names and properties in an RTL-level design. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290918 | CONSTRUCTING INDUCTIVE COUNTEREXAMPLES IN A MULTI-ALGORITHM VERIFICATION FRAMEWORK - A computer-implemented method simplifies a netlist, verifies the simplified netlist using induction, and remaps resulting inductive counterexamples via inductive trace lifting within a multi-algorithm verification framework. The method includes: a processor deriving a first unreachable state information that can be utilized to simplify the netlist; performing a simplification of the netlist utilizing the first unreachable state information; determining whether the first unreachable state information can be inductively proved on an original version of the netlist; and in response to the first unreachable state information not being inductively provable on the original netlist: projecting the first unreachable state information to a minimal subset; and adding the projected unreachable state information as an invariant to further constrain a child induction process. Adding the projected state information as an invariant ensures that any resulting induction counterexamples can be mapped to valid induction counterexamples on the original netlist before undergoing the simplification. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290919 | SELECTIVE EXECUTION FOR PARTITIONED PARALLEL SIMULATIONS - Computer implemented techniques for the partitioned simulation of parallel architectures are disclosed. A high-level design for simulation is obtained. A graph representation for the high-level design is determined. The graph for the high-level design is partitioned into sub-graphs. A subset of the sub-graphs is selected for simulation based on input-change bits of the sub-graphs. The subset of the sub-graphs is subsequently evaluated on parallel architectures in order to produce a simulation result for the high-level design. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290920 | DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL CIRCUITS WITH TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEXING - Methods and apparatuses to design and analyze digital circuits with time division multiplexing. In one embodiment, the method for designing a digital circuit comprises determining signal timing for a portion of the digital circuit, and automatically replacing nets for a plurality of connections in the digital circuit with a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) channel in response to a determining of routing congestion. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290921 | SWAPPING PORTS TO CHANGE THE TIMING WINDOW OVERLAP OF ADJACENT NETS - In an embodiment, a list of ports and a physical location of the ports specified in a circuit design is created. Physically adjacent port pairs are determined within the list of the ports that are physically adjacent. For each respective physically adjacent port pair, the following elements are performed: calculating a timing window overlap for a current port and a next port in the respective physically adjacent port pair, computing a timing window overlap for the current port and each following port that is within a predetermined physical distance, and if the timing window overlap between the respective physically adjacent port pair is not smaller than the timing window overlap for the current port and each following port, swapping a physical location of the adjacent port with a physical location of the following port that has a smallest timing window overlap with the current port. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290922 | SPECIFICATION FILES FOR CALL TRANSLATION AND TRACE - A method and apparatus for storing a function specification file is described. In an exemplary method, the function specification field is capable for providing other software to facilitate execution of an application in a second operating system with the presence of a first operating system and the application is compiled for the first operating system. In another exemplary method, a preprocessor receives the function specification file comprising function definition data for a library function. The preprocessor processes the function definition data to generate header information and function code for the function. In another exemplary method, the preprocessor generates an automatic logging framework for the interposing library based on the function definition data. Further, a function in an interposing library logs calls to a corresponding library function. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290923 | Systems and Methods for Generating a Standardized Power Generation Class Model - Certain embodiments herein relate to generating a power generation class model for use by program code to interact with one or more operational components in a power generation system. The class model may include objects and elements which may be associated with operational components and attributes associated with the operational components, respectively. Associations may be made between such operational components and their attributes. Various representations of the class model, based at least in part on the associations, may be output for use by program code. In one embodiment, a class model may be generated using Uniform Modeling Language (UML). The UML class may be converted to a schema, such as Extensible Markup Language Schema Definition (XSD), and compiled to create a Java or C# object, in one embodiment. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290924 | APPLICATION BASED ON NODE TYPES ASSOCIATED WITH IMPLICIT BACKTRACKING - Example embodiments disclosed herein relate to development of an application. An interface can be provided to develop an application using multiple nodes associated with a workflow model. The workflow model can include implicit backtracking based on node type. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290925 | UNIFIED STATE TRANSITION TABLE DESCRIBING A STATE MACHINE MODEL - A computer-readable memory device may include instructions to store data describing a state machine model including source states and destination states. The device may also include instructions to store, for each of the source states, a condition field identifying a condition upon which, when satisfied, the state machine model transitions from the source state to one of the destination states. The device may also include instructions to store, for each of source states, a destination field identifying the one of the destination states. Each of at least two of the source states may identify an identical destination state in the corresponding destination field. Each of at least two of the source states may identify an identical condition in the corresponding condition field. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290926 | SEMANTIC CODE BINDING TO ENABLE NON-DEVELOPERS TO BUILD APPS - In various embodiments, a computer-implemented method for ontology-based application construction is disclosed. The method comprises generating, by a processor, a first component comprising a first ontology, matching, by the processor, a first parameter of the first component with at least one second component comprising a second ontology; and linking, by the processor, the first parameter of the first component with a second parameter of the second component. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290927 | DYNAMIC CODE GENERATION TO DYNAMICALLY CREATE AND DEPLOY MESSAGING PROVIDER-SPECIFIC WRAPPERS FOR A RESOURCE ADAPTER - A computer-controlled method can include an application providing a request to a resource adapter and, responsive to receiving the request, the resource adapter instructing a Java Messaging Service (JMS) provider to provide an object. The JMS provider can provide the requested object to the resource adapter. The resource adapter can send to a class loader a request for the class loader to create a class and, responsive thereto, the class loader can create the class and provide it to the resource adapter. The resource adapter can instantiate the class to create a wrapper object, wrap the object based on the wrapper object, and send the wrapped object to the application. