1299results about How to "Increase choice" patented technology

A system and method for providing connectivity to a foreign network for a device configured for communication over a home network without reconfiguring the device include intercepting packets transmitted by the device, selectively modifying intercepted packets which are incompatible with the foreign network to be compatible with network settings of the foreign network, and selectively providing network services for the device corresponding to network services available on the home network to reduce the delay associated with accessing the network services from the foreign network, or to provide network services otherwise inaccessible from the foreign network. Network services are provided by or through a configuration adapter connected to the device or to the foreign network. The configuration adapter accommodates incompatibilities resulting from proxy server requests, domain name server requests, and/or outgoing email service requests to provide transparent network access for mobile users without reconfiguration of the users computing device.

An automated food preparation system is described. It allows precise, automated control of the food preparation process, and has the ability to perform an automated cleanup. It comprises at least one manipulator to process and move ingredients, a control system, an autonomously accessible ingredient storage system, and at least one cooking receptacle.

Novel methods and compositions for DNA sequencing are provided. The methods described herein are useful for sequencing homopolymeric regions of DNA. The methods also prevent the accumulation of mistakes and inefficiencies in the sequencing reaction.

Traffic measurement should make it possible to obtain the spatial flow of traffic through the domain, i.e., the paths or trajectories followed by packets between any ingress and egress point of the domain. A method of sampling packet trajectories in a packet switching network allows the direct inference of traffic flows through a measurement domain by observing the trajectories of a subset of all packets traversing the network. A method which assumes that the measurement domain does not change comprises the steps of selecting packets for sampling in accordance with a sampling function of the packet content and generating a practically unique label for each sampled packet. The method does not rely on routing state, its implementation cost is small, and the measurement reporting traffic is modest and can be controlled precisely. Using the same hash function will yield the same sample set of packets in the entire domain, and enables us to reconstruct packet trajectories. An alternate embodiment which assumes no constraints and that the measurement domain may change comprises the steps of applying a sampling function and altering an invariant bit position as a signaling flag in each packet selected for sampling.

Disclosed herein are a system and method for simultaneously reporting changes in location and orientation of an object moving over a planar surface and forming part of a computer input device, interoperably with a conventional mouse where reporting only location is in question. Further the present invention provides improved ways of user interaction with computer displays of two and three dimensional data and structures.

A mobile communication apparatus comprising processor means and a user interface is disclosed. The user interface comprises a display and an input means. The input means comprises a rotating input means arranged to provide an angular movement signal in accordance with an angular movement of the rotating input means for selecting an item from a plurality of selectable items arranged to be presented on said display, wherein one or more of the selectable items are associated with a feedback signal, and the rotating input means is arranged to provide feedback according to the feedback signal to a user when operating the rotating input means in a position related to the items associated with a feedback signal. An input method for the mobile communication apparatus is also disclosed.

This invention relates to a front electrode/contact for use in an electronic device such as a photovoltaic device. In certain example embodiments, the front electrode of a photovoltaic device or the like includes a multilayer coating including at least one transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer (e.g., of or including a material such as tin oxide, ITO, zinc oxide, or the like) and/or at least one conductive substantially metallic IR reflecting layer (e.g., based on silver, gold, or the like). In certain example instances, the multilayer front electrode coating may include one or more conductive metal(s) oxide layer(s) and one or more conductive substantially metallic IR reflecting layer(s) in order to provide for reduced visible light reflection, increased conductivity, cheaper manufacturability, and/or increased infrared (IR) reflection capability. At least one of the surfaces of the front glass substrate may be textured in certain example embodiments of this invention.

The present invention is directed to a system and methods for targeted advertisement and event promotion. The system comprises a web-based application which enables event promoters to create, execute and manage event promotional campaigns using advertisements, targeted promotional messages, target user search tools, session tracking tools, campaign analytical tools, event pricing tools, reporting tools, embedded calendar applications and other tools and services provided by the system. The system combines these tools to enable promoters to communicate with and market events to highly targeted audiences utilizing a wide array of communication tools. Furthermore, each promotional or advertisement campaign enriches and grows promoter's target user list thus continually enlarging the overall group of trusted and targeted system users.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) compositions and EPA-rich polar lipids for prophylactic or therapeutic applications are described. Production from certain cultured micro-organisms (like Nitzschia laevis) promotes synthesis of EPA, including polar lipids including EPA. The EPA-rich polar lipids themselves may be used as polar compounds. EPA can be selectively hydrolysed from particular positions in isolated polar lipids by lipase activity, then optionally further purified. The process bypasses reliance on diminishing fish stocks and on physico-chemical processes that may not adequately separate desirable n-3 HUFAs from unwanted products like DHA also found in fish oil and cultured organisms.

