2244results about "Digital variable/waveform display" patented technology

A system is disclosed for detecting and calculating the level of ambient and / or environmental noise, such as electromagnetic interference generated by electric power lines, ambient lights, light dimmers, television or computer displays, power supplies or transformers, and medical equipment. In some embodiments, the system performs frequency analysis on the interference signal detected by light photodetectors and determines the power of the interference signal concentrated in the analyzed frequency bands. The worst-case interference level can be determined by selecting the maximum from the computed power values. In some embodiments, the determined interference signal power can be compared with the noise tolerance of a patient monitoring system configured to reliably and non-invasively detect physiological parameters of a user. The results of the comparison can be presented to the user audio-visually. In some embodiments, the system can be used to perform spot check measurements of electromagnetic interference.

A look-up table assists a source of logic of an apparatus in determining the power requirements of an unknown battery-powered device, so that a configurable power supply adjusts its output to provide the correct power to the device. The functions of the look-up table, in conjunction with generic templates and update-able historical information, if available, are substantially based on determining a “power signature” of the device. As a secondary function, the look-up table enables detection of battery charging activity and, when necessary, provides various means of disabling charging operations. More than one look-up table is available, and a look-up table can be located at any inter-connected device, apparatus, or power source. Inter-device communications further enhance the functionality of the look-up table, especially for collaborative data-acquisition.

An integrated circuit identification device (ICID) to be incorporated into an integrated circuit (IC) includes an array of electronic cells in which the magnitude of an output signal of each cell is a function of randomly occurring parametric variations which vary from cell-to-cell. The ICID also includes a circuit for measuring the output of each cell and for producing output data having a value reflecting the particular combination of measured characteristics of all of the elements of the array. When we make the number of elements in the array large enough, we insure that to a high degree of probability, the pattern of measured array cell characteristics for an ICID embedded in any one IC will be unique and distinguishable from such patterns measured by ICIDs embedded in millions of other ICs. Thus the value of the output data produced by an ICID circuit acts as a unique "fingerprint" for the IC in which it is installed, and can be used as a unique identification (ID) for that IC.

An electric power meter includes an embedded decomposition module that is configured to decompose a power meter signal into constituent loads to segregate and identify energy consumption associated with each individual energy consumption device within a plurality of energy consumption devices coupled to the power meter.

A system is disposed at a location of a utility commodity subscriber for informing the subscriber of utility commodity cost and usage and for controlling utility commodity usage. The system includes one or more utility meters, an information and control apparatus, a first data communication link, and a second data communication link. The one or more meters measure usage of one or more utility commodity and for generating one or more usage signals including a measurement of the subscriber's usage of the one or more utility commodities. The information and control apparatus includes a microprocessor, a memory, a clock, and a user interface, for inputting and outputting information. The first data communication link is between the one or more utility meters and the information and control apparatus and provides the one or more usage signals to said information and control apparatus for storage in the memory. The second data communication link is between the information and control apparatus and one or more central locations associated with the one or more utility commodity. The second communication link also provides rate information related to usage of the one or more utility commodity from the one or more central location to the information and control apparatus and provides utility commodity usage data from the information and control apparatus to the one or more central location. The microprocessor computes an accumulated cost of one or more utility commodity for a predetermined period of time according to the clock, the one or more usage signal, and the rate information. Information related to the accumulated cost is provided to the user interface for output to the subscriber.

A abnormality diagnosing apparatus used in a machine equipment including a rotating or sliding part relative to a stationary member includes a detecting portion 31 fixed to the rotating or sliding part or the stationary member and including a vibration sensor 32 and a temperature sensor 33, and a signal processing portion 81 for determining a state of the part from a detecting signal outputted by the detecting portion 31. The signal processing portion 81 determines presence or absence of a abnormality, or presence or absence of the abnormality and a degree of a damage of the part based on a combination of a measured result by the vibration sensor 32 and a measured result by the temperature sensor 33.

A typical data acquisition system takes periodic samples of a signal, image, or other data, often at the so-called Nyquist / Shannon sampling rate of two times the data bandwidth in order to ensure that no information is lost. In applications involving wideband signals, the Nyquist / Shannon sampling rate is very high, even though the signals may have a simple underlying structure. Recent developments in mathematics and signal processing have uncovered a solution to this Nyquist / Shannon sampling rate bottlenck for signals that are sparse or compressible in some representation. We demonstrate and reduce to practice methods to extract information directly from an analog or digital signal based on altering our notion of sampling to replace uniform time samples with more general linear functionals. One embodiment of our invention is a low-rate analog-to-information converter that can replace the high-rate analog-to-digital converter in certain applications involving wideband signals. Another embodiment is an encoding scheme for wideband discrete-time signals that condenses their information content.