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290928 | NON-LITERAL REPRESENTATION OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE CODE - Exemplary embodiments may provide methods, systems and devices for providing non-literal representations of programming language code. The non-literal representation of a portion of code may provide a representation of the semantics of the portion of code that is different from the source code representation. The non-literal representation may change the way the code is output to a user in order to improve readability of the source code, and may not modify the underlying structure or semantics of the code. While improving readability of the code, the non-literal representation may also retain important information about the underlying code associated with the non-literal representation. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290929 | METHOD OF MANAGING SCRIPT, SERVER PERFORMING THE SAME AND STORAGE MEDIA STORING THE SAME - The present invention relates to a script management technology. Disclosed are approaches for managing scripts carried out in a script management server, which is connected to a user terminal and which manages script codes. Approaches comprise preparing a plurality of databases including a meta database and a plurality of script databases without necessarily separating physically the two types of databases; designating an active script database by providing the plurality of the original script lists to the user terminal; and storing identifiers of the user terminal and the designated active script database in the meta database, where the plurality of script databases are classified according to script version and each of them manages the original script code and user-specific script code, and the meta database manages a plurality of the original script lists related to the plurality of script databases and a list of user-specific scripts. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290930 | RESOURCE DEPLOYMENT BASED ON CONDITIONS - Architecture that facilitates the package partitioning of application resources based on conditions, and the package applicability based on the conditions. An index is created for a unified lookup of the available resources. At build time of an application, the resources are indexed and determined to be applicable based on the conditions. The condition under which the resource is applicable is then used to automatically partition the resource into an appropriate package. Each resource package then becomes applicable under the conditions in which the resources within it are applicable, and is deployed to the user if the user merits the conditions (e.g., an English user will receive an English package of English strings, but not a French package). Before the application is run, the references to the resources are merged and can be used to do appropriate lookup of what resources are available. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290931 | COMPUTER METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENGINEERED PRODUCT MANAGEMENT INCLUDING SIMULTANEOUS INDICATION OF WORKING COPY STATUS AND REPOSITORY STATUS - A computer method and apparatus for managing revisions to engineered products includes a repository, a local data store (working copy) and a revision manager. Each engineered product is formed of one or more assets. The repository holds the plurality of assets and tracks changes of the assets. For a given asset, the revision manager provides, together in a certain screen view, display of (a) indications of changes made to a working copy of the given asset relative to the given asset as held in the repository, and (b) indications of changes made to the given asset in the repository relative to the working copy of the given asset. The certain screen view in one embodiment employs a tabular format with sortable columns, color coded symbols, textual summaries of changes made to assets and textual description of changes made to assets in the repository. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290932 | Application Programming Interface Testing Services - Technologies and implementations for providing an application programming interface testing service for transferring data center services. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290933 | TRANSLATION VERIFICATION TESTING - Embodiments of translation verification testing are provided. An aspect includes reading a symbol table and a syntax tree to which source code corresponds. Widget objects and widget object methods are obtained in the symbol table. The widget objects and widget object methods are organized into a widget structure tree according to a code calling order in the syntax tree. An index file corresponding to the source code is generated by using the symbol table, the widget structure tree and resource files, where the index file records relationships between the widget objects. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290934 | MONITORING APPLICATIONS EXECUTING ON A COMPUTER DEVICE USING PROGRAMMATIC TRIGGERS - A method is disclosed for monitoring one or more applications that are executing on a computing device. A user is enabled to insert programmatic triggers in an application. One or more operations of the application is monitored during one or more durations that is determined by the programmatic triggers. An output is provided that is based on the monitored one or more operations. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290935 | SOURCE CODE INSPECTION - A source code inspection method and system. The method includes receiving by a computing system, source code files associated with a specified project. The computing system retrieves metrics data comprising software metrics associated with the source code files. The computing system generates first evaluation scores associated with the source code files. The computing system generates and presents to a user, a graph displaying the first evaluation scores. The computing system calculates parameter values associated with an evaluation function used to calculate second evaluation scores associated with the source code files. The computing system calculates the second evaluation scores by enabling the evaluation function using the parameter values. The computing system generates and presents to the user, a second graph displaying the second evaluation scores. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290936 | Method and System for Correlated Tracing with Automated Multi-Layer Function Instrumentation Localization - A system for automatically instrumenting and tracing an application program and related software components achieves a correlated tracing of the program execution. It includes tracing of endpoints that are the set of functions in the program execution path that the developers are interested. The tracing endpoints and related events become the total set of functions to be traced in the program (called instrument points). This invention automatically analyzes the program and generates such instrumentation points to enable correlated tracing. The generated set of instrumentation points addresses common questions that developers ask when they use monitoring tools. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290937 | EFFICIENT EXTRACTION OF SOFTWARE DEPENDENCIES FROM PROGRAM CODE - Calls to stop functions are identified in a computer program file. The stop functions are functions that interact with external resources. Parameters of the calls to the stop functions that are references to the external resources are identified. An analysis is performed over the computer program file to find out possible values of the parameters of the calls. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290938 | TESTING APPLICATIONS - A system and method for testing an application are provided herein. The method includes automatically executing a script for testing an application, collecting test step information corresponding to test steps performed in accordance with the script, and collecting profiling information during execution of the script. The test step information and the profiling information include data that are used to automatically synchronize the test step information and the profiling information. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290939 | DYNAMIC DATA FOR PRODUCING A SCRIPT - Dynamic data associated with multiple execution instances of an application process is stored in a data structure. The dynamic data includes correlation data for identifying a communication between at least one client computer and a server computer. The dynamic data in the data structure is retrievable to produce a script to simulate behavior relating to execution of the application process. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290940 | SYMBOL-BASED MERGING OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS - Provided is a method of symbol-based merging of computer programs. A source program file and a destination program file, wherein the source file is a later generated version of the destination program file, is parsed to identify symbols present in the source program file and the destination program file. A mapping of the symbols present in the source program file and the destination program file is generated. From the mapping, symbols that were modified, added or deleted in the source program file since it was generated from the destination program file are identified. The identified symbols are merged. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290941 | CERTIFICATION FOR FLEXIBLE RESOURCE DEMAND APPLICATIONS - Technologies are generally provided for optimizing virtual machine performances at a datacenter and managing sudden resource demand changes by co-residing applications on same virtual machines through a flexible resource demand certification approach. A flexible resource demand certificate may be generated for applications including predetermined operating compilation architectures that run well but have different resource demands. A Just In Time (JIT) compiler may be directed to selected target settings for a combination of operational parameter settings such that the co-residing applications can share resources without overloading system resources. Applications to be migrated to a new datacenter or a new virtual machine at a datacenter may be assigned and adjusted according to their and potential co-residing applications' certificates providing optimized resource usage. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290942 | METHOD, COMPUTER, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR SPECULATIVELY OPTIMIZING CODE - A method, computer, and computer program for speculatively optimizing a code. The method includes speculatively optimizing the code characterized by searching in a predetermined order in at least one dictionary; extracting a value associated with a symbol name from a dictionary using the symbol name as a key; performing optimization to replace a symbol in the code with the value; compiling the code to be compiled including some or all of the optimized code; comparing, in response to detection of a change related to one dictionary among at least one dictionary, an order m in the predetermined order of the dictionary with the detected change to an order n of the dictionary with the extracted value; and invalidating the optimized code in the compiled code associated with the dictionary having the detected change in response to the results from the orders comparison and the type of change. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290943 | METHODS TO OPTIMIZE A PROGRAM LOOP VIA VECTOR INSTRUCTIONS USING A SHUFFLE TABLE AND A BLEND TABLE - According to one embodiment, a code optimizer is configured to receive first code having a program loop implemented with scalar instructions to store values of a first array to a second array based on values of a third array and to generate second code representing the program loop using at least one vector instruction. The second code include a shuffle instruction to shuffle elements of the first array based on the third array using a shuffle table in a vector manner, a blend instruction to blend the shuffled elements of the first array using a blend table in a vector manner, and a store instruction to store the blended elements of the first array in the second array. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290944 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECOMMENDING PRODUCT FEATURES IN A SOFTWARE APPLICATION IN REAL TIME - A computer implemented method and apparatus for recommending product features in a software application in real time comprising analyzing an object to detect at least one issue to be addressed in the object; identifying at least one user action taken to address the at least one issue in the object; accessing a recommendations library to find at least one recommendation to address the at least one issue in the object; and displaying the at least one recommendation. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290945 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING AN IN-SERVICE SOFTWARE UPGRADE IN NON-REDUNDANT SYSTEMS - An information handling system is provided. The information handling system includes one or more devices coupled together to route information between the one or more devices and other devices coupled thereto based on routing information stored in the one or more devices. The one or more devices includes a routing processor, one or more line cards coupled to the routing processor, the one or more line cards receiving the routing information from the routing processor for routing data packets to a destination, and a memory coupled to the routing processor. The routing processor is configured to create an active image having a current state of the routing information and create a standby image having the current state of the routing information, wherein the standby image requests the current state of the routing information from the active image using a key that is calculated using a portion of the routing information. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290946 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD FOR UPDATING FIRMWARE IN INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM FOR STORING PROGRAM - An information processing apparatus comprises a storing unit which stores a firmware that includes a base portion that is required to allow a device to operate alone, and an application portion other than the base portion; an extracting unit which extracts, in a case where the firmware stored in the storing unit is updated using new firmware, a base portion of the new firmware; an updating unit which updates the base portion of the firmware stored in the storing unit by using the base portion extracted by the extracting unit and to update the application portion of the firmware stored in the storing unit by using the application portion of the new firmware; and an performing unit which performs the base portion updated by the updating unit, even though the updating unit does not update the application portion of the firmware stored in the storing unit. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290947 | TERMIMAL AND METHOD FOR UPDATING FIRMWARE OF BASEBOARD MANAGEMENT CONTROLLER - A method applied to a terminal for updating firmware of a BMC in a remote device includes the steps of determining whether each flag file transmitted from the remote controller is a first, a second, or a third flag file, and obtaining a network protocol of a first interface of the terminal, and initializing the same network protocol at a second interface of the remote device. Then assigning an IP address to the second interface when the flag file is determined to be the first flag file and transmitting a firmware updating file to the BMC when the flag file is determined to be the second flag file. A first control signal is generated when the flag file is determined to be the third flag file to direct the BMC to update its own firmware from the firmware updating file. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290948 | REGISTRY KEY FEDERATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS - According to certain aspects, a method is disclosed for registry key management in a network. The method includes detecting registry keys stored in a registry of a plurality of client computing devices and storing on a remote database a copy of the registry keys. The remote database is in communication with each of the client computing devices. The method further includes tracking with a management module running on the client computing devices modifications made to the registry of the first client device. In addition, the method includes modifying the copy of the registry keys on the remote database to reflect the modifications to the registry of the first client computing device; detecting a rebuild operation of the first client computing device; and automatically reinstalling registry keys on the first client computing device based on the copy of the registry keys stored on the remote database. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290949 | SYSTEM RESET - Some embodiments of the invention provide techniques whereby a user may perform a system reset (e.g., to address system performance and/or reliability degradation, such as which may be caused by unused applications that unnecessarily consume system resources, an attempted un-install of an application that left remnants of the application behind, and/or other causes). In some embodiments, performing a system reset replaces a first instance of an operating system on the system with a new instance of the operating system, and removes any applications installed on the system, without disturbing the user's data. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290950 | METHOD AND SERVICE PROVIDE FOR MANAGING EXPIRED OR CONSUMED APPLICATIONS BEING STORED IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICES - A system that enables the customer to keep applications that have been consumed or expired or representations of them and yet to delete the applications from the memory element of his/her NFC mobile communication device. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290951 | Virtual Machine Manufacturing Methods and Media - A method for manufacturing an information handling system is disclosed wherein the method includes receiving an order for an information handling system (IHS), wherein the IHS comprises at least one virtual machine (VM) and determining a number of physical systems and an amount of storage required for the IHS. The method may also include providing the number of physical systems and the amount of storage and providing virtualization software for the number of physical systems, wherein the virtualization software is utilized to create the at least one virtual machine. The method further includes pre-configuring a plurality of parameters for the at least one VM. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290952 | Copying Virtual Machine Templates To Cloud Regions - A method includes transmitting a list of virtual machine templates from a cloud management system for display to a user, the list indicating for each virtual machine template a particular region from among plural cloud regions defined as a source region in which the virtual machine template is located. A copy request is received at the cloud management system, indicating one of the virtual machine templates to copy from its associated source region to a selected destination region. The copy request is transmitted to a first cloud control server in the selected source region. The selected template is read from a block storage device in the source region and transmitted to a second cloud control server in the destination region. At the second cloud control server the transmitted template is stored to a destination virtual machine template at a block storage device in the destination region. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290953 | EFFICIENT EXECUTION OF JOBS IN A SHARED POOL OF RESOURCES - Embodiments of the invention relate to a shared group of resource and efficient processing of one or more jobs in the share group of resources. Tools are provided in the shared group of resource to assess and organize a topology of the shared resources, including physical and virtual machines, as well as storage devices. The topology is stored in a known location and utilized for efficient assignment of one or more jobs responsive to the hierarchy. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290954 | Service provider-hosted virtual machine instantiation by hoster user for use by end users - A system includes one or more computing devices accessible over a network and managed by a service provider. A hoster user accessing the system over the network, and who is at least partially unaffiliated with the service provider, is permitted to instantiate in accordance with a desired configuration a virtual machine hosted at and realized by hardware resources of the computing devices. The hoster user is further permitted to assign one or more end users unaffiliated with the service provider to the virtual machine in accordance with a desired permission specified by the hoster user. The end users accessing the system over the network, and who are unaffiliated with the service provider, are permitted to access and use the virtual machine in accordance with the desired permission specified by the hoster user. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290955 | PROVIDING A VIRTUAL NETWORK TOPOLOGY IN A DATA CENTER - Topology input is used to identify a set of data flows as between a set of virtual machines (VMs), as well as one or more network services for one or more of the data flows. A determination is made as to a minimal number of network service virtual machines (NSVMs) for use in providing the one or more network services. An arrangement is determined for server resources and network resources of the data center network on which a virtual network topology is provided for the tenant, including the set of VMs and the number of NSVMs. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290956 | VIRTUAL MACHINE SWITCHING BASED ON MEASURED NETWORK DELAY - Technologies related to virtual machine switching based on measured network delay are generally described. A network delay aware Virtual Machine (VM) may be configured to adapt a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) to delay switching back to the network delay aware VM by a delay amount determined using a measured network delay. The measured network delay may comprise a delay between sending a network communication and receiving a network response. By delaying switching back to the network delay aware VM, additional processing resources are freed for other VMs managed by the VMM, thereby increasing efficiency of computing devices including network delay aware VMs, and correspondingly increasing efficiency of data centers including such computing devices. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290957 | EFFICIENT EXECUTION OF JOBS IN A SHARED POOL OF RESOURCES - Embodiments of the invention relate to a shared group of resource and efficient processing of one or more jobs in the share group of resources. Tools are provided in the shared group of resource to assess and organize a topology of the shared resources, including physical and virtual machines, as well as storage devices. The topology is stored in a known location and utilized for efficient assignment of one or more jobs responsive to the hierarchy. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290958 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ON-DEMAND CLONING OF VIRTUAL MACHINES - A system for on-demand cloning of virtual machines (VMs) includes a virtual server to host a number of VMs, the virtual server including at least one master VM. The system also includes a Web server to authenticate a user in response to a request for online access to a new VM on the virtual server. In addition, the system includes a cloning module, in communication with the Web server and the virtual server, to automatically clone the master VM to create a unique VM clone for the user on the virtual server responsive to the request. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290959 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSFORMING LEGACY DESKTOP ENVIRONMENTS TO A VIRTUALIZED DESKTOP MODEL - A system and method for transforming a legacy device into a virtualized environment, comprising includes analyzing the profiling data for at least one application to determine usage frequency and resource requirements of the at least one application. Captured user events are benchmarked to simulate a user workload for the at least one application to determine how resource utilization and execution times scale from a legacy environment to a virtualized environment. The legacy device is transformed into the virtualized environment in accordance with a provisioning plan. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290960 | MULTITENANT HOSTED VIRTUAL MACHINE INFRASTRUCTURE - A multi-tenant virtual machine infrastructure (MTVMI) allows multiple tenants to independently access and use a plurality of virtual computing resources via the Internet. Within the MTVMI, different tenants may define unique configurations of virtual computing resources and unique rules to govern the use of the virtual computing resources. The MTVMI may be configured to provide valuable services for tenants and users associated with the tenants. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290961 | Multiple Mode Mobile Device - A particular method includes receiving authentication information at a device. The method also includes determining, by the device, whether a user is authenticated based on the authentication information. The method further includes executing, by the device, a first virtual machine in response to determining that the user is authenticated. The first virtual machine has access to sensitive information. The method also includes executing, by the device, a first application on the first virtual machine. The method further includes determining, by the device, whether execution of an instruction associated with a second virtual machine would result in a fault. The method also includes, in response to determining that execution of the instruction would result in the fault, preventing execution of the instruction and allowing the second virtual machine to fail without adversely affecting the first virtual machine. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290962 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR ACQUIRING A VIRTUAL FRAME NUMBER AND A VIRTUAL SLOT NUMBER - A method for acquiring a virtual frame number and a virtual slot number at a virtualization platform is provided. The virtualization operating system receives a command for creating a virtual server sent from a virtualization management platform. In response to the command for creating a virtual server, the virtualization operating system creates a virtual server on a board. After creating the virtual server, the virtualization operating system sends a frame number request message carrying an identifier of the virtual server to the virtualization management platform. The virtualization operating system receives a virtual frame number corresponding to the identifier of the virtual server sent from the virtualization management platform. The virtualization operating system obtains a virtual slot number corresponding to the identifier of the virtual server according to the virtual frame number. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290963 | Workflow-Enhancing Device, System and Method - Systems and methods for performing task execution in a workflow are described. The system comprises at least one modular device ( | 2013-10-31 |
20130290964 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS - An information processing apparatus is provided for preventing an operator from erroneously rewriting data, by which a process can be performed only by connecting an external storage device to a CPU unit without checking whether a user program in the CPU unit is newer or older than that in the external storage device. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290965 | Accessing Time Stamps During Transactions in a Processor - The described embodiments include a processor that handles operations during transactions. In these embodiments, the processor comprises one or more cores. During operation, at least one core is configured to monitor the acquisition of time stamps during transactions. The at least one core is further configured to prevent the acquisition of time stamps that meet predetermined conditions. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290966 | OPERATOR GRAPH CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO DYNAMIC CONNECTIONS IN STREAM COMPUTING APPLICATIONS - A stream computing application may permit one job to connect to a data stream of a different job. As more and more jobs dynamically connect to the data stream, the connections may have a negative impact on the performance of the job that generates the data stream. Accordingly, a variety of metrics and statistics (e.g., CPU utilization or tuple rate) may be monitored to determine if the dynamic connections are harming performance. If so, the stream computing system may be optimized to mitigate the effects of the dynamic connections. For example, particular operators may be unfused from a processing element and moved to a compute node that has available computing resources. Additionally, the stream computing application may clone the data stream in order to distribute the workload of transmitting the data stream to the connected jobs. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290967 | System and Method for Implementing NUMA-Aware Reader-Writer Locks - NUMA-aware reader-writer locks may leverage lock cohorting techniques to band together writer requests from a single NUMA node. The locks may relax the order in which the lock schedules the execution of critical sections of code by reader threads and writer threads, allowing lock ownership to remain resident on a single NUMA node for long periods, while also taking advantage of parallelism between reader threads. Threads may contend on node-level structures to get permission to acquire a globally shared reader-writer lock. Writer threads may follow a lock cohorting strategy of passing ownership of the lock in write mode from one thread to a cohort writer thread without releasing the shared lock, while reader threads from multiple NUMA nodes may simultaneously acquire the shared lock in read mode. The reader-writer lock may follow a writer-preference policy, a reader-preference policy or a hybrid policy. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290968 | ADJUSTMENT OF A TASK EXECUTION PLAN AT RUNTIME - Embodiments of adjustment of a task execution plan at runtime by a task execution engine configured to receive a plan compilation task, the plan compilation task comprising a task execution plan, are provided. An aspect includes receiving a first plan compilation task by the task execution engine through a plan compilation interface. Another aspect includes modifying a task execution plan of the first plan compilation task in response to receiving a second plan compilation task by the task execution engine, the second plan compilation task comprising a task execution plan for modifying the task execution plan of the first plan compilation task. Yet another aspect includes reading a next task in the task execution plan of the first plan compilation task and initiating the next task by the task execution engine. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290969 | OPERATOR GRAPH CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO DYNAMIC CONNECTIONS IN STREAM COMPUTING APPLICATIONS - A stream computing application may permit one job to connect to a data stream of a different job. As more and more jobs dynamically connect to the data stream, the connections may have a negative impact on the performance of the job that generates the data stream. Accordingly, a variety of metrics and statistics (e.g., CPU utilization or tuple rate) may be monitored to determine if the dynamic connections are harming performance. If so, the stream computing system may be optimized to mitigate the effects of the dynamic connections. For example, particular operators may be unfused from a processing element and moved to a compute node that has available computing resources. Additionally, the stream computing application may clone the data stream in order to distribute the workload of transmitting the data stream to the connected jobs. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290970 | UNIPROCESSOR SCHEDULABILITY TESTING FOR NON-PREEMPTIVE TASK SETS - A method of determining schedulability of tasks for uniprocessor execution includes defining a well-formed, non-preemptive task set having a plurality of tasks, each task having at least one subtask. A determination of whether the task set is schedulable is made, such that a near-optimal amount of temporal resources required to execute the task set is estimated. Further, a method of determining schedulability of a subtask for uniprocessor execution includes defining a well-formed, non-preemptive task set having a plurality of tasks, each task having at least one subtask. A determination of whether a subtask in the task set is schedulable at a specific time is made in polynomial time. Systems for implementing such methods are also provided. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290971 | Scheduling Thread Execution Based on Thread Affinity - In accordance with some embodiments, spatial and temporal locality between threads executing on graphics processing units may be analyzed and tracked in order to improve performance. In some applications where a large number of threads are executed and those threads use common resources such as common data, affinity tracking may be used to improve performance by reducing the cache miss rate and to more effectively use relatively small-sized caches. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290972 | WORKLOAD MANAGER FOR MAPREDUCE ENVIRONMENTS - A method of managing workloads in MapReduce environments with a system. The system receives job profiles of respective jobs, wherein each job profile describes characteristics of map and reduce tasks. The map tasks produce intermediate results based on the input data, and the reduce tasks produce an output based on the intermediate results. The jobs are ordered according to performance goals into a hierarchy. A minimum quantity of resources is allocated to each job to achieve its performance goal. A plurality of spare resources are allocated to at least one of the jobs. A new job profile having a new performance goal is then received. Next, it is determined whether the new performance goal can be met without deallocating spare resources. Spare resources are re-allocated form the other jobs to the new job to achieve its performance goal without compromising the performance goals of the other jobs. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290973 | PROGRAMMING MODEL FOR TRANSPARENT PARALLELIZATION OF COMBINATORIAL OPTIMIZATION - Each of a plurality of subtasks is configured to explore and assess alternative solutions for a combinatorial optimization problem by a reentrant finite state machine is represented. Each of a plurality of threads is configured to perform operations comprising a subtask until either completion or a blocked state is reached and, in the event a blocked state is reached, to move on to performing another subtask that is not currently in a blocked state. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290974 | WORKFLOW CONTROL OF RESERVATIONS AND REGULAR JOBS USING A FLEXIBLE JOB SCHEDULER - A scheduler receives flexible reservation requests for scheduling in a computing environment comprising consumable resources. The flexible reservation request specifies a duration and a required resource. The consumable resources comprise machine resources and floating resources. The scheduler creates a flexible job for the flexible reservation request and places the flexible job in a prioritized job queue for scheduling, wherein the flexible job is prioritizes relative to at least one regular job in the prioritized job queue. The scheduler adds a reservation set to a waiting state for the flexible reservation request. The scheduler, responsive to detecting the flexible job positioned in the prioritized job queue for scheduling next and detecting a selection of consumable resources available to match the at least one required resource for the duration, transfers the selection of consumable resources to the reservation and sets the reservation to an active state. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290975 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETERMINING PARALLELISM OF TASKS OF A PROGRAM - A method and device for determining parallelism of tasks of a program comprises generating a task data structure to track the tasks and assigning a node of the task data structure to each executing task. Each node includes a task identification number and a wait number. The task identification number uniquely identifies the corresponding task from other currently executing tasks and the wait number corresponds to the task identification number of a node corresponding to the last descendant task of the corresponding task that was executed prior to a wait command. The parallelism of the tasks is determined by comparing the relationship between the tasks. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290976 | SCHEDULING MAPREDUCE JOB SETS - Determining a schedule of a batch workload of MapReduce jobs is disclosed. A set of multi-stage jobs for processing in a MapReduce framework is received, for example, in a master node. Each multi-stage job includes a duration attribute, and each duration attribute includes a stage duration and a stage type. The MapReduce framework is separated into a plurality of resource pools. The multi-stage jobs are separated into a plurality of subgroups corresponding with the plurality of pools. Each subgroup is configured for concurrent processing in the MapReduce framework. The multi-stage jobs in each of the plurality of subgroups are placed in an order according to increasing stage duration. For each pool, the multi-stage jobs in increasing order of stage duration are sequentially assigned from either a front of the schedule or a tail of the schedule by stage type. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290977 | Computational Resource Allocation System And A Method For Allocating Computational Resources For Executing A Scene Graph Based Application At Run Time - A computational resource allocation system for allocating computational resources to various modules of a scene graph based application while the application is being executed may include a module mapper for receiving a set of modules to be used in the scene graph based application from a module repository and a set of computational resources available to process the modules from a computational resource repository, and mapping the set of modules onto the set of computational resources to generate a mapping, and an allocation manager configured to allocate the modules to the set of computational resources based on the mapping. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290978 | System Partitioning To Present Software As Platform Level Functionality - Embodiments of apparatuses, methods for partitioning systems, and partitionable and partitioned systems are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes processors and a partition manager. The partition manager is to allocate a subset of the processors to a first partition and another subset of the processors to a second partition. The first partition is to execute first operating system level software and the second partition is to execute second operating system level software. The first operating system level software is to manage the processors in the first partition as resources individually accessible to the first operating system level software, and the second operating system level software is to manage the processors in the second partition as resources individually accessible to the second operating system level software. The partition manager is also to present the second partition, including the second operating system level software, to the first operating system level software as platform level functionality embedded in the system. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290979 | DATA TRANSFER CONTROL METHOD OF PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING SYSTEM, PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING SYSTEM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - A parallel distributed processing system includes multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers which stores data blocks pre-divided in a storage device and executes tasks processing the data blocks in parallel, and a management computer controlling the multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers. The management computer collects resource use amounts of the multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers, acquires states of data blocks and tasks held by the multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers, selects a second parallel distributed processing execution server transferring a data block to the first parallel distributed processing execution server, based on processing progress situations of the data blocks held by the multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers and the resource use amounts of the multiple parallel distributed processing execution servers, and transmits a command to transfer the data block to the first parallel distributed processing execution server, to the selected second parallel distributed processing execution server. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290980 | Graphical Programming System enabling Data Sharing from a Producer to a Consumer via a Memory Buffer - A graphical program execution environment that facilitates communication between a producer program and a consumer program is disclosed. The producer program may store data in a memory block allocated by the producer program. A graphical program may communicate with the producer program to obtain a reference to the memory block. The graphical program may asynchronously pass the reference to the consumer program, e.g., may pass the reference without blocking or waiting while the consumer program accesses the data in the memory block. After the consumer program is finished accessing the data, the consumer program may asynchronously notify the graphical program execution environment to release the memory block. The graphical program execution environment may then notify the producer program that the block of memory is no longer in use so that the producer program can de-allocate or re-use the memory block. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290981 | Method and System for Controlled Communication Between Applications - A method, system and computer program in a software framework for enabling controlled communication between a generic application on the software framework and a service application in a second environment. An access request is transmitted by the generic application to an interface provision unit. The request includes an identity of the generic application. An instant interface is provided by the interface provision unit to the second environment. The instant interface is determined by the access request and dedicated for the generic application. A response is returned by the interface provision unit to the generic application including an address to the instant interface. Thereby the instant interface permits controlled communication between the generic application and the service application, thus enabling the new controlled communication without changes of the second environment. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290982 | Method for Simulating Screen Sharing for Multiple Applications Running Concurrently on a Mobile Platform - A system for sharing a physical display screen among multiple applications on a mobile platform includes an Internet-connected client device and software executing on the client device from a non-transitory physical medium, the software providing a first function assigning dominancy to one of the multiple running applications, a second function mitigating application background transparency among the multiple running applications, a third function establishing a messaging mechanism and protocol between the multiple running applications, and a fourth function enabling the dominant application to intercept digital input directed toward individual ones of the multiple running applications and to dispatch the input to the appropriate application. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290983 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CLUSTERED TRANSACTIONAL INTEROPERABILITY OF PROPRIETARY NON-STANDARD FEATURES OF A MESSAGING PROVIDER USING A CONNECTOR MECHANISM - A computer-controlled method of handling proprietary features in a messaging system includes receiving an object from a requesting application, determining that the object invokes proprietary features of a messaging system, accessing a wrapper library and wrapping the object in an appropriate wrapper for the messaging system to produce a wrapped object, the wrapper to preserve the proprietary feature, and transmitting the wrapped object to the messaging system. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290984 | Method for Infrastructure Messaging - A low overhead method to handle inter process and peer to peer communication. A queue manager is used to create a list of messages with minimal configuration overhead. A hardware queue can be connected to another software task owned by the same core or a different processor core, or connected to a hardware DMA peripheral. There is no limitation on how many messages can be queued between the producer and consumer cores. The low latency interrupt generation to the processor cores is handled by an accumulator inside the QMSS which can be configured to generate interrupts based on a programmable threshold of descriptors in a queue. The accumulator thus removes the polling overhead from software and boosts performance by doing the descriptor pops and message transfer in the background. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290985 | AGNOSTIC EXECUTION CLUSTER FOR AN AGNOSTIC EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT - The disclosed subject matter facilitates an execution environment in which services can be made available for use by one or more devices independently of such devices' hardware, operating systems, or run-time environments. The services can be abstracted and accessed by way of a Service Programming Interface (SPI). Execution environment devices can be members of one or more execution clusters and can interoperate by way of a logical bus, for example by contemporaneously signaling among member devices on an electronic signaling logical bus (ESLB). Signaling can be by way of event messages, which can facilitate distributed computing and/or agnostic execution behavior. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290986 | INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE - Provided is an information processing device capable of issuing a notification of an occurrence of an event depending on a current operation mode in a case where the information processing device operates in a plurality of operation modes. An information processing device operates in a plurality of operation modes including at least a first mode and a second mode, receives event information output by an event output program, and notifies a user that the event information has been received, and the information processing device changes a pattern of notification between a case where the event information is received during the operation in the first mode and a case where the event information is received during the operation in the second mode. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290987 | TYPE INFERENCE AND TYPE-DIRECTED LATE BINDING - Systems and methods that enhance and balance a late binding and an early binding in a programming language, via supplying an option component to opt-in (or opt-out) late binding, and wherein a late binding is triggered based on a static type for the variable (e.g., object or a type/string.) Additionally, the variable is enabled to have different static types at different regions (e.g., a program fragment) of the programming language. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290988 | SLIM FORM FACTOR DISK DRIVE - A disk drive comprises a drive enclosure defining a generally rectangular form factor; an electromechanical assembly contained within the drive enclosure, and a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) at least partially contained within the drive enclosure. The drive enclosure possesses at least one of the following characteristics: the drive enclosure defines chamfers on at least one of four corners of the generally rectangular form factor; and the drive enclosure defines a first surface and a second surface that defines an interior second surface portion and a peripheral second surface portion and wherein the interior second surface portion is further away from the first surface than is the peripheral second surface portion. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290989 | DIGITAL VIDEO DISC PLAYER - A digital video disc player includes a housing, a shaft rotatably arranged in the housing, a rotary support accommodated in the housing and fixed to the shaft, a plurality of trays arranged on the rotary support, each of the trays supporting a digital video disc and a driving bar movably connected to the housing, the driving bar driving the shaft to revolve, thereby causing the trays to rotate together with the rotary support. User needs only to push the driving bar to switch the positions of the discs instead of opening the tray to replace new disc. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290990 | CASING STRUCTURE OF SLIM OPTICAL DISK DRIVE - A casing structure of a slim optical disk drive is provided. The casing is formed by an upper casing and a lower casing. A notch is formed on the upper casing or the lower casing. The notch can receive a tag. The depth of the notch is larger than or equal to the thickness of the tag. The tag adhered to the notch does not cross over the notch and jut out from the casing, so that the gap is avoided and the noise is reduced. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290991 | OPTICAL DISC DEVICE HAVING A BLCOKING MEANS FOR ITS OPTICAL PICKUP UNIT - An optical disc recording and/or reproducing device comprising a drive for rotating an optical disc around an axis of rotation, a movable optical pickup unit ( | 2013-10-31 |