A method is disclosed that a Mobile Station MS performs at switch-on to search the most favorable target cell in UMTS systems like the 3GPP CDMA—LCR (Low Chip Rate) option at 1.28 Mcps—TDD (Time Division Duplex) mode and the equivalent TD-SCDMA (Time Division—Synchronous CDMA). Signal at the MS antenna is the sum of different RF downlink frames coming from different carriers in the assigned frequency ranges. A DL synchronization timeslot and a BCCH TS0 are both transmitted with full power in the frames, the first one includes one out of 32 SYNC codes assigned on cell basis. Following a conventional approach the absence of a common downlink pilot and without prior knowledge of the used frequencies would force the MS, for all the frequencies of the channel raster stored in the SIM card, the correlation of the received frame with all the 32 SYNCs stored in the MS, in order to detect the BSIC of a cell to which associate the power measures. Following the two-step method of the invention the power measures are performed in two-step scan of the PLMN band without interleaved correlation steps; once a final frequency is selected the respective frame is the only correlated one. At least one frame duration about 5 ms long of the whole 15 MHz bandwidth is acquired, IF converted, A/D converted and the digital set is stored. A rough scan is performed multiplying the digital set by a digital IF tuned in steps wide as the channel band (1.6 MHz) along the 15 MHz band, and filtering the baseband signal with a Root Raise Cosine low-pass filter. The 5 ms baseband signal is subdivided into 15 blocks of half timeslot (337.5 μs) and the power of each block is measured. The power of the strongest block indicates the priority of the respective frequency. The strongest power values are put in a Spectral Table together with respective frame load indicators. The load indicator is the percentage of timeslots in a frame almost equally loaded as the strongest block. The three strongest frequencies are selected for the successive scan. The second step search is performed like the first one but the IF steps are now 200 kHz wide and cover the only 1.6 MHz spectrum around a selected frequency. A final frequency is selected for the successive correlation step. Then the frequency error of the MS reference oscillator is corrected with data-aided techniques and a calibration value stored for successive connections (FIG. 9).

A targeted advertising system selects an asset (e.g., ad) for a current user of a user equipment device (e.g., a digital set top box in a cable network). The system can first operate in a learning mode to receive user inputs and develop evidence that can characterize multiple users of the user equipment device audience. In a working mode, the system can process current user inputs to match a current user to one of the identified users of that user equipment device audience. Fuzzy logic and/or stochastic filtering may be used to improve development of the user characterizations, as well as matching of the current user to those developed characterizations. In this manner, targeting of assets can be implemented not only based on characteristics of a household but based on a current user within that household.

A method for integrating metal-containing cap layers into copper (Cu) metallization of semiconductor devices. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a patterned substrate containing metal surfaces and dielectric layer surfaces, and modifying the dielectric layer surfaces by exposure to a reactant gas containing a hydrophobic functional group, where the modifying substitutes a hydrophilic functional group in the dielectric layer surfaces with a hydrophobic functional group. The method further includes depositing metal-containing cap layers selectively on the metal surfaces by exposing the modified dielectric layer surfaces and the metal surfaces to a deposition gas containing metal-containing precursor vapor.

System and method for treating a skin target. A temperature effector creates a temperature difference between the target and the skin tissue surrounding the target such that the target is at a higher temperature than the surrounding tissue by at least 5° C. One or more RF electrodes are attached to the skin and RF energy is applied.

Methods and systems are provided for processing a transaction between a first party and a second party. Information defining terms of the transaction and identifying a presentation instrument are received at a host system. Preference information associated with the presentation instrument is retrieved with the host system. The preference information specifies terms for an allocation of transaction amounts among multiple transaction types. An amount for the transaction is allocated among the transaction types in accordance with terms of the transaction and the terms for the allocation.

A surgical device for pressing and retaining adjacent bones against one another comprising a compression brace and separate fasteners. The compression brace has at least two fastener retaining portions. Each fastener retaining portion has a fastener hole therethrough for receiving a fastener, such as a screw or pin. A pair of bridge members are positioned between the fastener retaining portions, and are spaced apart from one another to form a compression opening. The compression bracket can include a plurality of fastener retaining portions and a plurality of compression openings. In some embodiments, the fasteners are maintained in a substantially fixed relation with the fastener retaining portion. The brace is installed on adjacent bones such that a fastener engages each bone. The compression opening is spread apart to draw the fasteners toward one another, and thereby compress the adjacent bones together.

Methods for classifying plants by remote sensing and image analysis technology are presented. These methods are useful for evaluating plants and for selecting plants for a plant breeding program which has as its goal to selectively alter phenotype. The methods combine the newer techniques of remote sensing technology to obtain indirect correlates of the traits of interest, with classical pedigree breeding strategies. Thermal and infrared reflectance measures of plant canopies are examples of energy values measured by remote sensing, used to indirectly predict the selected traits.

A system for selecting and applying an appropriate print quality defect correction technique to compensate for specified print quality defects includes a printhead deployed to perform an operation that forms an image on a print medium sheet composed of multiple adjacently-positioned swaths of print, a sensor mechanism deployed to perform an operation that scans the image, detects the presence of specified print quality defects in the multiple adjacently-positioned swaths of print, and generates an output corresponding to the detected defect, and a control mechanism communicating with and controlling operations of the printhead and sensor mechanism and storing an algorithm that responds to the sensor mechanism output by analyzing and comparing the output with a stored threshold value and when the output exceeds the stored threshold value selecting and applying an appropriate print quality defect correction technique to the printhead that compensates for the detected print quality defect in the multiple adjacently-positioned swaths of print in subsequent images that are formed by the printhead.

This invention provides compounds of conjugates of therapeutic or active agents with RAP or a RAP polypeptide, their pharmaceutical compositions and methods for using the such compounds and compositions in the diagnosis, prophylaxis, or treatment of diseases and conditions, including particularly diseases of the central nervous system or lysosomal storage diseases.