A communication device, for connecting one or more electrical appliances to a remote service centre, comprises a control unit (AMC), means (PLG) for connecting the device (HG) to an alternating voltage electric mains network (Vac) and means (SK) for supplying the alternating mains voltage (Vac) to a power supply line of an electric appliance. The device (HG) further comprises first communication means (CSA), prearranged for receiving information possibly generated by the electric appliance and transmitted through the power supply line thereof, second communication means (ZB), prearranged for establishing a connection with a local area network (HN1) and third communication means (GGM), prearranged for establishing a connection with a further communication network, different from the local network (HN1), to which the remote service centre is connected. The control unit (AMC) is prearranged for acquiring by means of the first communication means (CSA), first information possibly generated by the electric appliance and transmitted through the power supply line thereof and / or second information regarding electric energy consumptions associated to the operation of is the electric appliance, acquiring, by means of the second communication means (ZB), third information possibly available on the local network (HN1), and transmitting to the remote centre (RMC), by means of the third communication means (GGM), at least one of the first, second and third information.

The method of reducing contamination of electrical signals recorded in the presence of repeated interference contamination comprises obtaining an electrical signal recorded in the presence of a contaminating signal, and detecting a timing signal that occurs at a fixed time point during the electrical signal relative to the onset of the contaminating signal. The electrical signal is digitized, wherein the digitizing begins with the timing signal. A plurality of digitized electrical signals is analyzed, wherein the electrical signals are synchronized with respect to the timing signal, to obtain an estimated contaminating signal that is subtracted from the digitized electrical signal. This method can be used with electrophysiological signals, such as EEG, ECG, EMG and galvanic skin response, and for elimination of noise associated with concurrently used methods such as MRI. The method of noise reduction is applicable to recordings of other electrical signals, including audio recordings.

A signal integrity network analyzer is provided. The analyzer preferably includes a characterization module for characterizing a device under test, an acquisition module for acquiring a waveform, a de-embedding module for selectively embedding and de-embedding on or more system fixtures, and an analysis module for performing analysis on the acquired waveform, with one or more system features selectively embedded or de-embedded. A single user interface is provided and is adapted to control the characterization module, the acquisition module, the de-embedding module and the analysis module.

In a speech communications network, continuous play of audio packets is achieved using a jitter buffer in a receiver. Audio packets are stored in the jitter buffer before decoding the audio packets into an audible output. When the level of stored audio packets approaches the full capacity of the jitter buffer, the rate at which the audio packets are played out of the jitter buffer is increased signaling a compression operation in the decoder. When the level of stored audio packets approaches an empty level of the jitter buffer, the rate which the audio packets are played out of the jitter buffer is reduced signaling an expansion operation in the decoder. Audio packets are not modified when the level of stored audio packets is within a predetermined range. A speed controller is provided to instruct the decoder to decode the audio packets according to either a compressed, expanded or normal audio packet status.

An arc fault detector system detects arcing faults in an electrical distribution system by monitoring one or more conductors and producing an input signal representing one or more electrical signal conditions in the circuit to be monitored. This input signal is processed to develop signals representing the electrical current flow through the monitored circuit and broadband noise signal components. The system analyzes these signals to determine whether an arcing fault is present, and if so, outputs a trip signal which may be used directly or indirectly to trip a circuit breaker or other circuit interruption device.

A method and apparatus for anti-islanding of distributed power generation systems having an inverter comprising a phase locked loop (PLL), a phase shift generator for injecting a phase shift into the PLL during at least one sample period, and a phase error signature monitor for monitoring at least one phase error response of the PLL during the at least one sample period.

A method and system for blind estimation of time and frequency parameters of an incoming signal. A spectrogram of the signal is processed using singular value decomposition (SVD) and ICA (independent component analysis) techniques. Time and frequency parameters are estimated from time and frequency eigenvectors, respectively.

A signal waveform analysis method includes: determining a trend component of an object signal by applying a zero-phase filter to the object signal; determining an oscillatory component of the object signal by removing the trend component from the object signal; determining a wavelet scalogram by performing a wavelet analysis on the oscillatory component; and determining an oscillation period of the object signal with which the wavelet scalogram indicates a maximum. The signal waveform analysis method is employed to evaluate vehicle dynamic characteristics.