20130290992 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A PROGRAM AS A GIFT USING AN INTERACTIVE APPLICATION - A television message system is provided that allows users at user television equipment devices that are connected to a television distribution facility to transmit messages to each other relating to a television program or other suitable subject. The television message system permits users to participate in evaluations, contests, promotions, and surveys related to a television program while watching that television program. The television message system also permits users to compose and send a message to a television program entity. Users can send messages through the television message system to users at personal computers who are connected to the user's television distribution facility through a communications network. The television message system also allows a user to purchase a gift related to television programming for a recipient. The gift may be an electronic gift certificate for pay-per-view programming. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290993 | SELECTIVE ADJUSTMENT OF PICTURE QUALITY FEATURES OF A DISPLAY - Systems, apparatus, articles, and methods are described including operations for selectively adjusting picture quality features of a display based at least in part on whether a user can perceive a loss in video quality and/or on power supply data. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290994 | SELECTION OF TARGETED CONTENT BASED ON USER REACTIONS TO CONTENT - Techniques for selecting a targeted content item for playback are described in various implementations. A method that implements the techniques may include receiving, from an image capture device, an image that includes a user who is viewing a first content item being displayed on a presentation device. The method may also include processing the image to identify a facial expression of the user, and determining an indication of user reaction to the first content item based on the identified facial expression of the user. The method may further include comparing the indication of user reaction to an indication of intended reaction associated with the first content item to determine an efficacy value of the first content item. The method may also include selecting a targeted content item for playback on the presentation device based on the efficacy value. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290995 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING AUGMENTED BROADCAST CONTENT USING ANALYSIS ALGORITHM BASED ON REFERENCE SIGNAL - An apparatus and method for processing augmented broadcast content. The apparatus includes: a broadcast content receiving unit configured to receive broadcast content and a first reference signal from a broadcast content provider, the first reference signal including information used to recognize a target object in the broadcast content and composite the broadcast content and augmented content associated with the target object; an object identifying unit configured to identify the target object in the broadcast content by analyzing the broadcast content using an image or sound analysis algorithm with reference to the first reference signal; an augmented content acquiring unit configured to acquire the augmented content associated with the target object; and an augmented content compositing unit configured to composite the acquired augmented content into an augmentation region determined based on the first reference signal. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290996 | ASSESSING DIGITAL CONTENT ACROSS A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK - The present invention relates generally to a method of providing an on-line assessment of digital content, such as video clips ( | 2013-10-31 |
20130290997 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING THE REMOVAL OF A CONTROLLING DEVICE - A system and method for using a controllable appliance to report an inoperable state of a controlling device. The appliance is caused to repeatedly determine, at a first predetermined timed interval, if a wireless notification signal, repeatedly transmitted by the controlling device at a second predetermined timed interval, has been received from the controlling device. When the wireless notification signal has not been received from the controlling device within the first predetermined timed interval, the appliance is caused to issue a status notification that the controlling device is in an inoperable state. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290998 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INFERRING SEAMLESS SERVICE PLAN OF VIDEO CONTENTS - Disclosed are an apparatus and method for inferring a service plan for seamlessly providing an IPTV service. The present invention proposes a context inference algorithm for performing multiple-criteria decision-making using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for context element evaluation through a context inference apparatus for providing a seamless IPTV service using a context awareness technology for recognizing device change and environmental change in a ubiquitous home networking environment including various types of information terminals. | 2013-10-31 |
20130290999 | INFORMATION PROCESSOR, BROADCAST RECEIVING DEVICE, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD - According to one embodiment, an information processing method includes: acquiring, as a viewing history, contents of a program viewed by each of users; first retrieving, based on a viewing history of a target user among the users, a program corresponding to program preference of the target user, from a viewable program storage storing therein programs that are viewable; second retrieving, based on the viewing history of the target user and viewing histories of users other than the target user among the plurality of users, a similar user having program preference similar to the program preference of the target user, from the users other than the target user; third retrieving, based on a viewing history of the similar user, a program corresponding to the program preference of the similar user, from the viewable program storage; and providing one part or all of the programs retrieved by the first and second retrievings. | 2013-10-31 |
20130291000 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO METER MEDIA CONTENT PRESENTED ON A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE - An example apparatus includes a meter to generate first information indicative of a media presentation mode of a media presentation application executed by a wireless communication device during a presentation of the media content received and presented via the wireless communication device, the media content comprising scheduled programming that is broadcasted or multicasted simultaneously to a plurality of other wireless communication devices during a pre-scheduled time; and generate second information indicative of the media content presented via the wireless communication device. A memory is to store the first information in association with the second information in the wireless communication device; and store third information in association with the first and second information. The third information is indicative of at least one of a location of a cell tower used to transmit the media content, an identifier of the cell tower, or an identifier of a wireless network access point. | 2013-10-31 |
20130291001 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MEASURE EXPOSURE TO STREAMING MEDIA - Methods and apparatus to measure exposure to streaming media are disclosed herein. An example method includes extracting metering data from media obtained from a media provider. Metadata identifying the media based on the extracted metering data is generated. The media is transcoded into a transport stream, the transport stream having a streaming format. The metadata is embedded in a timed text track accompanying the transport stream. | 2013-10-31 |