A method of removing abnormal data in a blood component analysis system using spectroscopy to estimate a concentration of a blood component by analyzing a photo-plethysmographic (PPG) signal obtained by radiating light of first and second wavelengths reacting to the blood component on a subject and detecting light corresponding to the first and second wavelengths output from the subject, includes collecting the PPG signal corresponding to the first and second wavelengths for a predetermined unit period of time, calculating "n" parameters, with respect to "n" pulse data included in the collected PPG signal, where n is a positive integer, calculating an average of the "n" parameters, and comparing a ratio of a number of parameters whose deviation from the average is greater than a predetermined standard deviation to the "n" parameters with a predetermined removal reference value to determine whether the "n" pulse data is valid.

The start up performance of an ultrasonic system under zero load conditions is improved by setting a phase set point in a frequency control loop such that, at start up under zero load conditions, the phase set point intersects a point on a phase-frequency response curve which has a low positive slope. This intersection point on the phase-frequency response curve changes as the load is increased and the system Q is decreased. The controller “seeks” a target 0° impedance phase angle. The frequency of the ultrasonic generator is set to an off-resonance frequency which is lower than the resonance of any known hand piece / blade combination. In order for the drive voltage to not exceed the physical limit of the system, the drive current is set to a low level. The drive frequency is then smoothly increased in steps until the target 0° impedance phase delta is located.

A system, device, and method of detecting an overload condition of a distribution transformer that supplies power to one or more customer premises via a low voltage subnet is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises determining the power output of the transformer; storing in a memory a threshold power value for the transformer; determining whether the power output exceeds the threshold power value; and, if the output power exceeds the threshold power value, providing a notification. Providing the notification may include wirelessly transmitting the notification and / or transmitting the notification over a medium voltage power line. The low voltage subnet may comprise a low voltage feeder that supplies power to a plurality of low voltage supply lines that extend to the customer premises in which case determining the output power may comprise measuring a voltage of the low voltage feeder and measuring a current traversing the low voltage feeder. The method may also comprise storing in the memory a plurality of threshold power values associated with a plurality of transformers, such as different models of transformers; receiving data of the power output of a multitude of transformers; and determining whether the power output of each of the multitude of transformers exceeds the threshold value associated with the transformer, which steps may be performed at a central computer system such as a power line server.

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving data corresponding to a portion of an incoming radio frequency (RF) spectrum, determining a set of estimates including one or more pairs of a channel frequency estimate and a symbol rate estimate from the data via a linear spectrum analysis, and determining a refined set of estimates from the set of estimates via at least one non-linear spectrum analysis.

Information relating to electrical energy usage for a given account is associated with a time segment that corresponds to a period when the electrical energy was received from an electrical energy distribution system. Electrical energy generation carbon impact information is retrieved for the corresponding time segment specifying when the electrical energy was received from an electrical energy distribution system. A carbon credit is calculated according to the retrieved electrical energy generation carbon impact information, and the retrieved electrical energy usage information associated with the time segment. The calculated carbon credit is then used to update a display of carbon credit related information, such as account balance, rate of carbon credit usage, currently applicable “cost” for carbon credit usage. Notifications can be provided to the consumer if any of this information crosses a threshold value. In addition, or alternatively, the carbon credit related information can be used to automatically control the operation of devices that consume electrical energy.

A method for determining position and alignment is provided. The method includes monitoring a first and second sequence of ultrasonic signals transmitted from the first device to a second device, estimating a location of the first device from Time of Flight measurements of the ultrasonic signals at respective microphones on the second device, calculating a set of phase differences, weighting a difference of an expected location and estimated location of the first device with the set of phase differences to produce a relative displacement, and reporting a position of the first device based on the relative displacement.

A method and circuit for measuring a statistical value of jitter for a data signal having a data rate fD, comprises digitally sampling the data signal at a sampling rate, fS, to produce sampled logic values, where fD / fS is a predetermined non-integer ratio; and analyzing the sampled values to deduce a statistical value of the jitter.

Methods and apparatuses to calibrate read / write memory accesses through data buses of different lengths via advanced memory buffers. One embodiment includes an advanced memory buffer (AMB) having: a plurality of ports to interface respectively with a plurality of data buses; a port to interface with a common clock bus for the plurality of data buses; and an adjustable circuit coupled with the plurality of ports to level delays on the plurality of data buses. In one embodiment, the data buses have different wire lengths between the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) memory chips and the advanced memory buffer (AMB).